Dara and Poe were avoiding each other on the base now. He hated it. This was stupid. But what could he do? He'd said a stupid thing. He hadn't promised to keep her secret, but he kept it anyways. Dara was a jedi. A beautiful jedi who was charming, and intelligent, who had kissed him three times now, and who was not talking to him. What was he meant to do with that? He would trudge around the base. His stolen moments with Finn were probably the best part of his day. Finn was crawling up the walls with nothing to do all day. Poe couldn't really help him there, and he certainly wasn't going to make him do a crappy job. He spoke to the General about maybe letting Finn get trained up for combat. It was in talks, but he was hoping that Finn would have something to do soon. As for himself, he had been given a batch of recruits to train. A new x-wing squad was a tricky thing to hone. He was trying to teach them formations and put them through their paces, but it was frustrating work. This wasn't the sort of job they should be giving to him, but he supposed that an order was an order and he had to give it his all.
One night after a particularly frustrating day, with a little bit of progress, he sat in the kitchen with a piece of cake and a scowl. The cake was delicious, but he had a headache, and his humour wasn't great. He stabbed the cake angrily with a fork.
"What the cake ever do to you?" Poe looked up to see Finn. Poe gave him a nod by way of greeting, but didn't answer. Finn sat anyways. "What's wrong?" Poe sighed and put the fork down. He was turning a perfectly decent cake to mush and crumbs, and to be honest, the cake didn't deserve it.
"I messed up with Dara, and these recruits are just… It's not my job." he uttered quickly, before he said anything he'd regret about the recruits.
"It's not your job, but something will come around. They're getting better though. And you should see their faces, getting to work with the legendary Poe Dameron." That put a smile on his face. Poe had a little bit of an ego. He wasn't arrogant, but everybody liked to have their ego stroked.
"Thanks. I mean, they have great potential. I just hope I'm not rushing them." Finn picked up Poe's fork and started to eat some of the cake that was still left standing.
"What did you say to Dara?" Poe didn't want to answer that. He had been so stupid. He was still hurt from being made a fool of, and then to be kissed again by the same woman who had held a blaster on him the last time it had happened… For her to say it would never happen again. She was dangling herself in front of him and then snatching herself away at all times. She wasn't even letting him reach out for her, but she had still somehow managed to reel him in.
"I just said something dumb, and she's real angry with me. I mean… I don't even understand why she's toying with my emotions that much." Finn nodded sagely, but Poe knew he hadn't much of a clue about these things.
"I think if you want to be involved with someone who doesn't toy with your emotions, you should just date a man." Finn shrugged. That was his best advice and logic, he could tell.
"Are you free?" Finn laughed.
"Very funny." Poe wasn't joking, but maybe he'd bring that up another time when Dara was absolutely done with kissing him.
"I dunno Finn. You are a catch. Rey is lucky to have you." Poe shrugged, and wrestled the fork back out of Finn's hand.
"I wish. We're not together. I don't think she's interested. I mean, I'm not giving up… If I ever see her again."
"Maybe you should just date men…" Poe quipped. Finn smirked.
"Maybe. You free?" He supposed Finn was joking.
"I dunno, you'll have to ask Dara if she's done toying with me, and if I'm allowed to play with other people." He rolled his eyes, and grinned at Finn.
"I forgot to tell you yesterday, Leia said that one of the guys is gonna train me up in combat. Like hand-to-hand and blasters and stuff. Finally something for me to do!" Poe was genuinely delighted to hear that.
"Before long you'll be kicking my ass!"
"I'd never kick your ass, Poe…" Finn was oddly solemn.
"Uhh… Thanks buddy. That's a real solid you're doing me." A pilot from another table threw a ball of paper over at them.
"YOU TWO SHOULD GET A ROOM!" he yelled. Poe turned around to see who it was. He grinned at her, and made a rude gesture as a joke. He decided he wasn't in such a bad mood after all.
