All Good Things

Chapter 7 - There's Room to Spare

WARNING: Sexual Content

This chapter very much includes self-pleasure. If you are not interested in reading that part, please feel free to skip most of the last section of this chapter.

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Poppy

The air outside the pub felt cool against her heated skin, and Poppy closed her eyes against the slight breeze. She took in and released several steadying breaths while they sat there, willing her heart to cease its incessant hammering against her ribs. The silence between them was comforting compared to what she had expected.

When her eyes opened again, she tilted her face skyward. She wanted everything to stay as peaceful as it was currently. No looming stress of her ex hunting her down, no worries of animals to rescue at the moment, no impending doom settling under her skin despite the lack of danger. Everything in that moment was so perfect. So quiet. Just her and Victoria, enjoying the stars and drowning their thoughts together.

She looked to her side, her chocolate hair brushing her neck as it dropped past her shoulder. Poppy felt her breathing hitch in her throat, her pulse starting its pounding against her skin once again. Tori looked absolutely stunning in the moonlight as it cast a silvery glow over the mahogany of her skin, her brown eyes flicking from constellation to constellation as she enjoyed the night sky. The corners of her dark lips twisted up in a slight smile, and her eyes fluttered closed as she let out a small laugh.

"You're staring, Pop." Tori tilted her head in likeness to Poppy's.

Poppy felt her face warm with the now familiar blush that had continuously crept up her skin repeatedly since they had come back in contact. Her mouth opened and closed several times, unable to form any thoughts coherent enough to produce words. She was vaguely aware of the fact that her breathing had increased in speed. She quickly turned away, lodging her lower lip between her teeth.

"Sorry." Poppy heard Tori laugh lightly again at her apology. Why couldn't she stop apologizing around her? "You know, tomorrow is my last day in London."

Victoria's eyebrows scrunched together, her eyes roving over Poppy's face. Poppy leaned back on her hands before clarifying what she had meant.

"I have to head back to my Gran's between my time working on that cottage. After breaking it off with Eliza, I saved everything I could to purchase that land and file for that permit. So my savings have taken quite a beating, and I simply can't afford to continue renting a room here." She tapped her boots softly against the concrete beneath them.

Tori was quiet for a long moment, and just as Poppy was about to say something else to fill the empty space growing between them, her hand was enveloped in warmth as long fingers curled around her own. Her gaze flicked down before shifting up to look at the woman beside her.

"Or... if it would help you out, I-" Tori paused, biting her lower lip as she looked off to the side before meeting Poppy's gaze again. "I have an extra bedroom you can stay in while you work on your cottage."

Poppy blinked a few times, her heart thundering in her chest at the thought of living in the same house as the woman she thought had been a mere teenage crush. One that she had sworn she was over after meeting her in that office, but now she wasn't so sure that she hadn't simply buried the feelings beneath her work and her life, choosing to distract herself and willing herself to forget what she had believed to be unrequited affection. She hadn't realized she'd only been staring until the sudden cold of Tori removing her own hand caused a shiver to run up her spine.