My Only Exception (gxg)

Part 10

I remember the night clearly that Poppy ended things with Emily.

It was the week of finals of her winter semester in college, and I received a call from Emily. She was crying, and immediately I asked her if it had something to do with Poppy.

"What did she do?" I asked Emily.

"S-she fucked someone else! Then she has the audacity to say that she could because we weren't officially dating. I've been wanting to be official, she's the one who kept putting it off!" Emily exclaimed through tears.

"Are you kidding me, she fucked someone else and then tried to make you feel bad? I fucking hate her," I said back to Emily, "Do you want me to drive over to you? I totally will."

"C-can you?" Emily asked me, "I don't want to be alone right now. I am really fucking upset."

I drove up to Emily's University, and stayed the night with her in her on-campus apartment. When I asked her how she even found out that Poppy slept with someone else, she said that Poppy straight up told her, and was nonchalant about it. She acted like she did nothing wrong. When Emily got upset, Poppy flipped the script and made it seem like Emily was crazy for being upset. She then told Emily that she wanted to be "fully single".

It was that moment that I decided I hated Poppy. I already didn't like her that much, but I now hated her.

She treated my sweet best friend like she was nothing and tossed her to the side.

Now I was flirting with her.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I didn't talk to Poppy for the rest of the New Year's Eve party, and I also didn't go to Corrine's after. I could tell that she was a annoyed that I didn't, but I told her that I was too exhausted. It wasn't a lie either.

I fell asleep on New Year's Eve at 2:30 AM, but I was awoken at 5 AM by my mom stumbling in the house.

Thankfully, we were closed on New Year's Day. However, I did work the day after.

I had a shift with Sydney, and thankfully not Poppy. Working with us as well was Liv, who was home for winter break from college. When I first met Liv, there was some flirtation between us, but nothing ever came of it.

When I saw Sydney I said to her in a gentle tone, "I missed you on New Year's Eve."

She sighed, "I couldn't come, even though I wanted to. I assume you heard about Poppy and I?"

I nodded, "I did, and I am really sorry to hear it. How are you doing?"

"I'm upset and hurt. But part of me thinks it's my own fault."

I frowned, "Why would you say that?"

"Poppy told me from the start that she didn't want a girlfriend. But her actions totally said otherwise, and I fell for it. I fell for her. I guess you were right about her all along," Sydney said sadly.

"I'm sorry," I said to Sydney, "I hate seeing you hurt. I promise that you'll be okay."

Sydney gave me a weak smile, "I know. I just need some time, that's all. I'm going to try and not make things awkward when I work with Poppy, but that might be tough at first."

"I get it. You can just ignore her like I do."

That got a chuckle out of Sydney, "That's the plan."

When Sydney went on her break, Liv came up to me. I was making drinks, and she was on the register. There was no one in the shop at the moment.

Liv is a tall, lanky girl with hair that is always a different fun color. Today it was teal, and it was in two short braids under a beanie.