“So, are we going to go, or are we just going to sit here in the driveway?”
I startle from my thoughts, turning without realizing and meeting Poppy’s big midnight eyes with those long, thick lashes.Fuck me. Snapping my head back to face forward, I clear my suddenly tight throat.
“Uh, yeah…” I start the engine and pull out with a slight skid of my tires.
I swear to God. Of all the stupid-ass, half-witted fucking ideas I’ve ever had…
“I love Lori,” Poppy says after a few silent beats.
I glance sideways to see the soft smile tugging at her lips.
“Yeah, she’s… cool.” I close my eyes a moment.Smooth, loser.
“How long have you known them?” Poppy asks. “Lori and Jonesy?”
“Um…” I think for a moment. “I met Jonesy a few years back.” I can’t help but chuckle at the memory. “Man, I was like a crazy fangirl when I got paired with him in a friendly tournament we played for charity. I grew up studying old footage of his. He’s the GOAT.”
“I thought you were the GOAT?”
I snap my head to the side, balking. “Me?”
“Yeah. That’s what people say…” She shrugs, suddenly uncertain. “Or maybe I just don’t know what a GOAT is.”
I chuckle again. “Nah, I’m not the GOAT. Some people think that, and hell, maybe I was, but then I… fucked it all up. Besides, you gotta have at least one green jacket to be a GOAT.”
“A green jacket?” Poppy ponders out loud. “Wait, is that what the G in GOAT stands for?”
I snort. “No.”
“Well, maybe you can finally get your green jacket and be the GOAT.”
I glance at her again, taken aback by her smile and just howconvincing it is, like she actually believes what she’s saying. “Not after the way I was hitting today…” I scoff, shaking my head to myself. “Christ, I’ll be lucky to make the cut in Oklahoma.”
Silence settles between us, but the longer it goes, the more I can feel eyes on me. I cast a sideways glance to find Poppy studying me, and when we stop at a red light, I turn, meeting her surprisingly scrupulous gaze.
“What?” I ask, curious and kind of nervous with how intensely she’s staring at me.
“You’re too uptight,” she says matter-of-factly.
Honestly, all I can do is shrug, because tell me something I don’t know. “Okay…”
“When was the last time you did something… a little nuts? Something crazy. Something where you’ve not been in total control.”
I consider her question, racking my brain a moment. “I mean, I was an alcoholic for a few years, so probably when I was last black-out drunk.”
When she doesn’t laugh, I offer her a rueful smirk. “That was a joke, by the way.”
She narrows one eye like she’s trying to figure me out. “Truth or dare?”
I blink at her. “Are… you actually asking me that?”
Poppy nods, her smile mysterious and coy.
I shrug a shoulder. “I don’t know. Truth, I guess.”
“What’s your biggest fear? Like, I’m talking a full-on phobia, makes you sick to your gut kind of fear.”
“The ocean,” I answer immediately.
