A New Path
Daisy Emerson has lived the perfect life, at least according to her parents. She's always operated "inside the lines" by going to college, making good grades and coming out as a new attorney at a law firm in Atlanta. The thing is, she is bored to death.
While all of her friends experienced everything that college had to offer - from keg parties to experimenting with other things - she stayed on the straight and narrow to make her parents proud.
She never really wanted to be an attorney, but telling her parents that wasn't an option. After all, they were both attorneys too. And if she ever revealed to them that she wanted to be a singer, they would laugh and then cry and then scream at her. She just couldn't do it.
So here she was, stuck in a job she hated. In a last ditch effort to live a small portion of her dream, she takes a trip to Charleston, S.C. by herself one weekend to sing at a competition being held at a small beachside bar. Gathering all of her courage, she steps out onto the stage and sings a bluesy song with the band and the crowd goes wild.
The bass player in the band (Colton James) notices her and approaches her after the competition, which she won. He asks her to dinner, and she figures what the heck. After all, he is stunningly handsome.
As they spend time together at dinner, she realizes that she is attracted to him in a way that she was never attracted to any previous boyfriend. He's rugged and edgy and sexy with his mussed up sun tinged brown hair and his deep green eyes. But he isn't what her parents would approve of at all, and that makes him all the more alluring.
Of course, he is just a bass player which means he probably has lots of girlfriends. And what kind of future could he possibly have, she wonders. Still, there is something about Colton that lights her up inside, and leaving him behind in a couple of days is going to be hard.
Daisy spends the next two days seeing Charleston and hanging out with Colton. He even has her sing at a beach party where his band is playing, and she enjoys every minute of it. Living out her fantasy is proving to be too tempting for Daisy. Does she let go of her lucrative, stable attorney career to pursue singing in bars and on beaches?
Once Sunday night rolls around, she tells Colton goodbye and begins the long drive back to Atlanta. When she arrives at work the next morning, she is bored and depressed. She hates doing paperwork and research and listening to clients drone on about their legal troubles. She's sick to death of it all.
Her parents stop by for a visit and to take her out to lunch. She seriously considers telling them where she was and how she wants to leave her legal career behind, but she chickens out when they tell her that her father has been diagnosed with high blood pressure. Concerned that her news could give him a heart attack or a stroke, she decides to forget her magical weekend and stick with her current situation.
A week after arriving back home, Daisy is at work when her secretary says she has a visitor. She isn't expecting anyone since her appointments are finished for the day, but then she sees Colton appear at her door. Wearing his sexy, tattered jeans and a morotcycle jacket, he looks delicious and she suddenly has the urge to run away with him.
Colton spends the weekend in Atlanta, and they have a wonderful time. Daisy is careful that no one she knews sees them together, but she is becoming more attached to him by the day. She makes a sudden decision - she will willingly live a double life for as long as she can. Attorney by week, singer and sexy rocker chick on the weekends.
This goes on for a couple of months as Daisy works in her straight laced law firm all week and then disappears to Charleston on the weekends with her new love. He has no idea that she is hiding all of this from her family and friends.
One day, she is at her office and her parents stop by to take her to lunch. As they are walking out of the building, Colton is standing on the street next to her motorcycle smiling. She keeps a straight face, interlaces her arms with her father and walks past him, ignoring him. He calls to her and she tries to speed up, but her father stops and asks if she knows him. She looks at Colton, who has a hurt look in his eyes, and says no, she doesn't know him. They walk down the sidewalk as her heart sinks.
Daisy tries to call Colton for the rest of the day, but he doesn't answer. When the weekend arrives, she does her normal drive up to Charleston, but he isn't at the bar or at his house. She doesn't know what to do. She ends up getting a hotel room and coming home the next day.
Weeks go by without hearing from him. She hears through friends that he is back at the bar playing his music. She goes back to her boring life in Atlanta.
One night, she is having dinner with her parents at a local restaurant. They have a jazz band playing that night and it just reminds her of Colton and everything she wants to do with her life.
As she is sitting there, she hears the lead singer inviting someone onto the stage and realizes that it's Colton. He's come there to play guitar as a guest, and she freezes in her seat. He makes a speech about going for your dreams and how people shouldn't let anything stand in their way. She knows he is talking to her. As he plays in the background, she breaks the news to her parents that law isn't for her and she wants to pursue music.
They both get upset at her, but then Colton invites her onto the stage. Before they can stop her, she goes to the stage and sings. Both of her parents are shocked as they've never heard her sing before. Her father has tears in his eyes and her mother's mouth is gaping open.
After the set, Daisy hugs Colton and then brings him to the table to introduce him to her parents. She explains what she's been doing and her parents surprise her. They tell her that it is her life, and while they want her to remain an attorney, she has to make that decision. Her father takes her aside later and tells her that he always wanted to be a rodeo rider, but his parents pushed him into law too. He understands that she needs to live her own dreams.
She takes Colton aside and apologizes for how she's acted lately. They make up and spend the rest of the evening singing and playing with the band.
Chapters
CHAPTER 1:
The set up of how Daisy is living her day to day life. Show what her working life is like as an attorney and how she is bored with it all. Show some backstory or interaction with her parents to get an idea of her relationship with them.
CHAPTER 2:
Daisy goes to Charleston for the singing competition. She loves the atmosphere of the beachside bar and gathers her courage to go up on stage and sing. Talk about the anxiety of it, what she's thinking, etc. The crowd goes wild which surprises her, and she ends up winning first place and catching the eye of the gorgeous bass player.
CHAPTER 3:
Daisy meets Colton, and he asks her out to dinner. He is handsome, and she's attracted to him like she's never been to anyone else. She wonders what kind of person he is, but she spends hours getting to know him that night.
CHAPTER 4:
Daisy spends the next two days seeing Charleston and hanging out with Colton. He even has her sing at a beach party where his band is playing, and she enjoys every minute of it. She starts to consider giving up law to live out her dream.
CHAPTER 5:
She tells Colton goodbye, and drives back to Atlanta. When she arrives at work the next morning, she is bored and depressed. She is stuck in the world between her fantasy and her reality.
CHAPTER 6:
She works up the courage to tell her parents that she wants to quit the law field, but then learns her father has been diagnosed with high blood pressure and she doesn't want to upset him. So, she decides to stay at her job and let the fantasy go.
CHAPTER 7:
Colton surprises her at work and stays for the weekend. She decides that she can't give him or music up, so she opts to live a double life for awhile.
CHAPTER 8:
Her parents stop by to take her to lunch and she sees Colton on the street waiting to surprise her. She tries to ignore him and then pretends she doesn't know him. Colton is hurt, and he disappears from her life for weeks.
CHAPTER 9:
Her parents take her to dinner at a restaurant where a jazz band is playing. Suddenly, Colton appears on the stage and she knows she has to tell her parents. They both get very upset, and then Colton calls her on stage. She sings and blows her parents away, and they give their blessing for her to pursue her dreams. She apologizes to Colton and spends the night singing with the band.
CHARACTER SKETCHES:
Daisy Emerson: 26 Years Old
Light brown hair, brown eyes
Height: 5 foot 6 inches
Occupation: Attorney
Colton James: 28 Years Old
Sun tinged brown hair, green eyes
Height: 6 feet
Occupation: Bass player
Setting: Atlanta law office and Charleston beachside bar