Chapter Ten: Double Date

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Daisy said.

"Oh, it'll be fun!" Peach said excitedly. The two princesses were packing for the beach, wearing their swimsuits under their clothing. Daisy finished applying her sunscreen.

"Okay..." Daisy said. "I like volleyball, so I suppose it won't be that bad."

"What is wrong with you?" Peach asked, putting her hair up. "I thought you like Luigi!"

"I do, just not...like that," Daisy said, adding her little secret in her head.

"Well, don't worry about that today. It's not like he's going to just ask you out or take you to dinner tonight," Peach said. "It's just a day of fun at the beach."

The two walked out of the castle in their sandals with their beach bags slug over their shoulders.

It was a nice day, Daisy had to admit that. The sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Another nice day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Come to think of it, Daisy couldn't remember even one day when there was a lot of rain. There were days when it did rain, but not for long.

"There's Mario and Luigi!" Peach exclaimed. They had already walked to Koopa Beach? Daisy must've been lost in her thoughts the entire walk. She hoped Peach didn't say anything important or embarrassing to her. If she did, Daisy missed it!

"Princess!" Mario exclaimed, making Luigi turn from his game of water volleyball with a few Yoshis and Koopa Troopas. The volleyball hit his head and he made a great SPLASH as he fell into the water.

"Or, should I say princesses?" Mario questioned, looking at Daisy. "Hello Daisy."

"Hey Mario," Daisy said, seeing Luigi come up again from the water. A green Yoshi was laughing at Luigi.

"Luigi's ...right there," Mario said, looking out into the water. Luigi was coming towards them. Daisy just stood there, hoping for the best.

"Hey Daisy. Hi Peach," Luigi greeted. He seemed out of breath from running toward the shore.

"Hi Luigi," Peach said.

"Hey," Daisy replied. "So...what are we doing today?"

"Water volleyball!" A yellow Yoshi yelled from the water. "Come on in!"

Daisy ran to the Yoshi after taking off her clothes to reveal her swimsuit, setting her stuff down by Peach's, which was under a pink umbrella. Luigi followed her.

"Do you notice something different about Daisy?" Mario asked.

"She has been acting a little strange," Peach sighed. "But, we can't concern ourselves with her. You said something about surfing..."

"Ah yes," Mario said happily. He pointed out to where a bunch of Toads were out with their surfboards today. "We can go rent some boards. Come on."

"I got it!" Daisy yelled, jumping to retrieve the volleyball. She splashed into the water, but at least she set the ball up. Luigi spiked it, and the Koopa Troopa missed the ball.

"Did we get it? YEAH!" Daisy yelled after she came up again. "That was fun."

"Hey, Daisy," Luigi said. "Could we go up on the sand for a little bit. I wanna talk to you."

A knot tied in Daisy's stomach.

"Okay," she said, trying to sound confident. They came up on the sand and sat under an umbrella to keep the hot sun out of their faces.

"Um, Daisy," Luigi said.

"Yeah?" the princess asked.

"I..I was w-wondering if you- if you wanted to uh- possibly..." Luigi was stuttering.

"What is it?" Daisy asked. She just wanted to get this over with!

"If maybe you'd wanna-go out with me," Luigi asked.

Daisy knew Luigi was the shier brother of the two of them, but she had no idea he was this shy. He said it like he wasn't sure, and Daisy felt bad about wanting to just say no. It seemed like Luigi wanted to ask this of her a long time ago, but she never took much notice.

"Uh," now Daisy was the one stuttering. "I don't know Luigi. I was thinking maybe we should get to know each other better." She felt better about saying that than what she was originally going to say to him.

"Okay," Luigi said. Daisy knew he saw hope in the situation, but Daisy wasn't so sure about all of this. She didn't want to just lead Luigi onto something that might be between them when it wasn't true for her.

"Hey!" that yellow Yoshi yelled. "You two comin' back out or what?"

"Come on," Daisy said. "Let's just...have fun today." She walked with him back to the water, somewhat relieved that what they had just talked about was out of the way now.

They played a few games of water volleyball when out of the blue, Boo showed up.

"Heheheh," Boo said. "How's it goin' everyone?" The Yoshis greeted Boo to Daisy's surprise.

"Hey Boo," Daisy greeted. "What are you doin' here?"

"I'm here with Lady Bow," Boo replied, winking an eye at her. Daisy wondered if that was some sort of a signal to her that Waluigi was here too.

"How about a three on three?" the Koopa Troopa asked.

"Sounds good to me," Boo replied.

"Who's our third party member?" Luigi asked.

"I am," Boo said. Luigi turned a little blue around the face. Daisy knew he wasn't much for ghosts.

"Come on," Daisy said. "Give Boo a chance. They aren't that bad you know."

"How would you know?" Luigi asked. Daisy stuttered on that for a minute before Boo stepped in.

"I...ran into Daisy one scary day," Boo said. "circumstantial merely. Come on, let's play!"

A green Yoshi joined the other team. Boo started with the ball, gave another wink to Daisy, then served.