by Jae
“Come back anytime ladies!” Drew calls to us as we walk out of the shop.
“Oh, we’ll definitely be back!” Ella tells him. “Daisy here still has to get her first tattoo!”
“Oh my God.” I groan while dragging them out the door, Drew laughing audibly behind us.
“Those guys were so sexy!” Taylor exclaims as we walk back to Mr. Tee’s Emporium. “We definitely have to go back!”
I roll my eyes at her and keep walking forward. For some reason I can’t get the look on Scott’s face out of my head when I confirmed we were talking about the same Liam. It was almost like he was confused, trying to place my face or name or something… I don’t know. I wish I could’ve had the chance to ask him though.
“Perfect timing!” Carl shouts when we walk through the door. “I just finished the last one.”
We tell him thank you after we pay for the shirts and then quickly head out to the car to go back to Zoie and Taylor’s house to get ready when we realize how late it’s gotten.
I hold the shirt up in front of me before putting it on. It’s black with the USC basketball logo on the front and Liam’s last name and jersey number, which is three, on the back in maroon outlined with gold. All of us girls have on dark shorts and black Vans shoes with our hair up in messy pony tails and the same shimmery eye makeup.
“We look so cute!” Taylor gushes after we get to our seats.
Both of the teams jog onto the court and I search for Liam. It doesn’t take long for him to look up at me and I immediately turn around and point to the back of my shirt. When I look back at him, he has my favorite dimpled grin on his face. He winks at me before the teams start warming up. I completely tune out the girls while I watch Liam. The more I watch him, the more I realize how much I really missed not seeing or talking to him all day.
When the teams get in position for the tip-off, I notice the guy standing next to Liam say something and then nod his head in my direction. I watch Liam’s eyes flash towards me before he narrows them on the guy, but doesn’t say anything back. The entire game is brutal and Liam almost gets into a couple of fights with the guy who’s been talking smack to him since the beginning of the game, but Liam’s teammates pull him back every time before anything can happen. We come out victorious in the end, but not by much.
“Hey.” I greet Liam when he and the boys walk into the gym after they’d showered and changed.
I drop the ball in my hands as he wraps my arms around me.
“I missed you today.” Liam whispers while burying his head into the crook of my neck.
“I missed you too.” I tell him before we pull away from each other.
“I like this shirt.” Liam comments with a smile.
I wince a little when he grabs onto my waist.
“What’s wrong?” Liam wonders, worry instantly filling his eyes as he lifts up the front of my shirt.
“The girls and I got our belly buttons pierced today.” I say as he crouches down in front of me to get a better look.
“I like it.” He concludes before kissing the skin above my bellybutton and then letting go of my shirt. “How was your day?”
“It was pretty interesting actually.” I tell him, remembering the girls from Forever 21.
“What do you mean?” He asks as we walk over to the benches the teams occupy during the games and sit down.
“These two girls that were ringing up mine and Ella’s stuff at this clothing store we went to told me that they know you.” I explain, motioning to his lower half. “Very well.”
His eyebrows rise in surprise, but he doesn’t say anything, obviously not knowing how else to respond.
“I’m not mad or anything.” I reassure him. “It was just weird, you know, meeting two girls who have shared something so personal with my boyfriend.”
“I’m sorry.” Liam finally says, pulling me onto his lap and kissing me gently.
“It’s fine.” I shrug my shoulders as I pull the necklace he always wears out from under his t-shirt and fiddle with the circular silver pendant that has the word ‘DREAM’ carved into it. “This guy named Scott who works at The Shop, that’s the tattoo and piercing place we went to, said that’s the same place you go to get your tattoos done.”
“Oh really?” He asks, raising his eyebrows at me again.
I nod my head and shrug my shoulders again. “He seemed like a really nice guy.”
My head shoots up when I feel Liam’s hold around my wait get suddenly tighter. I notice right off that his jaw is clenched tight. I drop the pendant in my hand in surprise when I see the darkness begin to build in his eyes.
“You guys want to go get food?” Tony asks us, making Liam blink and just like that his eyes are back to normal.
Liam and I agree to go and we all walk out to our cars together. Liam informs me that he had rode to the game with Connor as the girls get their stuff out of the trunk of my car and put them in their boyfriend’s cars.
“Do you want to drive, then?” I ask him, taking the keys out of my bag.
“No, you can.” Liam responds after he opens the driver’s side door for me and helps me climb in.
We both put on our seatbelts before I start the car. I put it in drive and follow behind everyone else to wherever we are going to eat. I glance over at Liam when he tilts the seat back a little bit and closes his eyes.
“What was that guy saying to you on the court?” I ask him, breaking the silence when I stop at the first red light.
“Nothing; he was just being an idiot.” Liam answers, not bothering to open his eyes.
“Well, it must’ve been something since you almost got into a few fights with him.” I continue, pressing on the gas pedal when the light turns green.
“Just drop it, Daisy” Liam says in a stern voice.
I know I should listen to him and drop it, but I can’t. I really want to know what that guy said to get him so pissed off. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Daisy, I told you to drop it.” He says again, his voice nearing on lethal.
“And I asked you to tell me.” I retort, not willing to give up.
“God, fine!” He exclaims with a huff. “He was saying rude things about you and so it obviously pissed me off.”
“What kind of rude things?”
Liam hesitates, causing me to glance over at him and see he’s staring at me with dark eyes.
“What was he saying about me, Liam?”
“He was telling me that he couldn’t wait to see you without your clothes on and all the things he would do to you in bed.” He answers, keeping his eyes on me. “Except he was a bit fouler about it.”
My eyes widen in shock. What a disgusting pig.
“It took everything in me not to beat the living hell out of him right there on the court.” Liam continues while I pull into the parking lot of a dinner and park the car. “I’m sorry he was saying those things about you.”
“It’s fine.”
“Hey aren’t those some of the guys from the team you played?” Taylor asks when we all walk into the dinner and glance over to see that there are a small group of guys sitting in the corner.
“Damn!” I hear one of them whistle. “Hey number three, nice ass!”
I turn my head to see the guy that was saying stuff to Liam laughing and high fiving some of his teammates. I roll my eyes and pull Liam’s arm with me when he makes a move to walk over to them.
“Just ignore him.” I tell Liam as we sit down on the other side of the dinner. “He isn’t worth it.”
We order and manage to eat our food in peace, chatting about what we all did today. The guys inform us they love the shirts and congratulate Zoie for thinking of the idea to make them. Everything is going smoothly until we walk out of the dinner and find that the guys from the other team are leaning up against the wall next to the door, clearly waiting for us.
“Hey, why don’t you come over here number three?” The same guy from earlier says. “Let me get a closer
look at that ass.”
I roll my eyes again and flip him off as we keep walking to our cars.
“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be?” Him and his teammates laugh. “That’s fine; you aren’t anything but a little slut anyways.”
His words make me stop dead in my tracks and I pull my hand out of Liam’s. “Excuse me?” I ask, turning around and taking a few steps in his direction.
“You heard me, bitch.” He laughs even louder.
“Go to the car, Daisy.” Liam says as he walks past me towards the guy.
“Liam, stop.”
“I told you to go to the car, Daisy.” Liam growls when he glances back at me, his eyes completely black with anger.
“Come on, Daisy.” Ella says after she grabs my hand and the other guys walk past us to help out Liam.
“It’s safer if we just stay out of it.” Zoie says before we all climb into our separate cars.
Not much time passes before Tony, Jack, and Connor walk back to their cars. I stare at them through the windshield; they look like they don’t have a single scratch on them. I grow confused when they start their cars and take off. Where’s Liam? Why did they just leave like that? A few seconds later I see Liam walking towards my car, running his hands through his hair. I quickly open my door and get out. My eyes grow wide when I can see his face more clearly.
“Oh my God, Liam.” I whisper before he picks me up and sets me on the hood of my car.
Liam holds my face between his hands and kisses me hard. Our lips work against each other until we both eventually pull away to catch our breaths. Liam drops his hands down to my legs while I turn his head a little towards the light behind him so I can get a better look at his bruising eye. I brush my fingers over the tender skin, making him flinch away from my touch.
“Please tell me he looks worse.” I beg, making Liam smile and I see the left corner of his bottom lip is split open.
“Yeah, he does.” He reassures me. “It’s a little harder not to get hit when the person you’re fighting is also sober.”
“Then why do it at all?” I question, my face scrunching up in confusion.
“I have to defend my girl.” He says before kissing me again.
“I appreciate that,” I close my eyes, pressing our foreheads together. “I really do, but I don’t like you getting hurt. I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“I know.” Liam sighs before picking me up and setting me back down on the ground.
We drive home in silence; Liam leaned back in the passenger chair with his eyes shut again. When we get back to my house, I make him go wait for me in my bathroom while I go get the first aid kit out of the hallway closet. My eyes widen and I accidently drop the first aid kit in shock when I walk into my bathroom to find Liam shirtless, checking out the huge bruises on his ribs.
“Liam.” I choke out, my eyes beginning to sting with tears.
“It’s not that bad.” He tries to reassure me while picking up the first aid kit and sitting down on the toilet lid.
“Not that bad?” I scoff. “Liam, you look like you just got hit by a damn car and you expect me to believe the other guy looks worse?”
“Are you doubting me?” He asks while I open the kit and pull out some things to clean the blood off of his face with.
“No.” I roll my eyes, setting my jaw. “Take that smirk off your face, Liam.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He responds, his face going blank.
I clean up his face in silence, trying my best not to look as scared and upset as I feel. I understand feeling the need to defend me; I feel the same way about him. But I hate that it has to result in this. Why do men have to be so quick to jump to violent altercations? What ever happened to using your words? I get it’s not very manly, but at least you won’t have a black eye and bruised ribs when it’s over.
“No more, Liam.” I say when I crawl into my bed beside him. “No more. I mean it.”
Chapter Eleven
“Did you apply to USC?” Liam asks me, a couple days later, after swimming to the edge of my pool were I’m sitting with my legs dangling in the water.
“Yeah,” I laugh when he grabs onto my right leg and pulls it straight. “Why?”
“Did you get in?” He questions more, trailing his wet fingers over my knee and I nod my head. “Well, I was thinking we could work on rehabbing your knee. You could keep coming to practices with me on the weekends and when you don’t have work and we could also keep going to the gym to lift weights and go for runs.”
“Liam,” I sigh while running my hands through his wet hair, knowing exactly where he’s going with this.
“We could do it, Daisy. We could get your knee back in shape and you could try out for the women’s basketball team at USC.” He explains, nodding his head. “I know you don’t think you’re good enough anymore, Daisy, but you are. Even Coach thinks so. Plus I’ve been asking around and USC offers awesome art and photography programs, so you can still study those.”
“Liam,” I say again, taking his face in my hands. “I haven’t made a decision yet, okay? We still have time to be together and look through all my options.” When I finish saying this, Liam gives me the cutest puppy-eyed look I’ve ever seen in my life. “But if doing all this rehab stuff will help you feel better, then I’ll do it - for you.”
“That’s all I want.” He says before I place a quick kiss on his lips.
“What’s going through that little head of yours?” Ella asks while we organize the racks of clothes at work the next day.
I let out an irritated groan when I accidently drop a shirt on the ground.
“Come on, Daze.” Ella pushes, her face growing concerned. “You know you can tell me anything.”
“It’s just Liam.” I sigh.
“What about Liam?” She asks, instantly turning into defensive Mom mode. “Did he do something to you?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.” I respond quickly, giving her a ‘calm down’ look. “It’s just that, things are starting to get really serious between us and I think he’s kind if beginning to panic because I haven’t decided where I’m going to school yet.”
“He doesn’t want you to go to Paris, right?” Ella guesses, a sad smile spreading across her face.
I shrug my shoulders as we walk over to the next rack of clothes. “He hasn’t actually said it, but I know that’s what he’s thinking.”
“I can’t totally blame him.” She says softly. “I don’t exactly want you to leave either, but I know this Paris thing is an amazing opportunity for you.”
“I know.” I sigh again. “And I really appreciate you saying that. It’s just that, instead of actually telling me he doesn’t want me to go, he’s made up this whole plan for me to start rehabbing my knee so I can try out for the women’s basketball team at USC.”
“Oh, wow, I did not see that one coming!” Ella exclaims, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Do you want to try to play basketball again though?”
“I don’t know. I guess after everything that happened, I learned to accept that basketball was over for me. But what if there’s a chance that I could be as good as I used to be again? Would it be wrong of me to at least try?”
“No, I don’t think it would be wrong. Playing basketball has always been your dream.” Ella pauses, untangling a couple dresses that are stuck on the same hanger while I soak in her words. “But, Daisy, when you thought you lost that dream, you created new ones. You are a fantastic artist and photographer. What if you skip out on this amazing opportunity and things between you and Liam don’t work out? Or even worse than that, what if you get injured again?”
“I know. That’s why this decision is so hard.”
“Whatever you decided, Daisy, you know I’ll support you one hundred percent.”
“Thanks Ella. I really needed to hear that.”
“Anytime, Daze.” She says while pulling me into a body crushing hug. “That’s what best friends are for.”
T
he next few days fly by and before I knew it, it’s Friday. I roll over and shut off the alarm on my phone, then, five minutes later, I shut off Liam’s too. I’m sad that this is the last time I’ll be waking up with Liam next to me for a while. I look over at him and take in his long body tangled in my sheets. Knowing he’s awake, even though his eyes are still shut; I lean over and kiss his lips. After I pull away, he keeps his eyes shut still, but a small smile is now playing on his lips. I lightly trace the features of his face with my index finger. When I get to his jawline, I slide my finger down his neck to his chest. That’s when I realize there’s a piece of black plastic that reminds me of a trash bag taped to the left side of his chest. I scrunch my face up in confusion, trying to figure out how I didn’t notice it last night. Oh wait, that’s right - I practically fell into my bed last night and passed out before Liam got here. I gently pull the tape and remove the plastic from his chest. My eyes widen when I see a fresh tattoo of a daisy there. I know Liam is watching me now, but I don’t bother to look at him; my eyes are completely glued to the tattoo.
My mind suddenly flashes back to two days ago when Liam and I were sitting on the couch in my basement; he was playing a video game while I drew in my sketch book. He asked me to draw him a golf ball sized daisy. I had asked him why, but he just gave me one of his dimpled grins and told me not to worry about it. I covered the page with different daisies, all of them meeting the specifications Liam wanted.
“This is why you wanted me to draw you a daisy?” I ask him, gently brushing my fingers over the tattoo.
Liam nods his head when I look up at him.
“Why did you get this?”
“I care about you a lot, Daisy.” Liam says, placing his hand over mine and holding it firmly against his chest, covering the tattoo. I can feel his heart beating like crazy. “I want you to always be close to my heart.”
My eyes fill with tears as I smile at him. That is the most romantic thing I have ever heard in my life. I lean down and crash my lips to Liam’s. After a few minutes, he rolls us over so he’s hovering above me. We stare into each other’s eyes for a few moments, a silent understanding forming between us before Liam leans down and connects our lips again. I let out a content sigh as his lips work down my neck and along my shoulder, leaving small love bites here and there. I push his chest a little to create some space between us and pull my shirt over my head, leaving me completely topless.
