Wasting Love

Alright so first of all lets get this straight this isn't a story about Guns N' Roses. It's before they existed pre-Guns if you will. Before Axl and Slash knew each other existed. When the famous Axl Rose was the infamous William Bailey and it wasn't Duff McKagan, but Michael McKagan. My name is Roxanne Bailey, William Bailey is my twin brother older then me by two and a half minutes and this is my story.

It was the summer of '77 the year that we all turned fifteen. The year that flared pants were in and Jimi Hendrix was still the hottest thing to ever walk this planet. The year that I was going into grade ten while both Michael and Bill had dropped out, it also happened the year that I lost my heart to someone I never expected too.

The three of us had always been close or at least Bill and Michael had while I was that bratty little kid that was always trying to be ditched. This summer though something was different, they were finally accepting me I guess you could say or at least Andrew was, Bill not so much.

"Hey, ya going to the party tonight?" Bill asked Michael who shurgged it off. From where I was sitting on the porch I rolled my eyes, parties and picking up chicks that was all they seemed to do lately, especially Bill.

"Eh, I don't know man." Michael started, "I mean your going with that blonde chich whats-her-face, so I donb't know." Bill shook his head and sighed.

"What's your point? So you don't have a chich to go with, theres nothing wrong with that, just go alone and pick up some single babe, and it's just down on the beach so you don't need a ride or anything. What do you say?" Bill pleaded while Michael just shook his head then looked around until his eyes landed on me. I tried to ignore his eyes and instead focused on the book I was supposedly reading.

"Sure, I'll go." He said after a moment then looked away from me to Bill.

"Haha, awesome, so we'll just meet up here at like six?" Bill replied enthustically.

"My place at six." Michael corrected him with a chuckle as Bill nodded his head.

"Fine your place at six," he agreed after a moment then started to walk up the steps to the house. "Maybe you'll find a chick to go with in the next." He paused a moment to look at his watch, "three hours!" He finished with a laugh Michael laughed too then watched as Bill walked into the dump that we called a house.

"Haha, who knows?" He called after Bill then waited a moment hesitantly from where he was standing. "You think he's gonna be in there for awhile?" He asked after a moment of silence, surprised I looked up from the book I was reading at Michael who was standing part way up the sidewalk that lead to our house.

"I don't know, if you're waiting for him you might as well go inside and see what he's up too." I told Andrew lamely then began reading my book again.

"Nah, I'm not really waiting for him, actually I was more interested in talking to you." He replied softly, that sure got my attention. I shut my book, put it down beside me and looked at Andrew.

"Well?" I asked after a moment of just staring at him. To say he was good looking was an understatement, Michael McKagan was the type of person that girls would stop and stare at and just dream of being noticed by him. He had the bright blue eyes and the million different shades of blonde hair that did the cute little curl thing.

"Well what?" He asked then took a few steps forward and sat down beside me, moving my book out of his way.

"You said you wanted to talk?" I reminded him with a gentle laugh, he let out a chuckle, not once taking his eyes off me.

"Right about that, are you doing anything tonight? And if you aren't is there anyway I could possibly persuade you to accompany me to a beach party?" Michael asked me with a smile on his face, I froze a moment before answering.

"Duff I'd love to go with you but I'm not sure if Bill would approve." I answered honestly earning me those adorable puppy dog eyes from him.

"Oh c'mon Roxanne it's just one date nothing bad is gonna happen with both me and Bill there. " He said still giving me those puppy dog eyes.

"Fine I'll go." I said after a moment of debating, he was right nothing bad was gonna happen with both of them there, and I was safer there then at home.

"Well then I'll see you at six?" He said after a few moments of silence and then stood up.

"Yeah, six. Your house right?" I said looking from the ground to Michael.

"That's right, my house." He vertified as he walked down the sidewalk, then at the edge of our property made a left towards his house. "Bye!" He called to me as he walked out of view.

"Bye!" I called a moment too late but, still hoped he would be it. Then I picked up my book, stood up and walked inside our little shithole that we called a house. As usual everyone's crap was everywhere and honestly it wasn't mine sure there were a few things here and there that were mine but most of it was Bill's or shudder my dads.

"So d'ya think that Duff is gonna get a date for the beach party tonight?" Bill asked me with a chuckle.

"Who knows, it wouldn't surprise me if he did." I said shrugging off his question, he didn't know that I was going with Michael just yet because if he didn't approve well it was just better that he knew later then sooner. "Is dad here?" I asked quietly after a moment looking around for any sign that my step-father who requested us to call him dad was there.

"Nope, at least I don't think so." Bill said as he brushed his shoulder lenght red hair out of his face. That's right ladies and gentlemen even back when we were fifteen he had his long red hair that would eventually make him famous.

"Ok, good." I sighed in relief and managed to relax, Bill gave me a small smile.

"Are you sure that you want me to go to the party tonight? 'Cause ya know I don't halfta go, I can stick around here if ya want." Bill offered shooting a glance out the window when a very old battered car pulled up and a very grumpy man got out of it. "Shit!" He exclaimed, "Rox get upstairs now!" He told me his tone of voice becoming authortive. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that man -out stepfather- get out of the car and begin walking towards the house. "Go god-damnit!" Bill said, pushing me towards the stairs, I climbed up two stairs before I hesitated and looked at Bill who was watching me with worried eyes.

"Just go, I'll be fine." He told me and shot another glance out the window, our stepfather was halfway up the driveway I shook my head and walked back down the stiar so that I was beside Bil. "Go hurry, before he gets here." He said then tried to push me away.

"No." I said quietly and shook my head, "I'm not leaving you again." I told him firmly.

"God-damnit the times you pick to be stubborn." Bill said shaking his head. "Upstairs! Now, I'm right behind you!" He told me then shoved me towards the stairs. Managing to catch my balance I ran up the stairs with Bill hot on my heels. "My room," he hissed from behind me as the front door creaked open, we basically ran down the short narrow hallway to the last door on the right where Bill shoved me in then slammed the door behind him.

"That's it, with him here I'm not going out tonight I'm not leaving you alone with that lunatic." He said firmly then sat down beside me.

"No it's fine you can go out since I've got plans too." I told him, he gave me a look of surprise but didn't say anything he just nodded.

"Ok then I guess we're both going out tonight and since it's here, that means we're going out the window." He replied as I let out a groan. Going out the window was never as easy as it sounded. Hell climbing out the window was the easiest part! Then you had to climb down the tree and basically be attacked by the branches and just overall it was a pain in the ass.

"Do you think he's gonna come upstairs?" I asked quietly after a moment of silence.

"Nah, I doubt it he hardly ever comes up here." Bill replied, "plus he's gonna be too drunk to move pretty soon." He added after a moment with a chuckle, for the sake of Bill I also forced out a chuckle. We talked quietly amoungst ourselves for the rest of the afternoon or at least Bill talked while I read my book and answered him.