Ethan POV:
I almost don't want her to go to England. That is, if she wants to. Dan has the rights to get her back. It's his name on her birth certificate. She seemed to be so happy on the phone, talking to him. Even for the short while she did. Michael and I watched her talk on the phone from the living room looking into the kitchen through the doorway. We couldn't hear what she was saying, but her smile lasted throughout the conversation, until just before she hung up. Right now she's alone in her room listening to Rationale, probably drawing. I get off the couch and knock on her door.
"Laura, do you have any homework?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'm doing it right now. I'm reading Othello for English." She says from the other side of the door.
"While listening to music?" I ask, wonder how she can possibly pay attention to her book.
"Yeah." She replies. A page flips.
"Okay..." I say, walking down the hall into my room.
Kyle POV:
When we finish the soundcheck, The opening band comes back from an interview. They're called Judah and the Lion. Will (who arrived when Dan was on the phone) and Woody go to talk to their drummer, Spencer. Charlie vanishes backstage, probably to hide from everyone. I sit on the side of the stage with Dan.
"So, how was Laura?" I ask, hoping it went exactly as planned.
"Good." He says. He seems distant and not paying much attention.
"Are you okay?" I ask. He was just fine when he was sound checking.
"Yeah." He replies. "Remember when I used to send those orange letters?" He asks, turing his head to me. "Laura said that she remembers her Mum burning them all in the fireplace." He says, his voice getting quieter as the sentence goes.
"I'm sorry." I say, knowing that the letters meant something to Dan. "I remember during our first show in Chicago, you knew that Ash and Laura lived there and you hoped you would see them there." I say.
"You tried to get us to let you play Irreverence and see if Ashley would remember that it's about her." I say.
"It was stupid. Laura was little, and Ash probably hates me. She would never have gone out of her way and paid to see me." He says, twisting his watch around on his wrist.
"She-" I start. Dan's phone buzzes from his pocket. An unknown number's message reads "Hey Dan, it's Laura. Michael gave me your number." Dan grins.
"She doesn't call you Dad." I laugh.
"Shut up." He snaps as he types. I read over his shoulder.
Me: Hey Laura!
Laura: Sorry if you're busy, I just didn't want to forget to text you
Me: Np.
Dan creates a new contact, which is "Laura Smith" with a smiley face emoji next to it.
"Smith?" I ask. "She's still Laura Caraway." Dan rolls his eyes and changes it to "Laura Caraway-Smith", still with the smiley face.
Laura: How's the venue?
Me: Its nice. We played Liverpool last night as well as tonight, then were headed to the states to do a few shows before X-mas
Laura: Cool cool.
Me: What are you up to?
Laura: Just reading.
Dan: What book?
Laura: Othello. Why?
Dan: I wrote a song inspired by that book.
Laura: Send Them Off?
Dan lets out an exited (but quiet) "Ayyyyye!"
Dan: Yes! :)
Dick taps me on the shoulder, making me almost shit myself for the third time today.
"Doors open in 15 minutes. You guys better go backstage." He says.
"Kay.." Dan says, typing an assumed "I have to go" text and puts his phone in his pocket.
When we get in the dressing room, Charlie is already sitting there staring at his phone.
"Hello 'Big Morbid Death Pop' musician." I say, doing air quotes.
"Oh, lovely! My style of music is being recognized!" Charlie exclaims sarcastically. Will walks in.
"I vote Japanese food takeout tonight." He declares.
I raise a fist and exclaim "I second that!" Charlie silently chuckles and shakes his head. Woody runs in, nearly slipping on a floor napkin.
"DID SOMEBODY SAY JAPANESE FOOD?" He bellows dramatically.
"I sacrifice Woody to pick up the food." Dan says from the couch.
"As long as you call." He says.
"You know I'm terrible on the phone." Dan replies.
"Exactly." Woody challenges, cracking his knuckles. Woody picks up the floor napkin and grabs a pen off a table.
"I'm willing to split with someone" I volunteer.
"You can split with me, Kyle. I'm getting the usual rice thing that exists everywhere." Will says, speaking over everyone else in the room, telling their orders to Woody as he writes them on the floor napkin that appears to be from chipotle (we never ate chipotle back here). Five minutes and many scribbles later, the once-five-now-eleven people in our backstage room have all placed their order onto the floor napkin. All eyes turn to Dan.
"I'm dialing..." Will taunts. He hands the phone to Dan, putting on speaker.
"Why woul-" Dan starts.
"Hello." A bored older woman says. "This is the Drunken Monkey, may I take your order?"
I nearly fall over laughing over the name of the restaurant.
"Sorry, thats my friend being weird in the background." Dan says awkwardly.
"What would you like to eat?" She says more harshly.
As Dan goes through our order mainly consisting of "Uhm...s and Er...s", I hear people coming into the venue, chattering away. Every once in a while, the annoyed woman asks "Is that all for you today?" and Dan responds with a no for about 10 minutes. By now, Dan's face is red with the "I'm an anxious wreck talking on the phone" look. (Not a good look on him). Eventually, He wraps up the order.
"Thank you..." His voice trails off.
He hangs up and immediately, there is a frenzy to get Woody his coat.
"There's stormers crawling everywhere..." Woody says, reluctantly putting on his coat. I immediately drop to the floor and crawl around like a snake.
"Ah Mah Gawd! Dan Smith! Can I PLEASE have a picture!?" I say in a bratty teen girl voice, which sounds mildly American. I stand up take a selfie with Dan, him laughing his ass off. "OMG! Chase is gonna think I'm SOOOOO indie! Thank you!" I say, fanning myself like a mall brat trying to impress a boy.
"Kyle, you're scaring me." Will says. "Are you alright?"
I turn to Will. "I'm fine William, please appreciate my amazing acting." I say sarcastically.
"I'm going to head out..." Woody says, slowly backing away.
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Thanks so much for reading guys! Let me know what you like and don't like.
#floornapkin2016
YOU ARE READING
Lost Dad: Dan Smith
Fanfiction"Hello, Mr. Smith. We're calling about a child you had with..." Theres a pause, "Ashley Caraway." - "Laura, about your Dad... He wants to meet you."
