If the music industry was not ready for a band like Long Burn, certainly no one told these girls.
The band of five began two years ago when one Jane Blakely was invited to sing in a local San Diego cafe as practice for her senior seminar, and one waitress named Mary Blackmore offered her accompaniment. The two girls took San Diego by the storm - at least as far as coffee scene went. Blackmore was only a freshman and Blakley was wrapping up her senior thesis, and Blakely's offer for a job in Chicago appeared to be the nail in the coffin for the two. The steady friendship that had come out of their music, however, proved stronger, and Blakely continued to return to play a few shows for her younger friend.
When Mary's sophomore year found her in a musical practicum class, Blackmore found two similar musical souls in Lydia and Kitty Buchanan - twin sisters and new freshman. The two joined Blackmore in a weekend performance with Blakely that would have impressive but left forgotten on the floor of the old bar where they played. The only thing that made that night exceptional was that Francine Bennet had insisted her husband take her for a drink at one of their old haunts, and the well known Bennet managers immediately knew they had stumbled across something special.
"I knew immediately," Francine Bennet assured Light magazine. "They just had a charisma about them that neither of us could deny."
"Francine fell in love," Edward Bennet added, "once she had stopped complaining about the effect of loud music on a tired woman long enough to listen."
The Bennet couple were well known in the musical industry in the 80's and 90's but the pair had not signed a new group in years. The couple are known for their great affection for the artists they have signed, Francine describing one of their previous bands, Knighthouse, as being like their own children and Edward calling them 'senseless louts but an enjoyable couple all the same'.
The couple were ready to sign the girls onto the Hertford record label immediately, but it was not until the addition of Elizabeth Gardiner that the group truly were able to hit the ground running. Gardiner's smokey tone and inarguable skill on a guitar had brought the final element that the girls had been lacking. Within a year, the girls of Long Burn had released their first single with the promise of an album to come.
It was this song, Loved You Less, that captured the hearts of country and the attention of the musical world. The number reached Billboard top 100 within a week of the music video's release. Long Burn might have only had one song so far, but it did not stop the quickly growing fan base's devotion to the girls.
Not one to do anything halfway, the girls did not hold back in letting their music experience shine in the song. Jane Blakely's leading vocals enchant, backed up by Lizzie Gardiner's voice and guitar, Lydia on drums, Kitty on base, and Mary Bennet as their keyboardist to finish them off. Music critics might be quick to tear into pop music and girl bands, but Long Burn's lyrics allow room for nothing but praise and are co-written by the girls themselves - Hertford trusting the personal thumbprint of Long Burn to take the girls farther than any second hand music.
If anyone thought to call the music industry a man's world, today's most successful up and coming girl band promises to change that - and it does not look like they are soon to go away.
Lizzie had love in her heart for all of the girls in Long Burn, but she shared a relationship with Jane that was unlike any she had with her other band members. From the moment they had met, they had become like sisters. It was unexpected friendship, Lizzie's outgoing wit and amused cynicism often at odds with the gentler singer's shy and idealist nature. But regardless, the two had quickly lapsed into a friendship as perfectly matched in heart as they were in music.
It was a tradition that started with an accidental encounter in a local coffee shop before their first recording session, but the day of the Light Magazine party found the two girls hidden away in a corner booth in the old cafe. Feet tucked up next to her in the beat up seats, she gratefully accepted the coffee Jane handed her as she joined her at the table.
"I'm going to need about 12 more cups of this before I feel ready for tonight," she half laughed as her hands cupped the tea in her hands for warmth. Her smile was bright enough, but Lizzie knew her friend well enough to see the telltale twitch of nerves in the corner of her smile.
"I think there's something a little stronger than green tea that you might be looking for," she teased, earning Jane's protests (albeit smiling) in the process. "In all seriousness, though," she reached out and took her hand. "It's going to be fine. We've done press nights and parties before, this isn't new."
"I know," Jane smiled, fingers worrying the edge of her cup. "It finally feels real doesn't it? I know we have had nights like this before, but it still feels like our first night. We've never had an opportunity like this before. And there are going to be so many other gifted artists there tonight, I can't believe it is really for us."
"Ah, how could we forget our other honored guests," Lizzie laughed. "Did Francine mention them once or twice?"
A flush of pink warmed Jane's face. "You know that's not what I am after, Lizzie."
"I know," she comforted, squeezing her hand again. The teasing light in her eyes had not escaped entirely, however. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them ends the night half in love with you, regardless of what you're after."
Her teasing compliment was met with a roll of the eyes, but the smile still graced Jane's face. "I am just looking forward to meeting people who take music and art as seriously as we do. I know Francine is wanting us to get photographed with Netherfield, but just the chance to meet with such successful artists is a wonderful opportunity on its own. I believe Ed is hoping for us to collaborate with someone on the next album, and this could be just the networking opportunity to do so."
"I admit I am not too eager for that myself," Lizzie frowned. "It was pure luck that the five of us fit together so well, I don't want to fix what isn't broken."
"Come on, Lizzie," Jane smiled. "It would be a wonderful challenge, musically. Just think of tonight! There are going to be so many incredible artists!"
"A slew of people who let someone else write their songs and then call themselves artists," she dismissed. "If anyone is present that meets even half of your talent, I am clearly no judge of these events."
"Or our fellow musicians?" Jane asked, mouth twitching towards a smile of amusement.
"No, I imagine those are too easy to understand," she laughed.
Jane smiled. "Just wait. There will another artist yet who blows you away, and then you will have to hold your tongue." Taking a sip of her tea, Jane rested her chin in her hand. "It was so lucky that Char was able to get the our CD to Light."
"And lucky that they actually liked it," she added with a laugh. "I doubt Char could have saved us from a bad review if they hadn't, regardless of who her father is."
"True," Jane smiled. "Whether anything comes out of this or not, I still am so happy we get to have tonight. I could never have imagined it."
The hesitance to put too much faith into others (in particular, famous and wealthy others) warred with Lizzie's desire to hope for the best for Jane and the other girls. In the end, her caution won out, albeit tempered by her earnest wish for better. "Just be careful, Jane," she said softly. "We don't know them, nor anyone else at the party. They might be lovely people, but we need to remember that each of them are on their own side, not ours."
Jane considered Lizzie's words for a moment. While Jane stood firm in her honest belief in the goodness of others, she was not as naive as others sometimes thought. "While that might be true, I do believe that there is no one who will be there tonight who will be actively looking to tear us down. At the very least, with the publishing of the magazine article, the other guests tonight will be looking to impress us."
"I am not too concerned with either of us, I'll admit," Lizzie worried her lower lip. "Just . . . I wish that Lydia and Kitty would try to be a little more cautious. I know Francine says that some of their escapades has helped our image, but I am a little worried at what image exactly they are helping with."
Here, even Jane could not entirely argue. "They're young," she said at last with an apologetic smile. "They're young, talented, and experiencing the spotlight for the first time. They'll settle down in time, and we can keep an eye on them tonight. They aren't bad girls, just a little …." She struggled for the right word.
"Impulsive? Immature? Reckless?" Lizzie offered, receiving a frown in response. "I'm sorry, Jane, I know. I just worry for them." As well as for the rest of Long Burn in extension, but that was not a notion that was best to discuss right then.
She shook off those thoughts and gave Jane a rueful grin. "But what does any of that matter? Tonight, we are stars." She held her coffee up in a toast to Jane, who laughed and tapped her tea to Lizzie's coffee.
"Tonight we are stars," she agreed.
It might have been true that they had attended other parties like this before, but as they girls exited their town car, Lizzie was forced to acknowledge that this was certainly something they had yet to quite see before. As soon as the toe of her shimmering and insensible heels touched the sidewalk, there were flashing camera lights.
She gave the photographers her best publicity smile, feeling Jane's hand on her arm as she exited the car behind her. They stood on the sidewalk, laughing and smiling for their captive (and capturing) audience, as the other girls stepped out to join them. Mary hardly seemed to notice the photographers, seeming almost bored with the whole proceeding - her aloof expression a rather trademark of the girl, although Lizzie knew it was her way of handling her own discomfort. Kitty seemed simultaneously elated and intimidated by the whirl of action around them, reaching out for her sister's arm. Lydia was the one who Lizzie had to reach out to with a guiding hand on the small of her back.
"Come along, love," Lizzie said as the younger girl began to eagerly greet the enthusiastic journalists, hurling questions at the girls faster than they could have hoped to answer.
Just as Lizzie began to feel a sense of drowning in people and flashing lights, Edward Bennet broke through to them. His wife was following him, coming down the stairs at a slower pace as she cheerfully and enthusiastically answered any questions directed her way. Their manager gave them an amused smile as he ushered them past their captive audience and towards the venue doors.
"Thank you so much for being here tonight," Jane said in answer to the questions thrown at her. "We're all so excited to be here."
"Hello, Ed," Lizzie greeted cheerfully as she passed him. "Enjoying your evening?"
"You know me, Gardiner. Nothing I enjoy more," He said dryly. "Miss King, if you do not hurry yourself at least a little, you might find yourself in the tabloids without having actually attended the party itself."
Lydia shot him a slightly reproachful look, but listened to his urging and followed the other girls up the steps. The group was shepherded from behind by their manager and publicist.
The room was no more ornately decorated than many of the other evening the girls had been invited to, but somehow it seemed to be more alive with excitement than any they had yet attended. The effect might have been owed in part to their own sense of excitement as the guests of honor, as well as the personal attention that was directed towards them as they entered into the room.
The music pulsed in her chest as the chief editor of Light Magazine, William Lucas, approached to welcome them. She did her best to pay attention to the conversation, but found herself continually distracted by the other guests, by the music, and her own awe that this was actually happening.
"We are so glad you were able to make it," Lucas assured them, shaking the hands of each of the girls. "We were enjoyed working with Long Burn so much, and we have been so excited to celebrate the launch of tomorrow's edition."
"The article was wonderful," Jane enthused, eyes lit up with her own excitement. "We were so honored to have the chance to work with such a wonderful magazine."
It was here that Lizzie's attention drifted, as she noticed Charlotte across the room. Her friend grinned and Lizzie shot her a thumbs up, before she was pulled back into conversation.
"It was as much a gift to us as well," Lucas responded in equal eagerness. "It is a rare gift to be able to help such talent so early in their careers. Light Magazine will always cherish their role in Long Burn's sure to be illustrious history.
William Lucas was a man caught in the interesting position of having a great sense of his own musical history, while simultaneously having little to no musical knowledge of his own. His college band, having known a certain degree of success, had given Lucas the experience of a hit song on the radio in the 90s as well as a nearly sold out tour in his youth. Full of pride and fondness for those memories, he would often wax poetic on his musical history in daily conversation. The fact that the band's second album had flopped and each of its members gone their separate ways in no way dulled his sense of his own musical and historical importance.
Regardless, he was not an unpleasant or unsuccessful man. Upon finishing his degree (a double major in music and journalism at one of the finest universities new money can buy), Lucas had gone on to work in a number of different publications before he took the position as editor in chief for Light Magazine. He enjoyed using his role to reach out to new young talent, never one to shy away from sharing his stage wisdom with the next generation of musicians - that it had been 29 years since he had stood on any stage in any musical capacity.
The man began the opening of his soliloquy on the beauty of the stage lights and Francine was his captive audience - if she might have ever been anything less than stunningly impressed, her gratitude in extending such a hand to her girls had more than made up for it. She was appreciative enough an audience that the other girls felt justified in pursuing other conversation.
Feeling a hand wrap itself around her arm, Elizabeth turned and upon seeing its owner she enthusiastically threw her arms around her friend. "Oh, Charlotte!
"While I would still appreciate if Lydia, wine, and a b-list celebrity would do something worthy of a proper gossip article for the morning news," Charlotte teased, returning the embrace with equal enthusiasm, "at the very least I shall have you and your dress to write about. You look beautiful, Lizzie." She was released from the hug, and Charlotte insisted on Elizabeth twirling so she could have a proper look. "I will write poetry on you in red chiffon. The image of you in a red halter dress will be as iconic as Marilyn in white."
She laughed. "I am sure that Lydia and Kitty will happily oblige you, and rescue your readers from a riveting account on the peek of golden heels through red fabric. But thank you anyways." Charlotte left a kiss on her father's cheek before she stole her away, taking her on a circle of introductions around the room.
After receiving the warm compliments of a beloved musical duo of ten years past, Charlotte and Elizabeth took pause by the table of drinks. "I don't think I could have ever dreamed up a night like this even a year ago," Lizzie laughed breathlessly. "It hardly seems real. I just met Knighthouse and before that I shook Justin Timberlake's hand."
"The night is young," Charlotte grinned, sipping her champagne, "and the guests of honor have yet to arrive."
"And here I was believing we were the guests of honor," Lizzie teased.
"Lizzie, you and the girls have a long way to go before you can be the guests of honor in the same room as Netherfield," Charlotte's nudge and smile lightened the weight of her comment, but she still rose to the challenge.
"When our album releases next month, we will see if anyone even remembers the name," she declared, chin raised and teasing smile in place.
The conversation that had been humming around the room, under the pulse of the music, seemed to vibrate into a crescendo. Elizabeth looked over Charlotte's shoulder to the direction of the fuss. "I believe I have located your guests of honor, Char."
On the opposite end of the room, William Lucas was shaking the hands of three young men of an irritating degree of chiseled handsomeness and striking features. Handsomeness aside, Lizzie doubted there was a person left alive who would not have grasped the significance of their presence.
Charlie Bingley was grinning in enthusiasm and grasping William Lucas' hand in both of his. She could not hear the words they were exchanging, but Lizzie imagined that at least three synonyms of thrilled were included. The mop of blond hair on his head might have looked messy on anyone else, but somehow managed to only be charmingly disheveled on him.
Fitz (his full name was evading Elizabeth, as hard as she tried to reach for it) was all that was careless. A suit that was perhaps just a little too casual for the occasion and the coils of black hair surrounding his grinning face should have made him appear out of place, but instead made him seem as if he had just finished laughing or was just about to start.
And then there was Will Darcy.
"The last boybander I saw look so miserable was Zayn Malik in 2014 interviews," Lizzie whispered.
"Earn as many platinum records as they have and you can look however you like," Charlotte promised.
The man's scowl did not break, only lessened by a slight degree, as he shook Lucas' hand. He was handsome, Lizzie admitted. She had seen his face countless times - plastered on billboards, on magazines, on posters in her college roommate's dorm. All of such times failed to capture the effect of the jawline and dark eyes in person. The effect was dampened, however, by the frown that seemed almost permanently painted across his features.
"Who is the woman with them?" Elizabeth asked. Half hidden by the men, a woman was examining the room. She somehow managed to seem even more bored than Darcy. A curtain of sleek black hair was tossed over her shoulder, highlighting the plunging neckline of her dress. She appeared beautiful, and incredibly dissatisfied.
"That is Caroline Bingley and 70% of why I still have a job," Charlotte informed her, smiling. "Charlie's sister. She has done some acting and modeling, but as far as I can tell she mostly follows her brother everywhere."
Elizabeth was saved from replying by Francine appearing at her shoulder. "Lizzie! You must come join the other girls immediately! Oh, Lord. They're here. My nerves can hardly handle it.
Following her publicist, she joined the other girls where they stood with Edward Bennet.
Kitty and Lydia were tittering between themselves, Mary shushing them as Lucas approached with the new guests in tow. "If I may introduce our honored guests tonight," William Lucas said with a twinkle in his eye. "This is Long Burn - Jane Blakely, Elizabeth Gardiner, Mary Blackmore, and Lydia and Kitty Buchanan. As well as Edward and Francine Bennet."
"Great to meet you," Fitz grinned (Jack Fitzwilliam, she remembered). "I am a big fan. Can't wait for your album to finally be released."
"Thank you," Jane smiled. "That is wonderful to hear. We are looking forward to its release as well.
While Jane's gaze was focused in Fitz, Lizzie noticed where one Charlie Bingley was looking. Mouth slightly open as he stared at Jane, he wore the same look she had seen many a man wear upon meeting Jane.
Glancing at her company, she saw the look in Francine's eyes. She was not the only one to notice. The other members of Netherfield were introduced, and Jane was quickly pulled into conversation with Charlie. He spent a few seconds on pleasantries, before taking advantage of the change in song to ask her to dance. Blushing, she accepted and Lizzie thought she saw Francine all but preening.
In all of this, Darcy's frown had lessened only by a couple of degrees and she wondered if that was as close as the man could come to smiling.
"I knew Jane could not be so beautiful for nothing," Francine crowed to her husband. "The album can hardly fail now."
"I fail to see how Jane's beauty affects the quality of music being released," Edward replied as he examined the food on his plate.
"Don't be naive," she dismissed. "They may be talented, but all of that will come to nothing if no one has ever heard of them. Certainly, after tonight that will no longer be a problem."
Elizabeth smiled from her position by the wall. She had slipped away from the clamor of congratulations and conversation for a chance to sip her drink and take a breath. It was also the perfect place for her to watch Jane twirl around the area that had been cleared for dancing, smiling a delighted and breathless smile - oblivious to all but Charlie, her partner. Jane had stepped out only a moment before, but Elizabeth still celebrated her sister's happiness - and it appeared their publicist was as well.
"Come on, Will," a voice complained from around the corner. "If you are going to just stand by the wall and avoid people, why would you come?"
"You know very well, Charlie, that I didn't want to come. It was you that insisted it would be wonderful to meet 'new talent." His voice was certainly as attractive as it had been described, if only the effect had not been ruined by the derision in his tone.
"I stand by it. I haven't been at a party full of so many wonderful people - and beautiful women - in a long time. You should dance with someone at least, instead of standing her like a prick."
"You're dancing with the only passable one here."
"She is beautiful! But what about her other bandmates? Jane has told me Lizzie is incredible on the guitar, and she isn't bad either."
"Better than some, but hardly worth noticing. Besides, why would I waste my time on yet another person who calls themselves a musician, looking for success by getting photographed with someone more famous than them?"
If Charles Bingley had replied, it did not register with Lizzie over the pounding his ears.
They seemed to be gone, however, by the time Elizabeth had collected herself. He was not worth her anger, she decided. She would laugh louder in her accounts of him and work harder in her music, she resolved. He certainly had no power over her.
A/N: Well, this was very late coming. Home for the holidays was nowhere near as quiet and slow as I thought it was going to be. I am definitely not sure how I feel about this chapter and it will probably see a number of edits before the next chapter goes up. But here we go! I have no intention of dropping UA. I am still fumbling a little, but hopefully soon enough I'll get a hold of everything. Thank you so much for reading!
Also, I know a lot about Pride and Prejudice. I know nothing about the music industry. Feel free to correct me anytime in this fic.