The Choreographer

33: Happy

"You left?" Brooke flew back from France to see Liam yesterday. Daisy, Darcy and I are at Liam's house with Brooke now.

"Yeah." I say leaning back on the couch.

"Like no goodbye? Just gone?" She clarifies. Her hair isn't tipped blonde anymore. It's been dyed a bubble gum pink. It's very light, and very Brooke.

"Just gone." I nod.

"Because you didn't want to sleep with him?" Darcy asks.

"She just said that." Daisy says for me.

"Was he mad?" Darcy asks.

"I don't know, I guess so, he walked away..." I say.

"You told him to find another woman." Brooke points out.

"I didn't mean it!" I cover my face with my hands. "Well I did, actually, if he really wants to go out and have sex it's going to have to be with someone else."

"Don't do it if you aren't ready." Daisy says, and she looks at me very sternly. "I'm serious, Isabel, don't do anything you aren't ready for. Doing it will not make you ready."

Daisy has been used and abused. Just how bad I don't think I'll ever know.

"Am I horrible?" I ask.

"No." Darcy says. "You're just young."

"I needed an adult." I admit.

Darcy smiles. "You need a girls night."

"Clubbing!" Brooke scream opening up her closet.

I laugh, I don't really think they're serious until my hair is done up and I have a red dress on. I still don't really believe it until we're in the club.

"Watch your drink. Hold your hand over it like this. See?" Daisy instructs me. "Don't let anyone but you and the bartender touch it. Ever."

Daisy is beautiful. Her hair is still white. It went from white, to orange, to forest green just to return to white. It's curly and her eyes makeup is minimal. I hope Zayn doesn't hurt her. She is strong but she is also glass. I don't know how that makes sense, but with Daisy it does.

"Okay." I say. I follow Daisy's lead.

She is quiet, and watches the people. I see a guy sit down next to her and tap her shoulder.

"Daize," he says smiling.

Daisy does not look happy to see him. "Clayton." She fakes a smile.

"How are you?" He asks. He looks off.

"Good." She says.

"You here alone?" He tries to pretend that he's curious but I sense something really twisted about this guy.

"No, I am not." She says.

"Oh," he replies, staring ahead. He leaves a minute or two later.

Daisy pushes her drink off the table and it crashes to the floor.

"Why did you do that?" I ask.

"He put something in it." She says simply.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Because when he asked if I was alone he turned his head to the side, to get me to look where he was. I did. I know that as soon as I turned away he dropped something in." She tells me.

I don't ever want to know as much as Daisy does about scary men.

She is silent. She looks like she might cry. I wonder if he ever hurt her. I think he did.

"I need..." She looks like she wants to open up but stops herself. She sniffles and stares straight ahead. I'm seeing her glass side right now. I don't think I have ever seen it before.

We don't leave until late. Brooke and Darcy are on the dance floor and Daisy and I sit together at the bar. She doesn't drink anything after Clayton comes over.

I look over at Daisy as we walk out and give her the advice I wish I had been able to give myself. "Don't shut him out." I say.

"What?" She asks looking over.

"Zayn. Don't make him every guy you've ever dated before, okay?" I ask.

"I'm not." She says.

I smile at her, not quite believing her. "Okay."

We head back to Brooke's house and stay the night. I am almost positive Daisy cries herself to sleep.

***

I hear the boys downstairs. Brooke woke us up a few minutes ago. "Does Niall still talk to that Brynleigh girl we met on tour in Georgia?"

"I think so." I tell her.

"Good." Brooke says, brushing her hair. "She was chill."

I don't want to go downstairs. I don't want to see Harry. I can tell from the look on her face that Daisy doesn't want to see Zayn either.

Brooke and Darcy go down, them and their perfect relationships.

"Hiding?" I ask her.

"Yeah." She says.

"Me too." I nod.

We sit for a good ten minutes before she speaks again. "Clayton was really charming." She explains. "I was actually only sixteen when I met him. He was twenty. I thought I loved him. I thought we were going to get married. I thought he was Mr. Right." She sniffles. "Then he wasn't. He cheated on me, he hit me and he set the low standards I had for men. It's like if I wasn't being yelled at by a man I didn't know how to function. I broke up with three good guys, Ben being one of them, because I didn't know how to be loved by someone." She looks up. "Zayn is just...he's never yelled at me, or anything, or pressured me, or made me feel like I wasn't good enough, or done anything at all suspicious. I have never felt belittled around Zayn." She wipes at her eyes. "It's scares me Iz, it really does. I just can't be everything to him that he is to me. I don't know how."

I look over at her and put an arm around her. "Don't worry, I feel the same about Harry. But look at us now."

"You're happy." She says.

"Let yourself be happy." I say.

She sighs. "Are you ready to go down stairs?"

"Nope." I say standing.

"Me neither." She gets up and we walk down the hall and stairs. We follow the voices. Daisy's shield is back, the glass is gone, replaced by titanium. Bulletproof. I hope she let's Zayn in.