Part one | Part two | Part three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six
The LA Caffeine Scene
A couple weeks later, Luke approaches Reggie and asks him to hang out.
“There’s this band who I think could really fit our vibe here, but I wanted to listen through their discography tonight and get a better feel for it. You in?”
At first Reggie’s like “Hell yeah,” but then he’s like “Wait no, I can’t.”
Luke frowns. “Why not?”
Reggie explains that he agreed to pick Carlos up from baseball practice that evening.
“Carlos?” Luke asks. “Like Julie’s little brother, Carlos?”
“Yup. Julie’s hanging out with her friend, Flynn, and Ray’s pulling a late night at the studio, so I said I’d pick him up and take him home and we’d hang out and play video games for a while.”
Luke is pouting and frowning and Alex, who is the only one working it seems, rolls his eyes. “Dude, are you seriously being jealous, right now?”
“No,” Luke says, even though he is 100% jealous of Reggie. Like, yes, okay he can see that this is really good for his friend, and yes, of course, he’s pleased that Reggie has found some happiness with the Molina’s, but why doesn’t HE get to spend time with Julie.
“You know I’m hanging out with Julie’s little brother, right?” Reggie asks. “Not Julie.”
Luke waves his friends away. “Psht, why would I be jealous?”
“Because you’re very clearly crushing on Julie,” Alex says in a deadpan. Reggie is grinning. He thinks this is fantastic.
“Oh my god, hey, if you marry Julie, you could be, like, my brother-in-law,” Reggie says. “How cool would that be?”
Luke huffs and puffs and goes back to the table in the corner and puts his headphones back on. He has a music event to plan.
--
Which, Luke realises, is a perfect excuse to get close to father Molina. If Reggie’s relationship with Ray is anything to go by, he seems to be the way into Julie’s life outside of the shop.
“Hey, Ray,” Luke greets him one day, as Ray comes in for his afternoon coffee. Ray simply cocks an eyebrow at his audacity and Luke stutters. His friends snicker behind Ray’s shoulder.
“Uh, Mr Molina, sir I mean.”
Ray wears a smile again. “Hey, Luke. How’re you doing? Anything exciting coming up?”
Luke brings his hands together. “Yeah, actually. There’s this new band I found just outside of Hollywood that I want to bring in next week. They’ve got this incredible lead vocalist, too. They’re called Idina and The Elephant. Kind of a jazz sound. Really cool stuff.”
Ray nods along and smiles as Reggie makes his coffee: oat milk flat white no sugars. “That sounds great. Should be a good night.”
Luke decides this is his chance. “Actually, Mr Molina, I was wondering if I could ask you for a favour. I was planning to get some good photos for the instagram - I wanna make sure people know about us, right? - but the photographer I booked for the show cancelled last minute–”
Both Alex and Reggie are watching him curiously. Reggie looks at Alex in askance and Alex shakes his head. No, there was no photographer.
“– we don’t have a huge budget, but if you were free and able to help, we’d pay you what we can.”
Ray gives the question some consideration, all the while Alex is making faces at Luke from over the top of the coffee machine. Luke is trying his hardest not to respond.
“What night did you say it was?”
“Thursday, sir.”
“Alright. Well, let me check with some of the guys. I have a feeling I’ve got something going on Thursday evening but I double check and get back to you. How does that sound?”
Luke puts on his parent pleasing smile. “That sounds killer, Mr Molina.”
Ray takes his coffee. He thanks the boys for their service on the way out. To Reggie he says, “Oh, and Carlos wants to know if you can bring your Atari tonight? He’s been watching all kinds of videos about it on YouTube and he won’t stop asking.”
“Sure thing, Ray,” Reggie says, giving him a salute as he heads out, lifting a hand above his head as he goes.
Alex looks to Luke. “Since when did you have a professional photographer lined up?”
But Luke just gives them a smug smile and a double-shot of finger guns, before he spins and clicks his heels, on his way back to his table.
Time to book a band.
--
TBC.
--
(I have nothing coffee related to say here because I am actually in bed as I write this and not at the shop. That being said, I do need to go to sleep because I’m back at in the shop at 8am),
(Also I told Riddhi my new self-imposed bedtime was 10pm and it’s now 10:30pm and I’m literally going to forward this to her and out myself rn, so pray for me, friends.)
BUCKCHERRY TEAMS WITH THE LACS FOR JANUARY 2022 EAST COAST TOUR
BUCKCHERRY TEAMS WITH THE LACS FOR JANUARY 2022 EAST COAST TOUR
#buckcherry #thelacs #core #ontour
BUCKCHERRY TEAMS WITH THE LACS FOR JANUARY 2022 EAST COAST TOUR
After playing 100 shows in 2021, Buckcherry kicks off 2022 with a co-headlining run with country rap rock band The Lacs.
The 15-date tour starts January 7 in Kyle, Texas. Buckcherry will perform an additional eight shows headlining. Core will support on all shows. Tickets for all shows go on sale this Friday and VIP packages can…
