Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 67

     After a few days of being stuck against his will in the worst place imaginable, Branch was finally released from the hospital, Poppy immediately volunteering to walk him home to make sure he got there safely. A kind gesture that the village grouch surprisingly didn't refuse...

     "Are you sure you're ok?" Poppy asked him in concern for probably the millionth time that day as the two trolls walked through the village together, the young princess unable to help noticing the slight limp in her best friend's step...

"I'm fine, Poppy," Branch replied with a small smile as he turned slightly to look at her. "I promise."

At the sight, Poppy smiled a bit as well, getting lost in his sparkling eyes...

She had always loved it when Branch smiled... the rare event always lit up the world...

     Actually... the village grump had been smiling quite a lot lately. Could it possibly be because he had been spending more time with her in the past few weeks?

     Poppy just couldn't seem to get the question out of her mind... was what he had said at the hospital true...?

"What?" Branch suddenly asked with a small chuckle, the survivalist noticing his best friend had been staring at him for quite a bit of time now.

"Nothing..." Poppy replied, still gazing longingly at the gray troll beside her. "It's just..." She sighed, finally looking away in slight sorrow as she took a deep breath before beginning to speak once more. "I can't stop thinking about something you told me when you were in the hospital..."
"What?" the survivalist asked with a slight smile. "That I thought my thumb was missing?"
"No... something... something else..."

     Branch raised an eyebrow, looking at Poppy in slight confusion...

He had said something else to the young princess while he was under the influence of that loopy medicine? What was it? And why did it seem to worry her so much?

Seeing her friend's concern, Poppy knew she needed to explain... she couldn't keep the question locked inside of her any longer... it was taring her apart...

     "You... you said..." She paused, looking up at him with fearful eyes, the poor girl worried out of her mind about the response she might get to her statement. "You said... you loved me..."

     Branch's heart instantly sank deep into the pit of his stomach as his eyes widened in pure shock. He could feel his face turn pale in that instant, loosing what little color he actually had left as he stood stiffly in place, his terrified eyes locked on his no longer secret crush...

     'I said that!?' he thought to himself in complete panic. 'Why the hair would I say that!? I mean... it's true... but she can't know that! No one could know that!'

     With a quick gulp, Branch finally snapped out of his paralyzing thoughts, the young boy looking back to Poppy with a faked smile as he let out a quiet chuckle...

     "So..." he started slowly. "I really thought my thumb was missing?"
"Branch!" Poppy yelled, the young princess needing an answer to the question racing through her mind. "Forget about your thumb! Is it true?"
"That I lost my thumb? Psh... no. It's right here." He held up both hands, showing off his thumbs with an innocent grin.

     "Branch... please..." Poppy begged, forcing the gray troll's hands down to his side as she gazed straight into his crystal blue eyes, Branch's smile instantly fading into a sorrowful frown. "Is it true...? Do you love me?"