Chapter Three

Ring Ring

“Hello?” Brian asked that night as he sat in the living room of his house in Marietta while answering the phone, “Hello?”

“Brian. It’s Tracy Richards, Nick’s manager calling.” Tracy said as Brian closed the baby book he was reading and sat up in the chair, “Have you talked to Nick?”

“I haven’t heard from him. Why? Isn’t he on tour?” Brian asked, “Did you loose him already?”

“He left last night. I haven’t seen him. He only has two more shows left. One in Lexington tomorrow night and one in Nashville next week.” Tracy said, “He said he was tired and he left.”

“Well I haven’t talked to him. If I do, I’ll tell him to call you.” Brian said as he hung up the phone, rolling his eyes and laughing at himself because Nick finally stood up to the bitch.

“I win.” Daisy said as her and Nick sat in the middle of the living room floor, playing checkers that night.

“I suck at this.” Nick said as he looked up at her, “Got any video games?”

“No.” Daisy said as she put the game back in the box and slid it back under the table with the other games, “So tomorrow -”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have to work since I’m fire and my only class is at 3:30, so tomorrow morning we will wake up and I’ll take you shopping so you can get some things.” Daisy said, “Do you have any money?”

“Eeeh some, not a lot. Not on me anyway. I mean I can totally pay you back, but on me I have like $50 bucks and that’s it.” Nick said as Daisy laughed, “What?”

“That’s about all that I have either. I have some in the bank in savings though.” Daisy said as she looked at him, “You hate it here don’t you?”

“This town?” Nick asked as Daisy shook her head yes, “Eeeeh, I mean it’s okay if you want to get out of the big city and all. I’m just used to big cities, that’s all.”

“So where are you from?”

“Tampa originally but I live in South Florida now.”

“Oh that’s cool.” Daisy said as she looked at the clock, “It’s getting late. I need to shower and all. You won’t get bored down here and try to put your finger in the electrical socket will you?”

“Ha ha.” Nick said a he laughed dryly, rolling his eyes, “Nah. I’ll watch TV.”

“Okay.” Daisy said as she stood up from the floor and started to walk upstairs slowly, looking back down at Nick. Nick looked over his shoulder at the stairs and reached for the remote, turning the channels on the TV until he looked over to his right, to see a acoustic guitar, standing in the corner and smiled.

“He what?” Kevin asked as Brian started to laugh, “He ran away from the tour?”

“That’s what Tracy said. I called Jane and Bob and some of his friends in Tampa and nobody’s seen him or heard from him.” Brian said as Kevin shook his head, “It’s like he disappeared.”

“Well I’m sure he’s okay.” Kevin said, “Give it a few days and then if we don’t hear from him, we’ll get the law involved.”

“Jane said she was sure he was fine. That he probably just got away from it all.” Brian said as Kevin shook his head, agreeing with him.

Daisy stood in her bedroom, pulling her long, wet, brown hair from up under her tank top that she had put on, and began to brush it, and looked in the mirror, sucking her stomach in a little. She rolled her eyes, and brushed her hair a little more, before sitting her brush back down on her vanity. She turned her bedroom light out and walked out of her bedroom to hear music coming from downstairs.

She stopped and listened, noticing it that it wasn’t coming from the TV and began to walk down the stairs slowly, until she heard Nick start to sing and saw him, with his back to her, playing her brother’s guitar and singing along lightly.

Girl I love to watch you

Like candy to my eyes

Like a movie that you seem to gotta

watch just one more time

But that smile you’re wearing

It’s a beautiful disguise

It’s just something you put on

To hide the emptiness inside

And you seem so lonely

But you don’t have to anymore…

“Um what are you doing?” Daisy asked as Nick jumped and looked back at her, “You didn’t tell me you could sing or play the guitar.”

“Uh yeah, a little.” Nick said as Daisy finished walking around the corner and sat down on the other end of the sofa, “Why?”

“Finish singing.” Daisy said, looking at him, “It sounded good.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Nick said as he started to laugh, “Kinda shy.”

“I don’t believe you.” Daisy whispered as she took the guitar from him and started to play a little tune, “I can play too.”

“She can cook and play the guitar.”

“I’m multi-talented.”

“Too bad she can’t drive.” Nick said as Daisy stopped playing it and looked at him, “Sorry. I had to.”

“I bet.” Daisy said as she rested her arms on the side of the guitar, “Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me?”

“Like what?” Nick asked, looking at her while tilting his head a little.

“I don’t know.” Daisy said as she handed him the guitar back, “Don’t break it. It’s my brothers.”

“I won’t.” Nick said as he smiled a little, “I promise.”

“I need to go and do some homework, so I think I’m going to my room and plus it’s getting kind of late. If the phone rings, don’t answer it okay?”

“Okay.”

“And you can sleep down here or up in my brother’s room, whichever.” Daisy said as she stood up and started to walk back over to the stairs.

“Daisy?” Nick asked as Daisy stopped and looked back at him, “Thanks for letting me stay here until I get in touch with someone.”

“You’re welcome.” Daisy said as she smiled and started to walk up the stairs. Nick watched her until he couldn’t see her anymore and turned around, putting his hands on top of the guitar and began to smile. He stood up, walking over to the corner to put the guitar back and walked over to the stairs.

He started to walk up them slowly, looking at the pictures on the side of the walls of Daisy and her brother when they were little and smiled a little, seeing a picture of her as a kid in a huge pink cowboy hat and cowgirl suit. He reached to the top of the stairs and turned the corner to see Daisy sitting on her bed, looking into a huge text book and watched her, pulling her hair up in a ponytail and biting on a pencil that she was holding in her mouth.

“I’m going in your brother’s room to sleep. I didn’t sleep any last night so I’m kinda tired.” Nick said as Daisy looked up at him.

“Okay.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Night.” Daisy said as she smiled and Nick walked away from her room and went into her brother’s room. He walked in and shut the door, walking over to the bed and layed down on it, rubbing his hands over his face and yawned. He looked around the room and then over to a small table that was beside the head of his bed. He looked over to see a little photo album and he picked up, rolling over on his stomach and started to look at it.

He turned the cover and opened it up to see a picture of her brother and another girl in a wedding picture. He turned the page to see a wedding invitation from 2000. The guys name was Andrew Travis Collins. Nick looked back at the picture of her brother and then looked on the page opposite of the wedding invitation to see a picture of Daisy and her brother, taken at the wedding.

Nick yawned as he turned the page to see a folded up piece of paper and he unfolded it to see that it was a letter and he began to read it.

Dear Andrew,

Yes, your little sister is writing you a letter. Why? Well it’s something for you to read on one of the most important days of your life. It’s your wedding day.

You are marrying the person that you are meant to be with. You’ve been with Andrea since you were 13 and now you are finally getting married. And isn’t it cute that your names sort of match? See, you’re meant to be. You probably don’t realize how extremely lucky you are that you’ve met your soul mate. Some people never do. I know that I never will, atleast not while I’m stuck in this town anyway. But you, you’re smart. You’re getting out. You’ve joined the army and you’re going off to make a life for you and you’re new wife.

Just always remember that I love you. We may fight sometimes, but you’ve been here for me after dad died and was the guy I always went to when I had problems. You’re not only my big brother, but you’re my best friend and I hope you have a happy life with Andrea. You deserve it. Now just go off on your honeymoon and make me an aunt okay?

Love,

Daisy

Nick smiled, folding the letter back up, putting it back in the photo album and closed the album up, sitting it back on the nightstand. He rolled back over on his back, thinking about how Daisy never mentioned that her brother was married while they talked about him being in the army over dinner. Maybe he had gotten a divorce since then and she didn’t want to mention it. He smiled, reaching over to the little lamp on the table beside the bed, and turned it off, rolling over on his side, so that he could finally get some sleep.