14. Jordan
JORDAN
“Hey, come in.” I hold open the door for Daisy, and she enters my dorm. Her backpack weighs her down. She slips the strap off one shoulder and the other dips.
Liam waves from the couch. He and our neighbor across the hall are playing video games, so it’s the perfect excuse to lead Daisy into my room, where she can’t spend the evening chatting with Liam.
Watching the two of them at bowling yesterday was killer. I thought for sure he was going to ask her out, but he must not have because neither of them said anything or acted any different in lab today.
Daisy’s cute and sweet. Funny, too—usually when she doesn’t mean to be. She’s tougher than I thought too. I mean, watching her bowling last night, all that determination and grit when she was clearly out of her element—it was hot.
The point is, the more I get to know her, the more I’m convinced that Liam’s all wrong for her. She needs someone that’ll push her to try new things and break out of her shell. She has fire inside of her.
“I like your room,” she says as she turns in a circle in front of my bed.
I’m lost for a second as I picture her on the bed with that dress cinched up around her waist. Damn.
I clear my throat.
“Thanks.” I move to my desk to grab my laptop and books. “You can have the chair.”
“That’s okay.” She sits on my bed, angling her legs, so her feet hang off the side like she’s trying to keep her shoes off the comforter.
“You’re okay to get your shoes on the bed, sweet Daisy.”
A flare of annoyance sparks in her eyes. “I am really not that sweet.”
I sit on the opposite side of the bed from her. The mattress dips with my weight, and her knees hit mine. If I’d punched her, I doubt she’d move any faster than she does now as she scrambles to move away from me.
Laughing, I shake my head. “Never met a chick quite like you.”
“Like what?” She rearranges herself so that she’s facing me on the bed but too far away for us to accidentally touch.
Smart, hot, quiet, fiery. All of the words describe her, but they aren’t enough. Instead of trying to explain that, I ask a question that’s been floating around since we met. “Do you date a lot?”
Her brows lift, and slowly she smiles, then giggles. “I’ve spent the past three nights tutoring you. What do you think?”
“Off guys at the moment?” I lean on an elbow and kick my legs out toward the end of the bed.
“Do you date a lot?” she asks. Her tone is full of accusations like she thinks I’m some sort of serial dater.
“Not really.”
“Oh, come on. Even I know about your reputation for…” Sweet Daisy looks a little flustered as she realizes she doesn’t want to finish the end of that sentence.
“For?” I prompt.
“Dating.” She waves a hand in the air and looks away. “Partying and sleeping with lots of girls.”
“I didn’t realize my reputation made me out to be such a badass.”
She rolls her eyes. “So it isn’t true?”
“I didn’t say that.” I grin.
“Doesn’t it feel… I don’t know, shallow or something?”
Her face is full of uncertainty and not the judgment I expected.
“No,” I answer honestly. “Connection never feels shallow. Not to me.”
She nibbles on the side of her lip as she studies me. Sometimes the way she looks at me is unnerving.
“Should we?” I motion toward our books.
“Yes. You’re right. We should.” She looks more at ease as she pours her attention on the material. I already knew she was smart, but it’s reaffirmed every time she jumps into tutor mode.
She breaks down the information for me and takes her time making sure I’ve cemented each point before going to the next. The way her brain works is fascinating. She can take each piece apart, but she never loses sight of the big picture.
If I were struggling, I think she’d really be helping me.
As we’re finishing physics and moving on to statistics, Liam knocks on the door and opens it a crack.
“Hey, sorry. I don’t want to interrupt, but I’m ordering pizza. Do you guys want anything?”
“Grab an extra cheese for the morning,” I say.
“Already done,” he says. “Daisy?”
“No, thanks.”
I glance between them for any unspoken communication. Is he still into her? I can’t tell. He’s so damn polite it’s hard to tell the difference with him.
He backs out of the room with a wave.
I can’t read anything about her feelings for him either. She’s not flushed like she used to be during lab, but that just might be her getting comfortable around us.
Daisy looks down at her book and tilts it where I can see the page. “Is this what you covered in class today?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “Let me guess. You don’t like pizza? Or you weren’t allowed to have it as a kid?”
“I like pizza.”
“But?”
“No but.” Her slim shoulders rise and lower. “I ate before I came over.”
“What’s your favorite pizza topping?”
“Pepperoni or green peppers.”
My lip curls. “I don’t understand veggies on pizza. It’s pizza. It isn’t supposed to be healthy.”
“It makes more sense than a plain cheese pizza,” she retorts.
“I like what I like.”
“And what you like is cold cheese pizza in the morning?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ve never had pizza in the morning.” She purses her lips. “Or at least I don’t think I have. And before you ask, it wasn’t that I wasn’t allowed or anything.”
“Leftover pizza in the morning is the best. Especially after a night out.”
“Are you going out tonight?”
“Nah. Game tomorrow.”
“Oh right.”
“Are you coming?”
“Probably not. Violet has a thing against sporting events.”
“A thing against them? Why?”
“Freshman year, she was friends with some of the jocks. Specifically, the basketball team. She and Gavin had a thing briefly. They didn’t date or anything, but I think she wanted to, then he hooked up with her roommate.
After that, she stopped going anywhere she might run into him. That was over a year ago.”
“And yet she moved into a house right next door to him.”
“That was actually my doing.” Daisy looks mischievous as hell as she grins. “Violet had the flu the day we were supposed to go see places with Jane and Dahlia. I fell in love with that house, and we put a deposit on it before she had a chance to see where it was located.”
“I’m shocked, sweet Daisy.”
“Told you I wasn’t that sweet. Honestly, though, I thought she was over it.”
“Didn’t seem that way last night.”
“No, it didn’t.”
We spend another half-hour reviewing my statistics homework. I’ve studied more this week than I have in my entire life, so when she asks if I’m getting the hang of it, I can answer without hesitation, “I’ve never been so clear.”
“You’re a quick study. I thought it would take weeks or maybe months.”
Right. I probably should have dragged this out more. I’m digging spending time with her. Who knew studying was such a blast?
“Maybe I can convince you to keep tutoring me once or twice a week, so I stay on top of it?”
“Yeah. I don’t mind.” She stands next to the bed as she packs up her stuff. Her gaze goes to the nightstand, and she picks up the lone picture there.
“Is this you?” she asks with a broad smile.
“Yep. Me and a buddy from high school.”
“You look exactly the same.”
“I’m like three inches taller,” I protest.
“It’s your smile.” She looks from the picture to me. “You always look like a cat that got the canary. Is he at Valley too?”
I scoot closer and take the picture. The edges are bent, and the photo is blurry where water spilled on one side, but I always keep it next to my bed. “Nah. College wasn’t for him. He got a job working for the county. He passed away my first year at Valley.”
“Oh.” I don’t look up, but I can hear the sympathy in her voice. “I’m so sorry.”
“He was always flipping off the camera or turning away. This is the only photo I have of him where I can really see his face.” The familiar pang of sadness hits me square in the chest as I stare down at the two of us, young, carefree, drunk off our asses.
Liam calls that the pizza is here, and I toss the photo back on the nightstand.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for pizza?” I ask as I open my door.
“I should get back. I have some studying of my own still.”
“Okay.” I lead her out into the living area. Ry across the hall is gone, and Liam’s setting the pizza boxes on the coffee table. The smell of cheese and grease hangs in the air, making my stomach growl.
Liam invites her to stay, too, but she gives him the same answer.
“Good luck at your game tomorrow,” she tells us.
“Are you coming?” Liam asks.
“I don’t think so.”
“Bummer.” He smiles. “See you next week in class.”
I walk her to the door. “Thanks, sweet Daisy.”
“I’m not sweet,” she says, but she’s smiling as she does.
When I close the door, Liam asks, “What’s she helping you with?”
He passes me a box of cheese pizza.
“Statistics, mostly.” I flip open the box and take a slice. “She’s really fucking smart.”
“So are you,” he says. “But it’s good to see you studying. You haven’t even overslept for classes the past couple of weeks.”
“Oh, man.” I pause. “Am I a nerd now?”
I bust up laughing, and Liam rolls his eyes.
“Nerds are hot,” I say and think of Daisy.
“She is. You? Not so much.” He laughs it off, but a prick of guilt hits me for being into the girl he likes. I’ve never hooked up with a girl a buddy dated or wanted to date. Never. My friendships are everything to me.
“You two looked like you were hitting it off last night.” I struggle to look at him, but I need to read his face and get some idea of just how into her he is.
His brows lift slightly. “Me and Daisy?”
I nod and take a bite of pizza.
“We were just chatting and getting to know each other a bit.”
“So you aren’t going to ask her out?” My pulse thrums quickly.
He gives me a weird look. “What is with you lately?”
I’ve never nagged him about when and who he was hooking up with, so he’s rightly confused about my bringing it up. Still, I push a little. “Just wanted to know if I should be putting in a good word for you while we’re studying.”
“Please don’t.” He barks out a laugh. “I can just hear you telling her I have a big dick or something.”
“Well, I mean you do, but I’d probably lead with your awesome personality. Or maybe how you pair your socks before putting them away.”
“I think I can handle it on my own, but thanks.” He laughs and stands with his pizza. “I’m heading out to the library to meet a buddy from history class. See ya later, nerd.”
On game days, we do a light skate in the mornings. It’s mostly a way to ensure guys don’t go out and do anything dumb the night before. Or if they do, they sweat out the alcohol and still have all day to recover.
And when I say they, I mean all of us because I’ve totally been there before.
After leaving the arena, I run into Violet coming out of University Hall with a to-go coffee in hand.
“Hey.” I hold open the door for her as she steps out and pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Daisy with you?” I look inside, but it’s packed with people in line for coffee before classes.
“No. She was up late studying for a big test today.”
“She has a test today?” My stomach drops.
“Mhmmm.” She takes a sip. “And she was busy helping someone else all week.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I figured,” she says. “Daisy is like that. It’s easy for people to take advantage of her.”
“Damn. It’s not even eight o’clock. It’s too early for a guilt trip.” I rub at my chest. Fuck. I didn’t even think to ask if our nightly tutor sessions were messing with her own schedule.
Her lips twist into a smirk. “Be nice to Daisy.”
“Will do.” I mock a salute, and she starts off. “But maybe I’m not the only one that needs to remember to be nice.”
She pauses and faces me. One brow lifts over the frame of her sunglasses. “Meaning?”
“What’s your issue with sporting events? Liam’s invited her twice. I know Daisy. Or I’m starting to. She wants to go.”
“I’m not stopping her from going.”
“She won’t go without you.”
“Why do you care so much?”
“I don’t.” My skin burns with her accusation. Why am I meddling? It isn’t for Liam’s benefit that much I know. I flick my gaze away from her and step into University Hall.