let's make this awkward :: axel

It was the morning after the party, and while Scout was down for the count, both Poppy and Axel were completely fine. Instead of hanging out in the dorm room where Scout was trying to drown out her sorrows in water and the Amelian Advil, the two decided to go out into campus and get some coffee.

Poppy, for the most part, was completely over what had happened last night. She was still miffed at Scout, but that would obviously need to be dealt with later. Axel had done nothing wrong, however, and Poppy had no qualms with him. It wasn't his fault he liked Scout. Sigh.

When the girl behind the counter called out their names, Poppy glared at Axel playfully. "I've got my eye on you, Coffee Thief." She, of course, was referencing their first meeting at this very coffee shop. She took her coffee suspiciously and sniffed. "Vanilla," she confirmed.

"You can keep your nasty sugar milk," Axel replied back, smirking. "You Redfern kids and your fancy 'coffee'." He did little air quotes. He had actual coffee, with just a little bit of sugar.

While Axel remembered that there had been a conflict last night, he couldn't remember what it had been about. Or maybe he'd never even known what it was about in the first place, he wasn't sure. He had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with him drunkenly making out with Poppy's best friend, which in sober hindsight probably hadn't been his brightest idea. Well, everything seemed back to normal this morning, at least. Like they'd pushed the "drunk mistakes" reset button.

"Y'know, Popalop," Axel said as they found a place to sit. "You should come to Ughdarras to hang out some weekend."

Oh, your mom would love that, Blue said sarcastically.

Poppy had removed the cap of her coffee and was blowing into it when Axel suggested she come visit. She looked up at him and raised an eye. "You sure I won't bring our bad luck to your house?" she asked with a smile. Despite her casual response, she couldn't help but feel a slight warmth in her belly when he offered the invite. And he'd called her Popalop which was fucking cute as hell. It was too bad he'd probably ask her to invite Scout, next. Not that Poppy didn't want Scout to come, but Poppy didn't want Scout to come. Ha.

She sipped at the latte, coming back up with a foamy whipped cream mustache. "But sure, I would like that," she said with a silly grin before using her bottom lip to get all the whipped cream from her top one.

Popalop wrote:"You sure I won't bring our bad luck to your house?"

"Your presence would probably brighten up my apartment quite a bit, actually," Axel said with a laugh. Not that it was like, gloomy or depressing there or anything, it just wasn't nearly as bright and cheery as Poppy was. Gods, his mom was going to hate Poppy. "And I wouldn't call last night bad luck--just drunken stupidity on my part."

Popalop wrote:"But sure, I would like that."

"Awesome," he said. Though he hadn't known Poppy very long, he was glad he had met her. He felt like after that first night, when she had met his psycho brother and not been scared away, and then they'd stayed up all night drinking and talking, they'd really been able to form a solid friendship. "You'll like Ughdarras--uh, assuming you've never been there. Have you been there?"

"I've never been, like, in the residential districts," Poppy said. "I've been camping up in the northwest area, though. I loved it--Ughdarras is so cool." It was definitely different than her home in Nadar, that was for sure. For one thing Nadar was hot and sticky--always. When Uncle Paydon had taken her, Senna, and Kinley for a weekend in the middle of summer Ughdarras had felt like it was just in spring. She'd also been to the estate, but she'd been to every estate. The camping had definitely been cooler.

"Also, what do you mean by drunken stupidity?" Poppy asked casually. "You weren't the one puking the entire way home." That had been good ol' Scout. Poppy wondered how she was doing, back at the dorm. How much of last night did she remember?

"Oh! Uh...you know," Axel said sheepishly, shrugging. "I...realize now that I probably shouldn't have kissed your friend. I was just--"

Drunk and horny? Blue suggested.

"--drunk," Axel finished. He hoped he hadn't come out looking too dickish in this whole situation. Poppy didn't seem mad or anything this morning, but he definitely remembered she had been last night, though he couldn't remember the full details. Oh well. Everything was cool now, so it didn't really matter. He laughed a little. "I think we were all just too drunk."

Poppy let out a laugh too, chiming in with him. She snapped the lid back on her latte, happy with the temperature. "So does that mean you're not into Scout?" she asked, deciding instantly to go for it. She looked at him curiously, not afraid to meet his eye. If he was into Scout, Poppy would drop it. But if he wasn't, Poppy was definitely going to let him know how she felt.

"What? I barely know Scout," Axel replied, a little confused. Then he realized that that may have come off a little dickish as well. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she seemed cool and everything." And she was pretty attractive. "It was just a drunk thing, on both our parts." Fuck, he hoped so, anyway. Again, it wasn't as if he disliked Scout or anything, but he wasn't exactly looking to start up a relationship. Especially not with a girl he barely knew who didn't even live remotely close to him. Shit, he hoped like it didn't seem like he was leading Scout on like some kind of asshole.

Poppy nodded as if that totally made sense. His reaction to the possibility of him liking Scout was a good sign. He obviously wanted Poppy to know that he wasn't into Scout at all in that way. He even looked a little worried about it.

"Okay, that's good," she told him. Poppy took a sip of her coffee. "Not that it's a big deal or anything. I was just curious because I kinda think you're cool." She didn't say it in a coy way--if the boy wasn't completely obtuse he would understand.

She waited for his reaction with a smile. She wasn't the type to be anxious or nervous--if he liked her back, that would obviously be awesome, but at the same time she would totally be cool with him wanting to be friends.

Axel's eyebrows raised in surprise. Oh. Ohhh. Suddenly everything about last night made sense. Poppy hadn't been being protective of her friend or upset at being a third wheel. She'd been jealous that her friend was kissing her crush. He felt like a complete idiot for not figuring that out sooner.

He looked down at his coffee and stirred it distractedly. He liked Poppy a lot, but not in that way. He felt like, that night they'd stayed up drinking and talking, they'd bonded in a strong but platonic sort of way. Axel also had a not-so-great track record when it came to relationships, and he didn't want to ruin a good thing by trying to get in a long-distance relationship with Poppy that he would inevitably fuck up down the line.

"Look, Poppy," he said, guilt sitting in the pit of his stomach. He hated disappointing the clio he cared about. "I just...don't think it'd be a good idea. Besides, a girl like you could find a better guy than me without even trying."

Poppy watched as Axel squirmed, and pieced together that he wasn't interested before the words actually let his mouth. Still, she waited for him to spit it out so she could have a moment of deflation, herself. As okay as she was with being friends, she had hoped for something more.

"Oh, don't tell me you're feeling guilty," she laughed. "It's okay. I think we're pretty cool as friends, too." Despite her laugh and smile, it did sting a bit. She'd never been rejected before. It wasn't the best feeling, that was for sure. But Poppy refused to let it keep her down--she had enough of that recently.

"And you're right completely right, of course. Lots of boys, so little time," she added with a joking smile. She was kidding, of course. Obviously she wouldn't have brought it up if Axel hadn't been the one she was interested in. But, alas.

"So, are you going over to see your aunt today?" she asked, deciding to change the subject.

Axel returned Poppy's smile apologetically when she laughed off the rejection, though he still felt bad. He was about to open his mouth and go into more details about how she was too good for him, anyways, when she abruptly changed the subject. Yeah, maybe that was a better idea than dwelling on the awkward conversation that had just happened.

"Uh, yeah. Yep. Yes," he said, his brain taking a few extra seconds to move on from the awkwardness. "I can't come to MV and not visit my aunt. She's basically my second mom." He remembered how upset he'd been when, at eleven years old, he and his actual mom had moved out of Aunt Pia's house. It had been a rough time for all of them. He liked Ughdarras now, but... "I've always wondered what would've happened if we hadn't moved out of her house in the first place."

He couldn't remember for sure if he'd told Poppy about growing up with his aunt, but he was pretty sure it had come up during their slightly drunken 4am conversation.

"It is so interesting to think of Ms. Lovison as your aunt," Poppy said, ignoring Axel's leftover awkward feelings. She'd had Lovison last year in her unsettled Solas class. It had made for an interesting morning when Poppy'd spent the night at her house a few weeks ago. They'd only spoken for a second, but Poppy could see that Ms. Lovison was surprised. It'd been funny. "You always think of teachers as teachers, not clio, ya know?

"But I'm glad you guys are close," she told him. Poppy thought briefly of Aunt Estela, but pushed the feelings away. That whole situation was fucked, and since Axel's mom was now somehow caught up in the whole thing she decided it was best not to bring it up, anyway.

"How is school in Ughdarras?"

Axel found it pretty funny that Poppy had a hard time picturing teachers as normal clio, when she was the daughter of a freaking overloridian. "It's interesting to think of an overloridian as your mom," he said. Poppy did seem almost shockingly normal for someone from such a rich and powerful family. Of course, it wasn't like he knew any other overloridian kids to compare her to. He'd be interested in meeting her siblings some day.

Popalop wrote:"How is school in Ughdarras?"

Poppy's use of the present tense didn't escape him. He must not have told her. "I'unno, I haven't been there in...let's see, a year and a half now?"

His aunt had been so disappointed when he quit school. His mom, on the other hand, had said something along the lines of, "Good. Now you can get a real job and actually pay your share of the bills."

He shrugged. "School just wasn't for me, I guess."

Axel wrote:It's interesting to think of an overloridian as your mom.

"Touche," Poppy laughed. It was normal to her, the fame and whatever else came from being her mom's daughter, but it did always shock her friends. Paparazzi weren't allowed on MV (for security reasons), but if Axel went somewhere off the island with her and someone happened to recognize her, he'd get a treat of it, too.

Axel wrote:I'unno, I haven't been there in...let's see, a year and a half now? School just wasn't for me, I guess.

Poppy's eyes widened. "A teacher's nephew, a school dropout." Poppy pursed her lips and nodded like she was impressed. "So I'm guessing the Ughdarras schools are nothing to be impressed by?" she laughed. She couldn't imagine dropping out of school, and had never known anyone that did it.

Popalopagus wrote:A teacher's nephew, a school dropout.

"Yeah, yeah. And she was just thrilled about it, let me tell you," Axel said. Honestly he hated letting down Aunt Pia, but he just wasn't cut out for academics. He figured he'd be better off learning a trade, working with his hands, building or fixing things, that sort of thing.

Okay, so why don't you actually do that? Blue asked. Currently Axel just worked an unskilled job at a factory. He probably could learn a decent trade, if he applied himself. But that would require motivation and ambition that her clio clearly did not possess.

Popperlopper wrote:So I'm guessing the Ughdarras schools are nothing to be impressed by?

"Eh, they're pretty much just like this place, except you get to keep living at home instead of in a dorm the size of a shoe box," he replied, smiling.

Poppy laughed at Axel's comment about the size of her dorm. They continued talking until they finished their coffees, and then took a stroll around campus so Poppy could show Axel everything he was missing. Eventually they parted ways, with Poppy wanting to go check on Scout and Axel leaving to go visit with his aunt. Before leaving Poppy invited Axel back to MV for Neewollah and he said he would come.