Lovely Sad

Candice and Adrian were going back up to Flagstaff that weekend, so Poppy was stuck in the office working overtime all week to meet all her deadlines and get approvals on designs before they left. She had arrived to work early and left late every day that week, and barely had a free moment during the day to check the time on her phone, let alone type out a text message that didn’t relate to Candice and Adrian’s house. She had gotten a few texts from John asking when he could see her again, but her replies were always the same explaining how hectic the week was and that she would get back to him on the weekend. She felt a little guilty about it, fairly convinced John probably didn’t buy the work excuse and believed she was just blowing him off again. He had seemed understanding in every message, but he eventually stopped messaging her. But Poppy was so busy she had barely noticed, she was completely consumed with work at the moment.

When Friday morning rolled around, Poppy left her office just after 11 to drive up to the new house in Paradise Valley where she was supposed to be meeting Candice to do a walk-through and take some final measurements. She was pulling off the highway when her phone buzzed with an email from Candice explaining that she had left town early, but that Adrian would be at the house soon if she had any questions or concerns.

Poppy openly groaned as she locked her phone, letting it fall back into the cup holder in the centre console of her car. Spending the day alone at this house with Adrian was not the way she wanted to finish this already stressful week. She had to have pissed someone off big time in a past life, that was the only way she could explain the events of the last few weeks.

“Keep it professional.” She muttered to herself as she parked her car in the massive driveway, grabbing her purse and notebook off of the passenger’s seat and heading inside the mansion. She was thankful Candice had given her a key for emergencies so she didn’t have to wait around for Adrian to show up and let her in. After the breakup she had deleted everything Adrian related out of her phone and off her computer, so she had no phone number or email to contact him to come let her inside the house.

With no cars in the driveway besides her own the house was completely empty, much to Poppy’s relief. Leaving her purse on the counter in the kitchen, she was free to go from room to room writing down measurements and taking pictures for reference at her own pace. She was so focused on the task at hand, she didn’t have time to worry about Adrian showing up, or having potentially ruined a relationship with John again. She was unaware of how much time had passed, but she was finishing up the measurements of the kitchen windows when Adrian arrived, setting down a couple fast food take out bags on the counter as he entered.

“Sorry I’m late.” He spoke as Poppy scribbled down a couple numbers in her notebook.

“Don’t worry about it.” She spoke, not bothering to look over in his direction. She was so close to finishing, if she didn’t engage him in conversation she could be gone in 15 minutes and completely done for the day, free to start her Adrian-free weekend.

“Are you almost done?”

“Just about.” Poppy answered finally turning around to face him. He smiled warmly at her before gesturing to the bags of food he had put on the kitchen island.

“I brought lunch if you’re hungry.” She didn’t really want to stay and have lunch with Adrian, but she was starving and as she noticed the logo on the side of the bag her mouth began to water. “Today’s my diet cheat day so I bought Jimmy John’s.”

“Okay.” Poppy answered cautiously as he picked up the bags off the counter and started walking towards the large french doors leading out onto the back patio.

“Perfect. Let’s eat outside and enjoy this lovely weather.”

She wanted to scream out in protest, but she had already agreed on the food. She also figured grabbing the sandwich and running was rude, not to mention gave off a bit of a mentally unstable vibe. She momentarily contemplated not following him, but at the exact moment her stomach let out a loud rumble, signalling to her just how hungry she actually was.

Ok, one sandwich wouldn’t hurt.

Poppy sat on the edge of the pool, her feet dangling off into the water below. Adrian sat next to her, his pant legs rolled up in a position that mirrored her own. They sat and ate in relative silence, neither of them speaking until they had both finished.

“So how have you been, Poppy?” He finally spoke, keeping his eyes focused on the surface of the water in the newly finished pool.

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. She was here for business only, not to socialize with Adrian. She needed to shut this conversation down right away. “How’s counselling going with Candice?” That seemed cold enough to get across that she didn’t want to chat.

Adrian chuckled, taking a sip from his water bottle. “It’s good, thanks for asking.”

Poppy nodded before standing up, and grabbing for her shoes so she could head back inside.

“Whoa, where are you going?” He called after Poppy’s retreating figure.

“Back to work.” She answered shortly.

“Come on, I thought we could catch up.” Catching up with Adrian did not seem like a good idea to Poppy. Right now she wanted to be as far away from his as possible. Yet for some reason she paused on her walk back to the house and turned around to face Adrian who was still seated on the side of the pool. “There’s no need to be so hostile, Pops.”

His use of a nickname towards her made Poppy’s entire body stiffen. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach looking at this man she had once been madly in love with. Was she overcompensating and trying so hard to hate him because she still had feelings somewhere deep down? She shook her head immediately, desperate to rid her mind of those thoughts. There was absolutely nothing between her and Adrian. That was history.

“I’m here for business and business only, Adrian.” She spoke calmly. Although, as the words left her mouth it sounded a little more like she was trying to convince herself of this fact, rather than Adrian. “I’m not here to catch up or become friends with you or Candice.”

He just nodded as she made her way back into the house, collecting all of her notebooks and tape measurers off the kitchen island and placing them back into her purse. Adrian followed her inside a few moments later, snatching his own car keys off the counter as well.

“I have to get back to work, but honestly, Pop, it’s good to see you again. I had missed you.” She froze, keeping her eyes firmly on her purse, refusing to look up and acknowledge Adrian. He slid a piece of paper across the counter towards her but she made no motion to grab it. “Here, this is my new number. Don’t hesitate to give me a call if you need anything.”

****

That week’s hectic work schedule had even prevented Poppy and Bridget from getting together, so when she got a text telling her to come over after work for a couple drinks Poppy was more than willing to make a detour on her way home to pop over to Bridget’s apartment. After her uncomfortable lunch with Adrian, Poppy really needed her best friend’s advice. Tonight was the night she was going to cave and come clean with Bridget about Adrian and Candice. She knew it was going to come with another lecture, but she felt as though she was due for it by now. Maybe she actually needed the lecture to talk a little bit of sense into her. A verbal slap to the fact to sort Poppy out, if you will.

Upon arriving at Bridget’s house she noticed a couple other cars in the driveway, letting Poppy know they wouldn’t be alone tonight. So much for coming clean and getting a little relief.

“Look who it is!” Melissa called out as Poppy entered the living room. She smiled to greet Bridget’s co-worker and her twin sister who were all seated on the couches in the living room cradling their own glasses of wine. Apparently Poppy had missed the part of the memo that stated tonight was a girl’s night. Seeing the twins seated on the couch, Poppy knew it was only a matter of seconds before one of them asked her about John. She wasn’t quite prepared about how she was supposed to answer any questions about him.

Sorry I’ve been too busy decorating a house for my ex-husband that I forgot to return John’s texts and it seems as though he’s given up on me so it’s over forever and I should just look into buying a bunch of cats now and start my transformation into becoming an old spinster right away.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic.

She slipped off her jacket and took a seat next to Ashley, enjoying the relief of finally being off her feet after her long day of work. The only way this could get better is if she had her own glass of wine to match the one the other three girls all had.

“It’s the future Mrs. O’Callaghan.” Ashley teased as she handed her her own glass of wine.

Poppy felt her cheeks burn scarlet, looking down to avoid the stares of all the girls in the room. Well, that only took about 30 seconds.

“She’s blushing over John.” Bridget gawked, and Poppy was fairly certain that her face was now bright red at this point.

“Shut up.” Poppy hissed, raising her wine glass to her lips as the three other girls all laughed. She took a large gulp from the glass, knowing full-well the John conversation wasn’t about to end that abruptly. Poppy wasn’t that lucky and she was definitely going to need some alcohol to get her through this one.

“When are you seeing lover boy next?” Ashely questioned after Poppy put her wine glass down onto the coffee table in front of them.

Poppy just shrugged, genuinely unsure of an answer. She had been so busy she just kept telling him she’d see him soon, but she hadn’t really thought about when ‘soon’ would be. Then the texts had stopped and she assumed he had just given up. Or lost interest. Probably the latter.

Two dates, and Poppy hadn’t even kissed him. He probably thought she was so pretentious and stuck up there was no way he was actually into her. No wonder he lost interest.

“Text him right now.” Bridget insisted, earning nods of approval from the other girls.

“I don’t know-“ Poppy began, but Melissa spoke over her.

“Ashley says he won’t shut up about you. Constantly harassing her to find out what you’re up to and when he’s going to see you again.”

“Yes.” Ashley groaned. “Please just text him so he’ll stop bugging me.”

That couldn’t be true, Poppy thought. They were just saying this to be nice; that's just what girls did. He was uninterested and Poppy had completely blown this one. But Ashley seemed determined to make Poppy text him, ranting on about how John wouldn’t stop talking about her, rambling about how pretty she was and how down to Earth she had actually turned out to be. A complete turn around from his feelings after the first date.

As Poppy caved, pulling her phone out from the pocket of her jeans it buzzed to let her know she had a new text message. John’s name flashed across the screen and Poppy couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face upon seeing it.

Maybe Ashley and Melissa were telling the truth after all.

“Was that him?” Bridget questioned, earning a nod from Poppy. “What is he saying?”

“He just wants to know what I’m doing tonight.”

“Tell him you’re with me.” Ashley laughed. Poppy obliged, typing out a response and hitting send. His reply was almost instantaneous.

‘Don’t believe a thing Ashley tells you. It’s all a lie.’

Was he joking? Poppy couldn’t tell. She was too nervous to think rationally at this point. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she was this nervous over a boy. Even when she had first met Adrian, she had been so confident through it all. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so different when it came to John.

Poppy let out the most convincing laugh she could muster as she read the message out loud to the girls. “What a dick.” Ashley muttered, before finishing off the wine remaining in her glass.

As Poppy finished off her own glass of wine, she felt a little bit of a light headed buzz set in, watching Ashley poor the two of them a fresh glass. She hadn’t eaten anything since Adrian had arrived with sandwiches for lunch, and she was so tired that the alcohol was having an increased affect on her. One glass of wine, albeit a rather large glass, and Poppy was already on the verge of being drunk. As her blood alcohol level steadily climbed, she felt herself relax a bit more. She just needed to be herself, and not overthink whether John was still interested or not. He had texted her again, and was apparently talking about her to Ashely constantly, so just needed to relax and everything would be fine. This wine induced buzz offered her the courage to type back a reply to John, unable to help the smile that plastered itself across her face as she did so.

‘That’s a shame. She said you think I’m pretty.’

As her phone buzzed again with another text from John, the girls around her struck up their own conversation, allowing Poppy to silently sink further into the couch, focusing on her phone as they all chatted around her. They seemed to pay no attention as she focused all of hers on her phone.

’That’s a lie. I think you’re gorgeous, darlin.’

Poppy’s stomach erupted into butterflies, hoping the girls didn’t notice the blush creeping it’s way back onto her cheeks at the sight of John’s words. But as the girl’s around her all laughed loudly at something else, Poppy was happy to sink into the background.

‘I’m a lucky girl.’

‘When do I get to see you again, lucky girl?’

Poppy reached for her glass of wine taking a rather large gulp of it before typing out her response. Currently this wine was the only thing keeping her nerves at bay, and she was going to need a lot of it.

‘As soon as possible would be preferred.’

‘So forward, I like it.’

‘I can’t lie, I’ve had a bit to drink tonight. It’s all just liquid courage.’

She was backtracking now. Should she really be admitting to drunk texting him? She had always been told guys hated that and it came off as desperate.

It seemed John paid no mind to her alcohol fuelled confession, as he replied nearly instantaneously once again. He was either a fast texter, or was sitting at home staring at his phone intently waiting for Poppy’s replies. ‘Tomorrow afternoon? I’ve got the perfect idea for a date and I don’t think I can wait much longer to see you again.’

‘That sounds perfect, John.’

Honestly, at this point Poppy didn’t even care what the pair did, she just wanted to see John again.

‘Good. I might need a little liquid courage myself tomorrow, though.’

‘Why’s that?’ Poppy scowled at her phone, genuinely confused as to what he meant. Was he so opposed to seeing her that he couldn’t possibly face it sober? Granted, she hadn’t exactly been sober on their dates either, though.

But as Poppy’s phone buzzed once more, she felt her heart skip a literal beat as her eyes skimmed over John’s words. The unfamiliar feeling of butterflies erupted in her stomach, prompting Poppy to think that her horrible week was finally over, and starting tomorrow things were going to start looking up.

‘Because tomorrow I’m finally going to kiss you, Poppy.’