“We’ll go check out her house, just in case she’s in the shower, or something,” John said to the others and we walked out the door.
“I cannot believe this,” I said to John as we ran to his car. “The one person that’s alone, and they forget to call her!”
“Well, they’re probably all panicking, Daisy. It’s not everyday that a psychotic killer breaks out from the local asylum.” John took my hand and stroked it reassuringly. I sighed and calmed down a bit. Maybe we were all overreacting. Maybe Gabi’s fine. John started the car, but before we left the parking lot, Austin came down the steps of the apartment complex, almost ramming into his car.
“Austin, what the fuck, man?” I screamed, rolling down the window.   
“Let me come with you!” he wailed.
“What? Why?” John asked.
“Because none of the others will let me help.” he pouted.
John rolled his eyes and unlocked the back door for him. “But don’t say anything unless it’s related to Gabi, alright?” Austin nodded and sat back. The silent tension in the car was overwhelming, so when we pulled up at her house, I sprinted towards the door, ringing the door bell at least five times. When I didn’t get an answer, I started to freak.
“Gabi, I’m busting down this door!” I screamed, pulling out one of my hair pins and twisting it so that it would lay straight. “Just thought you should know, you know, just in case you’re actually home and just ignoring us for kicks, which is a real douche bag move, seeing how we’re all freaking out about you, right now.” I talked a lot when I got nervous and this was no exception. The lock on her door finally clicked and I jumped up. John and Austin followed me into her dark house, and I faintly heard Austin mutter, “How did she even do that?” I would’ve laughed if the matter at hand wasn’t so serious.
Gabi had left her cell phone in her house, and it was ringing off the hook so I walked over to answer it. It was Rachael.
“Gabi?” she screamed.
“No, it’s Daisy. She’s not home,” I sighed. “her house is all dark, and apparently, she left her cell phone here.”
“That stupid girl,” she said and I could hear the panic creeping into her voice. “How are we supposed to find her now?”
I was about to say that I didn’t know when my cell phone beeped. It was text from Kenny.
“I found her. She was at a park. Don’t worry, she’s safe.”
My heart soared, and it was like the elephant that had currently been sitting on top of it had finally gotten off. “Kennedy found her!” I squealed and from behind me, I heard both John and Austin sigh their relief.
“Oh, thank God.” Rachael laughed shakily. “Co—” she started to say something when the lights we had turned on shut off and the phone line went dead. Austin screamed and I jumped. All of the streetlamps outside had gone dark too.
“Must be a blackout,” John said, walking over to me.
“Do you think it’s because of the breakout?” I asked him. I felt him shrug.
“We should, uh, pro-probably get back to, uh, the, uh…” Austin trailed off. He looked kinda nervous.
“Austin, are you afraid of the dark?” I asked him, holding back a few giggles at his expense.
“…maybe.” he admitted in a small voice. I felt John’s shoulder’s shake as he laughed silently and I giggled quietly to myself.
“Alright, we should get going then,” John said after he had calmed his laughing. Austin sprinted out of the door and into the back seat of John’s car. We laughed and I locked Gabi’s door before closing it behind us.
It was a relief to know that Kenny had her. Maybe they were making up right now. Speaking of…   
“I know something you don’t know,” I said in a sing-song voice, looking over at John.
“What?” he asked curiously.   
“Not telling,” I smiled in the dark.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said, taking one hand off the wheel and reaching over to tickle me. I laughed and squealed and squirmed.
“Okay, okay! I surrender.” I giggled and he pulled his hand back. “ ‘Lyss finally warmed up to Eric…in more ways than one.” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. From the back, I heard a gasp and my eyes widened. I had totally forgot that Austin was in the car. He was being so silent.
“They did it?!” he asked, looking so giddy.
“Uhm—” I tried to backtrack but it didn’t work. Austin started to mumble to himself about throwing Eric a party, and I just sat back in my seat, covering my hands with my eyes. Austin had the biggest mouth in the world and once Alyssa found out he knew, which would be soon, she’d kill me.
We pulled up beside Eric and Alyssa and John and I both tried to walk as fast as we could to the apartment before Austin opened his mouth, and we had almost made it when—
“DAISY! JOHN!” Alyssa and Eric screamed at us. I tried to keep walking, but John grabbed me and turned me around, forcing us to walk back to our deaths.
“We’re sorry; we forgot Austin was in the car,” I said. Alyssa slapped her forehead and Eric groaned.
“Way to go, morons,” Eric said and the both of them took off.
“Oops,” I giggled as I watched Eric slap Austin in the back of his head. “How long do you think she’ll be mad at us?”
“Us? I didn’t do anything,” John laughed and I poked him in the ribs.
“Traitor,” I joke pouted, stalking off.
“I’m kidding, Dais.” he laughed, running to catch up with me. “I’ll share the blame.” He nuzzled my neck and I instantly forgot why I was irritated.
We walked into my apartment together with our fingers laced, and everyone was sprawled about in the darkness. Tessa asked for candles and I offered to go get them. When I came back, Jared suggested that we play Never Have I Ever. Garrett declared that he hated the game and he and Pat walked out of the room.
We all took turns saying things we never did, and it was going well, but when it got to Austin’s turn, everything went to hell.
“Never have I ever,” he started. “had sex with Alyssa.” The room went quite, and the only one who drank was Eric.
Alyssa angrily screamed at him and stalked off out of my apartment. Eric spat “You’re a dick, Austin,” at him before following Alyssa out. The lights turned back on, along with the TV, but no one made a move to get up.
“This is all my fault,” I said in a quiet miserable voice.
“Actually, it was Austin’s.” Tessa glared at him.
“Well,” Austin laughed nervously. “seeing how the lights are back on and I’m sufficiently drunk, I should get going.” He picked up all of his stuff and left my apartment.
“Well, seeing how the lights are back on,” Garrett repeated, taking Rachael’s hand and pulling her towards him. “I guess we should all take off.” I nodded, and everyone else followed Garrett and Rach out of my apartment except John.
“You okay, kitten?” he asked, holding me close to him.
“Not really?” I mumbled. “Can you just hold me?”
“Of course.” I clinged onto his shirt like one of the passengers on the Titanic would cling to the boat. I held on for dear life. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt so unsafe.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, rocking me back and forth on the couch. I had realized that I started shaking.
“I-I don’t know. I feel horrible about letting that slip to Austin.” And then I started to bawl. For no reason whatsoever.
John held me tight to him and let me cry, petting my hair soothingly and occasionally peppering the top of my head with butterfly kisses. After about 10 minutes, I hiccupped, and the tears had finally stopped.
“You okay, kitten?” he asked, stroking my back.
“Mhm,” I hiccupped.
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Agh, it’s probably just PMS,” I laughed, wiping the remaining tears away. John still looked worried though.
“Let’s get you to sleep. You look like you’re about to pass out.” John said, and before I could object, he carried me, bridal styled to my room. Before he had even made it into my room, I fell asleep in his arms, without a fight.
—
I was faintly aware of the fact that I was clutching a very warm body when I woke up the next morning. This was becoming a habit.
“Good morning, kitten.” he whispered, kissing the top of my head very lightly. I groaned.   
“Can I sleep longer?” I asked, not opening my eyes.
“Well, you can, buuuut. It’s your birthday, love.” My eyes shot open. Birthday?
“Oh yeah!” I said, immediately sitting up to take off to the bathroom. John laughed and I heard him rustling about. Once I had finished taking my shower, brushing my teeth, and doing everything I could to scrub off the dirt and grime from yesterday’s excitement, I walked out to find the dress and the pair of shoes I had chosen yesterday left out on the bed and I smiled to myself, quickly putting them on. I didn’t bother to do anything with my hair, seeing how I’d be messing it up at the show later on tonight, anyways. Same with my makeup. It was my birthday show. For every birthday I’ve had since I met these guys after they all learned they had musical talents, they would always play a show for me on my birthday. This year, it was The Maine, Brighten (Justin, Jimmy, and Alex decided to do a special show for me), and This Century. Nat and Sean always crash our parties, though, so they’re bound to show up.
I walked into the kitchen and smelled blueberry pancakes. This man knew me way too well. Alyssa and Eric were already sitting at the kitchen counter. Man, this was becoming a routine.
“Happy Birthday, Best Frann,” Alyssa walked over and hugged me.
“Thanks!” I smiled, hugging her back. I was a bit surprised. “…so, you’re not mad?”
“Nah,” she shook her head. “it was bound to get out sooner or later.”
I smiled at her apologetically and she smiled back. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
“Well, John and I are going to go set up for the show, and then your party. You two should get the girls and go out,” Eric said, giving me a plate of breakfast when I walked over to the counter.
“Oh cool.” I said, kind of disappointed I wouldn’t be spending the entire day with John, but it was all cool. I missed mah girls. I wolfed down the pancakes, seeing how I forgot to eat last night, and quickly gulped down my orange juice. John wouldn’t let me wash the dishes.
“It’s your birthday. No work should be done on your birthday.” he said when I tried to protest. After he then proceeded to do the dishes himself, I just gave up and went to go watch some TV. A rerun of Buffy was on. 7th Season. It was “Touched.” I fucking love this show. I could quote it like it was nothing.
“I’ve been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I’ve seen things you couldn’t imagine, and done things I’d prefer you didn’t. I don’t exactly have a reputation for being a thinker; I follow my blood, which doesn’t exactly rush in the direction of my brain. So I make a lot of mistakes. A lot of wrong bloody calls. A hundred plus years, and there’s only one thing I’ve ever been sure of. You…”
“Damn, Daisy.” Alyssa said, while I quoted Spike. It was my favorite quote of all time from the show. I knew it by heart. This season was one of my favorites, and this episode was in my top five. I loved it with all my heart.
“She does this all the time,” John said, coming to sit next to me on the couch. I moved over, not taking my eyes off of the screen. “Remember the summer before you went into 8th grade and I used to come over, and you made me watch these and recite all of the lines with you?”
I laughed, “Hahaha, of course! Best summer of my life, by far.” We continued to watch the rest of the episode, John and I reciting the words under our breaths. Almost brought a tear to my eye. I taught him well.
“We should get going,” Eric said after the episode had ended. I sighed and got up.
“Fine,” John said, getting up with me. He started to walk away when I grabbed his hand and pulled him down to kiss me hard. “Miss you too, kitten.” he whispered on my lips, and walked away.
“Hot damn, that boy is fine.” I said, laughing with Alyssa laughed at our steamy kiss.
“Okay, c’mon. I’m taking you to the record store.” she suddenly declared.
“…do you even know where it is?” I asked her.
“Yeah, that’s where I got lost and you left me for dead.” she joked. We now refer to that moment in time as the time when I “left her for dead.”
“Hahah, kay. Lemme grab a sweater.” We took Alyssa’s car for the first time since she’d moved in. She was still a bit rusty about where to turn, so I directed her to the record store, laughing at how “sure” she’d been about the fact that she knew exactly where it was.
We pulled up at the store, and I had to remind myself that I was wearing heels and it would really suck if I started jumping really hard and a heel broke. I’d been wanting these heels for the longest time.
“Go pick an album.” Alyssa said, directing me to the section of music she knew I’d be interested in. It was strange. I felt like I’d known her all my life, and she’d only been here for less than a week and a half. It was insane. I walked past some of the CD’s I already had, and when I saw Meg & Dia’s most recent album here, here, & here, I grabbed it and immediately ran towards Alyssa.
“This one,” I jumped excitedly. Alyssa laughed and nodded, holding it along with Cobra Starship’s new release Hot Mess. She paid for both of them and on the way to meet Rachael, Gabi, and Tessa, we rocked out to our new CD’s. We actually all ended up back in my apartment. I didn’t feel the need to spend a whole bunch of money just because it was my birthday.
We watched Moulin Rouge! and 17 Again because they were my favorite movies, before the topic landed on Gabi.
“So…?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow expectantly
Gabi looked around, confused at all of our eager faces. “So… what?”
“What happened when Kenny found you?” Tessa questioned excitedly.
Gabi flushed red and began to play with the hem of her shirt. “We made up,” she admitted in a small voice.
“Is…that good?” Rachael asked.
“I think it is,” Alyssa said and we all nodded.
“You guys are so adorable together.” I pitched in.
“I don’t know. We’re trying to make it work. He was in a hysterical state when he found me.”
“Well, he should’ve been. He was stupid to give you up in the first place!” Rachael exclaimed and Gabi smiled.
“Thanks.” We started to clean up the mess we made. It was already 4:30. I had woken up so late today. Crying really makes you have a good night sleep.
I was going to suggest we watch another movie or something when Alyssa got a text which prompted all four of them to leave.
“What the fuck?” I asked to myself as they left me alone in my apartment. The show was in a few hours, and I thought we were just going to go together. Apparently not, I guess.
I was going to watch another rerun of Buffy when there was a knock on my door. Strange. No one ever knocks on my door. They all just come in, uninvited and shit.
I opened the door to find John in a clean, white button up shirt and black skinny jeans, holding a bouquet of daisies and lilies; daisies for my name, and calla lilies, because they were my favorite. I gasped and smiled.   
“Hey, kitten,” he smiled at me. “I got you flowers,”
“I see. Thank you,” I smiled so hard I thought my face would break. He handed me the flowers and I smelled them. “They’re beautiful. But what are you doing here? I thought you were gonna help set up,”
“I did. Setting up doesn’t take as long as you’d think, Dais.” he laughed. “I’m taking you out to lunch, seeing how the dinner I planned for us last night was sort of ruined.” He grinned at me and held out his arm for me to take. I took it and we walked to his car.
He took me to Olive Garden, my favorite restaurant and I ordered the cheese ravioli, while he just ordered a plate of spaghetti.
It was around 5:45 when we finished eating.
“Daisy, I’ve got to tell you something.” John started with a really nervous, serious face. Uh oh…
“I love you.” He said. I blushed. This was the exact thing I was afraid of. I’d known John for practically all of my life and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to say it back. Not yet, at least. I looked down at my hands, and it was as if he read my mind, and proceeded to finish the quote from Buffy this morning. “Hey, look at me. I’m not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it’s not because I want you, or because I can’t have you - it has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try… I’ve seen your kindness, and your strength, I’ve seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You’re a hell of a woman. You’re the one, Daisy.”
“John—” I started.
“You don’t have to say it back. I know you’ve got issues with this. I just needed you to know it. Even though I borrowed words from Spike, I mean all of it. I’ll wait. And if it takes I’ll night, I swear I’ll wait, for you, forever.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you,” It looked like he was trying so hard not to feel or look hurt at the fact that I couldn’t say it back and it made my heart ache. Tears filled my eyes and I reached over the table to kiss him, letting a few tears slip through my eyes as our lips met. He reached up and wiped my tears away, stroking my cheek, almost as if he were reassuring himself.
He paid the bill and we drove to the tiny club they were playing in tonight. Just a small show for me, like always.
We got there and the place was almost packed. John reached down, kissing my lips, swift, but hard, and pulled away. “Are you okay?” he asked me.
“Me? I should be asking you that.” I stroked his face gently.
“I’ll be fine.” he smiled. “I swear I’ll wait, for you forever,” he sang the lyrics of Daisy quietly to me and I smiled, pressing my lips against his once again, before trying to find Tessa, Rachael, Gabi, and Alyssa at the front.
“How’d it go?” Alyssa asked like she knew what happened. I gave her a curious look. “He told Gabi and Rach about it a while ago and they told me yesterday,”
“Oh. He, uh, he told me he lov-loved me.” I stuttered, looking down at my shoes.
A collective gasp went around and I blushed so hard that you could see it, even in the dim lighting of the tiny club.
“He did?” Gabi asked. I nodded. “Did you—” I shook my head. “Oh.”
The excited buzz that filled all of us was replaced by a worried tension.
“Dais, you okay?” Rachael asked.
I nodded sadly. Alyssa looked confused at my reaction to John’s confession and Rachael, Tessa, and Gabi all filled her in. My last boyfriend, first love, really, convinced me he loved me, but was really cheating on me behind my back. Broke my heart, and I never forgot how bad it hurt to walk in on them heatedly making out on my couch in my apartment when I came back from tour with The Maine.
Brighten opened up with Love On My Mind and ended with We Are Birds. I tried so hard not to bawl during their performance. This Century went on next and opened with To Love and Back off of their new EP. I suddenly hated the entire music world for writing every song about love. They ended with Go Get Her and I was almost tempted to unplug the mic so Joel couldn’t sing anymore.
Finally, The Maine all walked on stage and instead of playing their usual setlist, John opened with If I Only Had The Heart. The song they decided to close with shocked me.
The opening notes to Daisy started and I gasped. They hadn’t played this in over a year.
“I picked you up, lifted your wilted frame into the sun. I was taken back, yeah, I was taken back…”
Not once did he take his eyes off of me and it just made it all so much more awkward for me to watch.
“All for, all for, all for you my Daisy. Sunlight, sunshine, all for you my Daisy. We‘re getting this before you leave, all for you my Daisy.”
“Happy birthday, kitten. I love you.”
Chapter by; Nickie.