Love And Other Drugs

The dress was tight-Luxe apparently was two sizes larger than she had been the last time she had worn this particular dress. The white of it had washed out-faded as it had hung up in the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, but they had taken it down just for her. The frayed and torn edges danced around her ankles, tickling the tops of her bare feet as she paced across the hard wood floor of the set.

Luxe, along with twenty other people were cramped in the small space of the largest studio room their record company had to offer. The black walls were fitting for the coming video-a somber affair that would set the tone for the coming tour. A large Baby Grand Piano sat cornered near one wall, it's white top being polished by a PA as Luxe felt a brush touch her cheek. Sutan, with his long black hair pulled on top of his head, was touching up her makeup.

What little she had on-Luxe was barely wearing any at all, except for her signature red lips, some light eyeliner that was winged and of course a pale grey eye shadow. She looked like a ghost, but that was the point. Soon Andy would be joining them where he would take a seat at the piano and remain there while Luxe moved around him.

The entire idea behind the video was beautiful-a ghostly Luxe would haunt Andy as he thought back to their last moments together-a semi sequel to their video for Broken. It would be the last video to come for the girl's record and it was Alex's pride and joy.


"Where is our other singer?" Alex, speaking of the devil, said from her left and Luxe only shrugged. Andy, her best friend, was usually late and today was no exception.

"Don't look at me..." Luxe remarked and smirked as Alex let an irritated groan escape his lips.

"He's usually always not far behind you." The manager quipped and Luxe quickly shut her mouth. It wasn't untrue-the two of them had become inseparable lately. Old habits really tended to die hard...

"I'm sure he's on his way. BVB have a tour to get ready for too..." Luxe said, defending her friend. It was stressful enough getting ready for a six month long tour and of course Alex had to add more to everyone's plate.

"Speaking of...how's your throat?" Alex stopped dead in his tracks at the mention of the coming tour and Luxe rolled her eyes.


She had been feeling under the weather-getting dizzy, her throat swelling up and she could not get rid of this damn headache. Alex had sent her to the doctor, who had claimed that it was stress and that was good enough for Luxe. Alex was still insisting it was something more, but Luxe continued to ignore him. He was more concerned about the tour than he was about her-it had always been that way and things weren't ever going to change.


"I'm fine. I've been taking the pills that the doctor gave me." Luxe said but Alex didn't seem satisfied.

"And your headache?" He kept nudging and Luxe tried to keep her cool. If he truly cared then it would be one thing, but Alex never cared.

"Alex you're going to give me one if you don't stop pestering me..." She said and suddenly Luxe's southern drawl was in full effect. It had been coming out more and more lately-her southern sass had made a comeback and the other girls were loving it.

"Alright..." Alex said, but they both knew this wasn't the end of things. It never was with him.


Luxe crossed her tattooed arms across her chest as she looked around-things were almost set, except Andy was nowhere to be seen. She knew he was busy and truthfully she kind of wished Alex had found some other guy to be in this video other than Andy. She loved the singer, but they weren't together...atleast not publicly. Luxe and Andy had been spending a lot of time together and while it was innocent fun, sparks continued to fly between the two.

She had been sober for over a year now but there was one drug that Luxe couldn't seem to get out of her system-Andrea Dennis Biersack. Together they just worked-the yin to the other's yang, but she didn't know if they were supposed to be together. She wanted them to be together, but fate had a sick and twisted way of treating people.

And fate treated Luxe like shit, time after time.


"I'm here!" A voice shouted from the doorway and Luxe's heart leapt in her chest as she turned and saw Andy standing there. His black hair was gelled back, shaved close on the sides, but long on top. He was wearing what she had asked him to-what Alex had requested-which was an all black t-shirt, black jeans and his black boots.

"Finally! Sutan!" Alex called out and suddenly Luxe was standing alone while her makeup artist and friend tended to Andy.


While Andy was getting video ready-it wouldn't take much-Luxe walked along the edges of the set and her heart seemed to ache. Alex had asked her for one thing and it had almost killed Luxe to do it, but of course she always did as Alex asked. Placed all along the walls, in black frames, were various pictures of she and Andy in varying stages of their relationship.

Promotional photos were easy to come by, but these were personal.

Ones of them goofing off when they had lived together in Andy's condo, ones of them when they had toured together and even Holiday photos taken with Andy's parents. Four years of history were displayed on these walls and Luxe knew that she needed to hold it together or else Sutan would kill her. Luxe dabbed at her cheeks as she came across one photo in particular and it was hard to hold back.

It was of she and Andy-right in the middle of her drug abuse and God did she look terrible. Her hair was matted, her cheek sunken and her eyes hallow...it was terrifying to think that she had ever looked like that. But through it all and even in the photo, Andy had held on to her. Andy, in the photo, had his eyes closed, his chin resting on top of her head while Luxe's eyes-filled with so much pain and regret-looked straight at the camera.

It was haunting and Luxe knew she needed to look away from it.


"You ready for this?" Andy asked as he came up from behind her and Luxe quickly sniffed and turned to face him.

"Yep...take a seat." She said, motioning to the piano bench that had been pulled out for him. Andy's long fingers stroked the keys and it sent a chill up Luxe's spine.

"So I just sit here?" Andy asked and Luxe smiled.

"Pretty much. I mean react to me...I've died, but I've come back to you...or some shit like that." They both smirked at one another, laughing until Alex cleared his throat and gave them both a death glare.

"Quiet on set!" Alex called out and Luxe watched as Andy pressed down on the key, mimicking the music that had begun to play.


Put your lighter in the air and lead me back home
When it's all said and done I'll follow the echoes
I hear you night after night calling out my name
And I find myself running to meet you
I didn't want to escape
From the bricks that I laid down


Luxe opened her mouth, singing the words lowly, but she was acting like she was the most heartbroken person in the entire world. Andy watched as she walked around the piano, her small hands running across the smooth surface and it sent chills down his back to see her like that...to see her in that dress again. He knew that this song had been written with him in mind, but seeing Luxe perform it made Andy's heart hurt. There was such a sadness to her in that moment and Andy had to restrain himself from reaching out and taking a hold of her.


You are the only one
The only one that sees me
Trusts me and believes me
You are the only one
The only one that knows me
And in the dark you show me
Yeah it's perfectly reckless
Damn, you leave me defenseless
So break in
Break in


Suddenly her hand was against his cheek, her cool palm resting against his skin and Andy instinctively reached up and placed his own hand on top of her own. His blue eyes were closed, but he knew that Luxe was there...and that she was crying. Andy had figured that this would be an emotional thing for the two of them, but it seemed to hit them both harder than they had expected. She moved away from him and Andy slowly opened his eyes to see that she had taken a seat beside him.

The camera moved in, getting a shot of both of their faces as Andy listened to Luxe whisper the words to him.


You let me fall apart without letting go
Then you pick up the pieces and you make me whole
I didn't want to escape
From the bricks that I laid down

You are the only one
The only one that sees me
Trusts me and believes me
You are the only one
The only one that knows me
And in the dark you show me
Yeah it's perfectly reckless
Damn you leave me defenseless
So break in

The shoot continued on, but deep down both singers knew that something that had sparked within them in the past few weeks had just caught on fire and neither one of them was willing to put it out.

Notes

Review...for old times sake?