Whiskey for Elephants

7.

I know you've been waiting for this. Honestly, I'm nervous about this. I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's a pov change.
-----
Columbus, Ohio
--
Ronnie Radke
_________

Willow was asleep in the crook of my arm, right up against the bus window. Tyler was knocked out on the chair thing in front of us. I didn't know where the other guys were, it was a big tour bus. I mean, this, this is where the magic happens. When the bus is quiet like this, one of two things can happen. I'll get sucked into the shitty decisions I made in my past or I'll write music. Mostly right now, I'm watching Willow. I can't thank Chrissy enough for giving me this child and giving me a reason to wake up the next day. Right now, with my kid right here... I don't see how people can ever imagine not including their kids. I mean I still make poor decisions and hook up with people, but my family, broken as we may be, are around me all the time and life is good. I wish I didn't have to depend on Chrissy so much. She's been great. I'm told we co-parent rather well. She just got that degree, she's doing really well. I'm proud of her.
It's been three months of nightly shows. The crowd hype never changes. When I'm out there, I get this rush. Watching everyone singing along and getting off their feet for us. It's like they all release a little bit of themselves for me to take on tour. There's also always one bad experience. Tomorrow is the start of our week off. It's our next sell out show.
Even though I'm away from her, I can't seem to get Danika out of my head. She's just, just like me really. Damaged. She's just so young, she wasn't lying when she said that. I don't even know what I want with her. Dating would drive us both nuts, but i have so much fun with her. She'll be there tomorrow. As far as how often we talk, it's everyday. She calls me so I can debrief her on what happened when so that she can do damage control from this Airbnb she's staying at. Sometimes she calls me to check in with Willow, to see how I'm doing, or if I'm lucky, because she's bored. Chrissy also picks Willow up for school tomorrow after the show. I've had her all summer so I can't say much. It'll be boring, not hearing her saying, 'Daddy Daddy dada' when she wants attention.

It didn't take long for us to get to the venue, we arrived at like six am. I checked into my Airbnb, holding Willows hand with one arm, carrying my gym bag in the other. One of the techies grabbed my suitcases. After I shut the door I let willow go. She went and turned the tv on. I sat in the kitchen and took a minute to decompress.
"Okay, Radke. Time to get to work." I say inhaling and exhaling. I find my laptop and set it up in the kitchen on the table, I plug it in. As I wait for it to reboot, I throw my dirty clothes into the washer, hang the clean ones, check on Willow who was now passed out on the couch. I log into the lap top, wait for that to process and then move Willow to the bedroom.
I check my email, nothing new, no new articles, at least. I didn't technically have to be awake until ten oclock, I could sleep.
There was a knock. I went to the door and opened. There she was. I wanted to kiss her right then. It was like she was coming home to me. I tower over her, i just noticed. She was drenched from a sudden down pour of rain.
"Ronnie, dude, I'm freezing. Can I come in or not?"I come back to my senses.
"Uh, Yeah, of course. Sorry. I was just so moved by you surprising me this early. When I was going to bed." I say.
"So am I." She said, walking to the living room. "Where's willow?"
"She's sleeping in the bed. You can sleep in there with her. Just wake her up first." I say. "I'll sleep out here." She gapes at me. She shakes her head and steps into the kitchen with me.
"It's just sleeping, Ronnie." She says, noticeably tired. "I'm just wearing sweats and a tee shirt. It's not like I'm gonna be naked or anything."
"Uh, Okay. I sleep in shorts though."
"Okay. See you in there.." her voice trails until I hear it spike to talk to Willow. "Daddy is coming soon, but scoot over. I'm tired kid." I stood a moment. Where'd the business girl go? She's just in bed with my kid waiting for me. I don't understand. I hear her get up and pad down the hall. "Come on, Ronnieeeuh."She tugs on my hand. "I'm tired. So are you. Let's go nap."
"But the business lines. Dude. Why?"
"We'll talk about it later I just wanna sleep." She's still holding my hand as she walks away so I trail after her. She lets go to climb in bed, I climb in behind her. She mumbles, 'Crap.' And then climbs over me onto the other side of me, so that Willow can be next to me too.
"You comfy yet, brat?" I say, but she wasn't. She wedges herself comfortably in my arm pit area and throws an arm over me so she can reach Willows hair and bend her other arm under mine and the pillow she's using. Her legs laced with mine. And she's out. It doesn't take me long to follow suit.