AN/ Just to clarify this story goes on in 1969
This chapter beta was : Releina Artemis Rockefeller
It was a small, seedy bar in Camden Town.
Lucy was waiting at a table close to the window. Her hands were rubbing against her coffee mug as she always did when she was nervous. She always seemed to be, lately. She was nervous every time she walked down the street; not because she feared to be assaulted, but because she could never know if some private detective hired by her father would be there ready to force her back home. She was nervous when she was in her apartment because she didn't know if she'd be able to pay the rent next month. She was nervous when reading horoscopes because she actually believed in them. She was nervous right now because she didn't know if Levy McGarden would show up.
Levy McGarden was a 20-year-old photographer and Lucy's best chance to get an actually interesting job. All she had to do was interview her and make an article out of it, phrase it this way and that. It seemed easy, but she had to meet the standards of the chief redactor and do it in two days—but she had never written articles before. She wanted the job, not that she dreamed of being a journalist, but it paid enough to keep her flat and it involved writing, Lucy's actual dream. On top of that, her opening was in a rock & roll magazine. This music had something wild and mysterious that intrigued—in a good or a bad way—everyone. Lucy was positively intrigued, very positively. Lucy couldn't imagine anything better, if only Levy McGarden would come through the door right now.
Not that Lucy would have been able to tell, she had never met the girl. All she knew about her was in the little file the chief redactor had given her the day before. Lucy's work in the world of journalism had come in the most unexpected way. She was working the night shift in a bar two streets down from her apartment—as she had been for the last couple of weeks. That's the time when the chief redactor of the rock magazine, Strings'n'Drums, came in with a few friends. After they had a fair amount of drinks, Lucy worked up the courage to talk to them. One thing leading to another, he had decided to give her a chance in order to get 'his damn feminist wife off his back'. If she could write a good article about Levy McGarden, she would get a place in the magazine.
She felt uncomfortable right now, not only because she highly doubted her chance of joining the magazine, but also because of the clothes she was wearing. Most girls of her age would have been uncomfortable in revealing clothes, but not Lucy. As long as she wasn't dressed with as little as a stripper, she was fine. No. Lucy's problem was with formal wear. She was currently clad in a pair of brown pants with a white button-down shirt. The pants didn't stick to her hips well like bell-bottom jeans, and not feeling the material on her skin made her uneasy. The shirt was even worse. She was afraid any of her movement would wrinkle it and make it look like she came out of a storm. Comfort be damned, she needed to look professional. Worst of all, she barely had time to put on elaborate make up, just a bit of foundation and a light pink lipstick. She really hoped she didn't look too awful.
She had fallen asleep while reading the file. She didn't prepare a lot of questions to ask the photographer, so she hoped the latter's answers would give her ideas for a few more things to ask. That was if Levy McGarden was indeed coming. Lucy was staring at the window hoping to see someone who might be her. Her first hope had come in the form of a tall woman with long black hair, wearing a suit made for ladies, but she didn't even look at the bar. Then, there was a pretty blonde in a blue dress who was walking towards the bar shining with confidence, but she stopped in front of a man who was leaning against the wall. Then, Lucy saw a woman in her late fifties walking down the street in the latest fashion, but before she could entertain the thought if she was the one she was waiting for, she heard a sweet voice ask, "Are you Lucy?"
She jumped at the sound and found herself in front of a girl who looked to young to be in a bar. "Yes, I am."
The young girl extended her hand, "Levy McGarden." She said. Lucy shook her hand and she sat down.
Levy McGarden had a messy blue bob that made her look like Debbie Harry, except for the much more rounded face of the girl. Her pale skin, small nose, and big cheeks gave her the appearance of a child. And this aspect was very accentuated by the lack of curves along her body. She wore an orange shirt with rounded long sleeves and a turned up collar. It seemed to be the perfect choice for someone as flat chested as her. Her dark green miniskirt showed off her slim legs, which seemed to be long for someone of her height. Her legs were covered in cotton tights and she also wore high heels matching respectively her shirt and her skirt. Lucy admired this girl who had the courage to walk around in a miniskirt in winter and at the same time, couldn't help but feel sorry that even with her incredibly high heels, she was barely 5 feet tall.
The waiter came to their table to take their orders, of which, Miss McGarden ordered hot black coffee. The waiter asked if they wanted anything else, and they shook their heads, and the waiter went on his way.
"You seem a bit tense," Levy stated.
"It's my first interview," Lucy admitted shyly.
"Don't worry. It's my first, too." She said kindly.
Her kind smile got Lucy to start "How would you describe your work?" she breathed out.
Miss McGarden looked thoughtful "My work, hmm, well...I couldn't say what the work is like if I'm the only one who's doing it the way I do." Lucy's anxiety kicked back in, what if all her questions were as bad as this one? "You see, I listen to the music the band makes and then I try to find the moment that would illustrate it the best. That's why I prefer to hang around the bands instead of asking them to pose in a studio."
"And you get to do that a lot? Hanging around the band, I mean."
"Yeah, kind of. I ask them if I could and most of the time they say yes. Sometimes, I'm following them on tour and I notice that one of my pictures would make a good cover, so I'd keep it on the side."
"Did you always work that way or did you realise it was better later on?"
"Both actually. You see, when I came to London, I shared a flat with musicians and sometimes, I find good pictures to make of them. So when one of them got a contract with a record company, I gave them a few of the pictures I took and if they liked some, they become the album covers. The same happened when others got their contracts. This led to the record company hiring me to take pictures of other bands for their albums or on their tours."
Lucy scribed quickly everything she said and asked, "Who was the first one?"
"Natsu Dragneel."
Lucy immediately looked up at the girl. She knew very well who Natsu Dragneel was. His last album had stayed on the top spot of charts for months. He is one of the most famous singers in the world for five years already. His habit to wear leather and to set things on fire during concerts had earned him the nickname of Salamander. She knew the album covers; she owned all of them. The first one was in black and white; it was him, sitting on a ripped couch, playing his guitar. It was a great picture, and there was something about the look in his eyes as he gazed at his strings that Lucy couldn't define. It was intriguing, and it was one of the reasons why she had bought this album.
"I have his albums. All of them are great. Did you make all of his album covers?"
"Yes." As she answered, Miss McGarden puffed out her chest.
"And what do you like the most about your job?"
"Doing what I want. I mean, I don't choose who I'm going to shoot, but I choose how and which pictures will be shown to the producer. It's not like working in a factory or you know, I'm not just doing what my boss wants me to do. I'm free."
Lucy envied her, but she was hoping she could soon make a similar statement. She wondered how it would be like, to feel free, really free.
"Who do you like to work with the most?"
The petite girl put her hand on her chin and frowned. Several times, she opened her mouth to say something but closes it immediately, and her frown deepens. Finally, she said, "I'd say the less annoying is Gra—I mean, John Fool. He lets me do my job."
"Who's the worst?" asked Lucy with more interest than professionalism.
"I'd say Cana Alberona, from The Drunks. And that's because she's always trying to get me drunk."
Lucy couldn't help but notice that those two artists were matching their reputation. John Fool was known to be very pragmatic and Cana Alberona to be a high-level alcoholic, which was where the name of her blues band stemmed from.
"Which one of your pictures made you the most proud?"
"From Smoke," Lucy immediately knew that she was referring to the Fernandez album. The cover picture showed Fernandez jumping, his guitar in his hands, during a concert. "I know all I did was take the picture at the right moment but," she marked a pause, "it's the best picture I ever took." A smile formed on her lips and all the pride she had for the picture could be seen on it.
"How do you choose between a colour and black and white photograph?"
The young photographer went on about all the different reasons. As she took notes, Lucy recognised herself in the passion the other girl was showing toward her discipline. There was a light in the girl's eyes and she wondered if it appeared in her own when talking about literature.
Lucy asked her a fair number of technical questions even though she had the feeling the readers of Strings'n'Drums would be more interested with which musicians Miss McGarden was concerned with. She then went on to talk about the different musicians she had worked with, and it so happened that the girl was always able to recognise a bit of their music in her picture, something Lucy was sure she'd use in her article. The number of famous singers that the photographer had worked with impressed her. She knew almost every great artist of their time.
This forced another question to spill out of Lucy's mouth, "How did you come to meet all of them?" Not that she doubted Miss McGarden's talents but for most of them, she had made the covers of their very first albums.
Miss McGarden chuckled, "Well…actually we used to live together." The look in Lucy eyes was enough for her to understand the next question, she immediately answered, "We came from the same town and we all wanted to go to London to start our careers, so we went together and none of us could pay a rent own our own so—you could guess what happened."
Lucy got the idea. It was like in a novel she read about three years ago, except that it had a tragic end. The story of all those artists seemed to be going fine and finer. The teens in her book never got to fame, no. Too many rivalries, love stories, and disenchantments came their way.
The interview went on. Lucy started asking more questions about the girl's life. She was amused to learn that it was Natsu Dragneel who had suggested to use the picture that she took of him on his first album's cover. Lucy had to keep herself from laughing when learning that he did that because it was out of his laziness rather than spending a day with a professional studio photographer. She knew more funny stories than inspiring ones. Soon, Lucy couldn't control her laughter and after one of the anecdotes, the rest of the bar had their eyes on them, shocked by the loud sound coming out of Lucy's mouth. No one made remarks, some even smiled at their antics.
When Lucy was done with her question, she couldn't help but make a subtle remark about the resemblance between their conversation with the book she had read. To her surprise, instead of asking her what she meant, Miss Mcgarden asked Lucy if she had read said book. Lucy quickly found out that it was one of Levy's favourites. This jolted Lucy, as this book had never been a bestseller. It had actually never been popular. Only bookworms like her would know about it.
Question after question, reference after reference, quote after quote, the two girls had grown closer and closer. At some point, they exchanged some of the books they always carried around with them. They had this same look on their face—the one of absolute delight of finally meeting someone who can connect with you. This was the most entertaining conversation Lucy ever had in her life so far. With every exchange, the list she had in her head of books she should read just had gotten longer. But she didn't only learn about books. While Lucy liked music a lot, she didn't have anywhere near the knowledge the photographer had about it. Everything the petite girl said Lucy kept in her mind. If she was to get this job, it would become incredibly useful.
"Where do you live, by the way?" Levy asked
Lucy hesitated, she was a bit embarrassed of the very small flat where she lived. Nevertheless, she was feeling very comfortable with the girl, and before she could stop herself, she told her where she lived.
The other girl burst in laughter. Lucy's cheeks started to burn, overwhelmed with a feeling of shame and all she wanted to do was run away. Until she heard Levy say, "That's where we used to live!"
It took a moment for Lucy to process this information. The photographer didn't notice, as she was lost in her laughter. Lucy couldn't believe that several persons who lived in that crappy building ever did something big out of their lives. Yet now, that she knows of it, there was this wonderful girl and some of the most popular musicians of their time.
Lucy was about to voice her enthusiasm at the news, when the size of her flat came back to her mind, and made her realise there was some sort of dissonance in what her interviewee was saying. "Hang on, I thought you said you lived there with several musicians, and not just Natsu Dragneel?"
Levy signalled her to wait with her hand while she took control of her laugh. Once she had, she told Lucy, "The flat of the third and fourth floors are a duplex. That's where we lived. We were a bit cramped but we managed, at least when Cana wasn't drunk."
"You mean that among the people you lived with, there was both Natsu Dragneel and Cana Alberona?!"
"Yeah, if you're interested, there was also Erza Scarlet, Gra- John Fool, and The Strausses."
That meant eight persons had been living in a place twice the size of her flat. That was the equivalent of four persons in a flat where she already thought is too small for one. "How long did that last?"
"Well, Natsu left after six months, Erza…a month after him I think. John and Cana didn't take long either. I left a few weeks after her, and well, The Strausses couldn't afford that flat with only the three of them, so they left around the same time as I did."
She understood that the time gap between each of them coincided with when each of them had started off their careers. There was something that made Lucy a bit uncomfortable, but she wasn't sure if she should ask. To be honest, asking the question seemed just as embarrassing as the thought. Levy must have noticed Lucy's unease because she asked her nicely, "What is it?"
"Didn't you feel, I mean, wasn't it awkward to live with three boys?"
"Oh," she reacted before saying, "I was used to having boys around, especially them. We were all in the same orphanage."
Lucy felt very sad upon hearing this. It wasn't the same type of sadness you'd feel when hearing about orphans. It was a sadness that came from the idea that someone this kind would have such a terrible start in life.
"Oh no, don't be sad!" the photographer said immediately, "The orphanage was great, really! The owner was a former musician and the nicest person I've ever met in my entire life. Honestly, it was more like a bunch of friends living together, and it feels like a real family, even if it's a bit weird."
Lucy didn't know if she should believe her or not, but the sincerity in her eyes seemed true.
"Can I put this in the article?"
"It's your article."
AN/Thank you for reading, I hope you've enjoyed this. If you have or if you haven't you can leave a review to tell me what you think of this, how it could be improved. And I hope you'll come back to read the next chapter.