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Poppy was hanging out at Erdene’s upscale apartment on the east side of town after a girl’s night out; ‘Thirsty Thursday’ as they called it. Mirabelle and Danae, her old friends from Moonbright, joined tonight’s outing, too. The brunette was grilled to the bone when Erdene opened a can of worms about a certain someone. She reluctantly confessed her feelings to her friends. After listening to their two cents, she had made up her mind and now she was determined to let her true feelings be known.
She was sober tonight from being a designated driver. She had planned to go to work with Erdene in the morning but somehow couldn’t fall asleep. An urge to confess her feelings to Tora was getting stronger with every tossing and turning she made.
So she called him.
She blurted out that she had something to tell him and told him if he had something to say, say it to her face, not behind her back.
Quincey had let on to Poppy that his bodyguard might have fallen for her. It didn’t surprise her at all as she could tell he was interested in her. In fact it surprised her more that Tora had made it obvious to other people.
Poppy stood up from her comfy recliner when she heard knocking on the door. She looked through the peephole and found the ‘emotionless and expressionless’ tanned man with long messy hair standing on the other side.
Fudge, he looked pissed. Hot and furious.
She took a deep breath in and out before unlocking the door.
“Hey, Tora,” she greeted him with a big smile. The faint reggae music could be heard playing somewhere in the low lit room, a song about ‘Red Red Wine.’
“Ya wanna talk in the hallway or go somewhere else?” Tora’s elbow rested on the side of the door frame, his fingers rubbing his temples. She asked him to come and see her and he graciously complied. He was a fucking simp for her alright.
“Let me get my purse,” she told him hurriedly. “We can go to one of your cool spots.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
She ran back inside to turn on the light and took a pink sticky notepad out of her purse to write her friends a note saying that Tora had come to pick her up.
Poppy stuck the note on Erdene’s bedroom door, grabbed her purse and locked the door with the spare key her friend had given her.
They walked down to his car that was parked almost sideways in the parking lot. He opened the door for her before letting himself in the driver’s side.
“Remember when we were dancing at Fallen Angels?” Poppy asked when they were both settled in his car.
“Pfft. Nah, Bobby. I told ya I’m a good horizontal dancer. Ya were dancin’ yer cute little ass off though,” Tora replied, chuckling at the memory of seeing the swell of her booty swaying side by side.
“Oh, yah. That’s right. But we couldn’t stop laughing and I thought you were charming, Tora.” Poppy’s face turned pink as soon as she let the words out.
“And we were like, up til the morning…” They had a heart to heart talk once they got back to her apartment. They told each other how they really felt, had poured their hearts out.
Tora was ready to welcome her to his dark and fucked up life but Poppy was not ready to be in a relationship just yet. Tora respected her decision even though he was disappointed.
He was hurt and he didn’t know if he could stop himself from wrapping his arms around her, kissing her senselessly when he see her.
That was why he kept his distance away from her for the past few weeks.
Time had passed and she had made up her mind, finally. She couldn’t fight the strong attraction between them anymore. She really adored the man.
“There’s never been a human being so good for me,” Poppy continued, nonchalantly.
“Cut the crap, sweetheart.” Tora was about done listening to her preface.
He should have known by now that word diarrhea would leak through her mouth whenever she became nervous. Her words seemed to speak louder than her actions at this point.
“I say if we’re gonna do it, do it right,” Poppy turned to face him.
“What the hell do ya mean?” Tora glanced at her while still keeping an eye on the winding road up the hill.
“I mean, I need to be asked out on a proper date, Tora…”
“I’m not into fluffy shit, Bobby.”
But I sure am into yer cute ass! Tora thought.
“But I’ll do it right by ya, sweetheart. Let’s go on a date right now then,” he said to her as he felt his face grow ten degrees warmer. Not a speck of romance passed through his soul even though he’d been beta reading smutty love novels for Quincey for years.
Tora drove them to Regina’s Peak, the hidden place he took her before to celebrate her birthday. It was one of his safe spots where he could let go of fear and worries. She’d become his favorite sanctuary of serenity lately, every time they were close by.
They sat in a parked car overlooking the neon lights shining bright against the darkness of the early morning sky. The lookout was as beautiful as the first time he took her there, quiet and calm.
“I think being in love with you is bad for my health,” she continued to make her feelings known that she couldn’t eat or sleep when she thought of him. Without realizing what she had just blabbed out.
Oh lord, what did I just say? Act cool and calm your tits, Pops.
“But I can’t see me doing this with no one else. So guess I can’t be blaming anyone but myself,” she carried on with her unprepared speech.
There was nobody else that Poppy wanted by her side other than Tora and she never wanted anyone else’s name on her tongue than his.
“We got problems. But I need you… So we’ll just have to deal with it,” she sheepishly admitted.
“... This...” she motioned her finger back and forth in the empty space full of sexual tension between them. “Really got me, really going insane.”
She leaned over, inches closer to his ear and whispered, “Thing that's really crazy is you feel the same, yeah?”
“Fuck yeah, sweetheart,” Tora excitedly replied. His face lit up with a big smile.
Poppy looked up to meet Tora’s gaze. She pressed her warm lips on his, their tongues danced as they opened their mouth for a passionate kiss. They kissed until they ran out of breath.
Poppy pulled away, tilted her face to his ear and whispered, “’Cause I like you.” She kissed his left cheek.
“And I need you,” she kissed his right cheek.
She kissed his forehead and looked at him in the eye before saying “Yeah, I want you.”
“So... I guess we just have to deal with it.” Poppy softly spoke, matter-of-factly.