CHAPTER TEN
[10]

song: we exist by arcade fire

DAISY TAPPED HER FOOT ANXIOUSLY. She'd never even been inside a police station, let alone questioned by them. She sat alone in an empty room, on a cold metal table with a cup of black coffee sat on the table in front of her.

She looked around at the dark room, brick walls, no windows, and only a single bright fluorescent light hung above her head. It was like any basic interrogation scene that she'd seen in movies, and it made her question how big of a deal this really was.

The door opened up, and Daisy turned to see George walk in first, and an unfamiliar woman, dressed in an out of style pantsuit walk in behind him. "Daisy Hendrix?" The woman says. She had olive skin, and dark ember curls. Daisy nods, swallowing, and the woman sits down in front of her, while George stands off in the corner. "I'm Alana Daley, I'm a detective centered in downtown Portland." She held out her hand and Daisy gave it a nervous shake.

If they had to pull in detectives from the city, maybe this was actually serious. "I didn't do it." Daisy spoke, almost choking on her words from nerves, she felt like she could cry.

Alana glances at George and back to Daisy. "We know that." She nods. "We're questioning a lot of people involved. We're required to question you— as I hear there was a fight between you and Jenna not long before she was killed."

Killed. The word didn't settle well with Daisy. Someone she went to school with was killed. She didn't die, she didn't get in a car wreck, or overdose, or— she was killed.

"Can you explain to me what the fight was about?" Alana asks.

Daisy nodded cautiously. "Um," Daisy searched for words that would make her sound innocent. She was innocent— but Alana didn't know that. She didn't know how to deal with this situation. "I'm dating this guy, and— he used to date this girl Carol." Daisy began. "Then Friday night after the football game, we went to Andy's— like we always do. Everyone does. And I left early, and Carol and a bunch of her friends and I got in a fight— over Tommy." The fight sounded so stupid when she said it out loud.

"Was Jenna there? At the fight?" Alana asks. Daisy thought that was implied, but nodded. "Did you see where Jenna went after Officer Arguello showed up?"

Daisy shrugged, thinking for a second. "They all just ran off out the other side of the alley."

Alana nods, writing down her words on a piece of paper. Decide her, lay a file. Daisy glanced at the file and up to Alana. "What happened to her? To Jenna?" She asks.

Alana sighs. "She was found this morning in the woods with a slit throat and a bashed in head." Alana says, distraught in her voice. Daisy's heart dropped for a second, as that was not what she was expecting to hear. "According to the autopsy, she would've most likely been killed around midnight Friday night."

Daisy didn't know what to say, or if Alana was expecting a response at all. She glanced up at George, who kept his gaze to the ground with an upset look on his face.

"That's all we need, right now." Alana says, sending Daisy a comforting smile. "Arguello, could you bring the next girl in?"

Daisy waited for a second before standing up, making sure that they were really done before following George out the door. As it opened, the deputy from earlier was leading Carol into the room.

Her cheeks were tear stained, with puffy, tired eyes. She didn't even look up at Daisy, just followed the deputies lead with no acknowledgment of her surroundings. Daisy watched the door shut as she followed George down the long hall of the station.

She was horrified, horrified that someone could bring themselves to do that to a teenage girl and just leave her there in the woods— waiting for her corpse to rot. Daisy almost puked thinking about it.

"I called your mom to come pick you up." George says, placing a few papers on his desk. "News gets around fast in this town." George says. "So I won't go around telling people you got questioned, they'd say some— bad things." He sighs.

Daisy nodded, unsure of what to say or do next. Everything felt so unreal. An hour ago she was at school, perfectly fine, and now she was a murder suspect. "I'm not— gonna get arrested? Am I?" She asked cautiously.

"You didn't do it." George shook his head. "I know that. So no."

—

Daisy sat on the side of her bed, staring off into space as she spoke. "I'm surprised my mom even let you come over tonight." She scoffs in disbelief. "Did you head they're implementing a 11 pm curfew now?" She asks, turning to Tommy, who sat leaned against her headboard.

"I know this is all— so fucking weird." He began. "But can we talk about something else beside our dead classmate?"

Daisy shakes her head quickly. "Yeah— sorry." She laughs lightly. "There's just a lot on my mind right now."

"It's okay." Tommy sits up, and places a gentle hand on hers. She smiles at him faintly. "Can I help you take your mind off it?" He says, in a quieter voice.

Daisy smiles again, leaning in to kiss him. Every time they kissed, she had expected fireworks, tingles and desire, but in the end she could only describe it as sloppy and wet. He was a teenage boy, and she couldn't blame him for being eager.

Tommy leaned in more, almost knocking Daisy down onto his bed, but used his hand to steady them. Unexpectedly, his hand drifted to her hip. It settled there and pulled her closer. She inhaled sharply. She was against his warm chest, chiseled to perfection. He brought his strong hands up to her back and flipped her over onto the bed, leading them to both laugh into the kiss.

Daisy wrapped her legs around his torso as he hovered over her, bringing his kisses down to her neck. She tugged at the hem of his shirt, urging him to take it off. Tommy leaned up for a quick second to do so, throwing it on the floor before diving back into kiss her.

Keeping his lips on hers, he pulls her t-shirt up over her head, revealing her pale skin and a white bra. He admired her body before raising his eyebrows at her. "Is this okay?" He asks, breathlessly.

Daisy nodded quickly, urging him to continue. She gently wrapped her hands around his neck, trying to deepen his kiss— trying to feel something from it. This just felt like any other hookup, which was fun sometimes, but she wanted more.

As Tommy trails his kisses back down to her neck again, she felt him begin to unbutton her jeans. She widens her eyes a bit and leans back onto her pillow, staring up at her ceiling. Tommy pulled her jeans off her swiftly and she heard them plop onto the ground.

She waited for that moment where her heart would skip a beat at his touch, but it never came. Instead, he pulled off her underwear and touched her in all the wrong places. She didn't understand how hard it was to understand what a female likes, and didn't like. His fingers were so close— yet so far. It almost felt like putting in a tampon over and over.

Daisy stayed staring up at the ceiling, almost bored. "Does that feel good?" Tommy whispered.

She stifled a chuckle. "Yes." She lied.

Suddenly she felt his mouth on her, and she almost gasped at the sudden change. Again— she waited for something, anything. Instead she let her head lazily fall over to the side, examining room as she let Tommy continue doing whatever he was doing.

And then, her breath hitched, as she met eyes with Kai who stood at his window right across from her. The air was so brittle it could snap. Neither of them move, both of them keeping their gazes steady on each other with burning tension. Daisy subconsciously brought her hands down to run them through Tommy's hair, and at that moment, she wished it was Kai.

She kept her eyes on Kai, her mouth gapping open just barely to where a moan were escape. His emotionless stare was enough to send her over the edge. There was something so dark, and overpowering about it. She knew they were both feeling the same thing at the moment, desire, curiosity. It had always been written in their gaze, a chemistry, an invitation to learn about the other.

Daisy knew what she was doing to him, and Kai knew what he was doing to her. It was like they held the same heart in their chests, both beating in the same rhythm.

"Fuck." Daisy let out breathlessly. "Kai."

Like he had heard her, a smirk formed on his lips, and he shut his blinds.

At that moment, reality rushed back into Daisy's body like a powerful wave. She widened her eyes, what the fuck did she just do? She looked down at Tommy, who didn't even seem to hear her.

"Okay—" She says, starting to sit up a little. "Okay, stop."

Tommy looked up at her with a concerned face. "What's wrong?" He asked.

So many things. She thought. Daisy swallowed and shook her head, trying to gather at least one sane explanation. "I just—" She began. "It's hard, with everything that happened today."

"Oh." Tommy nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry." He says, as he leaned down to put his shirt back on.

"Don't apologize." Daisy felt guilty, she awkwardly pulled her pants back up, and she felt embarrassment crawl underneath her skin. "Just right now isn't the best time." She adds, bringing her legs up to hug her chest. Was she over explaining? She needed to calm down.

"Yeah, I totally get it." Tommy says. "How about we go out sometime this week? Maybe to a nice dinner or something."

Daisy let out a sigh. "Yeah, that'd be great." She says. "I'll call you tomorrow." She adds, trying to find the nicest way possible to get him to leave.

Tommy nods again as he stands up. "I'll see you at school." He says, before leaving her in her bedroom by herself.

As soon as the door shut, Daisy's head fell into her palms. She could almost cry. What had just come over her? That wasn't her. Had Tommy heard her? Was he just playing it cool? She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw a rock through Kai's window.

Daisy had found herself longing for someone that she absolutely despised.