DAISY JONES AND THE SIX
005. | "i'll take you there"

Jenny's eyes were glued to the road after getting out of driving for the first 20 hours. Billy had forced her to take the night driving shift. So at 3 am, she was driving through some small town in Texas while the rest of her group was all asleep in the back seat. Or that's what she assumed they were doing until the passenger seat beside her had become occupied.

"Tired?" Eddie's voice came from beside her. The two had only become closer over the last couple of weeks, she enjoyed his company. "You don't have to stay awake and keep me company." She smiled.

"Who else is going to make sure you don't fall asleep or run into deer or maybe an alligator since we are in Texas. He joked, causing the grin on Jenny's face to widen. "Thank you for your confidence." She giggled.

In all honesty, she didn't mind the night drive; the stars were shining bright, and something about the lack of light made her feel calm, but it also caused deep thoughts to come into her head. "Do you think we are going to make it, Eddie?" She whispered.

Through all the excitement of the move, she hadn't taken a second to think. Would this actually work for them? Could they become a real band? Would the labels want to sign them?

JENNY: I've always been one to worry about things, but that night the anxiety that rushed through my body was something I hadn't experienced before. All I could think was, did we just make the biggest mistakes of our lives?

EDDIE: I was slightly taken aback when Jenny asked; it had crossed my mind, but I hadn't really thought that deeply about the subject.

"I do, I really do, Jen," He tried to reassure her.

"What if we don't? What if we get there and this all goes to shit." She asked; Jenny wasn't sure why the this was the time she had to think about it. Everyone else was so sure and excited, and she didn't feel that Eddie would judge her for the doubt that sat in the back of her mind.

"Then I'll get a dead-end job, and so will you. We will move to the suburbs, buy a house with a white picket fence, have a couple of kids, and live there until we either start a family band or die."

JENNY: I remember not knowing if he was serious. If he saw life like that for us, but it was the first time Eddie hinted at some future that was more than just friendship. Now thinking back on it, I know that he was serious, but back then, I thought he was just being a flirt like every other boy I'd ever met.

EDDIE: I was dead serious...

Jenny laughed and smiled at him, "Sounds like a plan Roundtree." She was utterly oblivious to the meaning behind those words, but at least he made her feel like, you could always go up when you hit rock bottom.

"Yeah?" He asked, a soft expression on his face. Eddie studied her, the way her dimples appeared as she smiled, how her light brown hair sparkled in the moonlight. "Sure, why not."

EDDIE: At that point, I was totally crushing on her. I mean, she was Jenny fucking Dunne; how could you not fall in love with her. I just couldn't accept my feelings... at least not yet.

"Watch him have been too drunk that night to remember us." Jenny Dunne asked as she and the five other members of her group walked up the driveway belonging to one Rod Reyes. Even though it was his idea for them to come, the night was a blur to half of the band, so she wasn't too confident that he would have any clue who they were.

They had finally hit their destination; after the 35-hour drive, she wasn't sure they would make it to Hollywood. Luckily Jenny had become confident that after being in a contained space with them for that long, she'd have no issues living with them.

Though she was quickly figuring out their quirks, she knew about Billy and Graham's... Graham could only sleep in his underwear, Billy was a loud chewer, then there was the rest of her new roommates. Camila bit her fingernails, Warren constantly tapped his foot and snored.. loudly, and Eddie well, Eddie, she had a bruise on her ankles from him constantly kicking her well they slept.

Camila was the one to press the buzzer, and they all hoped and prayed that he would open up and provide them with every hope and dream they had.

JENNY: We had a lot of asks, and I mean a lot and the moment he came to the door, Rod was shirtless and eyeing up my boobs... I didn't feel bad for all our requests, but as I said, there were many of them.

After allowing the six of them into his home, they were all lined up beside the pool while Rod was still basically naked. Still checking out both of the younger girls.

"Obviously, we, uh... we need gigs." Was the first of many requests Billy Dunne was going to make in the next five minutes. "Yeah, on the Strip," Eddie added

"Yeah, and... and-and a place to stay," Camila added, and then everyone began to talk over each other until all Rod heard were bits and pieces of each request. "With separate rooms preferably, Warren snores and Eddie kicks" Jenny added to the roaring group conversations.

"Yeah, I mean, we pooled our savings together, but it's not much." Billy began to explain the financial situation to Rod Reyes; in reality, there was very little money they could use, another thing the Six of them didn't quite think about.

And then Warren requested, "We're probably gonna need some money."

"And, uh, Teddy Price to produce us. It's really important." Billy asked; that is the most significant thing to all of them.

"Sure. Yeah, man. Anything else?" Rod asked sarcastically, causing Jenny to giggle even though she wasn't happy about the no they were about to get. Billy shot her a dirty look and she hid her head behind Graham to try and muffle her laughter.

JENNY: Yes, we did ask for a producer, and none of us assumed that was an unreasonable request, but looking back on it, it was probably one of our stupider ideas. We didn't have any sort of popularity outside of Pittsburgh, and he had no obligation to help us.

"Are you a bunch of fucking idiots?" Rod asked, looking at everyone sitting by his pool, "Do you really think that's how this works? You show up in town, and someone hands you a key to the city?  A sit-down with Teddy Price?"

"You know when we were back in Pittsburgh, you said... " Billy began to speak again, not understanding why this was such a big ask, but he was quickly interrupted.

"I'm a tour manager, not a band manager.  So, unless you guys are planning a world tour in the near future,  I don't think I'm your guy, man." Rod told the group.

"We're not asking for handouts. We'll work our asses off, man." Billy huffed.

"You seem like nice people, and... if you're the band, I'm thinking your set was kind of tight." They all began to perk up with pride in their eyes, Rod had liked what they had shown, more importantly, he actually knew who they were. Which was Jenny's initial doubt. "So what I'm gonna do is, I'll make a call, one call, to my guy over at Filthy's."

"Filthy's? Is-is that a club?" Eddie questioned, "God, I hope so." Jenny added, looking over at the boy, who was just as scared of the name as she was.

"It's more of a... bar than a rock club, but it's on the Strip." Rod explained, watching as the disgust on the youngest band member's face disappeared.

"Man, look, that's... that's amazing." The band started to thank him, glad they hadn't driven 35 hours for anything. "Now, if there's nothing else... "

They bid their goodbyes, but Graham turned back and requested, "We need Karen Sirko in the band."

JENNY: I remember my first phone call with Karen; she was so unsure and not as thrilled as the boys all assumed she would be by being asked to join the 'famous' Dunne Brothers Band.

KAREN: I couldn't care less about Billy Dunne asking me to join until they told me they were performing on the strip. I've been in bands since I was 15, and joining them was the closest I would have ever been to being in a successful band. Even with all of that, I was prepared to say no until I asked to speak to one Jenny Dunne.

"She's asking for you, Jen." Billy whispered before handing her the phone.

"Hey Karen." Jenny said into the phone, using the most cheerful voice she could because the five other people in the room were staring her down.

Karen didn't even greet her; she just said, "Be honest with me. Is this going to be worth it?"

If she had asked her before her talk with Eddie, she wouldn't have been so confident in her answer, but now the "It absolutely is; I wouldn't have moved my ass away from Pittsburgh if it wasn't." was said with absolute certainty.

"And don't worry, we won't make you sleep in bed with Warren." She added, shooting the brunette a quick smirk as she said it.

KAREN: Jenny was the reason I joined the band; something inside me trusted her, and I'm glad I did.

In 1971 Karen Sirko became the keyboardist for The Dunne Brothers.

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authors note! hi, y'all firstly i want to say thank you for all of the support on this story, 6k in two weeks is absolutely wild to me <3 i hope you like this chapter, i wanted to show Jenny's fear and really eddies soft side with her... causing there may be some changes coming up ;) lemme know what thought...

love you all - mae