Catch a Rising Star

The Next Morning

Catch a Rising Star

A/N: Yeah, I know this is way shorter than the last chapter, but at least it's something, and that I got this to work with only two scenes. Like I said before, there's only so much you can do with only one scene without unnecessarily dragging it out.

A minor side note, though. Yesterday, we had some pretty crazy weather. It was hailing! In June! It was just bizarre. Yeah, I get that I live close to the mountains, but still. Summer is practically almost here, and yet, it was hailing yesterday.

Okay. Now that that's out of the way, let's get on with Chapter 8. Roll it!

Chapter 8

The Next Morning

When the sun rose up the following morning, Branch never felt so relieved to see another day. The night before was most likely the craziest night of his life, and definitely not in the way that most people would think. However, he hoped that it was all behind him now.

He carefully headed over towards the kitchen, where Rosie had just finished serving breakfast, and Harper was getting some food on her plate before she went back to reading her teen magazine that had a picture of Poppy Summers on the front of the glossy cover.

Rosie smiled over at her grandson. "Good morning, Branch." She greeted him.

Branch kissed his grandmother's cheek and went over to his spot at the table. "Morning, Grandma." He said as he grabbed a couple of pancakes.

"So, my angels, how was your night out?" Rosie asked.

Both Branch and Harper had their eyes widened for a few seconds before Harper spoke up. "It was.... something." She said. "Interesting, for sure. Sorry we were gone for so long."

Rosie smiled. "Well, I wanted to stay up and wait for you two to come back home, but my body wasn't feeling up to it." She said.

Both Branch and Harper let out a silent sigh of relief. "Just remember that curfew from now on is 10:00 pm. Understand?"

"Yes, Grandma." Her grandkids said at the same time.

"Good." She said. "Now, let's have some breakfast so that I can continue working in the garden."

The family then started to eat their breakfast. "Syrup, please?" Harper asked.

"Um, I think we have a bottle that's unopened on the bottom shelf in the garage." Rosie said. "And it should still be pretty good."

Harper sighed as she put down her magazine. "I'll get it." She said.

As she walked past her brother and headed outside, Branch then realized where she was going. The garage. His eyes widened.

"No, I'll get it!" He exclaimed as he quickly followed after his sister.

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Once they were outside and out of earshot, Harper began to confront her older brother. "So how was your little cab ride?" She asked him.

Branch blinked. "Uh, what cab ride?" He asked her.

It must've been what Bridget told her when she went to get her from the club the night before. She probably had to come up with something to avoid both him and Poppy being seen in the tabloids if one of Poppy's fans realized what happened.

Harper scoffed and rolled her eyes as she went to grab the remote for the garage. "'What cab ride?'" She repeated with a groan.

"I'm this close to meeting Poppy Summers, and then I had to leave because Bridget Edmunds, Poppy Summers' best friend, told me that you were feeling claustrophobic and decided to take a cab home."