Did I conquer my writer's block FINALLY?!!!?!
Enjoy love ya!
"Okay, Branch. You can do this."
Branch stared at himself in the Men's Bathroom mirror, scolding himself again for the blush that kept rising in his cheeks.
"It's not that big of a deal, alright? You- you're fine. You can make it."
Another guy troll walked in and past, eyeing him oddly.
"What? You've never freaked out on a beach date?"
The guy's eyes widened. "Ohhh. Touche, man."
Branch sighed and looked in the mirror again. "Alright, you're going to walk out of this bathroom like a normal troll would. Okay? Okay."
And so, he walked out.
Not as normally as he would've wanted, however. He could feel the heat in his cheeks again as he flushed and his heart banging against his rib cage, as his eyes laid onto his girlfriend.
Queen Poppy was lounging in her beach chair wearing cute heart shaped sunglasses, an adorable white beach hat, and a purple and white tankini.
It was just a tankini. But it was still much more skin to the guy who had literally lived under a rock and who never expected to even have a girlfriend in his life in the first place.
Branch marched down to their blanket and sat beside her chair, chowing on his nutella and gummy worm sandwiches while staring straight ahead at the ocean.
He scrunched his nose in disgust. When would his girlfriend ever learn how to make a proper lunch?
Poppy lifted her sunglasses and looked down at him. "Do you like the sandwiches?"
Usually he'd tell her the truth about these things, but at the moment he was feeling too flustered to correct her.
He nodded. "Yup, very- uh, flavorful."
She beamed. "I'm glad!" Then she asked, "Do you want to go in the water soon?"
He considered and decided that it would be way better than sitting in this sweltering heat eating this sandwich of sugar that was already beginning to hurt his throat.
"Sure. Okay. But-- you need sunscreen first."
"Perfect!" Poppy sat up, grabbed her beach bag, then pulled out a tube of sunscreen lotion. Standing up, she squirted some into her hand and began to spread it on her arms, legs, amd face.
Branch's eyes refused to look away as he watched her hands smooth out the cream on her arms, then her legs, then gently rub at her face....
"Yes?" Poppy giggled, noticing his determined and lovestruck gaze.
"Huh?! Oh, uhhh, what??" Branch jumped, completely embarrassed.
She didn't respond, just grinned and plopped down in front of him, facing the water, and handed the tube of sunscreen back to him.
"Can you put some on my back for me?"
Branch couldn't say no.
His hands shook as he squeezed the sunscreen onto his hands, rubbed his hands together, then very gently rubbed a small amount on her right shoulder until it faded.
Then her left shoulder. Then her shoulder blades. Gently. Back and forth. Over and over. Okay, now he was just massaging her. He quickly moved down to where her bathing suit top stopped and her bottom was just about to begin: her waist.
First, he began spreading it and rubbing it. When it faded, he decided to tease her.
"What're you do-" Poppy began when she felt his hands just stop moving and rest on her lower back for a bit.
She was interrupted by a sudden grab at her sides and then a squeeze.
Poppy began to laugh hard. "Branch-- stoppit!! You know I'm ticklish there!"
"I know," he chuckled, grinning at her laugh.
She squirmed away and faced him. "Don't think I don't know where your tickle spot is."
"You're going to have to catch me first!" He grabbed at her again, one hand tickling her side, the other the top of her thigh, both tickling spots he had found on accident other days and now used to his advantage.
Poppy's giggles burst out, and she wiggled and laughed until he couldn't breathe.
Branch's tickling subsided as he waited for her to catch her breath again, and he couldn't help thinking about how pretty this queen was, wondering how in the world he had ended up with this beautiful blessing.
Her hat and glasses had fallen off, and every now and then her right shoulder strap would slip (he was quick to fix it) and her hair (whkch was incredibly messy now) and face was covered in sand from rolling around.
He chuckled. A hot mess. That's what she was.
Poppy reached up towards him from where she lay on her back in the sand beside him. He crawled to her and leaned directly above her.
She gave him a quick kiss before reaching for his ear.
"Nope!!" He laughed as he jumped up and began to run towards the water. "I told you that you'll have to catch me first before doing that!!"
Poppy giggled and jumped up, racing down the oshore after him. After quite a bit of splashing each other in the face, laughs, and taunts, she finally managed to reach him and jumped onto his back from behind, gently wrapping her arms around his neck.
Branch laughed. "Welp, I guess you've won." He waited for the big tickle on his ear that he knew was coming.
Instead, she grinned and gave him a big kiss behind his ear.
He smiled and she jumped off of his back to give him an actual hug. Then a nose kiss. Then a cheek kiss. And in between that, Branch had been able to sneak in a forehead kiss. He was rewarded with yet another bubbly giggle.
He loved her laugh so much.
"You didn't put on your sunscreen," Poppy whispered.
"Don't be silly; I did before we got here," always-prepared Branch replied, smirking, leaning towards her.
"Of course you did," she laughed one last time before focusing completely and only on her boyfriend's sweet and tender kisses.
I HAVE BEEN SO BUSY GUYSSSS IM NEVER ON MY SOCIALS TIS SADDDD😭😭 miss you all when im gone <3
