Married Life

Chapter 18: A Personal Day

     When Poppy woke up the next morning, her head felt like it was being hit with a sledgehammer. Her vision was blurry, but eventually cleared up the more she blinked. It was warm, a little too warm. Right underneath her laid her husband with his vest off and hair a mess. Thinking it was another troll, she screamed as she jumped off of him. This causing Branch to scream loudly too and next thing you know, they're screaming at each other.

     A minute or two had past and their screams had softened, leaving them panting.

     "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Branch!! I thought you were someone else and I can't remember much and I just.. panicked.."

     His face softened as he slowly walked over to his wife and wrapped her in a tight embrace, her shaking slowly stopping and accepting his hug.

     "Poppy, it's fine.. You're okay.." He said softly, trying to comfort her. It took a little bit for the pink troll to really control herself, but when she did, she let go of his embrace, went to the bathroom and washed her face. Footsteps could be heard from outside the door, walking into the kitchen. With a few deep breaths, she walked out.

     Branch had put some cups on the table and he sat there, concerned about Poppy. It wasn't usual for her to act like this, but completely understood why she was. Inside the cup was her favorite drink, hot chocolate. She took a sip as the teal troll spoke.

     "Maybe you should take a personal day. After all the drinking you did last night, I think it's making you jumpy.."

     "But Branch I can't sit here. I have to go read to the kids, help the trolls at the farmers market, there's a whole list of things I have to do."

     "And I will do all of that. I don't think the kids will appreciate story time being interrupted by your jitters."

     As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She's probably scare the kids with how jumpy she was. But she also didn't want to leave Branch alone with all those responsibilities. Before she began to talk, he lifted his finger over her mouth.

     "Pops, you need to stay here and relax for the day. I promise you everything will get done before the day is over."

     The teal troll stood up and put his vest on, grabbing the usual book she'd read to the kids, making his way to the door after giving her a kiss on the forehead.

     "I'll be back after story time to check up on you. Why don't you take a nap? It'll help your headache." He said and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. The pink troll rubbed her head as she walked back into the bedroom, laying in his sheets. None of Poppy's things were there, but she preferred the scent of his sheets. It was like he was right there with her. His blanket wrapped around her and it felt like he was giving her a hug himself.

     Maybe taking a personal day wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Sorry for the short chapter. Not really feeling too well. Next chapter we'll see how Branch is doing with the trolling's down at the school house.