| 👀...need I say more? |
Branch nervously checked his watch for the fifth time within two minutes. Darn it, DARN it, DARN it. When was she going to come?!!
He wiped his brow and groaned to himself. What was he thinking?! If course Poppy wasn't going to come to this date, he hadn't asked her right. He had been awkward and hesitant, even if Poppy was his official girlfriend. He had been told by Barb that girls were lucky about that sort of thing.
At the time he had thought her advice was stupid- what did hard rock Barb know about dating?- but now he wondered if she was right.
Maybe he should have made it more extravagant. Maybe in front of a ton of people? He was sure a bunch of flowers wouldn't have hurt either. And a date in his bunker for dinner?! What kind of lousy cowardly date was that?!
Dang it, when would he get this whole boyfriend thing right?!! They had only been dating for a week, BUT STILL.
Branch's ears twitched when he heard the elevator coming down slowly.
She was here! She actually came!!
Quickly he rushed out to the dining room where he had a small table set up with a vase of roses in the middle and plates and silverware and napkins on either side. He decided that the case could be more straight and attempted to fix it.
Nope, he just made it worse.
"Branch?" Poppy's eager voice rang through the lowest floor of the bunker.
"Coming!" Branch rushed toward the main room next to his elevator and stopped at the sight of Poppy.
She was wearing a cute purple dress with pink hearts and heart earrings as well. And her smile only made the sight cuter.
"Whoa." That was all Branch for our as he began creeping toward her.
"Whoa?" Poppy's smile faded. "Do you think the dress was too much? Or maybe the earrings? Satin said it was but Chenille said it was alright, so I didn't know whether-"
"No, no, no." Branch stopped a foot away from her and grabbed her hands. "You look...beautiful."
Poppy's smile returned, looking even more excited.
Branch flushed. "I mean, not like you don't already always look beautiful, just I meant that the dress was pretty, kinda like you, just--"
Poppy gave a sweet giggle. "Why don't we start dinner?" she whispered, interrupting.
Branch gave a relieved nod. "That sounds smart." He dropped her hands and led her to the living room where the table was set with the decorative candles.
Poppy gave an impressed gasp. "Aww, Branch!! This is so cute!" She skipped over to one side of the table, and gently took the back of a chair. "Am I allowed to sit here?"
Branch was about to shoot her a reading sarcastic comment, then stopped. He decided instead to rush to the chair and pull it out for her. "Allow me."
Poppy giggled. "Oh, thank you, my sweet sir!" She gave a small curtsy and then sat down.
Branch sat on the other side of the table.
"How long did this take you to decorate?" Poppy asked admiringly.
"Not as long as I thought, thankfully. About half an hour."
Poppy grinned. "I bet it was painful for you."
"You have no idea."
They both shared a laugh, knowing that it was hard for Branch to change his usual setup of his by ker, despite what he was changing it for.
