Reason to Live

Four weeks Later...

I lifted my head from the floor and wearily looked around what was Debbie and Dave’s hotel room. We trashed the place. Joe Perry was asleep on a couch, with an empty bottle of whisky cradled in his arms, our manager Dave was face first on the floor, and Joey Kramer was hogging the Queen sized bed, like a little baby. The rest of our bands had obviously partied elsewhere. The floor was covered in a few random people that I could not remember meeting, as well as glass, bottles and broken pieces of furniture. It looked like we had been in some sort of epic battle scene. This wasn’t new to me.

The tour with Aerosmith changed my life. For the first time ever I was encouraged to be wild and reckless, instead of being punished for doing so. I gained a lot of confidence, even if it was liquid encouraged. It was simple rock n roll math.
One smashed window plus two days of non-stop parties equals three amazing songs ideas. One drink with Joe Perry times 40 hours of bar hopping, helium inhaling, cop flashing and prank phone calls, equals 40 hours of “being good” demanded by both our record labels.
One crazy bet plus Steven Tyler and myself equals three drunk men, Him, Brad Whitford and Joe Perry, walking the streets of London in their underwear.
It was one of the most memorable months of my life.

Career wise, the tour was amazing also. We gained a reputation for being the girls that party with Aerosmith, and by doing so built partnerships that would result in having Steven and Joe offer to both co-produce our debut album.

“Who’s gonna pay the damage bill?” Debbie asked, helping me off the floor.

“Dave I guess,” I said confused.

“We fucked this place up. Do you remember anything?” she asked combing her blonde hair with her fingers.

“Nope, probably best I don’t either. We’ve changed, I don’t know if this is me,” I said to her, observing my trashy reflection in a smashed mirror.

“You can’t be innocent forever. It’s this life, no other.”

“Let’s just make this an Aerosmith exclusive thing,” I said walking towards the bathroom. “I don’t trust myself when I drink,” I yelled to her.

“I don’t trust you either. Last night you kicked Brad in the balls!” she yelled back. I shut the door behind me and laughed to myself.

“It’s really not you,” I whispered to my reflection. My hair was ratty and I had makeup smudged over my face. My eyes looked like they were melting. I even had to think about where I was. “Paris, France,” I said to myself once I started the shower.

I felt so dirty. I spent a long time in the shower, watching as glitter poured down my skin, mixed with water. I didn’t even remember wearing glitter. When I returned, everyone I knew was gone. Everyone but Joe.

“What’s goin on?” I asked.

“They’ve checked out before the hotel sees the damage we’ve caused,” Joe explained.

“Oh, ok. Where’d they go?” I asked, searching for my left shoe. I wore Debbie’s white dress, because it was the only clean clothing I could find. Joe picked up my missing shoe up and threw it at me, unexpectedly. “Hey watch it!”

“They went for breakfast down the road. I told them we’d catch up... Hey! You watch it!” he yelled, once I threw a tv remote at him.

“Maybe you should watch it. That way you’d see me and see that I was watching you as you watched me watched it,” I said smartly with my hands on my hips.

“You’re such a weirdo,” he laughed.

“Maybe I am perfectly normal, and you Perry are the weird one,” I suggested as we walked out of the room.

“Only a weirdo would think that. Oh man I can’t believe you kicked Brad in the balls,” Joe laughed.

“Did I really? I don’t remember it,” I said, handing my key over to the woman at the reception desk.

“Yeah, you were wasted way before the rest of us. You went silly for a little bit, puked then fell asleep. All I know is that Brad will never, ever make fun of your accent again.”

“Oh, how embarrassing,” I said, rubbing my eyes with my hands. He smiled at me oddly. “What?” I asked.

“You have a stray eyelash,” he told me.

“Oh,” I said, trying to remove it. “Gone?”

“No,” Joe laughed. “I’ll get it.” His fingers gently brushed against my skin, and I was sure that I was blushing. How could I not? IT WAS JOE FUCKING PERRY! I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to him, he was amazing. Our eyes met for a second and I looked away quickly. It was so awkward. I just hoped that he went back to making jokes and insulting me playfully. At least that way I could see him as a friend and not some hot dude touching my face. He glanced to the side then quickly stepped away from me, as if he wasn’t near me at all. I thought that was a little odd. I looked in the same direction as he did, and very quickly understood why.

I had seen some pretty amazing sights during my time in Europe, but nothing quite like what I saw at that moment.

“Bruce!” I screamed, racing towards where he stood near the door to the hotel lobby. He pulled off his shades and smiled at me. We made a bit of a scene, with me leaping into his arms and all. It had been a long time, and I missed him, so I didn’t give a damn what France thought. He greeted me with a beautiful, tender kiss.

“Oh baby,” he said, grinning, while looking me up and down. Debbie was a lot smaller than me, so her dress was a tight fit. Apparently, it looked good. He slid his hands along my figure, resting them firmly on my butt, once he pulled me very close against himself.

“What are you doing here Bruce?” I asked, obviously overjoyed, but stunned at the same time.

“We had to cancel a few of our shows. There’s wild storms and hurricane threats, so the whole city is on alert. That means I have the weekend off, so I knew straight away where I wanted to be,” he smiled, going for another kiss.

“God, I missed this,” I sighed.

“That makes two of us. I’ve been going insane without you,” he said, playing with my hair.

“Ask the girls. I haven’t been dealing with being without you that well either.”

Bruce laughed. “I can imagine.”

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Joe standing where I left him, looking kind of bored.

“Oh, Bruce, have you met Joe Perry?” I asked.

“No babe. Why?” Bruce asked, planting a kiss on my nose. That threw my out of my train of thought, so I had to stop and smile at him. “Audrey?” Bruce laughed.

“Oh.. ah, he’s just over there,” I said, turning around. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”

Joe looked incredibly cool when we approached him. The way he stood, his facial expressions, and the way he light up a cigarette. He had an aura of rock royalty that cannot be matched. Whereas Bruce, offstage, next to me was beaming with this adorable smile. It was a strange contrast.

“Joe, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Bruce,” I said.

Joe nodded his head and greeted Bruce with “Hi.”

“Great to meet you,” Bruce replied.

There was a brief moment of silence until Joe said “ I’m going to see where the others went. See ya later,” then walked off.

“Ok, bye Joe,” I waved.

“Bye,” Bruce said.

I wrapped my arms around Bruce’s waist, looked up at him and just radiated a smile. I was so happy that he was there.

“So you’ve been hanging out with Joe Perry?” Bruce asked, moving his lips close to mine.

“Yeah, we’ve been partying with all of Aerosmith,” I kissed him. “Why? Are you jealous?” i teased.

“Well now I am,” he laughed.

“Don’t be,” I kissed him. I moved my lips against his ear. “Because you’ll never have competition,” I whispered. He gave me a very impressed look. I had to bite my lip to suppress my grin.

“Excuse me,” the woman from the reception desk said, gaining both our attention. She spoke English, but had a strong French accent as expected. “Would you and your husband be needing the key to your room still? Check out isn’t until another four hours.”

“Oh, actually yes, I would need the key, thank you,” I said reaching for the key, completely unaware that she had just referred to Bruce as my “husband”.

“We actually aren’t married,” Bruce clarified.

“Oh, my apologies,” the woman said, embarrassed.

“It’s ok,” I said quietly.

“She’s just my girlfriend,” Bruce said awkwardly.

“Ok, ready?” I said quickly, hoping to stop him from saying anything else that degraded our relationship.

“Sure ,” he said, and we proceeded to my room.

I was glad that the party ended up in Debbie’s room, and not mine. My hotel room was very classic and romantically designed. There was a red and white theme, everything from the blankets to the curtains. The view of the city added that touch of class.

“What were you supposed to be doing this morning?” Bruce asked, once walking inside.

“Nothing really. We were just going to have breakfast, which I was sort of looking forward to, but anyway. Then the girls and I had a photo shoot.”

“Photo shoot? Wow if I didn’t know any better I’d think I was dating a model,” Bruce joked, pulling me next to him on the bed.

“No, Bruce. You choose a woman with a personality... and an appetite. I don’t qualify as a model.”

He laughed. “Too bad. Because you’re hot. You’d be an amazing model.”

“Oh, Bruce. Are you trying to get laid?” I asked, pulling at his cheeks. “All these compliments!”

He smiled. “I sort of hoped I would regardless.”

“Why do you think I invited you to a boring hotel room?” I laughed.

“Sometimes, I have no idea what you’re thinking,” he said before kissing my nose.

“Hmm. What do you think I’m thinking now?” I teased, almost ripping his shirt off him. I gently weaved my fingers through his chest hair, pushing myself against him until I was lying on top of him.

“I hope you’re thinking about me,” he said with steamy kisses down my neck.

“Ohhh, I never stop thinking about you,” I sighed. Bruce ran his hands up my thighs, sliding up my dress as he felt his way along my body. Our lips crashed in strong, passionate kisses, only separating as he pulled my dress off over my head. I took a heavy breath and giggled when he rolled us over, so that he was now on top of me. I looked up at him and smiled.

“Glad to skip breakfast?” he smiled back. His chin dimple looked so appealing.

“There’s always room service,” I replied.