I'll Meet You There

20

Target Hide and Seek September 2017

Poppy's POV:

Sam began his intro in the Target parking garage. A car started honking, causing the boys and Kat to get annoyed. We'd only be allowed to hide on the second floor, and Sam would give us three minutes. Easy. The winner would have to buy the loser dinner. Corey made a joke about Sam stripping after finding the first person, which Colby jokingly said he was keen on. Colby then looked at me and winked at a frown formed after I shot him a look.

We'd be using video and Snapchat to record where we were. Colby said, "Katrina and Poppy go to the girl's bathroom."

Kat and I shared a look and she laughed and I have a small smile before Sam said, "God dangit. Don't give them that idea."

We went into the elevator while Sam stayed behind. Colby glanced at me and said, "I'm gonna follow Sam. What about you?"

"Sound fun. Best of luck."

"Good luck to you as well."

I got a text from Sam saying that he was on his way in, and I saw him pass the registers and followed him as stealthily as I could.

He remembered that he and Colby had stayed the night in Target once.

Eventually, he found Corey trying on hats. I had seen workers following Corey, so I pretended to be looking at things to buy, and the workers had left me alone.

He then found Kat, who was also following him. I followed the three of them silently and smirked to myself, finding the whole thing amusing.

I followed them to the baby aisle and heard Kat ask, "Why are these pushed so far out?"

Corey talked about checking behind the TVs and from my spot, I peeked out just enough and saw Colby.

Sam walked back to the baby area and found Colby behind the strollers. I heard Colby ask, "Have you found Poppy yet?"

"No." Sam answered. "Do you have an idea where she is?"

"Last I knew, she was following you."

"Then she still might be. Girl's good."

They looked around and Sam eventually found me. I was peeking from behind a shelf. "Again, you're the last one."

"I know. I've been following you the whole time."

"Really? Corey almost got caught following me."

"I pretended to shop so they wouldn't look at me weirdly."

"That's really smart. Congrats. You win. Again."

We left Target and leaned slightly to the left to film Sam's outro. Why, I don't know. Sam bought me In-n-Out at my request.

We got our food and began eating.

After dinner, we headed back to the house and I immediately climbed onto a penny board. I definitely shouldn't have, but I did anyway. I only made it a couple feet before falling on my butt. I can't skateboard to save my life. It's really quite annoying.

Colby started laughing at me and I frowned. "Instead of laughing at me, how about you ask if I'm okay."

In between laughs he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Fine. My butt's a little sore, but I'll live."

"Good."

Elton appeared, walked up to Poppy and said, "Are you wanting to go to Egypt with TFIL?"

I thought for a moment nodded. "Um, sure. When do we go?"

"November, so I need to get tickets. I just needed to check with you before I did."

"I appreciate that," I said before walking upstairs.

Colby's POV:

I followed Poppy to find her sitting in darkness in the middle of the floor.

"Hey," I greeted. "You okay?"

She glanced at me. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You've been awfully quiet."

"I'm fine."

I looked around at the artwork she'd hung up. "Poppy, these are amazing."

"They're not much."

"Trust me. They are."

Her cheeks flushed and all fell silent.

The space between us seemed to disappear and I found myself stepping closer to her.

She paused and asked softly, "What are you doing?"

"I don't know."

She turned away and began painting a canvas. "Whatever this is Colby, I don't know if I'm ready."

"Poppy, you had a past relationship, right?"

"Yes. He, um, wasn't good to me."

"What'd he do?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does."

She turned around so quickly I was amazed she didn't hurt herself. "Get out."

"Poppy-"

"Get out!"

"Please, wait."

Her eyes bristled with tears as she screamed, "Get out!"

As I walked away, I couldn't help but curse myself out. Every time I start to get somewhere, I manage to screw up with her.