Chapter 4
“Alright folks we are coming in for our landing. It is a lovely 72 degrees in Los Angeles today, stay safe out there and I hope you enjoyed flying with us!” Lily heard the captain's voice drone through the plane's intercom. They were landing. In a matter of minutes she’d be on the ground in LA, the first stop of the tour. It was finally starting to feel real. Preemptively Lily put on a playlist she knew would keep her calm as she felt anxiety seeping into her brain about the impending shows and the planes landing (takeoff and landing were the most likely times for a plane to crash someone had told her once and stuck to her brain like flypaper). She gripped her armrest tightly as she felt the wheels of the plane collide with the tarmac and let out a long relieved exhale when they glided effortlessly into the runway.
The passengers sat for twenty minutes as the plane taxied and when it was finally time to get off Lily grabbed her single carryon and waited in the line of passengers to get to baggage claim. In an email from Dorcas arranging her travels she’d been told she’d be meeting James, Sirius’s manager, and his boyfriend Fabian, the head of the road crew at the baggage claim and they’d take her back to the hotel the label had booked for her so she could rest and meet the rest of the crew before the first show the next day. Lily walked over to baggage claim two, the one that had been designated for her flight, headphones still in her ears playing her favorite songs to quiet her anxieties.
She reached the baggage claim after about five minutes of shuffling through tourists wanting to visit the city of angels and wannabe models and actors coming back from a visit to their sleepy midwest towns. She looked around the baggage claim searching for James and Fabian. She didn’t know exactly who to look for, Dorcas had only given her a vague description, but when she saw a man with tan skin, messy black hair and glasses sitting crooked on his nose waving at her with a massive grin on his face she knew she’d found James Potter. Standing with his arm around James’ shoulder was a man who would stand out in any crowd. He was huge, at least 6 '5 with muscles rippling through his shirt but the thing that really made him stand out was the shock of red hair even brighter than Lily's own and the freckles that seemed to be trying to crowd out all his facial features. Lily couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her own face, the two men exuded a warmth that put at her ease instantly. She walked over to them keeping one eye on the baggage carousel.
“Lily Evans?” James asked and his smile grew impossibly brighter when she nodded. “Oh my god I’m such a huge fan I’ve watched every one of your youtube videos. Your sapphic cover of Gorgeous by Taylor Swift is one of my favorite things on the internet.” Lily’s cheeks pinked at the onslaught of compliments. She hadn’t been expecting any of the tour team to actually know her music. Yes the email had said Sirius and James had been following her for sometime but she didn’t expect they’d be “fans”. “Sirius can’t wait to meet you either by the way” James continued. He seemed to have no use for breathing because he just continued to speak without pausing. “He’s pumped to have another small town queer on the tour. And you’re going to love Marlene, she's a lesbian too”. He paused his eyes widening, “not that you’ll immediately get along just because you’re both lesbians you also have a lot of other stuff in common like umm you’re both super hot and kind of scary and-”
The redhead, who Lily assumed must be Fabian, cut James off. “Ok James Lily just got here and she’s had a really long flight. Let's give her at least an hour before we make her regret every decision she made that led her here.” Lily laughed and James smiled sheepishly running a hand through his black hair making it even messier somehow. She liked these people she decided. James’s boundless energy and lack of filter reminded her a little of Mary when they’d first met in freshman year and Fabian had that kind of quiet biting sense of humor that she loved. If everyone on the tour was like these two it would be a very fun three months.
“Hi James and…Fabian right?” She asked extending a hand to shake. Fabian nodded and quirked a small grin. “I’m so thrilled to be on this tour I still can’t believe this is real.” she blushed slightly at what a small town nobody she sounded like.
“Honestly we couldn’t have found a better opening act. Your authenticity in your songwriting is just incredible really. I cried when I heard your first EP.” James said, so earnestly that Lily almost felt like crying herself.
“He was so obsessed with you I was half convinced he’d leave me and fly to New York to profess his undying love.” Fabian said laughing.
James shrugged “What can I say? I’ve got a thing for gingers.” They all laughed at that. After a few more minutes of idle conversation Lily’s bags and guitar finally appeared on the carousel. Fabian grabbed both suitcases as if they weighed nothing and Lily carried her own guitar case, not liking having it out of her hands for long.
They walked through the maze of an airport and out to the large block parking garage. “Dorcas got us an SUV. I wanted to get you a limo but she said she’d make me pay out of my own pocket.” James said apologetically but Lily was grateful. She didn’t want the attention a limo would draw. Would’ve hated all that fanfare just for her. But she’d come to learn later that James Potter never let a moment like this one pass with no fanfare.
———
Lily hadn’t been sure what to expect when she arrived at the hotel bar where she was supposed to meet everyone else but it certainly wasn’t this. There were streamers and balloons and a giant banner that said “Welcome Lily Evans!” in massive rainbow letters.
“Surprise!” James said with a slightly manic smile. “We couldn’t let you join the tour family without a proper celebration! We’ve rented out the entire bar. It's ours for the night. Oh and I baked a cake! It was terrible, exploded in the oven so Pete ordered one instead. Anyway go mingle meet people they’re all waiting for you!”
The idea of a room full of people waiting on her made a pit of dread form in Lily’s stomach. She’d never met these people before and now she was expected to make a good impression? She’d just flown across the country. She smelled like sweaty airplane seats and over salted pretzels. She was not in any position to be meeting people. She’d expected a brief respite to maybe go to her room, shower and mentally prepare herself for the horror that was getting to know you chitchat. She felt her breath quicken. What was she supposed to say to all these beautiful talented people? There was no world where she could ever fit in with them.
She saw the people coming to greet her but she ignored them instead rushing to a place far in the corner plopping onto a chair and trying to breathe. In and out in and out. She was completely unaware of her surroundings; she felt as though she was floating outside of her body surrounded by nothing but noise. She looked around for five things she could see. The garish decorations with her name on them, the over bright lights of the bar, the empty seats around her, the girl sitting two seats away with the long blonde braids and large over ear headphones. She focused in on this last thing, noticing the soft line of her jaw, the pink blush on her brown cheeks, the outrageous length of her eyelashes, and she found herself calming ever so slightly. Her eyes must have lingered on the girl a little too long because the girl's eyes met Lily’s own.
Her eyes were soft with sympathy and she smiled at Lily softly. “It’s all a bit much isn’t it?” she asked with a soft Scottish lilt and understanding heavy in her voice. Lily nodded minutely. “James and Sirius aren’t exactly the quiet types. It’s easy to get overstimulated” she lightly tapped her headphones as she continued “I take these everywhere even wear them on stage. Not only are they super great for delaying autistic meltdowns but they also add to my air of mystery.” With her final words she wiggled her eyebrows and deepened her voice in what Lily could only assume was her best impression of sexy and enigmatic.
Lily couldn’t help but giggle. She felt a kinship to this girl she didn’t even know. So often people asked her why she chose this career when crowds and public performance gave her such anxiety but this girl understood. Her passion for music, for creating, didn’t make performing bearable but it made it necessary. If she didn’t put her music out into the world it would gather up in her already crowded and chaotic mind making her unable to think of anything else. Performing gave her a blissful moment where her mind was quiet and she had an instinct that it was the same for the girl next to her.
After a quiet but not necessarily unpleasant moment Lily reached out her hand. “I’m Lily but I’m guessing you knew that already.”
The girl nods, “I did but it’s nice to be formally introduced. I’m Pandora, your bassist for the tour.”
Lily smiled, happy to meet the first member of her backing band. Dorcas had given her the opportunity to bring her own band but she didn’t perform often enough to have one so instead they’d decided to lend her Marlene’s. “It’s nice to meet you Pandora. Sorry, that's not exactly the first impression I wanted to make.”
Pandora just smiled “I quite liked it actually. Reminded me that you’re a real person not some mystical singing sorceress like James has painted you to be.”
Lily laughed. “God you’ll all be so disappointed when you actually see me perform,” she said, only half seriously. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in herself, it's just that James was so… enthusiastic. It would be hard for anyone to live up to that kind of hype.
As if sensing they’d just been talking about him James came bounding over at that exact moment with a beautiful girl in tow. Her hair was bleached with the roots grown out in a way that looked cool and fashionable rather than lazy, her almond eyes were framed by perfect winged liner and her heart shaped face was adorned with a light smattering of freckles. It took Lily a moment to place her face but when she spoke with a brash and loud Scottish brogue she recognized her instantly as Marlene McKinnon.
“You the famous Lily that James has been prattling on about for ages?” Not knowing what to say Lily just nodded. “He seems to think we’ll be best friends because we both love shredding guitar and eating pussy.”
At that the water Lily had been drinking exploded out of her mouth and all over the polished bar top.
Marlene laughed loud and joyful, “Oh yeah we’re gonna have fun!”
Across the bar Lily’s eyes caught Pandora’s and they smiled at each other. Yes Lily agreed, they would have fun.