Chapter 15
Daisy
Daisy woke with a screaming headache, undoubtedly because she had zero water while drinking. She mentally tossed her planned hike out the window.
She brushed her teeth, pulled her hair into a messy bun, and got dressed. The Pacific Northwest girl in her came to represent. Sweats, flannel, messy bun, Birkenstocks, and she had plans to complete the look with a steaming mug of coffee.
Downstairs, she found the boys eating leftover pizza and playing a video game.
When she had her coffee, she sat in the recliner and asked, “Are you guys good with doing nothing today? I had a hike planned, but I’m dying.
” She grabbed a slice of cold pizza off the tray on the coffee table and took a massive bite, hoping food would help.
“We feel like shit too,” Hazy said. “A chill day would be great.”
They spent the day playing cards and video games. They cooked a meal. They spent time together doing activities that brought them joy. With the evening upon them and dinner done, they did shots again.
Daisy poured and passed them out. “You’re going to want these for what we’re about to do.”
She led them out onto the patio, where a fire she’d started warmed the area. Graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars lay on the patio table alongside roasting sticks.
“I apologize, but I do have to do my job. And that sometimes means being cliché.”
Groans sounded from everyone. She handed them each a stick and a marshmallow, and they sat in front of the fire. As they roasted their marshmallows, she said, “You have options. Two truths and a lie, or never have I ever.”
Connor asked, “Are you playing?” and she shook her head.
Lover didn’t like that answer. “You expect us to spill our secrets but you won’t? No way!”
Hazy steepled his fingers in front of him. “Counteroffer!”
She searched the stars for answers, but found none, so she said, “Okay, Hazy, what’s your counteroffer?”
“Truth or Dare, and you join us.”
Connor cut in, trying to save her. “Bad idea.”
Valentine had latched onto the idea, though. “Ooo, yes! We’ll promise not to dare anything scandalous.”
Hazy shot daggers at Valentine. “Then what’s the point? Somebody explain the point of the game to this kid.”
“No, no. I kind of like it. I will agree to Truth or Dare on a few conditions.”
Connor seemed skeptical, but Hazy and Lover were interested. “Go on,” Hazy prompted.
“Number one: no scandalous dares. I’m not kissing, licking, or sucking any of you tonight.”
Connor choked, presumably on his own saliva, and fell into a coughing fit.
“Got it?”
Hazy and Valentine said, “Got it,” and Connor, unable to speak, gave a thumbs up.
“Number two: no dangerous dares. If you get hurt on my watch, I’m going to have to answer to your coach, and he scares the shit out of me. Understood?”
Their answer rang out loud and clear. “Yup.”
“Good. And number three: everyone has to do at least one truth and one dare. No choosing the same thing over and over. It goes against the nature of the game.”
They agreed to her terms, and Hazy asked, “Can I go first?”
She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
“Wait!” Lover pouted. “Why does he get to go first?”
Daisy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Because he asked first.”
Lover slumped in his chair, dejected.
“Fine.”
Hazy pulled a flaming marshmallow out of the fire and extinguished it before pulling the top layer off and sticking it in his mouth. “Hmmm,” he said around a mouthful. “Beanie. Truth or Dare?”
Connor considered it over for a few seconds, squeezing a golden marshmallow and a piece of chocolate between two graham crackers. “Dare, I guess.”
Hazy looked a little bummed, but then his face lit up. “I dare you to take a shot.”
Connor shrugged and drank a shot of whiskey. “There you go, happy?”
Hazy nodded.
Connor’s eyes settled on Valentine. Daisy was relieved they hadn’t gotten to her yet.
“Lover boy, truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Valentine answered with no hesitation.
Connor debated briefly before saying, “I dare you to let Daisy go through your phone.”
That was a bit dramatic for this early in the game, but Valentine didn’t argue. “Joke’s on you,” he taunted Connor, “I’m a wholesome guy. Nothing weird for her to find.”
Hazy snickered and asked, “Even in your browser history?”
Valentine’s face got red, but he still handed her his phone and whispered the password. To the group he said, “Daisy doesn’t care about my browser history, and she wouldn’t judge.”
His trust had her eyes prickling with tears that she fought to keep from falling.
She wouldn’t have let them have access to her own phone.
Daisy opened the phone and scrolled through a few apps.
She didn’t want to invade his privacy, so she opened a social media app and scrolled for a few minutes.
Then, straight-faced, she returned his phone with a pat on his arm.
“Your turn!” She reminded him.
The first few rounds were dares to do shots and shallow truths as they roasted marshmallows and let the alcohol take over. She learned Hazy was a pothead as a teenager and still smoked once in a while, Valentine had to repeat eighth grade, and Connor failed his driver’s test three times.
But then the whiskey hit their systems. Hazy asked Valentine, “Truth or dare?”
“Truth!” he shouted.
Hazy said, “Tell us about your first kiss.”
Daisy squealed, clapped her hands, and said, “Ooo, yes! First kiss stories! I want to hear them all.”
Valentine’s demeanor turned bashful, and his face went red. “I, uh. Don’t have that story to tell yet.”
Daisy went on the defensive, ready to protect this boy from ridicule with every ounce of her being. She hadn’t needed to worry. Connor kept quiet, and Hazy said, “Ah. Do you want to have that story, or is that something you’re okay without?”
Valentine cleared his throat, and answered, “No I want it. Trust me, I do. I just get weird. And now it’s gone on so long it feels so big, and it’s not like I’m going to talk about it in the locker room or with the other guys; they’d laugh me out of there so fast.”
And that was that. Hazy said, “Huh. Beanie, what about you? First kiss?”
Connor objected, “It’s not my turn.”
Hazy said, “C’mon man, Daisy wants to know all of them. I’ll share mine.”
Connor sighed but shared. “Her name was Roxie. It was freshman year of college, I later found out she’s a raging lesbian.”
Daisy gasped. “Roxie was your first kiss? She never told me that.” She slapped a hand over her own mouth realizing the slip-up as they all slowly turned their heads to stare at her.
Hazy asked, “Why would she have told you that?”
She shook her head vigorously and couldn’t keep the squeaky quality out of her voice as she tried to take back her outburst. “I don’t know. There’s no reason I would know Roxie. Hazy, tell us about your first kiss.”
Everyone relaxed, and Daisy, in her naivety, thought she was off the hook.
“Seventh grade with a girl named Addison,” Hazy said. “It was awkward and uncomfortable, like every first kiss should be. Tell us about yours, Daisy.”
A nostalgic smile crossed her face as she recalled the memory.
“In high school. I was seventeen, and he was a hockey player. Patrick is the reason I’m obsessed with it.
We were lifelong best friends, and we got it into our heads that we should be more, so we tried.
” She should call Patrick. He’d want to know she was spending so much time with his rival.
Valentine, suddenly more alert, said, “Yeah, yeah. Very cute. Beanie, truth or dare?”
Connor answered, “Dare,” and Valentine threw her right under the bus.
“Do you have a way to contact this Roxie lady?”
Connor raised his eyebrows and smirked at Daisy as he answered Valentine’s question. “Yeah, I have her number in my phone.”
Valentine and Hazy let out whoops of joy. “I dare you to call her right now and ask about Daisy.”
Connor gave Daisy a shit-eating grin and walked away from the group, his phone pressed to his ear.
Daisy didn’t dare reach for her phone. They’d know she was texting Roxie.
Connor and Roxie were on good terms. She’d answer his call, and he might learn that Daisy was the reason they broke up.
It wasn’t exactly her fault. Roxie had seen how lustful Daisy got over him, realized she didn’t like any man like that, and they split.
But to be fair, Connor broke Daisy and Patrick up, too.
Her desire for Connor had outweighed her feelings for Patrick.
It fueled their rivalry. Daisy couldn’t admit how much impact she’d had on Connor’s life before they met. It was creepy.
He’d barely stepped away from the fire pit and said hello before her phone started dinging. She forced herself not to reach for it. But it dinged and dinged and dinged. She cursed herself for leaving the alert noise on. Why couldn’t she put her phone on silent like every other normal person?
“Hmm,” Valentine teased. “Wonder who could need to get ahold of you so bad.”
Daisy gave in and grabbed her phone. The texts were from Roxie, of course, asking what she should say. She silenced the notifications without answering. She’d have to admit this eventually, anyway—now they were all suspicious.
After a few minutes Connor returned to the group and held his phone out to Daisy. “Hello?” She could have walked away, but privacy went by the wayside the second she told on herself.
Roxie sighed. “What’s going on? Why is the ex I haven’t talked to in five years calling me in the middle of the night asking about you? I thought you were working.”
“It’s only ten pm,” Daisy pointed out. The boys gave her befuddled looks.
“What are you doing, Daisy? What’s the move? What does he know?”
“Um, not much.” She pressed the speaker into her ear as much as possible to muffle Roxie’s voice.
“Why the fuck not? It’s been years of you following his career and obsessing over him.
I broke up with him because you liked him more than I did, and he deserved that level of dedication!
You broke up with Patrick because you liked Connor more!
” Daisy could tell the boys couldn’t overhear since their expressions didn’t change during Roxie’s monologue.
“I know. But that’s... a lot. And it’s a work thing.”
“It’s not a work thing. It was never a work thing. And even if it were, you hate your fucking job. We’ve talked about this, babe. You have to take a risk sometime.”
Daisy was tired of being told to take risks. She was working toward it. “I know.”
“Make a move. Trust me, it sounds like he cares about you.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to bed. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Daisy hung up and handed Connor his phone. The boys stared at her. Ignoring them, she took a swig of whiskey out of the bottle before she said, “Alright. Truth or dare! Connor, it’s your turn.”
Connor shot a heated look in her direction and sat. He took his time getting comfortable. If he wanted to make her sweat, it was working.
“Okay, Daisy. Back to the game it is. Truth or dare?”
Neither option felt safe. She chewed her bottom lip, wishing she could have asked Roxie what she and Connor had talked about. “Truth, I guess.”
Connor, with the excitement of winning a glorious prize, said, “Tell us about the podcast.”
Daisy froze, unable to speak for a minute.
Fucking Roxie. “Okaaay. Um, I have a newish podcast with Roxie. It’s about hockey.
We cover the Freeze. We’re both big fans.
” There. That should satisfy the rules of the game.
“Okay, my turn! Connor, truth or dare?” If he wanted to ask embarrassing questions, she could play hardball.
“Truth,” he said.
She asked, “Why is your nickname Beanie?”