We were standing outside of the music hall in the State Theater in Detroit. Jasey and I had set up the merch table with all of the shirts and hats and various other memorabilia. It was still about a half an hour before the doors opened and another hour or so before any of the bands would begin to play.

I turned to Jasey. "Are you ready?"

She placed a hand on her hip and gave me her best diva face. "Bitch, I was born ready!"

I chuckled at her and shook my head, returning to my job of folding shirts and placing them on the table.

"So, Axl and Steven?" I began. "Who's next?"

Jasey shrugged. "Well, now the plans have changed a bit. We're going to be going on tour with other bands: Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Mötley Crüe, etcetera. I'm thinking I'm gonna' get a little bit of everything."

I shook my head. "Like a kid in a candy shop."

She snorted. "Trust me, they're not doing me any favors. If anything, it's the complete opposite."

Jasey was crazy. "Well, who's next in Guns?"

"I dunno'," she shrugged again, placing a Guns N Roses base ball cap on her head. "Probably Slash. He's been looking really good lately. Have you seen him shirtless?"

I laughed. "You're kidding right? I didn't even know he owned any shirts up until yesterday."

"Hey, you two," a voice interrupted our folding. I glanced up and sucked in a breath. Duff stood in front of the merch table, one hand resting on his hip, the other holding a bottle of beer up to his lips. He was dressed in all leather from head to toe, his jacket hanging open, revealing his bare torso to the world.

"Duff!" Jasey squealed in delight. I rolled my eyes at her over dramatic display of affection as she rushed around the table and latched onto him.

"Hey, babe," he laughed. "What're you guys up to?"

"I'm folding," I said, "and Jasey is testing the merch."

Jasey beamed up at Duff with her sweetest smile. I about barfed right then and there. I'd seen her antics before, but for some reason, her flirting were especially nauseating today.

"Just wanted to represent my favorite boys," she did a small curtsy for him.

Duff grinned. "Your support is appreciated, as always. By the way, Axl wanted for you to give him a little somethin'-somethin' before the show, if you catch my drift..."

He lifted a fist towards his mouth, parting his lips and using his tongue to push his cheek in and out in mock fellatio.

Jasey squealed in a mixture of delight and horror. "Jesus, Duff!"

Despite her feigned disgust, she dropped the hat onto the table in front of me. "I'll be back. Bathroom break."

"Yeah," I muttered sarcastically. "'Bathroom'."

It was silent as I continued to fold shirts. I glanced over towards Duff and saw that he was watching me intently.

"Wanna' help out?" I asked, not even expecting him to oblige.

"Sure," he said. I watched him set down his beer and saunter behind the table. He stopped next to me and began folding clothes and putting them in a pile.

"You excited for the show?" I asked, trying to make this tedious task as interesting as possible through small talk.

"Eh," he shrugged his shoulders. "It's nothing new. I'm not as excited as I used to be, that's for sure. What about you?"

I couldn't help it, I beamed at him. He seemed taken aback by my sudden burst of joy after acting bitchy for so long, but he grinned back at me.

"This is my first concert, and it's with me running the merch table for my favorite band. I'm stoked," I admitted.

Duff chuckled. "I'll try to play extra well for you, then."

I blushed and turned away. As I continued to fold, I could still feel his eyes glued to my back. I peeked over my shoulder, pushing my long, blond hair out of my eyes. "What?"

"It's just that it's refreshing to hear how excited you are. It reminds me of when I used to go to concerts," he said. "Now that I'm in them, I guess I kind of take them for granted. Seeing you getting all pumped for the concert is kind of making me excited too."

I giggled. "Well, good!"

"No, not good!" He teased. "Now I'm all nervous."

I raised an eye brow. "Duff McKagan? Nervous?"

Duff took a step closer to me, he smiled down at me softly. I felt his hand trail across my cheek, pulling a stray hair away from my eye. "I can't help how you make me feel."

My face was on fire. I felt my hands getting sweatier and my knees beginning to shake slightly. How does one even respond to that? I opened my mouth to attempt a witty come back.

"Yo, Duff!" A booming voice interrupted our moment. Duff looked over my shoulder towards the voice and I took a giant step backwards, trying to calm myself down by getting myself as far away from the sexy blond as possible.

"Hey, Izz."

I turned my head until I could see Izzy. He stood about ten feet away, clad in all black and with a bandana tied securely around his head. He looked so handsome. I winced, realizing he'd seen me so close to Duff and I kind of hoped he didn't think Duff and I had a thing going on between us. Not that it mattered what Izzy thought, right?

"We need to start heading back. Doors open in about ten minutes."

Duff nodded and gave him a rigid salute. "Yes, sir!"

Izzy gave both me and Duff a quick once over as he turned on his heel and walked away.

I whirled back around to face Duff, who had returned to grinning down at me. He ruffled my hair and winked.

"Good luck, little girl. You're gonna' need it."

I gave his back an indignant glare as he strolled away, snatching his beer off of the table as he went.

Why would I need luck?

Turns out, Duff's words had been a premonition of the chaos to come. As soon as the doors were open, the once vacant music hall was ablaze with people pushing and shoving. The merch table was attacked.

Jasey and I were tossing shirts at the crowd, snatching cash from their outstretched hands as we went. It was pure insanity. Slowly, the crowd seemed to evaporate along with the stacks of shirts we had spent so long folding and organizing.
It wasn't until ten minutes before show time that the crowd had fully disappeared. Twenty minutes of pure Hell had finally ended. I looked over at Jasey, her black hair had been thrown up into a messy bun and she looked flustered.

"Well that sucked," I mumbled, throwing any remaining shirts into the cardboard box they had come in.

"You can say that again," she grumbled.

Just as we were folding up the merch table, the roar of the crowd erupted from the next room. The opening riff to Welcome to the Jungle pierced through the air around us and instantly, goosebumps jumped out on my arms.

"Hurry up, Abby!" Jasey demanded. "We can't miss this."

I thought of Duff's promise to play extra hard just for me. I hoisted my part of the table and pushed. It crumpled and folded against Jasey's half of the table with a thunderous bang. Immediately, Jasey and I picked up one box each and sprinted towards one of the blocked off doorways that was "for authorized personnel only".

"Hey!" A large, burly man shouted after us as we ran. We continued passed him, almost dropping our boxes as we pulled out our VIP passes and flashed them at him.

The further down the hallway we got, the louder the song became. I about melted right then and there hearing Slash shred his guitar as the crowd madly applauded. Jasey and I dropped our boxes and walked over to the edge of where the backstage ended and the stage began.

I gasped in awe and Jasey was beaming. There was my favorite band, about five feet from where I stood, performing for the biggest crowd I'd ever seen. Axl was twirling and bobbing his head, urging the crowd to feel his energy flowing through them. Steven was attacking the drums, pounding at them with all his might. Slash and Duff were leaning back to back, their heads resting on one another's shoulder. But my heart nearly leapt into my throat at the sight of Izzy, who was casually strolling around the stage, plucking at his guitar.

They were incredible. Watching them was like watching a well oiled machine. It was beautiful.

As Welcome to the Jungle began to wind down, the beginning to Mr. Brownstone started up. I squealed and grabbed Jasey's arm.

"This is my jam!" I shouted over the music.

I looked back to the stage and saw Duff grinning at me. I smiled back. He winked and began to walk towards me.

What is he doing?

"Duff, I-"

He cut me off, tugging me by the arm onto the stage. I froze like a deer in headlights, gaping at the crowd before me. Hundreds of fans were screaming and moshing. The ones closest to the stage were reaching up, as though they were just in reach of touching heaven.

"Get ready," Duff shouted into my ear.

"Ready? Ready for wha-"

With that, Duff gave me a quick peck on the cheek before planting his hand on my butt and shoving me towards the outstretched hands before me. I screamed in shock, flailing as I fell into the crowd. I clamped my eyes shut, praying this wouldn't be the death of me.

Luckily, death never came.

Instead, I felt hands all over me, pushing and pulling me. They turned me over and soon enough I was being thrown around like a rag doll. I opened my eyes and saw the stage stretched out in front of me, slowly growing smaller and smaller as the crowd carried me away, like an ocean of palms pulling me in with the current.

I let out a laugh and locked eyes with Duff who winked once more at me before turning and strutting towards Slash. I saw Jasey a few feet away from me, also being cradled by the arms of hundreds of strangers.

I let myself enjoy the ride, opening my mouth wide and shouting along to the sound of Axl's voice.