December 3rd Part 2
December 3rd – Part 2
After managing to get another couple of hours of sleep, Daisy spent the rest of the morning in bed. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had been able to treat herself to this luxury. At one point, she had even reached for a book and read almost a hundred pages, just for the fun of it.
Feeling relaxed and refreshed despite her rather short night, she finally crawled out from under her blanket and started getting ready when the clock struck 2.30.
Making herself look like what she deemed to be a presentable human being took her a surprisingly little amount of time. She brushed her teeth, fixed her hair and put on the smallest bit of make-up – just mascara and some tinted powder. After that, she grabbed the nearest pair of jeans and her favorite mustard-colored sweater, threw them on and headed down the stairs. She was just about to slip into her coat when she caught a glimpse at herself in the mirror. She stopped dead in her tracks. What had she been thinking?
Letting her coat fall onto the ground, Daisy sprinted back up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. In her room, she started rummaging through the contents of her suitcase until she pulled out a black knitted dress from the very bottom and switched her yellow sweater and the jeans out for it. But somehow, she felt like the dress wasn’t quite right either, so she pulled it back off and looked around the mess she had just produced. Her eyes caught sight of a red blouse and a pair of black paper bag pants that she remembered buying for a meeting with a client that she had really wanted to impress. With a shrug of her shoulders, she went for it. She was half-way out her bedroom’s door when she came to a halt once again, turning back on her heels. She peeled of the new blouse and threw it across the room, discarding the foreign feeling she had gotten the moment she’d put it on.
What was one even supposed to wear to an occasion like this? And even more importantly, what even was this occasion, exactly? Sure, they both had referred to this as a date. But he hadn’t actually meant it. Had he?
“Get a grip”, Daisy scolded herself, shaking her head at how ridiculous she was being. She was simply on her way to catch up with an old friend she had known since she was 5. Nothing more and nothing less. No reason to overthink an outfit choice this many times. Sighing, she retracted back to what had been her first choice – the yellow sweater and simple jeans. After all, it was what made her feel most like herself.
A few minutes later, Daisy was out the door and on her way into town. Her clothing odyssey had made her late, but she had no choice but to slow down in order not to slip and fall on the icy side walk. When she reached the café they had agreed on, she could already spot Trip through the window sitting at a table by himself. There were several sheets of paper piling up next to him and he had a pen pushed behind his ear the same way he had always done when they’d been in school.
Suddenly worried that he had been waiting long, she entered the café and rushed over to his table. “I’m so sorry I’m late”, she started gushing right away, without as much as making him aware of her presence. “I was on time but then I got distracted and I didn’t mean- “
Her flow of words was interrupted when Trip looked up and chuckled. “Woah, calm down, girl. How about a Hello first?” He lifted himself out of his chair and greeted her by wrapping his arms around her in a warm hug. Instantly, all her worries melted away.
He had her sit down and get settled into her chair while he went to order some hot beverages for them at the counter. While she was waiting, Daisy gazed over at the handwritten papers on the table. They were stacked quite messily, thus she was able to catch a glimpse at some of the titles. One scrawly headline read “Bridge to Terabithia”, another one said “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. When Trip returned, a steaming mug in each hand, she was craning her head to be able to see more.
“It’s always the most popular assignment of the year”, he commented as he sat down and placed their drinks in front of them. “With the students, but also for me. Mostly for me, if I’m honest.”
Daisy looked up at him questioningly, awaiting further elaboration.
“I let the kids pick whatever book they like to read”, Trip explained, his voice taking on a blissful tone. “I then ask them to write a paper about all the feelings they had while reading their book. You would never believe the things these 6th graders are able to feel.”
“Actually”, Daisy began, making a dramatic pause to take a sip of her hot peppermint cocoa, “the thing that I’m having a hard time believing is that you became a teacher. Antoine Triplett. A 6th grade English teacher. How did that happen?”
Shrugging his shoulders, it was now Trip’s turn to sip on his coffee. “Principal Hand offered me the position when I moved back here. I think she’s always liked me, since we were kids. I needed a job so I took it and turns out I’m pretty good at it.”
Daisy nodded along to his words, realizing that they made perfect sense. Of course Trip would be great at teaching kids English, with it always having been his favorite subject. “Do you still write?”
The smile on his face turned wistful. “Occasionally. Not so much since my…” He trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.
“I heard about your grandpa. I’m really sorry”, Daisy says quietly and reached across the table to place her hand on top of his. “Was he the reason you came back to Snowboro?”
“Yes and no”, Trip responded and she felt his hand clench up into a fist. “I came back for his funeral but my mom had a really hard time dealing with it, so I stayed for her.”
She offered him a sympathetic smile. “I think she’s very lucky to have you.”
Trip audibly cleared his throat. “Let’s not talk about sad things anymore, okay?” After Daisy nodded in agreement, he continued. “Tell me about you. How is… oh, what’s his name again?”
Daisy froze, the blood in her veins running cold. Every muscle in her body tensed up. It was an involuntary reaction, not one she had any control over no matter how much she wished that she did. She could practically feel her brain darting back and forth, hastily looking for a way to get out of this conversation, but she came up blank. Her inner tumult couldn’t have taken longer than a couple of seconds, but it was enough to allow the panic to spread all across her face. She was sure that any moment now Trip would ask her what was wrong. He would press on and push her and she wouldn’t have the courage to explain.
But instead, all he did was twist around his hand to wrap his fingers around hers and squeeze gently. Without any other comment, he asked, his voice lighthearted as always: “So what’s life like in the Big Apple?”
Her mouth still felt dry like sandpaper but she was overcome with a sense of relief. She managed to answer his question, and just like that, they fell into an easy conversation, both of them ignoring the moment of tension. Soon enough they were laughing and sharing childhood memories, Trip’s hand not once letting go of Daisy’s. Time passed without them taking any notice of it, until a story about one of Trip’s students was interrupted by a noise. “Ahem.”
They looked up simultaneously. In front of their table stood the young girl that had been waiting on them all afternoon. “I’m really sorry to interrupt”, she said and sounded like she really meant it, “but I really have to close up now.”
Daisy quickly took a look around the café and surprisingly came to find that the place was empty apart from the two of them. “Oh”, she said, feeling her cheeks blush.
The girl handed them their bill, and before Daisy could even reach into her pockets for her tiny wallet, Trip had already placed a twenty on the table. “You don’t have to do that”, she tried to protest, but to no avail.
“No way am I gonna go on a date with a girl and let her pay.” He winked at her exaggeratedly, and even though Daisy knew he was saying it as a joke, the butterflies in her stomach went haywire.
They gathered up their things and headed for the door. Outside, tiny snowflakes were tumbling down from the sky, illuminated by the light of the lanterns. The streets were quiet, the only sound being the door of the café falling into its lock behind them. Slowly, Daisy came to realize that this was probably where they would have to say Goodbye, but as soon as they stepped out into the cold, Trip wrapped his gloved hand around hers once more and her fingers slipped in between his like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Can I walk you home?”, he asked and immediately received his answer in form of a nod and a beaming smile.
After a whole afternoon of talking, the pair now walked side by side along the streets in a comfortable silence, neither of them wanting to interrupt the peaceful quiet of the night. As they went, Daisy allowed herself to glance over at Trip from time to time. He had grown a bit more of a beard since she’d last seen him, but other than that, he looked exactly the way she remembered and it made her wonder what he remembered about her from the last couple of months they had spent together. She watched a couple of tiny ice crystals collect on his long, dark eyelashes and when he blinked them away, she averted her eyes with a smile.
After what simultaneously felt like many hours and just a split second, they reached her parents’ house. He walked her up the steps to the front door and said: “Tonight was great. I missed you, Daisy.”
His words stung a little, but she didn’t want to let him see it. “I missed you too. You don’t even know how much.”
Trip took a step towards her. He was now close enough for Daisy to see his breath condense in the cold air in front of her, and when he leaned down, she could feel it tickling on her skin. She was sure that he must be able to hear her heart pounding against her chest as his warm lips gently touched her cheek.
When he finally pulled back, the expression on his face was unreadable. “Goodnight”, Trip said softly, before turning around and slowly climbing down the stairs.
“Night”, Daisy breathed back. With her hand already resting on the doorhandle, she let her eyes follow him until he disappeared into the night.