"Perfect! Yes, Miss. Luna, you look absolutely stunning! Twirl a little more that way, beautiful! Alright, just a few more," the photographer said as they lowered their camera and started to list off some instructions to the assistants littered throughout the set. "We'll get you into the next outfit and get some shots for the catalog and we will be all set."
"Do I have enough time to make a call?" Jade asked as she stepped off to the side to grab a water bottle.
"Of course, we can take ten if you'd like!" The overly enthusiastic photographer said with a wave of their hand. "Your next outfit is already in your station so just come out in that when you're ready. Alright, people! I need these lights changed and I want someone to…"
Their voice trailed off as Jade dashed back to her station at the end of the hall, away from the photo set, as soon as they said she could leave, she bolted away. Once she was behind the closed doors, she tossed the stupid blonde wig she had to wear onto the couch and sat down at the makeup chair, and rubbed her temples in frustration. This, in her opinion, was one of those days where being famous was a waste of time. She had been here since seven in the morning and it was already past four in the afternoon, nearing five o'clock. She groaned as she looked away from the clock and practically tore the sundress off of her body and tossed it aside with the rest of the outfits she had to wear and started to get dressed into the next one, that now that she looked at it, was literally the same dress, just in a pink instead of a blue.
"I fucking hate pink," Jade grumbled under her breath as she put it on and examined herself in the mirror. The dress itself was fine, just not her style and when paired with the wig and makeup she wore, she looked like the girl-next-door from a typical nineties film. One of the many things she despised. With some time left before she was expected back, she sat back down after adjusting her wig and opened her phone to find she had missed forty-five messages in the Boheme group chat. Ever since her visit to the little diner over a week ago, her new acquaintances quickly made it a point to keep Jade involved in anything they were doing whether it be hanging out after their shifts, helping one another for an audition, or some other wild thing they had cooked up. Without even bothering to scroll through them all, Jade brought the phone up and recorded a voice message, and said, "Guys! Forty-five messages! My boss thought I was having a family emergency!"
She smiled to herself and sent it and within a minute, all of them hit the laughing icon on the message and greeted her in the chat.
Robbie: Sorry about that. I tried to stop them!
Andre: All lies! He did nothing!
Beck: Guys, chill out. So Jade, are you in for tomorrow night?
Jade: What?
Cat: She didn't read them. Aww, then you didn't see the puppy pics I sent?
Jade: I'll go back and look, but what about tomorrow?
Tori: We're going out for karaoke! We do it every month! You've gotta come with us!
Andre: Yeah girl! It's a blast! There's this place not too far from the diner that we hit up!
Jade: I don't know guys. I have to check and see what I have going on.
Cat: Please, please, please, please, please, please!
Robbie: It'll be fun!
Tori: It's okay if you can't, but it would be really cool to hang out with you again.
Jade read over Tori's message and felt her stomach flip and almost felt giddy at being asked by her. Since their dance and the little kiss at the subway, Tori had managed to occupy the vast majority of Jade's mind and was often the focus of her dreams. She looked back at her phone and typed out that she would try her best to make it, to which everyone in the group rejoiced and sent gifs of celebration and cheers. Beck texted her the information on the time and place so it wouldn't be lost in the spam of their group chat and said he was glad she could come along. A knock on the door drew Jade's attention as one of the assistants leaned in and said, "We're ready for you Miss. Luna."
Jade placed her phone back into her bag as she said, "Thank you, I'll be right there."
With one last inspection of her wig and makeup, she turned and exited the room and came back to the newly altered set and resumed posing with a rehearsed smile, and tuned out everything around her. The bright lights and annoying flashing of the camera no longer bothered Jade as much, she was too excited thinking about all the fun she would have and started to count down the minutes until she could see everyone again.
The following day carried on much like the one prior and Jade felt ready to snap if she had to sit through another publicity meeting with her father's agency. The clock ticked slowly on the wall until the meeting came to a close and Jade briskly walked out the door after saying her goodbyes and caught the next elevator going down. She went back to her beautiful apartment and tossed her bags aside and sorted through them, removing anything that had to do with Miss. Luna and left them in her room. With a couple of hours to spare, she made herself some food and watched tv until it got close and then showered and redid her makeup and hair. She picked out an outfit similar to what she had worn last time but ditched the hat and went with a deep maroon red top that made her look fierce. After a quick inspection and adding a couple of sprits of her perfume, she smiled and grabbed her bag and keys while she scrolled through her phone and pulled up the address again.
Her stop came quick enough and Jade was back atop the streets of New York City and followed the directions on her phone down several blocks until she came to her destination. Across the neon banner was the name "Helen's Place," outside it appeared to be a three-story brick building and was possibly an old apartment complex that had been restored. On one side of the building, Jade could see a large collage of graffiti art proudly displaying famous people of colors and other notable people of the city, tucked down in the corner of the stonework at eye level, there was a plaque listing the building as a historical relic from the forties. While Jade was reading the plaque, a loud high-pitched voice screamed out, "Jade!"
Before she had the chance to turn around, a pair of small, yet surprisingly strong arms reached around and locked her in a vice, squeezing her tightly and almost knocking Jade onto the sidewalk. She looked over her shoulder and saw the familiar neon red hair and reached up with her free hand and patted Cat's arms and said, "Cat! Cat, hi! Air! Release please!"
"Cat!" Another voice shouted from down the street. Jade strained her neck a little more and could see Robbie jogging, a little winded, up to them and tapped Cat's shoulder and said, "Cat, you've got to let her go, you're crushing her."
Andre, Beck, and Tori all jogged up after them as Cat said, "But I missed her!"
Beck chimed in and eased Cat off of Jade as he said, "Well if you keep holding her like that, she's gonna go to the hospital and you won't see her for even longer."
Cat's eyes went wide and she immediately released Jade and gave a meek apology as she played with the loose fabric of her shirt, her cheeks mimicking the shade of her hair. "It's alright Cat, I missed you too," Jade said as she caught her breath.
Her freedom was short-lived though as each member of the group took a turn expressing how happy they were to see her and hugged her, luckily no one tried to cut off her circulation while doing so. Tori was the last to do so and as they broke apart, she took both of Jade's hands and held them in her own, and said, "I'm really glad you could come along. Are you ready to have some fun?"
Jade glanced down at their joined hands and tried to hide her blush as she nodded and said, "Yeah, I've needed some time off. I barely know you guys but you've sort of become my escape."
Tori wrapped an arm around her shoulders while Andre came around from the other side and wrapped an arm around her waist and said, "Trust me, we don't mind at all! You're one of us now!"
She was surprised by their openness but was grateful for it as she let them escort her inside past a large man acting as the bouncer. He smiled and gave them a nod and held the door as they passed and Jade was greeted to a surprisingly upscale bar. The décor was well put together and was a celebration of music and performance with records and pictures of artists adorning the wall. In the back, past a long bar, stocked full of bottles on the back wall, was a decently sized stage with a table off to the side with several books and microphones laying atop it. The place was already packed and the crowd was rather lively but Jade was led through the crowd to a back corner where they slid into a booth that overlooked the main room and was close to the bar. At the other corner, Jade noticed a staircase leading up and leaned over to Robbie who was sitting next to her, and asked loudly over the chatter, "Where does that lead?"
He looked up from his phone and followed Jade's gaze and said, "Huh? Oh yeah, the whole building is a part of the bar. The top two floors are private rooms. Kind of like the karaoke bars in like Japan, you know?"
"Oh, that's cool," Jade said as she watched a bachelorette party loudly made its way up the stairs. "Do you have to book it or can you just walk up?"
"Book it," Robbie said immediately. "Helen hates walk-ins but if she has an opening, she's more than willing to set it up. It's just really pricey so none of us have bothered to try it. Besides we have more fun down here."
"Gotcha," Jade said as she leaned back in her seat and took in the atmosphere. On stage, a couple of college girls were loudly singing some country song about being cheated on and clearly had a few drinks already as they staggered and swayed on stage. "How do you get up there?"
This time it was Tori who sat on the other side of Jade who spoke and said, "Right over there," she pointed to the table with the book and microphones, "is where you sign up and pick a song then they give you an estimate on how long it'll be. Some nights they have real instruments for people to play! Right now, they're out though. Someone tripped and broke the guitar and the piano is getting returned so it'll be like another week until live music is back."
"Hey, Jade!" Andre asked from across the table. "You gonna show us what you got?"
Feeling a little nervous all of the sudden, she shook her head and said, "No way, I can't sing that well. I'll stick to editing songs, not performing them."
"Aw come on, I'm sure you're great! What if we did a duet?" Andre asked.
"No, I don't think so, maybe next time," Jade said as she tried to break away from the conversation.
Tori giggled and nudged Beck and said, "Maybe you two can do a duet, you'd look great up there!"
Beck laughed and smirked as he said, "Haha. Very funny. I'll stick to acting. Singing is not my thing, last time you guys got me up there it was a shit show!"
The comment about her and Beck looking good together did not slip past Jade and she wondered if Tori was trying to set them up, which made her feel uncomfortable and more so…it made her feel mad. "What the hell? What was that kiss on the cheek then? Wait…I don't even know if she swings that way! Calm down Jade, just relax and have some fun. Shit, they're looking at me! What did I miss?"
Tori looked at Jade curiously and placed a hand on her shoulder as Jade shook her head and said, "What? Sorry, I zoned out for a minute there. Did you say something?"
"You're good, I was asking what you want to drink? I'm gonna put our order in before going to the restroom," Tori said.
"Oh, just whatever you're getting is fine. As long as it's not too strong," Jade said.
"You got it," she flashed Jade a smile and slipped out of the booth and was followed by Cat who skipped after her.
A while later, Andre wandered back to the booth looking defeated and grumbled, "It's gonna be like almost an hour to get on the stage. Apparently, there's a doctor's convention and they all came here to hang out."
"It's alright man," Robbie said hopefully. "I'm sure a few of them will drop out or miss their turn. You'll be up soon enough."
"I know I don't see a long face in my establishment!" A sharp female voice said from somewhere in the crowd. The people moved aside and a shorter dark-skinned woman who was a little plumper passed through them holding a tray of drinks and was followed by Tori and Cat who had some small appetizers in their hands. The woman's hair was done back and was left in a giant poof behind her head and wore a well put together clearly inspired by jazz culture. She set the drinks down and started to pass them out and said, "Mind telling me what's got you throwing a fit Andre?"
With one stern look from her, Andre sat up and shook his head as he brought his drink close and said, "Nothing Helen! It's no biggie."
"That's what I thought," she playfully nudged him and said, "And you must be Jade. Cat and Tori were just telling me about you. I'm Helen."
She reached across and shook Jade's hand as the younger woman said, "I assume you're the reason it's called Helen's Place?"
"You'd be guessing correctly," she said with a smile and patted Cat on the shoulder and said, "You kids let me know if you need anything. I'll be around if something comes up. First-round is free but tell Sikowitz that I better get my next meal for free!"
They laughed and promised her it would happen to which she smiled and walked off back through the crowd to the bar. Tori looked over at Andre as she slid a drink to Jade and said, "So how long until we can do a song?"
"That's what I was annoyed about, it's almost an hour," he grumbled.
"No long faces," Beck said with a smirk. He ducked to the side as Andre threw a balled-up napkin at his head but he missed and it ended up going over the back of the seat and into the drink of someone sitting in the next booth. They all laughed as Andre ducked down and Jade quickly took the chance to slip out of the booth in the chaos and said, "Restrooms are over there, right?"
Robbie finished taking a sip of his drink and glanced to where she was pointing and said, "Oh yeah, hang a left around that corner and you can't miss it."
"Did you want me to come along?" Tori asked sweetly.
"Don't worry about it, I just had to adjust my contacts, I'll be right back," She turned and briskly walked through the crowd of chattering people and navigated her way to the bar and watched for a moment when she thought she was in the clear and snagged Helen and asked, "Hey, sorry to bug you. The upstairs rooms, are there any available?"
She gave Jade a stern look but said, "There is. Some of those doctors couldn't handle their drinks and didn't even make it up to the room. Why?"
Jade reached into her bag and pulled out a platinum bank card and slid it across the bar to Helen and said with a mischievous smirk, "What a shame that doctor was such a creep and tried to put the moves on you. Oh hey, would you look at that? He left his tab open. It would be a shame to let that room go to waste and it'll make a dent in his wallet."
Helen took the card and slid it over and examined it to make sure it was real and said, "Young lady, are you implying that I fabricate a story about a doctor who couldn't handle his liquor and put the moves on me and now I'm gonna get revenge by letting you and your friends up to a private room to waste his money?"
Jade leaned in across the bar and said, "I can suggest a couple of other stories. I came up with three others just in case you didn't like that one."
The older woman took her card and wrote some things down on a paper and got Jade's ID and said, "This is very sweet of you, you know? They've always wanted to try the private rooms but you know how it is being a performer in New York."
The pop star winced at the comment but put on a rehearsed smile and said, "I just want to give back and let them have some fun."
"Head on back and I'll get it set up," Helen said as she gave Jade a pat on the arm.
She returned to the group just in time as Andre and Tori were having a debate against Beck and Robbie about some movie they had seen together while Cat giggled and sipped her drink. Sometime later, Helen approached and tapped the table and said, "All of you, upstairs, let's go!"
"What?" Tori asked as they all looked to one another and slowly got out of the booth and followed her upstairs.
"Some asshole decided that on top of getting drunk that he should put his hands on my girls," she said over her shoulder as she led them up the two flights of stairs, "I caught him and got him tossed out but not before he tried to feel me up too. So now his room his empty and his tab is open," she came to a door at the end of the hall and unlocked it with her keys and inside was a lavish setup. Leather couches were lining the area and a large table in the middle with a stage just in front of it with some mic stands and a large flat screen tv hanging on the wall that displayed the entire music selection. The walls were neon colors and a disco ball hung from the ceiling. "Have fun but don't get too crazy! I don't want to have to get Martin to drag you all out because you passed out."
Robbie spoke up as they entered and looked around, not believing this was happening, and said, "Helen, are you sure this is okay? These rooms aren't cheap."
"You let me worry about that, you all have fun, you deserve a treat since you've been so good to me," she pointed to the phone on the wall next to the door. "You can call down to the bar with that or you can use that tablet on the table."
That was all the assurance they needed as she smiled at them and closed the door on her way out. Andre and Tori cheered and hugged everyone before going for the remote and started looking through songs while Cat looked up at the disco ball and examined the brightly colored walls. Beck sat down and sipped his drink and said, "This is awesome! Never thought we'd get up here!"
Jade sat next to him as Andre and Tori started to sing while Robbie looked at what song to do after them and said, "Yeah, lucky break!"
He smirked and nudged her shoulder and said, "If only show business gave breaks like this, you know?"
Once again, she felt a little guilty lying but grinned and went with it and said, "Oh yeah, that would be great!"
The rest of the evening went by quickly but for the group of performers, they had one of the best nights of their lives as they sang with one another and laughed over drinks. Jade felt proud of herself for giving them a night they wouldn't forget and couldn't help but laugh as Beck struggled to hold a note and looked completely out of his depth but surprisingly, Robbie stepped up and sang with him which helped. They each took turns singing and even Jade was goaded into participating and chose an Avril Lavigne song, not daring to risk doing one of her songs and blowing her cover. Tori though did pick a song from her alter ego Miss. Luna and choose one that genuinely surprised her.
It was called "Awaken" and it was a slower, but upbeat piece about picking yourself back up after being knocked down and being yourself. Personally, Jade didn't like the song because it was too bland and uninspired, especially compared to so many other songs about the same premise that did it so much better. Yet when Tori sang it, she couldn't help but be enthralled by it and started to hum along. When it came to an end, the light above the door started to flash, indicating there was a bartender outside who had brought their next round of drinks up. Tori put the microphone back in the stand and called over her shoulder, "I've got it. Cat, you're next right?"
Cat nodded and eagerly started to scroll through and before she could pick, her eyes went wide as Tori froze in the doorway. "Wha-no, how?! Y-you're here?!" Tori said as she put her hands over her mouth and tears started to well in her eyes.
"What's up Tori?" Beck asked as he walked over and opened the door some more. Jade leaned over and watched as a big grin formed across his face and Robbie choked and coughed on his drink as another man walked into the room.
Jade watched as Tori launched herself towards them and hugged them, causing them to laugh and almost drop the drinks they were carrying. Beck snagged the tray and got back as the person hugged Tori back and spun her around. "No, no, no, please don't be what I think this is," Jade thought to herself. The man was wearing a pair of black shoes and dark jeans paired with a rock and roll t-shirt, their hair was blonde and shaved close on the sides of his head while the top was left a little longer. He had a chiseled jawline and a pointed chin, towards the base of his neck it looked like he had some sort of tattoo peeking out but the necklace and jacket he wore is what caught Jade's attention.
"I've missed you so much! What are you doing here?" Tori said between her sobs as the two broke from their hug.
"Oh no, no, please. Come on, this isn't fair," Jade thought to herself as she put the pieces together quickly. Around the man's neck was a pair of dog tags and the jacket he wore was that of the military, most likely from the Air Force due to the patch on the chest that blatantly displayed it. "I lied about the date to surprise you! How did I do?" he said with a smile as he leaned in towards Tori.
"No! No! Don't! Come the fuck on!" Jade screamed in her head as she clutched her drink tightly to her chest, her knuckles started to turn white and if she squeezed any tighter, she may have cracked the glass.
"I've missed you, Travis!" Tori said as they kissed. For Jade, it was as if the world went into slow motion and this was some sort of punishment for her. She felt like an observer on the other side of a lab window and had to take in every detail as their lips met and curled into smiles. When they finally broke apart, Tori giggled and moved some loose hair behind her ear as she blushed and looked back and said, "Oh! Jade, I'm so sorry! Let me introduce you."
"You really don't have to," Jade mentally groaned as Tori led Travis over to the group and held his hand.
"Travis, this is Jade, our new friend," Tori said with a giggle, "Jade, this is Travis!"
Travis looked down at her and she could now clearly see his bright blue eyes as he smiled and leaned forward and offered her a hand. In Jade's mind, the dagger was about to twist further into her heart as she anticipated the words that would come next and thought, "Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it—"
"Hey, it's nice to meet you," Travis said as they shook hands, "I'm Tori's boyfriend!"
"FUCK!"
Author's Notes:
Hello and surprise...once again! So I ended up coming back to this story and really enjoyed it. It's now in rotation with my other two stories, don't worry, Galway Wars will be updated soon, but I struggled with this one a lot. The main issue I had was that I wasn't sure if I wanted to make this a cohesive narrative or be a series of inserts over time about Jade's escapades with the gang. Ultimately, I decided on the cohesive narrative.
And as you can see, I just had to add a bit of drama too the mix. Come on now, if you've been following some of my work, you know I can't make it that easy.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter, sorry it's a bit long but I wanted to add a lot to this one and pack in the details and I just really enjoyed myself while doing so.
Oh! Before I forget, addressing something I saw in the reviews, the reason this is rated M is because of the language but also because I do want to get into parts that will clearly warrant it. I won't say what they are yet, but I just wanted to get that out there to clear things up.
Be sure to leave a review if feel so inclined, it really helps me to keep going on days when I need it and I hope you have a great day!
Songs Used for Inspiration:
1. Tik Tik Boom- trailer (look up the first few seconds and you'll see what I mean)
2. Everybody's Fool by Evanescence
3. Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy
4. La Vie Boheme from Rent
