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“Needing help with the party. I don’t need any help. We’ve got it all figured out. Everything’s handled. I just wanted to spend some time with you outside of the office.” I grin at her. “Want to go grab a coffee downtown?”
Her eyes light up, though I see the caution in her gaze too. “What about our classes?”
“We could be gone all day and it doesn’t matter. The teachers don’t really care with the party going on tonight, especially with the seniors. Not like we’re paying any attention anyway.” I shrug.
“Okay. That sounds fun.” She doesn’t bring up her dad or worry about getting in trouble for skipping class, which is a relief. And then she says the craziest thing. “Maybe we should invite JJ and Mya to hang out with us.”
The words hang in the cold air between us, shocking me silent for a few seconds.
“Seriously?” I thought she hated JJ.
“Sure.” She shrugs. “Mya and I have been talking more.”
“You have?”
She nods. “At lunch, I sometimes sit with Mya and Edie.”
“You do?” I’ve been laying low since Daisy ended things with me, hanging out with my friends mostly, avoiding any common area where Daisy might have been, like the dining hall. I’d grab lunch but I rarely sat inside. It was easier staying away than watching her and making myself sick over the fact that she wasn’t mine.
And my sister has never mentioned to me that she’s been spending more time with Daisy and Mya. Figures she wouldn’t tell me something so important.
I like it though, that they’re becoming friends. Even Mya. I could tell she wasn’t happy hanging out with Cadence. I’m glad she got away from her.
“Yeah.” Daisy shrugs, smiling. “I actually have friends now.”
She sounds so pleased with herself, and I’m happy for her too. This is all she’s ever wanted. She just didn’t know how to get it.
And look at her now.
“Text Mya,” I tell her, pulling my phone out and sending a quick text to JJ and then—fuck it—to my sister.
Once the bell rings, Edie, JJ and Mya meet us out at the G Wagon in the parking lot and I drive us all to that coffee shop downtown. The one Daisy and I went to the day I took her to urgent care when she got her stitches.
That feels like a long time ago. Things have changed—definitely for the better. And while I wish Daisy was sitting in the passenger seat instead of JJ while I’m driving, she wanted to be in the back with the girls. I’m just so damn thankful she’s in my car and we’re acting like everything’s normal, I don’t protest.
I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long ass time.
Once I park my car on the street, we make our way to the coffee place and order our drinks and food, sitting at a small table outside, people watching and making idle conversation. Daisy sits to my right, Edie on the other side of her and while they’re engrossed in conversation for most of the time, she does send me the occasional smile that reassures me she’s in this.
She’s into me.
All I can do is watch her talk, admiring her beauty like a lovesick fool. Pleased that she’s made friends, that her and my sister are laughing and joking with each other while JJ hauls Mya into his lap and delivers a smacking kiss to her lips. It’s almost surreal, how great this moment is. How happy everyone seems.
“Let’s go to that one store,” I tell Daisy after we’ve gathered all of our stuff and tossed it in the trash. Edie suggested we should wander around and look in the shops, and I have to agree with her it’s a good idea.
Daisy frowns. “Which store?”
“The one with the jewelry.”
We find it quickly, sneaking inside while everyone else goes into another shop next door, and I’m dragging Daisy over to the counter where the initial necklaces are, fighting the disappointment rising inside of me when I realize they don’t have the necklace I was looking for on display anymore.
“Did you sell the necklace with the A charm?” I ask the sales lady when she comes over to help us.
“Ah, I’m afraid we just sold it.” The woman glances over at Daisy, doing a double take but Daisy turns away, heading for another display across the store. The women offers me a sympathetic smile. “We don’t have any more at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll get a new shipment in soon. You should check back if you can.”
“Okay, thank you.” I nod at the lady before I go in search of Daisy, who I find at the front of the store, spinning around a rack that’s loaded down with various pairs of oversized earrings. “Why’d you take off?”
“I thought these earrings were cool,” Daisy says, keeping her focus on the ugly ass earrings like she’s unable to look at me.
