Chapter Six #2
She turns to look over the back seat, so now he has to answer her. “No, what aren’t you telling me, Rich?”
“She’s your twin, Poppy. I thought of all people, she’d at least tell you about what happened between her and Eddie.”
If I weren’t driving the car, I’d be slapping the shit out of him.
“What happened between her and Eddie?” She glances my way, forcing me to be a snitch.
“They fucked,” I reply crassly. “The day he and Amber broke up this last time.”
She slinks back in her seat, nibbling on her lip like she always does when she’s nervous.
She used to do it all the time during finals week.
Gnawing on the eraser of her pencil or straight up nibbling her lip every time she’s deep in thought.
Only this time she’s trying to figure out her next plan of action.
“This is bad,” she whispers. “If Amber finds out…”
“She can’t find out, Poppy. You got to promise us you won’t tell her,” Rich pleads. “He’s been fucking miserable without her, and I can’t bear to see him go through that again.”
She nods solemnly. “Amber’s been a wreck too. But if she and Eddie get back together, it’s going to send Pippa into a spiral, and I’m not sure what will be worse… Amber finding out they slept together, or Pippa finding out that Eddie’s still in love with Amber?”
“Oh, Pippa knows. I can tell you that. Eddie’s been avoiding her like the plague ever since it happened. He’s felt horrible about it. I honestly don’t think he even remembers it happening.”
She looks between us. “So how do you know? Did he tell you?”
Rich shakes his head. “We only know because we heard it happening.”
Poppy chews on her lip again.
“I’m going to have to talk to Pippa about this.”
“Why?” I ask her, knowing it’s only going to lead to chaos none of us need.
“Because I know my sister and what she’s capable of.”
We pull up to Poppy’s house, parking next to the road.
“Promise us you won’t tell Amber though,” Rich begs.
She steals a glance my way, worrying that lip again in frustration. “Okay, I promise I won’t say anything. At least not right now. I’m going to give Eddie and Pippa a chance to come clean first before I intervene.”
We nod, knowing that whatever happens next will change everything.
For the briefest of seconds, she returns my stare, shifting nervously when she realizes I’m concerned about her.
Thoughts of our last night together flood my brain: my hands on her curves, the way her lips tasted like an innocence that was mine to take but didn’t.
Jealousy briefly overwhelms me when I realize that some other guy took that from her.
A guy who didn’t deserve it. A guy who could never see her like I do.
“Stop looking at me like that!” she snaps.
“Like what?”
“Like I mean something to you.”
God, if she only knew…
“I’m just worried about you, Poppy. You look stressed out.”
Her glare intensifies. “If I look stressed out, it’s only because I have to share a car with you, Wesley Dover. The last few years have been relatively peaceful without you invading my space.”
“You’re the one who decided to jump in my car, Poppy. You made this choice.”
She pauses for a second, mouth scrunched up in frustration, then turns towards Rich. “Always a pleasure seeing you, Rich.” Her attention then morphs back to hostile; that familiar frown creasing the corners of her lips. “I’d say it was a pleasure seeing you, Wesley, but it really wasn’t.”
And there it is…
The hate.
The sharp little one-liners she wields like knives. The kind I used to pretend didn’t get under my skin, even though they sometimes did.
She still thinks of me as her enemy, but the truth is, I’m just the guy who knocks down all her walls, whether she likes it or not.
I force a grin, even though it aches. “There it is!”
Poppy’s nose scrunches just a tad.
“There what is?”
“The Poppy I know all too well. I was afraid you went soft on me after all these years apart.”
She snorts. “Nope, I can still fire insults faster than your little brain can keep up with.”
“That may be true, but here I am, still waiting for your go-to insult. Come on, Poppy. Hit me with it.”
“I’d roast you, but the justice system already beat me to it,” she shoots without warning.
Rich laughs. “Ouch! She got you with that one, Wes. Is it sad that I kinda missed this?”
Poppy opens her door in an angry huff. “Well, don’t get used to it. He’s not worth the energy.”
How wrong she is!
“Careful, Kiplinger. You’ve been wasting energy on me since senior year.”
She rolls her eyes when I wink at her.
“Well, I’m gonna go now before I have to hide a body.” Her gaze darts to me, causing me to laugh.
“Are you really going to murder one of the men that saved your ass tonight?”
She crosses her arms. “You didn’t do anything tonight, Wesley. At most, you were a paperweight.”
Ouch. That one stings a little.
“Didn’t say I did,” I retort, trying to seem unfazed. “Tonight was all Eddie. My man went full knight-in-shining-anger on that stupid guy you were with.”
“I wasn’t there with him, I was there with the other guy, but that’s beside the point. My point is, you didn’t personally do anything. So, don’t act like you’re some kind of hero.”
“I’m not,” I reply casually. “I’m more of a morally questionable background character.”
She scoffs. “That’s the most accurate thing you’ve ever said.”
“Aww, I knew you still loathed me, Poppy.”
With another final eye roll, she exits the car.
“Goodnight, Wesley,” she finally says over her shoulder. “Try not to get arrested on the way home.”
She’s asking for it, and I can’t help myself. “No promises, Grilled Cheese Girl.”
She freezes.
Slowly, she looks back at me with one eyebrow arched. “You are never letting that go, are you?”
“Not a chance,” I reply cockily. “It’s part of our history, GCG.”
She shakes her head, but there’s the faintest twitch at the corner of her mouth, hinting at a smile that refuses to form.
I almost got her there. Almost.
“Drive safe,” she mutters, then slams the passenger door, refusing to look back.
She wouldn’t have said that if she didn’t care about me just a little. Whether she wants to admit it or not, there’s still something brewing between us.
Rich moves to the passenger seat and grins. “Damn, you’d think she’d hate you less after not seeing you for a few years.”
I stare straight ahead. “Yeah.”
He grins. “You still love her, don’t you?”
“Shut the fuck up, Rich.”
He chuckles, shaking his head a few times before he says, “Just like old times.”
But I don’t want this to be like old times. I want something different… something true… something forever with Poppy.
The sad part is, she’ll never give it to me.