Love And Other Drugs

The bus was filled with laughter as it rolled down the road and Andy was surprised that he was actually having a good time. Last night had been the first night that he had stayed on the Doll's bus and no one had killed him in his sleep-shocking. Now they were all sitting around the front lounge, Andy and Luxe were seated at the kitchen table, a card game in front of them while they watched Char and Lulu try and best one another at some video game. The video game wasn't that entertaining, but seeing the girls scream at one another was incredibly hilarious.

Andy was actually having a really good time and seeing Luxe smile was making his heart soar. The singer had been depressed lately-stressed out about performing without passing out again and also she seemed to be floating on something, but wouldn't tell Andy what. Valium had been prescribed to her for her anxiety, but Andy was pretty sure Luxe was taking more than she needed to. Andy just let it go-he got the pressure she was under and as long as it didn't get any worse then he was okay with it.

Andy noticed that Mads was sitting on the couch across from them, glaring at him and Andy only smirked.

The drummer hated him-it was pretty obvious and Andy couldn't help but laugh about it. He couldn't blame the angry red haired girl because he had really been a douche bag when they all first met, but Andy had changed his mind about a lot of things about these girls. At first he thought they were incredibly spoiled, but after seeing them day in and day out, Andy realized that these girls really were thankful for everything they had-especially their fans. They also were really talented-Andy had finally broke down and listened to the Doll's record and he was majorly impressed by their writing skills.


"Die bitch!" Char screamed, laughing as she tossed her head back. Lulu was pouting, her controller sitting in her lap and Luxe only laughed at her friends. They were so competitive with one another and it was fun to watch them.

"Apparently I already did. Switch!" Lulu called out and soon enough Pixie had replaced her and the two guitarists were going at it.

"They're really in to that game aren't they?" Andy asked as he leaned over the table towards Luxe and smiled at her. She nodded, taking her eyes off of her bandmates to look towards the guy sitting across from her. He had stayed on their bus last night, which had been strange, but fun all at the same time.

"They are-imagine listening to this day in and day out." Luxe said and Andy only smiled at her as he looked down at his cards. Luxe was trying to teach him how to play poker and it was going miserably.

"I can't even..." Andy said and Luxe only smirked at him and looked down at her cards. Teaching Andy to play poker had been fun-it had been really fun seeing that he wasn't good at everything.


The bus lapsed in to a normal amount of noise as the two girls playing one another stayed quiet to try and concentrate. Andy was trying to focus on his cards, but he couldn't help but let his eyes gaze into Luxe's as they looked at one another over their cards. It was strange being like this with someone again-Andy hadn't truly felt a connection with anyone since Scout and he never really thought he would.

Luxe just brought something out in him-she made him smile and laugh and she gave him hope that he could possibly find something in life that he could depend on. As they sat there, the group didn't even notice that Alex had suddenly appeared in the doorway of the driver's portion of the bus, his face set in a grim expression.


"Can I have your attention?" Alex called out to them and as Luxe looked up at her manager her heart fell. She had never seen the music manager so sad looking-not even that one time that his favorite pair of ray bans got run over by the bus wheels. Luxe and Andy both looked towards him and Alex tried to give them an encouraging smile, but there were tears in his eyes.

Oh God.

"What 's going on Alex?" Char asked as she paused the game and looked up at their manager.

"Yeah-who died?" Mads asked with a snarky tone and Alex's face completely paled.

"Madeline-that's not even close to being funny." Alex said and Luxe felt her heart stop beating. Mads had been joking, but by the look on Alex's face-there actually had been a death. Had it been someone on their tour? Was everyone on the BVB bus okay?

"Alex-what happened?" Luxe said, trying to get her manager to focus and finally he was looking at her. His face began to crumble as he looked at the two singers-how was he supposed to tell them what happened?

"Alice Hunt-a sixteen year old girl from Rochester New York was found this morning. She hung herself in her closet and was found by her mother." He stated and Luxe tried to figure out what this had to do with her. It was sad, but was she someone that Alex knew? A little sister or a cousin?

"Um, that's really terrible." Andy said and Luxe only nodded her head in agreement. Alex sighed as he scrolled through his phone and looked back up towards the people in the room.

"Alice Hunt left a note for her parents and in that note she spoke about two people in her life who had always been there for her, but even then they couldn't help her any longer. She named you, Luxe, and Andy as well. Then she placed quotes from Savior and Victims at the very bottom. I'm so sorry guys. I'm going to talk to Jon, see if we can set something up for the show later tonight." Alex said and Luxe just looked at him.


Luxe felt numb-almost like she had been dunked into a huge tub of ice water and she couldn't feel anything. One of her fans had taken their own life and then left a note naming her as one of her saviors...but Luxe had obviously failed miserably. She felt like crying-maybe she already was, but the only thing Luxe could do was to look towards Andy and lock her grey eyes with his blue ones.

They held tears in them, much as her own did and Luxe suddenly began to shake. A pair of arms were now wrapping themselves around her, but Luxe was too numb to noticed to whom they belonged.

Luxe could hear crying coming from somewhere-her own mouth or was that Pixie? Luxe had never felt this way before-like she had completely failed in something that meant so much. She had never realized that her words had meant things to people in such a way that they could save a life, but apparently they had. Until now. Someone was holding her and as the ringing in her ears finally died down, Luxe was able to look around and take her surroundings in.

Andy was the one who was holding her, his own tears making her shoulder wet and Luxe knew she was crying as well now. Pixie and Lulu had their arms wrapped around one another, crying and sobbing loudly. Char had moved to sit beside Mads on the couch and the two were speaking softly to one another. Luxe didn’t know what to say-she didn’t know if she should say anything and truthfully she was scared. Her words had power-a lot of power-and that power hadn’t been able to help a girl in her time of need.

Andy was silently rubbing a hand up and down her back slowly and Luxe felt herself begin to calm down. She needed a Valium, even though she’d already taken three this morning when she got up.


“It’s going to be okay Luce…it’s going to be okay.”Andy was saying and Luxe only shook her head, finally feeling like she was able to speak.

“I just-that poor girl! Her family…oh God Andy what did we do?! We should have done something!” She thought she had been calm enough to speak, but now she was sobbing in to Andy’s shoulder.

“I know-there’s nothing we could have done Luce…I hate to say it but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about one of my fans taking their own lives.” Andy said calmly, but Luxe could hear it in his voice that he was anything but. He sounded devastated and she knew, that in this moment, they were not alone in their suffering.

“B-but that’s terrible! We have a responsibility to our fans to make sure they know that we’re there for them…they have to know that! We have to tell them Andy!” She was now looking at him and Andy winced. Her eyes were swollen and red while her cheeks were wet and her nose was running. Andy said nothing at first as he reached over, grabbed for a napkin and began to softly wipe at Luxe’s cheeks.

“We will Luce…we will.” Andy said as he sat beside her and Luxe only sighed as she closed her eyes and let her head fall against Andy’s shoulder.


The girls were all quietly talking now and Luxe wondered silently what they were talking about.

She wanted to do something-maybe Alex would give her the number of the girl’s family and Luxe could call them. She would ask when they stopped at the venue-they were now in New Orleans and Luxe had been hoping to have some time before the show to wander around, but now she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

The bus seemed to be slowing down-they were no longer on the highway and Luxe knew they must be close to their venue. Luxe noticed that the girls had stopped talking and that Char was coming over. The guitarist and Mads took a seat across from the couple, while Pixie and Lulu perched on the edge of the seat.


“You okay babe?” Char asked as she reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Luxe’s. The singer looked rough-tired and like she hadn’t been sleeping. Char knew about the pills, but it was only a few more than normal and probably wasn’t too much of a problem.

“Not really. How about you? Pixie? Mads? Lulu? Are you guys okay?” Luxe asked as she looked over each girl and they all tried to give her encouraging smiles. This was hard on them all, but they couldn’t even imagine the guilt that Luxe was feeling right now.

“We’re okay Luxe…we’re here for you.” Pixie said with a small smile and Lulu only nodded. Andy smiled-these girls were such a close little family and seeing them now he wished that he and the guys could be the same way. They loved one another, but they butted heads-especially Andy and Ashley.

“Thanks. We need to do something guys…turn the bus around and go up to New York…” Luxe said as she looked around. The girls looked less than enthused about that idea, but Luxe was feeling really helpless right now.

“Well maybe not that, but we were talking and we think we have an idea…” Char said, giving the two singers a very small smile. Andy nodded-Char seemed to be great at coming up with ideas and it was probably better than something that Alex had planned.

“But it’s only going to work if Andy’s okay with it…” Mads added and Andy just looked at the drummer. Her brown eyes were red rimmed and Andy didn’t think he would ever see the rough and tumble girl cry. Ever.

“I-um-I mean anything you girls need…I’m there.” He said, smiling at them all until finally he placed his gaze on Luxe. She was looking at him, her grey eyes taking him in and he only wished he knew what was pinging around in that brain of hers right now.

“We want to do an acoustic set…we want to perform Savior with you and have you guys perform our 21 Guns cover with us. All acoustic-both songs and we want both bands on the stage.” Char said, a smile on her lips and Andy thought it over. He didn’t really know that song, but he had heard Luxe sing it every night and it would fit. He smiled at them all slowly and nodded his head.

“Done.”

Notes

I can't imagine what these bands go through when they lose a fan, but I'd like to think that it hits them pretty hard.

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