professional clown

After Collage ended and we graduated with both our degrees we decided to take a holiday to her Miami Beach house..I know right?

We arrived to our gate and we finally settled down to the plane, of course we sit first class you didn’t even have to wonder.

“Well we have 2 hours so if you excuse me I will get on with my skincare routine” she says and the flashbacks come back almost immediately of our first hookup in her room

“Well your skin looks like shit Hughes so let me do you a favour” she straddle my lap and I am probably looking up at her with starry eyes because she has a satisfied smirk on her face

“I didn’t knew you had a soft spot for me Poppy but a girl can take a break” I wink at her and she rolls her eyes at me..how adorable I always loved when she did that

“If you are my rival you better look good” she casually says and why did I get turned on suddenly? I realise how close she is and how her breasts are pressed against mine. Damn it stop being so horny! But how can I not? Her perfectly glossed lips, her beautiful silk blonde hair..her soft hands working on my face..it’s almost too much

“Bea for the last time do you want champagne? Sorry she apparently has a hearing problem” Poppy says to the flight attendant and I roll my eyes nodding

“I thought after you asked me out you would stop bullying me” I stick my tongue out and I can see a small smile playing on her lips

“Well tell me what got you all parched” she hands me the champagne flute and gives me a smile I could never resist

“That’s for you to find out Min-Sinclair, in the meantime I want to focus to you” I place my hand on her thigh ever so flirty and she lets a small gasp escape her lips

“Careful what you wish for Bea..I don’t play nice, you should be the only one who knows that”

And she is right..if I close my eyes I can pin point the exact moments she tried to ruin me, but on the other side i can almost feel all the times she made me feel like no one ever did before

“Well? Are we playing dirty?” She locks eyes with me and I settle my champagne down.

Her eyes never leaving mine she watches me flip my hair back seductively

“I feel so worked up Poppy..maybe you can help me” this phrase reminded me of that time we fought for the crown..how we had a cat fight in the fountain..how much I wanted her

“I feel so worked up Poppy” it’s the only words that escape my lips “maybe you can help me unwind” are you kidding me? You literally slapped her, dragged her across the fountain and ruined her manicure and that’s what you are going to say?

Interestingly enough she doesn’t look angry anymore..I can feel her heat radiating off her body and she slams me against the fountain, water splashes everywhere as her tongue goes playfully in my mouth and all I can feel is her

I blink a few times trying to cool down and she knows what kind of effect she has on me because she smirks and gets back on her seat. Sigh she is not someone to play with I learnt that from the first time she approached me

Our plane finally lands and a private car was waiting for us to take us back to the house.

I didn’t expect anything less..the car pulls up to a gate and when they open I can see a beautiful house and palm trees everywhere decorating the big garden

The car finally stops and Poppy hurries to open my door. I step out and I try my best not to gasp

“You can gasp Farmsville this is far from the land you grew up on” she winks at me and I roll my eyes

We walk inside and the house is beautiful as expected but what catches my eye is the big window where you can see the beach, the waves the sunset

“This is where I came when you humiliated me in front of all my father’s clients and the whole school” she casually says but a pinch of guilt fills my heart, it wasn’t my proudest moment

I hold the award in my hands and I can’t believe I finally beat Poppy Min-Sin bitch at her own little game. She stormed out after I humiliated her and her parents but why do I feel guilty? Isn’t that what I planned for since I first got here?

“Make a speech make a speech make a speech” everyone is chanting and I finally feel the weight of the award in my hand..the weight of what I just did to Poppy

I hold her tight, a small tear escaped my eye but she just smiles at me giving me a gentle kiss on my forehead “Don’t be sad..remind me to punish you later for that night”

I laugh and I wipe my tears getting my attention back to the window. The waves perfectly collide with the sand and I get the perfect idea

“Let’s go to the beach I am dying to watch the sunset with you” is it my idea or did my proposition made her nervous? She quickly recovers and offers me a smile. Sure she says and she leads me to the coast

She holds my hand tight and for a moment everything looks perfect. The sun is going down and the deep orange colour blends beautifully with the blue sky..the birds fly freely in the air and Poppy looks more than gorgeous under the sunset

I must have been daydreaming for a moment because when I regain my focus Poppy is down on one knee. Excuse me!?

“I get my dress dirty for this so you better say yes” she takes a deep breath and continues

“Since the moment that I met you you have been nothing but a challenge for me, even in the beginning you didn’t know how to dress”

I roll my eyes but I can start feel the tears forming in my eyes, I can’t believe this is happening

“I didn’t even bat an eye at you but you decided to make my life a living hell and I promised to make yours even worse”

“I fell for you since you first kissed me but then I heard that hog calling video and I wanted to go deaf” she chuckles

“I didn’t imagine I could feel this way but you proved to be a worthy opponent and someone who kept me always on my toes..when I found out of your affair with Kingsley I should have used it and destroy you but it only made me more sad”

Now my tears run freely like a waterfall but she is quick to wipe them for me..I didn’t realise I fell to my knees to her eye level..holding her hand so tight

“And since then I knew I didn’t want to be with anyone but you..someone who always challenges me and changes me for the better so that only leaves me with one question”

I gasp when she reaches and opens a small velvet box revealing the most beautiful diamond ring I have ever seen

“Bea Hughes will you marry me?”

I immediately scream yes and she struggles to put the ring on fast enough, we are already covered in sand kissing each other like there is no tomorrow

“I can’t believe you proposed!!” I scream happily and I am not the only one cheering because when I turn around I watch all our friends and family smiling at us “No you didn’t!!”

Zoey hugs me first spectating on my beautiful ring and then comes my parents which I am surprised Poppy flew from Farmsvile.

“From a farm girl to your fiancé how are you feeling?” I smile at her and she simply roll her eyes at me

“Don’t make me regret proposing Hughes”

And that’s how our story ended..watching the sunset with my fiancé gasp! From enemies to lovers and from lovers to newly weds..who knew the two hot rivals from Belvoire could ever end like this? I bet the T would love an inside story about our wedding..I am just kidding..or am I?

Kisses, the T

Poppy sips her drink, makes an effort to not roll her eyes, and tries to focus back on what... Angus or Anthony (something with an A, she thinks) had been saying.

and then there's the laugh again--loud and alive and unapologetic. no one else seems bothered by it. no one else even bats an eye at the disruption.

Poppy cranes her head to look around the ballroom now, fully forgetting about Arthur or Andrew and everything he had been saying. and then she sees her.

her in the dark dress shimmering in the light like the goddamn inky black midnight sky. her with the toned arms and long fingers holding gently onto a flute of champagne. Poppy's eyes dip to the slit in her dress that runs dangerously high up her thigh. up, up, up and then--

Poppy sees her face.

and she thinks no, it can't be.

and the universe hums and says oh, yes, it can be.

she flips her hair over her shoulder and for one glorious second, the world around them stops, they share a quiet smile that hides years of unsaid truths, and Poppy thinks that maybe, just maybe, she'll be able to get out of this unscathed.

then the world roars back into focus, she is smirking now, and Adam or Alexander is gently touching her arm and asking if she's alright.

"sorry, what was that?" Poppy says, blinking it all away and trying not to think about her racing heart.

"i was asking if you wanted to go for a walk," he says, "my place isn't too far from here."

"oh, uh, no, thank you." Poppy tips back the rest of her drink, leaves the empty glass on the table, and ventures deeper into the ballroom, hoping that she can get lost for the next few hours.

she grabs another flute of champagne from a passing waiter, takes one long sip, and decides that it's too claustrophobic inside. she can feel a warmth in her cheeks and a tingling itchiness beneath her skin.

she steps out into a small outdoor area, where the sounds of the party are muffled by the thick stone walls. Poppy decides that she will give herself one minute. one minute to breathe and freak out and curse out whatever force of the universe thought that this would be funny. one minute to do all of that and then pack it up and go back inside with her head held high as she braces for an assault of questions from her parents about why she screwed up yet another perfect and ideal match.

god forbid she be a person and not some status symbol for her parents.

Poppy's just about to go back inside, just about to pack it all back in, when she turns around and comes face to face with her--AJ Hughes.

"i thought i saw you across the room," AJ says as she reaches out to gently push a loose piece of hair behind Poppy's ear.

Poppy flinches away from the touch.

"ouch, really?"

"what do you want?"

AJ shrugs and actually has the audacity to look shy or nervous or unsure. Poppy has never hated anything the way that she hates that.

"i just thought..." AJ starts.

"thought what? that you'd walk back into my life after six years and try make a mess of it again? i am the best i have ever been and i don't need you dragging me down to your level. so if you don't mind--" Poppy pushes past AJ and at the last possible second, AJ reaches for Poppy's hand.

there's barely any contact. AJ's fingers barely touch her hand, but it's enough to make Poppy stop and look back at her. it's enough to send a spark of energy coursing through her veins and setting her nerve endings alight.

Poppy snaps her hand back. she doesn't say anything, can't say anything because the shock of it all renders her brain to mush and has her heart beat thundering in her chest.

she makes her escape quickly after that. doesn't say anything to AJ as she leaves her alone outside. doesn't even bother to say anything to her parents--she'll take the verbal lashing tomorrow when she wakes up hours after them and they accuse her of all sorts of things.

the outside air is cool against her flushed cheeks; reminds her that summer is well and truly over and that fall is setting in.

Poppy hails a cab and deeply exhales when she falls back against the seat. she decides that tonight was a one time thing. a one time lapse in judgement where she let her guard down and AJ caught her. it doesn't even matter really, because she won't ever have to see AJ again.

another six years will fall away, and then six more after that, and again and again, until she's so far removed from the life she's living now, that the name AJ Hughes will be the echo of a memory.

it's barely six weeks before Poppy's mingling and dancing and drinking at another gala that her parents have dragged her too. this one's to raise money for sick kids so she feels less bad about being here, but still wishes her parents would leave her alone for just one night and not try to set her up with someone.

she dodges another invite home, is always firm yet polite about how she does that, because her parents would never let her hear the end of it if someone took offence to something that she said or did, and she's on thin ice as it is with them. has been for years in fact, and can't quite seem to mend what was broken.

sometimes just as she's about to fall asleep, when she can blame it all on a sleep-fogged brain, she thinks about what her life could have been like had she just done something different. had she stood up to her parents all those years ago. had she stopped pretending that any of it made her happy. had she just accepted what AJ had been so willing to give her.

that last one always comes right at the end, right as she's about to fall off into sleep. and sometimes those what ifs bleed into her dreams and leave an ache in her chest when she wakes again.

Poppy moves easily between the other guests and even plucks another flute of champagne from a passing waiter. and just as she turns back around, Poppy sees AJ across the room. again.

and after a second that stretches on for way too long, where Poppy's heart beats dangerously in her chest for something that she refuses to acknowledges even exists, AJ returns to her conversation as though her entire world hasn't been shifted. as though Poppy's the only one experiencing this.

Poppy huffs. fine. ignore her then.

ignore ignore ignore. Poppy can do that.

the nights and galas and events carry on after that, bleeding and muddling together. sometimes there are sit down dinners, and sometimes--rarely--Poppy and AJ are seated next to each other and have to both play like civil acquaintances in front of everyone else at their table.

mostly though--mostly--Poppy doesn't entertain a single thought of AJ. although sometimes she wonders if by not thinking about her at all, it actually counts as thinking of her. that just winds up frustrating herself more and she reaches for more champagne from passing waiters.

and then some time at the end of winter, when the snow is slush and the sky has a hazy grey tint, Poppy makes a mistake. she's alone with AJ. although not alone alone. they're on a packed elevator, pressed shoulder to shoulder in the back.

AJ keeps one arm folded over her chest at first, tries her best to keep some space between them, but it's all so pointless because Poppy can still feel every minute movement from AJ.

so they aren't alone, but it sure feels like they could be, because for all her efforts, all Poppy can think about is the way that their arms press together.

and then--then then then--AJ moves her arm from across her chest down beside Poppy's own arm.

Poppy doesn't move, doesn't dare breathe or look at AJ.

AJ brushes her fingers against Poppy's, and then Poppy does something regretful. she forgets where they are and what they are and-- everything. she forgets it all and holds AJ's fingers in her own. holds on so tightly and desperately wishes for the elevator to slow or stop altogether.

she feels warm all over and wonders where it all went so wrong.

and then the elevator stops, dings, and the doors slide open.

Poppy releases AJ's hand and follows everyone else off. but AJ stays with her back against the elevator for a moment, and Poppy allows herself one more moment of weakness to look back.

Poppy wonders how the doors haven't closed yet. thinks that maybe this is the universe again trying do something-- nice or cruel? she's not too sure.

"we could be happy," AJ whispers, not that she needs to, there's no one else around.

and her words stab into Poppy's heart and twist and dig and burrow in so deep she doubts she's ever be able to get them out.

everything around her slows for a moment. Poppy can see the doors beginning to close, can see that AJ's not going to get out, can see this moment slipping away. can see all the other moments from years ago and years from now playing out in a montage in her mind, all slipping away.

and she wonders why why why it all has to be so stupid and messy and complicated and-- she steps into the elevator just as the doors shut firmly behind her. and in that same breathless second, AJ bounces off the wall, meets her halfway, and drags her into a perfect kiss.

she hates herself a little for refusing this, for spending so many years unhappy. because if what she feels right now with her hands in AJ's hair, and AJ's on her waist, and their lips locked together, is any indication of what she'll feel tomorrow and next week and years from now--

"promise me," AJ says, breathing the words against Poppy's lips. "promise me that we'll try, because i can't--"

"it'll be hard work."

"i know."

"i'm stubborn and mean."

"i wouldn't want you any other way."

"i promise." Poppy kisses her and then again for good measure. "i've missed you."

"i can't do another six years without you."