He road the bunker elevator, down to the bottom floor, and walked over to one of his shelves. He opened up the curtain revealing all the invitation Poppy had ever given to him. He whipped a tear from his eye putting the new invitation in with the rest.
"Branch!" he heard up on the ground level, along with some banging. "Come on, Branch! Open the hatch!"
Slowly, he opened the hatch a little bit, just enough to see Poppy.
"What?" he said, pretending like he hadn't just been crying.
"I'm sorry about Creek. I brought you some cake!" She held out a piece of cake. "You sorta left before you could get a piece."
"I didn't really have much choice," Branch said, trying to fight back his tears. "Nobody wanted me there."
"That's not true, Branch. I wanted you there."
Branch blinked up at her.
"You... you did?"
"Of course! Why do you think I invited you?"
"To humiliate me." He looked away.
"I invited you, cuz you're my friend, Branch. It doesn't mater what Creek thinks. You're welcome anywhere you want to go."
He looked at her, and then blinked, looking away, as he thought about the past. All the bad things that had happened.
"Well... I don't want to be anywhere," Branch suddenly said coldly. "Not with any of you! I just want to be left alone!" He slammed the hatch shut, locking it.
Poppy stood, looking down at it, and then sighed, placing the cake on the ground before walking away.
Branch passed back and forth, thinking about Poppy. Did she really mean what she said? Did she really think of him as a friend? He used to think Creek was his friend, but he wasn't. He was just pretending. What if Poppy was pretending? Branch didn't want to be hurt again.
He sighed, heading back down the elevator to go to bed.
