Flower Girl | h.s.

32.

Daisy

"Daisy. Wow, it is so good to hear your voice."

My eyes rolled at the sound of the voice through my speaker, sending a bit of a shiver down my spine at the thought of actually having an intellectual conversation with this person. It was one of the last people on earth that I'd want to talk to, and it made no sense why he would contact me. My initial reaction to deny the call should have been stronger.

"Is it, really?" My voice was quiet almost as I can feel the bits of sarcasm that have to lapse through anger as I continue to speak. A tuft of a laugh leaves through my lips as I cross my arms over my chest, "What do you want?"

"What– I can't call my girlfriend's baby sister and have a conversation every once in a while?"

"No, you can't, actually. My boyfriend finally took a grip on me and said I'm not allowed to talk to other men, ever." My words have heat to them as I raise my eyebrows at the way that I can anger bubbling throughout me.

He sighs on the other end of the line, like he needs to just get to the the point of this phone call was about.

"So, I'm throwing Phoebe a birthday party. I'm calling to invite you. It's not a surprise party, but I'm just organizing it for her. She's not a great planner, you know."

Phoebe's birthday was at the end of January, and it always meant that it was the first real celebrated holiday after New Years and Christmas. A lot of the times it felt like an extreme extravaganza of celebration, one after another. Growing up, it was always a lot of fun. My birthday was always at the end of summer, and hers was at the end of the holiday season.

"Not next Saturday, but the Saturday afterwards. I think we're planning for the first weekend in February," He pauses for a moment, "Your, uh, 'boyfriend' or whatever, if you're still together– he's invited too, but just make sure he knows what to wear to a dinner party. Don't want to embarrass you. We're doing it at the Palm Springs house, by the way."

The words sent a complete ache in me– I hadn't expressed my plans, but I knew what I had wanted. Harry didn't know about them yet, but I planned to tell him sooner than later, making sure that everything could work out the way I wanted.

Next Saturday was Harry performing with Lace's band, the following would be a surprise for Harry's birthday, instead.

We needed this more than Phoebe needed me at her birthday party, and denying the invitation from Carson felt a bit like I was standing my ground. I stood up a bit straighter as I leaned on the wall of books.

"Sorry, I have plans for that weekend. I hope you guys have a great–"

"You're going to miss your sister's birthday? Really, Daisy?" He cut me off with a scoff, and his tone is every ounce of judgmental that I could have imagined that it would be. There's silence on my end of the line now, trying to piece together what I'm trying to get across to him.

What I've learned from Harry is to have integrity over dignity.

"I have a trip planned and I can't get a refund on it, so I guess you either have to move the party, or I'm not coming. A bit more notice would have been better to make this work for us." I speak into the phone, shifting the phone to the other ear as cross and recross my arms in annoyance. 

My eyes naturally gravitate towards the figure moving my way, his hands filled with the books that he had picked up, a natural frown on his brow as he stared at me. I felt a hint of a smile on my face as I noticed him, remembering that the phone call was still active and I rolled my eyes.