Every Once in a While

I had spent the rest of my morning reeling in my displeasure towards Poe. With his stupid smile on his cute face. Noa didn't ask me to go in and check in on Poe, he usually did with all our other patients. I was glad he didn't, I didn't want to see Poe, not right now. I was able to avoid Poe all morning. Lunch had rolled by and I was sitting outside with Jules.

"Here, I made cake." Jules sat next to me, handing me a plate. Jules loved to bake, she usually had something for me to try almost every week. I never complained, whatever Jules baked was always delicious. Today, it was vanilla and strawberry cake.
"You alright?" She asked, "You look...different." I was thinking on whether on telling her the real reason I was upset. I had never told Jules about Poe or Noa. I thought she wouldn't understand, I decided to lie.

"I've had a long day." The lack of sleep I had gotten the night before was really starting to kick in. Going home and jumping right into bed sounded amazing. I wanted to sleep the day away, then maybe I wouldn't be so annoyed at Poe. Also, I was safe in my room, I couldn't bump into Poe there. Jules bought my white lie, we went on to talk about random things. Mostly about how Jules was so excited to fly again. Once lunch was over, I walked Jules to post, trying to kill as much time as I possibly could. When I walked back into the med bay, Noa was guiding Poe out of his room. Dammit.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks. " Poe mumbled. He spotted me and then glanced over to Noa. I glared at him, hoping he wasn't about to open his mouth about something that didn't concern him. I bit my lip in vexation, wondering if I should intervene or stay out of it.

"Hey-"Poe said, looking stern and commanding. If I wasn't so keen on stopping him I might have stopped and admired the way his face looked. I walked over briskly, grabbing hold of his hand, making sure not to cause any pain.

"Commander." I said as nicely as I could.

"I was going to escort the commander to his room-"

Poe interrupted, glaring at Noa. "I don't need to be escorted."

"I can do that, you stay here." I said to Noa, reaching over to grab Poe's other hand, tugging slightly. Noa only nodded, he must have had other things to get to. I watched as he walked into the backroom. I let out a sigh of relief once Noa was out of sight. I made sure to walk ahead of Poe as I made my way towards his room. He didn't try to speak to me, which made the walk a little awkward.

"Alright." I clapped my hands together, turning on my heel. With all intention to walk back to work and not utter one word to Poe.

"Wait, Isla." He grabbed my arm as I tried to walk past him. I frowned at him, trying to pry my arm out of his grip.

"I have to get back to work." I said quietly, he let go of me hesitantly. What if he had something important to say? I hesitated slightly, wanting to stay and hear him out. I decided against it quickly, turning back around and walking back to work. As I staring blankly at the papers I was meant to fill out, I wondered what he was going to say to me. He looked serious, I should have just stayed. It was too late to do anything about it now. I set my head on the cold table, sighing deeply.

When Noa had asked me to take some files to General Organa, I had said no. I didn't mean to say it out loud, but it just slipped out. Noa stared at me for a while, retracting his hand slowly, setting the papers on the counter in front of me.

"I would do it myself-"

"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed quickly, blushing as I stood up. "It's been a long day. " He reached over to squeeze my shoulder. I sighed softly, feeling worn out.

"I know how you feel, I was going to call it a day but I have to check the commander's wound once more, I thought I had stopped the bleeding-"

"Hey." Jesus Christ, did this guy only ever show up when Noa was touching me? Poe was staring at me, raising his eyebrows. I grabbed the papers quickly, shrugging Noa's hand off.

"That didn't bother me, it doesn't count." I said under my breath as I passed Poe. I had done what Noa had asked and now I was taking my sweet time as I walked back. I didn't want to bump into Poe again. I tried not to think of him telling Noa while I was gone. I was going to have to tell Noa, even if he hadn't made me uncomfortable in a while. I just wanted Poe to leave me alone about the situation.

"Did you tell him?" I called out to him. He hadn't noticed me, I caught him off guard.

"Wow, don't you look worked up." He smiled. I glared, not finding him funny at all. His smile never faltered, "You're cute, Isla. Clueless, but cute." Oh god, don't blush. Too late, I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.

I disregarded the compliment, "I'm not clueless." Or was I? I wasn't even sure what he was referring to. What was there to be clueless about? Noa? Some other situation I wasn't aware of? I was so confused.

He smirked, cocking his head to the side, studying me, "No? I think so."

"Clueless about what?" I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting impatiently. He sighed loudly, rolling his eye playfully. Before I could even process what was happening, he had his good hand on my waist, pulling me into him. I stumbled, gripping his shoulders to try and steady myself. He pressed his lips to mine, softly, almost hesitantly. He was waiting for me to kiss back before he went on. I stood on my tip toes, pulling him in closer. It wasn't an innocent, new kiss anymore. We were definitely making out now, out in the open. I had pulled away slightly, afraid that someone would see us.

"What was that?" I asked stupidly, taking a step back and nervously flattening out the front of my shirt.

"Think it's called kissing." He shrugged, looking smug.You kissed the commander! It felt as if I had a hundred butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. He kissed you first.

"Just 'cause?" I asked slowly, "Just felt like kissing someone?"

He laughed, shaking his head, "No," he smirked, "I felt like kissing you" Oh, I knew my face must have looked as red as a tomato. I also couldn't help but smile. You probably look like an idiot, calm down. There was no way I was calming down, it's not every day you get kissed by a cute pilot.

"Are you okay?" Poe asked slowly, glancing around us for a moment. We were completely alone. I was a bit surprised at how composed he looked, maybe you were just overreacting? Maybe you should try and mimic him, pretend you're composed.

"I'm fine." More than fine, tell him you're ecstatic. I shook my head, I didn't want to come off 'too happy'. Poe nodded slowly, shifting from one foot to the other. He cleared his throat loudly, and played around with his new bandage. It wasn't fair, everything he did was cute. I almost wanted to go over and kiss him once more but I didn't know if that was acceptable.

"You kissed back." He stated quietly. "Look, I like you, Isla-" Forget acceptable. Just kiss him. I closed the gap in between us, pressing my lips to his quickly, shutting him up. "We're on the same page then." I mumbled as I pulled away slightly, staring up at him.

"I got to check back in with Noa." I said, pulling away from him. A small frown appearing on his lips. "I'm going to let him know, right now." I added quickly, already walking away. Right, now I had to do it. No more excuses. I wasn't too nervous about it, maybe because my mind was filled with images of kissing Poe. I had already wanted to turn back time and do it all over again. I figured looking all jittery as I told Noa to back off wouldn't be a good look, I had to put my serious face on. It was so hard to take the stupid smile off my face, I bit my lip to prevent it. I walked into the back room, looking around, spotting Noa sitting at my desk. He was flipping through some papers.

"Noa," I called out, "Can we talk?" He looked up from the papers, smiling up at me. Let's just get this over with.