I wrote this a while back, and it's pretty short, but I hope you enjoy anyway! Please read and review! :)
"We all know how you feel about her, Branch!" whispered Guy Diamond to his friend.
"Yeah, tell her how you feel!" Biggie whispered. They were standing a few yards away from the new queen of Troll Village and the Snack Pack was encouraging Branch to approach her and pour his heart out to her.
"Um . . ." Branch said. "No thanks."
"We dare you to," challenged Smidge with a smirk in his direction. "You know how that works. If you don't do it, there's a punishment."
Cooper laughed. "It'll probably be even worse than the first one!" he exclaimed.
Branch sighed. Contrary to what his friends thought, it wasn't telling Poppy he loved her that bothered him.
It was that she already knew.
The two of them were dating already, somewhat secretly. Okay, very secretly. It wasn't their intention, but it had just been something so casual that they'd failed to mention it to their friends out of forgetfulness. Then it had become contaminated; how weird would it be to say, "Oh, and by the way, we started dating . . . six months ago"?
So he could easily tell her how he felt. But the Snack Pack was watching and her not-shocked reaction would definitely ruin the secret for them.
The punishment, though . . .
Who knew what it would be?
So he nodded. "Okay, fine, I'll tell her." As he strode toward Poppy, he worked out what he would say in his head.
When he got close enough, he swept her into his arms. "Hi, Poppy," he said, and he couldn't help but smile when he saw her surprised expression. It was only because she'd been facing the other way, of course, but the Snack Pack would hopefully think it was because she was surprised he'd held her like that.
"Hey, Branch!" she said when she recovered from the surprise, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck. Darn it. A just-friend wouldn't do that.
He pulled away from her so that she couldn't go too far. "Poppy, I have something to tell you," he said, then shot her a sharp glare as he added, "Something that you have never, ever, ever heard before."
She nodded, taking him seriously. "Okay!"
"Poppy, I love you. I've loved you since before you helped me find my happiness. I'm so glad to have you as a friend, but if you'll take me, I'd like to be more than that," he said earnestly, praying she didn't mess this up for him.
She gave him a confused look. "Um, Branch, you're sweet and all, but I already know that."
"Ooooh!" Guy Diamond sang. "Plooot twiiist!"
"You've told me a milli—mmph!" He swiftly cut her off with a kiss before her rambling gave away their secret. Of course, this caused a huge reaction from the Snack Pack, who thought he was kissing her this passionately for the very first time.
As they gasped and squealed and chattered, Branch mumbled quietly to Poppy between kisses, "It was . . . a dare, they . . . dared me to . . . tell you how . . . I feel . . . so go with it . . ."
"Oh . . ." she replied. "Okay . . ."
When they pulled back, she was in acting mode. "Branch, thank you for telling me how you feel," she said, placing a hand on her heart (rather dramatically, if you asked Branch). "I feel the same way!"
The Snack Pack had loud reactions to this as well. "And you were so scared," Smidge mocked Branch. "See, we TOLD YOU SHE LIKES YOU BACK!"
"Yeah, I guess I just didn't listen to you," Branch said with a smile, perfectly happy to let them think they were right as long as they, well, thought they were right.
"And today is the day we end up going public . . . all because of some pushy friends," Poppy whispered to him, grabbing his arm and fastening it around her waist.
He laughed a little at her. "We'll thank them one day."