Defenceless - jatp/reggie

1.0

the story of luke's twin natalia, also known as the most epic keyboardist ever, in the most epic band ever; Sunset Curve. Along with the twins, the band consists of Alex (the drummer and natalias best friend), Bobby (the rhythm guitarist and basically a big brother for her), and lastly Reggie, the bassist and a giant flirt.

In 1995, their band was booked to play a gig that would set up their entire careers at the Orpheum. only hours before the show, four of the members went to grab street dogs and never came back.

25 years later, a girl decides to play their demo cd and suddenly they were back home. everything is about to change.

~*~

natalia's POV

we finished rocking our sounds check and bowed to the 5 people in the room with us, as the girl wiping down tables started clapping for us.

"thank you! we're sunset curve." reggie winks at the girl from the stage. i step out from behind my keyboard next to him and walk towards my twin.

"too bad we wasted that on the sound check, that was the tightest we ever played." bobby sets his guitar down before spinning back to face where luke and i were standing.

"wait until tonight man," luke wraps and arm around my shoulder excitedly. "when this place gets packed with record execs."

"they're gonna love us!" i add.

"alex, you were smoking." reggie comes up from behind him.

"what? no, i was just warming up." alex shrugs. "you guys were the ones on fire."

"dude," i shake my head at him, knowing how my best friend always doubts himself.

"could you just own your awesomeness for once?" reggie laughs.

"alright! i was killing it." he admits, making me smile.

"yeah you were!" i tell him.

"okay, well i'm thinking we fuel up before the show?" luke says. "i'm thinking street dogs."

"yes!" alex, reggie and i agree quickly and the five of us hop off the stage. bobby heads for the girl wiping the tables instead of the doors to outside.

"bobby, where are you going?" luke asks him.

"oh, i'm good." he tells us before turning to the girl. "vegetarian, i could never hurt an animal." i scoff jokingly at his attempts to flirt with the girl, though a smile is still clear on my face. nothing could ruin this night, this is what we've been waiting years for.

"you guys are really good." the girl says as we all approach the table.

"thank you." i smile at her.

"i see a lot of bands, been in a couple myself." she explains. "i was really feeling it."

"that's what we do this for." luke nods happily. "i'm luke, by the way."

"hi, i'm reggie."

"i'm natalia,"

"alex."

"bobby."

we each introduce ourselves.

"nice meeting you guys." she responds as luke licks his finger and sticks it in bobby's ear like he always does. "i'm rose."

"oh, uh. here's our demo." reggie hands it to her. "and a t-shirt, size beautiful." i scoff quietly and roll my eyes at him. he's always a shameless flirt, it's kind of annoying.

"thanks," rose places the shirt over her shoulder. "i'll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one."

"oh, good call." alex nods. "whenever they get wet they just kind of fall apart in your hands."

"don't you guys have to go get hotdogs?" bobby reminds us.

"yeah, he had a hamburger for lunch." luke tells rose before the four of us walk out.

"that's what i'm talking about!" luke exclaims as we step out the back door into the alley behind the orpheum.

"the smell of sunset boulevard?" alex asks.

"no, it's what that girl said in there tonight." luke explains. "about our music, alright? it's like an energy, it connects us with people. they can feel us when we play." he stops walking to wrap his arms around the three of us. "i want that connection with everybody."

"then we're gonna need more t-shirts." reggie tells him, laughing.

"let's go, guys." luke starts walking again.

as we pass the line of people waiting outside the orpheum, reggie stops for a moment to hand a couple of them shirts.

"ladies," he nods at them before spinning to catch up with us. they start calling after us once they realize who it was, making the four of us laugh.

we get to the hot dog stand and start preparing our dinner.

"man, i can't wait until we eat some place where the condiments aren't served out of the back of an oldsmobile." alex comments after dropping a pickle. "hey, sorry, i got some pickle juice on your battery cable." he tells the owner, though i'm not sure you can call him that as this is hardly a business.

"no problem," the man shrugs him off. "it'll help with the rust."

"that can't-" alex cuts himself off. "okay."

"come on alex." i grab his sleeve to pull him along as luke and reggie start to walk back to the stadium.

we fell back on to the couch in a row, me sat between alex and luke.

"this is awesome, you guys." i sigh happily.

"we're playing the orpheum." luke continues. "i can't even count how many bands have played here, and then ended up being huge!" he glances around at each of us. "we're gonna be legends. eat up, guys. 'cause after tonight, everything changes."

we cheers our hot dogs before digging in.

"that's a new flavour?" alex comments.

"chill man, street dogs haven't killed us yet."

~*~