𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚜 // 𝚊𝚡𝚕 𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 [𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎]

VI: You Gotta Keep Pushing For The Fortune and Fame

Sorry for the wait, there's this annoying thing called real life that keeps getting in the way. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read, voted and/or commented and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Axl POV

"...Wish I'd never met her, said I, I leave it all behind - yowza!"

Finishing the rendition of Mr. Brownstone, Axl dropped the microphone as Slash completed the song with a strum of his guitar. Relief washed over him at the successful completion of the song. The lyrics and chords scribbled down by Slash and Izzy had been blurred on the crumpled paper, but after some experimentation with the possibilities and a sudden epiphany of recognition on Slash's part, the song had finally come together after several hours' worth of trial and error. This, the second time they had run the whole thing through, had definitely been an improvement upon the first, and was a satisfying culmination of their efforts, even despite the gradually fading hangovers the had made the 5 twenty-somethings curse the first few drum beats for sending shockwaves through their aching heads.

"Yes!" Steven, bubbly and overexcited as usual, pumped his fist into the air with a characteristic grin. "We did it!"

"Yay," Duff said, half-lethargic from the remnants of a hangover and half-sarcastic towards Steven's sheer enthusiasm.

"How many songs have we got by now?" Slash queried, flicking through the sheets of paper on the small table in the middle of the room.

Counting in his head, finger bobbing in the air for each number, Axl grabbed the papers to confirm his estimate. "Uh... we've got three pretty much ready to go - that's Mr. Brownstone, It's So Easy and Paradise City - and we need to run through four - My Michelle, Welcome to the Jungle, Anything Goes and Nightrain. But then we've gotta decide which of the others to include."

"Well," Izzy made his debut in the conversation from his stool in the corner, "I know we're only partway through writing it, but we wanted to include Sweet Child O Mine, so unless we want two soppy ballads, that rules out November Rain, right?"

"Aww Axl, your songwriting's too soppy for poor apathetic, mysterious Izzy here, who, despite that, wrote half of freaking Don't Cry." Duff teased, laughing. "I agree with his point, though."

Axl noticed that Izzy winced slightly at the mention of Don't Cry, during the writing of which he had, admittedly, acted a little strange, as if there was something deeper to writing the song than simply penning a ballad. Strange, maybe, but he shook it off as the residing emotions from their strange relationship with Monique, Izzy's ex-girlfriend and the most recent cause of the heartbreak which seemed to haunt Axl every time he met a girl, regardless of whether or not they dated.

The others nodded in agreement with the track ruling as Axl grabbed a pen and piece of paper. "Right, so for the track listing  so far we've got: Welcome to the Jungle; It's so Easy; Nightrain; Mr Brownstone; Paradise City; My Michelle; Sweet Child O' Mine and Anything Goes. Speaking of, should we take a breather? We've been working on Mr. Brownstone for ages."

The others agreed as Axl folded the piece of paper and shoved it into his pocket. 

"Meet back here in thirty?" Slash suggested, checking his watch. They agreed, Slash moving his chair which had been blocking the door, and exiting the studio. 

~

Axl sat at a table in a bar downtown from the studios, sipping whatever concoction the pretty, dark-skinned girl sitting at the counter had ordered him, despite that fact that consuming alcohol of unknown strength at 3PM was probably an ill-advisable life choice. However, AC/DC's Back In Black was playing in the background; he'd just finished a burger and chips; and, with the band making progress in recording, it finally seemed that everything in his life was beginning to get back on track. Now he just needed a normal, longer-term (at least longer than the usual week, anyway) relationship, and everything would be great.

As if fate had heard him, and was either happily complying with or ominously laughing at his thoughts,  just at the moment when he stood up to get going, a waitress made her way over to grab the plate off of the table. He had just enough time to register thinking oh no, before they collided, sending both him and her toppling to the floor. 

Ouch, Axl winced as he landed on his elbow. Pulling himself up, he held a hand out to the waitress. The pretty, brown-haired, infuriatingly mysterious yet familiar girl. 

"I am so sorry," they said at the same time; trying not to stare at her, Axl chucked. "I didn't see you coming there, sorry. And who might this not-so-distressed damsel be?" He added, as she stood up, the feel of her hand sending shivers through his arm as he combed his brain for the source of the familiarity, coming up with no rational answer for how he must've known her before.

"My name's Estay," she smiled, "what about the, rather clumsy if I do say so myself, knight?" Estay joked lightly, humour sparkling in her brown eyes. The eyes that were wide, appearing almost shocked, seconds before the two had collided and she'd adopted a poker face.

"William, but I go by Axl." He glanced at his watch suddenly, then back at Estay. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. You're okay with the plates, right?"

"I'll manage, but thank you." She smiled, before Axl shot her one last gaze and walked out of the establishment.

Estay. Well, that didn't clear anything up. He couldn't for the life of him remember hearing that name anywhere before...