Live, Laugh, Luke

Chapter 1

Just a girl who turned eighteen. She ran away to chase her dreams. And they said she wouldn't make it far. She took a chance and packed her bags. She left town and didn't look back. So tired of wishing on the stars.

Freya's POV

"Thank you, thanks so much," I say with a smile as a few people come forward to toss money into the guitar case with a sign saying "NEED MONEY FOR CONCERTS". I look past them, my smile widening as I see one of the girls from the coffee shop across the street come out with a bottle of water. "You're a life saver" I tell her as she hands it to me.

"Hey, it's the least we could do. Half these people will get a coffee and sit outside to listen to you. Our tips have gone through the roof since you've been in town." I laugh, shaking my head as I brush off the compliment and take a drink of the water. "So what's the craic? Any big plans tonight?" she asks.

"Nope," I say with a shrug. "Working. I swapped with someone so I had tomorrow off."

"Oh yea? What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Concert," I say with a grin, my eyes flicking towards my sign.

"I should've guessed," she says with a laugh. " Wait, I thought you were going to Slane this weekend?"

"That too. But they were in town also and I got the tickets super cheap from some scalper the other day-"

"And you can't pass up a concert," she sighs. "I know, I know. I've only known you for what, 6 weeks and how many shows have you been to?"

"Five," I say with a grin. "Six if you count the one where I phoned in and won tickets, but 3 of them were also at a festival so I don't know if that should count as 3 or just 1"

"I don't know how you do it," she says with a laugh. "Plus queuing all day? By yourself? That sounds like more trouble than it's worth."

"It's the only way to get a good view if you're in the pit," I say with a shrug. "Plus you meet people in line while waiting all day so it's fine. Besides, it's not all day... I generally get there at 8ish here. Back in America, you'd have to wait overnight half the time." She shudders at the thought. I just grin as I take another drink before setting the bottle down next to me and picking up the guitar again. "I better get back to it." She nods, looking at the half moon beginning to form again as I strum the guitar.

"Stop in when you're done for the evening. I'll get you a sandwich before you head to work."

"Thanks," I say with a grin, stepping back up to the mic and starting to sing. This was my third and final stop for the night. Busking laws said we had to move streets every 2 hours and we couldn't start till 11am so here I was, almost 4, just having started my final set for the night. It gave me an hour from when I finished up to when I had work so I had time to get home, change, eat something, and get to the bar a couple blocks from my apartment. I only worked there 4 days a week, but that was tiring enough as it was. It was enough to cover rent and food. Any spending money, be it for concerts, plane tickets, or other events came from busking. Once I'd established a route, I was averaging 30 euro an hour. 6 hours a day and 2-3 days a week had me living decently. I'd say I was living fairly well, but housing can be pretty expensive when you are renting week to week. Still, it was easier to pack up and go if you didn't have to worry about renting contracts and utility bills. I could busk more days if I needed cash, but I didn't want to worry about damaging my vocal cords.

By the time I was done, I'd perfected the chord progressions for the song I'd been working on. Whenever bands were in town, I made sure to learn a couple of their songs to play. It always resulted in more money as loads of fans came the day before and stayed at hotels or hostels nearby. I stop into the coffee shop, getting a tea with honey to soothe my throat and one of those pre-packaged sandwiches, saying a quick hello to the people working there before heading home to get ready for work. There are more and more people milling about, the closer I get to the hotel and I'm quick to notice that the majority of them seem to be young girls. I can't help but grin, knowing what they're here for. It was the same in every place I travelled to. People started swarming around the city the days leading up to the show. Everyone always hoped they'd be able to catch a glimpse of their favorite artist just roaming the streets unguarded. I doubted things like that ever actually happened. Not that I'd never gotten to meet a celebrity. But they'd always been the conventional routes. Meet and Greet passes or a few times they came to whatever restaurant or bar I worked at. Even then, meeting someone was rare. I'd been to over 200 concerts and I could count on one hand the number of times where I had said something more than "What would you like to order?" to a celebrity.

"Heya Freya" my coworker Derry says with a cheesy grin as I walk into the backroom of the hotel bar as if he's so proud of the fact he managed to rhyme my name.

"Ha ha ha, so clever," I mock. Like I'd never heard that one before.

"What are you doing here? Don't you work tomorrow?" he asks as I drop off my jacket and bag and don my nametag.

"Switched shifts with Kate. I'm going to a concert tomorrow."

"Which one?"

"Five Seconds of Summer?"

"The boyband?" he laughs "I've seen them advertised everywhere this week, aren't they like 12?"

"Hey, chill on the insults," I say with a laugh. "Just because they aren't old men like you doesn't mean they're 12"

"Hey, I'm 29 not 50" he laughs.

"Same thing," I call over my shoulder as I head out to the bar to start my shift.

The night starts out calm enough. Just a couple hotel guests. But around midnight, we hear a roar of screams from outside. I exchange a look with Derry as the bar starts getting more and more crowded. I have to start asking for ID as the crowd coming in starts looking younger and younger.

"You know what this means right?" Derry half shouts in my ear as I mix a margarita for a girl who scarcely looked 15, let alone old enough to drink. "That band of yours is probably at the hotel."

"Probably," I have to shout back, quickly stuffing the drink into the girl's hand and taking her money, heading to the cash register. It wasn't unusual for celebrities to stay here, but when they're that famous, they usually book two hotels so you never really know which they'll stay at until they get here.

"Can't believe you're ditching us tomorrow. It's going to be swamped."

I give him an apologetic grin as I shrug my shoulders. "I'll stop by after the show to rub it in," I joke. "I'll order all sorts of complex drinks and send them back if they don't taste just right."

"You wouldn't dare," he laughs. I wink before turning to the next customer. A frustrated, older gentleman who'd been there before the swarm of girls appeared.

"What can I get for you sir?"

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Yay! Start of a new story! I'm really excited for this one guys. I've got a couple chapters done so I'll try to keep on top of it this time so I can publish every couple of days. I  hope you guys like it. The first chapter is mainly just trying to introduce you to our main girl. I added a picture of her so you can get an idea of the type of look I'm going for with her. Make sure you comment and vote so I can get your input on the story! Thanks and I love you all!

Chapter dedicated to forever_darling who encouraged me to write this story and has been pressing me for when I was going to publish it since I started the first chapter :)