The Deal

Daisy and Haley have been a couple for almost three years now, and for the past years they've grown in their controversial relationship and gotten over petty issues such as who should pay the restaurant bill or who should remove the garbage. But just like any relationship between a man and a woman, they've come to a point where they ask themselves these haunting questions: Will this work? How long will it last? Should I let her go or should I fight for her? These uncertainties tormented Haley when Rob jumped into their delicate relationship. Rob played Daisy's leading man in a play where she was selected after a tight audition. It's not the first time Daisy was paired up with the opposite sex; she had played with several of them in the past only Rob was more than just a leading man, at least that's what he considered himself to be, but not for Daisy. Everyone in the cast knew about her relationship with Haley since she would bring her in rehearsals sometimes. Rob respected Daisy’s relationship with the same sex, but that was until she mentioned to him how she and Haley met. He found out that Haley was the stimulus and Daisy, as he understood it, was just the “Dora the explorer”. He bounced back as a hopeful suitor and considered the scenario as a challenge telling himself, “there’s no way I would lose to a girl”.

He continued to work his way into Daisy's attention pretending to struggle in some part of the play just to coax her into rehearsing with him off stage. Daisy, thinking she made her status clear, didn't consider helping him to be harmful. Rehearsals were extended to Rob’s place where Haley would join them sometimes, although Rob wished she wouldn't. Other times at Haley’s place where Rob wished she wasn’t home because whenever there’s Haley, Rob would lose Daisy. He even thought Daisy was under a black spell because he couldn’t convince himself that a girl like her, who’s so beautiful and so tall, would be head over heels in love with a girl not so beautiful and quite short. If Daisy was under some spell, Rob knew exactly how to undo it and he had his character to be thankful for. The rehearsal kiss was what he needed to straighten Daisy’s heart; the kiss became a reminder to what the latter has been missing. The play was a success and so was Rob’s attempt to come between Daisy and Haley’s relationship. Rob and Daisy would go out together without a protest from Haley and it’s all because of “the deal”.

The almost forgotten deal was brought up when Haley got into an accident and she tried to hide her broken arm by staying at her bestfriend’s place. Allen, who’s a filmmaker like her, covered up for her telling Daisy he’s invited Haley to stay at his place for the next few weeks so they could finish the project they’ve both been working on for the last couple of months. Daisy has always been very supportive of Haley that she didn’t question the invite and the latter being away for a while; she knew how important the project was to her girlfriend. It wasn’t long when she found out about the accident while she was going through the answering machine and heard Haley's colleague wishing her well; she scuttled to Allen’s place and there she saw Haley with a broken arm and bruised forehead.

'Why?' inquired Daisy as she tried to compose herself.  Tension filled the car and there seemed to be no way out of it.

'I didn’t want to worry you.'

‘Why?’ Daisy iterated. She knew there was a deeper reason for Haley’s lies and it has something to do with her spending time with Rob, but she wanted to hear it from her.

Haley took her time to answer this time. She pondered whether it was time to bring up “the deal” or invent another story where no one would get hurt. 'I saw you with him when you told me you were with Ashley,’ she said. ‘I wasn't following you I just happened to pass that road and saw you with him. I realized that if I called you you’d find me there and think I was monitoring you and I didn’t want you to think that, so I called Allen instead.’

‘What do you mean find you there? Oh my, you were there? You were in the cab that got hit by a van!’ Daisy became frantic as soon as she realized Haley was involved in the accident she witnessed and all she did is glanced and sighed, “What a reckless driver”, and strolled out of the scene with Rob.

‘Please don’t cry. I feel terrible for not telling you. I’m so sorry.’

‘Is this because of Rob?’

‘It’s because of the deal, Days!  You know about it. You’re straight the only reason you agreed to date me was because I made a deal with you that if one day you realized that you didn't want to be with a girl, that you still prefer boys, I will have to let you go. I made a promise and I'm keeping it.'

‘You mean all this time that we're together you were thinking about your stupid promise!’

'No, I wasn't. I actually believed that you loved me until Rob.'

'Rob, yeah, he’s a fine man.’

'I’m not going to argue with you.

‘I thought you were fine with me having male friends. I would’ve avoided him if you just told me.’

‘But I wouldn't because a deal is a deal.' Haley got off the car leaving Daisy feeling cold and betrayed.

Haley found her cringing on the sofa the next morning; she immediately produced a blanket and wrapped it around her. It was already late in the afternoon, but there were only little movements from Daisy even after Haley has spoken to her. When she finally opened her eyes it was only to stare in space. Haley was beginning to worry. She talked to Daisy, shook her body, but there was no response. She rang Daisy’s mum and put the phone in the daughter's ear, hoping to get a response from her, but Daisy remained still and silent. Haley found out that Daisy suffered from emotional trauma after sending for the doctor. She did not speak for the next three weeks and she remained on the sofa (after strongly refusing to be moved, violently pushing everyone that touched her) the whole duration. Her family and friends came to see her everyday. They would surround her and tell her the happenings in their lives. It even came to a point where making her speak became a contest for everyone.  On the fourth week, she began to utter few words but she would only speak to her younger brother, Simon, who was quite close with Haley; so, the latter would then speak to Daisy through him.

Haley never left Daisy's side. At night, when everyone has left and it was only the two of them in the house, she would sit on the floor and talk to Daisy about anything she thought would trigger a response. But that night she didn’t talk to her for the purpose of getting a response, she just extremely missed her girlfriend that she began to reminisce about the past. 'I was so stressed out that day, I had three jobs but they weren't enough to pay for my school fees. So, I went to the theatre to see this girl I really admired. I thought that maybe if I saw her I'd feel better but I didn’t, I still felt hopeless about my situation. And then you came out on the stage and – you were so beautiful and perky you lightened up the room, you lightened up my day. I came out of that room problem-free. It was the first time I’ve seen you and it wasn’t the last because everytime I'd go to your rehearsals to see you. You were adorable. I watched you during and after rehearsals. I watched you walk down the hall. I watched you greet your friends. You became my favorite subject to study. I did that for a month but I realized I was becoming weird and creepy, so I decided that I would introduce myself. On that particular day, I followed you wherever you went but I didn't know if you were so busy to notice that I was everywhere or I was just too insignificant to be noticed.

'It was in the library when you finally spotted me; you reached the book for me, which was really embarrassing, and told me, “Wow, we have exactly the same routine today. You're everywhere.” I couldn’t describe how I felt, I had the biggest smile on my face. And here’s one secret I vowed not to tell, but since you’re not hearing any of these it’d be harmless to tell you. I wet my pants a little when you handed me the book and your hand touched mine.' Haley was hysterical and then she started crying. 'I've worked so hard to get you, Days: convincing you, convincing your family, convincing myself I was worthy. I'm not going to lose you just like that.’ She leaned her head on Daisy’s and said, 'Please, forgive me.'

Let’s get our noodle working (I thought it would be fun to hear from you). Daisy, in this part, would be able to speak again. Now, if you were Daisy what would you tell Haley?