WARNING: Long chapter
My first day at college was dope and I enjoyed it immediately; there were just a few people in my classes and they were very nice to me... and actually they made me feel absolutely welcomed and accepted so I finished my day with a lot of phone numbers from my classmates and other people in my personal phone book.
After college, Chris picked me up as he promised and we started to hunt for part-time jobs; luckily, I was able to find a small opportunity at the Henry Art Gallery which wasn't very far from school and then we ended up in a small café who's owner was a dear friend of Chris, and hired me as a barista.
Everything seemed perfect and easy, but I knew the reality was going to be a little bit harder and just a month later living in Seattle I quit the job at the gallery because my boss was an asshole that treated me like some kind of maid and I found myself working from Monday to Sunday at the cafeteria, where yes, I was hired as a barista but sometimes I just had to do the waitress part.
Also, I was trying not to go crazy because the debut performance of the new renamed band of Adrien with me as a singer was just around the corner; as a mere need of money I ended up accepting his offer and soon I met his (and later my) friends/bandmates, with whom fortunately had a great connection since the beginning and all together started to write new music, because honestly I didn't want us to be a band of covers, and the guys agreed easily.
The line-up was pretty simple as Adrien was the guitarist, Thomas "Tom" Sawyer was our bassist, Zachary "Zack" Horowitz in the drums and me as the lead singer, making this new band call themselves Spencer a name that we took from Tom's great grandmother's maiden name; it was kinda hard for me to start singing again, I had my previous band until high school and I was nervous about my voice, but with a little bit of practice everything went smooth as always.
People always said I have a very distinctive and unique voice, and my piano teacher used to tell me that I had a strange gift because my vocal range was very wide and strong but of course, as insecure as sometimes I am, I never truly believed this and never really brag about it.
Certain rainy day after school, I was having a good day at the café, working while chatting with my new friend Stella, (who was a waitress there and also a student at the UW) when somebody asked for a double espresso as I turned around to the espresso machine, and then I heard the bell on the door rang, announcing a new costumer as I looked just to see a pitiful face go in with a cocky smile.
"Oh god you have to be kidding me" I whispered to myself turning around to continue with the espresso, but Stella could hear very clear.
"Do you know him? He's cute" She said.
"Please Stella can you take him? I really don't want to deal with him" I begged as I saw him by the reflection of the espresso machine, sitting in one of the tables.
"Well of course! That's what I was going to do" She accepted with a wide smile, it was obvious she was attracted to him and I laughed a little.
"Hi..." Stella greeted.
"Hi there... I would like a cappuccino please" He answered with a charming smile, while Stella wrote down in her notebook.
"Cappuccino please"
"Right away. Here you have the double espresso" I said, placing the coffee on the counter, without looking at them.
Stella took the coffee and disappeared, while I looked again to the espresso machine that was working for me as a mirror and I noticed the guy left his spot to come over and sit in the counter. I cursed him under my breath, rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, to then turn around with his cappuccino.
There he was with that stupid smile that I got used to in the last month, somehow.
"Lily... nice to see you"
"Stone... here you have your cappuccino" I said, placing the mug in front of him.
"Thank you, smells delicious" He said smiling while looking at the cup of coffee.
"So... What are you doing here? I don't think you're here to visit me and chat" I cut him off.
"Well... yes and no. Actually Adrien sent me to give you a message but it's raining so I thought about drinking something hot too"
"Alright so the message is..." I said trying to make him talk, but he give a sip on his coffee and then took a piece of paper out of his jacket.
"Here" He gave it to me and I didn't even pay attention.
"What is this?"
"Oh my god, I forgot you never learned how to read" He said laughing, while I kept my serious face. "It's a flyer"
"Wait... according to this we are going to play on Saturday? That must be a mistake, we have our gig next month"
"Yeah well sorry to disappoint you but remember this Nirvana band? Well, they pulled out and Spencer was the chosen one to fill that space" He said, now in a serious way.
He wasn't joking and I started to panic.
"Wait-what? I mean... w-we are new and... as far as I know these Nirvana guys already have a good reputation here in Seattle... What the hell are we gonna do as their substitute?"
"Look, I don't make the rules but... just do your best" Stone told me with a very calm tone that surprised me but I had to clear things, so I asked Stella to cover me while I was going to do a quick call.
I went to the phone and talked to Tom, who explained basically the same that Stone just a few minutes ago; I was terrified and couldn't stop thinking about that the whole afternoon, but I tried to continue with the job. When I finally got home I talked to Adrien and Andy, who encouraged me to be relax, as they felt we were ready for the gig and we were going to be ok.
The whole week passed quicker than usual and my anxiety was at its point. We rehearsed a lot the past days and that Saturday night we got into a van that took us to The Central, this cool and old place where we were going to play. I decided to wear something comfortable for the stage that included a short sleeve grey t-shirt with a flannel over and a pair of black shorts with black tights and my black Dr. Martens that I just recently purchased when I visited Susan in the store two weeks before.
I was dying because of the nervous and I saw the place really crowded, but as part of my past ritual before going on stage I started to drink some beers to relax myself a little bit. The first ones to perform were Mother Love Bone, then a band called Alice in Chains, that sounded great and I've never seen, and finally it was us.
This random guy who's name I can't remember introduced us with the new name and the new line-up, including me. We went to the stage and some people cheered, while others were just staring at me with a certain skeptical look and some others were laughing at the fact that a girl was the frontman, but I brush it off and made it to the microphone with a weird expression on my face; I wasn't drunk enough to not to care about this, but I was definitely tipsy and I made that very clear.
"We're Spencer and if you think a woman can't be in a rock band... FUCK YOU!" I said as I flashed everyone with my middle finger and promptly shouted to the band "COME ON!"
The music began and I started to sing with all the rage in my body due to this discrimination for being a woman trying to make it in the music scene; surprisingly, the audience loved the whole attitude we had and I could see in their faces the fascination for me and my temperament on stage.
As the songs were passing I started to relax more and more, having a strong development up there, so I jumped, kicked some amplifiers and even threw myself to the people who accepted me perfectly and when our set finished everyone started to ask for more and to shout the name of the band in support.
I felt weird and funny but never in an arrogant way, so I said goodbye with a "Good night" and we left the stage, where Andy, Stone, Jeff, Bruce, Susan and Chris congratulated us.
"That was fucking mind-blowing" Chris said happily and hugging me.
"Do you already have a manager?" Susan asked.
"N-no, no at all" Zack answered her.
"Well you should consider having one I bet you're gonna have a lot of calls very soon" She said enthusiastically.
"You really think so?" Adrien asked this time.
"Of course she means it! You were fucking awesome" Andy said, as he later hugged me.
After the guy's congratulations we went to the counter of the place and started to drink a little bit more, when I felt a soft tip on my shoulder and I turned around to see this gorgeous blonde long-haired man that I recognized from the band previous to us.
"Hi" He said, smiling.
"Uhhhmm... hi?"
"I'm Jerry, the guitarist of Alice in Chains... the band that played before you"
"Oh, yes of course I remember hi!" I said as we shook hands. "I'm-" but I was cut off by him.
"Lily... I know"
"Yeah" I said and we looked each other with an awkward expression on our faces.
"Well, I just wanna introduce myself now that we are going to be sharing gigs, I hope"
"Yes, of course... you're an amazing band"
"Thanks! And you were terrific too, congratulations!" He said.
"Hey Jerry babe come here!" A drunk Tom called him and he just laughed.
"Well, see you around" He said and disappeared from my view.
I turned around to ask for another beer when I heard someone calling my name.
"Demri you came!" I shouted enthusiastically as this energetic and beautiful brunette ran towards me.
"YOU WERE AWESOME!" She said as she hugged me and looked at me with a wide smile.
Demri was a regular customer of the café that soon became one of my friends due to her personality that matched perfectly with mine; she's crazy, sweet, polite and very intelligent and everyone likes her.
Chris called me to meet the rest of AIC that just joined all of us in our now small reunion so I took Demri with me and that's how I met the lead vocalist, a funny and very talented blonde called Layne, Mike, that was the bassist, and drummer Sean. We started to talk about many things, sharing cigarettes and anecdotes until the party was over, having some highlights of the night like our golden debut with these amazing bands and Layne asking for Demri's phone.
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Author's note: So, I am aware that this is a little bit slow for an Eddie Vedder story, but I really want to go with some actual (and fictitious) chronological events that of course includes certain dates; BUT don't worry because from this chapter on things are going to be faster without losing the whole grunge scene point. Hope you like it and thanks to all the people who reads and vote this story! ❤️❤️❤️❤️