In this flashback, Tom’s mother drives him to a community-center health fair but lets Tom take the wheel, which excites him because he rarely gets to drive. During the ride, Tom’s mother brings up Daisy Driscoll and assumes Daisy is Tom’s girlfriend, embarrassing Tom but also feeding his hope that Daisy sees him that way. Tom is also carrying anger from the previous night, when he heard Tom’s father shouting at Tom’s mother and found Tom’s mother crying after a violent argument.

When Tom arrives early at the community center, Daisy is not outside yet; Alison is waiting instead. Alison is cold and dismissive, then notices an old missing poster for Brandi Healey and asks whether Tom used to tutor Brandi in math. The question unsettles Tom, who remembers that Brandi disappeared months earlier and that police only spoke to him briefly after she ran away.

Daisy soon arrives, warmly hugs Alison and then Tom, lingering longer with Tom. Inside, Daisy introduces Tom to Elise, the volunteer coordinator, and casually identifies Tom as Daisy’s boyfriend. Tom is thrilled by this public confirmation, and when Daisy later apologetically asks whether that label was acceptable, Tom eagerly tells Daisy that he does want to be Daisy’s boyfriend.

Daisy assigns Tom to the diabetes-screening table, where he will prick fingers and test blood sugar, even though he is technically too young to do it. Tom is excited by the medical task and by Daisy’s trust in him. Daisy explains the equipment and offers her own finger for a practice test so Tom can learn the process before working on the public.

As Tom loads the lancet and pricks Daisy’s finger, his hands shake badly. When blood appears, Tom becomes fixated on it and slips into detailed thoughts about how Daisy’s blood is like anyone else’s and how easy Daisy would be to kill. Tom squeezes Daisy’s finger too hard while imagining Daisy bleeding out and moving from death into rigor mortis, until Daisy notices that Tom looks pale and tells Tom he is hurting her.

After Tom gets the sample onto the test strip, Daisy pulls away and puts on her own Band-Aid when Tom’s help makes her uneasy. Daisy asks whether Tom is truly comfortable running the station, and Tom insists that he is, blaming the moment on nerves. When Daisy’s reading comes back normal, Daisy chooses to trust Tom and tells Tom that Daisy believes in him, while Tom privately wonders whether Daisy would feel the same if Daisy knew his violent thoughts.