Survival Of The Fittest

Dani frowned a little bit. Right, she forgot that Poppy lost her eyewear and was essentially wandering blind right now. Well, if she needed someone to lead her around to make sure she didn’t trip into any more benches, then Dani suppose she could be there to help. But so long as she couldn’t see that would be a problem.

“Yeah, sure, I can help you!” Dani said, smiling at Poppy. “If you want we can swing by some place and get you a new pair of glasses if you really need them. My treat.”

With the quickness of a whip, Dani snatched up Poppy’s hand and began tugging her along behind her.

“C’mon let’s get to my car!” she said, continuing her march back to her vehicle. “You’re gonna ride in style today! If I had known I’d be making a new friend I would have gotten my family’s driver to give me a ride today! Next time!”

This had been a nice time out, she thought as she dragged Poppy along behind her. She’d gone out, looked hot as hell, made a new friend, was super generous, and was going to get some lunch while she was out. All in all, a pretty good day! Now all they needed to do was get on the road, get a new pair of glasses, and get some food.

(Dani Bird continued in Better Than Boilersuits?)

“Oh! Buh, ah, sure, okay! Just, um!”

Poppy started to protest as Dani took her hand and started dragging her carwards, wanting to let the other girl know that she was pretty sure the sandwich shop was within walking distance and that they really probably didn’t need a car or any form of transport to get to it. After a couple of seconds of incoherent stammering and ‘speech’ in the loosest form of the word, though, she giggled, and let Dani take her to wherever her car was parked.

Listen, it wasn’t every single day that you got to take a ride in a flash car with a brand new friend - and, of course, Dani’s family had their own chauffeur, Poppy was half expecting her to say they lived on some kinda Thunderbirds-esque island complete with sliding swimming pool and rocket ships - so she figured, hey, why not enjoy it while it was being offered? They could probably hit up the local Specsavers - or, uh, whatever the American version of that was - in between driving along with the windows down and the wind in their hair, sunglasses on, looking so goddamn gorgeous and cool. Salem wasn’t quite Miami, but that was, y’know, a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

And, of course, there was a much lower chance of her faceplanting while in the passenger seat. She wasn’t totally counting the possibility out, but a 15% chance was way better than a 75% one!

The weather seemed to have read the room, as the wind had almost entirely dropped off now, leaving the air crisp and cool, filling Poppy’s lungs with fresh afternoon air. There was the gentle chime of a shop door from a few yards away, and the distinctive smell of a coffee and croissant carried over to the two girls as someone left the establishment. Dani’s hand was soft and fit perfectly in Poppy’s, and she could feel the blush reappear in her cheeks once more. And so, despite the shattered glasses nestled in her hoody pocket, Poppy couldn’t help but smile as she walked onwards.

((Poppy Fontaine continued in Round 1: Fight!))