A Few Hundred Poppies

7. First Name Basis

A/N: This chapter implies sexual violence, and although not graphic, it may be triggering for some readers. It's confined to the italics, though.

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The remnants of summer in Edelweiss were nearly gone now, but some traces still lingered. As I sat cross-legged by myself on the slope leading from the road to the gorgeous poppy fields in full bloom, warm rays from the setting sun cast a mysterious honey glow on the flowers, as if they were sharing an elaborate secret. I smiled.

I eyed the pair of birds swooping around playfully in the sky with acute jealousy. Not trapped at all by their own emotions. So free.

Hearing rhythmic footsteps approaching, I glanced to the road. Spotting a young man sporting a black tee and black shorts was jogging on with earphones in, I looked back to the fields.

When the footsteps stopped right beside me, I cautiously looked up. "Okay, why are you spying on me, West?" I raised my brows and dramatically pursed my lips, making him roll his eyes. He climbed down to sit on the grass beside me.

"I'm not spying on you. I live here," he breathed, still a smidgen out of breath. A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek to his collar bone, catching me off-guard.

"Here, as in?" I hoped that my voice didn't seem as raspy to him as it was. He pointed to the left, where the road cut through the woods for a few miles. I hesitated. "But— nobody lives out there."

"I do. Get over it, Rashid." West offered me half a smirk, making my stomach twist with guilt.

"Wait, wait. Are you telling me that you're living in the Kreep house?"

"The creep house? What?" his eyebrows knotted up as he produced a flask and took several swigs from it.

"No, like, Kreep with a 'k'. An old man used to live in there, his name was Kreep. He died a few months ago," I explained. Letting out an 'oh', he fell silent.

Drawing random patterns on the grass with my index, I sighed and muttered, "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, okay? I shouldn't have reacted like that. Also, thanks for not telling Ever anything. The guys and him already have a lot on their plates."

I cautiously looked up at him. His expression was infuriatingly neutral as he gazed down at the fields in full bloom, making more guilt surge up.

"It's okay."

As I tore a blade of grass into little pieces, we shared a thoughtful silence. West broke it with a voice gentler than I was accustomed to, like that day at the lake, "I've never really had friends who're not family. I'm sorry if I crossed a line."

"It was actually pretty sweet of you, but call it even?" I sheepishly scratched the back of my ear, and he nodded. West opened his mouth and, hesitating, let it fall back to a thin line. "Is there something you wanna say?" I nudged.

"I know I'm not great company, but," he cleared his throat, "if you need someone to listen, without judging you, you can, you know, count on me."

Pleasantly surprised, I turned to him. "Who are you and what've you done to just West?"

He glared at me annoyedly with an edge of warning, "I'm being nice. Don't push it."

I smiled sadly to myself. "I couldn't possibly burden you with all that shit, West."

"Consider it a favour returned for bearing all my jerk moves. Not that you had a choice, but still," he smirked playfully, making me roll my eyes.

After a while, I softly said, "You know, whenever I'm miserable, I come visit Dr. Amiruddin. He's a cool guy, lives near here. And every time, my problems somehow melt away. Not today, though."