The full story of what happened on the tour bus the night after Daisy overdosed.
Track 1: Anywhere, Anytime Soon
Billy: It was just me and Daisy on the bus that night. We'd never even shared the same tour bus before, and I remember thinking how strange it felt to be sharing that cramped, quiet space with her. I could hear the TV through the wall, and I remember wondering if she was still awake.
Daisy: I just kept telling myself not to take any pills, but I really wanted to take a few pills.
Billy: Things between Daisy and me were always…palpable. We were in each other's orbits. So being that close to her, after she had just been so vulnerable with me–after what we had just gone through…I don't think there's a version of that night where I could have stayed away from her.
Daisy: I was just about to get up and go to the other bus to find some pills when Billy opened the door and looked at me like he knew exactly what I was about to do.
Billy: I just couldn't stand the thought of her being alone in there for one more second.
Daisy: He said, "Oh, you're still awake." And would've laughed if I hadn't been so goddamn depressed. Of course I was awake. I wasn't used to falling asleep; I was used to passing out.
So I just told him that I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to sleep that night. And he said he didn't think he'd be able to either–which I didn't get why he said that. And then he asked if he could join me.
Billy: I took the couch across from her, and we sat in silence for a while. Sometimes it was so easy to read Daisy. [Laughs] She wasn't exactly refined most of the time. Maybe it was because she wasn't high, maybe it was because she had just almost died…don't know, but for the first time in a while, there was an eerie stillness to her. A sadness that made her seem fragile in a way I didn't know she could be.
Daisy: I felt 'like a kite flying in a firestorm'…adrift.
Billy: I said, "You know if you want to go to rehab. I'll take you." I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say, but I needed her to know. I wanted her to know that she didn't have to go through whatever she was going through alone.
Daisy: I probably should have taken him up on that offer. How different might everything have gone if I had just gotten clean then? Instead, I just told him I'd think about it.
I think a part of me knew I still wasn't ready. I almost died, and I still wasn't ready to give up the drugs. I mean, what reason did I have to get clean? I remember thinking, 'does it really even matter what happens to me?'
Billy: She just had this resignation to her. Like she knew it was going to suck her back in. I've been there. I've felt that. The only thing that pulled me out of it was knowing Camila and Julia were at home waiting for me to become the man I needed to be for them. I had people depending on me–people who loved me. That's what saved me. That's what got me clean. That's what she needed.
Daisy: When I couldn't stand the silence any longer I said, "You know, you're pretty crummy company tonight." I didn't mean it. I just didn't know what else to say to get a reaction from him. I did that sometimes–needle him just to get a rise out of him. It worked…in a way.
Billy: She had some nerve trying to land that punch. I said, "Sorry I'm not better company, last night I thought you were going to die. I'm still just trying to shake that feeling." She laughed and said, "Oh come on, Billy Dunne. Don't act like it would've meant that much. I mean, sure, your songs would probably suck without me, but you'd be fine."
Daisy: I don't know if I was needling him again or if I really meant it. Either way, that really pissed him off. He stood up and paced the room and said, "Jesus Daisy, is that really what you think?"
I mean, I figured if my own husband would have left me to die in that room, was there really much that anyone saw was worth saving?
Billy: It was her silence that made me worry the most. When I turned to her, she was just looking out the bus window despondently. Like she really had to think about her answer. I knelt next to her, grabbing her hand to get her attention.
Daisy: And suddenly, Billy was right there in my face.
Billy: I needed her to know that what happened didn't just happen to her. I told her that those minutes in that shower were some of the scariest moments of my life. I told her what it felt like to hold her while thinking I was going to lose her.
Daisy: He said, "Daisy, I really thought I was going to lose you. And don't you dare think I mean I thought The Six were going to lose you. Don't you dare think I was worried about who was going to sing with me on stage or who I was going to write songs with. I was worried I was never going to see your smile again. I was terrified that I wasn't ever going to hear your voice again. For those moments I held you, I thought I was going to have to live in a world that didn't have Daisy Jones. I couldn't imagine it. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. Don't you dare act like last night didn't mess me up inside. I'm barely holding it together."
Billy: She needed to know that somebody cared.
Daisy: I hated that he was there when I overdosed. And I had told him as much earlier that night, but looking at him then, after he just said all those things…I remember feeling so grateful that he had been the one who had been there, but I didn't know how to tell him that, so instead, I put my hands on either side of his face and smiled and said, "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."
Billy: I took her hands in mine, I think I may have kissed them, I don't specifically remember, and I told her that was good to hear because she and I still had a lot of unfinished business between us. We had a whole album to write.
Daisy: That was the first time either of us explicitly talked about a second album. We had spent so much of that tour hating each other, not speaking, and fighting over stuff that seems so trivial now, but as soon as he brought up that second album, I knew we were both serious about creating another one.
Writing "Aurora" had been hard and fun and painful and cathartic, and I knew writing a second album would be all that and more, but that night was the first night I felt like I was ready to open myself up to that all again.
Billy: I never went back to my bed that night. I couldn't tell you what we talked about, but it was probably about life and what it would take to write a second album that was even better than the first. We talked until we fell asleep–her on one couch and me on the other.
When I woke up, I looked over at Daisy while she was still sleeping. She looked so small and peaceful. I just remember thinking, 'the world gets to live another day with Daisy Jones in it.'
After I laced up my sneakers to go for a run, I wrote down what she'd said on the notepad I used to write lyrics on.
"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."
I wrote it down as if putting it to paper would make it a promise instead of just words. By the end of the week, I had a rough draft of "Anywhere, Anytime Soon," but I never got a chance to play it for her.
