My Only Exception (gxg)

Part 2

As I was in the kitchen filling up my water bottle to take my medicine, my mom walked into the kitchen. She was out of her white coat and professional outfit, and now in a little black dress. Her light blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, and I could smell her light vanilla perfume.

"Hey love, how was work today?" she asked me.

"It was fine," I said to her, "You're going out?"

She nodded, "Hitting a couple of bars with the girls. I'll be back later on. Do you have any plans for tonight?"

Great. She's going to the bars.

I shook my head, "Not really. My only plans are me, my bed, and Door Dash."

My mom looked at me for a long moment and asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," I lied, "Just tired, that's all."

My mom walked over to me, leaned down and kissed the top of my head, and said, "Okay, just checking. I'm sure you'll be up when I get back."

"Have fun," I said to my mom.

My mom has two full time jobs, being a Physician as well as a functioning alcoholic. The two don't seem to go together, but somehow she has managed to do both for over 10 years.

Not that I don't constantly worry about her.

That night as I sat in my bed after I finished my sushi, I pet Penelope, who was sleeping next to me.

Emily was out with a couple of her friends from college, so I knew that I couldn't ask her to come over. I kept petting Penelope to ease some loneliness.

The loneliness never leaves no matter what I do.

I didn't work the next day, which was a Saturday, but I was glad that I had plans that night at Diego's. I put on a black, gray, and white flannel, black skinny jeans, and Doc Martens. I straightened my dark hair and put on more makeup than I usually do for work.

My mom was going out with her friends, again. At least this time I would have the bonfire to distract me from worrying if she would get home in one piece.

Diego lives about a half hour away from me, and I blasted my usual rock music as I drove to his house. Diego lives in a small home that is on a very large plot of land, at least an acre. Where he lives in Pennsylvania is more of a rural area, with less housing developments than the town I live.

I knew that pretty much all of my co-workers would be there, as well as some of Diego's other friends. There aren't many people that work at the coffee shop, in total there are 10 of us, now 11 with Poppy. Most are part time workers, though I am full time.

I walked out to Diego's backyard, and immediately saw the flames of the bonfire and could smell the warm aroma of the burning cedar, one of my favorite scents.

I gravitated toward Sydney, and one of my other co-workers who I get along with well, Laura. I looked over and noticed Poppy with Diego and my other co-worker, Justin. She was laughing at something that Diego was saying.

Poppy wore a tight, knitted gray sweater, dark wash jeans, and black boots. Her raven-colored hair was down and lightly curled at the ends. I took in the sight of Poppy for a moment. There was no denying she was an attractive woman, that was one of the charms of hers that worked on Emily. As well as a few other charms.

Diego had a Bluetooth speaker that was blasting music, and the song "Highest in the Room" by Travis Scott was blasting from the speakers as I spoke with Sydney and Laura.

"How is operation Poppy going?" Laura asked Sydney.

I looked between Laura and Sydney, "Operation Poppy?"

Sydney looked a bit sheepish, and she played with her long, dark braids as she said, "I've taken a liking to Poppy. I told Laura, and she is calling my attempt to flirt with Poppy as 'Operation Poppy'."

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I chose not to.

Sydney will have to learn for herself.

"Let me know how that goes," I said to Sydney, with a soft smile to let her know I wasn't being sarcastic, even though I didn't like Poppy.

At that moment, I noticed Poppy make her way over to us, and I tensed up at the sight of it.

"Maybe you can put operation Poppy into action," Laura said softly to Sydney with a chuckle.

Poppy, however, was focused on me as she walked over.

"Hello all," she said, and smiled at Sydney and Laura.

Poppy's smile faded when she turned to me, "Delilah, a word, please?"

"Sure," I said to Poppy, wondering what this could be about.

Poppy started to walk away, and I walked next to her in silence until we were a distance away from everyone else.

Poppy turned to face me, and she crossed her arms. Poppy was around the same height as me, 5 foot 4, so we were on eye level with each other. There was a certain coldness to her eyes that wasn't there when we were around Laura and Sydney.

Immediately, I matched it.

"What's up, Poppy?" I asked her.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't spread rumors about me," she said, her tone icy.

I looked right at Poppy, "Not sure what you're talking about."

"You told Sydney about Emily and me. She told me that you said I was 'bad' to Emily."

It was a mistake to trust Sydney.

"That's not exactly a rumor, is it? It's the truth."

Poppy narrowed her hazel eyes, even in the dark of the night I could see the amber and gold flecks in her eyes as well.

Poppy laughed, but there was no humor to it, "I don't care if it's the truth or not, Delilah. Don't spread my business to anyone else."

"Sydney asked me why I didn't like you. I told her why, simple as that. If you don't like what I told her, you shouldn't have fucked over my best friend."

There was frustration to Poppy's tone as she asked me, "What, are you in love with Emily or something? You're way too defensive over her."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not in love with Emily, nor am I too defensive over her. It's called having a loyal best friend, I'm assuming you don't know anything about that."

That seemed to get under Poppy's skin, as her eyes narrowed and she said, "This is your warning. Stop spreading around my business."

Before I could say anything back to Poppy, she walked past me, purposefully bumping my shoulder on the way.

I whipped around to look back at her after she did so, but all I could see was the back of her, walking away.

This is so far from over.