TANGLED PLANS

3

The shouting doesn't stop until I slam the laptop (not fast enough) and place my head on the table. My face warms as I shake my head over and over again. There is a familiar laugh beside me, and it makes me want the earth to swallow me whole.

He couldn't be the one who had caught me searching for such a thing. That was the worst thing that could've happened. I could've dealt with my brother laughing at me, but I couldn't deal with Max putting a hand on my shoulder and pulling me up.

There is amusement written all over his face when he says, "Little Daisy with a crush." The way he says the word crush scratches my ear in an unwelcome way. I hate the way the end of the word is a long vowel. Crush. What a weird word.

"I'm only a year younger than you," I tell him with annoyance, and I watch as a grin makes its way over to his face. His eyes are on mine when he says, "So you do have a crush."

"I don't," I quip very quickly with a shake of my head, my cheeks starting to flame even more. I didn't like the spot I was put in. I wish I could go back in time. Then I think about the conversation that didn't happen at the dinner table and know that that wasn't an option either. The only option I had here was to run.

And so I do.

I book it down in the dining room, light on my feet, and toward the living room. "Daisy." I'm hearing his shout from behind me, but I don't stop, and I head up the stairs. I couldn't do this. This was far too embarrassing. "Daisy, come on." I hear a grumble, a little too close to me, and a second later, there is a figure in front of me.

I start shouting again, and Max shakes his head as I do so. Finding out that I cannot get away from him and head to my room makes me shut my mouth and look away from him. I train my eyes out of the window that's right past the top of the staircase. The weather is starting to get warmer here, with winter finally leaving after the season changed a month ago.

"Daisy," I hear his voice say in front of me, but I do not turn to him. The embarrassment of everything that has happened recently makes me want to cry. I can't believe I ran away after that. I'm ashamed of myself. "Who has gathered the attention of our little Daisy?"

It's times like this that I wish I was older than my brother. It's times like this that I wish that I was taller because, as I stand a full head shorter than him, I feel small. Our little Daisy makes me want to disown myself. I wanted him to see me as someone bigger, someone worth his attention, but I'm not.

I shake my head and look away from him. "Who is it?" he asks, and I look up at him, my anger level rising.

"What's it to you?" I ask him in a higher-leveled voice, and it shocks him evidently as he takes a step back. He looks down at me with a frown and says, "I'm sorry, I was just wanting to know who you liked."

I study him. Does he know that I like him? Is that why he keeps asking me? But the look in his eyes doesn't give any indication of him thinking I liked him, as his face was impassive.

The revelation that the guy I have a crush on doesn't like you should make me sad, but it doesn't. Instead, an idea forms in my head. I needed to take a liking to another person, and my feelings for the one who couldn't possibly like me would subside. I was a genius.

"Okay," I say to him, and he looks down at me with a deeper frown. I stand up taller and bring a sweater-clare arm up to my face and attempt to feign shyness when I say, "There's someone in my grade."

Max's eyes flash at something really quickly before he too stands up straighter and crosses his arms across his chest. "You were searching for ways to get rid of the crush; does he not like you?" Max asks, his voice taking on a serious tone that could only mean that he was being protective. I hated the fact that he acted like another older brother for me.