Used to Love 'Em

Four hours later.

"Flight one six four from Los Angeles, California to Indianapolis, Indiana now docking. Please remain seated until the plane comes to a complete stop and the seatbelt signs are off. We thank you very much for flying with us and hope you enjoyed your flight." The lady on the intercom said as the seatbelt signs flickered but stayed on. Around him people began to clap, applauding the pilot for landing and flying them safely here. Axl put his hands together and clapped a few times before he stopped. Others continued to clap for another three minutes until the seatbelt sign finally went off. Then like a huge heard of morons everyone got up and trying to get off the plane as fast as possible. Axl pulled his bag out from under the seat in front of him and took the black and silver seatbelt off his lap and put it gently down. This could take some time, especially considering the amount of people on the plane and how badly they wanted to get off, which seemed to be very badly just for the record.

"Let's get a move on people." Axl mumbled as he stood up and took a look. The majority of people were gone, of course the exits were still crammed with a shitload of people but in all honesty how long could it take for them to get the fuck off the plane? All they had to do was get there bags and fucking leave. Not a big deal, and it shouldn't have, in Axl's opinion have taken more than five minutes.

"Goodbye." One of the attendants said to him a smile on her face that showed off all of her white teeth. He nodded his head, acknowledging that he had indeed heard her as he slung his back pack over his left shoulder and got out of the plane and then finally into the terminal. He was fucking t-i-r-e-d! After all it was one o'clock in the bloody morning and he still had to check into a hotel, it looked like his plan would go as he wanted too. He hadn't planned to say a night in Indianapolis, or anywhere for that matter. All he wanted to do was get on the plane, get to Indianapolis, drive to Lafayette, the city that he had been born and grown up in.

Get his business done and then leave. No-where in that plan anywhere was stay overnight and get used to the city. No, and the reason why? Simple because he did not want to stay for a while he did not want to sit and twiddle his thumbs in a completely different state as he waited for time to pass, so that he could strike. He just wanted to get the fuck of out Indiana as fast as he could; he wanted to go back to LA. He wanted to go home, actually the more that he thought about it the more that he realized that he would be back and forth quite a bit that he would end up flying from LA to Indianapolis quite a bit. Either that or he would be driving and that was one hell of a drive. It would cost much much less if he could fly, but that could potentially raise suspicion. But his plans, his plans with Slash, they were going to be completely ruined because if he was here that left Slash back at home, alone, in the basement. He would starve to death if Axl stayed longer than a few days, and that was not enough time to get everything done, and because of obvious reasons he would not be a be to bring Slash down here, or at least he couldn’t be able to make it all the way, because he knew that as soon as he got Slash into a semi public place he would start screaming like the best of them. It was rather understandable, after all if you thought that you had a chance of living after being trapped in a basement yeah most people would scream, they’d scream bloody fucking murder. Or at least Axl would.

Of course not everyone was like Axl, that was a good thing, because if you were like Axl the that meant that there would be a lot of dead people, or a lot more dead people, and a lot of angry people, and slightly sadistic. That was never a good combination, and one Axl Rose was more than enough. And that as something that you could knew because it was a well known fact, a very well known fact. Axl looked around the airport it was familiar to him, quite familiar, after all this was the place he had always flown in at, the same place every time, never changing ever. It was always the same with the white walls everywhere and the corny old “welcome to Indianapolis.” Slogan that seemed to be plastered everywhere. It was old, it was the same, it was boring in a word. Axl was used to it, he was used to visiting it and then sixty-three miles north-west was Lafayette, sixty-three miles away was the little or rather big community he had grown up in. He was not alone there either, that was where he had met fellow former Guns N’ Roses rhythm guitarist Jeffery Dean Isabell or better known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, yes that was where him and Axl had first met at Lafayette High school where they had both attended and dropped out to peruse a musical career. Of course Axl had left a number of years before Izzy and it had been a freak accident that they had ran into each other in LA, a freak accident indeed that lead to the formation of Guns N’ Roses. In fact the more that Axl thought about it as he walked down the little strip of the airport towards where his luggage would show, or better show up un or else he would’ t be in a good mood because that meant that his stay would be postponed even fucking longer. He doubted that the airport would lose his luggage, they were good with things like that and in all the years he had flown from LA to Indianapolis they had never lost his luggage, but of course there was a first time for everything...

“This is fucking ridiculous.” Axl grumbled three and a half hours later and his and the rest of the plane’s luggage failed to show. It Things seemed to have gone disastrously, the luggage compartment had frozen shut and since it was getting cold up in Indianapolis it did not seem to be melting, maybe that was because the stupid pilot had forgotten to put de-icer, the thing that kept the luggage compartment from freezing shut on the luggage compartment back in LA. Axl wanted to smash his own head against a wall, why this time? Why did it have to happen this time, when he had to maintain a tight schedule? He had too, not just for himself but for Slash as well, sure he did not want Slash around, but he did not want Slash to starve to death, that would just be mean and cruel and well....no fun unless Axl was there to see it happen, to taunt and torture him with a piece of bread, the kind with raisins in it. Slash’s favourite and perhaps a cup of coffee to go alone with it. Black and strong as possible, oh he could have great fun with that. He could put it just out of Slash’s reach, so he’d be able to almost get to it and then perhaps just accidently spill it all over Slash, oh that would be evil. Evil and fun, but no that was not part of the plan. Thinking of food made Axl’s stomach rumble as he realized just how hungry he was. He shot a look at the place where his luggage would hopefully show up, it would probably be a while and even if it was not with the mass horde of people that were floating round it was almost better for him to wait until they all managed to grab their shit and leave because then he would just be able to get his stuff, proceed through customs unbothered and get whatever method of transportation that was waiting for him outside to Lafayette. Just down the hall and to the left there would be a Dunkin’ Doughnuts, he would be able to get a coffee and perhaps a doughnut, that would keep him tied up until he got out of the airport, then he’d go to Lafayette, grab a bite to eat at McDonalds or some fast-food joint and proceed about his day accordingly.

Of course he would probably drop dead from that, after all, he needed his sleep of else he was cranky and a cranky Axl was something that no-one, included his girlfriend, any of his band mates or even Mike wanted to deal with. When he was in a bad mood, you wanted to go to all costs to avoid him. Or maybe because today was going to be a special day, maybe it would benefit if he did not sleep, no no. Axl shook that thought from his mind almost instantly as he walked towards the Dunkin’; Doughnuts’, it had better be open or else Axl was not going to be happy, at all. No he was going to sleep and get a few hours, meaning maybe two or three hours of sleep, and then he would get up and proceed about his day accordingly, maybe even drop by Lafayette high school where he and Izzy had once hung out, the little shack behind it, where they had first done pot. All the good times the little-err big shithole held. Getting caught by the cops, getting chased by the cops, getting chased by his stepfather, getting yelled at by the principle, and getting yelled at by his stepfather because he had gotten caught by the cops. Oh yes, it had been tons of fun, and the cops and his stepfather seemed to repeat themselves in those memories, by quite a bit actually. He took his place in line for Dunkin’ Doughnuts, there was only two people in front of him, it would not take that long. After all it couldn’t possibly take more than five minutes. He casted an anxious glance down the stretch of hallway. He did not felt that he needed to be super quick; he could take his time after all no-one would steal his luggage, or they’d better not because that would mean dealing with a angry Axl. The person in front of him was called to order and the one who had previously ordered was just receiving his coffee and thanking the young man that had served him.

“Next please.” The cashier said as she called Axl forward and the lady ahead of him stepped aside patiently waiting for whatever she had ordered to be served. Axl could now smell the coffee and the doughnuts and just the smell was making his empty stomach ache and his mouth salivate, he was practically drooling!

“Um yes, I’d like a large black coffee, one sugar and a Boston Crème.” He said clearing his throat. “To go.” He added after a moment, she nodded her head acknowledging that she had indeed heard him and she was not ignoring him. She furiously typed in the order-his order before cursing under his breath.

“Stupid machine.” She muttered as she hit the side of the machine, it beeped but otherwise did not seem to do anything.

"Having issues?” Axl asked as he held back a tiny laugh, after all it was not every day that he stood in Indianapolis airport at two o’clock in the morning waiting for his luggage and watching an employee of Dunkin’ Doughnuts of all places, fight with the cash register.

“I'm always having issues with this one, it works for everyone else but the second that I come up to do cash.” She let out a groan and shook her head. “The second I am up here it just goes crazy! Won’t open breaks down and then when I call someone and it starts working again!” She said with an exasperated sigh as he let out another small chuckle.

“Oh wow that does sound like quite the tale.” He replied as she shrugged her shoulders and gave the machine another slap, as if it would work the more she abused it.

“It is, it is almost like the machine is possessed of something. Like it doesn’t like me or something.” The girl joked as she machine it again. He stole a quick glance at her name tag, Amanda, it seemed to fit her more or less. There was just something about the way she looked and the way they seemed to fit. Like she looked like an Amanda if that made sense.

"Amanda! What are you doing?" A male voice called from behind her, Amanda flinched back, maybe it was her boss or another superior member of the staff at Dunkin' Doughnuts.

"Um, there's a problem with the machine Kyle!" She called back, she seemed to be a tad nervous which made Axl think that it could be her boss, or someone with the authority to fire her.

"Again?” He asked her with an exasperated sigh obviously from what Amanda had told him and from the tone of voice Kyle seemed to be using this seemed to be a fairly normal occurrence.

"Fine." He said with another small sigh as he pushed Amanda out of the way, not an obvious way but in a slightly hidden way, as If you weren’t watching closely you would imply thing that she had moved at the exact same time he had stepped into her sport moments earlier. He looked at the cash register as he tapped the screen impatiently before and then turned to her. "It is working fine, I don't know what you are talking about." He told her before he turned around. Her face turned a shade of pink, probably because she was embarrassed. She muttered something under her breath that Axl did not catch before forcing another obviously fake smile on her face.

“That’ll be ten fifty-six.” Amanda said as she adopted the "worker face." As he liked to call it, the one where you got rid of all the fun and became serious, like you were working, hence the worker face. Axl hummed as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and drug through the numerous receipts that he had recently acquired from the ...strange things that he had bough recently. He looked in his wallet and pulled out a twenty before handing it to her., she took it gingerly and pulled open the cash register and began to count out the change.

"No keep it, I think you deserve it, especially with that possessed machine." Axl said as he winked at her, she gave him a smile which he gladly returned before proceeded down the tiny line to wait for his coffee and his doughnut. The man, Kyle took a few minutes before he sloppily handed the coffee over to him. It had spilt and there were coffee stains on the cup, and there were what looked like burn marks on the paper bag, something did not seem like it was adding up.

He raised an eyebrow at Kyle who shot him a glare, like he had overheard, which he probably had, the conversation he had with Amanda and the extra money, the generous tip he had given her.

"Thank you." Axl said in a low tone sending him another one of his brilliant fake smiles before he picked up his coffee and little bag, he could already feel the heat from the coffee escaping from the side of the cup and into his hands, his hand was going to hurt after that, maybe it would hinder the next step of his plan, he certainly hoped not, he wanted things to go as smoothly as possible, without anything going wrong. Or as little as possibly going wrong.

He walked back passed Amanda and the now huge line of people waiting for their chance to get a coffee, he shot her a smile as she looked up and he though he saw her return it but he wasn't sure.

He got back to the luggage area and saw, unsurprisingly that everyone was still there and no-one had moved a muscle, the luggage was still trapped in the airplane, he held back a groan as he found a nice comfortable spot on the cold floor and got comfortable, it looked like he would be hear a while, at least he had something to eat and drink, but still he was going to be there awhile.

Another fucking forty-five fucking minutes later.

"About fucking time we got out of there." Axl thought as he managed to be the first out of the airport and quickly ran to the nearest yellow cab. He was quite sick of the airport, quite sick of the Indianapolis airport to be exact. He was sick of the pilot and the fact that the fucking luggage compartment had frozen shut.

"Where too sir?" The cab driver asked as he rolled down the window and popped the trunk of the trunk. Axl threw his luggage in as and then slammed it shut before proceeding to get into the backseat "So where too?" The driver asked him again, as he sat down and clicked his seatbelt into place.

"Lafayette, it is about-" Axl started, ready to give him the exact directions there, as well as the perfect route

"I know where that is, I've been there a time or two." The cab driver told him as Axl slammed and began to drive along they were basically the first people out of the parking/airport area, whatever it was called. "So are you from around here, or just dropping in to visit a relative?" The cabbie asked after a moment of silence as he pulled out of the airport onto what looked like a main street due to the amount of traffic it looked like it could hold and the amount it was holding.

“No it is just for a business trip.” Axl answered, well he was not exactly lying, it was for a business trip, just not the kind that normal people went on.

“Ah I see,” the taxi driver replied as he slammed on the breaks. “Son of a bitch.” He swore as Axl let out a tiny chuckle, this was pretty typical of Indianapolis roads, where ninety-eight percent of the population had no fucking idea how to drive properly.

“Damn people not knowing how to drive.” Axl offered helpfully ass the taxi driver nodded his head as another car cut him off.

“You're telling me.” He huffed as he finally got a little leeway and began to drive. Lafayette was about an hour away, but that was strictly driving time and did not include if there was a lot of traffic. “It looks like we’re in luck, we just managed to hit the early morning rush hour traffic.” The driver said as Axl let out a groan. He was tired, hell he was fucking exhausted, the few hours of sleep he had managed to sneak in on the plane was not making him feel any better at all.

“Anxious to get that business trip over and done with?” The driver noted as Axl nodded his head trying to keep his eyes open.

“More like anxious to get to a hotel and sleep.” Axl replied tiredly as the taxi driver nodded his head, more or less understanding where he was coming from.

“I know what you mean.” Say you do look pretty tired, you can sleep and I will wake you up when where..." The taxi driver thought for a moment as if trying to recall a specific location where he had wanted to go. “Actually where in Lafayette did you want to go?” He asked peering at Axl though the mirror.

“I don’t know really care, just the nearest, cheapest, hotel motel in Lafayette.” Axl replied as he stifled a yawn. “As long as it is close to Lafayette High school.” He added as an afterthought as the driver nodded his head.

“|I think I know the hotel you are talking about. I grew up in Lafayette and graduated from Lafayette high school, it is a shithole.” He said with a laugh as if remembering some fond memory of Lafayette. “You know that Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin from Guns N’ Roses, that they both actually attended Lafayette high school.. Of course neither of them graduated, they both dropped out and went down to LA, and then the next thing you know they're huge." The taxi driver said as Axl feigned mock surprise. What an interesting story.

"That's really cool actually; did you know either of them?" Axl asked as he got more comfortable on the seat, he was almost asleep, well essentially he was asleep. The taxi driver laughed at his question.

"Actually I didn't know Axl very well, he was a bit of a loose cannon when it came to him temper, but I had talked to Izzy a few times before he left. He was not known as Izzy then, he had a ugly name, they both did to be honest. Jeffery Dean Isabell and William Bruce Bailey Jr. You can’t get much worse than that for a name." He said with a laugh, Axl chuckled along with him, he could live with someone hating on his name, because he personally hated it too. "Izzy though, he seemed like a very nice guy, just a long haired dude that liked music, that was simply it." The taxi driver continued as Ax shut his eyes. "When they both left, I was seconds away from following them, but the 'rents would not let me, I told my ma I wanted to go and she practically had a fit when I told her friends had also gone, So I had to stay in Lafayette until I graduated. The day after I took off and was dead set on going down to LA, and seeing the lights and everything else. I had enough money to make it on a plane so I drove up to Indianapolis to get a flight down, but I don’t know, I never made it any further." The taxi driver was talking to no-one now, because Axl had long since fallen asleep on the seat his mouth open a tiny bit. The driver shot a look in the mirror before letting out a chuckle and fiddling with the radio. The drive was going to be long and silent, the way he liked it.

"Um, sir we're at the motel." The driver said as he gently shook Axl awake, He opened his eyes groggily as he looked around.

"What?" He asked as he yawned and stretched his arms, he had managed to sleep pretty much the entire way, it was a uncomfortable and restless sleep though because of the seatbelt and since he was not allowed to take it off, the last thing he wanted was to get caught by the cops.

"We're at the motel, in Lafayette, by the high school, it is just down the block and the next left." The driver said as he gestured to the left, more or less the general direction of the high school which they both had attended.

“Thank you, how much do I owe you?" Axl asked as he shook his head and finally started to wake up and begin to dig for his wallet, it was starting to hurt his side, after all he had slept on it for the past hour not to mention sat on it at the airport while he waited for the luggage compartment to thaw out more or less.

"Well, the total bill is one hundred and fifty and thirty-three cents" The taxi driver as he checked out his meter to make sure it was correct, he gave Axl a look as if to say sorry for such a big bill, Axl merely shrugged his shoulders as he pulled out his wallet and rummaged through it trying to find the correct amount of change.

"Here you go." Axl said as the driver popped open the trunk and Axl placed a handful of bills into his hand, he counted them before looking though his pockets, trying to find exact change. "No just keep it, I hate carrying change." Axl told him with a smile, the taxi driver gave him a look of thankfulness and watched as Axl got his stuff out of the trunk. "Thanks for the ride." Axl said as the man nodded his head as he slowly got into the taxi and started its engine.

"No thank you for giving me such a generous tip." The drive replied pointedly as he put his car in drive and began to drive away, leaving Axl in front of a little motel. He sighed as he picked up its bag and began to move it towards the entrance of the motley. Bloody hell it was heavy, especially considering that he had packed light, if he had packed normally, well that would not have been fun to carry, not fun at all. At least now he had gotten an extra hour for a catnap and was feeling more or less a little better, not to mention he was definitely a little more energetic.

"Now to bring this stupid thing inside." Axl grumbled as he watched the taxi disappear as it turned the corner. He dragged his bag up the stairs of the tiny motel and through the tiny front door and then up to the front desk. To be honest the motel, hotel whatever it is technical term called looked like a shithole. It was dingy and the lights were set dim. The wall were white-washed and the carpet was a maroon color had had holes in it probably from months or other insects that had gotten hungry and had been in dire need of a snack.

The little rug in front of what he presumed was the front desk was gray and mud stained and the front desk was a small little thing that would barely pass a normal person's stomach. The people who worked at the front desk must have been all midgets. It was an ugly color too, like a oak color but not as pure, like it was fake wood, or something that did not quite have the same richness value.

"Hello?"" Axl asked cautiously, the place looked rather deserted as he approached the front desk.

"Hello there kind sir, is there something that I can do for you at this moment in time?" A older man with greying hair asked, he seemed to appear out of no-where. Axl tried unsuccessfully to hide the surprise that was on his face, he seemed to just appear in the room. He was wearing a little well what looked like a suit, with the black pants and jacket and a tie.

"Yeah I'd just like a room, just one night." Axl said as he looked around, he became more and more hesitant about actually spending the night in this hotel, because well he did not want to get robbed while he slept. Or his throat slit for that matter.

“Of course sir, how does room two-oh-three sound?” The old man asked as he typed something into the register.

“Sounds fantastic.” Axl replied trying to add just a little excitement to his voice, like he actually gave a damn and was happy that he was spending a night in such a wonderful hotel.

“Great, and it is fifty-four dollars a night.” The man said as he handed Axl a set of old keys. Axl shot him a look that was fucking crazy. “And check out time is ten-thirty tomorrow.” He told the Axl who shrugged, he would be out of the hotel much much before that. Hell he planned to be out of the little hotel as soon as he was done his business, which meant that he probably would not be spending the night. After all that hour long nap did fantastic for him, it did wonders. He would be able to make it though the day, speaking of the day, it was only seven am. Which meant that he wouldn’t even need to check into a room, he would be done his business before the day was over.

“Actually never mind sir, I just remembered that I don’t need a room, my old friend lives around here and I’m sure he’d have an extra place to stay.” Axl said as politely as possible as he handed back the keys to the elderly man who looked rather upset as he hit the delete key and then snatched the keys back. ”But if it is possible, do you think I could use the phone? I just need to call and confirm his address.” He asked, clearing his throat doing his best to sound embarrassed, “and a phone book.” He added after a moment, the man gave him a glare, like he shouldn’t have even bothered asking for something like that.

“Of course we do, let me go and get the phone book.” The man said curtly as he bent down and rummaged for a moment before standing back up a enormous phone book in his hands. He dropped it in front of Axl and a plume of dust rose up, making the man go into a sneezing fit. “There’s the phone, help yourself.” He said as he gave Axl the phone, which of course was a corded one.

“Thank you.” Axl said as he flipped open the phone book, trying to find a cab company, after all by the time they found an available cab he would have finished his business, or at least he hoped so. Nothing was worse than standing around waiting for a cab after his business was done, when all he really wanted to. He called up a cab company, by the name of yellow cars and made arrangements, giving him the address that he would be at, it was only a few blocks away and his suitcase had wheels, so it would not be that much of a hassle to drag his stuff over there,. They promised to send someone as soon as there was a cab available. Axl said a final thank you before he hung up the phone and closed the phone book. The man looked at him expectantly.

“Could I use your bathroom before I leave? It was a rather long drive from the airport?” Axl asked rather hesitantly, he did not want to make the man more upset then he already was.

“Of course, it is just down the hall.” The man said and gestured towards the general direction of the bathroom as Axl left his suitcase and went towards it, he was rather hesitant to leave his suitcase in the lobby, especially with the creepy old guy there, who kinda looked like he was a criminal in hiding.

He slipped into the bathroom which thankfully was unoccupied and slipped into the first stall, closing the door and locking it.

“Now to put on this stupid thing, I hate doing that. It always takes so bloody long.” He grumbled as he set his backpack down and opened it up pulling out the contents and apply it to his face bit y bit until he was satisfied with the results a good thirty minutes, at least later. “Oh shit, this isn’t good; hopefully my luggage is still going to be in the lobby.” He grumbled as he gave himself a once over in the mirror, he looked good, he was practically a expert at this by now, after all he had done it quite a few times in the last little while.