TANGLED PLANS

59

I'm internally freaking out, and I try to calm myself down. This was real; of course it was. It took us so long to get here. But it's just so surreal.

"Daisy, are you okay?" I hear the voice of the guy who was asking me out. I nod, and he gives me a weird look. "What is it? Tell me you aren't trying to reject me right now."

I laughed out loud at his statement; there was no way he just said that. The concern edged into his voice makes me laugh out louder. Nax puts a hand on my arm to steady me, and when I look into his eyes, I try not to laugh again. "Max, please. I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time."

Max leans back against his seat and puts a hand under his chin. "Really? Since when?"

My cheeks heat up at his curious yet teasing hint in his voice. I brush the front of my hair down and say, "I don't know. Maybe ever since I saw you for the first time before your freshman year."

"Daisy Madden has liked me that long?" Max asks with a teasing curiosity in his voice. I laugh as I slap his shoulder and say, "Hey! You came back after three months with a transformation."

Max chuckles at that: "Right, puberty does that to a person. But Daisy, that long, huh?"

"Just a tiny bit then," I say to him as I try to simmer down what it actually means. Max only continues to smile, and I shake my head harder. "You just... I don't know. I was allowed to be attracted to you after you came back all well-grown up."

Max's eyes widen as he looks down at me. "Oh, Daisy. Does that mean you like older men?"

"Older men?" I shriek loudly at the ridiculousness of the question prior. "No, no."

"Good, because I thought..." Max trails off with a laugh. I would be given the worst lecture of my life if I ever told someone that I had a crush on a person five years older than me. First it would be my dad, but then it would be Brayden, which would be worse. I couldn't do that. And crushing older men was only okay when they were in books; they were better anyway.

"Okay, okay," I say to Max as I subconsciously fix my hair and make sure I look presentable. I needed to add ChapStick to my lips, but there shouldn't be anything on them. I meet Max's eyes and say, "Ask me."

"Mhm," Max hums in response as he watches me stress for a moment. Afterwards, there is a long smile on his lips as he asks, "Can I take you on a date, Daisy?"

Yes, the question hit me the way I thought it would.

I feel my heart melt at the sentence and then say, "Yes."

"Great," Max says, and I can tell that his smile has gotten bigger as well. I liked the idea of him actually sitting her down and asking me out on a proper date. It made me think that he would respect our relationship better. Max then grabs my hand and pulls me up.

Wiping at my cheek with the back of his hand, he leans in close to me and says, "Hey, Daise. I'm going to ask you a question, and you have to be really honest with me, okay?"

"I don't lie often," I tell him in promise. Max moves his finger down to my chin and grips it, where he whispers, "Say, Daisy. All the times there was a flush across your cheeks, was it because of me?"

I bolted it out of there.

He had set me up, and I knew I shouldn't have trusted the glint in his eyes as he looked down at me or the seriousness in his voice. I pull my hand away from Max's and head straight down the remaining stairs of the bleachers and toward the open field. I have to run fast to get away from him since Max had moved as soon as I did, and he was hot on my trails.