Page 24 of Sweet
“Yeah.” He looked a little embarrassed. “I’m glad you like them.” He turned. “I kind of changed the bed around.”
“It looks great.” She noticed another addition. “And you got a TV!”
“Bill had an extra one, so he let me have it. The DVD player works and everything.”
“That’s awesome.” She took his hand and knit their fingers together.
On the top of the bookshelf, an old-fashioned square television sat. It had a built-in DVD player on the bottom of the unit and the screen was small, but it was in good condition.
“It’s not hooked up to cable or anything,” Spider said. “But Bill’s son has a bunch of DVDs in the closet, so we can watch a movie if you want. I didn’t get a couch cause I’m not sure how I’d get one up the stairs, but we can sit on the bed.”
Spider had turned his bed to sit lengthwise against the wall and stacked pillows along the back, creating a kind of wide sofa perfect for lounging.
Daisy tried not to blush, thinking about lying in bed with Spider. “It looks perfect. Really comfortable.”
“And I promise” —the corner of his mouth turned up— “I won’t get… uh, carried away.”
Daisy pursed her lips. “I mean, it’s not a yarn store, so I think we’ll be able to control ourselves.”
Spider’s half smile turned into a grin. “We can try.”
Or not!
Daisy pursed her lips and looked around. “Did you do this for me?”
The apartment was still pretty spare, and there weren’t any pictures on the walls, but it definitely looked more like an apartment and less like a cell.
“Yeah.” He tried to play it off. “I mean, it was probably time for me to, like, fix up the place and everything.”
Daisy couldn’t ignore the spread of warmth in her chest. He’d made his apartment nice for her. She was definitely getting him a plant. Maybe a macramé wall hanging. Or a cross-stitch.
Spider walked to the small fridge and opened it. “I have orange and lime Jarritos in here. Then I got a Coke and a root beer too.” He turned to her. “I saw you drinking the root beer at Ice House, so I figured that might be your favorite, but I didn’t know.”
“Root beer sounds perfect.”
“Cool.” He reached for the glasses over the sink. “Why don’t you pick out a movie and we can watch it?”
They ended up settling onThe Godfathersince they had time before Daisy needed to get home, and most of the movies in the DVD case were either mafia movies, horror—which neither of them liked—or mindless action movies.
“You know, I’ve never actually seen this one,” Spider said. “But it’s, like, one of the greatest movies ever, right?”
“It’s supposed to be really good.” Daisy slipped off her shoes and settled into the stack of pillows along the wall. “I haven’t seen it either. My mom never let us watch violent stuff.”
“Sounds like my mom.” As the movie started, Spider lifted the table and brought it to the side of the bed so they could set their drinks on it. “The music is boss.”
He took off his shoes and sat next to her, bringing his arm around the back of her shoulders and pulling her toward him.
Heaven. She was in heaven.
The soaring music gave way to a quiet scene with a man who was more than a little hard to understand, but Daisy managed to make out most of the dialogue.
“Oh daaaaaamn.” Spider set down his drink and pointed at the screen. “I have seen this. Or maybe just this scene.” He was nodding along. “Make him an offer he can’t refuse. Shit yeah, I seen this.”
He sat back and drew Daisy under his arm again. “I don’t usually watch mafia shit, princesa. But I know this is supposed to be good.”
“I thought most guys loved all the mafia stuff. My brother is, like, obsessed with it.”
Spider was quiet for a long time, but Daisy thought he was just focused on the movie.
