It had been months since Daisy had been given the opportunity to go out with friends and not have Ace tag along. Leaving him at home with her sister had been the prime opportunity for the pair to get to know each other better, and Daisy to catch up with one of her oldest friends from her childhood days, since she had returned to Nashville.
“Amy calm the fuck down. Seriously. If we get any closer to the stage, we’re gonna be on top of the band.” Her friend had been way too excited to see the group of guys who were about to walk out on the stage at any moment, “Who are these guys again? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of ‘em.” The name hadn’t sounded familiar, but there had been something about the music that had caught her attention as her friend had blasted it from the speakers of her car as they made their way to the venue. Now, here they stood waiting for the show to start.
However, before Daisy could say another word, the lights faded and an eruption of screams filled the small packed venue. Music soon drowned out the voices of hundreds of fans and that same familiarity overtook Daisy’s senses. As the lights came up on the band, it was soon revealed why the twenty-three year old had felt attracted to the music. As her eyes focused on the man standing to the right side of the stage, Daisy Harrington felt her heart drop and the air she was breathing hitch in her throat. It was Jack. The boy she had fallen in love with in high school and ran away from home to be with. The boy who had taken her virginity and knocked her up at sixteen. Got her addicted to heroin just before dumping her at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere leaving her to figure out survival on her own. The boy that turned her into a woman before she was ever really ready.
Heart pounding, face flushed, and her breathing rapid, Daisy felt herself slowly backing away from the stage praying to God that he hadn’t spotted her. She needed air. Or water. Or whiskey. Anything at this moment in time to calm her nerves before the feeling of claustrophobia, anger, and fear made her pass out.
“Excuse me...e-excuse...me...” As Daisy forced her way through the crowd, she avoided looking back in hopes that she would be just another stranger in the mass of people. But it didn’t help when Amy had called out her name and latched onto her arm causing the young woman to look back just in time for the dancing spotlight overhead to highlight her face giving Jack a straight shot at her. And before she could pull away and hide herself, she had locked eyes with the man who had done more than ruin her life.
A deer-in-the-headlights, Daisy froze, but quickly snapped out of the trance she was in, able to rip her arm away and make her way to the back and into the hole-in-the-wall bathroom as a form of freedom and the best hiding place she could think of until she was able to leave, which would hopefully be soon. Splashing some water on her face and trying not cry, the woman shakily pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted her sister, Jack’s here. It was all she could say before being startled by a rush of girls coming in yelling and laughing hoping to get back out in time to hear their favorite song.
With a forced smile, Daisy dried her tears and the water off of her face and made her way back out towards the bar. Amy was nowhere to be found, and if Daisy was going to have to wait this out, she would do it at the bar and pray that she would be able to escape without ever having to talk to her ex, “The strongest thing you’ve got...and keep it coming...”