TANGLED PLANS

25

I wish it were as easy to follow the advice I was given. Of course, I hadn't asked Justin about the kiss, but that caused me to worry more about it. Max's words of not letting myself get embarrassed didn't work on me. My mind was a fog of humiliation and anticipation for what Justin was going to say.

By lunch time, I was a nervous wreck.

Luckily, after I grab my lunch, I take a seat next to Maria and Keilly, who are both so excited to see me. I wasn't able to update them on any of the dates I went on, so I knew they were very excited for me to share today. Seeing as Justin wasn't here yet, I took a seat next to Maria, who had been pulling my arm. I wondered if this was the feeling; I've been missing it my whole life. I wondered if the fact that the excitement of seeing your friends alone was something I could've experienced in the past.

I knew that my post-makeover wasn't the reason that Maris and Keilly had finally spoken to me long enough. It did have something to do with it—not for them, but for me. My makeover gave me the confidence to be able to talk to the girls more, and instead of grimacing, I smiled and told them that I was actually someone they could speak to. I just needed the confidence to speak to someone.

"So..." both of the girls say at the same time, which causes them to laugh silently with each other. I laugh at that and then say, "The first date was on Thursday after school."

"Ice cream, right?" Keilly asks with a hand on mine. I nod and say, "So Justin had wanted this one to be a double date."

"He was probably nervous," Maria says, and we all nod at that in acknowledgment.

I put a hand under the base of my ponytail and said, "Yes, so it was my brother and Max." I wait for the girls to shout Max's name in sync with a light squeal and then continue. They didn't know that, through my ignorance, I had felt the same way about Max as well. I haven't told them about my feelings for Max because I have been waiting for them to go away.

My plan wasn't working as well as I wanted it to, but it was better than when I used to become a person trying to speak underwater every time I saw him. This was better than that by a long shot.

"The date didn't turn out too well. Justin had spent the entirety talking with my brother and Max and had wanted to go on a second date to make it up to me," I say with a small smile. The girls didn't know the details of where the second one was, so I waited a few minutes to continue. "The second one was at the movie theater, and we watched the newest movie that came out."

"Ah, Maria and I were trying to watch!" Keilly shouts out in glee, and I smile. "The movie was good," I say, and then, when I catch Maria's eyes, I deflate and decide to tell the truth. "But there was a time where I thought he would kiss me, but he didn't."

The girls look at me like, Well, that's okay, so I shake my head. "No, um, so we were close enough for me to place a hand on his face and close my eyes, waiting for the kiss to come."

"And he still didn't?!" both of the girls yell at the same time, and just then, my eyes catch on the head full of blondes walking over to us. I nod at them very quickly before pushing their hands away and saying, "Later." It takes them a second to catch on, but as soon as Justin takes a seat across from me, they move to their respective places.

"Hey, Daisy," he says as soon as he is across from me.

I tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear and say, "Hi."

He grabs his own lunch, and I go back to my own as I try to take my mind off of the kiss that didn't happen. Once it had been awkwardly silent amongst us for an eternity, it seemed like Justin called out my name. I look up at him expectantly, and he leans forward on the table.