Against Fate

Chapter Three

Poppy came to a halt when they reached the sidewalk. She took a moment to remember where she had parked her vehicle hours earlier. It didn't take long for her to locate the vibrant yellow down the street and she made her way across the road with Colson in hot pursuit.

"Should I be concerned at the fact you're carrying a helmet?" Quips like those seemed to come naturally to him, since he maintained the natural swagger that he appeared to have. Poppy of course simply shook her head but opened her mouth to answer him nonetheless.

"Depends, how experienced are you with only having the person in front of you to hold on to?" She asked him, a smirk moving over her face as she glanced up at him as they walked towards their destination. She always looked for the free parking spots.

"I'm comfortable with that. Even if I wasn't, I could definitely get used to it". Well that wiped the smirk right off her face as she stared up at him. Well played motherfucker, well played, she thought to herself. Of course, she couldn't admit he had won the point.

"Do you ever stop?!" Came her exasperated retort, a laugh coming out with it involuntarily.

"It makes you smile doesn't it?" There was no way to lie to him since she was currently battling to get the mentioned facial expression under wraps.

"Not the point!"

"It's exactly the point."

"I'm going to leave you here if you keep making valid responses like that Colson!" She threw her hands up in the air in frustration at having no retort to give him save for the truth. It was one point to him, that was for sure.

"Not sorry."

All she could settle for was giving him a playful shove. He was an anomaly; while he had moments like these where he was cocky and he knew exactly how to speak to women, he was still capable of being totally sincere. Like when they had spoken in the cafe. She couldn't help but wonder if the swagger he had was more like armour than anything. Poppy had to respect the confidence; she wished she could be so sure about things.

They arrived at her bright yellow Vespa and she held her arms in a dramatic presenting motion.

"Here she is!"

"Um..." Poppy couldn't say she was expecting the perplexed look that crossed Colson's face in that moment. It looked like he was mentally trying to work out a math equation.

"What? You don't like her? You're going to hurt her feelings if you keep that face on," she scolded him, only half joking. She knew her Vespa was an inanimate object but there were several times when she swore incidents were more than just coincidence. Like the one day she grumbled about the speed, her breaks failed. So, she just decided it was better to never insult her.

"Oh it's not that... she's a cool little mother fucker... I'm just thinking about the physics of me fitting on," he squinted his eyes as he spoke, bringing one leg to test out the position he would have to be in. If she didn't already have the solution, he would have had a point.

"Yes well in case I haven't made it clear, there aren't a lot of sasquatches in France," she giggled at her own joke, trying to take the small victories where she could find them.

"I knew I should have gotten that contract in writing," he grumbled when he heard her remark, looking to the sky for what looked like divine inspiration.

"But seriously, there are footrests so you won't break a leg... but I can't promise we won't look ridiculous." She admitted to him, a chuckle escaping from her mouth as she looked up at him. Even she had to concede that they'd probably look hilarious.

"As long as it's a team effort I'm good with that," his response came as he started to jump up and down on the spot, preparing for the ride.

"Two American idiots on a bright yellow Vespa speeding around Paris... sounds like a movie," Poppy joked as she walked around to the helmet case of the back, where she kept her spare one incase she picked up a friend.

"I'd buy it in a heartbeat... especially if it was a romance movie." Colson's reply had her inwardly groaning, she should have expected that sort of response from him and yet, she kept walking right into them.

"You don't strike me as the type to be into romances Colson," Poppy remarked as she walked back around with the second helmet in her hand.

"Hey... I've got a soft center, you just need to peel back a few layers." The shrug that game with the response was touched with sincerity but Poppy chose to ignore it since she felt he would prefer it that way.

"Oh you'd love me to pull back some layers wouldn't you?" She teased him a little, beginning to fall into the banter more easily now.

"You know I would Princess." He took a step towards her then, intent shining in his eyes. Poppy, realising she was in danger of being sucked into them, cleared her throat.

"Okay Mr Smooth Talker, here is your helmet. Both of us have bluetooth connection so we can talk when we're on the bike since we won't have time to get off at all the sights." She held it out to him but instead of taking it from her, he simply lowered his head for her to put it on him. After a moment of making sure his face was lined up with the visor, she pushed it on and smiled triumphantly at her handy work.

"Sweet! Thanks for doing this Poppy... I know I'm taking pleasure in teasing you but I'm grateful." The comment was sweet and a reminder that there was indeed a softness behind the confident, flirty mask her wore.

"I want to do it, I won't have anyone leaving Paris without seeing some of my top picks. But you're welcome... Now, are you ready for your Parisian Adventure?" She asked him with a grin as she pulled on her own helmet.

"Born ready!"

Both Poppy and Colson moved towards her Vespa. She pulled out the footholds for him before sitting on the front part of the seat. She waited as he followed her lead and sat behind her, tucking his legs up. It was true that he definitely wasn't made for such a vehicle; the angle his legs were at wasn't usually seen. She could feel his thighs against her hip and down part of her own thighs. She nibbled on her bottom lip as she felt the slight friction.

After a moment Poppy turned slightly to activate the Bluetooth setting on Colson's helmet before doing the same to her own. She shoved the keys into the ignition but refrained from turning it on as she listened for the familiar tone that their helmets were connected and ready for communication. Once the familiar tone sounded, she adjusted her helmet one last time before preparing to test the connection.

"Okay, can you hear me alright?" she waited for a moment for the subtle buzz of static to let her know the message was being sent.

"Loud and clear!" The response came through without so much as a stutter. At the confirmation she turned the key and her Vespa sprung to life. In her wing mirror, she had to stifle a giggle when she noticed Colson flail his arms out to the side, clearly apprehensive about putting his hands on her.

"Good. So, I'm going to make it perfectly clear that this next request is not me trying to do some flirting of my own, but you gotta hold onto me tight. The traffic in Paris crazy." She instructed him, thankful her little smile wouldn't be visible to him while they were both in helmets.

"Now that is one rule I'm happy to follow!" Poppy could literally hear the grin in his voice as moved his hands slowly around her waist, shimmying a little closer to her in his seat. The movement made his legs move against hers once again. It was a nice feeling if she was honest.

"You're impossible. You better keep those hands of yours just at my waist!" She feigned an authoritative tone, hoping that he bought it.

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Let's go!"

With that, she accelerated off down the street at a little over the speed limit. A gleeful expression moved over her face when she heard Colson curse under his breath.