Love And Other Drugs

The hallway was silent except for the clapping of heeled boots on the shining marbled flooring as the five girls walked towards the conference room. Luxe, Char, Mads, Pixie and Lulu were all at Interscope today, dressed in their 'on' style as that was what Alex had requested of them. When they were all home or with one another they could relax a little bit more, but Alex had called each girl the night before and told them that they were to wear something befitting the Dolls. AP Magazine was sending over an interviewer, camera crew and there would be a small shoot with the bands after they were announced. Luxe only sighed as she looked down at her black and grey dress, the ragged edges barely coming to her knees and her hair had been teased so much that it was giving her a headache.

She had barely gotten any sleep the night before as she had been up trying to move into her new condo and also she had been trying to calm down. Alex had gotten her a condo right across from Andy-why? He kept pushing them together and while Luxe wouldn't mind it too much-he was pretty hot after all-she couldn't stomach the thought of kissing someone who was so full of himself. As they walked Luxe looked beside her and smirked as Char made a face that said 'are we seriously doing this right now?' and both girls giggled. Most bands were just told who they were touring with, when practices were and where the buses were going to be the day of departure, but not The Hollywood Dolls-oh no.

Alex liked making a big deal-out of everything. The girls were kept busy all day every day and rarely did they get time for themselves. Any time she stepped out of her door, Luxe had to be 'on'. This meant her hair had to be done, makeup had to be on, clothing had to be what people expected her to wear. She had been able to get some t-shirts in there, but they always had to be paired with a ripped pair of jeans or something black. Char and Mads didn't seem to mind as they dressed like that normally and Pixie liked it because it gave her an excuse to shop, but Lulu was on Luxe's side and the girls often lamented to one another over the phone at night.


"Why couldn't he just tell us during practice tomorrow?" Char whined as they rounded a corner and noticed that they were that much closer to getting to their meeting.

"I don't fucking know, but this fucking top is getting on my nerves!" Mads said angrily and Luxe only smirked. The red and black haired girl was wearing a halter top in black and it kept riding up to show most of her stomach.

"It'll be okay-the announcement will be made, we'll do a small interview and then we can just go home."Luxe said, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than the other girls.

"Sure, sure..." Char smirked down at her and the two girls bumped shoulders as they finally reached the door to the conference room.


The room was filled to the brim with people-Alex and Jay, the owner of Interscope, were seated at the head of the long table, while there were groupings of people and two camera men who immediately pointed their cameras towards the door where the girls were standing. Everyone grew quiet as the girls continued to stand there, shocked looks on all of their faces as they tried to take everything in. So many people-too many-and Luxe noticed that there was another guy in the room who was watching them silently. He was short, he looked short even though he was sitting, and his light blue eyes were watery and his blonde hair cut close to his head. Someone for AP maybe?


"Ladies! Welcome!" Alex said grandly as he stood up and rushed towards his little dolls. The girls looked amazing and perfect for what was about to happen.

"Uh-hi." Luxe said lamely as she held up a hand and waved to those standing around the room. The camera men were pointing their cameras at her and Luxe could tell by the little blinking light that they were recording her every move-great.

"Sit! No! No-Luxe needs to be in the middle. Are we still rolling?" Alex was running around, moving them all like chess pieces and soon enough the girls were all sitting on one side of the table, facing the doorway and the camera guys had moved to stand on either side of the door.

"Alright-are they on their way?" Luxe noticed that Alex had addressed the small guy with the blonde hair, who only chuckled, looked at his phone and then nodded before speaking.

"Just got off the elevator. I'm Jon, by the way." He finally addressed the girls and Luxe smiled at him-he seemed nice.

"Alright, now you girls know that your first major tour is supposed to start and we wanted to make a big thing out of announcing who you are touring with. Neither band knows and this will be up on the AP site tomorrow morning to let your fans know what the deal is." Char was getting impatient-Luxe could tell by the way her legs were jiggling up and down.

"They're waiting outside the door." Jon said as he looked up from his phone once again. Alex only smiled, almost giddy as he walked towards the door and let his hand hover over the handle.

"Perfect! Ladies, I would like for you to meet your new tourmates and co-headlining group-" Without announcing who was behind door number one, Alex pulled it open and Luxe felt her heart stop beating and then the shouting started.

"No fucking way!"

"Jon what the fuck is this?!"

"Nope! I refuse!"

"Fuck that!"

"Fuck you!"

"This could get interesting"

"We're all going to die."

"A bus full of hot girls for six months? I'm down."


Neither Luxe nor Andy said one word as they just stood across from one another and stared.

Andy had been told by Jon, their manager, that they were to show up to Interscope today so that they could find out who they were touring with and then discuss details and do a small interview with AP. He didn't expect there to be a camera crew, first off, and secondly the last band on Earth that he wanted to see here today was The Hollywood Dolls.

Both singers just stared at one another as everyone else kept on shouting and Alex tried to get everyone under control. Andy noticed that the scummy producer and manager had said something to the AP crew and that their cameras were now turned off and no longer recording. After a few minutes the room was finally filled with silence and the guys were now sitting across from the girls and they were all scowling at one another.


"Now children..." Alex started off, but then stopped as the purple haired girl huffed and then stood up.

"No! Alex we can't tour with these...these...douchebags!" She was yelling and Andy only scowled at the purple haired guitarist and watched as Alex seemed to address her with his eyes.

"You can and you will." Alex said simply and now it was Andy's turn to speak out. He had stayed silent the entire time, as had Luxe, but now he had to speak out because this...this was going to be a disaster.

"Alex, Jay...look, we get it and we appreciate the thought, but I really don't think this is going to work out." Andy said gently from his seat and Luxe was shocked at how calm and reasonable he was being. Every time she had seen Andy get heated he began to curse and shout.

"You don't have a choice-contracts have been signed, articles are being printed and you all are going to go on this tour...whether you like it or not." Alex was leaning across the table towards him and Andy only smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. This asshole might scare five girls into behaving, but Andy was a completely different person.

"We won't play." Andy said, cocking an eyebrow and Alex only sighed and looked towards Jay. The owner and head producer of Interscope was just shaking his head, a soft smile on his lips.

"Then you won't record." Jay said and Andy clamped his mouth shut and lost his smirk so fast Luxe thought she was going to get whiplash.

"Alright then. Before we turn the cameras back on so that Andy and Luxe can talk about the coming tour, we have some other things to discuss." Alex smiled as he took his seat and pulled a huge notebook towards him.


Luxe could feel her head throbbing as she sat there and stared at Andy from across the table. God he was so arrogant...so fucking full of himself that she could barely stand to even look at him. He was wearing a leather vest and a black v-neck shirt underneath and his eyes were outlined in dark black liner. All of the guys-she had yet to meet any of them-looked pretty miserable and as Luxe looked at her own bandmates, she could see that at least both bands finally had something in common-their absolute hatred for one another. Luxe chuckled, getting a look from Andy and then she quickly zeroed in to what Alex was trying to say.


"Each band will take turns playing the last set of the night and we will flip for it before the first show. Now the girls have a fifteen song set list, including the duet between Andy and Luxe-" Alex stopped speaking as Andy had slammed his fist down on the table and was so angry that he was shaking.

"No! You can control who we tour with but you are not going to control who I sing with!" Luxe felt terrified-he was so angry and his blue eyes were filled with hate and fire in that moment.

"Sit down Biersack." Alex said before continuing on in his diatribe.

"Now the album drops tomorrow so Jay and I thought it would be pretty lovely if Andy and Luxe went out on their date..." Andy felt numb-he had completely forgotten about that stupid deal and now he felt even more pissed off. Luxe was just sitting there, staring at Alex with that dumb look on her face.


Soon enough Alex was done speaking, the cameras had been turned back on and the bands had been joined together to stand behind Andy and Luxe. The two were sitting beside one another, Andy having been forced to drape an arm around her shoulders and as soon as they touched the two of them felt something happen. Hatred? Attraction? The feelings were so similar that it was hard to tell the difference. Andy cleared his throat as he looked into the camera and saw out of the corner of his eye that Luxe had her game face on as well.


"Hi, I'm Andy from Black Veil Brides." He read from the cue cards being held up.

This was lame.

"And I'm Luxe from The Hollywood Dolls and we would both like to announce that in just one week we and our bands will be going on a worldwide tour spanning three continents." Luxe smiled into the camera but inside she was dying.

"We hope to see you guys at the shows and stay tuned after this video for more information on ticket sales and meet and greet options. We hope to see you there and we can all get...dolled up." Andy said the last part through gritted teeth with a fake smile plastered on his face.


This was going to be the worst six months of his life.

Notes

I am proud to announce that The Hollywood Dolls and Black Veil Brides will be touring with one another for the ultimate 6 month long tour. Who wants tickets? Who wants t-shirts? Who wants to see Andy and Luxe kill one another?

Review to find out...