the hot goss -poppy-

Senna and Poppy were hanging out at Southpoint Beach. Tragically it was getting to the time of year where it was too cold to swim, so they were having a little picnic type thingy instead. Senna had laid out a huge blanket and both sisters brought snacks and drinks in a cooler.

Senna was eilemaidening the sand, making huge spires and towers and other cool shapes while Poppy watched. They were chatting about random things here and there, but Senna had one particular topic she'd been meaning to bring up.

"So hey," she said casually, dropping the sand she'd been controlling and leaning back on the blanket. "I went to Solas the other day, and I ran into your one friend. Frances."

"Really?" Poppy asked. Though Frances had met Henri (a hilarious time that had been) Poppy had yet to introduce her best friend to her older sister. "Wow, what a small world!" She rolled over from her laying position and sat up. "I wish I had been there!"

Poppy grabbed a pretzel from the bag that sat between she and Senna and popped it in her mouth. Before she swallowed she asked, "How did you guys meet up anyway? How did you know who she was?"

"It was totally random, we started talking at a park because her dog ran up to me, and your name came up somehow," Senna said honestly. She couldn't even remember how Poppy's name had come up, but obviously it had or they'd never have made the connection. "But anyways, we got to talking, and we sorta, kinda, accidentally ended up on a date." She gave Poppy a big "oops!" smile and shrugged exaggeratedly.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

She didn't mention that she had spent the night with Frances too, because there were some details not even Senna felt the need to get into with her sister. But, well, she felt like this whole thing with Frances had a shot at working out, and Poppy deserved to know something was going on.

"Aww, I love Deni!" Poppy said, talking over her sister after Senna mentioned Frances' cute dog that Poppy loved with every fiber of her being.

She did, however, catch the end of Senna's next sentence.

Senna wrote:...accidentally ended up on a date.

Poppy's "awwwww" face disappeared, replaced immediately by a look of utter confusion. "Wait, what?" she asked. Senna couldn't mean--she hadn't really? Senna's face said that yes, Poppy had heard what she thought she heard. "Woah, woah, what?"

"We were hanging out, and it turned into a date!" Senna said, as if she had had no control whatsoever over the situation and had just stumbled into it through no fault of her own. "There was this guy at the restaurant, Armand, and he called us a couple and brought us fancy red wine. It couldn't not be a date after that."

Paz rolled her eyes. It was true that Armand had mistaken them for a couple, but Senna had definitely been the one to declare date-status after that.

"So anyways, yeah. That's a thing now," Senna concluded. "We had a really good time and we're gonna meet up again."

"'So that's a thing?'" Poppy repeated incredulously. "You're kidding, right?" Poppy hadn't had time to process what Senna was saying--it just seemed so out there and unreal. Senna and Frances. Her Senna and her Frances. Her Frances. And who the heck was Armand, and why was he buying them wine?

Senna smiled again, apologetically. "No, not kidding, sorryyyyy!" she drawled out. She didn't actually feel bad about it or anything, but she knew Poppy probably wasn't gonna be super thrilled about this for a while. She'd get over it though, Senna knew she would. And if she didn't...well...too bad, she supposed. "It won't be weird, I promise."

"I don't think I'm understanding," Poppy said, irritated. "She's my best friend, and you met her once and now it's a thing?" Poppy wanted to swipe the "apologetic" smile off her sister's face. There was nothing apologetic about her tone, and nothing apologetic about her words.

"It won't be weird because it's not happening. There is no way Frances would be interested in you," she insisted. Senna was cool (not now, but in general SOMETIMES (but especially not now)) but in that big sister way. Not in a way Frances (Poppy's Frances) would be all "I've met you once but now we are dating even though you're my best friend's sister and I don't care if it's weird or will hurt Poppy's feelings". Frances wouldn't do that to Poppy.

Senna obviously would, though.

Senna raised an eyebrow at Poppy's (frankly uncalled for) outburst. "It is happening, and she is interested in me," she said evenly. If she wanted to be a bitch, she would have told Poppy exactly how interested Frances had been the night after their date. But she wasn't a bitch, and she respected Frances too much to say something like that, and she honestly didn't want to hurt Poppy's feelings. But she also wasn't going to pass up on the chance for a good relationship just because Poppy was butthurt and immature about it.

"I only told you because I thought you deserved to know, and because I thought it would be shitty to go behind your back," she added. "Should I not have bothered?"

"Why are you acting like I've done something to you?" Poppy asked, feeling hurt and angry. She kept her voice even but still had a hard time reigning in her emotions. "You've met her once! It would have been nice for you to consider my feelings before you decided to--to--to drink red wine and have a fancy dinner with my BEST FRIEND. It was shitty and it was behind my back." It wasn't like it had been some freaking 'love at first sight' thing where Senna couldn't control her impulses for half a second to ask Poppy how she felt.

This would change everything. Just last time Poppy had seen Frances they'd talked about moving in together after Poppy graduated. Exploring the world together. And now stupid Senna wanted to spoil everything and didn't care what Poppy thought or how it would effect her.

And now who knew when Poppy would even see Frances again. LK only came to the island once or twice a month and Poppy wasn't allowed to leave MV because she wasn't settled yet. Senna could come and go as she pleased--she'd be able to see Frances whenever she wanted. Every new thing Poppy thought about fueled her anger.

Angry Poppy wrote:"Why are you acting like I've done something to you?"

"I'm not...?" Senna said slowly, genuinely confused as to where Poppy was getting that impression.

Angry Poppy wrote:"You've met her once! It would have been nice for you to consider my feelings before you decided to--to--to drink red wine and have a fancy dinner with my BEST FRIEND. It was shitty and it was behind my back."

Senna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As usual, everything always had to be about Poppy. "No, it wasn't, Poppy," she said, starting to get annoyed herself. She shook her head. "Whatever. I'm not arguing about this. I wanted to tell you, and I did." She stood up. "I'm going back to campus. Want to come with?"

If Poppy would calm down and stop overreacting, Senna would be perfectly happy to walk back to campus together. But if Poppy was gonna stay all pissed off, Senna would leave without her.

Poppy was gonna stay pissed off, and she definitely didn't want to walk back to campus with the BEST FRIEND STEALER. "No."

Poppy started grabbing things off the blanket and shoving them into the bag that Senna had brought them all in. She was upset that Senna still was trying to act like nothing was wrong with the situation. What did she not understand? Poppy was too angry to even try to explain it to the big jerk, and even if she did bother trying to take the time the damage was already done.

"Bye." Poppy said flatly after she'd finished. She stood up and walked away, not bothering to look back.