Lovely Sad

Poppy sat on the hood of her car in the gravel paved parking lot, enjoying the way the late afternoon desert sun felt on her face as she waited for John to arrive. The temperature still in the high 70’s, there was no better place to be in late February than Arizona. When she was really young she insisted she was going to leave the desert for somewhere that snowed, believing there was nothing more beautiful than a fresh snowfall. Then she actually experienced snow on a family vacation to go skiing in Colorado… And she hated it. Poppy couldn’t imagine ever living anywhere other than Arizona, and as she stared out at the view in front of her, she was fairly confident that the Valley of the Sun was going to be where she called home forever, hopefully.

Camelback Mountain, featured on almost every single Phoenix postcard, never ceased to take Poppy’s breath away as she looked up at the massive mountain. She tore her eyes away from the landscape before her when she heard a car pull into the nearly empty parking lot she was waiting in. It was late enough in the afternoon that all of the families and serious hikers had gone home for the day, and peak season was ending as the temperatures were steadily climbing back up to the ridiculous numbers Arizona was famous for.

John climbed out of the white SUV that had pulled into the parking spot next to where Poppy was, slinging a backpack over his shoulder as he made his way over to her.

“You always early?” He asked as she hopped off the hood of the car, shoving her hands into the pockets of her maroon sweater.

“I was excited.” Poppy replied sheepishly as John laughed.

Despite staying out and drinking far more than she should have with Bridget, Melissa and Ashley the night before, she had woken up at practically the crack of dawn that day and was unable to fall back asleep thinking about getting to see John again. It was stupid to be this excited over a boy, and Poppy turned back towards her car to grab her own backpack so that John wouldn’t notice the slight blush creeping onto her cheeks at the thought.

“I was so stoked when you agreed to this.” John said, referring to Poppy’s agreement this morning to tackle the mountain climb. It was one of his favourite places to go, and he had always thought it would make the perfect date. He just had never found a girl he wanted to take with him on this date. But Poppy seemed like the perfect fit, not like a girl who would complain about getting sweaty a quarter of the way into the hike and insist they turn around and do something else instead. Not like the girl his younger brother, Ross, had tried to take on a date here a few months prior. “I thought this would be more interesting than just dinner or something boring and traditional like that.”

Poppy adjusted the strap of the backpack on her shoulder that held water, her phone and some snacks for the climb. “I agree.” She watched as his eyes skimmed over her outfit, lingering for a few extra seconds again on her long legs. “But are you sure this wasn’t just an excuse to stare at my butt while I climb in front of you?”

John let out a loud laugh, acknowledging that his lingering eyes had been caught as the pair made their way towards the start of the designated hiking trail. “Absolutely not, that’s just a lovely bonus.” He was secretly thrilled that she had decided to wear such short shorts for their hike, unsure of which view he was enjoying more: the desert oasis surrounding them, or just how golden the Arizona sun had left Poppy’s mile long legs.

Poppy rolled her eyes from behind her own sunglasses, giving John’s shoulder a rough shove. Not that she wasn’t enjoying the view herself. John had opted for a sleeveless white shirt and a pair of long black basketball shorts, showing off heavily tattooed arms and an elaborately coloured tattoo on his right shin. The white fabric contrasted nicely against his tan skin, and Poppy found her eyes lingering on the tattoos scattered across his arms. A tattoo of the state of Arizona on his forearm caught her attention in particular, noting that he had to have been just as in love with the Grand Canyon state as she was. She had her own homage to her home state tattooed along her ribcage, a work of art depicting colourful blooming cacti. Her hand subconsciously raised up to rest on her side where the tattoo was, smiling as she pictured it.

The trail began relatively simple with just a set of wooden steps heading up towards the mountain. Painted blue rocks scattered along the side marked out the trail, but Poppy knew this wasn’t an easy hike. These wooden staircases would soon evolve into steep inclines and eventually become just a collection of boulders and rocks you had to scale in order to reach the summit. She had climbed the mountain before, but she was still a little nervous about this. John talked the idea up as being good fun, but Poppy was partially nervous she’d fall or not be able to keep up with him. Poppy wasn’t normally a clumsy person, but she also wasn’t normally this smitten over a guy she had just met, so at this point she believed anything was possible.

John was rather tall and lanky, his frame easily reaching over 6 feet tall, but he mentioned he hiked all the time when he wasn’t on tour. His build was deceiving, and he was obviously in great shape. He reached up to adjust the sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose, and Poppy couldn’t help but notice the muscle definition in his arms as they flexed. Yeah, he was definitely in great shape.

As if he could sense Poppy’s eyes burning into him, he glanced over at her with his usual crooked smile. She immediately averted her gaze to the ground below her, focusing all of her attention on not tripping on a rock and making an even bigger fool out of herself.

“Careful, Poppy,” John warned, causing her to momentarily look up at him with wide eyes from behind her sunglasses. “You might burn a hole into the ground with that glare.”

She had been so focused on not tripping she hadn’t noticed her face had settled into a determined scowl.

“What are you even looking at?”

“Rattlesnakes?” Poppy replied, her answer coming out as more of a question as she spat out the first excuse that came to mind.

John’s loud laugh filled her ears and she looked over to see his head thrown back, as he rested a hand on his stomach. “Are you serious?”

She had seen a few before on previous hikes, as they were relatively common in the desert. She wasn’t necessarily afraid of them, but getting bit by a venomous snake was probably a little bit worse than tripping and falling in front of John. She hadn’t been worried about that until just now. She scowled at the ground again, keeping an eye on the rocks that lined the path. Now she had two things to look out for. Good going, Poppy.

“Do you think we’ll see any?” She asked, trying to keep the tone of her voice even so he wouldn’t pick up on how nervous she was. She was just making this worse for herself and thinking up a million worst case scenarios.

“Possibly.” John just shrugged, an amused smile pulling at the corner of his mouth as he watched Poppy.

He didn’t seem to be phased about snakes or falling at all. He was so calm and just gave off an effortlessly cool vibe. Poppy was beyond jealous at how composed he seemed to be.

“Are you scared of them?”

John shrugged once more, “Not really. There’s not much that scares old O’Callaghan, here.”

They were on a relatively flat part of the path, so Poppy gave John’s shoulder another light shove, but he barely even stumbled. “Because I’m wearing sunglasses and you can’t see, I’m just letting you know that I’m rolling my eyes.” John let out another loud and hearty laugh, and Poppy felt the butterflies erupting in the pit of her stomach at the sound. “There’s got to be something that freaks out old O’Callaghan.”

She dared to lift her eyes from the ground for a moment to watch as John chewed on his bottom lip in thought. “Blood, I guess.”

It was Poppy’s turn to let out a loud laugh. She noticed the smile that situated itself on John’s face at the sound of her laughing. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, I still pass out every time I get a needle.”

“But you have tattoos?”

“Yeah,” John’s voice trailed off as he scratched nervously at his chest. His fingers ran over the very tattoo across his chest that had caused him to pass out. Out cold at the sensation of the needle scraping across his skin, he slipped out of consciousness and nearly fell right off the table. It was a story he was horribly embarrassed of and hated telling, but one his bandmate Jared insisted on using as an ice breaker in every conversation. If Poppy ever met Jared, John was going to have to be there to supervise the conversation so the topic wouldn’t come up.

Poppy watched as he ran his hands over the ink peaking out from below the collar of his shirt, almost a subconscious reaction to her mention of his tattoos. She knew by his reaction he had definitely passed out during those tattoos, but he was trying to play it off. She smirked to herself, she was going to bring this topic back up at a later date. There was definitely a story here that she was missing out on.

“I was a lifeguard when I was younger and had to take a few first aid courses,” He spoke, dropping his hand from his chest as he noticed Poppy watching his movements. “Almost passed out during those too.”

The thought of a teenage John struggling to contain his dizziness in the back of a first aid class earned another hearty laugh from Poppy. She was almost the complete opposite, loving gory horror movies, but maybe that’s what happened when you’re married to a doctor? You become desensitized to blood when you’re exposed to constant talk of it. “Sounds like old O’Callaghan is a bit of a wimp to me.”

“I’m the wimp?” He echoed, a smirk making its way onto his face. The easy part of the climb was officially over as they reached the end of the last staircase. From this point forward there were just steep inclines with nothing but a metal railing lining the side for you to use as assistance if needed. “I can make it all the way up this climb without the railing. Can you?” John challenged, watching Poppy’s reaction as the couple stood at the bottom of the steep hill.

It was late enough in the afternoon that the mountain was bare of any other climbers, leaving the pair by themselves. Poppy had never been here when it wasn’t packed with a crowd, and she had also never done this climb without using the railing to pull herself up. It was a rather steep rocky incline, and the railing was obviously there for a reason, but she couldn’t say no to a challenge.

“I’ll see you at the top, babe.” She called over her shoulder as she took off up the climb without any warning. She could hear John laughing behind her as he began to scale the rocky incline as well, soon seeing his large frame pass her out of the corner of her eye. He had much longer legs, not that she minded much as she looked up to watch his back retreating up the mountain, flexing as he climbed. In that moment she was fairly confident that Poppy was being blessed with the best view in all of Arizona.

Eventually reaching the top, John was waiting with his arms folded infront of his chest and a taunting smile on his face. “Lovely of you to finally join me, babe.” He teased, as Poppy bent over to catch her breath.

She rested her hands on her knees as she looked up to scowl at John. “I thought you’d be a gentleman and let the girl win.”

“I thought about it,” He teased, letting out a small laugh. “But I just really don’t like losing.”

Standing fully upright as her breathing finally evened out, Poppy shook her head and continued walking along the path to the next incline that mirrored the one they had just scaled.

“Sorry, I’ll be a gentleman now.” He gestured for her to carry on in front of him as they reached to start of the next climb. “Ladies first.”

Climbing up in front of him, she shook her head realizing he was just using that as an excuse to do exactly what she had just been doing. “You’re just looking at my ass, aren’t you?” She called over her shoulder with a laugh.

“Yep.” Came John’s simple reply from behind her.

****

It took the pair just over an hour to reach the summit, reaching the peak of Camelback Mountain just as the sun was beginning it’s descent behind the horizon. The air was beginning to cool significantly as the sky began to turn shades of purple and orange. There was nothing more breathtaking than an Arizona sunset, especially one observed from the uninterrupted view the mountain provided. John and Poppy had taken a seat on one of the large rocks overlooking the side of the mountain they had just climbed. Stretched out before them was a view of the whole of the Valley of the Sun.

They had raced the whole way, wagering small bets the entirety of the climb. Conversation between the two of them flowed so effortlessly, despite the butterflies still nagging at Poppy’s insides. She felt like they had both shared their life stories on the climb up, yet Poppy could still sit here for hours on end listening to John continue to talk.

He was currently rambling on about a time he had climbed the mountain with his brothers while babysitting them, his youngest brother losing a shoe when it got caught on one of the boulders at the top of the mountain and John had to carry him the entire way down. A comfortable silence settled between the pair as he finished his story.

They were seated fairly close to each other, the tips of their fingers touching from where they were resting on the ground. She slid her hand over a little further to rest lightly on top of John’s. Both of their gazes focused on the view in front of them, Poppy couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face as she felt John’s fingers lacing together with hers.

“I’ll never get sick of an Arizona sunset.” Poppy whispered, mesmerized by the pink and purple colours that were swirled throughout the cloudless sky.

She noticed John nod his head out of the corner of her eye, giving her hand a light squeeze. “I’ve hiked this mountain countless times, but I never get tired of the view.”

No longer needing them, Poppy pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head, fishing her phone out of her pocket with the hand that wasn’t holding John’s to capture a few pictures of the sunset. She could feel John’s eyes on her as she took the photos, turning the camera around to sneak a quick selfie of the pair and earning another laugh from John.

She slipped the phone back into the pocket of her sweater, John’s eyes never leaving her. He reached up to take off his own sunglasses, letting them hang from the collar of his white shirt. His green eyes fixated on Poppy’s own as she adjusted her seated position slightly to face him a bit more. She was completely melting under his gaze, all thoughts of the view surrounding them disappearing as her mind wandered to the text message he had sent her the night before.

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

This was it, Poppy thought as she watched his eyes momentarily glance down to her lips. His breathing shallow and haggard, he was clearly nervous. Calm and composed John was long gone, and she couldn’t help but smile over the fact that she was the one having this effect over him.

Poppy had always believed there were two reasons you kissed someone. There was kissing someone because they were attractive. Those were the kind of kisses that usually occurred in bars or after long nights of drinking with strangers you didn’t intend to call back the following day. But then there was kissing someone because words could no longer accurately express your feelings. They put your deepest thoughts and emotions out there on display without any words at all. Watching John’s eyes once again flicker between holding her gaze and her lips, she could have sworn she felt her heart swell in size. She was at a loss of words of what to say to him, a stark contrast to the lively conversation the two had shared the entire way up the mountain.

John let out a low sigh, breaking eye contact with Poppy to turn and look back out at the view. She watched him run a hand roughly over his face as he let out another shaky breath.

He was chickening out.

He was too shy and he was backing out without any sort of liquid courage to support him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss Poppy, it was almost all he could think about, but she was just too god damn attractive that he couldn’t focus or calm his nerves long enough to do it. He knew he had completely blown his chance as he felt Poppy let go of his hand, bringing her own to rest in her lap as she turned to face the view as well.

She chewed on the inside of her lip, contemplating what she was supposed to do next. Were they just going to sit here in silence and pretend that that moment hadn’t just happened? Poppy wasn’t going to sit here and stay quiet. John had talked a big game the night before, and she had every intention of calling him out on it.

“I thought you said you were going to kiss me?”

John’s head whipped around, eyes wide in shock as he stared over at Poppy. She sat with a confident smirk on her face, meeting John’s gaze with a slight laugh.

“That’s a shame,” She teased, rising from her seated position. John still stared up at her, slightly bewildered at her confidence and forwardness. “I was really looking forward to it.”

She called the last bit over her shoulder as she began to head back towards the path the pair had come from to begin the descent back down the mountain.

She slowed her pace as she heard John’s voice calling her name after her. He scrambled to get up from his seated position, jogging after the retreating blonde. “Poppy, wait!”

She spun around to answer his calls, bumping directly into his chest instead as John had run after her. She staggered backwards slightly, John grabbing her elbows to steady her and pull her back into him.

“Just, wait.” He mumbled, staring down at her.

This was it for him. He had made a scene, now he had to step up and follow through. His could have sworn his heart was in his throat as he cautiously raised one of his hands from her arms to reach up and lightly cup the side of Poppy’s face. He leaned down slowly as Poppy lifted herself up onto her tip toes to compensate for their slight height difference. John could feel her smile as he finally closed the remaining space between them, bringing his lips down to meet her own. Her eyes fluttering closed, Poppy brought her own hands up to rest on the back of his neck, just below his hairline as she leaned up further to deepen the kiss. His other hand found it’s way to her waist, pulling her in closer to his chest as Poppy could have sworn she felt her heart skip an actual beat. Poppy was definitely the luckiest girl in all of Arizona in that moment.