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“Souys are fucking terrible at pleasing woory you fall into, sweetheart Not until you find so attracted to”
She nodded a few ti sad When she sensed ave me an I’m okay smile that I didn’t believe
There was nothing I could do to fix how she felt, and that was the hardest part of the entire thing
“Have you been bungee ju the topic so I’d stop worrying
“A few fucking times What about you?”
“Mostly at the over the carabiners on the belt loops of reen crew-neck to aze, and thick, dark brown hair
She wasn’t discreet about the once-over, but she wasn’t exactly being suggestive either Just fucking curious
She hopped back on the ra between us
“Can you say no?” I asked her suddenly
She nodded and knotted the bottoreen bikini beneath No shorts
“What if I was just so suit, ould you fucking do?”
Daisy shrugged “I don’t know—a lot of factors would have to go into it, I think”
“It’s not a fucking trick question,” I retorted, pissed—not at her I was pissed because I knehatat fourteen She’d been touched and et dressed in front of people, treated like absolute fucking shit I’d heard snippets of stories fro her to stand still when all this girl wanted to do was run
Right now, she could barely even keep two feet in one place
“Why does it matter to you?” she asked me what I’d asked her
I shookabout howtih road for anyone, but I started seeing pieces of my life inside of hers And why the fuck e the only two people here?
Why the fuck did I bungee alone all three other times in my life?
My head haain I care about you I want you to be safe Please don’t fuck anyone thatto kill me if it kills you
Every word bled intothe my head
I rubbed uys ahead of us Staring at her ass I ended upforward in the line In front of her I blocked them from view, and she spun around to face me once more
She began to s what I just did
It was a better fucking s okay
And then abruptly, I said, “You can askI rarely shared personal facts with people I barely opened up to my own brother beyond the subject of addiction And I was letting her ask
If I dug deep enough, I would’ve realized that I wanted her to know me
I felt so fucking compelled to strip a layer away, and I’d never been drawn to do it I had no idea why I didn’t stand there and list out reasons on a diagraut this time
My stohtened as I waited for her to speak
She wore confusion again “I don’t knohat to ask”
Realization hit
We ain, and I said, “Maybe next time, Calloway”
“Didn’t you hear?” She wagged her brows at me “I may not be here tomorrow Life could take ain with another girl, in another ti” She said theatrically, “The unexpectedness of it all”
My gaze darkened andfunny, sweetheart”
“You’d call her sweetheart too” Sadness lingered behind her fleeting s inside of her Like she would’ve been alright with dying Like she was searching for sorasp
I rushed to say the first thing inhead ToI doubted could be changed bysee that, Daisy?
So I said the truth “You know, you’re the only girl I’ve ever called that”
I didn’t tell her that it was the first term of endearment I’d ever used with anyone I found baby and other pet na, but “sweetheart” fit Daisy completely and in a sort of nonroly or backhandedly Always just kindly
How it should be used
Her lips almost pulled up “You think I’m sweet?”
“I think you’re out of your fuckingout offully beside me
Good
Only two guys were ahead of us, already harnessed and on the platform About to take their turn An eether or separate?”
Daisy nudged my waist and joked, “If you’re scared, I can juood hand-holder”
I thought about everything she’d been tellingfunction inside of me said, don’t leave her alone
“We’re juether,” I told the employee
Daisy’s lips parted in shock There was no way she could believe I was scared, and if she did, I didn’t honestly care After her surprise wore off, she rolled with the new plan
The eave us instructions and helped Daisy with her harness Maybe because I had carabiners on my belt loop or because I looked like I knehat I was fucking doing—he never hovered over me
In the passing lanced at each other I watched her sain more life, which actually pulled my lips upward too
Over the screauys who just jumped, Daisy retied her hair into a pony, and I wondered what she was thinking If she was overthinking what I just fucking did
I decided to be blunt since I requested to bungee tandem with her “You know that I don’t like you like that, Dais” The words were fucking static and actually hard to produce
I thought itlook—like she understood hten the mood, she said, “It’s okay; you can admit it”
“What auy’s fucking screams
We were ushered to the empty platform at that point, and two eether with another carabiner on our waists
“That you’re scared” She motioned to the descent, a playful look in her eyes