Love And Other Drugs

Sitting in a straight backed chair, looking at herself in the mirror, Luxe didn't really know what was going on. She had been on a week long bender-surviving off of beer, Jack and minimal amounts of food. The tour was now in the Northern part of the US-Minnesota possibly? None of that mattered-all of the girls were miserable and they didn't know how to get themselves out of their own despair.

The album had completely tanked, never making it past the 100 spot on the Top 200 charts and Alex was barely speaking to any of them. He had begged them during the recording process to save the pop songs for a smaller EP album they had planned for the summer, but the girls were insistent.

The article in Rolling Stone and it's corresponding album review had been a disaster. The reviewer had torn them apart and the interviewer had completely twisted their words around.

The girls had been playful during the interview, but on paper they had come off as stuck up and ungrateful. They had talked about working hard in the studio, staying there till all hours of the night and only being able to stay up thanks to a large supply of energy drinks. Energy drinks turned in to uppers and the girls were painted as wild party girls with a serious drug habit. Their old security guard had also been interviewed and admitted to getting some of the girls hooked on Coke, which wasn't a lie but it still should of been kept quiet.

They had come together, all drunk and pissed off, in Pixie and Lulu's hotel room and completely trashed the place. The television went out the window, they filled the bathtub with water and let it overflow thus ruining the expensive carpet. Mads and Pixie did lines off of the expensive coffee table, scratching the surface with their razorblades and Luxe had accidentally set the bed spread on Pixie's bed on fire with her hairspray and lighter experiment.

It didn't matter anymore-they had been trying to keep their wild ways to a minimum when they were out with BVB, but MIW were a bunch of loud party guys and the girls embraced them full force.

They spent their nights-when they were in hotels-making as much noise as possible, knocking on doors, running around in the halls and screaming at one another through their doors. People complained, yelled and often they were thrown out, but not before Alex pulled out his checkbook to reimburse the hotel for all of the damage.

Now the girls were in their dressing rooms, being loud and wild once again, but something else was going on. There were more people in the room than usual-not just Marcus and Chantal, but other makeup artists and hair people-and Luxe couldn't help but wonder why.

Luxe yelped as her hair was tugged and she bit down on her lip ring to stay silent. The woman behind her was pulling her hair as she put in the extensions that Alex ordered for the girls and Luxe was not happy. Alex had come to the girls that morning, demanding a change to try and save their current tour and any future projects. Attendance for the tour was still high, but it wasn't selling out like the one with Black Veil had and Alex needed to do some damage control.

He had let these girls get away from the image he had set up for them-they cut their hair, wore bright colors and walked around with little to no makeup on their faces. He had let them ruin their second record with their own ideas and Alex knew he had no one to blame but himself.

Now it was time for a change.

Alex had ordered four extra hairstylists for the night and now they were all working on getting the girls their wild and dark image back. Luxe's hair would take the longest-she had completely chopped her hair off to the chin and would need longer extensions than anyone else. Plus she refused to color her all blonde hair any of other shade, so some of the extensions were colored in shades of deep purple, dark teal and black.

The singer was currently seated in her chair, her grey eyes trained on her own reflection and Alex noticed how miserable she looked. Oh fucking well. The other girls were also getting extensions, most of them shorter but Alex wanted his long haired beauties to be perfect once again.


"How are we doing ladies?" Alex called out into the room and noticed that Char, who had been looking down at her phone, was now glaring at him from the reflection in the mirror. Luxe didn't acknowledge him at all and the other girls all groaned.

"Drop dead!" Mads shouted out over her shoulder which made Lulu and Pixie chortle softly. Alex sighed, he had expected this.

"Now, now girls. You all got what you wanted... I let you do what you wanted when you wanted to and look where we are." He said and then noticed that Luxe finally seemed to look up at him. Her eyes were filled with hate, but there was a sorrow there as well.

"It's not the end of the world Alex..." Char said, her purple and blue hair being blown dry so she was rather hard to hear, but her face said it all. The guitarist was fed up with his shit-all of the girls were.

"Yes, Char, yes it is the end of the world. If you girls don't repair your image now, then that little EP we were looking to do in the summer won't happen. Your third album-you won't be writing it." Alex explained and there was an outcry from every corner of the room.

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

"That's fucked up!"

"What do you mean we won't be writing our next record?!" Char spoke the loudest and Alex noticed that Luxe was strangely silent.

"I didn't stutter Charlotte. You girls wrote your first record and it was amazing, but your second...well the label isn't pleased. So before recording I will be bringing in a ghost writer for your songs. You girls will still have some say, but it will be weighed with the say of myself and Jay." Alex explained and Luxe felt her stomach lurch.


Luxe felt awful and it wasn't just because she had been drinking for three days straight. It had been her idea to include those songs on the album, she had been the one to write them up and she had been pretty insistent that they be kept on the master disc. The girls had gone along with it, possibly to keep the peace and now Luxe knew that this was all her fault.

Her blonde hair was being lengthened and the girls were all going through the ringer all because Luxe had had a vision. The girls had gone along with it because they understood that Luxe didn't have the same rock background as they did.

Luxe liked rock music, but a lot of her inspiration came from 80's soft rock groups and leading female singers like Madonna. It made sense since Luxe was a singer and most rock groups didn't put much stock in their singers, but the Dolls were different. They wailed on the guitars and had a wicked bass line, but they also had a lead singer who was amazing at what she did.

They had tried to find a balance in all that with their second record and of course they had failed miserably. Now all of their creative freedom was being taken away from them and the girls could do absolutely nothing about it.


"So we're just figureheads." Pixie said, now turning in her own seat to look at their manager. Alex was standing there in his designer everything, smirking at them all in that greasy way he always did. They were just his meal ticket-a way for him to get more designer everything and all the women he desired.

"No! No you girls are still my shining stars...but I just can't trust your judgment right now." Alex explained and Luxe felt like crying. Her head hurt, her face felt numb and she desperately needed a bump of something.

"Fuck you." Mads snarled from her spot and Alex only smiled and backed up towards the door. It was time for him to leave-the girls were obviously getting more hostile by the minute.

"Alright. Well you girls have a good show and I will see you after. Don't worry...everything is going to be fine." He said as he opened the door and began to back out of it.

"Yeah...last time he said that I ended up in the hospital." Luxe, finally speaking, said to laughter and agreement.


The girls all talked quietly to one another, plotting and planning their next move against their scummy manager. Andy had been telling Luxe that Alex was only in it for himself, but she was too trusting and thought that it was just a misunderstanding. Sure Alex had tried to force she and Andy together, and then he had tried to pry them apart, but really he wasn't so bad. His nightly threats to Luxe had died down, but she still feared him which was why she had stayed silent during his album announcement.

Now the girls were getting up to get dressed and Luxe knew she should do the same.

They had all finally gotten used to their costumes, but Luxe still hated flying down to the stage every night because Alex's threat of cutting her safety line still rang in her ears. Char's fingers were at her back, tying her corset strings, but not pulling as tightly as the other girls. Luxe groaned as she caught her reflection-who was she anymore?

She had finally gotten some independence when she had cut her hair and stopped wearing so much black, but here she was again-ratty hair down past her shoulders and she was sure Alex had sent her bags of Blackcraft clothing to supplement her wardrobe with. Soon enough the girls were all dressed, their hair done and makeup perfect. Now it was time to party and Luxe was the first one at the small table in the corner.


" Come on Luxe!" Mads encouraged, happy to have her partner in crime back. Luxe smirked as she bent down, plugging up one nostril as she snorted the white powder up the other. Andy had no idea what was going on and Luxe made sure it would stay that way.

"You're looking especially sexy tonight Luxe..." Someone whispered in her ear as she rose and Luxe nearly jumped as she looked over her shoulder and saw Chris standing behind her. His tattooed fingers ran through his short black hair, his black contact lenses delving in to her soul as he looked at her.

"Thanks Chris...you're looking suave as ever." She mused, taking in his all black suit with the tails on the end of his jacket. His top hat was still in his dressing room, but he still looked the part of a demented ring leader without it.

"So I've got something for you back in our dressing room..." He said, smiling down at her and Luxe could only smile back. She liked Chris, probably too much and she found it hard not to flirt with him. Luxe still loved Andy, but the singers were growing apart...just like they feared they would.

"Oh really?" She said, cocking a perfectly arched eyebrow and Chris said nothing as he grabbed for her hand, their tattoos mingling together as they walked out of the room and down the hall. Being around Chris was comforting-he was quiet like she was and they both enjoyed the same things.

"Yeah...I think you're gonna like it...a lot." He said, his voice husky and filled with desire. The two of them had been doing this dance for the past few weeks and Chris was feeling desperate. He was lonely, Luxe was lonely and there was no reason they couldn't party together.

"I dunno...the last surprise you had for me kind of tanked." Luxe teased as they entered the dressing room and then Chris dropped her hand and moved towards his bag in the corner. He bent down and Luxe let her eyes drag over him, taking in his slim figure and strong arms.

"Well this one is sure to please..." He said, smirking at her as he walked towards her with a very ornate bottle in his hands. It contained a green liquid that seemed thick and like it was going to knock her on her ass.

"What is it?" She asked as she watched Chris set everything up. He smiled at her over his shoulder as he poured her a shot, plopping a sugar cube into the glass and swirling it around.

"Your new best friend...Absinthe." He said as he took his shot and Luxe followed suit.
Instantly the room began to swim around her and Luxe only laughed as a pair of lips captured her own and she was lost to the passions of the green fairy.

And to Chris Motionless.

Notes

Looks like someone is giving in to a lot of little demons that Andy kept at bay.

Anyone gonna review this thing?

P.S-We're more than half way through this story...more reviews = more weekly updates.