All Trolls go to Heaven (Rewrite)

Chapter 11

It took a few hours, but the two trolls finally finished cleaning up the bunker, Branch walking Poppy back to her pod once they were completely finished.

The moon was already high up in the sky once they reached the top of the elevator, millions of beautiful stars twinkling above the two friends as they walked through the crisp night air.

"Thanks for helping me clean up today, Poppy," Branch said with a slight smile, stealing a quick glance at the love of his life before she could notice.

     "Anytime," Poppy replied, smiling back over at him. "Plus... it was kinda my fault your bunker was destroyed in the first place. I'm sorry about that by the way..."
"It's ok," the blue troll assured, tightening his grip slightly on her hand which he held lightly in his grasp. "You were just doing what was best for the village. I don't blame you. Besides... if you hadn't... I would have never found my true colors. Or..." He looked over at her smiling slightly once again. "Or finally have admitted the way I feel about you..."

     Poppy smiled at Branch's words, the two of them finally arriving safely at the young queen's pod.

"Good night, Poppy," Branch said, giving his girlfriend a quick hug before separating, his ears drooping a bit as he contemplated asking her something very important. "I'll... uh... see you in the morning?"

     "You bet," Poppy replied joyfully with a large smile plastered on her bright pink face.

     "Good..." he continued, rubbing his arm nervously as he gave her a shy smile. "Cuz I was kinda hoping... you know... that you and I could... could maybe..."
"Do the morning song together!?" she quickly interrupted in excitement, causing Branch's words to trail off almost immediately. "That's a great idea, Branch!" She did a quick spin, not even looking over at her boyfriend as she continued talking enthusiastically. "You, me, and the whole village singing together in piece and harmony! I'm so excited! You're voice will make the event so much better than usual!"

     The whole village?

     "Y... yeah..." he finally replied after a few short moments with a quiet sigh, looking away from her sadly. "I'll... uh... I'll definitely be there. With... with everyone else..."

Poppy looked over at him again, her smile instantly fading away once she saw the despair on her friend's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked in concern, wondering what she had said wrong... "You know..." she quickly continued. "If you don't want to join the morning song..."
"No, no. It's not that..." he quickly interrupted, looking back up at her. "I'm just..."

He looked at her for a moment in complete silence, his mouth refusing to move so he could speak.

     His heart wanted to ask her something extremely important, but his brain just wasn't letting him...

     Finally, he sighed, deciding to just keep his big mouth shut, as he gave her a slight smile.

"I'm just... tired," he lied. "It's been a long day. But I promise... I'll be at the morning song..."

"Well ok..." Poppy finally said, still a bit concerned about the way he was acting. "Good night, Branch." She kissed his cheek, and then turned, walking to her front door without looking back...

"Ugh..." Branch groaned softly, feeling sick to his stomach as he lowered his head in shame. He couldn't believe he had just chickened out... again... "No... don't give up. You can do this, Branch..." he told himself in a soft whisper. "You can do it..."