[ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ♪ 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐘 ]

pre-show jitters | 2

8:56-AM

          Poppy filled a bag with a few necessities for the road while Barb rotted away tiredly on the couch.

"It's soo early..." Barb moaned smashing her face into a pillow. Her hair ruffled up against the cushions.

"It's good that you're waking up early." Poppy said cheerfully.

Barb rolled her eyes. "Where's Branch?" she lifted her head and glanced out the large window beside the door.

"He should be—" the two were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Here!" She smiled and opens the door. There stood Branch looking crazy. There were foils covering the tips of his hair, gel patches under his eyes, and he was wearing a silk blue robe with the Brozone logo embroidered on the front and slippers.

"I brought coffee!" he exclaimed, holding up a cup holder with large cups of hot coffee.
Barb sprang up from the couch and grabbed her cup, immediately slurping it down.

"Are you ready to head out or...?" Poppy eyed his appearance questionably and wagged her finger.

He stood confused for a moment before the realization hit. "Oh this? I'm uh... frosting my tips again." he mumbled sheepishly and they began down the steps to the van.

"NO WAY!" Poppy screamed in excitement. "God I've been waiting for this day to come!" She exhaled happily.

-

The drive was long, yet peaceful. Of course it wouldn't be a car ride without Poppy blasting the radio and Barb being a whiny backseat driver.
Barb laid on all three seats in the backseat, shoes off and not a safety belt in sight.

"Can you PLEASE roll the windows up, I'm freezing back here!" Barb whined annoyingly, hugging her arms together.

Branch continued to sing louder the second she began to speak. He dug into the floor of passenger side and found a dusty plaid blanket and threw it into the backseat.
Barb sneezed and sniffled at the dust bunnies eating her alive.

"WHAT THE HECK MAN YOU KNOW I GET ALLERGY FLARE UPS!" she growled and kicked the driver's seat with her bare foot.

"LET'S GO DOWN TO THE TENNIS COURT AND TALK IT UP LIKE YEAH-" He sang loudly with an unnecessary whistle note flare in the end just to make her angry.

A few moments passed and they pulled into the driveway of a large concert arena. They passed security quickly with passes and headed to their designated parking space.
"up up up!" Poppy beamed and basically flew out of her seat. Branch couldn't help but smile.

They slowly but surely made it out of the parking lot with a short stretching session outside the van.
They headed backstage and met the rest of the band, and to their surprise found Viva sat with them as well, a clipboard with a large stack of papers on it.

"VIVA!"

The older girl's eyes shot up and a huge smile curled onto her lips. She flew from her seat and rushed over to her equally happy sister.

"POPPY!"

The pair squealed and jumped into each other's arms. Branch briefly hugged his brothers and made small talk.

"Sorry if we're late, the drive was long..." Branch laughed. Their stylists immediately rushed to the band member's sides and shooed them into the fitting rooms to get hair, makeup and costumes ready.

"What are you doing here, Viva? I had no idea!" Poppy grinned widely.

"Clay asked me if I would be their stage manager which of course I said yes to! Anyways I've been here for a while just making sure everything is all ready for tonight."

"That's so cool!" Poppy bounced on her heels. She glanced to her left to see Barb standing alone awkwardly. "Barb!" she waved her over.
"This is my friend Queen Barb, Barb this is Princess Viva, my sister!"

-

Watching them perform "Better Place" at least 7 times had Barb and Viva plugging their ears from the screening room, yet Poppy absolutely insisted on staying down in the pit to watch it happen live.

"BRANCH! OH MY GOD! BITTY B I LOVE YOU!" Poppy yelled while waving her hands and bouncing up wildlym

The band was holding back their smiles in an effort to not mess up the performance again. There was Branch, dancing his heart out with frosted tips on his blue black hair. his brown skin was basically glowing from the sweat and excessive makeup he was wearing, Poppy's eyes were practically hearts.

"Okay! let's all take 20 on this one and we'll start up again on "Perfect", good job Bro-Zonies! Clay loosen up on the spins please." Viva clapped and shouted for everyone to hear over their earpieces and made her way down to the stage with Barb.

"Heard!" everyone agreed and began to disperse from the stage.

Poppy jumped up onto the stage where Branch was sat, winded from all the dancing.
"What'd you think?" Branch said in a tired sing-song tone as he draped a sweaty arm over his girlfriend's shoulders.

Her face flushed red. "Mmm, i think you did very very well." Poppy kissed his cheek lightly. "Nice hair." she smirked and ran her fingers through the bleached bits, twirling them around into small swirls.

"Thanks." he mumbled quietly as their faces got close.
"Are you ready for my show tonight?"

"Pit seats?"

"Nothing less for my girl." he held back a smile in order to sound smooth. "Are you bringing your friend?" he looked around for Barb who slowly emerged from backstage, being dragged in by Viva who was more than happy to talk to the boys.

"She'll come..." Poppy spoke dismissively. "Hey, i'm starving, wanna order food?" she sat up facing him.

8:27-PM

Chaos as always ensued backstage. The opener, a girl group was on their 2/3rd song of their set and the time was ticking.

"Two minutes till stage!" Viva shouted through her earpiece, though the whole band was in the same room.

"Heard." they spoke in annoyed unison.

"Floyd?" Branch began. "Can I level with you?"

Floyd ruffled his bright pink hair in the mirror, fixing it to his liking. "Sure," he spun in his chair. "Lay it on me."

"Well it's just... I overheard Poppy talking with her friend the other day and... Well, Poppy's bored of me."

This took his brother by surprise. He lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "Bored of you?"

"One minute to stage, boys!"

"She said she wants more. Like, more excitement? More surprise? But I don't even know what that means." he mumbled.

Branch stared at himself through a full length mirror. Big navy jeans with a short sleeved white collared shirt and a blue striped tie, finished off with a pair of black dress shoes. It's very 2000's yet he felt ridiculous.
He fluffed his dark hair waiting for a response.

"Call her up on stage." His brother said bluntly. Branch shot a puzzled look at his brother. "Yeah! she's in the pit, right? So call her up to dance with us and then, I don't know, kiss her. It just sounds like she wants a little adventure, that should do the trick."

Branch stared at himself harder.

"We're on now! get out there guys!"

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