Complicated Love

Chapter 4

The next morning... Poppy and Branch are still sleeping in Branch's bed. They have sleeping longer than usual for obvious reasons. The floor is scattered with clothes in random places. The bedroom had become messy from last night. It dark due to the curtains blocking most of the sunlight. Branch slowly turns over in his sleep away from the door towards Poppy. There was a small space between them. She pulls on his dark green cozy blanket a little.

Then the pink troll slowly started to wake opening her tired eyes. She sits up then stretches out her arms letting out yawn. Her  tired eyes look at the grey wall. Her head started to hurt and she could feel it increase. It wasn't as sore as usual but, still she had a hangover.

" Dang it...", Poppy says lowly.

Then she started to notice where she was. She looked around the room then turned her head to Branch. Her eyes widen as she realized that she was in his bed and naked! There is no confusion in this moment. It has all disappeared quickly. Poppy remembered what happened last night. She slept with one of her Best friends who she lives with and have known since High School!

" Shit!", Poppy cursed loudly.

Branch heard had her and woke up cause of it. He squinted his eyes open confused. He looks up at Poppy. His mind felt a bit sore and fuzzy. He notices that Poppy is staring at him.

" Poppy?", Branch says confused.

He sits up still looking at Poppy who was dead quiet. Then looks at himself,the floor and then back at her. Memories from last night came back to him just they did for Poppy. Branch's widen as he remember everything they did.

" Oh my god...", Branch said in shock.

The nude woman quickly and panicked gets out of the bed. Branch just looks at her not sure how to react. Poppy had never been this panicked before. She just grabs her clothes one by one while talking nervously and awkwardly.

" I -... umm... - I'll take myself out...", Poppy awkwardly and embarrassed.

Then she walks awkwardly out the room while Branch still couldn't say anything. For the rest of day both Branch and Poppy couldn't stop thinking about what happened. Even as they tried to work they couldn't focus properly. It didn't help either that they really liked it and thought each other was hot!

Inside Barb's castle; Branch was repairing the electricity board. There is no power in the castle since Barb blew out the power. Branch isn't a professional electrician but, he is good at repairing machines and building. He's an type of engineer but,Barb likes to use him task like fixing pipes cause he can.

With a simple flip of a switch the castle power grid panel lit up and all of the power returned. Branch tries his best to not think about Poppy as he quickly packed up his tools then walks out of the castle. Branch was sure that Poppy would be avoiding him when goes back to their apartment but, how can things not be more awkward? You can't avoid someone you live with over something embarrassing or maybe stupid thing you did like you do with a stranger.

When Branch exits the castle he sees Barb trying to teach Riff how to ride Johnny's critterbike. Branch raises an eyebrow when he noticed Riff had the critter then decides to walk to over to them. Riff sat on top of the happy critter's back holding onto the handle bars. Barb stood next to the bike.

" Pull on the handles tightly as possible for maximum speed. ", Barb says.

Riff just looks at the handles not really sure he wants to go as fast he can now. Barb didn't show him how to stop. She just went straight to talking about the fun stuff.

" Fixed your power but, next time get an actual electrician. ", Branch says honestly.

" Why would I need to when I got my own worker monkey for the job?", Barb says snarky.

Branch rolls his eyes at jab at him. Every now and then they would say something like that to each other. It actually caused a few trolls from other tribes to think that they are related. Barb and Branch could never see it though. They looked nothing a like.

" Why do you have Johnny's critterbike?", Branch asks.

" He followed me home then made himself at home... ", Riff admits.

" Turns out Johnny never picked up the title for his critterbike so I took it and gave the ownership to Riff. The critter didn't even have a name. ", Barb says happily.

" I named him "Elvis"...", Riff adds.

" Like after the king or cause you liked the name?", Branch asks.

" The critter liked the name.", Riff says honestly.

The big nose troll pulls backwards on the handles tightly by accident. Suddenly Elvis took off too fast for Riff's liking! Riff couldn't control the critter at all! Branch and Barb just watch him drive around out of control. It was like Elvis was in charge of the driving. Not Riff. Poor Riff was terrified with no idea on how to use the breaks.

" Ahhh! Barb! How Do You Make Him Stop?!", Riff calls out scared.

Few more hours later... It is now the afternoon. Branch sits on the couch of his apartment waiting for Poppy to come home. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to confront her about what happened between now or wait to later or just flat out pretend it never happened. Then Poppy opens the door to the apartment and their eyes locked causing Poppy to freeze in her tracks. Then she let's out an uncomfortable and awkward sigh.

" We should talk...",Poppy says awkwardly.

Branch nods his head to her awkwardly agreeing with her.  Poppy closes the door behind. There was an awkward silence between them that was so thick a knife could cut it. Poppy slowly walks over to the couch and sits down on the end of the couch leaving a big gap between her and Branch. She puts down her bag on the floor next to her feet while Branch just looked at her waiting for her to say something.

" So - ...  - about this morning and last night...", Branch says awkwardly.

" Hmm... Listen Branch... Maybe this whole thing isn't so bad as we think...", Poppy says honestly.

" What do you mean? You were so freaked when I woke up and we avoided each other the whole time before we left our apartment. ", Branch says honestly and confused.

" Well...", Poppy says trying to think of the right way to say what she wanted to say.

This is going to be a very interesting conversation...