she's so lucky

even if kai hadn't heard amy's voice, they'd have been able to tell who was approaching just by the click of her heels. kai turned towards the woman, tired eyes lighting up at the sight of britney under amy's arm. with a chuckle, they responded, ❛ not yemi catching strays. ❜ she took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. ❛ it's nothing. just... been a long day, i guess. ❜ she stood up, making her way around the drums to try and see where the other half of her drum stick ended up. ❛ what are you two up to ? ❜ she asked, glancing back at amy.

"trust, that was not a stray. i'm tired of her shit," amy scoffed offhandedly, finally settling down next to kai on a speaker that was probably worth thousands of dollars. "but, you know, we were just on our way out, then it sounded like someone in here needed us. something happen, or are rehearsals just catching up to you?"

from her edgy black dress and bright red lip, lucky's first night at the grammys was immortalized for anyone with internet access. her children's sitcom was about to wrap, and her music career was on the horizon, so her team made sure she was at the biggest night in music to show how mature and dedicated to the craft she was. unfortunately, as monumental as the night was supposed to be, it went down in lucky's memory just like many others — drowned out and forgotten after too many drinks. she opted to spare marisol of her sob story and offered a vague, "oh, you know, pretty much like all the rest, i was totally starstruck and probably made a total fool of myself around all the big names. i'm sure you won't do that though, the label and management puts us through such crazy pr training these days, right?"

lucky supposed laila was right. thinking about her own branding should have been second nature, and on the right day and in the right mood, it was, but apparently today laila was that much hungrier. "wow, you sound like a press release from my manager," she chuckled out what was supposed to sound like a compliment, though lucky was hardly impressed by industry talk. she much preferred laila's goofy suggestion to make a deformed clover. it was still too desperate, too fawning, but it was also bad, and that at least humanized her. just a bit. "sure, let's do that, then we can try some hearts? since i can't even begin to think about what a honeydew would look like," haeri agreed before bringing her hands to laila's.

laila, being herself (or, at least, being the version of herself that belonged at glastonbury festival), accepted lucky’s compliment, as well as the comment about honeydews, with a thumbs up, then a conforming hand gesture. “oh, of course,” laila said, biting back a slew of questions about nail positioning and finger quantity as their photographer finally found a satisfactory angle. however, the flashes flooding her vision didn’t impede her from chattering out another rapport-builder. “you’re lucky—” a fairly popular sentiment. god, she hoped this pose was cute enough. “—to have a logo that—” she hoped this post wouldn’t get her cancelled by proxy, “—can’t make your merch—“ she hoped lucky hadn’t forgotten the start of their sentence. “—look like it’s for a farmer’s market. “well, thank you for this opportunity,” she declared, when it seemed the shoot had ended. then, in an effort to sound more colleague and less manager, for a second, “and, um, i’m sure you know where to tag me, so.”

after all, looney lucky is a weirdo and probably writing jarjar binks x anakin skywalker fanfiction.

elian’s overdone, uncaring attitude made lucky’s skin crawl. as a longtime depressed person, she recognized true apathy when she saw it, and elian was nothing more than another tryhard that wouldn’t last three years in the industry. it was a shame that she could see what the label couldn’t. however, as much as her skin burned, lucky refused to rise to their bait and continue picking a fight. she finished her review, then wordlessly walked up to the mirror to start her make up, not once looking their way.

ruby clamped their lips together in an effort to trick their body into not throwing up. "that falafel fala-fucked me up..." she moaned, meandering to a trash can. speaking made ruby feel even sicker so they quickly zipped their lips again. unfortunately for them, the falafel was making its way back up and bystanders would look to see ruby bent over the trash can and throwing up their guts. yuck!

“ruby!” lucky cried out, jumping away from her friend as she beelined for the trashcan. she didn’t have to get vomit on herself to care. after deeming it safe, lucky trudged gingerly up to ruby and began to pull back their hair, gathering it up in one hand, so she could make a call with another. “hey, yemi? me and ruby are having a mini emergency. like we’ll be able to perform later, but we have got to get someone to pick us up from the food stations." she grimaced through the inevitable lecture, but soon enough she was able to assure ruby that someone was on the way.

gemma was quick to glance over at the group that just came into the bathroom before she turned her attention back to touching up her face. she gave amy a look - eyes wide as if to say everything without words needed - at the mention of some of the night's performers. "oh, girl, i learned a long time ago that everybody work ethic is not the same. and to be honest, every singer is not a performer but every performer is a singer." gemma had always known full out choreo and long rehearsal hours. she loved to give her fans a show, an experience if you will. she'd noticed that was not really the norm for newer artists in recent years. "and ya know, that's fine. i love a more chill and vibey artist too. but there's a time and a place. the grammy's doesn't really seem like the place for that, in my opinion. unless you're serving vocals on a ballad, give me something more. put some effort to do something different."

amy capped her lip gloss, admiring the finished effect in the mirror before turning back to gemma with a slow nod and an, “amen. not everyone’s got it like you and your girls, i’m afraid. not even honeydew.” on the last note, amy lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, glancing around to make sure none of the label’s new darlings are within earshot. “i mean, i love them to pieces, don’t get me wrong. and it’s only because they’re new, if they keep it up, they’ll be just like clover in the next ten years. or, well, close.” she winked at gemma with a hacky laugh.

" there's not going to be a tour that i'm a part of next time if i'm any less of a hard ass, " trinity quipped, though her tone as grateful as she reached out for the water, cracking it open and taking long gulp. she wipes her mouth, and looks over at lucky. of course, trin knew better than anyone that the public image, especially child stars, was often at odds with their private personas. still, she's dealt with enough superstars to know lucky's relative normalcy in how she speaks to the crew was, well, lucky. she finds herself once again praying her brother's star wanes. " and it's the talent that needs to be a pretty face. "

“that would be horrible,” lucky deadpanned as trin glugged down the water. good. she needed every drop she could get if she was going to insist on frowning like that. subconsciously, she crossed her arms over her chest, trying to maintain an air of nonchalance instead of only being the girl who had no one to talk to but the stage manager she met a week and a half ago. “everyone can stand to take care of their skin better, especially in the states, but suit yourself. who’s got you yelling in the phone like that this time anyway?”

ruby continued to primp their hair, but my, oh my, she was sure interested in what amy had to say. "it's so sad! i just feel like a lot of current musicians aren't even attempting to reach the caliber that they could. i want more for us, i really do," they said in a sickly sweet tone as if they pitied the previous act. in reality, ruby was ecstatic. there was no way any of these performances could overshadow clover's. they really should have been the ones to take the stage, but in due time...

“honestly, i don’t even know how you do it sometimes, hang around all these people who could never compare to you,” amy prodded ruby, maybe more than a little bit of her hoping that someone will overhear ruby’s less than gracious response. nothing career-ruining, but maybe enough to inspire a heated facebook comment section. and that was low-hanging fruit, the bat of an eyelash could provoke that! so amy was hardly wishing anything too terrible!

" have you got anything at all i can borrow ? everything else i own is dirty. it'll only take like. . . 10 minutes to call someone from the hotel to deliver it. "

“honey, how the hell do you get yourself into this into these situations?” amy gave elian a pitying look…until the odor kicked in, and she couldn’t hide the way her nose wrinkled. “i don’t have anything with me, obvs, but we’ve got to be able to find you something around here. come on, most of the dressing rooms are unlocked.” she gestured for xer to follow her as she started down the hall to push open the first door she saw.

“and what the fuck is moonbeam ice cream anyway?” amy threw in one last lazy barb before pocketing her lip gloss. she barely glanced at kiran as they hopped onto the counter, moving onto her brows now that her lip combo was back to standard. “well, you know i love the honeydew ladies and elian. i also am such a sabrina carpenter girly right now. i just feel like she gets me. you? or would you rather be performing?”

it takes everything in their being to not roll their eyes at lucky's response. was it deserved ? yeah, probably. but was it necessary ? kai certainly didn't think so. but the last thing she wanted to do was get into another fight, not when they already had a packed rehearsal day and all kai wanted to do was get behind her drum set and drown herself in the music. ❛ well, she just left the room along with yours, so if you wanna get up and bug her, be my guest, ❜ kai retorts, leaning back in her seat. she sits for a few moments, mulling over the words she know will probably piss lucky off. then says them anyway. ❛ ... god forbid i let you have a say in when your girlfriend can crash your set. ❜

“what’s your problem?” lucky finally looked up from her phone to snap at kai. it clattered to the table, so she could focus her attention on glaring at her stupid freaking girlfriend over it. “you don’t get to mock me like that when i was trying to help, and you jumped down my throat, and now i’m rightfully mad.” haeri could be a loose canon on a good day, so when she was just as exhausted as kai, it didn’t take long for her last shred of patience to fly out the window.