Upon entering her hotel room Rachel promptly dumped her bag by the door, kicked off her shoes, and rather gracelessly flopped onto the king size bed.
She was exhausted. She had been in LA for three weeks and all of her time was consumed by the tour and all the preparation it needed.
The first few days she had sat with Will in his office going over legalities and contracts, then once all of that was sorted out, they went over the tour in more detail (the number of shows, where they would be playing, how they would be travelling) and started focusing on what exactly she would be performing.
As she was the opening act for a rock band, but she didn't have any material of her own, Will explained that she would be performing covers of rock songs. Rachel was excited, she loved all kinds of music, but rock, specifically classic rock, was her favorite. It was the kind of music she listened to and sung along to growing up, so she felt very comfortable with the material.
Rachel, Will, and his top music producer had come up with a set list of what Rachel would be performing. However, both Will and the producer had agreed to leave the set list open to change based upon Rachel's preferences throughout the tour.
With the set list figured out, Rachel started rehearsals. They were exhausting.
There wasn't any choreography or anything like that, for which she was grateful, but there was still a lot to learn. She and a producer had to work out how each song should sound and then make changes throughout the process if certain things weren't working.
Rachel had to remember all the lyrics and all of the musical cues for each different song, something that she found to be a little overwhelming.
Not to mention the fact that she felt like her vocal chords were so stretched that she could wrap them around the world no less than a dozen times. Rachel was positive that she had never sung as much in her entire twenty years on this earth, as she had in the past two weeks of rehearsal.
However, she was feeling more comfortable and confident in rehearsal every day. At first she had been a little timid, as singing to live music and hearing solely her voice, was something completely new to her and had taken Rachel some getting used to. It was a totally different experience then singing along to her iPod while cleaning or driving in the car, but she was adjusting and learning how to let herself get lost in the music.
Tomorrow would be her first day free of rehearsal. After two and a half weeks of rehearsing all day every day, Rachel was thankful for the break, even if she would be spending the day with a styling team working on her "look" for the tour.
She had never been much into hair and makeup or fashion, always feeling most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. Plus, Rachel had spent the last two years working two jobs just to pay the rent, so she hadn't had much money to spend on luxuries.
She was a little apprehensive about tomorrow, not really sure what to expect, but Tina, a young Asian girl working as part of the PR team for the tour, had told Rachel that she was good friends with the stylists and ensured her that the styling duo were great – both at their jobs and as people.
Tina was around Rachel's age and although she dressed in an edgy, gothic style she was actually very friendly and sweet.
During Rachel's first week in LA they had run into each other in the elevator. Rachel had just finished with another long day of meetings and she was feeling overwhelmed and drained. She planned on heading back to the hotel to try and refuel for what she knew would be more of the same the next day, but when she entered into the elevator to go down to the lobby Rachel recognized the young Asian girl from a meeting a few days prior.
Apparently her faced conveyed how overwhelmed and exhausted she felt because Tina invited her to go out for a drink and said she wouldn't take no for an answer because if any two people in LA needed a drink it was the two of them – the over worked and underpaid assistant PR and the last minute opening act for a famous rock band's world tour, who was about as green as a performer could come.
Liking how blunt and upfront the girl was, Rachel had agreed, happy to be seeing some part of LA other than her hotel room or boardrooms. They went back to Tina's place, as Rachel was not yet legal, and talked and laughed getting to know one another over drinks.
Tina told Rachel about her dream of becoming a PR representative, maybe even opening her own firm one day, and how she was thrilled to be working in the field that she wanted to make a career in – even if it was just as an assistant, which basically meant she ran errands, got coffee, answered the phone, and took notes.
When Tina asked about how she had become the opening act for such an amazing band on a world tour, Rachel had recounted the whole story about how Will had heard her singing in the hotel bathroom while she cleaned and had offered her the chance to be the opening act and a day later she was on a plane to LA.
They really hit it off and had had coffee a few times over the last couple of weeks when their schedules had permitted. Tina was the closest thing to a friend Rachel had out here in LA and so far she couldn't see any reason to doubt her, so Rachel decided to trust that the stylists she would be meeting tomorrow would be as great as Tina said they would be.
Finally mustering up the energy to get up off the bed Rachel walked into the en suite bathroom, which was easily the size of her entire apartment back in New York, took a nice long shower, then ordered room service (which was included in her free stay at the hotel provided by the record label) and went to bed early, knowing that if she would be spending the whole day trying on clothes and different things then she would need as much energy as possible.
….
The next morning Rachel was walking down the sidewalk, soaking up some LA sun and enjoying her second cup of coffee. She looked down at the address in her hand and saw that it was only a few buildings ahead, with a sleek black and silver sign above the door that read H.J Styles.
Relieved to have found the place without any trouble, Rachel slipped the piece of paper back into her pocket and took the last sip of her coffee before opening the door and entering into the posh reception area.
Everything was either black or silver and it was all very modern. The reception desk appeared to be empty and the long hallway, which was the only thing you could see from the reception area, seemed to be empty as well.
Rachel was about to pull her phone out to check the email with the date and time of her appointment, when all of a sudden she heard a sharp squeal from behind her. She turned around to find a thin man, with porcelain skin and delicate features staring at her.
He was dressed in what Rachel assumed to be all designer clothes and seemed to have a very individual sense of style, but oddly it worked on him. He was wearing a light grey, checkered button down, tucked into fitted red pants, dark grey suede ankle boots, a large broach of what appeared to be a swan and topped the whole look off with a dainty silk looking turquoise scarf that he simply tied around his neck.
The man looked completely styled and slightly overdone, but somehow effortless at the same time. Before Rachel was even done processing the man's outfit, he started talking quickly and excitedly.
"Oh my Dolce, look at you! You are like the perfect blank canvas! This is going to be amazing, just you wait and see!"
Quickly circling Rachel and gently touching the ends of her hair and turning her face from side to side, the man continued his musings.
"Look at all of this dark, gorgeous hair! It doesn't even look like it's ever been dyed before! That is so rare to find these days! And look at those legs – simply endless! Oh! And your eyes – like dark pools of chocolate! And your jaw – so regal! Oh, this is going to be so fun! Fun, fun, fu-"
"Kurt!"
Before the man could finish a beautiful black woman emerged from the hallway. She quickly made her way over to where Rachel and the man she was yet to properly meet were standing.
By this time the man had taken a step back and released Rachel's hair.
"Hello there, you must be Rachel," the woman said pleasantly, while offering her hand to shake, "I'm Mercedes Jones and this is my overly excited partner, Kurt Hummel," she finished with a nod and slight disapproving look towards her male companion.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you both," Rachel said, still a little shocked by the earlier happenings, as she shook the woman she now knew as Mercedes' hand.
Sensing that the woman in front of her was still slightly on guard and unsure of the situation after she was subjected to a full frontal assault of Kurt's excitement, Mercedes decided to try and put her at ease.
"I apologize, you will have to excuse Kurt. He is dramatic at the best of times and down right theatric at the worst," Mercedes said, while offering Rachel a reassuring smile.
Visibly starting to relax, Rachel let out a breath and gave a small, yet sincere smile.
"It's ok, really. I was just surprised."
"Oh! Yes, dear, I am very sorry if my – um, enthusiasm, startled you. But, you have no idea the relief and excitement I felt when I saw you standing out here. Seriously, I have been on edge and stressed for the past two weeks!" Kurt said, all while waving his hands around dramatically.
Rachel must have had a lost expression her face, because Mercedes quickly cut in before Kurt could go on anymore.
"The record label didn't give us any information about you – no pictures, no measurements. Not even eye or hair colour. Normally, we have all that information before a styling session so we can properly prepare, but things with you have been so rushed that no one seemed to have the time to share details. It's been all about making sure all the legalities and performances are ready. We haven't even been able to get Tina on the phone for the past two weeks. Anyways, Kurt, being the dramatic that he his, got the idea into his head that the label wasn't giving us any information because you were – well, let's just say, a difficult client," she explained.
"Oh, okay. Well, I'm glad that I'm not going to be a difficult client," Rachel finished with a smile, deciding to just take Kurt's behaviour as a strange, but still flattering, compliment.
"Honey, trust me, even if I hadn't been expecting a 400 pound woman with a mustache, bleach blonde hair, and a sweating problem – I still would have acted like that! You are absolutely gorgeous!" Kurt said, looking Rachel up and down with a big smile on his face.
"Thank you," Rachel replied while looking down at the floor, giggling and blushing.
She had a feeling that while maybe a tad dramatic, she was going to really like Kurt. Mercedes seemed nice too, very sweet. With these realizations Rachel felt some of the tension and nervousness release from her body.
After a moment, Mercedes announced that it was time to get this styling session going and ushered the group into the long hallway she had come from.
….
When Rachel returned to her hotel room that night and looked into the mirror, seeing her face framed by the blunt bangs, reaching past her eyebrows, and long layers Mercedes had cut into her hair earlier that day, she couldn't help but feel like the final transition was complete. No longer was she Rachel, the waitress and maid, but rather Rachel, opening act for Needless Addiction.