slip inside the eye of your mind

Harper Swan MD, but call me Poppy. 24. Single Perelman graduate, but now a baker and hostess at Sweet Tunes bakery in Woodstock, New York. 

[forrestlysander]

“I sound like a lame-ass superhero.” He pointed out, but still smiled. Not that the name Forrest was any better, he did sort of resent his parents for that.  “Well, I suppose since you’re offering. Maybe just a beer, no need to go all out. But, if you want food, that’s alright. I can pay for my own if we do eat.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to say that, but he hated to ramble. “Are you? How’d you end up here?” He asked, as they walked towards the beer garden.

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy laughed and shook her head “Forrest by day, Bakery Boy by night. We can get you a cape, design a suit. It’ll be great” She joked. She had this thing where as soon as she got somewhat comfortable with someone, she just lost all inhibitions, but God knew is he was gonna be okay with her teasing, so she just cut it short when she could. “Alright, as you wish” She shrugged as she stepped into pace with him “Yeah, I got here about a month ago, I wanna say?” She spoke with a doubt, her mind whirring for  a bit “Yeah, a month ago or so. I grew up with my dad here, but the town was much smaller. Then after high school I left for Perelman in Pennsylvania and came back here four years after, and I gotta admit, it’s highly denser in population” She added with a nod “What about you? Have you always been here?” She asked, now curious about his story.

[fyeahdpanabaker]

Danielle Panabaker + her Snapchat story

[fyeahdpanabaker]

Danielle Panabaker + her Snapchat story

[lola--g-blog]

Lola was wandering idly through the fair ground, her feet following a path they made up without any help from her brain. She gazed at her fellow attendees with interest, relishing the chance to people watch unnoticed. It was good people watching, that was for sure. There were young couples in the throws of adolescent drama, children fighting with their parents over spilled ice cream cones, and inexplicable groups of bros chugging beer in their strangely short shorts. The fair had turned from something she wished to escape into a nice reprieve from staying home and grading summer school book reports. Things got slightly more dramatic, however, when a small hand gripped hers. She turned, slightly stunned, toward the person the offending hand belonged to. 

Lola put the pieces together all to quickly. The strange man, the sudden reliance on the support of a complete stranger. The ickiness of it all made her stomach churn - when would men just leave women alone, thank you very much? She played along dutifully, smiling brightly. “Hi! You made it - I was getting a little worried that you’d gotten lost in the crowd!” Lola’s smile remained as the man walked away, but the urgency behind it faded. She used her now-free hand to swipe hair from her face. “No, you’re totally fine. We’ve got to look out for each other, right? At least until the creeps of this world get their act together and realize that women don’t exist for their gratification.” 

“Hi, Poppy. I’m Lola. A beer would be lovely.” 

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy found herself breathing out a happy sigh again as she heard the girl following along to her plan. It wasn’t a hard one to pick up, but who knew, maybe some people just didn’t get the ring to it and started to panic. Luckily, her new-found friend understood, making the brunette smile up at her “Thank you, really, and definitely. It’s sad that men have to see you with someone else, but it’s just how it is, right?” She added a shrug, the strong opinionated woman wanting to come out, but it was a time of joy and festivities, she wouldn’t start her lady-rant right there. “Lola, pleasure to meet you. Let’s go get ourselves some beers then!” She said with an excited grin “So, how’s it going? Liking the festivities out here?”

[jonathanrpeverett-deactivated20]

“I am quite handsome, thank you,” Jon said, acting like he hadn’t prompted her to say it. “Nice to meet you, man.” Jon shrugged off the notion he shouldn’t have another and gave her a smile. “Man, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m good. Besides, it is freedom day. I think our forefathers would want me to drink till I blackout, it’s what they fought for,” He said, his smile turning to a grin. Jon, even in the state he was in, could appreciate that she was trying to look out for him. But, it still made him fall back to his humor. He used it like a shield for so long, deflecting anything he didn’t want to deal with. Now, he just did it without thinking. “How about this, I’ll buy the beer. You can get me a soft pretzel and we’ll call it even.”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy smiled at the man. He had a particular sense of humour that she had been used to, being surrounded by large groups of guy-friends, she wasn’t too stranger to sarcasm and things like that “Very well then, blacking out it is, all for America” She said with a shrug. She wasn’t his mother, his protector, anything. Once she tried and he denied it, it was all him, whatever he wanted to do. “Mhm... I’ll get the beer, you get me a pretzel” She said with a wink, playing with him for a second, before they begun walking “So, how’s your night going along? Enjoying the fireworks?”

[itsallhappeningx-blog]

Brea was caught up in her own thoughts as she made her way through the crowd,  sipping her beer and not paying much attention to what was going on around her. Events like this always made her a little homesick, or rather made her miss the few good things in her life that she had left behind. Feeling a stranger link hands with her, the blonde could only grin at the look on the girls face as she shifted closer to her. “It’s about time you showed up love..” Brea beamed, not missing a beat as she looked over at the guy, offering a tiny smile as her brows raised a bit, silently telling him to move on. 

Chucking once her hand was let go, the blonde looked at the girl and shook her head, not too worried about the explanation, she had pulled that move a few times in the past. “Not a problem, I think we’ve all been in that position a time or two..”  Brea admitted, “it’s nice to meet you Poppy, I’m Brea, most just call me Breezy though.” She told her, looking down at her near empty beer, “no need to buy, but I’ll definitely be glad to have the company, besides, I can’t in good conscious let you walk around alone, after all, what if you run into your creeper? You’ll need your fake girlfriend by your side.” Brea teased with a little wink, a chuckle escaping her. 

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy was glad that this wonderful stranger had caught up with the plan. It was more often than not that girls needed eachother in situations like this, she knew it perfectly from going out while in college and even having to effectively kiss with one of her best friends in order for a man to walk away. Sad, but true. Smiling widely at the face of her new acquaintance, the brunette ran her hand through her hair, messing it up a bit “Nice to meet you too, Breezy, that’s a really cute name” She added with a wide smile, shaking her head when she rejected her offer “Please, what kind of fake girlfriend would I be if I didn’t buy you a beer after the amazing save we just pulled” She joked, winking back at the blonde and smiling “So, how are you doing? Enjoying the festivities?”

[chxrliescott-deactivated2016091]

The drunk girl next to him made him chuckle, even if she wasn’t intending to. It was nice to see people relaxed and happy, as that was far from what he had been used to seeing. “Yeah, I’ve been planning it since I got here. Kinda’ a special day…not just for obvious reasons,” he smiled and took a sip of his drink. For everyone else, this day was all about pride and history, but for Jonah, it was a little more. He hid his eyes and laughed to himself, “don’t kill me for this. I know it’s totally unoriginal, so don’t judge…but I was thinking I’d just get the date…” he peaked from behind his hands and tried his hardest not to laugh. 

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy furrowed her brows at the man, her drunk face all falling down before it perked up again with a smile “Just the date? Oh come on! But I guess if it’s for a special reason, it’ll make it better, right?“ She reasoned, her mind only allowing her to go thus far. She was a doctor, she knew exactly every effect the alcohol was having on her, but she didn’t care right now, she needed to let loose “I want a star. A red one, a white one and a blue one. Right here-” She added, lowering the side of her dress to show him the side of her chest and part of the under-breast area, probably more than she had wanted. 

[stevie-becker-deactivated201708]

“Likewise,” she grinned, hand automatically coming up to hide her smile from view as she raked her curious gaze over the stranger. The situation was an odd one, it was true, but the prospect of free beer and good company had Frankie concluding that the moment of confusion had been worth it. “Well, shit, if only every job paid as, like, generously as you do, sugar,” a chuckle followed her wishful musing, and she fell into place beside Poppy when they began to wade through the growing crowds. “Uh… ‘M not, like, the biggest’f fans, but s’cool. How ‘bout y’self? Been here long?”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy furrowed her brows as the girl rose her hand up, trying to figure out what she was doing, but figured it’d be better to not ask. Some habits were for some reason, so she just ignored it. The brunette laughed at her comment, shrugging “I’m a firm believer in paying things forward and eventually they’ll come back to you. Today, you got that! You scratched my back, and now I scratch yours” She concluded in a sing-song voice and shrugged. “Not really, I just got done with some work at the bakery and rushed here before the creeper came after me, but now that he’s gone, I’m much better. There is a pretty big crowd, I didn’t know Woodstock had so many people in it”

[forrestlysander]

Forrest quirked a brow as he listened to her speak. He’d felt a little better about himself when he’d been able to help her, i wasn’t often that he was able to have an opportunity like that. “I’ll regret helping you if you start referring to me as the Muffin Man.” He told her once he made that connection. He glanced around to see if he saw the same person lingering but hadn’t seen anyone. “You don’t really have to buy me a beer, I was mostly kidding.” He then added and realized that he didn’t have to walk away and he could talk to her instead. It was almost nice. “I’m doing okay, there’s a lot of people. How are you besides what happened?”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy laughed at his words, the whole Shrek ‘muffin man’ dialogue popping into her head, but she did her best to keep it at bay inside of her and not embarrass the man any further “Bakery boy? Alright, I’ll keep it at Forrest then” She said with a shrug, pretending to content herself with just calling him his name. “I insist, you defended me from the creeper, you deserve at least a beer, or anything you’d like to eat or drink, its on me” She said with a shrug, since she really felt like paying back the favour. “I’m good. I just got here, and yeah, that’s the first thing that shocked me. I’m new to Woodstock, but man, I never imagined there’s so many of us!”

[breathtakingwomen]

Danielle Panabaker at the ‘The Flash’ Photocall - 2016 Monte Carlo Television Festival (2016)

[stevie-becker-deactivated201708]

Frankie had been searching for her friend, gaze roaming over the crowd, her figure rising ever so slightly as she pushed herself onto her toes to look for a cascade of blonde tresses amongst the townsfolk. She jumped at the sudden feel of five fingers wrapping around hers, and quickly turned to find herself face to face with a complete stranger. The greeting was even more confusing, and Frankie was about to retrieve her hand when she noticed a lingering, stomach-turning stare burning into the physical connection between the two. She met the man’s gaze with a defiant one of her own, and even went so far as to wrapping her arm around the other girl’s shoulders and tugging her close. Though she didn’t bat for the same team, she’d been in a similar situation whilst on the road, and knew that any help would be appreciated. When the man finally vanished within the rest of the crowd, Frankie let go. She painted a friendly smile onto her lips. 

“S’all good, sugar,” she assured, shrugging her shoulders to dismiss whatever awkwardness could potentially linger between them, “it ain’t fun when that shit happens, don’t worry about it. ‘M Frankie- and, uh… Sure, I won’t say no to free booze.”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy would never judge anyone who did, but personally, she didn’t really like girls. She could acknowledge when someone was beautiful, hot, or whatever she’d call it, but she just didn’t shoot on that goal. In times of need, though, she could very healthily pretend to escape from trouble. Keeping herself close to the strange girl and watching the other guy walk away, the brunette smiled and took a step back to find the eyes of the girl who had saved her “Thanks so much for that, really” She said with a smile “Nice to meet you Frankie, and hey, it’s definitely not free, you earned it. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be running away” She said with a grin, turning to head to the beer stand “So, how are you doing? Enjoying the festivities?”

[forrestlysander]

Forrest hadn’t been doing anything particularly special when someone walked over to him and pulled him close to them. He stared in confusion at her, but soon recognized her from the bakery. He caught her line of vision as she spoke and saw a man who backed away at the sight of Forrest, so he threw an arm around her in case the man turned back around to make sure. He never knew with people, especially with things that he’d encountered when just walking at night with one of his sisters. “It’s fine, I get it.” He decided not to tell her that he’d been through worse and that he’d have beaten the guy up easily if he had to. Instead, he quirked a brow at ther est of what she said. Forrest dropped his arm off of her and then nodded. “Yeah, might as well if we’re going to pretend like we’re dates. I’m Forrest.”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy found comfort under the man’s arm, even if she hadn’t even seen his face, she knew she was better off with some stranger who volunteered to help her than with that weird guy. Once he was out of sight, the brunette pulled away and smiled widely when she saw the stranger’s face, who wasn’t so much of a stranger “You’re... You’re the guy who wanted muffins from the bakery. God bless I ran into you, you’re getting muffins for life” She joked and sighed. “I’m Poppy, pleasure to meet you Forrest, and I guess I do owe you a beer for this pretend date” She obliged with a smile “How are you doing?”

[jonathanrpeverett-deactivated20]

More than a few beers under his belt, the night was turning into something beautiful. The world was soft, the oxy taking the edge off things. The drugs mixing with the alcohol, making him feel loose and easy. This is the place he wanted to stay. Where the memories didn’t have the same sting, as they did when he was sober. This place wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, since he tried to spend most nights here. But, the holiday was a good excuse, one of the few times people didn’t give him dirty looks for being drunk in the middle of the street. Feeling good, Jon was ready for the night to take him away, letting things bring him where they may. So, he wasn’t thrown off when his hand was grabbed.  Not being sure what was going on, Jonathan figured he’d just go with it. “I guess, you finally found me,” He said, giving her hand a squeeze. Letting go of his hand, Jon listened to her, sipping his beer. “Hey, no worries, man. I get it. With a face like this, you wouldn’t believe how many creeps I get creeping on me,” He said dryly, with an easy grin. “Jonathan, but people call me Jon Jon.” He said, holding out his free hand. “I have a beer, Poppy,” He said, with a warm smile, holding up the red cup. “But, I’d love another.” He downed remainder of the cup and gave her a grin. “Who can pass up a free beer?”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy, now with the strange man gone, took a glance at the guy who’s hand she was holding. He didn’t seem to pull back, which was odd, he showed no reflex, but once she looked properly at his face, she could definitely see why. She needed no medical training to see that this guy was gone completely from his senses, but since she had it, she could definitely see it so much more clearly. “That’s for sure, I’m sure that’s how you’ve gotten so many dates, handsome man like you, find them like this” Pop joked and shook her head, shrugging “Nice to meet you, Jon Jon. Well, I don’t know how much more you should be drinking, but at least I’ll get myself another one and then I’ll get you something for the inconvenience that wasn’t so much. Maybe a bottle of water” Her inner doctor spoke up, making her sound like a bit of a mom, but she didn’t really control it, and he really needed it.

[misspoppyswan]

“Shit” Poppy whispered under her breath as she turned her head around over her shoulder and snapped it back quickly. With the whole celebration, people had certainly been drinking too much, especially one particular man, and it was getting downright annoying. He had seen her at the bakery and bought a dozen cupcakes just to keep the conversation going, which Poppy did, politely, but the moment she was out of the store when her shift was done, he was there again, offering to buy her a drink. She declined, again, and started walking towards where everyone was gathered, but he pursued her. She didn’t know what to do, so in the moment she saw he was getting closer, the brunette linked hands with a complete stranger, pulling herself closer to the person and smiling “Hey sweetie, I’ve been looking all over for you!” She spoke, in a rather high voice, so that the man could hear. The plan worked, like a charm, because the bearded man saw her, and turned to walk the opposite way. Taking a deep breath, she sighed in peace, before letting go of the hand she was holding “Wow, I’m so sorry I had to do that, I just... Creepy McCreeperson was kinda being a bit dense, so I saw no other way out” She said with an apologetic smile “I really am so sorry. I’m Poppy, can I get you a beer for the whole ‘awkward hand touching’ thing?”

[chxrliescott-deactivated2016091]

As Jonah sipped his drink - the orange juice he’d cleverly disguised in a red cup - he looked to the person next to him and smiled. “Come on, then. If you were gonna’ get a tattoo to remember this July 4th, what would it be?”

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy looked sideways at the man who was talking. He probably wasn’t even talking to her, but God even knew. She had been drinking ever since she left the bakery early to catch a bit of the street party that seemed to be going around, and mimosa after mimosa she had had, her vision wasn’t getting that much better. “Tattoo?” She asked, smiling widely at the man. She was a very sociable drunk. “Well, what are you gonna get!” 

[oakleyyang]

Standing in the doorway, Feyre clutched the strap of her cross-body bag, her knuckles turning white and her eyes wide. Seeing the girl’s reaction, her body was screaming to turn and leave. The last thing Fey wanted to be to anyone was a burden and right now that’s exactly what she felt like. It had been years since she’d come into Sweet Tunes looking for discounted loaves of bread at the end of the day, but Feyre had wanted dinner to be special tonight. Somewhat palatable at least… It was still hard for her to go out though, without feeling her heart race and her knees tremble, her impending anxiety just waiting to take over. The worst she could say was no though… She kept reminding herself of that.

“Hey, no… I’m not- Not Mrs. Norris,” she agreed taking a timid step forward towards the counter. Glancing quickly at the case of sweets and goodies, Feyre pulled her eyes up to the woman behind the counter. With a shaky breath she voiced her request. “I didn’t mean to come in so late. Sorry… I was just wondering if there are any loaves of bread you could sell to me at a discount? You know, instead of throwing them out?”

[misspoppyswan]

The brunette looked at the girl who had frozen at the door by her words. The last thing Poppy looked like was an intimidating person, so really, the other girl had nothing to be afraid of. Watching her walk towards the counter, Harper laughed at the answer and shook her head “I know, she’s the costumer that last left, and she tends to leave things behind so I’m sorta used to it” She added with a shrug. The girl seemed sweet, and the moment Poppy heard her request, she instantly smiled even wider “Oh, well, I’m sure we’ve got something back in the kitchen, let me check for a sec. Make yourself comfortable if you’d like... Looks like the house is all yours!” She joked, giving her a quick wink and turning on her toes, her flats sounding on the tiled floor as she swung the kitchen door open.

She navigated through the place until she found the metal table in the back where the morning bread was left to turn into breadcrumbs and the cakes were left to turn into cake pops or other treats. Taking a cupcake box, the brunette took out the divisors and placed in a loaf of bread and a few slices of marbled vanilla and chocolate cake. If someone was here wanting them for a discount, she would never say no, she’d very much rather put in pocket money if that meant giving them out to someone who wanted them, it was just in her nature. Closing the box, she went back out to the store where she found her newest costumer “Here. I found a white bread loaf and a few slices of marbled cake. If you find any of it a bit tough, just throw it in the oven for a few minutes and it’ll be nice, warm and soft-ish again. Do you want me to do that for you? It’s no trouble at all” She offered, since it really wasn’t with the small electric oven.

[forrestlysander]

Sometimes, he didn’t have the best concept of time. He didn’t take in the fact that the bakery had almost been closed, but he figured he could pick up a few things for the morning or what would soon be morning. Even if he wasn’t too terribly wealthy, a couple baked goods for his sisters in the morning wouldn’t kill him. It also reminded him that he needed to look for a job and soon, or he’d be out of an apartment. He paused when the woman inside began to talk, he glanced around the empty bakery and then back at the brunette. “Nah, darlin’.” He replied and then walked over to where she was. “Just whatever muffins you have, I forgot to pick things up for my younger sisters. Time flies and all that.” He tried to joke like a normal person.

[misspoppyswan]

Poppy looked towards the man at the door and smiled. She was sure she’d seen him around town, but at the same time, there wasn’t many people around Woodstock all the time, so that may be it. “Muffins, I could do that” She said with a broad smile, glad that she could be of any assistance to him. The last thing she’d want was to not be able to help him with anything he needed. Walking over to the glass display, her slender fingers pointed at the now short array of muffins that were still out for her to put away and probably shape into cake pops the next morning or crumb them up “Well, you’ve caught us at closing time, so we haven’t got as many as you’d like. There’s simple vanilla with chocolate chips, chocolate or red velvet, I could also offer you a slice of our carrot pound cake or apple and cinnamon rolls” Harper talked him through all of his choices and then propped herself up and looked at him.