Love And Other Drugs

The sound of the rain pitter pattering on the plate glass windows of the old diner was somewhat of a comfort to the five people that had taken shelter within. Three employees-a waitress who kept humming to herself, the cook who stood in the window and waited for another order to come in and the matronly manager who sat back in her office and chain smoked until her husband came in to relieve her. There were two customers-Johnny, an older gentleman who was homeless and came in often to get out of the weather and another guy who had slicked back black hair, tattoos on his knuckles and a cup of coffee cooling in front of him. They all stayed silent, the black and white Formica counter tops gleaming in front of them as the jukebox played another song on a random setting.

The humming waitress, a small girl with pale blonde hair, light grey eyes and an easy smile, continued to move about the place, picking things up and wiping under them before moving on. This was her life-this was her day and soon enough it would be time for the day shift to come and for Lucinda Abernathy to go home to her tiny rented room, shower in a communal bathroom that always smelled musty and then she would go to sleep. She had no one and nothing-not even a cat to show her affections to and sometimes Lucinda figured it was for the better. Her past was checkered, her family life terrible and she never spoke to anyone about anything that had happened three years prior.

Cornerstown, North Carolina-that was where they were all congregated in this tiny diner, but only three people were originally from that town. Lucinda wasn't one of them and while she was seen as an outsider by some of the older generation, she made this her home because where she came from was much worse. A trailer in the back woods of Southern North Carolina, where her daddy ran a pawn shop and illegal gun trade out of their garage and her mama laid around the house all day, smoking cigarettes and shooting up heroine. Lucinda had left home on her eighteenth birthday, not even waiting to graduate High School. She had worked two jobs, gotten okay grades and saved up enough money to move to the other side of the state and get her GED. Now she was a waitress and it wasn't much, but she wasn't pregnant and she wasn't in jail.


"I'm gonna go on a break Luce. You got the front?" Earl called out to her, his paper hat sitting sideways on his greasy hair and Lucinda only looked around her and nodded. Yeah, yeah she had the front and she also only had twenty bucks in her pocket.

"Can I get you anything Johnny? Piece of pie maybe?" She asked the old man sitting at her counter and he only smiled a toothless grin at her and dug around in his pockets. The man didn't have much and with a soft smile Lucinda collected the 95 cents he had tossed down and got him a slice of apple pie.


While Old Johnny ate his pie and mumbled to himself, Lucinda decided she was going to try and get some studying done. So with a quiet look towards her only other customer, who was quickly talking on the phone in a hushed voice, Lucinda pulled out her English 101 book from underneath the counter and cracked it open. She was going to a local college and while the work was hard, Lucinda enjoyed knowing that she was bettering herself. She wouldn't end up like her mama-pregnant at a young age and hating life only a few years later. No Lucinda was going to be a teacher or maybe a writer...either way she was going to get the Hell out of this town and as far away from North Carolina as she possibly could. The diner stayed silent and as Lucinda studied she smiled once she heard one of her favorite songs come on over the jukebox. This diner was old, but the great thing about old diners was that they were filled with two things-memories and good music.


"I've been lonely. I've been waiting for you. I'm pretending and that's all I can do..." A purely angelic voice sang out into the diner and Alex McFaden immediately ended his conversation with the West Coast and looked around.


There was an old jukebox in the corner, humming away and playing an old Heart song, but the voice that was ringing out into the small space was not coming from the box. No, the soulful and sad sounding voice was coming from a very small girl who was standing behind the counter with a pencil behind one ear and a huge book open before her. Where had she come from? Ah yes, she had brought him his coffee-Southern sludge was more like it and Alex could now remember the sad look in the girl's big grey eyes. She seemed different from the other locals he had encountered while he was in town-she was sweet and had an innocence about her that Alex was drawn to.

Alexander McFadden worked for Interscope Records and he was on a mission. He needed to find the perfect singer for a new band that he was producing-manufacturing-and by the sounds of it he may have found the girl he had been looking for. As he stood up, Alex observed the girl as she sang to herself and he could tell right off the bat that she didn't look the part. This group of girls he was putting together were hard looking-piercings, dyed hair and attitudes to match and this girl with her sunshine yellow hair and unmarked skin probably wouldn't fit the part. Things could be changed...arranged and with a smirk Alex walked over to the counter and sat down right in front of the girl. She didn't notice him at first and just as she got to the crescendo of the song, she looked up and her eyes met his.


"What about love? Don't you want someone to...Oh. Sorry..." She blushed then, her freckle covered nose looking adorable and cute as she closed her book and straightened up. The song on the jukebox died, moving into another one and Alex only smiled.

"You sound fantastic. Do you sing professionally?" He asked her and Lucinda only shook her head no and moved to get her order pad. She hadn't meant to sing so loudly, but it was hard when she was so used to being alone in the diner this late at night.

"I-I don't. Sing, that is." She stammered, the blush creeping down her neck and ending somewhere in the midst of her faded white and red striped uniform.

"Oh you can sing...you can belt it like I've never heard before. You got a name?" He asked as he sat down on one of the ancient red stools, hoping that it would make her less nervous if he wasn't towering over her.

"Lu-Lucinda Abernathy. I'm really sorry if I bothered you or disrupted your phone call..." She apologized and Alex only dismissed her with a simple wave of his hand. He smiled and then held up a finger, moving towards the jukebox to look over his options.

"No bother. I actually really enjoyed your voice Lucinda and if you don't mind...I'd like for you to sing for me again." He said softly and Lucinda only looked on, fear in her light grey eyes.

"Um...o-okay." She said meekly, but then she smiled as a familiar song came out of the jukebox and Lucinda began to hum along before singing to herself quietly.

"One way or another...I'm gonna find ya. I'm gonna gettcha gettcha gettcha..." She continued to sing and with every word out of her mouth, Alex's smile grew and grew. He could just picture her now-light blonde hair with some streaking in it, maybe a piercing or two and some new clothes and this girl could be the lead singer for the Dolls.


Alex McFadden had been tasked with something that at first he had thought impossible-form a girl rock band with the best musicians he could find. Problem with that was female musicians were hard to come by, at least good ones and Alex would only have the best. Thankfully he had been in the right bar at the right time and talking to the bartender Charlotte, who also happened to be a guitarist and knew of some other girls who were wanting to jam. The girls clicked, but they were still lacking a singer and that's why Alex had come out East. LA was tapped dry of singers and anyone out there was usually attached to so many projects that they couldn't sit still.

It had just been a turn of fate that Alex had been walking to his car, passing the diner as the rain began to fall and he rushed inside to wait it out. Then it had just been the girl and the cook and Alex had ordered a coffee and paid them no mind. Now he was looking at Lucinda like she was a precious gem and he knew he had to have her. She would fit in-she was the perfect size for a singer. Not too tall, not too imposing but she had just the right amount of sass in her pale grey eyes. Alex smiled as she finished singing and now Lucinda was looking at him uncertainly.


"Um..." Lucinda was blushing again, she could feel the heat on her neck and she only smiled as Alex smirked at her and reached into a pocket of his leather jacket.

"You're amazing. My name is Alex McFadden..." He said as he slid his card towards her from over the counter and Lucinda smiled before looking down. Music Producer for Interscope Records? Did he want to sign her or something?

"It's nice to meet you Alex, but I'm not really sure what you want to do with me. I'm not a singer...never been trained in it or anything." She said in that cute southern drawl and Alex knew that this was the girl. She had the right amount of southern charm to woo people and he knew the other girls would just love her.

"You may not have been trained, but you have talent and talent it what I need." He said as he looked around him and sniggered. This place was very southern and very run down and it was obvious that Lucinda didn't belong here. She would shine under the stage lights-she would be a star.

"Uh. What do you need me for exactly. Sorry if I sound rude, but I'm not really sure what's going on." She smiled at him, but Alex could see that there was a fire in her eyes. Good. That meant she wasn't a push over and wouldn't let interviewers or haters run all over her.

"I'm building a band-an all girl rock band and they need a singer. You're my singer." He said simply as his eyes locked with hers and Lucinda didn't know what to say. This could be it for her...this could be her one way ticket out of here.

Or she could fall flat on her face.

"Look. Let me fly you out to LA to meet with the other girls. You'll jam-you'll love them...they'll love you. We'll record a record and put you guys on tour. How does that sound?" He smiled at her and Lucinda could see that there was a skeezy way about him. Alex McFadden reminded her of a con man she once knew.

Her father.

"What if it doesn't work out?" She asked as she leaned her arms on the counter and got closer to Alex's face. She didn't want the other's to hear-she didn't want them to think she was leaving them right away.

"Then you'll come back here. Look I really need you-you're perfect and I know with a little bit of tweaking that this is going to be fantastic." He was practically begging her at this point and Lucinda found that she liked the sound of someone pleading with her for something.

"I guess I could give it a shot. When do I leave?" She asked as she stood up straight and chewed down on her lip. The sun was beginning to pop up over the horizon and Lucinda knew that Dani would come in soon to start the morning shift.

"Tomorrow. I'll give you a day to pack. I'll meet you at the airport by noon and we'll both fly out together." Alex said as he stood up and began to gather his things. Lucinda grabbed his card from the counter and smiled, nodding her agreement before saying goodbye to the music producer.


She could be a star-she could actually matter for once in her life. Lucinda only smiled to herself as she gathered her book and shook Old Johnny awake. Tomorrow seemed so far away, but it would be worth the wait. Her life was changing after all and Lucinda only hoped she could keep up.

Notes

Well, despite the lack of reviews(we only reached 7) I decided that the few who did review obviously wanted this badly enough. This story is going to break your heart-be warned. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Also-I have no idea how long this story is going to be. Typically my stories stop at Chapter 50, but I just finished writing Chapter 57, so it could go on for a while.

Please enjoy this story and review as much as you can. <3