TANGLED PLANS

27

Max

This dinner is very important to me. This meal will determine if I can both make my dad proud and if he will let me do the one thing I have been wanting to do. I have been working on the business branch pitch for the last full month. Every day, I worked on it in order to have it ready for today.

The only part that I didn't do was the part about the design. As many people have told me already, I do not have one bit of artistic ability in my life. There was no way I would be able to do it on my own.

I run my hands along the now laminated sheet of paper that holds the design. It looks very good for something that was done in under a few hours just last night. Daisy didn't even know prior to yesterday, and yet she didn't ask questions and got straight to work. She was very good at getting things done.

Speaking of, I need to go pick her up for the dinner that is about to start. I didn't want to be here when my dad's work friends got here to go get her because then it would be awkward. Once I have my shoes slipped on, I wave goodbye to the chef who cooked dinner for us and head out. As I drive to the house, which I'm very familiar with, I think about how going to pick up a different Madden sibling is unfamiliar to me.

Shaking my head at the irony, I start to think about the business proposal instead. I would need to rehearse it in my head just enough times to have it perfect. I pull into the driveway of the Madden home, and I'm about to walk out to knock on the door when the front door opens. At first, all I see is dark hair falling down her shoulder as she closes the door behind her.

Once it is closed, she turns her head to the front, and for a second, I let myself admire her from a distance. Daisy had a small smile on her face as she walked with her hands together toward my car. She looked good dressed in a white fitted long sleeve and trousers that fit her perfectly at the waist. My eyes zero in on the small cut out of the shirt by her rib. I didn't know why the small inch of skin shown made my heart skip a beat.

This was Daisy Madden, a girl I have seen grow up with me. There was no way I was seeing her differently now. It didn't make sense, and I also couldn't afford to think of her this way. I push away my thoughts and hit the button to open the passenger side door so she can walk in. The door opens as I turn my head to find her getting in with a slightly bigger smile.

Her confidence was something I noticed. She wasn't confident and carefree around a lot of other people, but she was working on it. I knew she was; I could see the way she spoke to herself in order to contribute to a conversation. I wish that someone would tell her that she didn't need to rehearse a conversation she wanted to have with someone.

"Hi," I say to her once she has pulled her seat belt across her body. She pushes her legs together, and my eyes go down to the pair of heels she was wearing. They weren't much, but they added a little bit to her outfit. She had gone shopping without me; that thought makes me a little sad and also makes me laugh.

"Hey, Max," she answers and gives me a bigger smile. There it is. The smile I sometimes wait for. I look away from her and start the drive over to my house again. I'm aware of Daisy in the seat beside me as she looks out the window with her hands fidgeting on her lap.

She seemed to be nervous, but then again, Daisy was always nervous about doing anything. The way her cheeks would flush and her eyes would look frantic was a sign of her nerves. I don't comment on it because it's something she needs to work out by herself. I only helped her understand that the event didn't need to be nerve-wracking.

"So," she says, surprising me when she decides to speak. I store that away in the folder in my head that I created when Daisy does something out of her element. She barely talked to me, but she has been getting better at making conversation. She puts a finger on her lip, and I try not to look at it too hard. I'm afraid to find an attraction to it. Not that Daisy wasn't attractive; I just couldn't be attracted to her.