Through The Dark

by Jae

  “What?” I question, my eyes widening in surprise at his words.

  “The way they kept giggling and trying to get me to pay attention to them, it was annoying. “ He explains as I let my arms drop to my sides. “And it was really rude; obviously I was already there with someone.”

  I don’t know why, but a part of me thought Liam was going to be really mad at me for making a scene like that; especially over something as stupid as a giggly girl giving him her number. It’s not like he would’ve kept the number anyway, right?

  “Would you have kept her number?” I voice my thought.

  “No, Daisy, I wouldn’t have.” Liam answers, stepping closer to me and sliding his hands to either side of my jaw. “You’re the only girl I want.”

  I nod my head before he connects our lips. We kiss for a lot longer than is probably necessary considering we’re standing on a public sidewalk in front of different shops, but neither of us cares. This kiss is more important than anyone passing by will ever realize.

  “How about we go back to your house, watch movies, and just relax before we have to go to practice later?” Liam offers when we pull away from each other.

  “That sounds perfect.” I agree as Liam wraps his arm around my shoulders and we head back to his car.

  “Our waiter told me to tell you he’s sorry for giving me that piece of paper.” Liam tells me after we get in his car. “He also said to tell you he wasn’t even thinking and should’ve known what was written on it.”

  “That was nice of him.” I respond and turn on the radio. “Will you sing more?”

  “Sure.” Liam agrees as I lean my head on the window and shut my eyes. I quickly fall asleep to the soothing sound of Liam’s voice mixed with the soft music playing on the radio.

  I wake up to the sound of gun shots and weird voices coming through the TV. When I open my eyes, I’m instantly met with the back of a couch I recognize as the one in the basement of my house. This makes me scrunch my face up in confusion; wasn’t I just in Liam’s car? I turn my head and find Liam sitting on the other end of the couch with a gaming controller in his hand; well that explains the gun shots and weird voices. I watch the TV for a few seconds before sitting up and crawling over to Liam. I rest my head on his lap while he finishes the level he’s on.

  “Hello, sleepy head.” He grins, looking down at me.

  “Hey.” I grin back. “How long have I been out for?”

  “About an hour; you passed out in the car on the way here.” He informs me.

  “Have you slept at all?”

  “No, I saw this video game when I laid you down on the couch and started playing it.”

  This makes me laugh. “Why did you come down here instead of my room?”

  “I figured if your parents were to freak out over seeing us sleeping together, it probably wouldn’t be as bad if it’s on the couch versus your bed.”

  “That is some good and respectful logic.” I confirm, nodding my head in understanding. “Though I don’t think they would’ve freaked out.”

  “Well, we can go up to your room if you would rather sleep in there?”

  “No, this is okay. I’m already comfortable.”

  Liam nods his head and I look over at the game still displayed on the TV.

  “I’ll turn it off and lay with you if you want me to.” He offers.

  “You don’t have to.” I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t mind either way.”

  “I want to.” Liam confirms before pressing some buttons on the gaming controller, shutting down the gaming council, and then pressing the OFF button on the TV remote. “Sit up.”

  I do as I’m told and wait for Liam to lay down with part of his back pressed to the back of the couch and the other pressed to the cushions under us. I lie down next to him and rest my head against his chest while draping my arm across his torso and tangling my short legs with his long ones. I let out a soft, content sigh when I feel him put one arm behind his head and wrap the other one around me.

  “You smell good.” Liam states, his voice already sounding sleepy.

  “Thanks.” I respond, pressing a kiss to his chest before closing my eyes and easily falling back asleep to the thumping of his heartbeat below my ear.

  “Aww, they look so cute like that!” I hear my Mom gush, her voice sounding far away. “Don’t wake them up yet, Tim. I’m going to get Daisy’s camera; I have to take a picture of them!”

  “Fine.” I hear my Dad sigh, his voice also sounding far away. “But please hurry, Lori. They need to be getting up; we have to leave soon.”

  Their voices disappear as I fall back into sleep. Unfortunately it isn’t long before I hear them again, a little closer this time, telling Liam and I to wake up.

  “You two are so adorable!” My Mom exclaims as I slowly open my eyes and I’m instantly met with her huge beaming smile.

  “Mom, please, quit smiling. It’s too bright right now.” I groan while Liam slowly sits up and I flip onto my stomach, burying my face into the cushion and silently begging for sleep to find me again.

  “Oh, that was a good one!” I hear my Dad chuckle before letting out a groan when my Mom hits him on her way back upstairs. “Please get her up, Liam. We have to leave here in about an hour.”

  Liam mumbles an okay before my Dad follows my Mom upstairs, calling her name and promising he was only kidding about agree with what I had said.

  “Little Miss Daisy.” I hear Liam coo while he places small kisses across the back of my shoulder. “It’s time to get up, babe.”

  “I don’t want to.” I whine as he easily flips me over and hovers above me.

  “But you have to.” He responds softly, pushing my head to the side and trailing kisses down my neck.

  “Do you really think doing any of this is actually going to make me want to get up?”

  “Not at all!” Liam grins, pulling away from my neck and staring down at me. “But you still smell really good.”

  “I’m wearing the same perfume and used the same shampoo, conditioner, and body wash I always do.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why are you going so crazy over it all of the sudden?” I question him, completely confused.

  “I’m not.” He chuckles. “I’ve always thought you smelled good, I just never voiced my opinion about loud before.”

  This brings a smile to my face. “You’re adorable.”

  “Adorable?” He scoffs playfully. “Daisy, I thought we already talked about this?”

  “Oh right.” I dramatically roll my eyes. “You’re really sexy when you act all crazy over the fact that I smell good.”

  “That’s better.” Liam chuckles some more as he tickles my sides, making me let out a squeak. “Now that was adorable.”

  “I’m not supposed to be adorable, Liam, I’m a man.” I say, mocking his deep voice.

  “You are adorable. And speaking from experience, I’m a thousand percent positive you aren’t a man.” Liam states as his lips twist into a knowing smirk and he winks at me. My eyes grow wide when he slowly trails his fingers down my stomach to the waistband of my shorts.

  “Come on, you two!” My Dad yells down the stairs. “You need to get ready!”

  “Damn, saved by your Dad.” Liam winks again before standing, pulling me up with him. “Hop on, small fry.”

  “Does that make you an ‘Extra-Large Fry’?” I giggle while climbing onto Liam’s back.

  “I feel like I should be offended,” Liam responds in a thoughtful voice as he walks upstairs. “But that’s actually probably accurate.”

  This makes me giggle even more.

  “Oh my goodness!” I hear my Mom’s voice squeal as soon as we walk through the basement door that leads to the kitchen. “Don’t move! I have to take another picture!”

  “Another picture?” I question, trying to remember her ever taking a picture of Liam and I.

  “Okay, smile!” She says and I lean my head down a little closer to Liam’s, both of u
s smiling. “Perfect!”

  “Great, now go get ready!” My Dad says.

  “Yes, sir!” Liam and I say at the same time, saluting my Dad and then high-fiving each other as exiting the kitchen.

  “My bag’s in my car.” Liam explains after he sets me down at the bottom of the stairs.

  “No, you brought it up earlier.” I tell him. “Remember?”

  “That wasn’t my basketball bag.” He responds before placing a kiss to the tip of my nose and then walking out the front door.

  I slowly walk up the stairs, feeling extremely lazy and wishing Liam would’ve carried me up to my room first. I get dressed in a black sports bra and a white cut-off shirt that has the logo of my high school on the front, black basketball shorts, white Nike socks that stop at the bottom of my calves, and a pair of black athletic sandals that look just like Liam’s except for mine have the Nike swoosh symbol across the top of them instead. I pack my gym bag with the necessities I’ll need and then head back downstairs.

  “We’re like twins!” I say to Liam after I walk into the kitchen.

  He’s already dressed in his basketball gear which is very similar to mine, except he’s wearing red instead of white.

  “Oh, now we definitely have to take a picture of this!” Liam says in a girly voice and drapes his arm over my shoulders while I wrap my arm around his back.

  “That’s the spirit!” My Mom practically cheers as she turns on my camera and snaps one picture of us smiling and then another of us making funny faces.

  “You’re a dork!” I smile as Liam leans down and kisses me.

  Even though my eyes are closed, I know my Mom is taking another picture.

  “Let’s go!” My Dad says after he picks up our gym bags and carries them out to the car.

  “Aren’t you coming, Mom?” I ask when I realize she isn’t following us out of the kitchen.

  “Oh, no.” She smiles. “I’m going to stay here and make dinner. You and Liam are going to be starving after practice.”

  “You should come, Mom.” I encourage. “We can just order something on the way home.”

  “Are you sure, sweetie? I don’t mind making dinner.”

  “It’s fine, Mom. I want you to come.” I reassure and she happily agrees.

  The entire car ride is filled with discussion of what we should order for dinner. Liam of course plays Switzerland, but we finally decide on getting tacos. When we get to practice Liam introduces my Dad to Coach and I introduce my Mom to Connor, Jack, and some of the other guys I’ve become friends with on the team. The Assistant Coaches take over todays practice while my parents and Coach sit on the bleachers to watch and talk.

  Today, the Assistant Coaches decide we need to work on some strengthening exercises before we can get to the actual basketball part of practice. First, we run a six wall and then we line up in three rows across the entire court.

  “If your knee starts to hurt too badly, please say something.” Liam demands softly after taking the spot next to me.

  I nod my head and listen to the Assistant Coaches give us further instructions on what we’re doing next. They tell us that we’ll be doing what is called a General Circuit Workout which consists of nine challenging yet simple arm, leg, and abdominal work outs. The catch is we have to go through the Circuit three times.

  “First, we’ll start with fifty squats.” Assistant Coach Parker says. “We are a team, so we will do this as a team, do you understand?”

  We all shout yes.

  “Good!” Assistant Coach Parker smiles while nodding his head. “You may begin.”

  “One!” We all yell as we bend our legs to a ninety-degree angle, or at least as close as we can get, straighten back up, and then repeat the process. “Two!”

  We continue this until we’re finished and then move onto ten jumping squats, followed by twenty pushups and then ten lunges per leg.

  “Okay, fellas.” Assistant Coach Green says, pausing when I loudly clear my throat. “And Daisy.”

  I grin and everyone else lets out small chuckles.

  “What we’re doing next is a sixty second plank. I can guarantee you this is the hardest out of all these workouts and will be extremely difficult for most of you to do. But, I believe in all of you.” Assistant Coach Green continues. “And whoever fails before Daisy gets to be kicked in the balls three times.”

  Everyone’s eyes grow wide at his words.

  “I’m just kidding!” He laughs. “Now, everyone drop to the floor!”

  We do as he says and get in position for the exercise.

  “When I say ‘Go’, the clock will start.” Assistant Coach Green says as he disappears from in front of us.

  I bend my arms at the elbow so my forearms are pressed against the wooden court and stretch one leg out like I’m about to do a push up, but keep my other leg slightly bent. When I hear the word ‘Go’, I stretch out my bent leg so it matches my other leg and press them together. I feel my entire core instantly squeeze tight and I know this is going to be the longest sixty seconds of my life.

  “You can do it, Daisy.” Liam tells me quietly when I let out a groan after no more than ten seconds. “Just think of something that relaxes you.”

  I squeeze my eyes shut and instantly think back to Liam singing in the car earlier today. I can hear his smooth voice filling my ears and flowing around my body. Before I know it, Assistant Coach Green calls time and I instantly drop to the floor with a small thud.

  “You alright?” Liam asks, helping me up.

  I nod my head before rolling my neck. We continue into fifty jumping jacks, thirty mountain climbers, twenty crunches, and twenty tow touches. Then we’re given a sixty second break to get a drink of water before we move onto the next set.

  “Damn, Daisy has bigger muscles than Chad!” Sam, one of the guys on the team, yells while we do our second set of pushups.

  “Shut it, Sam.” Liam snaps, his eyes flashing dark.

  I know Liam likes having me at practice, but I also know it drives him insane watching all of his teammates constantly checking me out and hearing some of them voice comments about my body. I see his eyes constantly flashing dark during practice while he suppresses the urge to physically attack all of them. As bad as I feel about it though, I think it’s actually kind of helping improve his basketball skills and self-control. He’s been working and pushing himself even harder every day and it’s really showing in all of the best ways.

  Once we finish the Circuit work out, we begin the actual basketball portion of practice. We run a few drills before we work on some plays that need more perfecting and then end practice with a scrimmage. As always, Liam and I are on different teams guarding each other and Liam’s team is shirtless. While we wait for everyone to figure out who their guarding and such, I brush my fingertips across the daisy tattooed on Liam’s chest. I fight the urge to rip the rest of his clothes off right here, right now and choose to walk away from him instead. I glance over to see my Mom’s eyes practically falling out of her head as she takes in all of the physically fit college basketball players. We quickly make eye contact and she motions to Liam before giving me two thumbs up and a wink. All I can do is laugh as I turn away and try to put all of my focus on the scrimmage beginning before me.

  “You guys looked great in practice today.” My Dad compliments Liam and I while we’re sitting around the kitchen table later that night eating tacos. “I can’t believe how well you keep up with all of those boys, Daisy!”

  “It’s pretty crazy.” I mumble under my breath and take another bite of my taco.

  “Coach said that the women’s basketball team at USC already held their tryouts back at the beginning of April, but their holding another tryout towards the end of July.” My Dad continues, completely oblivious to what I’d just said.

  I nod my head, already fully aware of this information. I had looked it up the night Liam told me we should start rehabbing my knee.

  “Okay, enough basketball talk!” My Mom
declares with a sweet smile after my Dad and Liam drone on and on for nearly half an hour.

  “Amen, sister!” I agree, high-fiving her. As much as I love playing sports, I find talking about them to be sort of boring after a while.

  “We need to discuss the wedding on Saturday.” My Mom continues, turning into business mode. “Liam, you’re coming, right?”

  “As far as I know, yes.” He answers her while opening another taco and putting hot sauce on it.

  “Fantastic!” She smiles while clapping her hands together.

  Sometime I wonder how my mom can be considered a serious lawyer. For this to be, she must be a completely different person at work. That is the only explanation I can think of.

  “You can meet us here and then we can all just drive to the church and reception together. Since the reception is in the ballroom of a hotel, we decided to get two rooms there so we don’t have to worry about driving home.”

  After my Mom says this, something I never thought would happen in a million years happens; my Dad wiggles his eyebrows at my Mom and Liam wiggles his eyebrows at me at the exact same time. Because of this, I am now torn between laughing at the fact that it happened and gagging at the idea of my parents having sex. I mean, I know they obviously do it; they’re still young. But they’re also still my parents and just like any other child, the idea completely grosses me out. After my mom finishes going on and on about how amazing my cousin’s wedding is going to be, Liam and I escape downstairs to watch a movie. Unfortunately, I pass out before it’s over.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Okay, when is my boyfriend going to show up here with flowers?” Taylor questions with a whine, making Ella, Zoie, and I laugh.

  “I’ll be sure to put a request in for you.” I hear Liam’s voice say from behind me and I immediately turn around to see him walking towards us.

  “Oh, I get it now!” I exclaim, laughing a little more when I see Liam has a bouquet of white daisies in his hand.

  “Should I start bringing all of you flowers?” Liam asks after he hands the flowers to me. “Would that win me some type of boyfriend award?”