Little Talks ☇ C. Evans

24 ) comfort

"I still can't believe you," Poppy shook her head, laughing as she watched the puppy Chris had surprised her with twitch in its sleep.

Chris's yawn turned into a chuckle, "I couldn't think of a better way to cheer you up."

He couldn't seem to stop looking at her; she was so enthralled by the sleeping puppy, but he was only enthralled with her.

She smiled, glancing up at him before her eyes returned to the puppy, "I'm so lucky to have a friend like you, Chris."

His face nearly fell at her words as he was reminded of that—of their friendship—but he was able to catch himself and keep his frown at bay. Sometimes he was so used to Anthony's comments about his and Poppy's "relationship" that he forgot it wasn't even real.

"I'm the lucky one," he smiled, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Poppy tucked a strand of her blonde locks behind her ear as she stood up from the sofa, leaving the sleeping puppy in Chris's lap, "So, Return of the Jedi?" She asked, rummaging through the movie bin beneath her entertainment stand.

"Perfect," Chris replied, stroking Jabba's fur as he watched her look through the bin.

Once she found the movie, she popped open the case and retrieved the disc. After placing it in the DVD player, she looked over at him, "I'm gonna go change into sweatpants. The remote is on the coffee table," she said before disappearing down the hall.

Chris nodded, waiting until she was no longer in sight before dragging his hand down his face and letting out a sigh. It wasn't until now that he realized how in-the-moment his decision to get Poppy a puppy had been. If that wasn't giving away the secret that he did indeed have feelings for her, then he wasn't sure what would.

A few minutes later, Poppy returned to the sofa and plopped down beside him, just in time for the Lucasfilm logo to appear on the screen. Chris looked sideways at her, catching her attention.

"Thanks for checking on me, by the way. I forgot to tell you that." Poppy said quietly, a small smile on her face.

"Anything for you," he wrapped an arm around her to pull her into a side-hug.

It wasn't meant to be anything more than a brief hug, only neither of them showed any sign of pulling away. Poppy simply relaxed into his side, her head resting on his shoulder as she diverted her attention to the television. Chris squeezed her side gently with his left hand, his right still petting the puppy in his lap.

As they silently watched the film, Chris could feel Poppy's breathing slow until coming to the conclusion that she'd fallen asleep. He smiled softly to himself as he peered down at her where she had ended up, her head on his chest, he brought his hand up to pull her hair out of her face. Before he could return his attention to the movie, his phone buzzed. He reached into his back pocket slowly as not to wake Poppy, pulling out the phone and unlocking it to read the message Sebastian had sent him.