gold dust woman | daisy jones & the six

09

Cameron: Turns out, Billy had invited Daisy to join the band the night of the party.

I was excited to have Daisy be apart of the band, I just didn't really know what to expect. I mean, none of us did.

She brought a basket of fruit and a bottle of wine, it was going to be a long day.

"Again with the legs, man." Warren whispered to Eddie.

"Dude, I know." Eddie replied.

Cameron: Safe to say, I was jealous. Again. I hated that feeling, I didn't want to be that kind of girl.

It's one thing to just have sex with someone. It's another thing to be in a relationship with them. I just didn't know where Warren and I fell. Did he want it to be more than just sex? I didn't know, but I knew I wanted to have more than that.

"I'm a leg guy, that's a fact." Warren said to Eddie.

"Hey Daisy," I said, giving her a warm smile and a hug.

"Warren, right?" Daisy asked, walking over to him after our hug. "You know it's not my job not to turn you on, right?"

"I do... now." Warren said, slightly embarrassed. That shut Warren up real quick.

Billy began to introduce Daisy as the newest member of the band, "Thank you for being here and for doing this with us. So it's been, what? Four weeks?"

"I wrote a song. Well actually, I wrote twenty that I'd like to play for you guys." Daisy said, cutting Billy off. The rest of us exchanged confused glances, no one said a word.

"Well, Daisy, the great news is we actually have thirteen songs ready for the album, so." Billy said, clearly annoyed. "I mean, why don't we play you some and then you can see if you feel strongly about any of them, or want to add anything."

Daisy: I mean, can you imagine?

Billy: I could not have been nicer.

"We'll play the new one for Daisy." Billy said, grabbing his guitar. "I think you'll like this one."

"Let me guess, it's about your wife and the rain." Daisy said.

Warren [laughing]: Oh my God.

Eddie [laughing]: I think it was called 'She's the Storm'.

"That's funny?" Billy asked as Daisy laughed. "Did you want to say something?"

"I'm not here to sing harmony on a bunch of love songs about your wife." Daisy said, standing up. "You know, if we're going to be a band, the album has to be just as much mine as it is yours, as it Karen's, and Cameron's, and Graham's, and Warren's, and that guys," Daisy said, pointing towards Eddie.

Eddie: She was saying things I'd been saying since '69.

"I agree. I think the album should be ours. Not just Billy Dunne's." Cameron added.

"You know what I think?" Eddie started, "I think this should be a rock and roll record."

"Thank you, Eddie. Thank you so much for your input." Billy said, sarcastically. "Of course it's going to be a rock and roll record, what the fuck?"

"Is it though? Cause a lot these songs are starting to sound like pop songs, man." Graham started waving his hands around for Eddie to stop talking, Eddie didn't stop. "Like Sunny and Cher shit. Are we a pop band now? Rock and roll should be passion, pain, anger, sleeping with some girl you don't know, not making sweet love to your wife for Christ's sake. No offense, Billy."

"What I was trying to say," Daisy said, smiling.

Everyone started throwing out their own ideas. Warren wanted African drums, Karen wanted just a vocal and piano song, Cameron wanted to write her own riffs, and Eddie wanted to write his own bass parts.

"Fucking terrible idea." Billy said, putting his guitar back down.

"What's the bad idea? I mean, you invited me here."

"Yeah, well, maybe that was a mistake, Daisy." Billy shot back.

"Are you done?" Teddy asked, storming into the room. "You're acting like a bunch of kindergarteners." He continued, looking back and forth between Daisy and Billy. "Maybe the two of you can go someplace and work on something together. How 'bout that? Either way, the door is right there so go and get the fuck out of here cause I got shit to do. Go, goddamn it!"

Billy grabbed his guitar and left with Daisy to go to God knows where.

"What about us?" Eddie asked Teddy.

"I could care less."

Cameron: The rest of us went back to the house, there was no point in sticking around the studio any longer.

We didn't know how long Daisy and Billy would be gone for, so I thought maybe I should talk to Warren.

"Hey, have you guys seen Warren?" I asked Karen and Graham, stepping onto the back porch.

"He just left with Eddie to go see Rollerball again." Graham told me.

"Oh, alright." I said, feeling a little disappointed.

Karen and Graham left to go surfing with the girl Graham had been seeing a bit later, meaning I had the house to myself. For the first time in a long time, I felt alone. I took some pills, listened to some Carole King, and danced. Here's the thing about getting high. Coming down from it was the worst part. I took the pills to forget things, to feel better. Coming down from that high, you start to feel it all again. Maybe even stronger than before.

Sometime later, Karen and Graham got back. I don't think they knew I was still home.

Cameron [shudders]: I heard everything.