Chapter 26
Daisy
Age 15
“I can’t believe you’re here. How?” I reached for the boy with the bright blond hair and vibrant green eyes and pulled him into my Nona’s shoe closet.
He chuckled. “I saved up my money and bought a bus ticket. Today was important to you. I didn’t want to miss it.”
I threw my arms around him. “I can’t believe you came.” I squeezed him so tight I was sure he’d burst.
“Daisy—” Gatsby wheezed.
“Shhh!” I let him go and put a finger to his lips. “No one calls me that. They all still use my other name.”
Gatsby made a sour face. “That’s going to be weird.”
“Yes, but you have to use it. If my Nona hears you call me something else, she’ll want to know why and how you know me and then—” I was beginning to spiral. My hands went to my temples, and I paced the walk-in closet.
“Daisy… I mean… it’s going to be fine. I won’t slip up. I promise. I won’t even say your name at all. Your Nona won’t suspect a thing.”
I stopped moving and looked up at him. We were the same age, but he was so much taller than me. “Promise?”
“Of course. Relax. Everything is going to be fine. Let’s rejoin the party.”
“How long are you here for?” My tummy fluttered with butterflies. He was really here, in the flesh. The boy I’d been talking to on the internet and on the phone for the last two years. He was real.
“Just today. I have to be at the bus station at 11 tonight.” He gave me an apologetic smile. I could have cried, but I hugged him instead.
“Thank you for coming.” We exited the closet, and I took his hand and dragged him through the house and out into the backyard. “Everyone is in the garden.”
“Your dress is very pretty,” he complimented. I blushed, looking down at my quince dress. I’d been allowed to choose it myself—a rose pink ball gown with red tulle overlaid. Large roses were sewn on the skirt and bust. Strapless, it made me feel like a woman.
“Thank you. Your suit is very nice, too.” It was the same red shade as my dress.
It was his turn to blush. “I looked it up. I wanted to match you. Even if people can’t know...”
I took his hand and squeezed. “I know, and that’s enough.”
We walked together down to the party, and once we were close enough, he stayed back so I could make a re-entrance, and he slip in a bit later. I watched all afternoon, making sure he was having a good time, but also that he and Nona never got close to each other. Thankfully, she was more than happy to be entertaining all her dancer friends well into the afternoon and, hopefully, evening.
I did all the things I was supposed to for my quinceanera. I thanked everyone personally for coming. I opened my presents and ate lunch. Nona wanted to have my party early, as she had a hard time staying up late these days. I didn’t mind, as none of my guests were truly my friends. I didn’t have friends; I had family and company members.
Past formalities, none of them requested dances or conversations with me during the party. It didn’t matter though, because the only one I wanted to dance with was the one I couldn’t.
The party was still going on at night, however, the fairy lights made it hard to see, and all of the adults were far, far away from sobriety. I shared a look from across the dance floor with my favorite person in the whole wide world, and quickly, we exited. We met outside the garden and ran back into the house.
“One day, we won’t have to hide like this,” I declared, shutting the door behind us. “And our house will be five times this size!” I shouted into the entryway.
“Oh yeah?” He laughed.
I spun around, letting my dress flare. I laughed. “Of course, my Gatsby, darling. We can’t be Daisy and Gatsby without the mansion. Would you like to see my room?” I took his hand and gave him a tour as fast as I could.
“This is where Nona sits and gossips with her friends all day when she’s not yelling at me to practice more. And this is where we’d watch TV if she let us have cable. It only plays the news. The library is where I spend my time when I’m not dancing, but you already know that.”
“Woah, hold on! You’re going too fast!” He laughed as we continued up to the second floor .
“We’re not going fast enough!” I exclaimed. “I don’t want to wait three more years to be a grownup. I want to be one now!”
I kept my smile, but inside, my spirit wilted some. There was more truth to that statement than I wanted to admit. I was ready to turn 18, not just to be a grown woman who could do grown woman things, but so that I could leave.
Escape.
I took him to my at-home studio. It was nothing fancy, just a bedroom that had been given wood floors, a giant mirror, and a barre.
“So this is it, huh?” Gatsby stood in the doorway as I entered and spun again. I reached out my hand.
“May I have this dance?”
“I’ve been waiting all night.” He joined me in the room and put one hand on my waist while holding onto my hand with the other. “There’s no music,” he said as we spun.
“Oh yes!” I went to the small stereo with the MP3 player attached. I ran through the music and clicked a song and returned to him.
“What’s this?”
“‘Time after Time’ by Cyndi Lauper,” I said as we danced. “I found it on a CD in my mom’s collection. My Nona doesn’t like me to go through my parents’ stuff, but I sneaked her music. My mom had good taste."
“I like it. Do we have a song now, Daisy?”
“I think we do, Gatsby.” I grinned.
“Now, back to our Gatsby mansion. It’s going to be huge. What do we put in it?” he asked, twirling me.
“Let’s see, a giant library, of course, and so many rooms you get lost, even if you’ve lived there forever. I want a room that’s all pinks and golds, and the wallpaper and art and furniture is all art déco everywhere!” I exclaimed.
“You’ve got such an imagination, Daisy. ”
“You’re the only one I can share it with.” I grinned. “What about you? What do you want to put in our mansion that rivals all other mansions?”
“What about a winding staircase that takes you from the bottom all the way to the top? And a personal elevator, so you don’t have to use it.”
“Yes! And a bathtub that’s shaped like a swan.”
“A swan?”
“Yes, like in Flowers in the Attic , but not a bed. I want a bath. The beak can be the spout!” I giggled.
“You got it.”
As we danced, the space between us grew less, and soon, my breasts were pressed against his chest.
“Gatsby.” I looked at his strikingly handsome face.
“Yes, Daisy?”
“Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“I don’t want a dance studio in our mansion. I’ve spent too much time here. This is the only time I’ve ever been happy in this room.”
“Sure.”
I rested my head on his pectoral, and we danced slowly.
“I know it’s not real, but I like to think it might be,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“Our Gatsby mansion. It’s fun to pretend, but I don’t need all of that. I just need you.”
He stopped swaying, his hands pinching my chin as he tilted my head up. His eyes dipped to my lips. My heart skipped a beat as he came closer, and hesitantly, our lips touched.
The kiss was soft and fleeting, but it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. My head grew light, and my mouth curved upward in a silly schoolgirl grin .
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a very long time.”
“Me too…”
He frowned slightly. “Three more years, Daisy. I know our dream sounds impossible, but I am going to spend these next three years figuring out how to make that happen.”
I started to roll my eyes, but he frowned, and I stopped.
“Do you believe in the green light?” he asked. The green light was more than just hope for us. It was a promise; it was our love. If he said we were going to have our Gatsby mansion, then we were going to have it. He’d asked if I believed in our love.
“Yes.”