Just Stay With Me Awhile

“So you know the set list then, Lils?” Tommy asked Lili for the fifteenth time that night, holding the set list in front of him. Lili sighed, and gave him a do-I-really-look-that-stupid-look before smiling.

“Yes, Uncle Tommy. We’re opening with Dr. Feelgood, and then we’re doing the rest of the Dr. Feelgood album. After that, we’re doing Saints of Los Angeles, followed by Girls, Girls, Girls. And, for the finale; we’re doing Home Sweet Home.”

“And you can feel free to—“

“I may not have been singing like my Dad, Uncle Tommy, but I’m not going to disappoint the fans and not sing. I’ll sing, and I’ll run around the stage like a madwoman. But get one thing straight; I ain’t dancing with Tammy and Samantha,”

Tommy’s eyes got wide and watery, like he was pouting, and she shook her head. “No. No, don’t give me that look, Uncle Tommy. I’m not dancing with the strippers, and that’s final. That’s what Dad does.”

Tommy sighed, and looked at the floor. “Fine,” He said in a voice that said Lili won. She smiled, and hugged him.

“It’s okay, Uncle Tommy. Before you know it, Dad’s going to be back, and the stripper’s will be right in front of you again. But for now, you have to watch them from the side.”

He laughed, and nodded before hugging her back.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road! You ready, kiddo?” Nikki asked her as he pulled his bass on. She smiled at him, thankful that she had the best uncles in the world to sing with. They wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

“Yeah, as ready as I can be, I guess. I’m definitely not my Dad.” She mumbled. Nikki scoffed.

“Yeah, whatever. You look just like him, Lili. And you sound a lot like him, too.”

“Thanks, Uncle Nikki,” She said, hugging him. He smiled, and then nodded at her appearance.

“And you dress just like him, too. Ratty leather pants and concert tank. Nice, Lili.”

She shrugged. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I have to wear a mini skirt and tube top onstage. It’s just not my thing; you know that, Uncle Nikki.”

“We better get out there before they start a riot. Listen to them out there, guys.” Mick said, walking over to them. He smiled reassuringly at Lili. “You’ll do fine, so stop worrying about it. The fans have been curious about you for a long time, anyway. It’s all over the Internet that they want to hear Lili Neil sing with Motley Crue.”

She smiled at him before nodding, and then walked with the rest of the guys out to the stage. Her heart was beating faster than she’d ever felt it beat before in her life, and she was beyond scared. She was expecting people to yell angrily and throw things when they saw her instead of Vince walk out to the mic. But nothing got thrown at her; people were cheering happily, screaming like they did at any concert.

“Okay, guys, so here’s the deal. I’m sure you read in some shit newspaper or read on some shit news site online that Vince got arrested. But do you know why he got arrested?” Nikki started talking into his microphone, looking pissed about it. Lili knew that he was just as pissed as her Dad had been about what Zacky had done to her; he just hadn’t physically done anything to him. Yet.

Everyone screamed in protest, and then Nikki laughed into the microphone, and continued. “He was arrested because he beat the shit out of some little punk asshole who thought he could cheat on Lili over here and get away with it.”

Again, there were screams of protest. “Do you want to know which asshole it wass?”

Everyone screamed, wanting to know who had cheated on Lili. She couldn’t help but smile; she had never known that Motley’s fans supported her, too. The few female fans that she’d met had always thought she was either Nikki’s or Tommy’s girlfriend, and were always vehemently mean to her until she punched them out cold. She thought that most of the female fans had been like that; but most of the audience was women, and they were cheering too.

“…Alright, then. If you really want to know. I mean, I think the asshole deserved it. In fact, I think he deserves a hell of a lot more than what Vince gave him. And….the Motherfucker Of The Year award goes to…Zacky-fucking-Vengeance, of Avenged Sevenfold!”

She gave Nikki a glare when Mick started playing the guitar part to the song, Motherfucker Of The Year, and Tommy started playing the drums along with it. He merely shrugged and grinned at her, and she started singing the lyrics when she had to.

“I'm just a thorn in your side, the disrespect in your eye, I can't control myself,” She began. “I'm like the snake in your drain, I'm taking over your brain
‘cause I can't help myself.”

She began running around the stage, much as her father would have done, and stood made a great connection with the audience when she burst into the chorus. When they had finished that song, they immediately went into Dr. Feelgood, a song that Lili knew the lyrics to one-hundred percent. She sang the lyrics as best as she could, knowing she was doing a damn good job, when all of a sudden she spotted someone on the side of the stage. It was none other than Zacky. Determined not to let him ruin the show, she ignored him and instead kept singing the lyrics.

“Cops on the corner always ignore somebody’s getting paid. Jimmy’s got it wired, the law’s for hire. Got it made in the shade,”

She continued that way for the entire concert; by the end of the three hours, she was dead exhausted. Zacky was still standing on the side of the stage, but she wasn’t letting him get to her; she was going to prove how much better she was than them.

When the time came for the finale, she smiled at the audience. “Now, I know I’m not my father, and I’m never going to be as amazing at singing this song as he is. But I remember when I was about six years old, and he would sing this song to me to help me sleep at night. If he was here, touring and singing for all you lovely fans, he would sing it to me over the phone, even though he had to have been exhausted. And so I want to dedicate this song to him; my Dad, who’s sitting in a tiny, cramped, and uncomfortable jail cell because my stupid ex-boyfriend couldn’t keep it in his pants. Sing along if you know the words, and pull out those fuckin’ lighters and cell phones,” Lili said to the crowd as she sat down on the piano next to Tommy, who was playing the intro to the song. She started singing the lyrics, softly, and lovingly. “You know, I’m a dreamer, but my heart’s of gold. I had to run away high so I wouldn’t come home low. Just when things went right, doesn’t mean they were always wrong. Just take this song and you’ll never be left all alone. Take me to your heart, feel me in your bones. Just one more night and comin’ off this long and windin’ road,”

As she sang the song, tears nearly formed in her eyes when she saw how many people had their cell phones and lighter’s opened and flickering to the song; to the song she was singing. She hadn’t thought she’d done very good. When the song ended, and everyone came together at the front of the stage and did their final bow, the fans cheered just as loudly as she’d heard them when her father was singing. She smiled at the fans one last time before following the guys backstage. As soon as she was out of sight from the fans, Zacky touched her arm, and Nikki yanked it off of her.

“Leave her alone, Baker. Or didn’t her father teach you?”

“I just…I wanted to say I’m sorry,” He told her. She scoffed, and glared at him.

“Whatever, Baker. Sorry doesn’t fix a damn thing, and you fucking know it. Dad was right; I should just stay away from fucking musicians. Ironic, isn’t it? I thought he had it all wrong, but he’s so fucking right that it’s fucking funny.”

“You…You did a great—“

“Don’t you even try to change the subject, Baker. I don’t want to hear compliments, especially from you. But if you knew me as well as you evidently thought you did, you’d know that. I hate being complimented. Just go away. I don’t want to deal with your sorry ass tonight.”

With that, Lili started trying to walk away. Just as she tried to take a step, Zacky put his arm on hers again, and she turned to glare at him. Nikki and Tommy did as well; Mick had his arm protectively on Lili’s shoulder, even though he couldn’t physically hurt Zacky because of his condition.

“If you don’t take your hand off of my arm in a fucking second, I’m not going to stop Uncle Tommy and Uncle Nikki from kicking your ass. And I’ll get our manager to claim that you were harassing me, so you won’t be able to press charges this time. Get your fucking hand off of me!”

With that, Zacky took his hand off of her arm and sauntered away, a mix of emotions written all over his eyes.