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

JENNY: When Karen first came to the house, well, Eddie had stolen one of Camila's dresses, Graham in nothing but his white underwear, Warren was dressed as a pirate, and I was wearing a white sheet with sunglasses on and had a pair of Eddie's underwear overtop... you know, manly ghost kind of thing. We were sword fighting with brooms and dusters. We forgot Karen was moving in that day...

KAREN: First impressions... not great.

JENNY: That first house... Well, a lot of memories were made there. Despite the small space, the creaky floors, the haunted bedroom...

WARREN: That's right, Jenny and Karen's room was totally haunted, man.

KAREN: It wasn't haunted...

JENNY: It absolutely was haunted.

The three girls in the household stood in the room now belonging to Karen and Jenny. 

"Sorry, it's kind of a dump, but the boys refused to come into it," Jenny told her, leaning against the door frame that belonged to their small room.

"Yeah, non of the boys would touch it. I figured staying with Jenny was better than sleeping on the couch with Warren." Camila chuckled.

"It's haunted," Jenny added to the end of Camila's sentence, and Karen grinned at the young girl in front of her.

"Yeah, by uh, horrendous taste." Cami shook her head.

Karen stopped in the middle of the room, studying it, "Sold, I'll take it." she grinned at the two of them.

JENNY: I remember that first room; it was indeed awfully decorated and haunted. We often woke up to pictures on the ground, and Warren swore he heard a faint screaming, but Karen and I made some good memories in there. Late night talks, getting high and falling asleep on the floor, sharing a bed when it got too cold and the heating broke and making a tower out of our empty beer cans.

KAREN: I must admit, I loved sharing a room with Jenny. We bonded quickly over a shared space.

JENNY: the house was an absolute disaster, but at least we had a gig on the strip. So it could have been worse, or so I thought...

"I think something died in this place," Jenny commented, looking up at where they'd be working for the next 7 months.

Filthy McNasty's was a run-down old bar, grosser than the ones back home. With a crowd that was filled with older men, but it was something.

"Filthy McNastys... Lovely." Karen chimed in, handing Jenny her guitar and following her with the band equipment. 

"Oh, come on, guys! It's not so bad." Camila nudged Jenny's shoulder before heading inside.

"I'm on your side Jen; I wouldn't be surprised if we found a dead body in there." Karen grinned at the girl before running along after Camila.

Jenny dragged her guitar into the interior of McNasty's when she felt it being taken out of her hand, "Paws off Roundtree." without even looking, she knew who it was, smelling his strong scent of cigarettes and citrus, the feeling of his calloused hands that matched hers.

He raised his hands in defence, smirking at her. "Just trying to be a gentleman, Dunne."

Something in her stomach warmed up at the pure idea of Eddie Roundtree being a gentleman.

Eddie confused Jenny in every possible way. He could often be found at her side; something about her drew him in. Maybe it was the competitive nature they had between them or perhaps the playful banter, but regardless he couldn't pull himself away from her.

"Are you sure? Kinda seemed like an excuse to show off but didn't worry Ed, we can pretend that you are a gentleman, " She winked at him before walking to their backstage area.

It wasn't much to the six of them, but it was better than nothing. Though at this point in their career, they didn't realize McNastys was where they would finally grain a crowd who cheered their names.

"Hey, what do I always say?" Billy began his infamous pre-show speech, "The smaller the club, the bigger we play, right? Pittsburgh is on three. Ready?" The group huddled together, putting their hands on for of each other. "One, two, three."

"Pittsburgh!" They all shouted before taking their places on the tiny stage.

BILLY: Those eight, nine months in McNasty's, sure, hardly anyone
ever saw us play, but that was where we really fell in love as a band, you know?

JENNY: And god bless Camila. I think, at that time, she was more dedicated than most of us were. She'd stand in the front row filming us on her camera, watching as our hands got slightly more beat each night and watched as we found our voice. I felt like a rockstar; sex, drug, alcohol, the only thing that was missing was the money aspect of it.

We performed every day for months and didn't make a single cent; we basically lived off of bread, boxed mac and cheese, weed and whatever kind of shots the bartenders at McNasty's were willing to give us for free.

Cami spent hours.. no days at a time, trying to get a label to sign us. Unfortunately, no one was willing to give us a chance.

The band sat around a booth at a nearby local diner, covered in sweat, hair sticking every which way, absolutely starved, and counting their life savings to see if they could cover the rent. They gave everything they had to offer into their performance tonight, it was supposed to be their night, their big break, but Teddy Price never showed; no producer had shown.

"What happened with that producer you went up to?  Eddie asked, chewing on a stale piece of toast while sitting next to Jenny. "The one with the parrot?"

"You are spitting crumbs at me." Jenny smacked his shoulder, annoyed at the lack of food that was actually staying in his mouth.

"Parrot guy passed on us." Camila sighed, wishing she could have done more to get this band on their feet. Might want to save half that toast for tomorrow, Eddie. This is barely enough to cover the rent."

"Fuck." He murmured back

"Fuck it, man. Maybe... maybe old Chuckie was right, huh? Maybe... maybe this was
all just a big mistake and that we should have just stayed at home with our moms,
saving money on rent, become dentists." Warren said, his frustration growing stronger as minutes passed.

"I mean, I've sent out hundreds of photographs, and not a single fucking paper has responded." Camila voiced her irritation. "I mean, should I just quit, no one said it was gonna be easy."

Jenny stared down at the table, feeling just as defeated as the other band members. Warren was quick to notice how quiet she was being, so he took it as a sign to change the subject. "Also, while we're talking about stuff, how come I'm the only one without a bed in the house?"

Jenny snorted at his question, "You could've taken mine and Karen's room."

"No, I couldn't have; how can you even stay in there it's haunted." Warren grinned, half joking, but a part of him was also dead serious.

"I just made friends with the ghosts, dude," She joked.

"And I'm getting pocket toast, so... " Eddie complained, munching on his toast. "You put it in there; that's your own problem." Jenny shrugged.

"Why are we still called The Dunne Brothers?" Karen changed the direction of their conversation, "I mean, three of us aren't Dunnes, and the last time I checked, I'm nobody's brother, and Jenny isn't either."

"So you want to change our name?" Billy asked, shocked she'd even asked such a thing.

"I personally think that's a great idea." Eddie took a small sip of his coffee. "I'm just saying what everybody's thinking."

"Well, the name is the name, so... That's how people know us." Billy defended.

Everyone in the band knew it would be hard to get him on the same page, even though it was six against one.

"C'mon Billy, they have a point. The name isn't doing shit for us; the people who know us consist of a group of drunk 40-year-old men who forget it every time they walk out of that bar door." Jenny stepped in, hoping to sway the conversation in their favour.

"How about Immaculate Reception?" Warren pitched to the rest of the group.

"That's awful." Karen and Jenny responded in sync.

"I mean, listen, if we're throwing stuff out there, Hercules is still on the table." Graham added, ending up in him being discouraged by the amount of no's that flew his way.

"Deliverance, Espionage, Poison." Eddie threw out, all words Jenny thought were unpleasant to hear.

"The six of us will never agree on a name. All right? So let's just... " Billy interrupted, wanting to get his way and keep his bands name.

"What about The Six?" Karen quickly cut him off, sitting straight from her slouched place beside Graham.

Jenny nodded quickly, "I like it; it's simple, easy and a hell of a lot better the Hercules." She smiled in her brother's direction.
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authors note! I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO DAMN LONG TO GET UP!!!! And also thank you for 10k reads that's absolutely wild to me!! anyways you know the drill let me know what you thought always love the feedback :)
love y'all
mae