“And to those who’ve made it possible,” Lennon adds, nodding at Levi. “We couldn’t have done it without you, brother.”
I nudge Daisy. “Or you.”
“To us all,” Reed calls. “To this crazy life.”
“And enjoying every minute of it,” Cash finishes.
We all clink glasses before throwing the shots back. I’m feeling pretty buzzy already, a combination of champagne from the limo, the shot, and the nearness of Daisy. She grins at me, and I have a feeling she’s tipsy, too.
“I want to dance,” Karen says, standing. “Someone come and dance with me.”
Cash and Reed get up to join her and Paige, leaving Daisy, Lennon, Levi and me to continue on with the bottle of Patròn.
I pour Daisy another shot, laughing as she eyes it warily. “Come on, Dais. I’ve never known you to be a lightweight.”
She raises an eyebrow at me, lifting the glass to her lips without breaking eye contact. Then she tips her head back and swallows the shot in one go. “Who are you calling a lightweight? I believe I’m one up on you, buddy.”
I grin and rectify the situation.
“MTV, huh?” she says. “That’s pretty cool, Dalt.”
I nod. “I kind of can’t believe it.”
“I can. I always knew you guys would make it big. I’m not joking. From the first time I heard you play.”
“We were, like, six the first time you heard me play.”
“I mean the band,” she says, bumping me with her shoulder. I try to ignore the little fission of heat that shoots up my side at the contact. “The first time I heard you all play together, we were ten, and we were out in your garage. I’ll never forget it. Lennon looked so tiny under his bass.”
I chuckle. “And he got so mad because he wanted to play guitar.”
She nods. “I think he cried.”
We both laugh, looking across the table at my brother. He’s deep in conversation with Levi, though, seemingly oblivious to our discussion.
I lean a little closer to Daisy. “Do you remember that one time he got stuck under the bridge when we were river tubing? And he cried for, like, a half hour afterward?”
She slaps my arm playfully. “You’re mean. He was just a kid, and he was legitimately scared.”
“Yeah, because he thought there were spiders under there.”
She laughs. “That boy does hate spiders.”
“Didn’t he call you up to his room to kill one once?”
She hits my arm again. “You’re not supposed to know about that. I was sworn to secrecy.”
“Hey,” Lennon says, and Daisy jumps, looking guilty. “We’re going down to the dance floor. You coming?”
I look at Daisy, and she shakes her head a little. “No. We’ll stay here.”
Levi and Lennon get up and step off the platform.
I turn back to Daisy. “You usually like dancing. What’s up?”
She shrugs and looks uncomfortable.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
She sighs and says something.
“What?” I lower my head so I can hear her better.
She leans toward my ear. “There’s too many people.”
I think about what she said about being anxious around crowds. “I’m sorry, Daisy. We didn’t have to come out tonight.”
“Of course we did. We’re celebrating.” Her face seems to flush a little under the flashing colored lights. “Besides, I like it here. With you, I mean.”
I feel a swooping in my stomach that I know has nothing to do with the alcohol. “Yeah?”
She looks right at me, her green eyes bright. “Yeah.”
I want to kiss her so fucking badly. It’s all I can do to keep from grabbing her face and pressing my lips to hers. I know exactly how she’ll taste, how her little breathy gasp will sound.
She looks away first, reaching for the bottle and pouring another shot. I think her hands tremble a bit as she brings the glass to her mouth. Is she feeling what I’m feeling?
She chugs the shot and puts the glass back on the table. “Do you ever feel like you just can’t communicate with someone?”
I frown. “I don’t know. Like who?”
She waves her hands around. “Just, like, anyone. Ever since… well, since I started college, I guess, I feel like there’s this wall in my head. Like there are all of these thoughts swirling around in there, things I want to say. But when I try, it gets all jumbled. All confused. Until pretty soon I don’t even know what I wanted to say in the first place.” She shakes her head. “It’s frustrating.”
I reach for the bottle. “I know exactly what you mean.” I pour my shot but don’t drink it, twirling the glass between my fingers for a minute. “Is that why you didn’t call?” My voice is quiet, maybe too quiet for her to hear, but I’m nervous about bringing up such an upsetting subject.