Think About You (Izzy Stradlin)

Chapter 46: Anything Goes

Monday, February 1988

After a long, lonely night inside of her practically empty mansion, Emily was sitting somewhere she never thought she'd be.

She was on a Delta red eye flight from LAX airport to Lafayette, Indiana. She was flying home.

After catching Oliver using smack, and violently kicking in the windshield of the Firebird that seemed to stalk her, Nikki took the emotional brunette girl home and tried to calm her down. She found herself telling the genuinely worried bassist everything; everything from her birthday ride in the mysterious Firebird, to the threatening photographs, to the last job Izzy had to do for his drug dealing bosses.

Even then she didn't feel any better, and she knew that there was likely only one thing that could actually make her feel better. Or one person.

Nikki had proven himself a true friend that night, because instead of making a move while she was extremely vulnerable, he gave her the best advice of her life.

'Why are you even still here? You need to follow what makes you fucking happy Em.. and right now your band, your junkie friend, and this city are not it. It's okay to take a break, It's okay to be fucking selfish sometimes.'

So she had made a spontaneous decision and left LA, only telling Axl and her trusty bass player Jordan that she was leaving; lucky for her they had both been disappointed yet understanding about her situation. Her older brother even offered to pay for the broken windshield on Amber's beat up Firebird, feeling empathetic of his crazy little sister for everything that had been going on lately.

Emily stared blankly out the thick airplane window, watching all of the fluffy white clouds pass by the glass as she listened to her Walkman. The cassette she chose was Appetite for Destruction of course, and she couldn't help the way her heart swelled as the intro for 'Sweet Child O Mine' began playing through the cushioned headphones.

She smiled to herself, listening to her older brother's comforting voice as he sang passionately about love.

It made her think about the nostalgic day they shot the music video for Sweet Child, at the Huntington Ballroom. The way Izzy pulled her into the back room to steal a sensual kiss, the way Axl and Erin looked so damn happy together; she even thought about how good it felt to punch Mandy in the god damn face.

'Where do we go?
Where do we go now?
Where do we go?
Where do we go now?'

Emily clenched her pretty green eyes closed and thought deeper about that day, about how amazing it had felt to watch her and Izzy be affectionate on that little viewing screen. That day had almost felt like a family gathering, and the brunette girl couldn't help but miss the way they were all together.

Soon the pilot came over the speaker, instructing the various passengers that they'd be landing in Lafayette airport in five minutes, and Emily felt her stomach twist anxiously. She would be home in five minutes, to the place she promised herself she would never go back to.

Lafayette was just as the brunette singer expected it to be in February; cold and dreary.

The sky was gray and bleak, while the ground was covered in a fresh layer of thick snow. Emily briefly thought back to her childhood, and the long cold winters of Lafayette; her and Axl used to pull each other on the trashcan lid, using it like a sled since their parents never cared to buy them a real one.

She clenched her tears green eyes closed and took a deep breath as she stood near the bustling street outside the airport.

Emily knew she wasn't a helpless little child anymore, and she couldn't be scared of those old memories for the rest of her life.