Chapter 5
Chapter Five
DAISY
I spent a good hour in bed with Duke, checking and replying to emails. Most of them were spam, but a good portion were people interested in hiring me. I loved my job, and I was thankful I didn’t have to interact with people face-to-face.
I could communicate with them through social media and email, and I loved that I could work from home.
Although, I mainly worked from the bookstore.
I was lucky enough to be best friends with one of the owners, but even before that, Drea was always so sweet to me and never made me feel like a burden because I didn’t buy anything most of the time.
The first year or so I started going to the store, I rarely saw Drea.
It was always Kaia’s smiling face that greeted me.
Later, I realized Drea was going through some things and was hardly around, which I learned wasn’t like her at all.
Eventually she started coming in regularly, and after she introduced herself, Kaia did the same, and we’d been inseparable ever since.
The first thing I noticed about Kaia was her cute little nose and how it crinkled up every time she smiled.
I was thrown off when she introduced herself and started signing.
She told me her dad was deaf and she grew up using ASL in the house.
That was another reason we vibed well together.
She understood the struggle and didn’t judge me for my disability.
After a few more minutes of replying to emails and sending invoices, I forced myself out of bed and padded to the kitchen.
I hoped Kaia was still sleeping so I could get breakfast started for her.
I wanted her to get as much rest as possible, which I knew was a losing battle.
She was always doing something and rarely took time for herself.
At least she had her yoga and meditation.
I was several feet away from the kitchen when my legs stopped moving.
Kaia was already awake. She was already awake, and she was doing yoga.
I knew she did yoga in the mornings, but I’d never witnessed it before.
The total shock must’ve been what caused my mouth to go dry and my eyes to linger on her toned legs.
I’d seen her in shorts and dresses before, so I’d seen her legs, but I’d never seen them in that position.
Stretched out while the rest of her body faced the floor.
And I’d never seen them in tight yoga shorts.
Tight shorts that showed the curve of her ass perfectly.
I bit my lip. I was not supposed to objectify my best friend right after her father’s funeral.
I wasn’t supposed to objectify her at all! I wasn’t!
I was about to head back to my room when she turned around and froze when she saw me. I unfroze myself and brought up my hands to apologize, the motions moving so fast I wasn’t sure if she’d catch it all.
“Hey! Sorry to interrupt. I didn’t know you were up. I… was just going to make breakfast.” Why was I so awkward? I didn’t even give her a chance to reply. I quickened my steps to the kitchen and grabbed the eggs out of the fridge.
I had never had these thoughts of her before. I mean, of course I knew she was beautiful, objectively speaking. Anyone with eyeballs could see that. She had soft brown hair and big brown eyes that looked like pools of melted chocolate. She wasn’t insanely tall, but she wasn’t short either.
I imagined her voice to be just as sweet as her personality. Her smile could solve so many problems if she were the president. She was soft and femme, just my type. But not my type because she was my best friend.
I didn’t think you were supposed to get turned on from seeing your best friend’s ass in tight shorts. Still, I couldn’t deny how good she looked dripping in sweat, doing the downward dog position with her ass in the air… Stop it!
A gentle tap on my shoulder caused me to jump, higher than I normally would’ve and I whirled around, dropping the eggs in the process. Shit!
“I’m so sorry, Daisy. I didn’t mean to scare you! Here, let me help!” I raised my hands to protest, but she was already bending down to clean up the eggs.
When I lowered myself to help, I was face-to-face with her chest, and my legs almost gave out. She wore just a yellow sports bra with her black shorts, and I tried, and failed, not to bite my lip.
Her arms and chest glistened with sweat, and my eyes decided her chest was the place they wanted to focus on.
It made sense; boobs were my kryptonite.
There was just something about them. I loved all sizes and colors.
I couldn’t see hers, but my brain tried to, maybe a little too hard.
Her bra was thin enough that I could see her nipples faintly pointing out.
Luckily, she was oblivious to my ogling.
Why was this happening to me? Why was I thinking about her in a very unfriendly way? Best friends did not fantasize about each other. I wasn’t fantasizing about her. It had just been a while, and she was so close I couldn’t think straight. That was all.
I shook the feelings away and shot to my feet. I washed my hands quickly and turned back to see Kaia’s concerned look.
“I’m going to take Duke for a walk.” It wasn’t a lie, but I was so jittery it came across like one.
She smiled brightly, seemingly excited by the idea. “Cool! I’ll come too. It’ll be—”
“No.” I cut her off with a firm shake of my head. “That’s okay. You stay here and finish up your morning routine.” I didn’t give her a chance to protest any further as I turned on my heel and practically ran to my room to get dressed.
I was thankful Kaia didn’t follow me out of the kitchen. I didn’t know what to even say to her. Hey, sorry I’m being weird. I was distracted by your nipples and your butt in those shorts. Can I touch them? Yeah, that would’ve gone over well.
I shook the images away and headed out the door with Duke. I had to stop thinking about it. It had just been a little too long, that was all.
We started walking down the sidewalk and toward our favorite dog park. The closer we got, the more excited Duke became. He always found other dogs to run around with, and I enjoyed the fact I could be lazy and sit on a bench most of the time.
Today, though, I had brought his favorite ball so we could play together. I needed some exercise and something to do to keep my mind from wandering back to Kaia.
We got to the enclosed park, and I took off his leash to let him run around and get acquainted with everyone. After a while of sniffing and tail wagging, he came back to me. I smiled and squatted down to pet him and give him kisses.
Soon he’d start his training to become my service dog, and we’d be in strict training mode for most of the day, so I wanted to savor our play time together.
I tossed the ball with him over and over until my arm started to hurt, and I resorted to running around with the ball in hand, letting him chase me.
After a while, I got tired and sat on the bench. He settled next to me and I took out the collapsable bowl and water bottle I always had in my bag. He lapped at the water, and I took a drink from my own bottle, exhausted but not ready to head home yet.
I still couldn’t get the image of Kaia bent over in the living room out of my mind. I wished I could’ve walked over and felt her against me. Something was wrong with me, thinking something like that!
She had just moved in, just lost her father, and I was fantasizing about her. What kind of person did that? It wasn’t like I could control my thoughts, but they still made me feel vile. That was the last thing she needed. The last thing I should be thinking about was how her hands would feel on me.
I needed to focus on Duke and not the way I was thinking about Kaia. We were in such close proximity that I was bound to see her in different ways I wasn’t used to. I expected to see her in a towel after the shower, or walking around the house in her underwear and a tank top.
What I hadn’t expected was to have these kinds of feelings toward her just by seeing her doing yoga. I knew she did yoga, and I’d seen her in her yoga shorts before. I’d appreciated her body before, like any best friend would, but why these thoughts? And why now?
I had to rein in my libido and shake the thoughts. It wasn’t appropriate, and if she knew I was thinking about her in any way that wasn’t friend appropriate, she’d probably freak out and move out, and I didn’t want that.
When I came back from my walk, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Kaia had already left.
The bookstore was closed on Sundays, but that didn’t mean Kaia would take a day off.
She usually ran errands or caught up on some work at the store.
I wished she would take at least one day off, but I knew how she liked to keep busy, especially now.
I spent the rest of the day working in my room and avoiding Kaia.
I needed to get these thoughts out of my head so everything could go back to normal.
She texted me a few times, asking if I was doing okay or if I needed anything while she was out.
I kept my responses short but made sure to add my typical emojis so she didn’t think I was acting weird.
She probably didn’t think anything of it.
She did think something of it, it turned out. When she came home a few hours later, she kept asking if I was okay. At that point, I had done everything I could to forget about what had happened that morning.
I just nodded and deflected, but as we were sitting on the couch reading, she kept looking at me as if she wanted to say something, but didn’t. Eventually, I made the excuse that I was tired and went to bed. Tomorrow was a new day, and I was determined to go back to the way things were.