A/N: Hey guys, so sorry it took me longer to get this out than I thought it would. My kid got sick then I got sick plus writer's block, but we're all on the mend and hopefully you guys like this chapter. It's much slower paced than the last two, but I hope you guys like it anyway. As always thank you for the reviews.


Chapter 12

Poppy woke and she wished she could have just stayed asleep. Her head was killing her as she slowly opened her aching eyes. Wait, this wasn't her bed or her room. She would have jumped up if not for her migraine. That's when last night began coming back to her. This was Branch's room, in Branch's apartment. Then she remembered everything they'd talked about and her attempted kiss. She couldn't believe she'd tried to do that, she shouldn't expect Branch to be ready for that. Slowly she sat up, and not only was her head hurting but she felt nauseous and her stomach hurt.

I'm never drinking again. Poppy thought to herself. She looked over at the bedside table and noticed there was a note, a glass of water, and two pills.

The note read: "Poppy, take these. They'll make you feel better. You can have anything you want in the kitchen. You can stay as long as you like, but if you leave please lock the door. – Branch"

Aw, how sweet. Poppy thought as she set the note down and reached for the pills and glass of water. After she was done she checked her phone seeing that it was already after ten. Very slowly she got out of bed and noticed her heels were on the floor beside the bed. She couldn't remember taking them off, but some of last night was a blur. Poppy walked to the bathroom and nearly shrieked when she looked in the mirror. Her hair was a complete mess with half of it hanging out of her ponytail and her headband askew, her makeup was smudged and there were tear streaks from her crying last night, and there wear clear bags under her eyes from her night. She hoped Branch wouldn't mind her using his shower because she had to have one.

Poppy quickly showered and walked into the kitchen to find something to eat while her hair dried. Branch, being the typical man, didn't have a hair dryer so she would have settle for air drying today. Unlike most guys though, Branch actually had food in his fridge and cabinets. Poppy settled for a sandwich and some chips. She wasn't exactly the best cook, so this was a safe bet. Walking into the living room she set her plate on the coffee table and grabbed the remote to turn on the tv. She found one of her favorite sitcoms and sat back to eat her lunch.

After she ate she took her plate back to the kitchen and washed it real quick. She didn't want to leave any kind of mess for Branch to clean up after. She headed back to the living room to continue watching tv. Thoughts of leaving crossed her mind, but she didn't have a clue where she was and she was hoping to talk to Branch today. As much as she didn't want to relive her embarrassing moment from last night, they did need to address it and maybe define their relationship, whether it just be friendship or something more.

After an hour Poppy began to get restless. She never sat still for this long, she needed something to do. The guitar case on the opposite wall caught her eye. Poppy didn't know when Branch was going to be home, and she didn't want to be caught snooping, but it shocked her a little that Branch even owned a guitar. Glancing towards the door, she crept towards the guitar case and laid it flat on the floor to open it. She sat on the floor and opened the case. It was a simple acoustic guitar, no extra bells or whistles to it. Carefully she took it out and sat it on her lap. But what surprised her were the papers on the bottom of the case. Gently she set the guitar on the floor beside her and leaned forward to grab one of the pieces of paper. It was a song, as she read the lyrics she realized it was an original. Branch must have written this. Poppy had no idea Branch could write music, and this was really good. She couldn't come up with anything and Mr. Grumpy here had beautiful lyrics. And that's when an idea popped into her head. Branch can help me write my song! I mean if he'll do it, I'm sure I can convince him. I wonder if he can sing too.

And that's when he walked through the door. Poppy looked up quickly, knowing she'd been caught. He'd stopped in the door way and was staring at her with a scowl on his face.

"What are you doing?" He asked her through clenched teeth.

She wasn't going to make excuses and she was hoping he wasn't too mad with her, "I'm sorry Branch, I was actually just going to look at your guitar then I found these songs. Please don't be too mad." She put the paper down and stood up, as much as she didn't want to face his anger she wasn't going to back down. He would not win this time.

Branch walked into the room and stood about two feet from Poppy and looked down at her. She had to look up a little bit to meet his gaze. "Why are you going through my things anyway?"

Poppy shrugged, "I was curious. And now I know you can write songs. You have to help me write one for my music class." She tried to dissipate his anger a bit by changing the subject, and it worked.

The scowl left his face and he looked surprised rather than angry. "Not gonna happen. And stop snooping." He stepped around her and put his guitar back in its case.

Well that went better than I thought it would. Now just to convince him to help me. Poppy thought to herself as she turned around to watch Branch put away his guitar and sit the case back up against the wall. Before he could turn to face her she said, "Come on Branch, I read those lyrics. Why didn't anyone tell me you were into music? Can you sing too?"

Branch's face became stern again and his ice-blue eyes found hers as he faced her, "I said no, can't GD help you?"

It was obvious he was avoiding her last two questions, but she'd get back to that, "Yes, but your lyrics were beautiful Branch. You have to help me."

Branch turned away from her and headed to the kitchen, "I'm not helping you with your project Poppy, find someone else." He said to her as he looked in the fridge for something to eat. Poppy watched him as he first looked in the fridge then the cabinet where he found a granola bar. She tried to figure out her next angle as he ate, not sure which approach would be best with him. He eyed her as she stared at him. Just as Poppy was about to open her mouth to say something Branch cut her off, "No."

"You didn't even know what I was going to say." Poppy quipped back putting her hands on her hips.

"You're trying to think of a way to convince me to help you. I can see it all over your face." Branch smirked at her.

Oh, he is smug isn't he. Instead of trying to start a fight with him, she was going to take a different approach. Fighting and/or begging is what he would expect so she needed to disarm him a bit. So with that in mind Poppy forced a neutral expression her face, turned around, and headed back to living room to sit back down and watch tv. She didn't even look his way as she sat down.

"Really?" She heard from the kitchen.

She replied back, "Yep." And continued staring at the tv, not giving Branch one look.

Poppy heard him walk back into the living room and sit in the recliner next to the couch. She could feel him looking at her, "So that's it? No fighting? No begging? Nothing?" His voice was filled with confusion.

She shook her head, "Nope. You said no, what else can I do?" She still refused to look at him. Poppy had no idea if this approach would work, but she was tired of begging. Either he would do this for her, or he wouldn't. If he didn't she could still do her project, she would just have to ask her friends for help. They already did so much for her she didn't want to ask them for anything else.

Poppy felt the seat beside her on the couch dip with his weight. She could see him out of the corner of her eye but didn't turn to look at him. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Fine, why?" She replied.

"Well you're refusing to look at me. And you're not begging me to help you." She heard the concern in his voice, and it sounded genuine. She was going to have to stop this act sooner or later, might as well be now. Slowly she turned to face him, and he was much closer than she thought, by the time she turned her head they were maybe a foot apart.

"Alright, I'm looking at you. And I'm not going to beg anymore. If you don't want to help me Branch, then fine. I'll just get somebody else." Poppy again was not going to back down from him, she didn't care how mean he could be or how much bigger he was than her, he was not going to scare her.

The two stared at each other, neither wanting to back down. But finally Branch looked away and got up from his seat on the couch and headed in the direction of his bedroom. Poppy wasn't sure what to think of that, maybe she'd upset him. She didn't think she had, her behavior had been a little childish but it wasn't anything to get upset about. Before had more time to think about it, Branch returned holding what looked like her cell phone in his hand.

He held it out to her and said, "Can you tell me what this is all about?"

Poppy took the phone from him and nearly dropped her phone as she read the message, 'I know where you are Poppy, I'll see you soon.'

She put her phone on the coffee table a little harder than necessary and looked at Branch. Her face showed her panic and she knew it.

"What does that mean?" Branch asked.

Poppy wasn't too sure what to say, she wasn't ready to tell Branch everything. "Um..it's from my ex. I don't talk to him anymore I swear, he's just trying to mess with me." She knew she didn't sound that convincing, but she was hoping it would satisfy him for now until she could talk about it.

Branch narrowed his eyes at her, "He's messing with you? That's one hell of a creepy message for just messing with you." He was now leaning forward in his chair with his elbows on his knees. "Tell me what this is about Poppy."

Poppy thought about to say for a minute. She couldn't tell Branch, they barely knew each other. Besides only a few others knew what happened, not even her friends knew and she wanted to keep it that way. But she didn't want to lie to Branch. "I can't talk about it Branch, I'm sorry. Maybe one day, but not now." She could feel the tears trying to escape from her eyes, but she took a few calming breaths to keep them in. She heard Branch lean back in his chair and say, "Okay Poppy, but just know I'm here if you need anything."

This shocked her as her head spun quickly to look at Branch, she'd never heard such kindness come from him. She smiled at him and said, "Thank you Branch."

The two sat in silence for a while, except for the tv as background noise. Poppy knew they needed to talk about last night and wasn't quite sure how to bring it up. She was so embarrassed over everything from the drinking, to the random guy on the dance floor, to the attempted kiss. If she remembered he'd handled it well and didn't freak out too badly. She stared at the floor as her thoughts whirled in her mind, but his voice finally broke through as she felt Branch sit beside her.

"Poppy, I uh.. think we need to talk about last night." He said to her.

Her head popped up quickly as her gaze met his and she swallowed audibly. "Okay." She replied nervously.

He gave her a light smile and stood up, offering his hand to her, "Come on."

She hesitantly took his hand and stood up, wondering what he was doing. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Oh, you'll probably need to change clothes, unless you want to walk around in a dress and heels?" He gestured to her clothes.

Poppy looked down, forgetting that she was even wearing the dress, "Could you take me by my dorm so I can get some new clothes?"

Branch nodded and waited for her by the door as she gathered her phone and heels. Then the two headed out the door and into Branch's car. Poppy directed him on how to get to her dorm and it didn't take them long to get there. Branch parked in front of her building and put his car in park. "I'll be back in just a few minutes." She said to him as she exited the car and headed into the dorm.

Once in her room she closed her door and leaned her back against it taking a deep breath and sighing. Slowly she walked over towards her closet and found a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Poppy changed quickly, glad to be back in normal clothes again. The dress the twins made her was beautiful, but she preferred her jeans. She then looked in the mirror to do her hair and saw the headband, she'd almost completely forgotten about it. She made a move to take it off, but she decided to keep it instead. It was really cute, and it just seemed to fit her. Poppy did take it out long enough to put her hair back up in a ponytail, and put it back in once she was done, keeping her side swept bangs in front of it. Stepping back from the mirror, she examined herself. She did not look as pretty as last night, but she felt like she looked more like herself now. No makeup, hair up, and normal clothes. Deciding it was good enough she grabbed her jacket and headed out the door.

Branch was still waiting for her in his car when Poppy walked out of the building. She walked briskly to his car and got in. He began driving as she put on her seatbelt then realized she had no idea where they were going.

She looked at Branch and asked, "Where are we going?"

Branch gave her a sideways glance, "You'll see."

Poppy wasn't sure what to make of that but would go along with it. She didn't think he would take her anywhere questionable since he seemed to worry about her safety. Then she remembered back to the party the night before. Branch had defended her at the party and saved her from the guy with grabby hands. She had never been so happy to see him, but she had never seen him look so dangerous either.

Lost in her own thoughts Poppy hadn't realized the car had stopped and Branch was looking at her, "You okay?" His voice made her turn and get back into reality.

"Oh yeah, fine, I was just lost in my thoughts." Poppy blushed. Then she looked around, it looked like they were at a park. There was a big playground for kids to her left and in front of them was a sidewalk that seemed to be a walking/biking trail. She'd seen this same sidewalk all over town and even on campus.

"The park?" She looked at Branch questioningly.

Branch nodded and got out of the car. Poppy followed suit and asked, "Why?"

"We can walk and talk here, it's neutral ground." Branch stated matter-of-factly.

Poppy hadn't thought of it like that, but it did make sense. The two then made it to the walking path and began walking. It was beautiful here, and of course with it being a weekend there were lots of people, but no one paid them any mind. The path was open at first but then the trail led into trees on either side, not in a creepy way though. With the fall foliage it was beautiful, there were several hues of green, red, and yellow all around them. Poppy looked around in amazement, she couldn't believe she'd never ventured here. She'd definitely have to come back.

The two walked silently for a while, Poppy wasn't exactly sure what to say. She wanted to apologize for everything that had happened last night, but she couldn't find the right words. Finally, Branch broke the silence, "So, about last night.." It sounded like he wanted to say more, but Poppy interjected.

"I'm so sorry!" She blurted. "You were right, I was so stupid last night. I was extremely irresponsible, I can't believe you had to practically rescue me. I should have been more careful."

She looked at Branch, and amazingly he was giving her a small smile. He was so handsome when he smiled, but those thoughts needed to wait until they'd finished talking.

"It's okay Poppy, but yes you should have been more careful. And if you ever go to another party, I will be there." Branch said.

Poppy was surprised, Branch did really seem to care. "Okay then." She replied.

Then she remembered the kiss, "Oh, and about the kiss thing…I'm really sorry. I just had so many emotions coming up and I don't know what I was thinking."

Branch didn't say anything for a minute as the two continued walking. Poppy wasn't sure if he was going to answer, and it was making her very nervous. She did really want to try to be with Branch, but last night may have pushed him away more. She may just have screwed everything up. Before she let her thoughts go any further she mentally told herself Think positive, think positive, getting worked up like this won't help anything. Poppy took a few deep breaths, calming herself. Thankfully it worked, and she tried to think as positively as she could. Since Branch still hadn't answered her she started humming.

"You didn't do anything wrong Poppy." His voice made her stopping humming. "I just didn't want to take advantage of you while you were drunk, it wouldn't have been right, even if it just would've been a kiss."

That was not the answer she was expecting, she just figured he didn't want to kiss her. "So, if I'd been sober would you have kissed me?" She saw Branch falter a step as they walked, obviously her question had caught him off guard. Again, it took him a while to answer to Poppy started singing very quietly to herself as she looked around at the beautiful leaves.

"I probably wouldn't have stopped you." Branch finally replied.

Poppy stopped her singing and looked up at him, her eyes found his as they looked at each other. "Really?" She questioned.

"Poppy, it was hard enough for me to stop you last night. It's not that I don't want to kiss you, I just don't want to end up accidentally hurting you." Wow, Branch was being really honest.

"Um, wow Branch. So, you actually do want to kiss me?" Poppy decided to ignore the last half of his statement and focus on the positive.

"Yes, okay, happy now?" Branch replied, finally admitting it to her.

"Yes!" Poppy squealed excitedly, she drew attention from a few others passing them, but she didn't care. But now she didn't know what that meant for them. "So, what now?" She asked.

Branch rubbed his neck with his hand, showing his nervousness, "Well actually, I was thinking about asking you out the other day before our um..disagreement. I was going to see if you'd want to do something this weekend."

"Really? Well I'm free the rest of the weekend." Poppy stated, trying to hide her excitement.

Branch stopped walking and turned to face Poppy. He grabbed one of her hands and placed a hand on either side of it, "I'm really sorry for being an ass all this time. I didn't realize you felt the way you do, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. If we're going to do this," he gestured between the two of them, "I have to apologize and make sure we're on the same page. Can you forgive me?"

Poppy gave him a huge smile and said, "Of course I forgive you!" Then she preceded to throw her arms around him, engrossing him in a hug. Hesitantly Branch hugged her back. His arms felt so nice and warm around her.

After a minute they began pulling away from each other, but not completely. Poppy looked up into Branch's blue eyes, for the first time he looked truly happy. He moved one hand up to her cheek and before she knew it he was leaning down to kiss her. She leaned up so her lips could meet his. Immediately she felt sparks, she had never experienced it before. Sure, she'd been kissed but this was totally new. It felt…right, like it was meant to be. It was a slow, tender kiss that didn't last long. Branch pulled away first, and as soon as Poppy opened her eyes she realized why. She'd actually forgotten they were in public, where there were other people. No one was paying them any attention, but she was sure it made Branch uncomfortable.

"Wow." Was all she could say as her eyes met his.

"Yeah." He said in reply.

Before she allowed herself to hesitate Poppy asked, "So, will you help me with my music project?"

Branch threw his head back and sighed loudly before meeting Poppy's pleading gaze, "Fine, but I'm not singing."

"Yay!" Poppy yelled in excitement before taking off walking again. She was ecstatic that Branch had agreed to help her. And all she had to do was kiss him, that was easy enough.

A few minutes of silence passed between the two before Poppy spoke up again. "So, what were you thinking for a date?"

Branch quickly caught up with her and shrugged, "I haven't thought too much about it, but I'm sure I can come up with something."

"Ohhh a surprise, sounds fun." Poppy said, knowing Branch could probably find something they could both do for fun.

The two then walked in silence for a while, Poppy was lost in her own thoughts. She had never heard Branch talk so much and figured he needed a break. But that was fine with her as it gave her time to think about that kiss. She hadn't expected him to kiss her, especially after last night, but she was so glad he did. His lips had been warm and firm against hers. It felt like it should have been her first kiss, rather than that scumbag. Of course now she wasn't sure what they were, were they boyfriend and girlfriend? Just dating? For now she would just say dating, she didn't want to be presumptuous about the relationship unless Branch said otherwise.

Poppy looked up to find that Branch wasn't beside her anymore. She looked behind her to find him sitting on the hood of his car watching her from about 20 feet away. She'd been so out of it that she hadn't realized they'd circled around and made it back to the parking lot. Quickly, she made her way over to Branch, "Why didn't you stop me?"

Branch looked amused, "I wanted to see how long it would take you, I wouldn't have let you get too far. Now come on." Branch got up off his car and got in.

Poppy got in the passenger seat of the car, "Where are we going now?"

"I'm taking you home." Branch replied.

"What? Why? I thought…" Poppy didn't finish her sentence, they were having a good time, why did he need to take her home?

"I've had a great day Poppy, but I do have to come up with plans for tomorrow, remember? You still want to go on a date, right?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed excitedly.

She saw Branch smile as he began driving back to her dorm. It didn't take long to get back and before she knew it they were parked in front of her dorm. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Poppy asked before she exited the car.

"Yeah, I'll call you with a time." Branch replied.

Poppy hesitated before getting out, then had one last idea. She suddenly through herself at Branch, her lips making contact with his. It obviously shocked him, as it took a second for him to kiss her back. This kiss was a bit more passionate, as they weren't out in public like they had been before. She wanted to run her fingers through his hair but thought better of it. Poppy reluctantly pulled back, not wanting things too get too far. She didn't know what Branch could handle and she wasn't sure how ready she was for anything.

She gave him a huge grin and got out of the car. Poppy waved and yelled, "Bye!" as she scampered off into her dorm.

Poppy threw herself onto her bed on her back after she entered her room. She didn't think she could be any happier than in this moment. They'd finally kissed! It had only taken months and a few spats, but it was finally happening. They may not be officially together, but he was giving this a chance. After a few minutes in her euphoria she remembered she need to check her phone. She'd missed a call from her dad and a few texts from Guy, Suki, and Chenille. She replied to all her texts and called her dad back. With it being a Saturday there weren't any meetings to interrupt them and she got to talk to her father for nearly an hour before she didn't have much left to say.

Poppy was still in a great mood after she hung up, but then she remembered the text she had gotten. Her good mood dissipated, and internally she began to panic. If he knows where she is, she's in trouble. She thought she had done just about everything to make sure he didn't find her, or even if he did he was supposed to leave her alone. Trying not to completely freak out, Poppy took a few deep, calming breaths and was able to relax a little. Getting upset over this wouldn't solve anything. For now she would ignore it, just like she had the last one.

Before going to bed that night, Poppy checked her door and windows to make sure they were all locked. She even slept with her tv on, so she wouldn't have sleep in the dark. It took her a while to get to sleep, but finally she was able to get the text out of her head by thinking of Branch.


A/N: Finally a kiss!