Page 38 of Finding Her
Her eyes darted over my shoulder to look at him then she looked back at me again. “So, why don’t you tell him that?”
I stared at her, taken aback. I hadn’t even given her the full story—the way that every time I wanted to quit, he told me how disappointed he would be in me, and that whenever I tried to follow any other interest, he’d told me that I shouldn’t be distracting myself from what really mattered. That sometimes I wondered how he would react if I decided I didn’t want to go to the NHL or if I hung up my skates sometime in college. It wasn’t that I was itching to quit, it was just that I would have liked to know that I had his support either way.
“My dad’s not really the kind of guy you say no to,” I said. She opened her mouth, probably to protest, so I jumped in and said, “Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m here with my sister and her boyfriend,” she said. She looked a little taken aback by the sudden change in subject but didn’t comment on it. “They’re in town, so they thought they’d take me out to dinner.”
I almost sighed in relief. Just her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. Poppy wasn’t on a date. Although, just to be certainof that, I asked, “So just them? You didn’t bring anybody with you?”
“Well, I offered for Lilah to come with us, but she had something going on.” She shrugged. “Not sure what. And sometimes it’s just nice hanging out with my sister one-on-one. Well, I guess it’s not really one-on-one because her boyfriend’s here, but…” She trailed off from her rambling and flushed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to corner you into a conversation.”
“You didn’t,” I said honestly. And then we just stared at each other, neither one of us moving away. We were probably blocking other people from getting around us in this aisle, but for some reason, I didn’t want to step away from Poppy. It was rare that I saw her outside of school hours and for some reason, I didn’t want to give it up.
“Do you want to meet them?” she asked suddenly. “My sister and her boyfriend, I mean. Most people are more interested in meeting him—he’s kind of famous—but I’m guessing you’re not a boy band fan.”
I blinked. Famous? Boy band? None of that made sense, but my mouth betrayed me. “Sure.”
Poppy grabbed my hand to lead the way back to the table. Sparks burned up my arm, and I almost pulled back instinctively. But I managed to stop myself, and it was a good thing too, because then Poppy slipped her hand properly into mine, interlocking her fingers. And I realized that I never wanted my hand to be touching anything else again.
We weaved our way back through the crowd, going the opposite way of my dad’s table, thankfully. We came to a stop at a four-person table near the front of the restaurant, where a couple was sitting together on one side. The girl who looked somewhat like Poppy, with dark brown hair and dark eyes, though her hair was curlier. And the boy looked familiar, as if I’d seen him on TV but I couldn’t quite place him.
“Guys,” Poppy said, pulling me forward so that I was standing right up next to her. “This is Bear.”
She put a hand to my chest as she said my name, like they needed confirmation that it was me. But all I could think about was the last time Poppy had touched my chest like this, back in the supply closet. The way she’d been standing so close to me. The sound of my name on her lips. Every night since then, I’d laid awake wondering how it would have gone if the custodian hadn’t opened the door right when he did.
“And Bear, this is my sister Ivy, and her boyfriend, Zach.”
Ivy smiled brightly at me. Zach pulled his mouth up slightly, in what could almost be a grin, and nodded.
“It’s so nice to meet you!” Ivy said, smiling up at me. Her gaze darted to Poppy. “You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.”
Poppy’s smile dropped, and she looked completely shocked, like she didn’t see any way that this could somehow be misconstrued as us dating. Holding hands while we walked, her hand on my chest now, her bringing me over to meet her family. And I almost stifled a laugh at the utter confusion on her face. She looked at me, and then she looked at Ivy, and went, “He’s not my boyfriend!”
I was a little offended at the insistence in her voice.
“Oh.” Ivy’s face flushed red. “I didn’t—sorry, I just?—”
“He’s just a friend,” Poppy continued. “My partner in gym class. I think I told you about him, right?”
Ivy’s eyes lit up in a way that told me that yes, Poppy had absolutely given her all the details about our gym class and why we were partners in it. And I internally groaned, hating that my humiliation was spreading beyond just Hartwell’s four walls.
“Right. So, is your name actually Bear, or...?” Ivy asked hesitantly.
“Levi,” I said quickly. “Bear’s just a nickname.”
“That’s fun. I wish my name had nickname potential, but Ivy’s kind of basic.”
“Same with Poppy,” Poppy added. “Our parents just picked two flowers and called it a day.”
“I think Poppy has nickname potential,” I said.
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Pipsqueak.”
She glared at me. “You are not calling me Pipsqueak.”
“Wanna bet?”
