6. Jordan
JORDAN
“He’s leaving the rink now.”
Daisy’s blonde head bobs, eyes downcast. “Thank you.”
Her fingers wrap around the red bottle. She hasn’t taken a drink, but she looks maybe the slightest bit more at ease. What the hell am I doing, letting her get comfortable and practically rolling out the red carpet for her to ask out Liam?
The last thing he needs is another distraction. The past week he’s gone from bad to worse. And if it were only impacting him, that’d be one thing, but the whole team is suffering.
Besides, the more time I spend with him and Daisy in class, the less I can see them together. I mean, the guy spent the entire two hours of class moping while sitting next to a girl who just wanted him to pay attention to her. He’s too caught up in his own shit to see how much she likes him.
“What did you mean today?” Daisy asks with the slightest edge to her voice.
When I look at her, she’s no longer staring at her feet but right at me. She has these big blue eyes and dark lashes that are hard to look away from when she has them trained on me.
“When you said that you wouldn’t expect me to understand about Liam and hockey,” she clarifies.
“Oh, uh, nothing. He had a rough day. Practice was awful, and Coach was on his case. I wouldn’t take anything he did or said today personally.”
“The only thing I took personally was you implying I couldn’t possibly understand. Is that some sort of dig at my intelligence?”
A chuckle escapes, but the look she cuts me has me reining it back. “No, of course not.”
“I’m a straight-A student.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“So?”
She’s pretty cute all wound up. In class, she seems all timid, but I like the fire in her eyes now.
“Have you ever been on a sports team?”
“No.” Her shoulders stiffen.
“Then you don’t know what it’s like to be a part of something, have people depend on you, and then fail them.”
“Liam feels like he’s failing the team. Why?”
“Do you follow the games at all? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Liam is in a funk. As our captain, he needs to lead us even when he’s not playing well. He’s still figuring it out.”
“You’re right. I don’t get it. I mean, I understand, but that doesn’t sound fair.
Because he’s not playing well, the team blames him for the losses?
Isn’t the whole point of a team that you’re stronger together?
If he were playing well, you wouldn’t say he won you the game.
Why should a loss be blamed on a single guy? ”
I mull that over. It isn’t exactly the way I’d put it, but she isn’t wrong either. No one is blaming Liam for us losing. We just know we can be a hell of a lot better with him playing well.
Before I can respond, the door opens, and Liam walks in.
“Hey.” His gaze goes straight for Daisy and his face breaks out into a wide smile. “What are you doing here?”
She stands and pink dots her cheekbones. “Hi.”
An awkward beat passes before she blurts out, “I’m sorry to drop in like this. I have sort of a favor to ask.”
“Sounds interesting.” Liam continues to smile at her. “Let me just toss my stuff in my room.”
I guess that’s my cue. Liam comes back out and sits next to her on the couch. That’s the last thing I see before I stand and start toward my room to give them some privacy.
Sitting at my desk, I open my laptop to do homework. Liam’s voice carries through the thin wall, but I can’t make out Daisy’s quieter words. Adrenaline vibrates under my skin. What are they talking about out there?
“Yeah,” Liam says so enthusiastically that a pit forms in my stomach.
She did it. I can’t believe she did it. She actually asked him out. Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have invited her up. Fuck.
Daisy’s voice climbs as she thanks him. I stare at the screen of my laptop, then snap the lid closed.
Their voices move closer, and the door to the hallway opens.
Leaning back in my chair, I can see Liam standing with the door held open and the slightest sliver of her dark blonde hair in front of him.
I push back a little more until I can see her through the crack in the door.
She has a nice smile. Full lips hide straight, white teeth.
When the corners of her mouth pull high enough, she gets a cute little smile wrinkle on the left side of her cheek.
Balancing on the back two legs of the chair, I tilt back another inch to watch as Liam steps closer.
It’d be a bold and uncharacteristic move for him to kiss her, but my heart stops as I wait to see how far he’ll go.
His arms lift at the same time my legs go over my head, and I’m unceremoniously dropped on my head.
I curse the chair and groan as I pick myself up. She’s gone by the time I glance toward the door again.
“Everything okay in here?” Liam steps into my room and eyes the chair overturned in front of my desk.
“Fine.” I right the chair and rub my elbow. “Daisy left already?”
“Please.” He sits on the end of my bed. “Like you weren’t in here eavesdropping.”
Sitting back at my desk chair, I smile. “She talks too damn quiet. I assume you said yes?”
A deep laugh leaves my buddy. “Yeah, it’s no problem. It’ll only take an hour or two.”
His shrug is so blasé I struggle to find the words. “Only take an hour or two? I’m confused. That’s a good thing?”
He tilts his head to the side. “What is it you think she asked me to do for her?”
“To go out on a date. What else?”
His shoulders and chest shake with laughter before I hear it.
I toss a pencil at him. “What the hell is so funny? She’s obviously into you.”
“You think?”
“It’s painful to watch someone be so oblivious,” I tell him. “Yes, that little mouse just tracked you down and waited for you to get home so she could… well, fuck, I don’t even know what now. But whatever she asked, what she was really hoping for, was a date.”
“That sounds better than what I signed us up for.” One side of his mouth lifts. “She needs a couple of strong guys to move some flowers for an event in January.”
“Oh.” I can’t hide my surprise. “That’s it?”
Liam nods. “Yeah, man. That’s it.”
I take in a deep breath and lean back in my chair. “You’re not going out with her then?”
He shakes his head and gets to his feet. He gives my door two taps on his way out, then takes a step back inside my room. “By the way, she said to tell you the answer is Pascal’s Law.”
“The answer to what?”
“I’m not sure. That’s all she said. PlayStation?”
“Nah, I need to finish a couple of assignments before we leave tomorrow.”
“Cool.” He leaves my room for real this time, and I open my laptop and type Pascal’s Law into the search engine. I know it, of course, but I don’t understand what she’s trying to tell me.
I pace the room, equal parts annoyed and intrigued. I really do have some homework to finish up before the bus pulls out tomorrow for Utah, but I can’t focus on anything else but Daisy’s cryptic message.
I pull up my email and type her name into the directory. Daisy Johnson.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Pascal
I give up. How is Pascal’s Law the answer? And what was the question anyway?
I grab another beer and wait for her reply, hitting the refresh every thirty seconds.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Pascal
The question is how to stop putting the pressure of success on one man’s shoulders. Hence, Pascal.
Hence? Seriously.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Pascal
I don’t think Pascal’s Law works in this situation, but I’d love to hear your take.
I pull up the assignment for my strength of materials course and read it over, but as soon as an email notification pops up, I click over to read her response.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Pascal
I was simply trying to say that maybe if you all took a little of the pressure, instead of piling it on one guy’s shoulders, the team would be the better for it.
Pressure applied to any part of the boundary of a confined fluid is transmitted equally in ALL directions.
You all have to take some of the stress.
I know, I know. Don’t @ me. A hockey team isn’t a fluid, but it’s the best I could do on the fly.
Go, team go!
I laugh, picturing her face typing out that cheery last line. I doubt she’s ever gone to a single sporting event. But, at this point, I might even take an unathletic physics major’s advice if it’ll help Liam.