Ransom

by Rachel Schurig

A skinny teenager dressed in khakis and a Ralph Lauren polo shirt approaches me, looking both scared and excited. “Are you Daltrey Ransome?”

  “Yeah, how you doing, man?”

  His entire face lights up. “Good!” His voice cracks on the word, and I try not to smile.

  Against a far wall, a well-dressed couple is watching us. They don’t seem too happy. I can practically feel their stares zero in on my eyebrow ring.

  “I’m a huge fan,” the kid says. “I have all your music, even the early stuff when you weren’t signed yet.”

  “Thanks, man. That’s really cool.”

  He beams, all embarrassment gone. “Could I get a picture with you?” He holds up a fancy smart phone.

  “Of course.”

  Daisy steps forward, a goofy smile on her face. “I’ll take it.”

  “Thanks, ma’am,” he says, and Daisy and I both stifle our laughs.

  I stand next to the kid and put my arm around his shoulder as Daisy snaps the picture.

  “Thank you,” he says, looking down at the phone. “This is amazing! I can’t believe it.”

  “No worries.”

  He looks up at me. “I, uh, play too. A little. Piano, I mean. But my parents won’t let me take lessons in anything other than classical.”

  “That’s okay. All my lessons were in classical, too. It’s the best way to get the technique and skills down.” I glance at the couple, understanding their stares now, since they must be his parents, and lean toward the kid. “Just practice whatever shit you want when you’re on your own. Billy Joel, Ben Folds. That’s who you should listen to if you want to play pop and rock songs.”

  “And you,” he says, grinning so much I feel like Santa Claus on Christmas morning.

  “Sure, I guess.”

  “Henry!” the woman calls. “Come on.”

  His smile doesn’t fade. “Gotta go. Thanks again, man. I really appreciate it.”

  “Good luck, dude,” I say, bumping my fist against his before he scurries off.

  “Wow,” Daisy says. “That was interesting.”

  I turn to her. She’s smiling broadly, all remnants of her reaction in the van gone. “Are you still surprised I have actual fans?”

  She shakes her head. “No, I’m surprised by how much you clearly enjoyed that. You’re grinning about as big as that kid was.”

  “I am not.” Self-consciously, I reach up to my face to feel my smile.

  She snorts. “Sure you’re not. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s sweet.”

  I shrug. “I just like it when kids come up to me to talk about music, you know? Instead of just screaming about me being hot or something.”

  “Yeah, I bet you just hate it when people scream that you’re hot.”

  I push her shoulder. “Shut it, you. I’m being serious.”

  Her eyes soften. “I know you are. And I meant it when I said it’s sweet.”

  Dan comes around to pass out our keys, and we can finally head up to our rooms.

  Daisy falls into step next to me on the way to the elevator. “You never know, though. That kid could have thought you were hot. He didn’t spare a glance at Karen, and her boobs are practically popping out of that top.”

  I laugh. “It wouldn’t matter if he liked Karen or not. My hotness transcends sexual orientation.”

  I love the sound of her laughter, love being the one to cause it. I’m grinning like an idiot as we step onto the elevator with Daisy’s friends, Levi, Dan, and my dad.

  “Where should we go?” Levi asks the girls. “Or are we just going to wander and see what we see?”

  “Let’s wander,” I suggest. “Be spontaneous.”

  “What are you talking about?” Dad asks. “Are you going out?”

  I turn to him. “We’re just going to take a walk.”

  He frowns. “I cancelled the meeting because I wanted you boys to rest. We have to get up early to be at the station.”

  I struggle to keep my temper. “We’re not going partying or anything, Dad. We’re taking a walk. It’s not a big deal.”

  He looks as though he’s going to argue, but luckily, the doors open on our floor. I quickly grab Daisy’s hand and make my escape.

  Dad calls after us, “Don’t be out too late! I mean it.”

  I give a thumbs-up over my head before turning the corner with Daisy, the girls, and Levi.

  “Wow,” Daisy whispers. “That was a little tense. Are you guys not getting along?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I say, hoping I don’t sound too short. It’s not that I don’t trust that Daisy would be a good listener. I just don’t want anything else to spoil one of the few chances we have for fun.

  “So let’s get settled and meet in the lobby in fifteen. Sound good?” Levi asks.

  We all agree and head to our respective rooms.

  Daisy stops at my door, touching my elbow as I move to open it. “I’m glad I’m here,” she says, looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry if I got weird in the van. I just want you to know…” She swallows before looking up and smiling slightly. “I’m glad I’m here.”

  My chest constricts. “I’m happy you’re here too.”

  She gives me one last grin before jogging down the hall to catch up with her friends, leaving me to wonder when in the hell I am going to get up the courage to tell her how I feel.

  I wash my face and head down to the lobby. I’m surprised to see Lennon there. He usually spends hotel nights shut up in his room watching movies. Lennon is a sci-fi geek and loves nothing better than being by himself and watching whatever show qualifies as his new obsession.

  “Mind if I tag along?” he asks. “It occurs to me that for all the times we’ve been here in the past year, I’ve never actually seen the city.”

  I laugh. “Funny how that seems to happen everywhere we go, huh? ’Course you can come.”

  “Is it okay for you guys to just go out like this?” Karen asks. “On your own?”

  Lennon laughs. “Yeah, we’re big boys now, you know.”

  She scowls at him, which I find hilarious, considering how star-struck she was just a few short weeks ago. “I just meant, you don’t need security or anything for all the crazed fans and paparazzi?”

  I shrug. “We can usually get by okay with hats or hoodies, so long as all four of us aren’t together.”

  We step out into the cool night air. We’re nearly into July, but summer seems to be taking forever to settle in. It’s been mostly rainy and cool, except for the stops farther south.

  Lennon gestures at the street. “The fact that there aren’t any photographers here is good. That means they don’t know what hotel we’re at, yet.”

  “You don’t worry about just, like, running into them on street?” Paige asks, looking around.

  “Usually, they wait at places where your presence is pretty much common knowledge: hotels, venues, recording studios, stuff like that. If one catches you out on the street, at a restaurant or something, they’ve usually been tipped off that you’re going to be there.”

  “Who would tip them off?” Daisy asks.

  “You’d be surprised,” I say. “Usually, it’s someone on the team who thinks the publicity would be good, for whatever reason. So they tip someone off, and next thing you know, you have a dozen photographers outside of the deli where you tried to get lunch.”

  “Not always, of course,” Lennon adds. “Sometimes the paparazzi are really just being stalking dick faces.”

  Everyone laughs.

  “Can I quote you on that?” Karen asks.

  We’re walking aimlessly toward Times Square, the noise and light level steadily increasing.

  Paige claps her hands together. “I’m so excited! I’ve never been to a big city before!”

  “Paige, you’ve been to tons of big cities in just the last few weeks,” Daisy reminds her.

  “Yeah, but none of them were New York.”

  Times Square is even more dazzling in person than it was
from the van. It’s packed with people milling about, talking pictures, and waiting at street corners in huge, teeming masses. We make our way to the Duffy Square steps, where we stop to take pictures. I wrap my arms around Daisy, and she takes a selfie of the two of us. When she shows me the photo, my heart constricts. We look so happy, like a couple. I suddenly can’t wait until Wednesday. I’ve been making plans for more than a week. I have an entire day of sightseeing all arranged, complete with a private driver. I had to pull some strings to make sure Daisy gets to see New York the way I want her to, and I really hope she has a good time.

  “This is insane,” Karen says, stretching her legs out in front of her on the step and tilting her head back. “I can’t see a single star.”

  The rest of us join her and peer up into the night sky. Our view is dominated by the buildings and neon light of the square.

  “Okay, guys,” Levi whispers. “I’m seeing three different girls staring at you pretty closely. Might be a good time to move on.”

  “They’re staring at you, Levi,” I tell him as we stand and make our way back down the steps. “They think you’re really hunky.”

  “I am quite hunky, thanks.”

  We meander around the city for the next hour. We stop at the Rockefeller Center Plaza, where they ice skate in the winter, and tell Karen and Paige all about the skating rink we used to build in the backyard at home every year. As we pass the CBS studios and the marquee for the Letterman show, Daisy stops to grab my hand.

  “What?” I ask.

  “I just got the most overwhelming rush of perspective,” she says. “Talking about your backyard, walking around like this, it feels just like the old days, hanging out with Levi and your brother.” She turns to me, and I’m surprised to see her eyes are watering. “But tomorrow night, you’re going to be performing there. On the Letterman Show. It’s insane. You made it, Daltrey. You really did it.”

  There have been several moments like this for me over the past year, the big moments where I realize just how far I’ve come and where I am. My dad and my brothers were always there for those times, to grin and nod in acknowledgment. But there was always something missing. Daisy.

  So I do the thing that I would have done if she’d been with me all along. I pick her up and spin her around, holding her tight, letting it all hit me all over again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Daisy

  I love New York City. It surprises me a little, the strength of my reaction to the place. I’ve never really thought of myself as a city person, but after only two days in Manhattan, I know that I’m in love. There’s something about the bustle of the streets, the way everything seems to be right at my fingertips, even the sheer magnitude of the masses of people. I was worried that I’d be uncomfortable around so many strangers, but I find the opposite really. I love the way I can be in the middle of the crowd but still feel alone, the way no one really looks at me, the way I can melt away into oblivion right in the middle of all those people.

  The first concert in the city will be happening later tonight. We’ve spent the past two days heading from appearance to appearance. The boys performed on Letterman, visited radio stations, met with an interviewer from Rolling Stone. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I fell right back into my old role. I would go with them and, along with Levi, help do whatever needed doing: from tying Reed’s tie at a photo shoot to running out to get sandwiches when they got held over at an interview and didn’t have time to eat. I was starting to feel like part of the team again, so comfortable it was scary. I had no idea how long it would last. The tour had to end sometime, and college awaited me in the fall.

  “I want to move here,” I tell Daltrey.

  “I could see you here.” He narrows his eyes a little as he takes me in. “Maybe in a little apartment in the Village. Or something really cool and trendy in Brooklyn.”

  “What’s the Village?”

  “You would have seen it on Sex and the City. The blond chick lived there. It’s actually crazy expensive.”

  “We can count that one out then.”

  “It’s still worth seeing. We’ll go tomorrow.”

  I scrunch up my eyebrows. I haven’t seen the itinerary for tomorrow yet, but I assume it’s every bit as full as the last two days have been. “What’s tomorrow?”

  A huge grin takes over his face, and I get the impression he’s been waiting for me to ask that question for a while now.

  “Tomorrow is our day.”

  “What do you mean, our day?”

  “I mean, no work, no brothers, nothing. Just me and you running around the city.”

  I stare at him. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Nope. I have the entire day off. Seriously. Not a single obligation.”

  My grin is now probably as big as his. “That’s awesome! What are we going to do?”

  “I have a few things planned. Any special requests? I know you and the girls did a bit of sightseeing while we were running around with band stuff.”

  “We haven’t seen much,” I say. “Oh, man, I want to do everything! Can we go to the park? And see the Empire State Building? Oh, my gosh! I’m so excited!”

  “We’ll do all of that,” he promised, his voice low and just husky enough to put goose bumps on my arms. “It’s going to be great.”

  After we separate in the lobby, I head up to my room, hoping the girls are there. We have about an hour until we’re supposed to leave for the venue, and I really want to tell them about tomorrow without a ton of people around. My excitement hasn’t wavered in the slightest, but it is colored a little bit by a weird sense of expectation. Is something going to happen tomorrow between me and Daltrey? Do I want it to?

  “Hey, Daisy,” Paige says when I open the door. “How was the shoot?”

  “Good. A little boring. What’d you guys get up to?”

  Karen is lying flat on the bed, an arm over her face. “Levi had us loading boxes at the venue for hours. It sucked big time.” She moves her arm and grins at me. “I mean, totally worth it for this extended fantasy we’re on, of course.”

  I laugh and flop onto my bed. “So something kind of interesting just happened.”

  Paige sits up straighter in her chair and sets aside the bottle of hot-pink nail polish she was using on her toes. “Yeah?”

  “Daltrey has the entire day off tomorrow. All the guys do. And apparently, he’s taking me out to see the city. Just the two of us.”

  “It’s about time,” Karen says, propping herself up on her elbow.

  “What does that mean?”

  She smirks. “It means we’ve been waiting for him to make his move since Boston.”

  A trickle of fear pierces my excitement. “You think that’s what this is? No, it can’t be. Can it? Oh, my God.”

  “It’s okay,” Paige says. “Everything will be fine.”

  “You’ve never actually told us, you know,” Karen says, one eyebrow raised. “How you feel about him, I mean. We’ve danced around it a few times. Do you like him?”

  “Of course I like him. He’s my best—”

  “Your best friend, yeah, yeah, we know,” she interrupts, waving her hands. “But is that all he is? Is it all you want him to be?”

  I look down at my feet. For as long as I can remember, people in my life have assumed I’m romantic with Daltrey. I don’t blame them, not really. The two of us have always been much closer than most boys and girls would be without dating. But in all those years, nothing’s ever happened, minus a couple of innocent kissing experiments when we were kids.

  But even so, people assume. And those who know we aren’t dating always seem to think that I want to be with Daltrey. People like Joanie. The bitch dated him for three months our sophomore year and hated me every minute of it. She hated that he still hung out with me, that he talked to me, that I was close with his family. She could see, I was sure, the thing that Daltrey always missed when he looked at me, the feelings I kept just below the surface, that ones
I tried so hard to cover and keep secret.

  “I’ve been in love with him forever,” I say, my voice shaking slightly. I’ve never admitted that to anyone.

  “Awww,” Paige says, holding her hands up to her face. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  Even Karen is smiling a little dreamily. “So what’s the problem? Why don’t you just tell him?”

  I’m shaking my head before she even finishes talking. “No, I can’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because things are way too complicated. What if he doesn’t want me? God, I just got him back. I don’t think I can deal with losing him all over again.”

  “Why do you assume you’d lose him?” Paige asks. “I’m telling you, Daisy, it’s all over his face. The boy is crazy about you.”

  “Yeah, don’t you think it’s a little weird we never hear about him linked with anyone?” Karen asks. “There are pictures all over the Internet of all three of his brothers with random chicks, not to mention what we’ve seen in the dressing room. Why hasn’t Daltrey been out man-whoring, huh?”

  “Because he’s pining after you,” Paige finishes for her. “Obviously.”

  I look down at the cuffs of my sleeves and sigh. “Even if that’s true, that still doesn’t mean that we’re right for each other.”

  “What?” Karen asks, laughing. “Are you kidding me? You’re perfect together. Just tell him—”

  “There are things he doesn’t know.” I look up and meet Paige’s eyes. “Things I haven’t told him.”

  Her face softens. “You should tell him.”

  I shake my head. “I can’t. I know I can’t.”

  “What in the hell are you guys talking about?” Karen asks.

  “Daisy went through some crap last year,” Paige says quickly.

  I shake my head. “It’s okay.” I turn to Karen and tell her everything, about Joanie and the pictures and my selfish “solution” to the problem, about my time at Horizons and how I dropped out of school.

  When I’m finished, she stands up, pulls up her sleeve, and thrusts her arm in front of my face.

  “What?” I ask.

  She points at a small white scar, high up by her elbow. It’s very thin and hardly visible. Now that she’s pointed it out, I notice more of them, at least a dozen.