Mr. Brightside's Daughter- Ruby Flowers

Chapter 7- News and Lunch

Last night turned out okay, but it could have been a complete disaster. The footage of Somebody Told Me consisted of a four-year-old girl running onto the stage crying for her dad and then puking all over him. I was backstage with Tana throwing a fit by that point in the show. Because we were so close to my dad, security guards just assumed nothing would happen, so they were nonexistent. It was a piece of cake to run onto the stage. The crowd went wild, but I was traumatized. Once the show was over my dad went to clean himself up and I found myself in the bathtub of our hotel. Once he got back from taking care of everything after the show, Tana had gotten me all ready for bed. I fell asleep all curled up against my dad, safe at last.
Luckily, my dad realized what we were watching before anyone saw me on the screen, so I just went along with him saying that the tape stopped halfway through the song and turned it off.
After a dramatic evening, I was ready to have some stability. At least get through spring break without getting in a Twitter fight. I wasn't planning on doing much except swimming and playing with my brothers.
As I sat at the counter sharing a Poptart with Henry, I asked Tana if she really meant her offer of going out to lunch today.
"Yeah, I don't think your dad would mind."
"I want Smashburger." Ammon stated bluntly.
"Ask dad then." I told him. Ammon hadn't caused any trouble lately and I thought he'd be our best bet in asking dad to go out.
"Okay." He put his cereal bowl in the sink and ran to the master bedroom.
Gunnar's face dropped. He looked upset, about what I didn't know.
"What's wrong Gunnar?" I asked as nicely as I could manage.
"I hate Smashburger."
Tana rolled her eyes, "No you don't buddy. It's the place with the milkshakes."
"Oh." He replied simply as Ammon and Dad come into the kitchen.
"Smashburger sounds great." He smiled. "I have to talk to you guys about something anyway."
Tana smiled. She probably already knew what he was going to tell us. I had not idea. Probably something about the Desired Effect.
I then decided to just get ready to go out. Lucky for me, I had my own bathroom. It only took me about half an hour to get ready. I just went for a casual look- denim shorts and a Parachutes T-Shirt. The only time I wore dresses or skirts was for church, premiers, and other big events. I just combed out my hair and let it dry naturally. And I never wore makeup on the weekends. Pretty low-maintenance.
It was only 10:30 AM, so I decided to just check Instagram and Twitter. There wasn't much new on Instagram since the last thing a posted was a picture of Henry and I at Wet n' Wild last Saturday.
Twitter had calmed down. There were no new insults. I scrolled through my timeline, not really seeing anything exciting. I thought I might make a Victim's day by commenting on this one post. It was a picture of my family and I on the High Roller downtown. The caption was "The Flower's family is so perfect. 😍" I just favorited the tweet. It may not have been as special as my dad doing the same thing, but it'll be a nice surprise.
I still wasn't completely sure why the victims even payed any attention to me. I didn't sing, and people were pretty unaware that I played guitar and piano. I've gotten comments telling me that I look like my dad with blue eyes, and I had to agree. I didn't think I looked like my mom, whoever she was, besides the blonde hair. And I don't have any desire to meet her to find out,
~
No one had noticed my dad yet, but we hadn't made a big entrance. We sat in a booth waiting for our food to come. I was sitting in between Gunnar and Dad.
The waitress giving us our food certainly recognized us.
At first, she was just passing out the food absentmindedly, but when she actually looked up at us, she gasped in amazement.
"Brandon Flowers..." She whimpered, and then scurried off back to the kitchen.
"Well that was weird." Ammon declared, ready to shove his face with fries.
Dad just smiled.
"So about what I was going to tell you four."
"Yeah?" Gunnar asked, then continued, "What is it?"
"Calm down." I mumbled.
"I'm going to take you guys on tour with me."
Gunnar and Ammon cheered in excitement, and Henry just laughed.
"What about school?" I asked, surprised this was the first question that came to mind.
"We can pull you out and you can do it with a tutor."
I nodded, as my brothers began asking questions. I was actually really excited to be leaving school. I didn't want to go back after the incident last night. People would be talking about it all over school. I've always loved going on tour anyway, ever since Hot Fuss. I didn't get to go with him for Battle Born or Day and Age. I didn't know why this time was any difference, but it would be fun. I mean, I wasn't going to run onto the stage and puke my guts out in front of thousands of people. Or use Tana's makeup on Ronnie after he drifted off to sleep on a sofa in his dressing room. This was going to be just fine. It's my brothers my dad needs to worry about. Not me anymore. The Desired Effect was going to be amazing. I just need to keep myself together.