Santa, Baby

BANG!

Poppy jumped from her comfortable position in bed and stared at the direction of the loud noise. The warm body next to her stirred briefly, but just turned his head and remained asleep.

"Wake up, lovebirds!" Yelled the voice on the other side of the door before they began to knock loudly again. "We got shit to do before tonight!"

Poppy glared at the door as if her sister could see her. "Go away." Garrett mumbled sleepily from underneath the pillow he had just thrown over his head. Poppy laughed at her best friend. She threw the covers off of her and stood up. Slipping on her sanuk flats, she tip toed quietly across the floor trying not to wake up Garrett.

Poppy ran down the stairs, tightening the flannel plaid shirt around her skinny torso. Noel and John were standing the kitchen island preparing some sort of the food that Poppy would normally hope was breakfast. Now she was too preoccupied with stuffing an orange in Noel's mouth.

"Lovebirds?" Poppy said in a shrill tone. "Really? What would possess you to even say that? Why would you do--" Noel shoved an apple wedge in her little sister's mouth to keep her from saying anything else. John laughed at the sight.

"Chill out." Noel said. "It's only a joke. But if he had just happened to have a sudden epiphany about his love for you then I only did you a favor." Noel said calmly as if it were no big deal. She continued to cut up the apples in front of her, whilst John poured Poppy a mug of coffee.

"Well he didn't." Poppy said, taking the apple out of her mouth and munching on it. "And he's not going to."

"You've been sharing a bed with a half naked man all week and you mean to tell me he hasn't so much as try to cop a feel?" John snorted with laughter. Noel hit him and he grabbed his arm, trying to suppress his mirth.

"Look, after 20 years of friendship he's not just going to randomly wake up and realize he's in love with me." Poppy said shaking her head in disbelief.

"After 20 years of friendship if he doesn't realize you have feelings--"

"Morning all." Garretts voice boomed from the top of the stairs. He yawned and stretched before clambering down. Poppy, suddenly becoming self conscious of her apearance, smoothed down her hair and rubbed the makeup that had been smeared under her eyes in her sleep. "Great wake up call, Noel." Garrett complimented grimly once he reached the group.

"Only meant it as a joke." Noel said, not looking up from the food she was preparing.

"Jokes on you, 'el, cause we're running away to live happily ever after and fight zombies!" Garrett said triumphantly throwing his arm around Poppy. Poppy shrunk under his hold ignoring the butterflies that had just swarmed in her stomach.

Poppy was a normal 22 year old girl. She had been the youngest daughter out of the three children their parents had birthed. She had grown up in the small, normal town of Gilbert, Arizona where she had met her best friend, Garrett Nickelsen.

When they were two, Garrett had pushed their friend, Pat, who was making fun of Poppy in the sand and the two had become inseparable ever since. Poppy supported his dreams of becoming a musician and he supporting her dream of being an astronomer.

Now he was touring in his fame rising band, the Maine. He loved every minute of it and Poppy was incredibly happy for him. Poppy was studying Cosmology and and Astronomy, Garrett pushing her the most he could from so far away. The two were as close as any platonic friendship could be. Except...

Poppy Leann Brooks was in love with Garrett Daniel Nickelsen. And he was completely oblivious.

Poppy stared down at the folded letter for what seemed like the millionth time since opening it. It was an acceptance letter from NASA stating that she had been accepted into their spring internship program. It was her dream to work for them. After all, they were the best of the best.

"Are you ever gonna tell him?" Noel's voice interrupted her reverie. Poppy sighed and shoved the paper under her pillow. "You found out two months ago, and you're keeping what could possibly be the greatest news of your career from him. I don't get it."

"I don't expect you to." Poppy said, pulling a hair tie off the dresser and quickly throwing her braids into a ponytail. "Look, it's not like he'll even notice I'm gone with his touring and all."

"He's never kept anything from you." The guilt was already eating at Poppy. True enough Garrett told her all his secrets. And now something that would change her life, she couldn't even share with him. Some best friend she was. "Why won't you just tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Garrett asked, catching on to the last bit of the conversation as he came into the room he and Poppy had been sharing for the past week. He looked at them both curiously.

Noel eyed Poppy as she stuttered out the first thing that popped into her mind. "That we're making smores tonight." She mentally facepalmed herself for not thinking just telling him the truth. "Didn't want your fatass eating them all."

Garrett laughed and nodded knowing she was telling the truth. Noel excused herself as she heard John call her from downstairs. She eyed Poppy sternly before turning on her heel and walking out.

"You guys are so weird." Garrett said, slipping his shirt over his head.

"You're weird." Poppy retorted as she normally would. The witty banter and teasing between them was what made their friendship special.

Garrett shook his head and walked over to her. Both looked at their reflections in the mirror. "Make a weird face." He instructed, pulling his phone out of his pocket and placing it between them. Poppy quickly contorted her face to match Garrett's as he snapped a picture of the scene. "Instagram is gonna love this." He said, looking at the finish product.

Poppy nodded. She grabbed her Dior lip gloss off the dresser and coated her lips, smacking them after. Garrett stared at her as she did so. "What?" She asked looking at him through the mirror. "Something on my face? God, I swear if you put soap in my lip gloss again I'm gonna kill you." She began rubbing at her lips furiously.

Garrett laughed and pulled her hands away from her face. "Relax. I didn't do anything." He stared down at her reflection, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. Her green eyes glittering in the setting sun capturing his gaze. Something he had never noticed before. She snapped her hands in front of his face. He shook his head, shaking any thoughts before they could come to mind. "You're gonna make some guy very happy one day, you know that?"

She blushed a deep crimson and looked away. "None of this mushy shit, yeah?" She laughed nervously.

"I'm serious, Pops. You're amazing. I'm glad your my best friend." Poppy opened her mouth, but words escaped her. Now was as good a chance as any to tell him about her internship. He was going into the studio after christmas to start work on their fourth album, the last thing she wanted to do was steal from his limelight. Instead she just hugged him and mumbled a soft thank you before walking out of the room.

The downstairs portion of the cabin had been completely decorated to match Noel's cheerful holiday mood. Stockings over the fireplace, christmas tree in the corner, lights and garland strewn about the walls, with a buffet table finished off with food of all kinds. The Maine's Christmas cd was playing over the stereo system at a moderate volume allowing people to still be able to hear the conversations they were having with each other.

"You chicken shit." John said, taking a sip from the beer in his hand as he stared Poppy down. Poppy miserably took a swig from her wine glass and flipped him off. "He loves you, Poppy. He just doesn't realize it."

Poppy looked off in the direction of Garrett who was now talking to her cousin, Gemma and her husband Nathan. Gemma, being the firecracker she was, had said something funny making the whole group crack up.

Garrett threw his head back and laughed before looking at Poppy. Something about her had changed. She had certainly matured into a beautiful girl and Garrett was ready to kick himself for only just realizing it this past week.

A high pitch squeal broke them both from their thoughts. Garrett saw a look of horror wash over Poppy's face. He didn't have time to register who had just shown up before he felt a pair of arms wrap around him tightly.

"Gary!" The voice screamed. If looks could have killed, Poppy would have struck her down the moment she stepped foot in the house. Garrett's on again off again girlfriend, Alexa, had just walked through the door. The two had been having the same run around since Alexa had squeezed her way into his life sophomore year. And Poppy hated her, the feeling being mutual with Alexa.

"Well he certainly won't come up with any epiphany now that she's here." Poppy said miserably, watching as Garrett hugged her back.

John scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, she must have heard about the party from someone else. There are alot of people here."

Poppy downed her drink and slammed it on the table. "I'm not sticking around for this."

"I don't blame you." John sympathized.

Poppy shook her head. "No, I'm leaving. Tonight." Poppy hopped off her barstool and began making her way up the stairs.

"Wait, shit. Poppy--" John looked around nervously before finally spotting Noel. "Noel!" Noel looked at him with wide eyes. "Poppy just said she was leaving." Noel cursed loudly and ran up the stairs after her sister. She couldn't just let Poppy leave without saying goodbye. Especially when she knew Poppy would only regret it.

"What're you doing?" Noel said, slamming open the door and looking at Poppy as she shoved her items into her luggage. "You can't just leave without saying goodbye."

"Bye." Poppy said curtly.

"Poppy--"

"What difference does it make? He'll be back together with Alexa by the end of the night."

"Fuck! Who even invited her?" Poppy shrugged and moved past Noel, dragging her suitcase behind her. Noel chased her down the stairs but changed her course towards Garrett instead.

"You ass!" Noel yelled, slapping Garrett on the back of the head. "Poppy's leaving."

"Ow!" Garrett grabbed the back of his head.

Alexa's grip on him tightened. "Who cares?" Alexa butted in. "He'll just see her next week when he gets home."

"No!" Noel threw her hands up, not caring that she was about to tell Poppy's secret. "She got an internship woth Nasa. She's leaving for it now."

"She what?" Garrett's eyes grew wide. This is the first time he was hearing about it. So many thoughts were flying around in his head only leaving him more confused since he didn't have the answers. "Why didn't she tell me?"

Noel shook her head. "Forget about that now. Look, if you care for my sister at all and I know you do because I've seen the way you've been looking at her lately, then you will chase after her!"

Garrett looked between Noel and the front door. Truth was this weekend had been the best of his life; just him and Poppy. He liked the time they had to themselves and he wanted it to be just the two of them for the rest of his life.

Garrett yanked his hand away from Alexa and raced out the front door yelling, "Poppy!" He let the front screen door slam behind him. "Pops!" She stopped where she stood at the end of the front walk and turned to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Poppy sighed and looked down at her feet. "I...I don't know." She shrugged, not knowing how to answer.

"You were just gonna up and leave? Not even say goodbye to me?" He looked down at her from where he stood at the top of the stairs.

"Would you really have noticed?" Poppy said, matching the same hurt expression he had on his face.

"We're best friends. Of course I would have noticed."

"Never would have thought with the way she was hanging on you."

"Fuck Alexa!" Garrett yelled. "This isn't even about her. You were just about to leave. Why?"

"Truth?" Poppy asked, taking one step forward.

"Truth." Garrett confirmed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Because I can't be around you feeling the way I do knowing that nothing is ever going to come from it." She confessed, heaving a deep breath to keep the tears from falling. She had never intended on telling him her feelings ever. And now for some reason, she just spilled her biggest secret.

"Truth?" Garrett asked, cautiously taking one step down the stairs. She nodded mutely, not knowing what to expect. "This week has been the best of my life. Being able to wake up to you right next to me. Spending the day with you doing absolutely nothing." He continued to take steps with each statement he spoke before he stood just a few feet in front of her. "Truth is, I don't want it to end. Yet here you are, trying to leave."

Poppy's mouth dropped slightly in shock. She picked up her purse. Garrett smiled as she walked closer to him. She rushed forward and slammed her purse into his arm. "You ass!"

"Ow!" He instinctively grabbed his arm. "Fuck! What'd you do that for?!"

"How the hell am I suppose to know all that shit? I'm not some fucking mind reader!" She yelled, hitting him again.

"Stop! Pops! Goddamn! We're best friends, we've always told each other everything!" She hit him again. He grabbed her purse this time and threw it on the ground. She bent down and angrily scooped up some snow and threw it at his face. "Pops! Stop!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. "I know it's taken me awhile to realize this, but I love you!"

He crashed his lips onto hers. Poppy melted into him, grateful he was holding her up or else she would have completely collapsed.

An applause broke out from inside the house, causing them to break apart and blush.

"I love you, too." Poppy said, before Garrett kissed her again.