It's the summer of '96 and Blake Woods just graduated high school. The socially awkward, shy girl and wannabe 70s chick, with an obsession for classic rock takes a road trip by herself to San Francisco.
In hopes of finding her purpose and to meet pe...
A few minutes later, we arrive at The Staples Center and the bodyguards leads us over to the dressing rooms. "You can come in to my dressing room", Kirk says as I follow him in. "It's cool that you have your name on the door" I say, pointing up to his name. "It was supposed to say Kirk the Pimp but they didn't allow it" he replies, making me laugh. "Okay Kirk, time for your makeup" says a girl, rushing in to the room. She's pretty and looks about 20 something. She has black curly hair and her makeup is heavily done, making her look more like a fan coming to see the concert rather than a makeup artist. "Blake, this is Cassandra she does my makeup" Kirk says. She looks over to me and smiles sweetly. "Makeup?" I say, raising my eyebrows at him as I try to hold back my laugh. "She only does my eyebrows" he replies, sitting down in front of the mirror and I burst out laughing. "Yeah okay, laugh all you want", he says. "Sorry, it's just funny to me that you're the lead guitarist of a metal band and you get your makeup done" I say, trying to stop myself from laughing. "I'm almost done Blake, I'll do your makeup in a minute and then you can get changed" Cassandra says, as she carefully fills in Kirk's eyebrows. "What?" I ask, widening my eyes at her and my laughter fades away. "You didn't think you were going to walk out there wearing no makeup and your normal clothes, did you?" She asks, looking over at me with the eyebrow pencil in her hand. I look at her as my face turns bright red from embarrassment. "I don't wear makeup", I say awkwardly. "How exciting, I can finally give my first makeover" she says, as she finishes Kirk's makeup. "Okay, all done. Do you mind if you leave the room?" She asks Kirk. She walks over to me and leads me over to the chair as Kirk shuts the door behind him. She leans in close to my face, analysing my face shape, skin tone and hair before opening her makeup box to match my tone with the correct shade. 30 minutes later, my makeup and hair is done. "What do you think?" She asks, spinning me around om the chair to face the mirror. I stare at myself speechless, not recognising the girl staring back. I smile and look at Cassandra in the mirror. "I think my work here is done" she says proudly, "let me show you the outfit". She leads me over to the clothes hanging on the rack and quickly skims her fingers through the hangers. She lifts up a shawl, a black cropped top and black sheer bell bottom pants. She walks over to the shoe rack and grabs a pair of thick, black heels before walking back over to hold the outfit in front of me. "I wanted to make sure that it's still you but sexier and more rock n' roll". I reach out and take the shawl from her hands. "I love this", I say looking up at ther with a smile. "Great, I'll leave you to get changed", she says, hanging the clothes back up on the rack before leaving the room.
After I get changed, I open the door to see Kirk and Cassandra turning around to look at me.
(Blake's outfit)
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"Holy shit" Kirk says suddenly, looking me up and down with hungry eyes. I look down and blush before smiling over at Cassandra. "Are the heels okay? Are they too high for you?" She asks. "No they're perfect, everything is perfect, thank you so much", I reply. "I'm glad you love it" she says, before walking back in to the dressing room to pack up her stuff. I look over at Kirk as he struggles to take his eyes off me. "You're drooling Kirk" Cassandra says, as she walks back out of the dressing room and glances at me with a smirk. "Holy shit is that you Blake?" says Lars, as he walks up to me and Kirk with the rest of the band. "Okay Metallica, we have 5 minutes!" Shouts Peter and the guys pull themselves in to a huddle. Intense music starts to blast through the arena and nerves run through my entire body. "Blake" says Kirk, as he lifts up his arm to let me underneath. "Let's get out there and give the people what they want to hear. Let's do what we do best and kick some fucking ass" Kirk shouts, before the guys release from the huddle and pat each other on the back. "Are you ready?" Kirk asks, as the guys start to run off. I nod and swallow hard.
He grabs my hand as we run through backstage. The music from the arena gets louder as we inch closer to the stage and my heart starts to beat faster in my chest. I hold on to Kirk's hand tightly as we continue to run to the stage. Everything feels like it is happening in a blur, with no time for me to even process what is going on around me. I suddenly hear the thousands of screaming fans as we arrive at the stage. Lars is the first one that runs on while Jason and James quickly grab their instruments from the assistants. "James will announce your name on stage and that is your que to come on, okay?" I nod nervously, as he quickly grabs his guitar from the assistant. "See you in an hour" Kirk says, before walking on to the stage with the band.
One hour later.
I look out at the audience from the side of the stage as they scream and worship the band. The song they are playing is coming to an end and at any moment now, James will say my name into the mic and I will have to walk on to that stage. I take a deep breath in, trying to prepare myself as I wait for my name to be called. "I have a very special person here with us tonight and she is one of the best guitarists I know. We asked her to join us to share her talent with you all, so would please give a warm welcome to Blake Woods" James shouts, as he looks into the screaming crowd.
My body freezes and my hands begin to shake. Everything suddenly feels like it's closing in on me and I feel like I could faint. I stare out at the endless sea of people from the side of the stage. I can't do this. Kirk notices me from the stage as I slowly start to back away with fear in my eyes. I run away and Kirk runs off the stage after me. "Shit!" He says out loud, handing his guitar to the assistant before running down the stairs to look for me backstage. "Blake!" He shouts as he runs through the halls. "Have you seen a blonde girl, about 5'4 run past here?" He asks a sound engineer. He shakes his head and Kirk continues to run through the sea of people. "Have you seen a blonde girl run past here?" He asks an assistant and she shakes her head. "Fuck!" He says, as he runs off again. "Blake!" He shouts as he rushes through the halls, searching every room. He runs past a group of screaming fans and they gather around him, blocking him as he tries to push past. "Kirk I love you man, you rock", yells one of the fans. "Can I have your autograph?" Asks a girl, as she tries to push past everyone. "Blake!" He yells as he pushes himself out of the group of fans and continues to run down the hall.
I sit outside at the back of the venue when I suddenly hear the large metal door opening behind me. Kirk finds me sitting on the steps, hugging my legs tightly into my chest as tears stream down my face. He lets out a sigh of relief before walking over to sit down next to me. "I can't do it Kirk. My whole life in school I have been bullied and it's going to happen all over again, only it's 10x worse because it's the world that will make fun of me" I say, crying uncontrollably. He moves in closer and slowly turns to face me. "Remember when you asked me last night why I made a pinky promise?" He asks. I turn to look at him. He pauses and stares into my eyes before continuing. "It was because when I was laying there beside you and I was looking at you, I couldn't help but think holy shit, this girl deserves everything she wants and I hope she allows herself to let go and become whatever she wants to be. I really wish that this girl would see what I see" he says, tears streaming down my face as I look into his eyes. "I need some time", I say finally. He looks at me with understanding in his eyes. "It's okay", he replies. "I'm so sorry Kirk, I feel like I have disappointed you and everyone" I say, barely able to get my words out as I cry uncontrollably. He grabs me and holds me in his arms. "You haven't disappointed anyone" he replies, holding me tightly in his arms as I cry in to him. "You just need to start trusting yourself rather than trusting me and when you do, that's when you will find it in yourself to do it" he says, looking down at me and wiping away my tears. "Forever trust in who you are and nothing else matters", he says with a smirk. "That's cheesey" I say, laughing as my tears fall away. "I just thought that would be the perfect moment to say that" he says, laughing. He looks at me for a moment and wipes away my remaining tears. "No more crying, promise?" he says, smiling cheesily at me as he holds up his finger. I wrap my finger around his to make a pinky promise and he leans in to kiss me softly on my forehead.
