A Single Daffodil

“Everybody get up!”

The beginning chords of Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and loud cheers of excitement could be heard blasting from within the arena while Jayden, Sophia and myself sat in the Miami Heat locker room. All the players, and even my dad, were in high spirits tonight because this was game five, but it was also the game that would determine if the Miami Heat were going to win the NBA Finals or not. Typically, there’s game six and seven, but since the Miami Heat won both games against the Bulls in Chicago last week, we were ahead with 3-1. If we won this game, we won the NBA Finals. If we don’t win this game, we still had to play game six and seven. It wasn’t looking good for the Chicago Bulls though, thats for sure.

While everyone in the locker room was antsy about winning us the game tonight, I was antsy about how my hair looked. I nervously tugged on one of my curls, while my dad and his assistant coach called for everyone to gather around him. I wasn’t even listening to whatever the hell kinda motivational speech my dad was giving tonight, because I was so distracted by the thought of seeing Harry tonight. The minute he left the shop last night, I ran over to the phone and called up Sophia to tell her the news. She screamed in Spanish for like thirty minutes before telling me she’d be over my house the minute I got off work this morning.

Luckily work was so slow this morning, that Maggie let me off two hours early. I drove straight home, obviously anticipating tonight’s events. What I wasn’t anticipating was Sophia rummaging through my closet when I got home. Apparently she already spent an hour trying to find possible game outfits for me to wear. Much to her dismay, I had to put my foot down and tell her I had to wear a Miami Heat jersey since tonight was a big deal. I was the coach’s daughter, after all. She did, however, have complete control over my hair and make-up which was enough to make her happy. She managed to make my out-of-control curls look somewhat manageable by turning them into soft curly waves.

“Old Hollywood Glamour!” Sophia announced excitedly, dousing my entire head with hairspray when she finished. “Te Ves Hermosa, Vita. Just beautiful!”

She even finished off the look with cat eye-winged eyeliner, which complimented the hair nicely. By the time she was finished, I was disappointed putting on my cropped Miami Heat t-shirt and high-waisted skinny jeans. I almost wanted to put on one of Sophia’s dresses.

By the time I arrived at the arena, I was too nervous to go out to the main seating area just yet so I forced Jayden and Sophia to come hide out in the Miami Heat locker room instead. Of course, Sophia wasn’t entirely opposed to this idea.

“Let’s go, boys!” Lebron shouted, clapping excitedly. When he spotted me standing by my dad, he easily picked me up with one hand and threw me over his shoulder. “And we got our Vita charm back! We’re back in business!”

I laughed, pounding his back with my fists. “Put me down!” I exclaimed. It was no use though, he was carrying me out of the dressing room, with the rest of the team behind us. I could see Dwayne Wade laughing at my reaction behind me.

“Fellas! You can’t embarrass her tonight!” Sophia announced as she tried to make her way past all the tall players and towards me and Lebron. “There’s someone at the game she’s trying to impress!”

Lebron immediately put me down and looked at me with playful curiosity, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh now standing next to him with their arms crossed.

“Is that so?” Chris smirked.

“Sophia, you idiot!” I cried. I turned to look at the three smirking players. “Don’t even, guys. How about you win this game tonight and NOT worry about humiliating me in front of someone I potentially may or may not like!”

“Don’t worry, we won’t.” Dwayne grinned at Lebron and Chris, who started to bump elbows. Shit, they were already plotting.

“I’m serious guys!” I yelled after them as the started walking towards the opening that led to the court.

“Whatever you say, Vita!” Lebron shouted behind him.

I glared at Sophia, who shrugged innocently. The last thing I needed was Lebron and the others scaring the bejesus out of Harry tonight. They loved playing the ‘older brother’ card on guys I was interested in. One time, I made the awful mistake of bringing an old fling from high school to the game. Once Lebron and Wade were aware of who he was, they made it their point to bully the shit out of him. When I came back from the bathroom during halftime of that game, I found Lebron holding the guy upside down, only holding onto one of his ankles. It was safe to say, the guy never went to a game with me again after that.

“I can tell tonight’s going to be a good night.” Jayden nodded. “I’m gonna go get some hot dogs. Meet you gals at the seats?”

Sophia rolled her eyes at Jayden and yanked at my elbow. “Come on, let’s find our men.”

“Our men?” I questioned, letting Sophia drag me out of the same opening the Miami Heat team just walked through.

“Well you said Harry ez coming with his band, no?” She replied. “I hope he brings Niall. He ez so sexy.”

I had no idea who Niall was, or who the rest of his band was, so I just went with it.

My legs felt shakier and shakier with every step closer to the main arena. The butterflies were bursting excitedly in my stomach too. I was an absolute shivering mess of nerves. The anticipation was killing me.

Although, when we walked out to the sideline of the basketball court, I didn’t even have a chance to look for him. The minute a reporter and cameraman caught sight of me, Sophia and I were completely swarmed by dozens.

“Vita, over here! Over here! Do you think your dad will lead us to victory this year?”

“Vita! Let’s get a picture of you and your dad together! Who’s your friend? Where’s Jayden? Is he here too?”

“Do you think Dwayne Wade will deliver tonight for the game? What did your dad say to the team before the game?”

I tried to answer all the questions as politely as possible while Sophia posed like a model next to me --I had to seriously refrain from rolling my eyes at her. Reporters and cameras always paid more attention to me when it was the Finals. They would do anything for a story.

We didn’t have to put up with the reporters for long because by the sixth or seventh question thrown at me, the Chicago Bulls walked out onto the court immediately taking their attention entirely away from us.

“I need a drink.” I let out a breath of relief. Tonight was going to be a long night.

As we walked over to our usual seats by the court side, Sophia was already on her phone, texting away on her phone. It was like clockwork with her. She had no desire to watch the game tonight. “Ay, Mami! Guess what? I just got a text from my cousin James. Jessica Franklin is having an after party tonight at her dad’s beach house!”

“No, Soph. Please don’t.” I immediately said. “I hate her parties!”

“Oh please, Vita!” She exclaimed. “It’s a Miami Heat themed after party! It’s only happening if we win the game!”

For once in my life, I hoped my dad’s team would lose.

“We can even invite your man candy, no?” Sophia smirked, shaking her shoulders with excitement. “By the way, security just escorted him to the seats opposite us.”

I immediately whipped around to see. He was looking frazzled while at least four or five photographers surrounded him and the two other members of his band with flashes and questions. I also noticed a couple of the Miami Heat dancers were made aware that they were in attendance too. It wasn’t exactly discreet of them to be giggling amongst each other and pointing in their direction. I was clued into the fact that Harry and his band were famous, but I’ve never seen his ‘fame’ in action.

“Can we talk about how I just ran into David Beckham in the VIP area?” At some point, Jayden had appeared next to me with three hot dogs and a large bag of popcorn. “And that he knew who I was because his son is a fan of the X-Games?”

“Not now, Jayden.” Sophia huffed, throwing back a perfect wave of her Columbian hair behind her shoulders. “We’re busy watching One Direction be sexy.”

“Why do I even bother?” Jayden let out an aggravated sigh as he dropped into the empty seat next to me. “Here.” He added, handing me a large cup. “I bought you a Dr. Pepper.”

“You’re my absolute favorite best friend in the whole world!!” I exclaimed excitedly, reaching up to pinch his cheek. He swatted me away angrily. He hated when I did that.

When I turned back to the court, my eyes were immediately drawn to where Harry was sitting and this time, his eyes met mine. He finally spotted me. Realizing this, my cheeks started to burn. I shyly waved in his direction. Harry grinned, waving back. I noticed he was starting to get up, so I quickly copied his actions and stood up too. My plan was to walk over and talk to him, and I was about to do this, until my dad barked orders at me.

“Sit down, Vita! The game is about to start!” He exclaimed, pointing at my seat.

I sighed, stepping back and sitting back down. I looked over at Harry to see a security guard told him the same thing. When we locked eyes again, he mouthed the words ‘After?’. I nodded with a smile.

This was going to be the longest game I would ever sit through.

The ball was thrown and the first quarter of the game began. I tried so hard to pay attention to the game, but it was impossible. My left leg was bouncing with some sort of disobedient energy as I watched my dad stalk up and down the side of the court angrily, with his clipboard in hand. Every so often, he would yell at the refs when they would call fouls on our team. I was disappointed when the two teams would be playing on the farther end of the court because when they were on the side we were sitting by, I could steal a couple of glances of Harry sitting on the other side. It was much less obvious that way. Unfortunately, He caught me looking at him a couple of times and would smirk and shake his head every time he caught me. Talk about embarrassing.

Finally, when the first quarter was over, there was a ten minute break for the teams to re-group and for the Miami Heat dancers to put out their best numbers for the crowds. This was my chance to go over and talk to Harry. Unfortunately, the Gods were not on my side tonight, because by the time I stood up from my chair, another swarm of photographers and reporters came over to me. I stepped back, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the questions they were barking over the music. I also couldn’t come up with plausible answers because I spotted the stupid dancers twisting their heads over to where Harry was sitting. When my eyes darted over to see if Harry noticed this, he was actually looking over at me and the group of photographers with his lip wedged between his teeth. The look was downright attractive. It was so attractive, in fact, that I didn’t realize I was stuttering responses to the reporters until Jayden stood up and joined me for the pictures and questions. When it was all over, I had completely missed my chance to go talk to him.

And my luck wasn’t changing either. When the second quarter was over (the Heat were winning by ten points), it was halftime which meant we had twenty minutes before the third quarter starts. It was perfect! I was up and rehearsing what I would say in my head as I made my way across the court. I just reached the basketball hoop and made eye contact with Harry, when Lebron James caught me by the shoulders.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He questioned, dropping his arm across my shoulders. “We have a team meeting in the locker room right now!”

“Wait, I-” He didn’t give me a chance to explain. He was already redirecting me in the direction I came from.

I twisted around to see Harry watching us with a disappointed glance. I mouthed the word ‘Sorry’ to him before completely disappearing behind the Miami Heat team. I was so frustrated.

Jayden and Sophia were already waiting for me outside the locker room by the time I arrived.

“Ez so crazy out there!” Sophia exclaimed, already answering my raised eyebrow. “We needed air.”

“I want to get another hot dog, but people keep coming up to me and asking for a picture.” Jayden added.

“Ay, Jayden! Enough about the hot dogs!” Sophia blurted out with frustration.

Jayden narrowed his eyes at her. “No.”

“I haven’t even had the chance to talk to Harry.” I said, hoping this piece of information would prevent my best friends from entering a brawl. “It’s more difficult to cross the basketball court than to climb Mount Everest at this point.”

Before I could continue to complain, my dad rushed down the hallway like a gust of wind. There were at least twenty --maybe even thirty-- cameras and reporters behind him, hungry for news. They were yelling out questions and trying to take pictures but he ignored all of them. Instead, he marched toward us like he was on a bonafide mission.

He whistled at us and flicked his finger at the locker room door. “In. Now.”

The three of us practically tripped over each other as we rushed into the locker room, where the rest of the basketball team was waiting.



After the third quarter of the game, there was a real sense of optimism in the arena’s atmosphere since the team were still in the lead by ten points. There was only ten minutes between the third and fourth quarter of the game, so the minute that buzzer signaled the quarter was over, I was already out of my seat.

“Don’t forget to invite them to the after party!” Sophia hissed as I made my way towards the court.

Just as I waved behind my shoulder to indicate that I heard her, I heard Jayden’s voice too. “Wait, what after party?”

When Harry saw me approaching, he smiled and stood up. Even with a smile like that, thrown in my direction, made me completely forgot what the hell I was going to say to him in the first place.

Great.

“Hey!” I said when I reached him. “Sorry it took me this long to come over. It’s been a little crazy.”

“A little!?” Harry repeated incredulously. “Every time I look over at you, you’re either being interviewed, or talking to the players! All this time, I’ve been hanging around a celebrity.”

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Please.”

“Excuse me, Harry!” Another British voice rang out from behind Harry. “When were you planning on introducing us to your beautiful friend?”

I leaned past Harry to see two grinning boys. I recognized them as the same boys I saw at the first game last week, when Sophia freaked out and drooled over them like a maniac.

Harry made an aggravated noise and stepped out of their way. “This is Liam and Niall. They’re in the band too.”

When he said their names, the two of them stood up and shook my hand. I grinned at them, introducing myself. “It’s nice to meet you guys. I’m Vita.”

Niall’s face lit up. “So you’re the girl Harry’s been obsessing over since we got here.”

“Oh my God. Shut up.” Harry intervened immediately. “Shut up, right now.”

“Yeah, he literally won’t stop talking about you!” Liam added with a bold smile. “He brings you up in conversation every chance he gets!”

I giggled uncontrollably when Harry started pushing them away from me. “That’s enough, you plebs. Go back to your seats.” When he turned back to face me, I noticed the faintest tint of red grace the top of his cheeks. “They’re totally lying, by the way.”

Niall leaned past Harry and whispered harshly at me. “No, we’re not!”

I immediately changed the subject before I decided to combust from this new piece of information. “So I was wondering what you were doin-”

A load roar of excitement unexpectedly interrupted what I was saying, when the song ‘Kiss Me’ by Sixpence None The Richer started playing throughout the arena. I completely forgot they did this during the break between the third and fourth quarter. The Kiss Me cam was already singling out random couples in the crowd and broadcasting them on the huge screens above the court.

“Mate, look! The Kiss Cam is up!” Liam excitedly patted Niall on the shoulder. “I love these things!”

“What were you saying?” Harry had to yell slightly over the loud cheers when the second couple kissed on camera.

“I was asking what you were doing later!” I repeated. “Sophia wanted me to invite you and your bandmates to come to this after party thing our friend is holding at her beach house.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Harry replied with a smile. “We’ll just meet up with you guys after-”

“HARRY, LOOK!” Niall cried out unexpectedly. “YOU’RE ON THE KISS CAM!”

Harry and I immediately whipped around to look up at the screens. To my absolute horror, I saw myself and Harry standing inside the heart shaped screen, with the words ‘KISS CAM!’ beneath us.

Oh my God.

“Oh, no! We’re not-” I was shaking my hands in front of me, trying to communicate to whoever the hell was controlling Kiss Cam that that there was no way this was happening, until Harry unpredictably pulled me into him and swung me around, dipping me close to the ground. He had one hand curled behind my neck, and the other supporting my lower back.

The crowds went wild (I could easily single out Sophia screaming like a madwoman from the other side of the court), clapping loudly, and yelling the words ‘Kiss! Kiss!’.

“Go big or go home, right?” Harry’s face was so close to mine, his voice only a whisper. I was still in shock from the swift motion, that I was clinging onto the material of his black t-shirt.

“Go on, lad!” Liam and Niall cheered next to us.

Before I could protest, he planted his warm lips onto mine. My whole body felt limp, every single nerve-ending in my body went numb. The whole arena erupted once again the second it happened.

And just like that, the kiss ended too soon. I was almost too shocked to react. I was pretty sure my heart was no longer beating and my lungs were no longer working. I was acutely aware of the fact that he just kissed me in front of a whole arena of people -- my father, included -- but the second he released me, my brain was all mush.

Harry’s voice was raspy when he spoke. “Sorry. Got a little carried away.”

I laughed nervously, feeling my face go beet red. “Yeah. Well I better, uhh, get back.” I started backing away, awkwardly placing a strand of hair behind my ear. “So we’ll catch you, um, after the--oh sorry!” I accidentally backed into a camera guy, because my stuttering mess and mushed brain wasn’t embarrassing enough. “Um. Yeah! We’ll just--right. Yeah.”

Harry was watching me squirm uncomfortably with an amused expression. I quickly turned around and stalked across the basketball court, where the Miami Heat team was watching me with amusement too.

Chris Bosh was clapping. “What a performance, mini-Spoelstra!”

“Ha!” Lebron James pointed at me. “Look at how red she is!”

“Everyone, shut up.” I pushed Chris’s extended arm away from me. “Just...no speaking.”

When I found my seat between Sophia and Jayden, I made sure not to look neither of them in the eye. Of course Sophia was grinning like an idiot and Jayden was smirking.

“Shut up.” I muttered, crossing my arms across my chest.

“We didn’t say anything!” Sophia replied with a laugh.

I immediately covered my face with my hands, trying with great difficulty to hide the goofy expression on my face. Red was not a good look on me.