“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want them to not want to kiss me!”
I tried to wrap my mind around that. Girls were so weird sometimes. “How do you know that none of them want to kiss you?”
“Because the only one who tried to get my name was you.”
I sighed. “Maybe I want to kiss you.”
She laughed. “Yeah, right. Thanks, Daltrey.”
“I mean it! What if I want to kiss you?”
“Yesterday, you thought it was hilarious to show me your funky booger, and today you want to kiss me? Okay. Whatever.”
We both laughed, and I was happy to see that I’d calmed her down. I never liked it when Daisy was sad.
I pressed the button on my watch to make the screen glow. “We’ve been in here for three minutes already. Four to go.”
Daisy sniffled again.
“Where are you?” I asked, extending my arms so I could feel around in the dark for her.
“Over here. By the shelf.”
I managed to find her without tripping over anything. I took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I thought my funky booger made you not sad anymore.”
She made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob. “I know that Joanie’s gonna want to know what we did. She’ll tease me forever. No one kissed me in Spin the Bottle, and no one kissed me in the laundry room.”
“We could tell her we kissed.”
She ripped her hands from mine and let out another noise that sounded like a sob.
“Daisy, don’t cry. Joanie is a stupid bitch. Everyone knows that.”
“She likes you.”
“Yeah, well, who doesn’t?” That earned me a smack. It was true, though. Since we started junior high, I’d been noticing that a lot of girls teased me a lot, a sure sign that they liked me, according to Cash. “Seriously, Daisy. You shouldn’t worry about Joanie. She’s the worst.” My eyes were adjusting to the dark a little, and I thought I saw her wiping her eyes.
Daisy sighed. “I know. It just makes me sad that no one likes me, not even a little. No one wanted to kiss me, Daltrey. I could just tell.”
I did it without thinking, without worrying about the consequences. All I knew was that I didn’t want her to be sad anymore, didn’t want her to think that she was somehow less than all the stupid girls out there. So I put my hands on her shoulders, leaned in, and kissed her.
She gasped a little against my lips, making her mouth open slightly, and that made me gasp. Just like when we were eight, her lips were soft and warm. But she didn’t just press them against mine. I was really kissing her, and she kissed me back.
I was suddenly desperate to know what it felt like to run my tongue against her lips, so I did it. She gasped again, and I think I moaned a little, which should have been totally embarrassing—it was Daisy, after all—but somehow it wasn’t. I just wanted to keep kissing her, keep making her gasp like that.
So I pushed my tongue forward until it brushed against hers. I felt her hands on my shoulders, grasping my shirt tightly, and I moaned again. It was awesome. Why hadn’t we been doing it for years?
A sudden blast of light sent Daisy jumping away from me, but not before everyone saw what we’d been doing. Cheers and squeals erupted. I stared at Daisy, eyes wide. Her hands were pressed to her red cheeks, and her eyes were as wide as mine. I could tell right away that she was embarrassed and scared to walk out there, so I did the only thing I could think of. I plastered a giant, arrogant grin on my face and took her hand, leading her back out to the party amidst the giggling and catcalling.
“Is someone next, or are you all too chicken?” I asked, effectively taking the attention off of us.
They went back to determining whose turn it was, and Daisy and I melted into the back of the crowd.
“Why did you do that?” she whispered.
“Because I wanted to,” I said.
She looked at me, her eyes still wide, but with a hint of a smile. “You did?”
I nodded. “Plus, now I can tell everyone what a good kisser you are. You won’t have to worry about anyone not wanting to kiss you ever again.”
She was full-out grinning. “Thanks, Dalt.”
“You’re welcome.”
I didn’t lie to her, not really; those were the reasons I kissed her. And she was really, really good at it. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell any of the stupid assholes in our class about it. The idea of any of them kissing her the way I just had made me feel something like rage deep in my chest. I didn’t want to think about why, so I ignored it.
“Daltrey?”
I shake my head to dispel the memory and look over at Daisy. Her eyes are on me, and the view through the glass behind her of Times Square is dazzling. “Sorry, Dais. What’d you say?”