Love And Other Drugs

The day was hot, unbearably so and yet Luxe had never been happier. She was outside and kids were walking all around, laughing and shouting as they walked from stage to stage, trying to see the artists they loved the most. The girls were at their first show-Warped Tour Pomona and they were all terribly nervous. They had never played as a band before in front of an audience and as Luxe looked towards her fellow bandmates, she could see that while they were nervous, they were all having just as much fun as she was. Currently they were walking towards their tent for a small meet and greet, which probably would result in them sitting there for an hour because no one really knew who they were.

Luxe had never been to a concert before and certainly never one this large and yet she couldn't help but love it. The air was filled with a magnetic charge and as they walked around it seemed to intensify. Girls were running around in bikini tops, shorts and sneakers while the guys were all in long board shorts and tank tops. Luxe herself had on a black crop top, an upside down pentagram over her chest and her black high waisted shorts were actually pretty comfortable. Most of the girls were dressed the same-Alex was allowing them to dress down for their Warped shows because it was an outdoor festival and they would get too hot in their stage clothes.

Finally they came up to the tent and Luxe felt her eyes water behind her large red velvet sunglasses. It was the best thing she'd ever seen-her face on a poster and their band logo of a rag doll on t-shirts and sweatshirts. The girls all giggled and squealed as they walked up and Luxe only smiled brightly as she faced the tent and took it all in. This was just the beginning for them-she could feel it-and as Luxe said hi to Tasha, their merch girl, she could feel a lightness enter her heart. Alex had been on them lately about keeping up appearances and so the girls were on almost 24/7. Every interview and shoot they were at they had to be The Hollywood Dolls. Charlotte, Lucinda, Madeline, Penelope and Talula were dead-they no longer existed.


"This is so fucking awesome!" Pixie was giggling, her pink hair sticking out at odd angles as her sunglass covered eyes looked around them.

"It really is!" Lulu screamed out and the two girls embraced but Luxe was too focused on something else that was happening-people were lining up to meet them.

"Look Char..." Luxe said as she brushed her hand against Char's bare shoulder-she was wearing a tube top in deep purple to match her hair-and the guitarist looked towards where she was pointing. The other girls all got quiet and a hush fell over the crowd as Alex stepped forward, his black hair gleaming in the sunlight.

"Girls and boys it is my pleasure to present you The Hollywood Dolls! Please have out your things to be signed and your cameras ready. Only one picture per person as we would like to keep the line moving! Thank you!" Alex called out to the crowd and Luxe felt her stomach do a flip as the first girl walked up to their table.

"Hi, what's your name?" Lulu asked the girl and Luxe smiled as she listened for an answer. The girl was tiny-probably no older than fourteen and she had blue streaks through her short brown hair.

"Brittany." The girl said shyly and Luxe only smiled as she was passed the demo to sign her name and then looked up at the girl before her.

"Thanks for coming to see us today Brittany-I'm Luxe and this is Char. You going to watch us play later?" Luxe asked and the girl only nodded and then seemed to be wanting to say something.

"C-can I have a hug?" She asked and Luxe only smiled as she stood up and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.


The hour continued on in this fashion-they would sign things, talk to the fans and take pictures or give hugs. Even Mads, who was a self proclaimed grump seemed to be loving it all and finally the last few fans got out of line and waved goodbye to them. Luxe felt good-she had heard a lot of these kids say to either her or one of the other girls that Do Your Worst had really helped them through things and it made Luxe feel good. She had never known music could do that-help people in such a way, but then it made sense because she had certain songs that made her happy when she listened to them.

They hung out at the tent for a little bit longer until finally Alex began to get them gathered so that they could get over to the stage. Luxe had walked over there this morning when they had first arrived and found the small stage that they would be performing at. It made her a little less nervous to see that the stage was small and the crowd area was also smaller so that it wouldn't seem like they were complete failures when no one watched their set. Luxe had to thank her lucky stars that they weren't playing during anyone else's set today or the next three days because then they wouldn't have any one watching them.

Black Veil Brides was supposed to play at the same time as them, but Andy had broken his ribs and the band wasn't going to be on tour for another week or two. The fans seemed disappointed and as they walked over to the stage, Luxe noticed quite a few girls wearing BVB shirts or bracelets. She hoped that they could share a fanbase because their sound was very similar, but Luxe was sure Andy and the rest of the band would make sure that that didn't happen. Interview after interview the two bands were being asked about one another and each time things got nastier and nastier.


"Well here we are girls! The Kevin Says Stage!" Alex said as they all flashed their badges to the guard so that they could be allowed in the back of the stage.

"It's very small, but that's okay-you girls don't need a big stage just yet." Alex continued on as they all walked up a set of steps and were now standing behind the risers of the stage. There was a band on in that moment and so it was kind of hard to hear much.

"Holy shit." Someone said from behind her and Luxe turned just in time to see a band of four guys walking up the steps and over towards them. Pixie had been the one to speak and Luxe only laughed as her pink haired bandmate seemed to be having a major freak out.

"Hey ladies!" One of the guys called out to them and Luxe noticed that they were all darker skinned, possibly Latino. There were four of them-one guy with long hair and a backwards baseball cap, another with spiked hair and the one to call out to them and the other two were much quieter and both had sunglasses covering their eyes.

"Um, wow-hi." Char seemed to recognize these guys as well and as everyone hugged and said their hellos, Luxe felt like she had been picked last for the team. She probably should spend some more time looking up bands that were big so she knew who people were.

"You're Luxe right?" The smiling guy said as he held out his hand and Luxe placed her tiny hand in his large calloused one.

"Uh-yeah." She said and they all laughed-it was obvious she had no clue who any of them were.

"I'm Jaime. That's Vic, Mike and the small shy guy back there is Tony." He introduced them all and Luxe only nodded. The band on stage was almost done and she probably needed to warm up a bit.

"It's nice to meet you guys. You playing after us?" Luxe asked and Vic laughed as he shuffled his feet around and readjusted his cap.

"No-uh actually we came to watch you girls play."

"What?! Get out of here!" Char said excitedly and the guys all laughed. Luxe couldn't believe it-a bigger band than them had dropped everything just to come and watch them play...it kind of made her more nervous.


While the other girls talked to the guys as they tuned their instruments, Luxe walked off and began to warm up her voice. Alex had set her up with a vocal coach once she had gotten out to LA and the woman had been a big help with Luxe and her live vocal singing. She sang up the scales and then back down, opening her mouth wide to stretch it and then closing it to relax the muscles. Her entire body was tense and as she heard the roar of the crowd and the band on stage thank them for watching, Luxe knew her time was coming.

Alex had said there would be a ten minute break between sets so that they could get Mads' drum kit all set up and Luxe took this time to go over things in her mind. Do Your Worst would start them out, the slower intro to the song would be what they walked out to. Then she would introduce them all and then they would go in to Angel Eyes. Chris Motionless, from the band Motionless In White had tracked on that song with her and while she had never met him she had heard the song and knew it was amazing. They would be using a back track for his vocals since he wasn't on this tour and then they would finish out slow with Just Tonight. Alex kept telling her to urge people to buy the demo and so Luxe had to make sure that she mentioned that before they walked off the stage.


"You ready Luxe?" Char asked from her left and Luxe almost jumped out of her skin as she turned to face her friend and bandmate. Was she ready for this?

"Fuck yeah!" It sounded good and the girls all smirked as they got into a circle and put their hands in.

"Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!" They chanted and then the intro to Do Your Worst started up.


There was a bit of cheering, more than Luxe expected and as she followed Char out onto the small stage the cheering turned into a roar from the crowd. All of the kids who had been at their tent earlier were there, front and center and there were more people there as well, either waiting for the next band or curious about who The Hollywood Dolls were. Char set in to playing, along with Lulu and Pixie and Luxe could feel Mads' drumming in her chest. She walked up to the mic, gripping it tightly as she flipped her head down and let her hair swing back and forth to the guitar.

"You gotta nasty little side of you that's new to me..." She sang out and Luxe was shocked to hear other's singing along with her. They went into the song more and Luxe played it up to the crowd the best she could, holding out the mic for them to sing into until finally the song came to an end.

"How the fuck are you today Pomona?!" She asked and there was a great roar from the crowd.

"Fucking awesome! We are The Hollywood Dolls and we are here to get all dolled up with you today! Now my name is Luxe and this bitch right here is Char-that tiny thing to her right is Pixie and to my left is Lulu! Back there banging the shit out of the drums is Mads and we are so happy to be playing for you guys today!" Luxe yelled into the mic and she smiled as Alex gave her the thumbs up and set the iPod up to the speakers.

"This next song is one that we recorded with Chris Motionless and it's called Angel Eyes!" Luxe shouted as she took her place at the mic and stood perfectly still.


Once the music started up, her entire body seemed to move with it, her hair flipping back and forth as she sang along and got time with Chris' back track. The audience loved it and it did help that Chris and his band had a pretty big following, so a lot of people seemed to like the song. As the song came to an end and she took a quick sip of water, Luxe noticed that Char had switched out her guitar for an acoustic one and there were two stools in the middle of the stage.


"This is our last song for the day and we want to thank you so much for coming out. You can find our demo at our merch tent and our new record All Dolled Up with be out this coming fall! This is Just Tonight!"


And with that Luxe sang her heart out and she felt the tears prick her eyes as the crowd sang right along with her. What a feeling.

Notes

Would you guys go see the Dolls play? I think that would be pretty fucking awesome.

Review<3

Again, song credit goes to New Years Day and The Pretty Reckless. You can find links to the songs mentioned in this chapter in the previous notes.