Page 41 of In the Danger Zone
“Oh!” I slapped his arm. “Nah, just pants! No dress. But I was thinking some white pants. Nice and crisp, you know?”
“… I see. White goes with everything, but a blue button-down will look quite sharp with white,” Richard said, picking up a light blue shirt. “If you have a dark-colored blazer – maybe something navy blue – it would really bring the look together.”
Finger against my chin, I tried to imagine the visual in my head. “What do you think, Tanner?” When I got no response, I saw Tanner busy with that damn book again. “Dude, can you help me and put that down for a second?”
Tanner let out a little chuckle, snapping the book shut. “Sorry, dude. Was just reading about Gliese. It’s crazy.”
“What the hell is that?”
Tanner suddenly looked offended. “A planet.Obviously. Did you know that it’s over twenty light-years away? But there’s aliens on it. A lot of them according to this book.”
Fucking goalies.
“Should I get the shirt Richard picked out?” I asked, ignoring Tanner’s latest alien rant as I took the piece of clothing from Richard. “I do have a nice navy blue blazer. I think it’d look pretty good, right? I just want Daisy to like it.”
Tanner gave me a shrug. “Looks good to me. They all look the same to me, actually. I think you’re worrying too much about your date. I’ve never seen you worry about trying to impress a girl before.”
That was because impressing girls was second nature to me. But Daisy made me nervous. “I’ll get the blue one.”
Richard gave me a smile. “I’ll wrap it up for you.”
With the shirt in Richard’s hands, me and Tanner made a slow walk to the registers. “I just really like her. I’m lucky she even said yes. I want everything to go right.”
“She’s gotta be something special if she’s got you beating Asher’s ass up,” Tanner said with a laugh.
My body stiffened up at the mention of his name. “I don’t want him around her.”
“Well, I think he’s learned his lesson. I’m excited to meet Daisy, actually. I’ve seriously never seen you nervous over a girl.”
And just like that, I was suddenly feeling much more at ease when I thought about Daisy. No one else had ever had that kind of impact on me. Lately, she was all I could think about. I just wanted every part of her. “I can’t help it. She’s fucking perfect.”
Richard cleared his throat when I said that last word. I gave him an awkward smile, paid for the shirt, and took the bag off him.
“Thanks, man.” I nodded at Richard before leaving the store with Tanner. “I appreciate you coming with me, by the way. I’m not good with this kinda stuff.”
“I’m not any better,” Tanner laughed.
“Well, I just needed another guy’s opinion. And I’m one friend down,” I muttered.
“Am I your new best friend?”
“I feel like you are.”
“Nice. Hey, let’s check the gear out.” Tanner yanked at my arm, pulling me to my left and into another store.
We were suddenly surrounded by sticks and pads. I didn’t need any new hockey gear, and I was pretty sure Tanner didn’t either since all of that stuff was supplied to us, but he moved straight to the helmets. I let him busy himself with them as I walked around the store. Gloves, girdles, duffel bags, shin guards. It wouldn’t hurt the check it all out.
The skates came next. There was a long line of them that my eyes followed. It looked like the store sold some figure skating stuff too, because I was suddenly staring at a bunch of smooth, white boots. They definitely wouldn’t work for hockey.
My fingers ran over the white leather, and I instantly thought of Daisy. I smiled, remembering our first time skating together. It had been so nice to hold her close to me as we moved along the ice.
She had been forced to use the old skates the ice rink had. She deserved to have some nice ones, and from the look of her old school laptop, it seemed like maybe splurging on brand new skates wasn’t an option for her.
Honestly, Daisy hadn’t done a bad job for her first time. She just needed a little more trust in herself, a little more confidence.
My eyebrows lifted. Maybe a new pair of skates would do the trick.
Chapter 21
