For the Sake of Saving Us

“So I guess you’ve seen by now that Lisa’s back.” Jack mumbles sadly into the phone as Poppy continues to listen, the device wedged between her ear and shoulder as she carry’s on with the typing for that week’s blog entry, “I’m sorry, Pop.”

“It’s alright, Jacko. Everyone knows he always goes back to her, ya know? It wasn’t a surprise when people started asking me about it.”

“I didn’t realize he could be such a bitter bastard though. My best friend leaves the best thing that’s ever happened to him, to get back with the worst.”

“Life’s a bitch, babe. I’m over it, just like he clearly is.”

It had been three, almost four bitter, miserable weeks since Alex and Poppy had split, the majority of those for her, filled with questions about why Lisa was back on the scene and making digs at her over social networking sites and why she wasn’t doing my bi-weekly video chats with them for the website, the latter she blamed on scheduling problems.

“I don’t think I’d be as pissed if it was someone else, someone new. We all need a rebound, but fuck, Lisa? The girl who turned him into someone he’s not?” Jack huffs and she can tell he’s getting more touchy as they go on, “Bullshit. I thought he had brains, man.”

“Let’s just drop it, hey? It’s done, you know, nothing I said helped, same with him. We’re just not compatible together.”

“But you are! You’re like, fucking made for each other, dude! What even happened?”

“I don’t see what talking about is going to do, Jack, so like I said, can we leave it be now?” Poppy tries to be gentle with him as she tries to persuade him to drop the subject, it still hurting a little, even though she was convinced she was over being sad about it.

She’d had a pretty similar conversation with Vinny and Rian the day before, who had decided that a conference call would take up less of all their time, and until she had gotten them to drop the subject, the questions and statements were pretty much identical to Jack’s.
It seemed she wasn’t the only one royally pissed that Alex had decided that the person to turn to after their breaking off, was Lisa.
As they say, Karma is a bitch, and it had apparently caught up with her for the contributing to their break up just before Christmas last year.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. So what are you doing anyway?”

“Finishing up my blog entry for the week, as usual at this time.” Poppy sighs, it was part of her work to keep the blog part of the website up to date, but she usually left it until a few hours before the Tuesday at midnight deadline, just like today, “Did you need something when you rang anyway?”

Poppy hears him sigh quietly before he answers, “I just wanted to see how you were doing really. I mean Rian told me you sounded fine, but I just needed to make sure. You’re my cousin, my little sister, and I just hate that he’s fucked this up.”

“Nothing’s fucked up, Jackary. I’ll come visit, I won’t ask for him never to be in my presence, same for her, I’m not mad at either of them, so it’s fine, alright? Nothing’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed.”

Yeah, Jack, it has.

------

Poppy manages to upload the blog five minutes before Marky’s set deadline in the end, that was followed by a quick shower and change, and then she was ready to meet the before mentioned boy at their local bar and grill for their weekly chat about whatever came to mind.
She actually hated going to the sleazy, murky bar, but it was generally quiet with it being only Tuesday so it was pretty perfect to sit in for three hours and just spill out thoughts onto the alcohol sticky tables.
She’s barely stepped out of the door when her phone buzzes on the desk a few feet away and she hovers in her place, one leg out in the hall, the other still enjoying the warmth in her apartment and with a sigh she ducks back in, grabbing the device with frown at the name and photo on the screen.

“Can I help you?”

It’s short and the emotion that suddenly isn’t in her voice astounds her as she waits for a response, one eyebrow raised for the caller to answer her question.

“I just- I wanted to-.”

“I’ve got somewhere to be Alex, so if you could get rid of the stutter you’ve miraculously developed and tell me what you want, that would be helpful.”

“I just wanted to talk to you.”

Poppy hears his sigh, the click of a lock and the bus still moving in the background so she guesses he’s locked himself in the bathroom while they're traveling through Canada, and sat himself on the floor, just like the times they’d had to discuss Zack’s party earlier this year.

“Like I said, I’ve got to be somewhere-.”

“I know it’s time for you to go see Mark, but instead can you just talk to me? I don’t see the difference.”

The difference is Marky has yet to pretty much stamp on my heart.

“The difference is I’m not severely pissed at Marky right now so-.”

“Check the date, Poppy.”

“What? The date has got nothing to do with this-.”

“It’s May 4th.”

Poppy immediately stops her mouth from moving as the date clicks in her brain and she can’t help the sigh that leaves her lips as she connects everything up, feeling awful about how she has been until this point.

“Alex-.”

“I know I shouldn’t be ringing you, hell, I’m surprised you even picked up the phone but, I just- You make me feel better. You have been doing for the past eight years.”

It hurts her to even speak the next sentence, “Isn’t there someone else who can talk to you? I don’t think it’d be smart for either of us to do this right now.”

“I know, I can’t-. I tried to talk to Jack, but he told me to sleep it off, and everyone is so pissed at me for what I did, I’m pissed off with myself and I don’t want to talk to Lisa about it, she doesn’t understand. I need you, I need to talk to you.”

Poppy lets her eyes shut as she contemplates what she’s about do for the guy who only a few weeks ago, sent her life spiraling out of control, but he was a friend first, and always, so with a sigh and a ‘go ahead’, she stumbles out to sit on the window ledge, that way at least she can see the city going by.
Poppy listens and occasionally contributes to Alex’s mainly one sided conversation for almost three hours, reassuring him as she has done since the year they became a firm friends, about how Tom would of course be proud of him and what he’d achieved and happy and everything Alex would have wanted and expected him to be right now.
You see, May 4th, was the day, that turned that twelve year olds life upside down, and pretty much set him on the course he was still traveling.
It had become a sort of tradition that they’d either meet up (as they did up until Poppy moved away) or he’d call her on this day and they’d talk about his brother, the one that had caused a lot of heartache to a guy who really didn’t deserve it, and despite the fact she’d never met him, she felt like she knew Tom more than most, because every year, Alex would remind her of his favorite things and his habits and just about everything else as he talked for hours on end about him.

He’d joked a few times after his emotions had evened out that she was like his therapist, irreplaceable in his life, and it seems he meant it, this phone call being their first contact since he’d watched Poppy walk away, and although she was still hesitant, her feelings for him still a muddle, the conversation hadn’t been as forced as she’d thought it would be.

Maybe there was hope for the two of them yet.