Dazey Records

I pulled up outside the record store at 8:30 the next morning, happy to see Jared, Pat, Garrett and John all standing outside the front door. I greeted them and unlocked the main door before climbing the stairs and unlocking the second door.

Once they were all inside, I briefed them on how to use the register, how to take the stock out of the computer system and what to do in the case of an emergency.

"And please, try not to destroy any of my stock. It's expensive and I don't necessarily feel like ordering more in just because you were being idiots." Garrett mock saluted me and I mentally face-palmed at what I was about to do.

I handed Jared the store keys. "All you need to do is take all the cash from the register at the end of the day, print off the 'stock sold' list, turn off the computer, sound system and lights, and lock up. You can just drop it off to my place on your way home, my address is under the counter."

Jared nodded and I was thankful he was taking this seriously. "Got it."

"Alright, let's go Daisy," John said, starting to pull me towards the door.

"And please don't murder any customers!" I yelled before I shut the door behind me.

John opened the passenger door to his truck for me, making a grand gesture. I rolled my eyes and chuckled, calling him an idiot as I took a seat. It was almost exactly how I remembered it, only the vinyl seats were more cracked, there was a little more dust, it smelled even stronger of cigarettes and there was a new stereo looking out of place on the dashboard.

"So, where are we off to today?" I asked him. He gave me his famous half-smirk before turning his attention to the road.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, but trust me when I say you'll like it."

We left Phoenix and headed past Tempe. The possibilities were endless and that worried me slightly.

We took the turn towards Chandler and I narrowed down the things we could do. We pulled up at the old drive-in theatre that had long been closed and John reached into the back seat to pull out his Macbook.

"I know the theatre is closed, but I still thought we could watch a movie." He pulled out a bag of buttered popcorn and two cans of soda, setting the Macbook on the car dashboard and pressing play on the movie he had loaded. I smiled as The Nightmare Before Christmas began playing, remembering how much we used to watch it as teenagers.

The movie was a little awkward, what with our hands touching each time we both reached for the popcorn. I couldn't help but recoil at his touch, the old feeling so foreign to me now.

"For it is plain as anyone could see, we're simply meant to be."

I could feel John watching me as the last line rang out through the truck and the ending credits began, feeling a little uncomfortable and yet again awkward under his gaze. He stopped the movie and I stretched as he put his Macbook and our trash in the back seat.

"So, now what?"

"Well, I was thinking we should go get some In-N-Out?"

I moaned at the thought of the greasy fast-food I had been deprived of for years and John laughed at my enthusiasm. "I thought you might be interested."

He drove to the closest restaurant and I practically leaped out of the truck to the entrance.

I pulled out my purse to order my usual, but John pushed my hands away.

"My treat."

I stood next to him as he ordered two cheeseburgers, one with extra onions, fries and vanilla shakes for us. I was surprised he still remembered my order and we took our food to an outside table to eat.

I began eating my fries, closing my eyes and smiling as I remembered how salty they were and how good the summer breeze felt against my face. I opened my eyes to find John taking a photo of me on his phone, laughing at me.

"I still can't believe you do that," he exclaimed.

"Well, when you haven't had In-N-Out in a lot of years," I retorted, finishing off my fries. We tosed out our trash when we were done and got back into the truck.

"Back home now?" I asked, feeling a little disappointed that the day was ending.

John just looked at me. "Daisy, do you think I would have made you take the whole day off and driven you all this way just to watch a movie and eat In-N-Out? We can do that at either of our apartments. We have two more stops before we're done."

We drove into Tempe and John turned into the old park we used to visit nearly every day. I got out of the truck, waiting for John to retrieve something from the backseat again. My eyes widened as I saw the baseball bat and ball in his hands.

"Let's make sure your skills aren't too rusty."

* * * * *

I collapsed back in the truck, red-faced with aching arms but a huge smile on my face. It had taken both of us half an hour to get back into our old pattern, since we both had been out of practice a few years, but by the end we managed to set up a two person game, John beating me as usual.

"I still think you only won that last one because your legs are way longer than mine," I argued as John slid into the driver's seat.

"Daisy, I've always been better than you, just admit it," he teased.

As we pulled out of the park, I remembered what John had said earlier. "Hey, you said we had two more stops before? Where's the last one?"

"Well, technically it's two stops, but I'm only counting it as one. It's not far from here and I'll have you back home in about an hour if you want."

Keeping his promise, five minutes later John pulled into the old ice creamery just outside Tempe. It looked like it had seen better days, but I knew it would still taste as amazing as it always did.

"I'll have a scoop of vanilla and she'll take a scoop of peppermint choc chip thanks," John told the server and he turned back with two cones minutes later.

"You know, we're not dating anymore, you don't have to buy everything for me."

John's smile faltered slightly before he beamed brightly at her again. "I guess it's just a habit. Come on, we need to get there before these melt."

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked John as we walked out of the store. He ducked his head under a low tree branch and beckoned for me to follow. "This is the part where you push me off a cliff or do something like that, right?"

John just laughed. "Daisy, do you actually think I would do something like that? I just wanna show you something."

If there was one thing I had known John O'Callaghan to be, it was thorough. He pushed aside a shrub for me to step through and I was met with one of the most breath-taking sights I had ever seen.

"Wow," I sighed, my eyes wide as I took in the valleys.

John put his arm around me, pointing the one with his ice cream out towards the city skyline. "And that's Phoenix. It's incredible, isn't it? But the city isn't what I wanted you to see."

I looked out over top of it all and was met with the most beautiful purple-orange sunset I had seen in my life.

We quietly ate our ice cream as we watched the sun set, John alerting me to the current time.

"Shit, it's 5pm. I'd better get you back to your car so you can get home."

"Oh. Right." I was sad for the day to come to an end, but if I knew John he would have something else up his sleeve for another day.

"So, when did you know that Nick knew me?" John asked on the drive back to the record store.

"It's funny, I saw your truck, heard you come into the record store and listened to you play, but it never clicked until you sang that song."

"Which song?"

"Daisy."

"Ah. Right. I guess you would have picked up on that, huh?"

"Yeah. I guess I should have been a little more suspicious though," I said, remembering the day prior to that in the record store.

John furrowed his brow. "How come?"

"I, uh, I have a tattoo. A tattoo that was unknowingly a line from your song. Some girls in the store said they love my tattoo and said that Daisy was their favourite song by you guys."

"You have a tattoo? Since when?"

"Nick made me get it on my 18th birthday. I can show you later."

John smiled sincerely at me. "I'd like that."

In no time, we arrived back at my car outside the record store and I pulled John into a hug to say goodbye.

"Thank you so much for today, it took my mind off the whole Nick situation and was a good break from working. I owe you one."

John shrugged. "It's no big deal, I'll let you know how you can make it up to me later. How did the Nick thing go last night?"

I sighed deeply. "It didn't. I went around there to talk but he wasn't home, so I sent him a message asking him to get back to me but I haven't heard from him."

"He'll come around, he just needs some time. Maybe just leave him while he's overseas and when I'm on tour with him in a few weeks I'll give him a nudge."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I remembered John and his band would be on tour too, effectively leaving me with no-one in town for a good chunk of the summer.

"Right. I'd better go John, I'll talk to you later?"

He gave me another squeeze. "Take care Daisy."

I walked over to my car and opened the door before John's voice pulled me back.

"Hey, wait!"

I looked over to him and he had a shit-eating grin on his face. "What?"

"All for you, my Daisy."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "You're a loser."

* * * * *

I spent the whole day Sunday looking at my phone when I wasn't serving customers, waiting for Nick to respond to my message in some way. Surely he would have some kind of internet or way to connect with people? Whatever his reason, he still hadn't contacted me.

I went home to my empty apartment, pouring a glass of wine and looking in the fridge for anything edible. I hadn't had the energy or food to cook all week and had been eating toast for the first half until I ran out of bread and ordered a pizza.

I sighed, resigning myself to going hungry until I received a text message from John.

'Have you eaten yet?'

I chuckled at his question and took a quick snap of the inside of my fridge, followed by the caption 'Not likely.'

I took my glass of wine into the living room and turned on the TV, trying to talk myself into ordering Chinese takeout.

Just as I was about to pick up the phone and order, someone buzzed my apartment.

Slightly worried, I pressed the buzzer and spoke into the intercom. "Hello?"

"Daisy, let me in."

I couldn't be 100% sure who was visiting, since the intercom was around when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but I hoped they had food. I pressed the door release button and in moments John had appeared at my door with several grocery bags.

"I wasn't going to bring this much, only the stuff to cook with, but after that photo of the inside of your fridge I figured you could use a hand keeping on top of this stuff."

"John, you can't cook."

"That's true. I can't cook dinner but you know as well as the next person that I make the best damn scrambled eggs and bacon this side of the equator."

That was incredibly true. While he had no real kitchen skills, he made the best breakfast I had ever eaten.

"Alright, what are you going to do with the other things though?" I asked, pointing to all the other bags.

"Bread, milk, coffee and frozen meals. I would cook you meals to put away for later, but yeah, I suck at anything other than breakfast."

I watched as John unpacked the bags, wide-eyed at all the food he had brought.

"At least let me pay you back for this, I feel really bad now."

John shook his head. "So long as it keeps you alive, I'll buy it if you need me to."

"Wine keeps me alive."

"Wine is going to make you loopy and hungover tomorrow if you keep drinking it before you eat," he pointed out. I pushed my half-drunk glass away from myself, already feeling a little light-headed.

John manoeuvred himself around my small kitchen, whisking the eggs and frying the bacon before putting it all on a plate with a couple of slices of toast. As an extra thought, he topped up my wine glass before taking a seat next to me and digging into the plate he had prepared for himself.

"I feel really bad for not buying groceries or cooking, but I'm just so exhausted when I come home from the store that I don't feel like grocery shopping or doing anything other than lying down," I admitted.

"You really should hire a second person to help out in the store, especially this summer."

"I can't afford to hire a second person, besides there's not even enough for one person to do in the store let alone two."

"Just let them run the store in the morning or afternoon a few times a week, just so you can do grocery shopping and cooking and stuff like that. You're going to run yourself into the ground if you keep this up."

As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. I never had energy anymore, it was a struggle getting out of bed to work each day and I needed to give myself a break.

"Alright, I'll look into it. Will you help me find someone?" I pleaded.

"Of course, I need to make sure they're suitable to be working with you."

Once we finished eating, John washed up the dishes, adamant he do it since he cooked, while I drank the last of my wine.

"Thanks for... er, breakfast, John. I really appreciate it. I'll write up a notice for the job so I can start looking right away."

"All for you, my Daisy. Hey, speaking of, can I see the tattoo?"

I reluctantly lifted up the side of my shirt, showing him the ink on my ribs. "I feel like one of your fangirls."

John chuckled, leaning in to get a closer look at it."I love it."

"Yeah, me too."

He stood looking at my tattoo in awkward silence before straightening out and clearing his throat. "Well, I'd better let you do that notice and get some sleep, we've got a big week ahead of us."

I sighed, realising that I was about to start another full-on week. "Thanks again John, I guess I'll see you during the week?"

We said our goodbyes and I was yet again left alone in my apartment, craving John's company again.