Finding Daddy

“So what are two girls such as yourselves doing in California all the way from Colorado?” Nikki asked curiously. He laughed when he saw us each raise an eyebrow. “Sorry, I saw the plate on your car when I was hooking it up.”

“It’s fine. Uhm…” Autumn slowly looked over at me, silently asking if it was okay to talk about the reason. I had warned her when we were watching the guys hook up our vehicle that we didn’t know anything about them. No matter how nice they seem, it could all be an act.

“We’re going to visit some family of mine,” I spoke simply.

“Oh. Who are you going to visit?” Nikki ask politely, smiling across the booth we sat in.

“My grandmother,” I blurted out. To be honest, I had never met either of them. My dad’s side for obvious reasons and my mom’s parents moved to Australia as soon as my mother moved out. We can’t really afford to go there and they don’t want to come back here. My mom’s only sister lived in Australia so they didn’t see a reason to come here. I had, however, talked to her mother many times before.

“That’s nice of you,” Nikki commented. We all fell silent. Well, minus the sound of guns blazing from the TV. DJ and James had been playing Modern Warfare 3 since we got on the bus. I let out a loud yawn and cursed myself in my head. “Tired?”

“No, fucking energetic,” I murmured sarcastically. Why ask such a stupid question? Autumn slapped my arm, glaring softly at me. I stayed silent though, crossing my arms over my chest and staring at the table top.

“I was simply asking since I could offer you one of the bunks. We have at least another two hours before we reach Los Angeles,” Nikki explained quietly. I guess I freaked him out by snapping at him. I must look pretty intimidating with my makeup messed up, hair a mess, and sarcasm laced with bitterness.

“Maybe you should take a nap, Danny. It’ll be good for you since you didn’t get much sleep,” Autumn pushed. She was right. I can’t sleep in moving vehicles and I had been restlessly turning all over since my conscious had tried to be nagging at me the whole time. Did I give a fuck? No. I learned to ignore it over the years, but I still couldn’t sleep for shit.

“Fine.” I sighed and slid out of the booth, Nikki also standing. He led me into the room next to us. He pulled back a curtain to show me a bunk.

“You can sleep here. One of us will come wake you up when we reach Los Angeles,” Nikki told me as I climbed in.

“Okay. Thanks,” I murmured, quickly beginning to fall asleep under the nice, toasty blanket. I barely heard Nikki leave the room before I slipped in a sweet bliss of dreamland.

Autumn’s P.O.V.

A moment after Nikki and Danielle left, I frowned. Danielle was one to hardly sleep in a new place. I don’t know why I bugged her into trying to sleep anyways. I slid out of the booth and headed towards the direction the two had left. I nearly ran into Nikki and quickly took a step back.

“Did you change your mind about sleeping?” Nikki questioned, a slight frown on his face.

“Oh, no. I just wanted to check on Danielle is all. See, she has a hard time sleeping in a new place and…” I trailed off, seeing the grin on Nikki’s face. “I sound like a worried mother hen, huh?”

“A little, but it’s nice. Though I hardly think checking up on Danielle will be necessary. She was almost asleep as soon as she got under the blanket,” Nikki informed me.

“Really?” I questioned with a frown. He nodded, motioning with his hands for me to shoo away from the room. I nodded and went to take my place back in the booth, my eyes studying the other room. I was just waiting any moment for Danielle to come back into the front, complaining how she couldn’t get comfortable and was quitting on trying to sleep.

“She’s fine Momma Autumn.” I jumped, almost forgetting that Nikki was sitting across from me. I blushed, frowning, and glared down at my lap. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I know,” I murmured. It was quiet again before Nikki broke the silence.

“Autumn?” I looked up, silently asking him ‘what?’. “Why are you so protective of Danielle?”

I laughed, scratching the back of my neck. “I’m really not that protective. She’s my best friend. I’m just looking out for her is all.”

“Autumn, we both know that’s not all,” Nikki said quietly. I sighed, picking at the black nail polish on my fingers. Damn Nikki for being able to read me.

“I’ve known her since Kindergarten. Her mom’s a bitch. Almost always has been. Danielle’s had a lack of parental figures in her life. I’m only a few months older than her, but I feel like I’m suppose to be, like, her mother figure. I love her, but I know I’m not what she needs,” I replied, my eyes watching the scenery pass by instead of looking at Nikki. Just a look from him could make me feel weak and spill my guts, just like my own father.

The taunting voices of DJ and James and sounds from their video game were all that filled the room for a few moments. Nikki spoke again and asked, “Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yes, that’s all.” I looked over at Nikki to try to reassure him, but that’s when I saw the doubtful look. I growled, placing my face in my hands. “No.”

“Then what’s up?”

“This trip. Well, I’m worried for her.”

“Why? You’re just going to see her grandmother…” Nikki trailed off, obviously waiting for me to fill in the silence with my explanation.

“Well her grandmother…has Alzheimer’s. When we get there it may be like she never met Danielle before. And I don’t know if she can handle that,” I lied, trying to keep it close to the truth.

“When did she last see her?”

“Oh, when she was younger. She would know her name for sure, as long as she’s still in the right mind. I hope she will be, Danielle deserves this little thing. It would mean the world to her,” I spoke, smiling softly.

“What if her grandmother doesn’t?” Nikki asked. I frowned, staring into his eyes.

“I’ll have to be strong for her and be the rock she can lean onto. She needs me to,” I spoke, saying the last part quietly. “But I’m not going to think like that. She needs to be happy. I need to pay her back, she has to be happy.”

“What do you mean you need to pay her back?” Nikki frowned at him and shook his head. “No, never mind. You don’t have to tell me. I’ve been nosy enough as it is.”

“No, it’s fine. I should tell someone, I guess. If not it might drive me to insanity one day,” I laughed. “When I was younger kids hated me. I was a lot different from normal children. I was pretty smart, I didn’t play with dolls, I could beat up the boys, I didn’t listen to music most children did. I got into fights a lot and no one liked me. The only person who stayed by me growing up was Danielle. She showed me how to enjoy life. That was something no one had tried to teach me.”

“What about your parents?”

“You know how it is in a tightly budgeted family. Mother and father working their butts off to keep up with bills. I know they love me and all, but they just didn’t have time to help me growing up. I stayed at Danielle’s house a lot since my family couldn’t afford daycare or a sitter everyday. After knowing how her mother treated her, I felt guilty. I just want Danielle happy for once instead of having to pretend.”

“So now you’re going to help her go all the way to her grandmother and hope for the best?” I nodded. “I know what you mean about owing your friends a lot. I can’t blame you for going through with all this.”

“Why do you owe your friends? Think of it as I told you, you tell me.”

“Sounds fair,” Nikki laughed. “When I was younger I had a drug addiction. I OD'd three separate times. My friends had to practically kick my ass into shape to clean up. Now I’m a world known musician, photographer, radio host, and part time artist and author.”

“That’s a lot to accomplish,” I whistled. He nodded with a wide smile.

“Yup. That’s why I owe my friends everything. Without them I would have been six feet under a couple decades ago.”

“You don’t seem that old,” I remarked. It was true. Most I could give him is being in his mid-thirties. He laughed.

“Nice to know I don’t look like an old fart quite yet. My first band was big during the eighties.” My mouth fell open in shock. No fuckin’ way. I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief.

“How’s that fountain of youth?”

“It’s pretty nasty from all those sumo wrestlers chilling there,” Nikki remarked, his nose wrinkled in disgust. We both shared a loud laugh.