Genre: Neighbor theme.
This is Part Three.
Sadie almost thought Poppy was lost.
For the whole Sunday afternoon, Sadie had been searching for the crafty cat high and low in her house and around the neighborhood.
True, Poppy was a cat, and there were times when they were playful and would just disappear on you for a while before coming back for food. That was the problem. Two hours had passed since Poppy's lunchtime and it was still nowhere to be found.
It was till she finally saw Poppy lying on the pavement in a park that was five minutes away from her home, showing off its belly to a man that was squatting and playfully poking its tummy.
She wanted to call out for Poppy, but a sudden realization dawned upon her that the cat was never this friendly to anyone, not even the landlady despite interacting with her for so long. She frowned, and that one reason she could only think of appeared in her mind.
Finn Wolfhard.
But she also feared for that disappointing day when she thought the man at the supermarket was him, to have him turned around and the eyes that were not the color of dark coffee staring at her. There was no open wound, no blood, but Sadie had no idea her chest would ache so badly that she truly cried.
She didn't want to remember that terrible feeling ever again, and it was a lesson learnt to never jump to conclusion if she didn't want to break her own heart.
Tentatively, Sadie approached towards the man and her eyes instantly turned blurred on its own.
That jerk with black curly hair.
Poppy turned and laid on its tummy, creating a brief distraction to stop the man from being focused on the cat and glanced back.
Dark coffee eyes. Sadie confirmed.
"Finn Wolfhard." She sniffed, still not able to believe her eyes. The said man who she yearned to see for so long, even desperately in her dreams, was right in front of her right now and the first thing she did was to curtly say his name.
"Yo."
Sadie tried to find her voice.
"Y-You're back."
His eyes twinkled.
Three, two...
His lip curled up into a smile. "Yeah. It's been long."
"A year." Sadie inputted.
Nothing has changed.
She stood there, watching him playing and caressing Poppy's fur with a grin plastered on his face. He commented how Poppy grew fatter and continuously gave those weird cooing noises that Sadie couldn't help but roll her eyes to suppress a laugh. It was just like a year ago, seeing these two troublemakers playing around on the corridor.
Her smile faded.
"Are you having a break? When are you leaving?"
"Why?" He didn't turn to face her.
"Jealous that I'm getting Poppy's attention and couldn't wait for me to go?"
"That's five percent of the reason." Sadie smiled.
He peered at her over his shoulder with a smug look. "Should I be happy or sad that it's only five percent?"
"Up to you to decide."
Finn returned to play with Poppy's paw. "I'm not going back."
"Wait, what?" Sadie couldn't contain her shock. This was not what she expected to hear.
"Why?"
"It wasn't what I wanted."
"And what do you want?"
"I want to be a cat."
Sadie had no idea what kind of drug Finn consumed that day. She considered whacking his head for a moment to get him to think about what he was even saying but ended up crossing her arms and refusing the temptation to do so. Maybe she should just humor him and see how this conversation would go. It had always been like this after all.
"And eats fish every day?"
Finn grimaced. "Besides that."
She hid a snicker and nodded in agreement. "Well, it'll be nice to be a cat, if the owner is nice too."
"Self-complimentary, huh?"
"I have to give myself some credit."
"If I have a choice to choose, I'll definitely want to live my life as Poppy's"
She scorned, shaking her head at the typical answer.
"So you can be fat and lazy?"
"And spend all my 9 life with you too." Finn didn't even let a second pass before saying his response out loud.
Sadie gaped at him in disbelief, her arms fell back to her side.
"Did you just-"
"Did I what?" Finn interjected innocently.
"A pick up line, really? Is that all you've learnt from California?"
"I've learnt more than that."
She rolled her eyes. "How to dance with bikini babes?"
"Something even better."
Finn stood up and turned to face her, his dark eyes leveled with Sadie's. When he was squatting down, she wasn't afraid of letting her feelings show. But now that his face was so close to hers, she had lost all her senses.
Even breathing.
"I came to realize that I'm missing a certain person in my life after I left, and I have to admit that it was a rather annoying feeling that I can't get rid of no matter what I do."
Sadie's brain was no longer working. With his sharp gaze piercing right through hers, she really couldn't get her mind thinking straight. She parted her lips and the only word she could hoarsely say was;
"Poppy?"
He looked utterly disappointed.
"I didn't know Poppy is a person."
"You've always treated Poppy much more humanly than any human you came across."
That was a fact.
"Fine. Let me rephrase my sentence clear enough." Finn straightened his back and Sadie used this opportunity to breathe.
"I think I'm in love with you, Sadie Sink."
Great, now all her breathing for the past twenty five years of her life was useless because all the air that Sadie stored in her body just left her mouth, maybe her soul included. If this was a dream, the part when Sadie wakes up might actually be her worst nightmare.
But maybe it would be better to end this fast.
The higher the hope, the greater the disappointment.
As her hand reached out for the other arm, preparing to give a pinch, she was being pulled into Finn's firm chest, her lips pressing against his. He kissed her so passionately and pulled back from her before he kissed her forehead then going down to her eyes and nose and cheeks. He then captured her lips again. He missed her presence so much.
Gradually, her hands slowly moved its way to his back.
Sadie could finally breathe.
Maybe this was truly the air she needed to get her heart beating all along.
"I'm in love with you too, Finn Wolfhard."
Abrupt ending but yeah, I hope that concluded all.
So, the next theme will be different.