Super

Chapter 26: Reconnaissance

Lex stopped to look at herself in the mirror. She returned her own bemused glance before gazing up at the light fixture for a moment, thinking it odd that something like a dressing room existed in a club they got to play at.

She watched Riss' reflection as she came into the room to pick up her laptops. Riss looked at Lex in the mirror as she shouldered her backpack, nodded with the ghost of a smile, and then went back out.

Lex recalled the tiny first place they'd played, in San Diego, on their “first West coast tour” (as Casey insisted on calling it). It had room for no more than fifty people if they all stood shoulder to shoulder. On the day they played, a Wednesday, there had only been a small fraction of that number, but the crowd and the other two bands had been friendly, and everyone seemed to appreciate their performance.

San Diego itself had been great, Lex and her friends had agreed. They'd been struck by the beauty of the city, and the people there seemed welcoming and interesting. However, one of their criteria had been someplace without excessive heat, and it had already been hitting the ‘90s on a couple of their days in town in May. So they had moved on to Los Angeles.

After spending a few days in town, they had all seemed to know they wouldn't choose to settle there, even though no one came right out and said it. They had had trouble even before they’d gotten into town on Sunday night, getting lost on the freeway and having to backtrack a few exits to get to their motel. Casey had been driving and was thoroughly grumpy by the time they'd arrived, but on the plus side, the place had a hot tub, so Lex had been happy they'd been able to soak out some of their annoyance after dinner.

The group quickly learned that they had to leave early to get anywhere on time because of the maze of streets, freeways, and unpredictable traffic. To Lex, the topper had been the occasional street closure due to filming crews. After a while, she had noticed that all of them seemed to feel stressed out even before they had to get in the van to go anywhere.

They had played on Tuesday at a small venue, about the size of the one they'd played in San Diego, but Lex had noticed right away that the crowd seemed different. Aside from some of the people from the other bands, many individuals in the crowd had seemed like they felt too cool to be with anyone else there, talking only to their little cliques or on their cell phones. Lex had felt disappointed as she’d taken the stage that night, but somehow managed to throw it all off when they had started to perform. They had started off with “Crazy Wind,” and as she had sung Lex had lost herself in thoughts about when she’d fled her parents' house and later when she’d run away with her friends, and how her life had changed both times, including the new opportunities that had sprung up.

When she had finished singing, Lex had looked up at the crowd. As the last notes of the song had died away, she’d realized that the room had stood in complete silence. The audience had all seemed to be listening with great concentration, a number of them with surprised looks on their faces. Lex's eyes had slid to Riss, who had sat to her left, and Lex had seen the other woman shrug minutely out of the corner of her eye before she’d heard someone in the audience start to applaud.

After a moment everyone else had joined in, some people cheering and howling. Lex had waited, turning slightly back to look at Lou, who had just raised an eyebrow and canted his head to the side a little, as if to say, no harm in letting the crowd continue. The applause had continued for longer than Lex had expected, but she’d stepped back up to the microphone some minutes later once it had died down.

“Thanks, LA,” she had said, hoping the heat she’d felt in her cheeks wasn't a blush. “That's a really warm welcome, and we thank you for it. We're Alexander's Army, and the next song we're going to play for you is called ‘Hungry.’”