12. Daisy
DAISY
The next night Jordan appears on my doorstep just like the night before.
“Hey,” he says as he steps inside the house.
Violet and Dahlia were up late, but they finished their projects, and our first floor no longer looks like a fabric shop got hit by a tornado.
I lead him into the kitchen area where we have a small table that we sometimes use for studying. My laptop and notes are already set up. I put more thought into this tutor session than I did all my classes today.
Jordan came prepared today, too, with snacks and his energy drink.
“Thank you for the Fun Dip,” I say as I sit at the table.
“What’d you think?”
“I think I went to bed with a sugar high.”
His deep chuckle fills the room. “Where is everyone tonight?”
“Violet is at the library, I think Jane is upstairs, and Dahlia has a golf tournament this weekend, so she’s gone until Sunday.”
“She’s a golfer?” He bobs his head. “Nice.”
We study for a while. I printed out some old quizzes, and we work through them together. Jordan picks up everything quickly. Even when I move to next week’s chapter, he grasps the concepts and nods along. At some point, he turns on music, claiming he thinks better with background noise.
I thought he was full of crap, but I can see it. He mouths the words and taps his pencil, but he’s in it, focused and working hard.
“You’re different than I thought,” I say as he mouths along with an old Nirvana song.
His head pops up, and he leans back in his chair. “How’s that?”
“I’m not sure, exactly.”
“Well, since my good looks are obvious, it must be my personality that you thought sucked.”
“Your personality doesn’t suck.”
“Exactly.” He grins. “For the record, you’re different than I thought too.”
“I am?” My insides are squishy thinking about Jordan giving me any thought at all.
Before he can tell me what he might have thought of me before, the front door opens, and Violet says, “I’m home.”
She walks straight back toward the kitchen but stops when she sees Jordan. “You again.”
He juts a chin toward her. “Hey, Violet.”
“Does this mean I can’t convince you to come out and celebrate?” She waves her hand, indicating me and Jordan studying.
“Celebrate what?” I ask.
“I got an A on the dress, and my professor said it was my best design yet.”
“That is amazing. Congratulations.” I look over at Jordan, who has his phone in front of him, staring at the screen. “We’re still working. Maybe tomorrow night?”
Jordan pushes his chair back. “Actually, I totally forgot. I have bowling tonight.”
“Bowling?” Violet asks.
“I’m in a league with a few buddies.” A shy smile pulls up one side of his mouth. “I’m sorry to cut this short.”
“It’s okay. Did you get what you needed?”
“I think so. Thanks for your help.” His smile makes my lips twitch to reciprocate the movement.
“Now we can go out,” Violet says. She moves to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of white wine. “Anyone else want a drink?”
Jordan and I both shake our heads.
She pours herself a glass. “I haven’t been bowling in forever.”
“What about you?” Jordan motions his head toward me as he pushes back from the table.
“Are you asking me if I’ve ever bowled?”
He nods.
“Of course.”
“In the last five years?”
“Yes.” My voice climbs defensively. “We went last semester with a group.”
“She’s not bad,” Violet says as she leans against the counter.
I give him a smug, satisfied look.
“All right, sweet Daisy. Prove it.” He stands and hooks his backpack over one shoulder.
“Prove it how?”
“We’re short a player tonight. Come fill in.”
“Oh, no. I—” All my excuses die on my tongue because they admit I’m not really that good. I’m not, but I’d rather keep that to myself. “I can’t tonight.”
“Okay.” He lifts his phone. “I guess I’ll just text Liam and see if he can recruit someone else.”
“Liam is on your bowling team?” Violet asks.
“Yeah. He’s a founding member,” Jordan says.
Violet glances at me with wide, expressive eyes. She mouths, “Go!”
The thought of embarrassing myself in rented shoes is almost enough to hold me back, but I blurt out, “We’ll come.”
“We’ll?” Violet asks, my insinuation clear.
“They have alcohol there, right?”
Jordan nods. “Yeah. And food.”
I see the second that Violet gives in. She’s the freaking best.
“Okay, fine,” she says. “But one of you is buying me a drink.”
We ride with Jordan in his SUV. I sit in the front, second-guessing this decision.
I do want more opportunities to talk to Liam, but I’m not the most coordinated person, and he’s, well, he just is.
He moves so gracefully and confidently. I’m not a walking disaster or anything, but I didn’t play sports as a kid and have mostly avoided them as an adult.
We’re the first to get there for his team. Jordan checks in, and we’re told to go to lane two. Jordan has his own ball, which for some reason, makes me giggle. I switch out my shoes and then go in search of my own ball while Jordan buys Violet a drink from the bar.
The selection is intense. I avoid anything pink and overly girly. I find a green one that isn’t too heavy and fits my small hands pretty well, and I am about to head back when Liam’s voice startles me.
“Hey, Daisy.”
I turn around to face him. An image of me dropping the ball on his foot flashes before me. Luckily for the both of us, I manage to hang on to the slippery ball.
“Hi,” I respond, clutching it to my stomach.
“Find a good one?” His blond hair is covered with a white hat, and he’s in a matching polo shirt.
“Excuse me?”
He points to the ball. “The right ball is everything.”
He scans the rack until he finds the one he’s looking for.
“There you are,” he says softly to the blue marble ball as he inserts his fingers and holds it up like he’s refamiliarizing himself with it. He glances at me with a sheepish grin. “I panic every time that I won’t be able to find it. It’s lucky.”
We walk back over to the lane and put our balls down, then sit to wait for everyone else.
“How’s your week going?” he asks. He removes his hat and sets it on the bench next to him. He might be the only guy I know who can wear a hat and not get hat hair.
“Good. Yours?”
“Not too bad.” He smiles. “Ready for this?”
“Not really,” I admit. “I’m not very sporty.”
I flounce the hem of my skirt to further my point.
“Ah, well. Don’t worry.” He reaches into a bag underneath the bench and pulls out a shirt. He holds it up to show me the front with the name, Lucky Strikes.
“Cute.”
He hands it to me. “Welcome to the team.”
Jordan and Violet come back with drinks—Violet a hard seltzer and Jordan a pitcher in one hand and a stack of cups in the other.
“Look at you,” Jordan says as I slide on the oversized bowling shirt.
Violet giggles as she takes me in.
“That bad?” I ask.
“No, you’re totally pulling it off.”
“Adorable.” Jordan’s lips twitch with a hint of a smile as he extends a cup toward me. “Beer?”
Liam’s already filling one for himself, so I nod. “Thanks.”
Jordan pours my cup almost to the top, and I take a sip as another guy joins us. One I recognize.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Violet’s voice cuts through the noise of the place.
“Hey, guys,” Gavin says. “New recruits?”
“Daisy is filling in for Jenkins tonight.”
“And you?” Gavin asks, looking at Violet.
“I was here for the drinks and socializing, but I guess now I’m just here for the booze.”
“You two know each other?” Jordan asks.
“We’re neighbors,” Gavin says.
“Oh, right.” Jordan shakes his head. He looks to Liam. “They live next to The White House.”
“Really?” Liam asks me, smiling.
“Yeah,” I say quietly.
Liam moves to the chair in front of the computer to input names and motions for me to follow. My heart rate skitters along as I sit, and his arm brushes mine.
“You’re filling in for Jenkins. He usually goes second, but I can put you anywhere in the lineup you want.”
“Wherever is fine.”
“I’ll put you between Gavin and Jordan,” he says, focusing on the screen in front of him. He puts himself first and then Gavin, me, and Jordan. He sits back. “We’re all set. Ready?”
“No.” I laugh.
“I’ve got you.”
Liam puts on his team shirt, grabs his lucky ball, and gets in position. He throws a strike on his very first turn.
The guys give him fist bumps, and he takes a seat next to me again.
“Nice job.”
“Thanks.”
When Gavin has the same result, my stomach sinks. I glance at Violet whose smile and big eyes meet mine, silently communicating the horror. These guys are good. When Violet said I was pretty good, she meant my ball mostly stays out of the gutter, not that I knock down a lot of pins.
“You’re up,” Liam says.
I glance at a girl on the lane beside us, watching as she takes her turn. Her ball flies down the lane and knocks all but one pin down. I swallow thickly. Oh god. What was I thinking agreeing to this?
I grab my ball and glance back. All eyes are on me. Awesome. Slowly, I walk to the center of the lane.
“Let’s go, Daisy,” Liam cheers behind me.
It’s only because the sooner I take my turn, the sooner I can go sit back down, that I move my feet and hurl the ball. It isn’t as fast or straight as the others, but it manages to get all the way down without going in the gutter, and I knock down four pins.
I let out a sigh and go back. Then I remember I have to go again.
“That was great.” Liam smiles and claps, encouraging me.
Jordan’s sitting off to the side with Gavin and Violet, his cup of beer up to his lips. Even so, I can tell he’s smirking at me.
I suffer through the rest of my turn and manage to get seven total pins.
I pass Jordan on the way to my seat. His confidence in rented shoes is aspiring.
Like the others, he throws a strike. I move to sit next to Violet when Gavin gets up.
“Oh my god, they’re good. Like really good.”
“No kidding,” she says. She watches Gavin. “I didn’t realize he was going to be here.”
“Me either. Sorry.”
“Whatever. I’m going to get another drink.”
“Hey.” I stop her. “Congratulations. I’m really proud of you.”
Her face softens. “Thank you.”
“And I totally owe you a real night out. Promise.” I hold up my pinkie, and she links hers with mine.
“Yeah, you do.” She starts to get up. “Now go talk to Liam, so this night isn’t a total waste.”
There isn’t a lot of time for talking. The guys move fast through their frames. I could count the number of times they don’t get a strike or spare easier than I could the times they do.
As I prepare for my last turn (thank you sweet baby Jesus), Jordan appears beside me. “You throw so politely.”
“Politely? What does that mean?”
“Like you’re afraid to hurt the pins’ feelings.”
I open my mouth to protest, but he laughs and adds, “Get angry, sweet Daisy. Those pins insulted you. They said your shoes were ugly.”
I cock my head to the side. “We’re all wearing the same shoes.”
“They said I look great in them.” His gaze slowly sweeps over me and down to my feet. “But not so much on you.”
I scoff and return the once-over, stopping on his identical shoes, only bigger. “How dare you.”
He grins and jabs his thumb toward the end of the lane. “Tell it to them.”
I know he’s messing with me, but I really do feel a wave of irrational anger as I launch the ball. When all ten pins fall, I stand frozen, completely dumbfounded.
Everyone cheers behind me. When I turn around, Jordan is grinning so big.
“You told them,” he says, and wraps me in a playful hug, then swings me around. My face is buried in his neck, and I inhale his increasingly familiar scent.
“Yeah, I did.”
His chuckle vibrates against my chest.
When he sets me down, Liam is waiting to offer me a high-five.
I get to go again, but my luck is out, and I only hit three pins.
“Are we done?” Violet asks, a little too hopefully.
“One more game,” Jordan tells her. He points toward the entrance. “Look who showed up.”
The tall, lanky guy making his way over to us is Andy Jenkins. He’s a basketball player like Gavin.
Jordan introduces us. I know of him, of course, the same way I knew Jordan and Liam, but we’ve never met.
“I’ve been replaced, huh?” Jenkins asks.
“I think they’ll probably be happy to have you back,” I say.
“It was fun,” Liam says and bumps me with his elbow.
The six of us sit and have a drink. The guys catch up while Violet and I listen in.
When they get ready for the second game, I pull off the bowling team shirt and hand it back to Liam. “Thanks for letting me play.”
“Did you play too?” Jenkins asks Violet.
“No. I was just here for the drinks.”
“And to heckle,” Gavin chirps.
Violet gives him a haughty glare. “I wouldn’t want to show you up.”
“Oh, please do.” He takes the shirt I just gave Liam and holds it out to her. “You can have my spot.”
“Nah, you play. I’ll sit this one out and keep Daisy company,” Liam offers.
I can tell Violet would love to object, but Liam just said he was going to keep me company, and that’s exactly why she agreed to come tonight in the first place.
“I’m not wearing that, but I will play,” she says.
“You have to wear the shirt,” Gavin tells her.
She rolls her eyes but pulls it on and tugs the hem to better see the logo. “Who designed these?”
“I did,” he says. “Why? Not up to your standards?”
“I was going to say I liked it.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Gavin smiles.
Liam rests a hand on my arm. “I’m starving. Want to get some food?”
I catch Jordan’s eye as he, Jenkins, Gavin, and Violet get set for the next game. He looks between Liam and me. His brows pull together, and his jaw flexes before he turns away.
“Yeah. That sounds great.”