I'd Give Up The World For You

"I'll hold you to that," Daisy said as she stuck out her hand. "Shake on it so I know you're serious. You can hang out with me as long as I'm able to do what I usually do without being expected to entertain you."

"Done!" Leo said happily as he took it. 

She ended up doing the shaking for both of them and then he didn't let go. She looked at him blankly. "Leo, I need my hand to drive."

"Oh, sorry."

This guy was a bit weird, wasn't he? Daisy wasn't so sure she had made a good call agreeing to let him hang out with her every day. She may not believe in promises but that didn't mean she wanted to break them either and continue the cycle of disappointment. 

Was this a good idea? She was letting someone she knew was romantically interested in her into her house. What if they ended up back in another situation like they had yesterday? 

When they got to her apartment she grabbed a pair of pajamas and went to go change in the bathroom. She wasn't going to wear uncomfortable clothes in her own home after a long day of work.

Leo sat on the couch as Daisy made her way around the apartment watering all of her plants. Once that was done she got started on dinner and he insisted on helping. It seemed he had meant it when he said he wouldn't mooch. 

She set him to work dicing vegetables for her as she took the thawed chicken out of the fridge and began coating it in spices before sticking it in a pan on top of the stove. She was making a chicken salad. She had been planning on having some of the leftovers for lunch tomorrow but it didn't look like that would be happening now. 

If this pattern held she would have to get him to pay for part of her groceries. She couldn't feed two people indefinitely without messing up her budget. 

"What are we making?" Leo asked.

"Chicken salad. I'm sorry if you don't like it. I wasn't planning on having anyone over for dinner today," Daisy said a bit apologetically, feeling stupid for the guilt of being a bad hostess creeping in when he was the one who imposed on her. 

"I'm not picky. I'll eat pretty much anything."

"Even if you aren't picky there have to be things you like more than others. What are your favorite things to eat?"

She asked out of curiosity more than out of a plan to make them for him but hey, it might give her menu ideas. She was always trying to shake things up. Cooking for one could get very, very repetitive. 

"Homemade bread and jam, chicken pot pie, and apple tarts. Anything apple really but apple tarts are my favorite. I love apples," Leo said with a small smile. 

Daisy let out a small laugh. "Too bad you didn't meet me in the fall then. I make a ridiculous amount of apple things. Pumpkin too. Last year I made this amazing cinnamon apple bread before I got into my accident."

"There's always next fall."

She highly doubted he would still be hanging around her in the fall. That was more than six months away. No one had ever stuck around that long. She had no doubt he would be the same. 

"True," she said lightly, not wanting to get into what she really thought. 

They finished making dinner in silence and ate most of the salad with some rolls she had bought, feeling too lazy to make them herself. It was a lot of effort but they did taste better that way. Since Leo said one of his favorite foods was homemade bread and she loved it herself she may as well make it soon. 

He specifically mentioned homemade bread and jam. Did that mean homemade bread with jam from the store or did the jam need to be homemade too? 

Daisy had never made jam in her life but there had to be tutorials online somewhere. They had recipes for everything. The internet was a big place. Making jam might be an interesting way to pass the time. 

If he liked homemade jam so much he might know how to make it. She supposed she could ask him at some point. 

But not now. She had pulled out her latest embroidery pattern and set up her podcast already, prepared to spend the next half hour of her life listening to a podcast about the thrilling hidden mysteries of botany. It was one of her favorites but unfortunately only updated every two weeks.

She listened to a wide variety of podcasts. A lot of them had been discovered when she was laid up and bored out of her mind. It was nice having some background noise going all the time since she lived alone. 

These days she tended to go back and forth between podcasts and music. She would always love her playlists but sometimes it was nice to mix things up. 

Leo didn't interrupt what she was doing. He simply sat down on the couch next to her and watched as she worked on her embroidery. It was a bit strange being stared at like that but she couldn't think of a valid reason to ask him to stop. It wasn't hurting her or anything. 

He must be even more lonely than she was to want to hang out with someone doing embroidery and listening to a botanist talk about plants. She felt kind of sorry for him. And here she had thought her life was pathetic!

He seemed perfectly content to sit there watching her go. He didn't say a word as she went about more embroidery and podcasts, playing games on her phone, or doing Sudoku puzzles. He didn't say anything at all until she spoke first about needing to take him home so she could go to bed. She couldn't believe he had stayed over so long. 

The last time Daisy had spent such a long time consecutively with the same person outside of working hours was when she was dating her most recent ex-boyfriend. And that was out and about doing things rather than doing what she usually did at home. 

Leo thanked her for letting him come over when she dropped him off and she hesitated a moment before calling after him. An idea had struck her earlier and she felt like she had to act on it.

"Leo! You don't have to take the bus tomorrow. I can come pick you up since it's so close as long as you go in before me like today."

He turned to look at her in surprise before smiling softly at her. "Thanks, Daisy. You're the best."

Had anyone ever told her she was the best before? She honestly wasn't sure but it wasn't a bad feeling. It was nice being appreciated. It wasn't that big a deal but she would have felt guilty if she let him continue waking up early to take the bus in the cold when she could drive him. 

They were friends. That was the sort of thing friends did, wasn't it? 

Daisy might not know much about being a good friend and she didn't truly want to be one because she wanted Leo to snap out of his delusions but she also didn't want to be mean. The poor guy clearly needed more niceness in his life. 

She had decided that she wouldn't be mean to get him to go away. She would simply be herself and that would drive him away in time the way it had with everyone else.

She kept that in mind as she went home and tried to sleep but the bed still smelled slightly like his cologne. She sighed and rolled over onto her back. Stupid. It was stupid of her to let herself have a one-night stand with someone she would probably like given the chance. 

That chance couldn't be allowed to happen. Daisy was not allowed to like Leo because every time she liked someone they left. Foster parents, foster siblings, boyfriends. Nobody ever stayed in touch. 

There wasn't a single person on earth who could change that pattern. She was certain of that at this point and didn't want to try anymore. She was tired of getting hurt.

Protecting herself was the most important thing now. No one looked out for her except her. She was her best friend and her worst enemy all rolled into one. At least she knew that she wouldn't let herself down when it really boiled down to it. She couldn't be positive of that for anyone else.

Leo said Daisy could do whatever she wanted with him but he couldn't really mean that. Even if he did it wouldn't be fair to take advantage of that just because she missed having a boyfriend. 

She didn't want to commit to anyone because they would never fully commit to her. If she couldn't even be adopted for a few short years before setting out on her own at eighteen how could anyone commit to her for life?