It All Started With A White Lie
tags: @slashscowboyboots @teller258316 @electric--love @lost-in-the-80s @shelickedthebeater
warnings: profanity, angst, mentions of smut
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I didn’t intend for my words to come out as harsh sounding as they did towards my little brother, but they slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them, “It’s a bad idea, Stevie, a horrible one, actually.”
“Oh come on!” Despite his sigh, he remained in a cheery tone, “He’s really nice! I don’t even understand why the two of you don’t get along!”
That’s right, you don’t understand Stevie. That’s the problem.
“You guys used to get along so well! Besides, you know if you show up to the wedding without a date your Aunt Cindy and Aunt Shelly will try to set you up with someone! And you remember how well that turned out the last time.”
Deep down I knew he was right. I knew that my aunts didn’t have the best taste in men, and were set on finding me a suitor, no matter how many times I told them that I didn’t need their help. No matter how many times I forcefully told them that I didn’t want their help. They just narrowed it down to me being “young” and “stubborn”.
Maybe I am young and stubborn, but I know I want more in life than being married off to some dick that my aunts would’ve been chasing after if they were twenty or thirty years younger. Sometimes I envied my little brother, we may have different fathers but at least he didn’t have two wicked gold-digging aunts and a father that hit the road once he found out that his child-to-be was a girl, because, “he doesn’t make daughters”.
Times may have been tough growing up, but he stayed smiling. He was always finding a way to make a heavy situation light, brighten up some un-ideal circumstances, which is what he’s trying to do now.
“Why can’t Saul come again?”
“He has the flu. He told me to tell you he said sorry.” I could almost hear the frown that I’m sure formed on my brother’s lips, “He feels really bad about it.”
“Tell him to not stress about it.” I sighed, “Besides, Duff lives closer anyway… or I could just drive myself. That’s an option.”
“No way! Do you know of all the creeps that are out there?! I am not letting my sister drive from San Francisco to Ohio by herself!”
I chuckled at my brother's worry, “Hey, I thought I was the older sibling.”
“You are, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about you.” The line went silent for a moment, “Listen… I know… I know you and Duff don’t get along, but at least think about making the drive out with him? I understand if you don’t want to, and I don’t want to push you into anything you’re uncomfortable with, but… I-I… I know how your aunts are and I don’t like them treating you like some object that they can hand away. You deserve so much more than that—”
“I’ll do it. I’ll ride out with Duff.” My stomach was rolling when I blurted out the words. Steven’s heart was always in the right place, I couldn’t let him worry over me.
“Really? Great!” His voice cheered up once again, “Do you want me to talk to him?”
“Nah, it’s probably better off I talk to him, after all, I’m going to be riding out with him… Might as well try to make amends.”
“Hey, making amends is always good! Who knows? Maybe a road trip is just what the two of you need to settle your differences!”
Oh, I wouldn’t call them differences baby bro… I’d call them many things, but not differences… And I highly doubt anything will be settled come Thursday.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” I ‘agreed’ with him, “I should probably give him a call or stop by or something tonight if we’re going to make it to the wedding on time.”
More like it’s gonna be a bitch trying to convince Duff to tag along, I’m gonna need this extra time to try and persuade him.
God, I hate how much I need his help, but Saul’s sick, Axl’s with Erin now, and Izzy’s enjoying his peace while the bands are on their short break before the tour starts up again.
“Okay, talk to you later then! Tell Duff I said hi too!”
“Will do Stevie, will do.”
Steven means the world to me, but going on a road trip with Duff? Hell, he might as well start arranging a funeral. Whether it be Duff's or mine, I doubt both of us will make it to that damn wedding alive.
Another anxious sigh left my lips as my fingers tapped against the steering wheel. His mustang was in the parking lot and there was a light on in his apartment. He was home, so why have I been sitting here for the past fifteen minutes like my ass is glued to the seat?
The worst he can do is tell you no and then you’ve got to deal with whichever creep your aunts pick out this time…
If he says no you can travel alone, that’s what you want, isn’t it?
“Ah, hell.” I shook my head and let out a long breath, before stepping out of my car. “It’s now or never.”
“What in the hell are you doing here?” His words came out as a stone-cold scowl, his eyes darkened, and he kept the door mostly shut as he leaned up against the doorframe.
“Well, that’s really unfortunate for you,” He sighed and stood up straight, “I really don’t give a shit.”
I shoved my foot between the door and the frame before he could slam it shut, “Duff, please, I wouldn’t have come here if I wasn’t desperate.”
“What about your fiancé, Jake? Blake? Douchebag? Whatever the hell his name is. Why don’t you go get him to help?”
I felt my stomach drop, everything I had prepared to say in my head not even five minutes ago, was gone. The brave face I managed to put on shattered. I had that coming, I really did, but fuck, if that didn’t feel like he dug a dagger into my back I don’t know what would.
“I caught Jake cheating on me so we… w-we split up.”
I looked at him, trying to figure out what to say or do next, but the disgusted look he was giving me told me everything I needed to know.
“This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come.” I shook my head, “Just forget I stopped by… Oh and Steven told me to tell you hi.” I didn’t bother looking back as I turned on my heel and retreated back towards the parking lot, trying my best to swallow down the tears that were creeping their way up. “Guess I’d be better just to not mention driving to Ohio by myself, it wouldn’t worry him as much…”
“What about driving to Ohio by yourself?” The question caused me to pause in my tracks.
“Don’t worry about it, McKagan, it ain’t any concern of yours anyway.”
“We haven’t talked in what, two years?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to me, “I wanna know what the incentive was that pushed you to show up at my doorstep at ten-thirty at night, and ask me, of all people, for help.”
“Well I knew there was a good chance that Patrick Swayze and Kevin Bacon wouldn’t be lounging around in apartment 2B, so I really had no one else to ask.”
He smirked a bit, “So what is it? Car trouble? Apartment burned down? Some creep keeps following you? Can’t find a dealer? You need a hole that needs to be dug… Can’t say I wouldn’t push you into it and bury you, but hey, anything goes.”
“And this is all a joke to you.” I shook my head, “Seriously, Michael, forget it.”
“Michael? You haven’t called me that since—”
“I’d really love to reminisce about the past but I oughta go.” I cut him off and opened the door to my car.
“Not before you tell me why you asked for my help.” He shut the door.
“I don’t see why you care.” I shrugged.
“Because, if something happens to one of my best friends’ sister, and my other best friend's best friend, knowing I may have been the last one to speak to her, then I’m a dead man. And, honey, I don’t know about you but I kinda like this whole being alive thing. And vodka.”
“Still seems like a joke to you so it really doesn’t matter.”
“Does getting abducted by some semi driver with the C.B. handle ‘Big Earl’ and a teddy bear tied to the grill of his truck seem like a joke to you? If you’re about to go cross country I want to know why you haven’t asked anyone else to make the trip with you.”
I looked at him for a good moment and finally, let out a defeated breath knowing there was no way I’d get around him now without telling the truth. “I need a date to my relative's wedding, and I’ve already asked literally everyone else I know, so I know you probably hate me, but please say yes. Otherwise, they’ll try to set me up with someone, and they have awful taste.”
My eyes searched his for any sign that he’d say yes, there was a glint that showed me he was thinking but after everything we had been through I wouldn’t have blamed him if he said no.
“Why didn’t you ask Slash to take you?”
“Why are you driving out?”
“How long will we be gone?”
“A week or a little longer.”
“If I have to say it again we’re flying.”
The next morning started off as good as you’d expect. Duff pounded on my door, told me he needed to take a leak and to ‘put my shit into the trunk’. The first five hours of the drive was completely silent and during those five hours, I found myself zoning out… thinking about the past couple of years, about Jake… About Duff…
“Does he make you happy?”
“You heard me. Does he make you happy?”
“Think so isn’t good enough Y/n.” He growled, “You can’t tell me you’re as happy with him as you are with me, you’ll never be able to look into my eyes and physically tell me that Jake makes you feel the way I do.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Duff.”
“I don’t know what I’m talking about? Y/n, are you even hearing yourself right now? You’re not even sure what you want, and so you’re just going to settle for the first guy who offers to put a diamond on your finger?”
“Are you in love with him though?”
“Duff he’s my friend and I don’t wanna—”
“Hurt him? So sacrificing your happiness just so you don’t hurt someone’s feelings is your thing now?”
“And what would you know about sacrifices?!”
He looked as if he was about to snap, the shift in his eyes had told you so.
“You’re right. What do I know about sacrifices?”
I uncomfortably shifted in the leather seat, letting out a huff as my mind drifted back to the present.
I had made the biggest mistake of my life that night, no here I am sitting right next to the man whose heart I tore apart before he even got the chance to lay it out for me.
He had sacrificed his heart that night and I didn’t listen to mine because I was scared to. Fucking pathetic.
“Didn’t think that I had you this stressed.” Duff chuckled and looked over at me with a grin.
“Oh yeah? Then why do you keep shuffling and shifting like you always do when something is eating at you? Assuming you still do that…”
“Remember my aunts? Well, Steven ah… He told me that they invited Jake and his uh… h-his… his yeah….”
There was a moment of brief silence once again before the blonde let out a snicker. “Guess he made that good of an impression huh? Your aunts loved him so much they figured you could maybe shack up with him and the one that he chea—”
“Duff,” I growled hoping he wouldn’t go there. “Don’t”
“Don’t?” He repeated. “Y/n I told you that’s exactly—”
“Exactly what he’d do? Yeah, I know, Duff. You did. You warned me. You warned me a thousand times over but I was young and naïve and worried about breaking his heart when I didn’t even care about the fact that I was breaking mine while doing so. I made a fucking mistake and you have every right to say ‘I told you so’, but if you’re going to just make fun of me for it you can go fuck yourself in the process.”
“Just like how you told me to on the night that I warned you not to go out with him? Just go and fuck myself just like that huh?” He shook his head. “Do you even take anyone’s advice in any relationship you get yourself into or do you just throw yourself at them and act like the victim when they leave you?”
I didn’t even look at him this time. Anger and sadness flooding through me. Maybe I shouldn’t have been as harsh as I was, but maybe he shouldn’t have started in the first place.
“I’m stopping at a diner if you want to eat fine but if you don’t just stay out here then.”
I crossed my arms as he pulled into the parking lot and shut the mustang off, eyes locked onto the dashboard as he got out. It was around one now and I knew I should’ve followed him in but I wasn’t quite ready to go back to that small-talk phase, especially when we’ve both proven that we can’t get along.
However, I also knew if I didn’t call Steven to check in he’d probably send first responders out.
That kid worries a little too much, then again, I’m glad he does.
“How’s the trip going? Is everything okay between you and Duff? He’s not too much trouble, is he? I can talk to him if I need to!”
“The trips going just fine Steven. Duff and I are getting along, don’t worry baby bro. We’re at this diner in Nevada, we passed through Vegas a couple hours ago and will probably stop somewhere in Utah for the night.”
“That’s good! Maybe you’ll be friends again after all this.” Steven’s tone was cheery and hopeful, I couldn’t crush that for him.
“Yeah, maybe…” I looked over to the booth where Duff was seated, his back was facing me and the waitress was sitting across from him, twirling a strip of hair around her finger. It was clear she was making her best attempts at flirting with him and chewed on my lip… I had no right to feel jealous so why did I? After all, we weren’t going to see her again.
“Are you sure everything is okay?” Steven asked, “You sound like something’s bothering you.”
“Everything’s fine Stevie, just been a long ride so far. I should probably get something to eat and get some rest…”
“That’s probably not a bad idea. I’ve gotta go help Bradley with some of the arrangements, I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll call you when we get to our next stop.”
“Okay, tell Duff I said hi. By sis!”
“I will, talk to you later baby bro.”
I sighed and hung the phone back onto the hook before turning to face the booth once again, jaw-dropping when I saw that the waitress had placed herself on Duff’s lap now and they were eating each other’s faces.
There was a part of me that wanted to go over there and rip her off his lap by the hair but I knew I had no right to be jealous in any way shape or form. Maybe if I had given him a chance that night things would be different, but I’m just the girl who broke her heart trying to protect someone that meant the world to her.
And now he’s cramming his tongue down her throat, and it killed me.
“Miss is everything alright, you look like you saw a ghost.” A different waitress asked.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled and made my way over to the Coca-Cola machine… I had lost my appetite the moment I saw Duff pre-occupying himself. I glanced at Duff and the waitress once again before shaking my head as tears blurred my vision.
Maybe I was hoping that Duff and I could make amends like Steven was, but he hates me now and there’s nothing in this world that could change that.
I hurt him, and I don’t deserve his forgiveness, he’s only helping me out because Steven’s my brother and Saul is a mutual friend.
“How long have you been standing out here?”
I shrugged my shoulder and took another drag of my cigarette. “I’m on number four, you do the math,” I muttered.
“I thought you were trying to quit?”
“I thought you weren’t into small-town diner waitresses.”
“Since when do you care?”
“Since the day I walked out of the man’s life I gave my heart to.”
Shit. I said that out loud.
I let out a sigh. “We should get back on the road if we want to get to the next town before sundown.” I crunched the cigarette underneath my shoe before stepping off the curb and making a b-line towards his mustang.
“Y/n, wait!” I stopped in my tracks when his hand wrapped around my wrist.
“What did you say, Y/n?” I could hear the urgency in his voice, “Do you love me?”
The tears came back and another long breath exhaled from my lungs. “I never stopped Duff, but I fucked up what we had going and I don’t blame you for hating me for all these years.”
“I don’t hate you, baby.”
“You’re shitting me right?” I looked at him with wide eyes, “Y-you don’t mean that.”
“You seriously think I could hate the woman who helped me prep for my band's first real gig? The woman who took my drunk ass home the night I blacked out? The woman that had my back that night in Alabama when some southern bumpkin gave me a black eye ‘cause I looked like the guy his ex ran off with? Y/n, you could hit me with a semi-truck, burn my apartment to the ground, smash the headlights out of my mustang… and I wouldn’t hate you. I’ve never hated you.”
“You sure have a funny way of showing it.” I crossed my arms.
“Alright, I’ve been pissed at you, I won’t lie. You and Jake made me beyond livid, and for years I’ll admit, I hated the thought of you being with him. I despised Jake with everything I had, but Steven… He’d come into practice and gush about how happy you were and how well you were doing at your job. How you kept writing me letters, which I was an asshole for burning them, but after a while, I came around and I began to… to miss you.”
“Then why have you been acting the way you have?”
“You took me by surprise alright and those emotions came flooding back and I panicked… I didn’t know how to react so I acted like a jerk. I’m sorry.”
“She forced herself onto me when I wouldn’t flirt back with her, she tried to get into my pants and I knew if I shoved her off she’d probably try to go after me for harassment or assault or something…”
I sighed and looked at him for a long moment. “You’re really telling the truth aren’t you?”
He let out a long breath and ran his fingers through his hair, “I’m done lying to you. I hate being a dick to you, of all people. It’s like being mean to Steven, you just can’t do that.”
I chuckled and nodded my head, “Speaking of Steven, he’s the one that convinced me to ask you to go y'know? He figured we could be friends again.”
“Don’t you mean more than friends?” He smirked.
“He never knew about that…” I felt heat rising to my cheeks as clips of the past flashed through my mind… All those little lies we told so Steven wouldn’t know… little bits of the truth twisted just enough so no one would get hurt. Or at least, we thought no one would.
“He still doesn’t need to know about that, doll.” I knew that tone in his voice a little too well, it was that tone that sent a chill down your spine, the tone filled with need and lust.
“Let’s get a motel baby.”
“W-we can get one in the next town, we so we don’t lose time—”
“We’ve got plenty of time. Let’s get a motel.”
“Y-yeah, sorry about that man. We were originally planning on stopping in the next town we passed through, but there was still a couple hours of daylight so we figured we could make it to the town past that. It was past midnight when we got into the motel and we both just tapped out for the night… Everything’s going fine… yeah, Y/n and I are getting along just fine… Nah, I think the trip has been wearing her down a bit, I’ll probably let her sleep in a little longer before hitting the road… yeah, I’ll tell her you said hi, okay talk to you later Steven. Bye.”
I rubbed my eyes and rolled over, watching as Duff put the motel phone back down and yawned.
“Good morning.” He smiled
“Morning,” I mumbled softly, still in the waking up faze. “You talked to Stevie?”
“Yeah, he can’t wait for us to get there. He said the bridesmaid dresses are really lovely. Well, that, and your aunts are driving him up the wall.” He chuckled.
“Those two witches will be the death of me, I swear.” Another tired yawn left my lips as I cuddled closer to the bassist.
“We should get on the road if we want to make up for that time we lost…”
“How about we just stay in bed all day and worry about the consequences later?”
“As tempting as that sounds, check out noon.”
“I’m kidding, it’s eleven-thirty, so get dressed.”
“You didn’t think that last night—”
“Yeah, well morning me thinks differently than last night me.”
As we carried on down the highway I found myself getting border with each mile marker we passed.
“The answer is still no.”
“You’re a real pain in the ass, you know that right?”
A few mile markers later...
“Y/n, I swear, if you ask that question one more time tonight I’m putting you in the trunk and the luggage in the front seat.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have me in the backseat?”
“I plead the filth— why are you holding your boobs?”
“Why aren’t you holding yours?”
“So, what I’m hearing is that you hold your boobs?”
Duff couldn’t be more relieved when you finally made it to where the hotel where Steven and your family had been staying at. It was a few miles away from where the wedding would take place in two days, and if he heard the words “are we there yet?” come out of your mouth again he’d go insane.
“We’re just friends. We talked and made up, that’s it.”
“Four nights in motel beds, and one night spent in the backseat of my car beg to differ sweetie.”
“Duff, I’m telling you this because it won’t be Steven that kills you, it will be Saul.”
“He’s got the flu, what’s he gonna do, drive out here and cough in my face?”
“I know, I know. I’m just your date.”
“You’re a whole lot more than that baby, but Steven and Saul don’t need to know that… or the other guys for that matter.”
“So we’re sticking to the white lies?”
“Guys! You’re here!” Steven’s cheers came from the hotel lobby and he walked out with a huge grin on his face. “How was the drive?”
“Oh, you know… It was long, passed through a lot of emptiness.” I shrugged, “I missed you though.”
“I missed you too. Hey, I wanna show you guys something cool! Come check this out!”
Steven spent the first day that Duff and I were there, showing us around, telling us how the wedding would be laid out. Asking the two of us what finally made us ‘make up’ with each other. He was beyond happy now that Duff and I were now ‘friends’.
The second day I was swept away to help the bride to be prepared and do another fitting of the bridesmaid dresses, somehow managing to avoid my awful aunts and ex in the process.
Every once in a while I’d catch Duff’s eye walking past him with the bride and bridesmaids while he was with the groom and groomsmen.
I’d send him a little wink and he’d shoot back a quick grin, it was killing the two of us not being able to be around each other. He was booked to share a two-bedroom room on the first floor with Steven, meanwhile, I was stuck on the filth floor by myself.
“Y/n, are you okay? You seem out of it.” Brooklyn, Bradley’s wife to be asked.
“Haha, yeah, it was just a long ride to get here is all.” I shrugged looking away from Duff.
“Thinking about your man?” She smiled, “He seems nice enough, maybe he’ll propose soon.” She shrugged, “Steven said the two of you had been together for quite a while.”
My stomach flipped. Of course, he’d say that in hopes to get Blake to steer clear from me, besides, no one would ever think of Steven as the type to lie about something like that.
“Oh, I don’t know… Duff and I are just going with the flow I guess.”
“Well, I’ve seen the way he looks at you when you aren’t looking, and let me tell you, he’ll put a ring on that finger soon if he’s smart.”
“Your aunts don’t really like him, do they?”
“They don’t like anyone who isn’t Blake.” I sighed, “And as an apology in advanced, I can’t guarantee I won’t accidentally drop a plate of food on his lap at the reception.”
“Bradley and I didn’t want him or her here, but you know how Cindy and Shelly are…”
“Oh, they’re terrifying.”
The next day flew by quickly, Bradley and Brooklyn said their “I Do’s”, the doves were released, some drunk got kicked out… It was all going great…
That is until Aunt Cindy and Aunt Shelly cornered me at the reception and started questioning me about Duff.
“I mean, what kind of name is Duff anyways?”
“It’s his nickname and I believe it’s Irish.”
“Is he the reason Steven has tattoos! I knew he was a bad influence!”
“Actually Steven got his tattoo after I got mine.”
“Yeah, and a belly button piercing and a sugar daddy that lives in the Bahamas.”
“I also saw him holding a pack of cigarettes earlier—”
“Those were mine.” No, they weren’t.
“Great, just great! Are you hearing this Shelly? She smokes now!”
“Yeah, and on Sunday I snort lines of coke off of naked hookers—”
“Alright, baby, I think it’s time to go!” Duff grabbed my hand and tugged me away from my horrid Aunt’s whose faces were covered in absolute horror. “I know you were joking about most of those things you said, but if you really have a Sugar Daddy in the Bahamas, me and him are gonna have issues.”
I laughed and hugged him, “That was a joke, but good to know you still get that twinkle in your eyes when you’re jealous.”
Duff and I spent the next few hours on the dance floor, giving some of my beloved family members a show they’d never forget, until Steven rushed up to us, pale-faced and wide-eyed.
“Do you really snort cocaine off of—“
“Do you really believe everything Cindy and Shelly tell you?” I raised my brows at the panicked look on my brother’s face.
“No, but have you always been lying about being together with Duff?”
Duff and I froze. “What?”
“Have you guys even been looking at the tabloids or did you just forget that Duff’s a famous rockstar now and there are paparazzi almost everywhere?”
“You really believe the tabloids, Stevie? I thought you knew better than that.”
“And I thought you knew better than to test the shocks in the back of your brother’s friend's mustang.”
“No, Duff. Slash, Axl, Izzy, and I are gonna have a talk with you when this is over.”
“Hey, you’re the one that pulled over.”
“Should’ve known white lies wouldn’t be enough to keep this buried.”
“You might want to hang onto a couple of those.” Steven looked at me, then Duff, “Slash is pissed off and ain’t thinking about giving you any mercy.”
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