Think About You (Izzy Stradlin)

Chapter 3: Go Your Own Way

Friday, November 1986

"Hello?"

Emily got to her bulky, landline phone on the last ring, breathing heavily from the run into the kitchen as she spoke into the plastic receiver.

"Em! You're coming to the show tonight right?"

Axl was on the other line, trying to hear over the annoying sounds of Slash and Duff wrestling for a half empty bottle of booze. They were both drunk already, but this was only a mere warmup for the wild night to come.

"What time?" Emily asked, her peridot eyes anxiously flickering over to Oliver, who sat casually on her leather couch with an acoustic guitar in his lap. He watched her with amusement, because the anxiety she was feeling was apparent from her facial expression, and from the way she tapped her delicate fingers on her thigh.

"Nine at The Troubadour! I need help with my hair, and you need to meet our last band member."

Emily felt anxious for multiple reasons at that moment. First of all, she knew Axl was extremely picky with his long hair, and with who touched it. She also wanted to avoid Izzy for as long as possible.

After their secret kiss from yesterday, her thoughts were all scattered and tangled, she didn't know what to do about the guitarist. She realized then that avoiding him wouldn't be as easy as she first assumed, and that made her incredibly anxious.

"Okay, I'll be there."

After their goodbyes Emily quickly hung up the phone and groaned aloud, shuffling over to return to her seat next to an amused Oliver.

"You don't seem very stoked about whatever that was," Oliver joked, watching the brunette lazily plop down on the leather material and run a hand through her long, chocolate colored hair.

"Will you come with me tonight for my brother's show?" She pouted, giving her friend the best puppy dog eyes she could. The tattooed guitarist groaned and threw his head back, but still chuckled lightly after.

"Fine, but your brother is a real asshole."

A smile slowly spread across Emily's plump lips at her best friend's comment, causing him to smile too.

When Em had first hitchhiked to LA, she didn't know anyone, and didn't know where her brother or Izzy could possibly be. Her early days on the Sunset Strip were mostly spent bartending, and searching for her older brother in the many clubs and hangout spots Los Angeles offered. Instead she found Oliver; a starving, broke guitarist who had just hitchhiked to LA from Florida, the sunshine state.

She had never seen someone with so many tattoos in person, but he ended up being one of the nicest, most humble people the brunette girl ever had the pleasure of meeting. The many tattoos were simply a result of Oliver's Floridian friend learning to do the work with cheap ink and a sewing needle, in his basement.

"Why do you look so wigged out about it anyway?" He asked, causing Emily to play with her brunette hair anxiously.

It was hard to hide anything from Oliver, considering he knew all of her mannerisms and could tell when something was up. Usually she told him everything, but she had never once mentioned Izzy, ever. Not that he had kissed her in her bathroom yesterday, and certainly nothing about what happened in high school, back in Indiana.

"I have to do Will's hair.. he's picky about his freakin hair," Emily said and nudged Oliver's tattooed shoulder playfully, before standing up from the small couch. He rolled his hazel eyes in amusement, as his lead singer strolled off to her bedroom, ready to get prepared for the long, crazy night ahead.