by R. M. Lynn
“Yeah, fine,” I insisted lowly, but my eyes stayed on Daisy.
Audrey continued speaking, but I no longer could hear her. My jaw jumped as my body tightened at the sight of his hands sliding up her bare thighs. What was happening to me? I didn’t care who Daisy associated with in the past. And, truthfully, I didn’t care that she engaged with Marcus. What I did care about, though? Her ass grinding all over some douchebag that didn’t deserve it. And fuck it, when did I start noticing how fucking peachy her ass was?
“When did Daisy get so fucking hot?” I heard somebody say, finally breaking the trance I was in.
I was beginning to think that maybe Daisy was always hot. I always thought she was pretty growing up, sure. She had a killer personality, and she always did, which made the tight ass body she suddenly seemed to grow into even better to look at. But the question remained. Was she always this way and I was just now noticing?
What a fucking prick I was.
I grabbed Audrey by the hand and pulled her to the backyard to get myself another drink. I found Dash in the corner of the yard lighting up another joint, and I slipped away from Audrey when she began chatting with a friend to share. I didn’t tell him about Daisy dancing with Marcus, only let the weed relax my muscles and ease my mind as the effects mixed with those from the alcohol. When I went back inside with Audrey, I found Colt making out with Trisha Whitmore in the living room but no Daisy.
When I found Daisy again, I was well past intoxicated, Colt was still on the couch with Trisha, and I was pretty certain Dash was in the bathroom with Nicole Bryant who was likely eagerly on her knees for him. I had slipped outside in order to escape conversation with Avery. The backyard had mostly cleared by then, with the majority of people inside or having left. I almost didn’t realize I was looking at her when my eyes found her. She was down at the end of the yard near the edge of the pool. I only realized it was her because the lights from the pool lit up her profile softly.
My gut clenched when I saw his hands go to the sides of her face. He was going to kiss her. I wasn’t sure why the idea of it bothered me so much. I blamed it on the fact that he was bragging about getting into her pants.
If that rumor was even true.
Suddenly, though, just as his head dipped to hers, she pulled away. I cocked my head slightly as I watched from afar in confusion while she shook her head at him. Her lips moved with words I couldn’t decipher, and then, she was running my way. She narrowly ran right past me as she made a beeline for the door, but I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to me in a quick movement.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked her and brushed her hair away from her face to see tears pooling in her eyes. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” she insisted with a shake of her head. “I’m just a fucking loser, Maddox. Okay? I… I just want to go home.”
“You’re not a loser, Daisy,” I retorted and hugged her to my chest. I heard her sniffle against my t-shirt, and I ran my hand up her back. “Let’s get the others, alright? We’ll go.”
Marcus was headed our way, and I quickly pulled her inside before he could get to us. Daisy held my hand as I made a path to the living room, thumping Colt on the back of his head when I reach him. He separated from Trisha and looked up at me with a scowl.
“C’mon, Mac, I was making a lot of headway with this one,” he told me with a nod toward Trisha. His eyes went to Daisy, his eyes softening at her expression. “What the fuck happened? You okay, flower?”
“Colt,” Trisha whined and pulled on his shirt. “I thought we’d go upstairs?”
“We’re going to head out,” I said to Colt, ignoring the girl. “Are you ready? Otherwise, I’ll call a car.”
Colt stood and gave a nod. “Let’s go. We have to find Dash and Lo.”
“I’ll grab Dash,” I sighed and put my hand to the small of Daisy’s back, pushing her to Colt gently. “Stay with Colt, Daze. Okay? Look for Lo. I think I saw her in the kitchen earlier.”
She gave me a nod as Colt pulled her under his arm and headed for the kitchen, ignoring the protests of Trisha. I headed up the grand staircase and searched for the bathroom. I banged on every door, finding empty rooms or rooms occupied by half naked couples, before finally finding him. He opened the bathroom door and gave me a grin as he zipped up his pants. Nicole wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before she slipped past me, her head ducked and her cheeks red.
“We’re heading out,” I muttered and raised a brow at him. “You good to go?”
“Yeah, man,” he chuckled out as we headed back to the staircase. “You know, you wouldn’t know it from looking at her, but she gave one hell of a blowie.”
I ignored him as my eyes sought out Daisy. I met her, Colt, and Logan by the front door with Dash at my back, and I pulled her under my arm as we all headed out. We had just hit the street when we all stopped at the sound of her name being called.
“Daisy, wait,” Marcus called and jogged out to us, but as he approached, I automatically pulled her tight to my side in a protective stance. “Guys, I just want to talk to her. That’s all.”
“Fuck off, Williams,” Colt shot back. “Not sure what you did to her, but we’re not letting you near her.”
“He didn’t do anything,” Daisy insisted and pushed away from me. “I’m sorry. We can talk.”
“What?” I snapped, but she let him take her by the hand and lead her back to the driveway at a distance far enough that we couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Dash asked me what was going on, so I told all three of them what I had seen in the backyard. They remained quiet after, and another minute later, Daisy walked over with Marcus’s hand on the small of her back.
“All good?” Dash asked and eyed the two of them.
“We’re fine,” Daisy insisted softly and gave a small smile to Marcus before coming back to my side, my arm going back around her in a slightly possessive manner. “Thanks, Marcus… for the talk. I’ll see you later?”
Marcus gave a nod as he smiled at her. “For sure. I’m looking forward to it.”
My jaw ticked as I wondered what the hell could’ve transpired by them in a matter of a minute. I pulled Daisy away and started for the car before they could converse any further. Logan yanked Daisy out from under my arm as we walked and demanded she spill what just happened. They walked ahead of me and the guys, whispering lowly back and forth, and I tried to shrug off my irritation. Dash felt the tension in my muscles when he put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a quick pat on my back.
“You alright, buddy?”
I gave a stiff nod but didn’t reply as we got to the car. Colt dropped off Logan first before taking me, Dash, and Daisy back to my house. As Dash stumbled up the stairs to climb into bed in one of the guest rooms, I headed to the kitchen with Daisy so she could raid my fridge. She pulled out a container of watermelon, and I snagged her a fork from the silverware drawer, our fingers brushing as I handed it to her. I willed her to talk to me about Marcus, but a part of me also didn’t want to hear shit about him. I didn’t want the guy to infiltrate the little world we shared together.
“Sorry for the theatrics earlier,” she muttered around a mouthful of fruit, and I leaned forward, putting my elbows on the island. I raised a brow at her as she ate across from me when she shrugged. “I… I don’t know. I got embarrassed, and I guess I just freaked out about it.”
“Embarrassed about what?”
“He went to kiss me, and I completely ruined it by being a fucking scared little prude.”
“I don’t understand,” I countered and scowled. “Why couldn’t you just kiss him?”
She waved her hand at me. “It’s stupid. I was… I don’t know. I was nervous. I’m not exactly experienced like you or the guys.”
I knew this so I simply shrugged. I didn’t think I liked the idea of him kissing her or her kissing him back anyway. She shoveled another piece of watermelon in her mouth before closing it up and putting it back in the fri
dge, dumping the fork in the dishwasher. She grabbed my hand and gave a nod toward the sliding glass door that led right out to the beach. My mom had demanded a full view of the ocean. Dad succeeded in giving her what she wanted. The house was covered in floor to ceiling windows in multiple areas of the house.
“Let’s go to the beach,” she murmured and tugged on my hand while snatching the bottle of Fireball Dash had left out earlier.
I let her lead me out and smirked at her once we hit the sand. She twirled around, humming a made-up tune, and skipped closer to the water. When she sat her ass down in the sand, close enough that the waves came up to run over her feet. I collapsed down next to her and watched her take a swig straight from the bottle before handing it to me so I could do the same.
“Hey,” I murmured after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence and leaned into her, my shoulder bumping into hers. “You know you’re not a loser, right?”
“You have to say that,” she let out with a short laugh and bumped my shoulder back. “Responsibility of a being my best friend and all that.”
“Daisy, I’m being serious.” I looked at her and waited until she lifted her eyes to mine. “I don’t really get what made you feel that way, but I’m letting you know that you have no reason to.”
She took a swig of from the bottle of whiskey again. “I know, Mac. I guess I just felt like I wasn’t good enough for a second. I mean, Marcus has been with girls all through high school. And now he likes me? What do I have to offer him? I’m not at all experienced.”
“I don’t know why you keep saying that. You have more to offer than shit like your mouth. C’mon, Daze, I know you know that.”
“I know, okay? Like I said. I just had a weird moment. I talked to him about it, and I think I fixed it. So, don’t worry about it.”
I looked her over, trying to detect in her emerald eyes if she was being straight with me or if she was lying. However, I was too drunk and high to tell for certain, so I gave her a small nod and laid back on the sand, my eyes going up to the dark sky. She laid back next to me and immediately began pointing out constellations just like she always did. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when her fascination with stars began, but if I had to guess, I’d say around nine or ten. We’d sit out in the treehouse in her backyard, the one her dad built when we were six, and look up through the square cut in the wood ceiling of it just staring at the night sky.
“Thanks for bringing me to the party, Maddox,” she suddenly whispered maybe ten or so minutes later. “I had fun.”
“I’m glad you did,” I murmured and tipped my head to the side to look at her as she did the same. “You going to make it a habit of joining us in the future?”
She shrugged and smirked. “Maybe.”
A part of me wanted to demand she come to every party, to hang out with us when we went out, but another part of me just slightly, sort of, kind of wanted to discourage it. I already had one pain the ass guy to watch out for. If she continued coming to parties, looking as good as she did, and dancing the way she had? I wasn’t sure I’d have the manpower to keep anymore douchebags at bay.
◆◆◆
3
“So, he wants to take you out?” Logan asked me from her spot next to me on the bleachers the Monday after the party. “When? What’re you going to wear?”
I laughed and shook my head at her. “I don’t know. He wants me to meet him after the game on Saturday. But listen, Lo, I’m not sure about it.”
She scowled at me. “What do you mean?”
“Okay, listen,” I lower my voice and sigh, “I’m not experienced, like, at all.”
“When you say that, you mean…?”
I roll my eyes. “Lo, I’ve barely even kissed a guy. I’ve had two – I wouldn’t even call them relationships. The first one lasted three weeks at best, and we mostly just held hands at the movies. With the last one, we didn’t even get to the heavy petting stage. He had to go and ruin it by being an idiot and trying to brag to his friends that I blew him.”
“Shit, Daze,”
“Yeah, so, maybe I’m done with it. Maybe I want to be the experienced one.” I shrugged and bit my lip. “I mean, I want to be confident in what I’m doing, and I don’t think I will be if I’m not –”
“Making out with random dudes and having threesomes?” she teased with a laugh, and I shook my head as I let out a laugh with her.
“No, crazy, not threesomes. But other stuff? Why not? I’ll have to lose my firsts at some point. And I want to be in control of that.”
She scooted closer, suddenly excited, and said, “You know what you should do? Find a fuck buddy. Someone you trust, someone with no strings attached, and just have your way with them.” She let out another laugh. “You can practice on him, and when the time comes for you to crawl into bed with Marcus or any other guy, you’ll be ready. I mean, what about college? You’ll want to be ready for that. Think of all the hot college guys waiting.”
I scowled at her and responded with a shake of my head and, “You’re crazy, Lo. A fuck buddy? That’s a bit far-fetched, don’t you think?”
“What? How?” She grinned and glanced to the field where the football team was practicing. I looked down as well and spotted Maddox huddled up with Dash, Colt, and two other teammates. “Oh my God.”
I looked back to her and raised a brow at her. “What? What is it?”
“I have an idea,” she insisted and put her hands to my cheeks, turning my face toward the guys once more. “Maddox.”
“What about him?”
“He can be your fuck buddy.”
I snorted out a laugh and shoved out of her grasp. “You’re fucking crazy. Did you smoke some of Dash’s weed before our meet up? Maddox and I are just friends.”
She shakes her head. “He’s experienced. He’d take care of you, and he’d show you everything there is to know. On top of that? You are friends, like you said, and sex is so much better with trust. Especially for your first experiences.”
“You’re crazy,” I told her for the millionth time. “I can’t just ask my best friend to be a fuck buddy. He’ll think I’m just as nuts as you, and on top of that? He’ll probably never talk to me again.”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “You don’t think that he’d be down for it? He’s a fucking red-blooded man, Daisy. I’m positive he’s thought about fucking you before.”
“I highly doubt it, Lo,” I laughed and shook my head at her.
“I know you’ve thought about it, babe, and I’m just saying. What’s the harm in a little fun with the hottest guy in school? You’ll have the experience for guys like Marcus, the control of the situation like you want, and you won’t lose your virginity to some dirtbag you’ll meet at a college party.” She shrugged and gave me a smirk. “I think it’s at least something to consider. Perhaps broach the subject with him to find out.”
“I don’t think so. He’d think I’m crazy. Like I said.”
She shrugged and looked back to her notebook and textbook. I looked back to my own work before taking a peak at the field once more. Maddox had just taken his helmet off his head, and I nibbled my lower lip as I looked him over. Sure, I’d always wondered what it’d be like to be with him. But it wasn’t ever anything I felt like I’d act on. I never felt like he’d even thought about me in any way other than as a friend. Could I really risk it by proposing some ridiculous arrangement? Just asking the question out loud could ruin everything. I could say goodbye to the eighteen-year friendship we had, my best friend, and closest confidant for something as silly as my ego when it came to sex.
Broaching the subject with him could go one of two ways, and I wasn’t much of a gambler. But like Logan said, I trusted him with my life. Giving away my firsts wasn’t much of a sentimental matter to me, but the idea of giving them away to someone I held in as high regard as I did Maddox? I didn’t hate it. I’d get them all out of the way with someone who had always had my back and didn’t try to make up lies or brag about
me to his friends. He respected me.
I sighed and looked back to my work. I didn’t know what I was going to. I mentally cursed Logan for putting the idea in my head in the first place. It was an awful, stupid idea.
But... what if it was worth a shot?
◆◆◆
I slipped out of the house Friday night while my parents argued in the kitchen about who knows what. I felt on the verge of the tears as I snagged my skateboard from the garage and headed down the driveway and onto the street. I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket, but I kept going until I made it to the edge of town. I hopped off my skateboard and walked up the small hill until I was only a few feet away from the train tracks that separated Summerset and Summit Bay. I sat down in the grass as my phone buzzed with an incoming call in my back pocket.
Sighing as I pulled it out and peered down at it, seeing Maddox’s name on the screen, I answered it reluctantly.
“Yeah?”
“Where are you?” he asked softly. “I just drove by your place, saw the garage door open and your skateboard gone.”
I bit my lip, debating if I should tell him the truth, before finally muttering, “I’m at the train tracks. I just needed to breathe for a moment.”
“I’ll come to you then, alright? Drive you back when you’re ready.”
I sometimes hated how sweet he was and the way my chest tightened when he was. “You got anything on you?”
He was quiet a moment before he finally admitted, “Yeah. I’ll bring it.”
“Thanks, Mac.”
“Always, Daisy. I’ll be there in a few.”
I hung up and laid back in the grass, looked up at the starry sky and sighed. I didn’t sit up when I heard Maddox pull up. I didn’t when he walked over and sat down next to me either. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. He simply pulled out a joint and lighter from his pocket and lit it up for me. He took a quick hit, realized a puff of smoke, and passed it to me before laying down in the grass next to me. The air was quiet around us, except for the light breeze and the sound of the incoming train in the distance.
