Page 6 of Picking Daisies on Sundays
“How are you?” She—Bella—asked as she practically jumped onto Levi in a warm embrace. This wasnotthe kind of saving I was looking for.
“I’m good, I’m good. How are you?”
Should I leave? Honestly, what would you do in this conversation? I obviously had no clue. I stood there for a moment debating my options, watching as Bella and Levi talked, his hand on her arm the entire conversation and her hand on his.
Her hair was the color of the homemade blondies I made on Sundays before working at the flower shop. It had this strawberry blonde tint and was the perfect length, hitting the middle of her back. It made me wish I had never cut my hair.
“I’m here with one of Sarah’s friends, she’ll be at the wedding with us.”
Us?
I glanced at Levi in surprise. She was invited to the wedding? I hated to admit it, but I couldn’t watch him be invested in every word Bella said; it felt like senior year all over again. And hearing about how involved she was in his life—how I used to be that person—was too much.
I stepped away from them before I could do anything pathetic, they wouldn’t notice me blending into the background—but then I was pulled back within one step, a hand in mine.
“Bella, this is Daisy—Dani,” he said, correcting himself in a flustered manner.
Hearing the sound of my name coming from his lips affected my body in a way that other men couldn’t even do when kissing me.
I refrained from looking down at my hand in surprise like a love-obsessed stalker, and instead looked at the girl across from me, who was now climbing off Levi at the sight of our interlocked hands. Now she was looking at me as if she knew me. Did she?
“Daisy?” Bella asked Levi, rather than asking me, with an appalled look on her face.
At the nod of Levi’s head, Bella continued, “I’ve heard a lot about you.” The way she spoke made it sound as if she regretted it.
Before I could speak, Bella kept going. A flirtatious smile painted on her face as she touched his thigh, her body in between his legs. “Did Levi tell you we’re together?”
The comment hit me like a slap in the face, my heart instantly faltering. Did he lie about not being in a relationship to make me feel better about my poor excuse of a dating life? My reaction must have been evident because Levi spoke up immediately.
“We’re not together anymore,” Levi said.
“I was just testing you, calm down.” Bella rolled her eyes and
then flicked one of Levi’s loose curls.
Catching her hand, he said, “Unnecessary.”
I couldn’t help but notice how when he said my name it sounded sweet, but when he said hers, it sounded seductive. Probably the perfect way to describe how the two of us were different; she was all glamour, and I was all…vintage.
“Oh, come on Levi, everyone knows you’re obsessed with me. No hard feelings. I promise it won’t affect my mother’s decision about the job. Maybe,” she spoke with wit, finishing it off with a wink.
“That’s not true.”
Bella continued, not caring for his refusal to agree with her. “Being obsessed with me? Ohcome on, Levi, everyone can see it, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You haven’t even dated anyone since—”
“I’m dating Dani.”
The only thing keeping my jaw from dropping was the satisfaction I was getting from Bella’s shocked face.
“Excuse me?” Bella asked, her voice iced over with intensity that I only ever saw from my aunt when they messed up her takeout order.
He didn’t miss a beat, his eyes went straight to my face to drive the point home. My knees locked up as he looked into my eyes and said, “Daniella and I are dating.” His words were seductive and determined, like I was his and he wouldn’t sit there and be told otherwise.
I stared back in awe; the moment being broken up by Levi as
he returned to Bella. “So no, it shouldn’t affect your mother’s decision.”
Coldness wasn’t something you’d see from Levi often. I could count on one hand the number of times in which he raised his voice or cut someone off in the four years I spent with him. Seeing this side of him was like witnessing a tsunami in a landlocked country.
