I sat on the couch with Duke, rubbing his head, wishing I could talk to him, ask him what was going on. I wanted to fix whatever was wrong. We’d been having such a good time, and then something shifted, but what?
After almost an hour of nothing, I got off the couch and headed toher room. I had given her enough time. I needed answers. I knocked on her door, and after a few seconds of no answer, I slowly opened it and peeked my head in, hoping she wasn’t changing. The last thing this moment needed was for me to see her naked again.
When she came into view, my chest tightened and I ran to sit next to her. She was crying, and I wondered if she was thinking of her dad. It was her first Christmas without him. I should’ve known better than to suggest going to that party.
I placed my hand on her leg, wanting to let her know I was there for her, but she jumped up and took a few steps back like I’d shocked her. I furrowed my brows, confused.
“I’m fine,” she said before I could ask. I knew she wasn’t. We knew each other better than anyone else knew us. Something was bothering her, and I didn’t think it was only about her dad. If it was, she wouldn’t have been avoiding me so much.
“Kai—” I started, but she cut me off.
“Stop!” I flinched. Her movements were quick and angry, like when I came home from my date, but this time, she acted mad at me. For what? I wasn’t sure.
“Just leave me alone, Daisy!” She turned around and stormed out of the room. NowIwas mad. We talked about our issues. Always.
I huffed and marched after her. I didn’t know what was going on, but we were going to get to the bottom of it.
When I found her in the living room, she was sitting on the couch, still crying. As mad as I wanted to be, the sight caused me to soften. I hated not knowing what was going on and how to fix it, but even more, I hated seeing her upset.
I stopped directly in front of her and just stared, waiting for an answer. “I’m sorry,” she signed.
I sat down next to her and waited until she looked at me before I began signing. “Kaia, you know you can tell me anything. What’s wrong? What happened?”
A long moment passed before she responded with the last thing I thought she’d say. “I’m sorry, Daisy. About the mistletoe. The kiss. It shouldn’t have happened like that.”
All of this was over the kiss? Why? Maybe she didn’t like it? The way she’d kissed me told a different story, but maybe now she regretted it?
Iknow I didn’t. I should. It was supposed to be a quick and simple kiss, just for fun. Just to get Drea off our backs about it. But when she kissed me back, it wasn’t so fun anymore. And it ended up being anything but quick and simple.
That kiss had transported me to another dimension. One I didn’t want to escape from. I had no idea she could kiss like that. Phew! Just thinking about it made me all disoriented.
When she’d closed the distance between us, I’d never wanted it to end. She kissed like she did everything else—with her whole heart. I almost wondered how she kissed someone she actually had feelings for.
I had been trying to forget about the feelings I’d had for her since she moved in and, more importantly, trying not to overanalyze every thought and action since meeting her. But as she pulled me close and kissed me back, I realized I couldn’t hide from my feelings forever.
I wanted to explore them more. I had gotten a little taste of her, and I wanted more. I didn’t exactly know how, or what that meant, just yet, but I was willing to figure it out.
But before any of that, Kaia came first. I had to brush off any lingering feelings the kiss left. I needed to figure out what was going on in her head. Why was she so upset about it? Had I taken things too far by kissing her like that?
Her eyes were still focused on my unmoving hands. I tilted her chin up to meet my eyes. I wanted her beautiful warm brown eyes looking into mine, knowing I was there for her, not judging her. “Come on, doodle. It was all in good fun.”
She shook her head. “No, Daisy, it wasn’t.” She stood up and paced back and forth in the living room. She was really shaken up about it, but I couldn’t understand why.
I grabbed her wrist, and her movements halted. I caressed her skin, partly wanting to feel her beneath my fingers, but partly trying to calm her down. To let her know everything was going to be okay.
“It’s not that big of a deal. I promise.” I needed her to believe me. She was still acting frantically, and it was worrying me.
“Yes it is, okay? It is a big deal, and I’m sorry.”
“Why? Why do you think it’s a big deal?”
“Because!”
“Because why, Kaia? Why are you shutting me out right now? Youknow we don’t do this. We don’t run from each other. We talk about our shit. Clearly we have something to talk about, so start talking.”
“Because I like you, Daisy!”
I frowned, confused. “Yeah, I like you too, Kaia.”
