Page 42 of The Chemistry Coach
Hazy snickered and asked, “Even in your browser history?”
Valentine’s face got red, but he still handed her his phone and whispered the password.To the group he said, “Daisy doesn’t care about my browser history, and she wouldn’t judge.”
His trust had her eyes prickling with tears that she fought to keep from falling.She wouldn’t have let them have access to her own phone.Daisy opened the phone and scrolled through a few apps.She didn’t want to invade his privacy, so she opened a social media app and scrolled for a few minutes.Then, straight-faced, she returned his phone with a pat on his arm.
“Your turn!”She reminded him.
The first few rounds were dares to do shots and shallow truths as they roasted marshmallows and let the alcohol take over.She learned Hazy was a pothead as a teenager and still smoked once in a while, Valentine had to repeat eighth grade, and Connor failed his driver’s test three times.
But then the whiskey hit their systems.Hazy asked Valentine, “Truth or dare?”
“Truth!”he shouted.
Hazy said, “Tell us about your first kiss.”
Daisy squealed, clapped her hands, and said, “Ooo, yes!First kiss stories!I want to hear them all.”
Valentine’s demeanor turned bashful, and his face went red.“I, uh.Don’t have that story to tell yet.”
Daisy went on the defensive, ready to protect this boy from ridicule with every ounce of her being.She hadn’t needed to worry.Connor kept quiet, and Hazy said, “Ah.Do you want to have that story, or is that something you’re okay without?”
Valentine cleared his throat, and answered, “No I want it.Trust me, I do.I just get weird.And now it’s gone on so long it feels so big, and it’s not like I’m going to talk about it in the locker room or with the other guys; they’d laugh me out of there so fast.”
And that was that.Hazy said, “Huh.Beanie, what about you?First kiss?”
Connor objected, “It’s not my turn.”
Hazy said, “C’mon man, Daisy wants to know all of them.I’ll share mine.”
Connor sighed but shared.“Her name was Roxie.It was freshman year of college, I later found out she’s a raging lesbian.”
Daisy gasped.“Roxie was your first kiss?She never told me that.”She slapped a hand over her own mouth realizing the slip-up as they all slowly turned their heads to stare at her.
Hazy asked, “Why would she have told you that?”
She shook her head vigorously and couldn’t keep the squeaky quality out of her voice as she tried to take back her outburst.“I don’t know.There’s no reason I would know Roxie.Hazy, tell us about your first kiss.”
Everyone relaxed, and Daisy, in her naivety, thought she was off the hook.
“Seventh grade with a girl named Addison,” Hazy said.“It was awkward and uncomfortable, like every first kiss should be.Tell us about yours, Daisy.”
A nostalgic smile crossed her face as she recalled the memory.“In high school.I was seventeen, and he was a hockey player.Patrick is the reason I’m obsessed with it.We were lifelong best friends, and we got it into our heads that we should be more, so we tried.”She should call Patrick.He’d want to know she was spending so much time with his rival.
Valentine, suddenly more alert, said, “Yeah, yeah.Very cute.Beanie, truth or dare?”
Connor answered, “Dare,” and Valentine threw her right under the bus.
“Do you have a way to contact this Roxie lady?”
Connor raised his eyebrows and smirked at Daisy as he answered Valentine’s question.“Yeah, I have her number in my phone.”
Valentine and Hazy let out whoops of joy.“I dare you to call her right now and ask about Daisy.”
Connor gave Daisy a shit-eating grin and walked away from the group, his phone pressed to his ear.Daisy didn’t dare reach for her phone.They’d know she was texting Roxie.Connor and Roxie were on good terms.She’d answer his call, and he might learn that Daisy was the reason they broke up.It wasn’t exactly her fault.Roxie had seen how lustful Daisy got over him, realized she didn’t like any man like that, and they split.But to be fair, Connor broke Daisy and Patrick up, too.Her desire for Connor had outweighed her feelings for Patrick.It fueled their rivalry.Daisy couldn’t admit how much impact she’d had on Connor’s life before they met.It was creepy.
He’d barely stepped away from the fire pit and said hello before her phone started dinging.She forced herself not to reach for it.But it dinged and dinged and dinged.She cursed herself for leaving the alert noise on.Why couldn’t she put her phone on silent like every other normal person?
“Hmm,” Valentine teased.“Wonder who could need to get ahold of you so bad.”
