The Bird and the Flame -- Poe Dameron

XV

It had only been a day since Tatoni had gotten back from her little excursion and she was already out of breath as she tried to avoid Poe Dameron.

Positively, in every way, she felt like a child running from her problems. Yet any time she saw the curly brown-haired man she had almost kissed on that ship, she found herself hiding behind walls, running down the hall, or rushing into any room nearby.

Reasons unbeknownst to her, he had been showing up almost every hour, cruising the halls, checking in with resistance workers, or just simply leaning up against walls nonchalantly.

Currently, Tatoni was standing rigidly against the concrete wall, trying to catch her breath. She was making her way from her room and back to the hangar when she saw Poe Dameron walking towards her way with a sense of purpose. 

Unsure if he had seen her, she turned on her heel and hid around the corner.

All day long people had been giving her weird looks as she ran down halls or burst into rooms. 

It was as if it were a natural instinct to flee, she was a doe sensing a cougar lurking beyond the cedar trees, eager to not fall within its grasp. Eager to flee the horrible confrontation of truth.

Poe was the cougar and the truth was that she so badly wanted to feel his lips against hers.

The last time she felt those feelings, everything fell into chaos. Soon after, hue and cry was spread throughout the galaxy. She was determined to never get so attached to someone again. Determined to never be let down again. That large gash that had been made had only now began to seal over and she was determined to have it stay healed.

"Tatoni."

She was caught. Dragged back to reality, she looked up at Poe as he rounded the corner.

"Huh?" she stood up straight and awkwardly placed her hand on her hip "Oh, hey Poe."

"Tatoni, I know you've been running away from me." he skipped straight to the point. She gave him a look of surprise, so he knew she had been avoiding him? "I stopped at your desk earlier today and saw you rushing out of the hangar. I've been trying to track you down all day when Tallie had told me you were in your room so I was on my way when I saw you coming my way and darting back around the corner." he took a deep breath and stepped closer to her, looking down into her eyes with determination. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

She was at a loss for words. So he had seen her acting like a child. Her face began to heat up rapidly as she tried to leash together an answer. She couldn't deny she had been hiding from him. Especially when he saw her running from him. So she tried to sound sane.

"I..." she looked around her, people glancing their way curiously, wondering why the best pilot in the resistance was standing so closely to the lead Mechanic. Poe seemed to notice too and took her hand in his, whisking her down the hallways before stopping in front of one of the many doors.

He clicked in a quick code and the door slid open smoothly. Inside stood a lone bed, desk, closet, a BB unit charging system, and many small trinkets. The walls were full of posters and pictures. Overhead the roughly made bed was an orange banister with the resistance logo painted upon in. His pilot helmet sat upon the desk, a sign of hope.

The two stepped in and it was only then when he let go of her hand. It seemed to sting at the sudden missing of his warm callused hand.

"Tatoni," he began, his determination had seemed to diminish from the walk, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced down at her.