Daisy.

It was Friday.

I sat in the heavy black pleather chair, the back of my knees sticking to the surface as I eyed Derek, watching as his dull blue eyes flickered from the screen of his desktop to me. I didn’t want to be there, not at all, but seeing as I couldn’t find anyone to go with, it’d have to be Derek. Marina would have come, she told me, but she had just taken her vacation weeks a month or so ago to go to Miami with Sunny, so she couldn’t. I didn’t know any of the other girls well enough to just invite them on a seriously random trip out of the blue. I couldn’t do that. Marina suggested asking Dash, but I wasn’t sure.

Could I really just ask him like that? Could I? I didn’t think so. As I sat in front of Derek, though, getting ready to pretty much beg him without getting on my knees to come with me, the prospect seemed slightly better.

“What can I help you with?” he asked in his slow Southern drawl, an amused smile on his thin pink lips. He looked like he put more effort into how he looked than I did, which was fine, I guessed, but still kind of weird. A little. He could even be attractive, if he wasn’t so domineering and just off. I didn’t know what it was, but something wasn’t right about him and it unsettled me. Still, Sasha liked him for some reason, so she kept him around.

I didn’t know what it was.

“I need you to do me a favor.” It took every fiber of my being not to stand up and walk into Sasha’s office and tell her to hell with it, that she could find someone else to do this, because there was no way I’d be working with someone as awful as him.

“Oh? Little Miss Daisy needs a favor from lil’ ol’ me?” He put a hand on his chest, eyes wide as he raised his eyebrows. I made a face at him, clearly not amused at all by his theatrics. “I’d be most obliged, Daisy. How can I be of assistance?”

“I need… I need someone to come with me to New York City.” The words burned as they left my mouth, but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you worked solo.” The way he said it made me even more embarrassed, but I held my ground, hoping my burning cheeks weren’t too noticeable. “Why the sudden change in plans?”

“Sasha doesn’t think I should go alone.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.” I looked at him blankly.

“Why?” I bit back a rude reply, sighing.

“I don’t know, Derek.”

“Well, if it had been any other week, I’d be more than happy to help a little lady like yourself out, but, it turns out that my ma’s havin’ surgery next Tuesday and I’m taking a couple of weeks off to go be with her, ’cause, you know, she’s sick and all.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

I sat there stonily for a couple of moments, annoyed. I could just go by myself, but Sasha wasn’t having it. And I couldn’t find anyone else to come with me either—lame. I huffed, standing up. I ignored the stinging on the back of my legs from sitting on the chair for so long, slinging my backpack on one shoulder as I stalked down the hall to Sasha’s office. I sat down in the arm chair in front of her desk, catching her eating her lunch. She took a bite out of her sandwich, and then set it down, chewing slowly as she looked at me. I hoped she just gave up on this whole ‘partner’ notion—hadn’t I done a perfectly good job by myself?

Why did I need to go with anyone?

“Can I help you, Daisy? Did you talk to Derek yet?”

“I don’t need a partner,” was my sullen response as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Daisy, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you.”

“And I’m telling you I don’t need one,” I protested, hoping that she’d finally come to her senses and just let me do this on my own. I worked well alone, I always had, and there wasn’t any reason for me to change that.

“You’re not going to New York City by yourself.”

“But I’ve gone to other places by myself and—”

“No, you weren’t. You were with translators and tour guides and so on, so even if you did work alone, you weren’t really ‘alone’.”

I made a face.

“Either I go alone or I go not at all.”

“Either you go with someone or you’re fired.” She smiled sweetly, pearly white teeth framed by cherry red lips. “How does that sound?” I sighed, standing up as I readjusted the strap on my backpack. Why did she have to give me an ultimatum? Was it really that serious? I scowled. “I’m not asking you to run a marathon, for crying out loud. I’m just asking you to go on a trip with someone for a week and a half. That’s it.” I sighed again. “Don’t you have any friends that’d like to tag along?”

“I’ll look around,” I said dryly, turning around. I made a beeline for the elevator, only to find myself stuck in it with Derek. He looked over at me from his phone, raising an eyebrow. I pressed the lobby button, leaning against the other side of the mirrored glass. Please, I prayed, let him leave me alone. He tucked his phone in his pocket deftly, looking at me with those peering blue eyes.

“So, where you off to now, Daisy?”

I looked over at him, annoyed. I had been hoping to enjoy the descent to the lobby in silence. I guessed not. I wrapped my hands around the straps of my backpack, trying to come up with a something that didn’t involve, “Getting away from you.”

I could feel my phone vibrating in the depths of it, buried beneath notebooks and lists and books and all my other things. I pulled it out after a couple of seconds of blind rummaging. I found myself looking at the text from Dash on my screen with a soft smile, asking me about lunch. He was free for the afternoon.

“Lunch,” I settled on, smiling a little. It was polite but it wasn’t, not really. I wasn’t even lying. I was proud of myself until he asked me where I was going for lunch. “Um… I don’t know, actually,” I mumbled, looking at the doors. Only two more floors to go, I noted, feeling my body sag in relief.

“Well, you know, if you’re not busy, maybe we could get lunch.” I shot him a look. “Together, I mean.”

“I don’t think so.”

Derek was the kind of guy who didn’t understand rejection, be it blatant or subtle. He thought that whenever a girl said no, that was just her way of playing hard to get and that she was actually interested even if she really wasn’t. He just couldn’t accept someone not wanting to be with him (he was just so perfect) and that was what turned most people off.

“Aw, c’mon, Daisy,” he laughed as the elevator doors opened. “It’ll be fun, huh? Just you, and me, and a nice lunch somewhere classy. Maybe we’ll even get a couple of drinks, whaddaya say?” He followed me out of the building, dogging my heels desperately. I rolled my eyes, slipping my sunglasses onto my face.

“I like to eat alone.” Where was he? I looked around discreetly, trying not to attract Derek’s attention any more than I already had.

“We should change that. You ever been to Emeril’s, huh? Best lunch you’ll ever have, I swear.” He wriggled his eyebrows at me and it was all I could do not to throw up on his shiny dress shoes. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, because there Dash was, all knight-in-shining-armor-ish with a simple, easy laugh as he scooped me up against chest, taking no notice to a now sullen and brooding Derek.

“Hey,” I laughed, kissing him chastely.

“Hey, you.” He rested his head on my shoulder. I didn’t even have to look at his face to know he was giving Derek the same easy, infuriatingly happy grin he gave everyone else.

“This is Derek.” Derek held out his hand stiffly, looking upset. I knew I shouldn’t have felt so happy about it, but I still kind of did because maybe Derek would finally get a clue and leave me alone.

“I’m Dash.” Derek smiled curtly at us and excused himself, saying he had some appointment or something to attend to. I laughed once he was out of earshot, looking at Dash impishly. “Wonder what his problem was,” he remarked quietly as we walked down the busy street.

“He’s just grouchy today.” I squeezed his hand, looking over at him. “So, where are we going?”

“I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”

“I feel like getting ice cream,” I said dreamily. It had been a good while, mostly because my groceries consisted of the bare necessities and then some, seeing as I grew lots of vegetables and the like in my backyard.

“Ice cream it is.”

So off we went, in search of a not so crowded or busy ice cream parlor in the middle of Phoenix on a Friday afternoon, laughing and giggling and sharing kisses all the way. It occurred to me as we walked that we were the kind of people I spent all my time staring at when I went out, namely, couples. I mean, how couldn’t I? They were everywhere. I couldn’t help it, though I sometimes wished I could, seeing as whenever I looked at them I felt mighty lonely and sad. But I didn’t have to feel lonely, or sad, or depressed, because he was there and I was there and we were there, together, and I was okay.

He made me feel okay, somehow, and I couldn’t complain.

We eventually found one on the other side of town, sandwiched between a tailor and a large dry cleaner, both of them acting as the first floor of apartment buildings. The awning was a pretty pastel green that spelled out Rudy’s in swirly pink letters.

We guessed what the other one would like, and then bought each other a bowl to see. I guessed rocky road and he guessed cookie dough. We sat down on a bench outside, giggling like five year olds at ourselves. All the while, I marveled at us, at myself, at how easy and simple and carefree this was, and wondered if it’d always be like this. I hoped so.

“Rocky Road’s my favorite,” he grinned, kissing my cheek sloppily. “How’d you guess?” I shrugged, laughing bashfully.

“Vanilla’s mine, but cookie dough’s a close second,” I laughed, swirling my plastic yellow spoon in the small plastic cup. I ate a spoonful, watching him.

“So… how was it?”

I groaned, letting my head loll backwards.

“It was horrible.”

“What happened?”

“If I can’t find someone to come with me, I get fired. And I asked around the office, but everyone’s either too busy or just doesn’t want to go, so I’m stuck.” I sighed, slumping against the wooden bench as I ate another spoonful. “I’m going to lose my job.” I blew my hair out of my face, eating another spoonful of ice cream lazily as I stared at the passerby with mild interest.

“Why didn’t you just ask me?” I looked over at him, wide-eyed. “I love New York City. I know the place like the back of my hand, and you’ve never been there. I’ll show you around.” He wriggled his eyebrows. “It’d be fun.”

“What about school?” I asked, feeling my face blanch.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to come with me, because I did. It just felt like everything was moving so quickly and so erratically that it felt like I was out of control. Which was kind of a problem because I just really liked being in control and I seldom felt like I wasn’t, so when that happened, I didn’t take to it very easily. The prospect of Dash and I alone in New York City made me dizzy, thoughts swirling in and out of my mind.

“I’ll tell them I’m doing research.”

“On what?”

“The education system in inner cities or something equally as convincing,” was his pleasant answer, face lighting up. “We’ll have a blast.”

“You really want to come?” I asked, dubious. He nodded. “Really? It’s not going to be easy. I’ll be working all the time.”

“It’ll be fine, Daisy.” He grinned. “Easy-peasy.”

Everything was easy-peasy for Dash. Everything was fine. Everything was simple, black and white. Sometimes I wished I was like him.

It was settled. I’d be going to New York City with Dash for ten days, and I’d be expected to write a killer article about how wonderful the city was, which was fine. My only problem was that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to concentrate on all the sights and views when he was the one showing them to me.

I just couldn’t say no to that handsome face.

After we had ice cream, we caught a midday matinee at a mostly abandoned theater. We had the place to ourselves, so we threw popcorn at the screen and laughed and were just horribly obnoxious, as well as acted our age and made out during a good chunk of it, just because we could.

I felt young and happy and alive, which was all I really wanted, and he gave that to me.

I could only help but to wonder what would ruin it, and when, and how, and why.

We swung by a tattoo shop after the movie, because it was nearby and Marina just so happened to work there. Why wasn’t I surprised? She cooed and squealed when she saw us, wriggling her eyebrows at me. Sunny was sitting on the table, eating some pizza.

“Dudes,” was his simple greeting as he went back to his slice, waving his pinky and thumb at us like he always did, eyes glued to the screen on the wall.

We sat and talked and hung out, surrounded the sounds of 90s punk rock and rap filtering through the speakers along with the buzz of tattoo guns and other artists. I smiled. I felt like I belonged for once, with Dash and Marina and Sunny and their jokes and smiles. I liked it. The day ended with Dash kissing me goodbye at my door and Marina honking the car horn at us as we pulled away, starry-eyed and flushed.

The next morning, Marina came over and helped me pack, seeing as I was leaving on Sunday morning with Dash.

With Dash, for crying out loud.

Dash.

We went shopping and were trying to organize everything into a staying or going pile, and then we’d put the ones that were going with me in my suitcase. She browsed through the clothes on the floor cautiously, eyeing me with a small smile. I returned it curiously, making a face at her a little. She giggled mischievously. I raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what was so funny.

“So…” she trailed off, wriggling her eyebrows at me. “You and Dash are getting away, huh?”

“Yeah. Something like that,” I answered, squinting at the price tag on a blouse I bought a couple of days before. “I think it’ll be fun. Don’t you?” I set it down with a soft sigh. I looked over at her, pushing my glasses up my nose. I had to pick up my contacts later that afternoon. Otherwise I’d be stuck with my glasses all throughout my trip. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, nothing,” she trailed off with secretive smile, giggling again.

“Marina…”

“What?”

“What are you up to?”

“What? Why do I have to be up to anything?”

“Are you?”

“Well, I mean, when you put it like that you make it sound so deviant, you know?”

She frowned.

“What are you doing this time?”

“Well… when you went to the book store to get travel guides and stuff, I kind of did some shopping of my own.” I made a face as she giggled some more, confused.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“’Cause it’s for you, Daisy,” she explained, chuckling.

“Well, what’d you get me?”

“You’ll see. It’s really cute.” She grinned, folding a pair of jeans neatly. “You’ll thank me later.”

Shaking my head at her, I went back to packing, focusing on other things (like Dash, for example). After an hour or so, we got kind of hungry, so I made us something to eat. We hung out after we finished eating and packing, watched some TV, and then she left, saying something about how I had to rest up.

I couldn’t sleep, anxiety keeping me up. I didn’t repack or unpack because I was afraid it’d take up too much time, so I just made a list of what I definitely needed to see and what I could see if I had the time, which we would. Hopefully. I dozed for two hours or so, the alarm on my phone waking me up. I took a shower sluggishly, wishing I had taken a sleeping pill or something to force myself to sleep.

Afterwards, I changed into a loose fitting dress, a jean jacket and some sandals, seeking comfort over stylishness. I pulled my luggage into the living room, a regular black suitcase, a duffel bag, my laptop case, and my backpack. I heated up some bread and coffee, made myself some lunch (airport food was really expensive) and pottered about, checking and rechecking things to make sure my apartment wouldn’t fall apart in my absence and that I wasn’t forgetting anything.

Before I knew it, I was watching Sunny and Dash put my things in the trunk of Sunny’s car. Marina was sitting in the front, subdued as she sipped some coffee, rubbing her tired eyes. Dash sat next to me, offering me a donut as we drove to the airport.

The whole ride was made up of mindless chatter and small talk. At the gate, where Sunny and Marina and Dash and myself went our separate ways, we said our good byes. Marina was dramatic and sappy, squeezing the air out of both of us and reminding us to call and bring souvenirs and have fun. Sunny was a little calmer, just a brief hug and handshake and wishes for a safe trip, asking us to call them when we landed so that they knew we were okay, and to call if we needed anything.

The check-in was as redundant and slightly tedious as I expected it to be, but in about a half hour, we found ourselves waiting in the semi-full gallery for the plane to arrive. We waited for the better part of an hour. I curled up next to him and he read the paper (I read the comics, because the news was just unsettling) and drank some coffee. We were normal. He was normal and I was normal.

Normal.

Finally.

I don’t remember much of the plane ride, mostly because I was so tired that I fell right asleep as soon as we took off. We transferred in Chicago, but I was still so sleepy that I didn’t remember much of that either. When we got to the airport, he kissed my forehead and told me that we were finally in New York City and if I didn’t want to miss anything, I might want to wake up. By the time we picked up our luggage and went through all the security checks, it was already late in the evening.

We rented a car before we left Phoenix, and the little blue sedan was waiting for us in the massive parking lot when we left. He drove and I settled into the passenger seat, trying to stay awake. The hotel wasn’t fancy or decrepit, but it was in a nice, quiet neighborhood and it wasn’t super expensive.

Apparently, everything in New York City was crazy expensive.

The room—which I let Sasha book—had a single double bed, a desk, a small table and a kitchenette, which is what I normally had on my trips, so it wasn’t a big deal. I was only nervous about the bed. A little.

I mean, it wasn’t like he was going to do anything to me and I wasn’t afraid that he would, but I was just kind of hesitant about it. I forced myself to not think about it and to just relax, because we were both adults and things like that happened all the time and people dealt with it. Why couldn’t I?

“Do you want room service?” he asked, thumbing a menu that was on the nightstand underneath the lamp. “I could go for something to eat right about now.” I shrugged and nodded, starting to unpack my things into one of the drawers of the dresser, kneeling in front of it. “What do you want to eat?”

“I’m not really hungry,” I answered, looking for something to wear to bed.

“You sure?” I nodded, tucking some hair behind my ear.

“I don’t like eating so late.” I found a t-shirt and some pajama pants, and content with that, I tossed them on the suitcase, throwing myself on the bed. I looked over at him, watching as he kicked off his shoes on the edge of the bed, stretching his arms over his head. He looked back at me, a small smile on his face.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Very tired,” was his reply, covering his mouth as he yawned. “I think I’m gonna go take a shower before the food comes up.”

“I’ll be here.” He got up and shuffled to the bathroom slowly. I turned on the TV and dug my phone out of my pocket, sitting up. I had two missed calls, one from Sunny and one from Marina, reminding me that I probably should have called them to let them know we landed okay. I called Marina and balanced the phone on my shoulder as I set my laptop to charge on the table.

“Hello?” she asked. “Daisy?”

“Hey!”

“How was it? Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. “Just tired,” I explained. She chuckled and I frowned. “What? We were on a plane all day.” She just kept laughing. “What?”

“You’ll see.”

“I’ll see what?” I asked, curious.

“Can’t tell you, just know that you’ll be thanking me later.” I was too tired to keep up with her mind games and the room service person was knocking lightly on the door anyway, so I bid a laughing Marina good night and went on my merry little way to the door. The elderly man held out a silver tray with a lid, a gentle smile on his aging face. I gave him a tip and shut the door after he left, sighing. I pottered to the kitchenette and set it down on the counter. I started looking for a glass because I was thirsty, craning up on my tip-toes to see into the far corners of the cabinet.

“That was fast,” Dash laughed from behind me. I turned around, startled, mouth going dry. His hair was wet and his shirt was sticking to him because he hadn’t dried off very much and thank goodness he was wearing pants because if he wasn’t I probably would have just collapsed.

“Yeah, they’re, uh, they tend to be pretty speedy,” I mumbled lamely. “I’m gonna go to the, er, bathroom now.”

“Sure you don’t want any? It’s chicken noodle…”

“You ordered chicken noodle soup?” I laughed and he nodded, taking off the lid. He held out his spoon. “I’m okay. Thanks though. You just enjoy that,” I said, trying to ignore how breathless I felt. He was too cute. I grabbed my clothes and a towel, and started rummaging around for some underwear. For some reason I couldn’t find any. Scowling, I reached into the zippered pouch on the inside lid of the suitcase. I pulled out a bunch of lacy underwear and padded bras, frowning with a light blush. Those weren’t the ones I packed. When did I even buy those? I shoved them back in my suitcase, looking around for the ones I packed. Instead, all I found was a note from Marina.

Surprise! Dash won’t be able to keep his hands off you, I promise.
—love nina