Once upon a time...
I had a best friend who was a guy, who knew a guy, who thought I was cute. I was used to this. Being a princess, a lot of guys will be interested in dating me just because of the title. So I didn't think anything of it. Finally after my friend's persistance reached an all time high, I had him show me who this mystery man was. My friend showed me the man, August, and after seeing him, I agreed to give him a chance.
He had short dark brown hair. I didn't usually like facial hair, but he sported a goatee which looked so good on him. He was tall and stalky and had these piercing green eyes. I'd never seen such beautiful eyes in my life.
My friend introduced me to August and we planned a day to go out. He wanted to take me to a show and I agreed. The date was almost unbearable. Thank goodness for not having to talk during shows. August was so shy and it was so hard to get him to speak conversationally. He was extremely nice and very much like a gentleman, but it was awkward. When he took me home to the castle, I bid him goodnight (pretty much goodbye) and went inside not planning on seeing the gentleman again.
August had other plans so he pursued me. I finally ran out of excuses why we couldn't go out, and gave him a second chance for a date. This time I wanted to be on my territory so I had plenty of means to escape if it was awkward. I invited him over to the castle to just play games. He was still shy as ever and I quickly learned he was really rough. So rough, that on accident while playing badmitton inside, he put a hole in the castle wall. Rather than being upset, I thought it was really funny. I decided anyone who awkwardly and accidently puts holes in walls belonging to royalty was someone I wanted to get to know.
I learned that he was a jousting champion, hated reading, slacked off in his years of schooling, was a sports junkie, and loved his friends. He had no real ambition except to make money some day through jousting.
After the third date, August helped me climb out of the carriage and we began to walk towards the castle. He stopped me, turned me around and pulled me close. The moon was bright, the stars were out, the moment was super cute, and the butterflies in my stomach started. He leaned in to kiss me. We were so close that our noses were touching, and that's when I decided I was not ready to kiss him. I pulled back, wished him goodnight, and practically sprinted to the castle doors.
When I made it inside, I leaned against the wall and could not believe I literally just ran away from a first kiss. I'm a princess. I'm supposed to hold myself together, not sprint away from fairytale moments. I sighed and thought that was the last I'd see of August the jousting champion.
Except it wasn't. And I saw him often after that. We finally did kiss, unfortunately the moment wasn't as cute as it would have been if I had kissed him the first time he tried, but it was a good kiss nonetheless. He began to open up to me a bit more. Our conversations were still pretty shallow, but at least he wasn't silent practically the entire time. Occasionally he'd even sing me songs.
My family wasn't sure what to think of him, but August's friends knew what they thought of me. I was on my way to watch one of August's matches, when I overheard some of his friends talking. They clearly had not seen me there, or they wouldn't have been having the conversation. They were plotting ways to "get rid of" me. Ways to get me out of August's life. I hadn't realized how tight August was with his friends. I knew now based on how upset they were that the time he usually spent with them, was now being spent with me. Attending the match no longer seemed like a good idea so I returned to the carriage and had the coachman drive me back to the castle.
I never had a problem with the friends of the guys I dated. I didn't understand. I was a princess, how could they not approve? After my multiple heartbreaks I was discouraged as far as finding my prince goes. I was the first princess in any fairytale story I'd ever heard who hadn't found her prince charming on the first try. My mom tried to make me feel better and told me, "Brailee, sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs in order to find your prince." I decided August was just one of those frogs, who had toads as friends.
Just move on, I told myself and after some days, August became the last thing on my mind. And that's when he showed up at my castle. "August, what are you doing here?" I asked when I saw him at the door. "Brailee, I thought you were going to be at my match, but you never showed and then I haven't heard from you. Did I do something wrong?" he asked. "I did go to your match, and I heard your friends plotting horrible ways to get rid of me so I think it's better if we don't date," I said. He looked hurt and shocked. "They wouldn't say that. They have never told me they had a problem with me dating you," he reponded. "You don't have to believe me, but I overheard them August. Ask them yourself," I said annoyed. "Maybe you should try to talk to them more. You are really shy, they probably just feel that you hate them. Or maybe you should wear less poofy dresses. They're a little intimidating and make you unapproachable," he said, turning me into the problem. "Excuse me?" I said taken aback. "My dresses make people plot to get rid of me?! And quite frankly, I would try to talk to them, but it's always awkward, and now I know why!"
I began to shut the door. I was furious. It was not my fault and August was blaming me. He put his hand out and stopped the door. "Brailee I'm sorry. I will talk to them if it'll make you happy," he said. I was not satisfied, but I felt the conversation needed no further discussion. August did talk to his friends, however I stayed as far away from his friends as possible, despite their apologies. Mine and August's dating life began to changed. It seemed like he began to have two separate lives and it started to upset me. He'd go out with his friends and they'd hang out with other girls. If I went out though, he'd be upset and suspect me of cheating. He refused to go to balls or banquets with me, but would attend parties with his friends. He never thought he did anything wrong and was never willing to work through the issues I had with our relationship.
If I could choose my favorite day of the year, it would be my birthday. I didn't like to have big celebrations, but enjoyed the attention of it being my day of birth. I also loved that it was the only day I felt entitled to be selfish. I woke up to breakfast in bed on my big day that year. The birds were chirping and the gifts were piled on my dresser. I knew it would be a great day.
I met up with August after I attended a few meetings. He told me he had a jousting match in another land and invited me to go. I thought about it, and decided I didn't mind as long as we did something after. He agreed and kissed me on the forehead and walked away to prepare for his match. I was purplexed, he didn't even bother to wish me a happy birthday.
I did attend his match. He won of course, and had a line of fans to greet him after the game. I watched as he hugged girl after girl and greeted person after person. He had long conversations with some older men and then finally remembered I was there. I was a little bit irritated to have been pushed aside, especially on my big day. He reached me, gave me a big hug, and began bragging about his performance. I just smiled and agreed that he did great. When he finally finished, I asked him what our plans were. He seemed confused.
"It's my birthday, remember?" I said. "Of course princess! I knew that, I just assumed you already knew what our plans were," he lied. "I need to bathe before and pick up your gift at my cottage and then we can do whatever you want." I just said ok and we headed back to our land far far away. I dropped him off at his cottage and headed to my castle.
The king and queen gave me a big hug when I got home and asked how the match went. I told them and they were very disappointed in how I was treated. Then they asked what the plans were. I told them I didn't have any and began to cry. My father went to the kitchen and had the cooks start preparing a feast.
It only took a couple hours...only...before August finally arrived. He gave me a hug and told me I looked beautiful. We ate dinner and cuddled the rest of the evening, while he continued to brag about his jousting performance. He may be coming off like a complete jerk, but he's not. He did get me a present! It was a silver necklace with a heart on it. I sure loved it. But it didn't make up for the fact that my boyfriend, my possible prince charming, made me feel that the most important day of the year was irrelevant.
The next year of dating became very revolved around August's success in jousting. Our conversations were never deep. Our moments were never romantic. He rarely took me out without me providing the carriage, or the tickets, or the meal. We had our good moments, but it soon seemed there was more bad than good in our relationship.
The land far far away announced the date for the biggest ball of the year. It was the night that commoners felt like princesses and everyone danced the night away as if there wasn't a care in the world. The ball was unforgettable and magical. I had to attend and begged August to take me. He refused to, because he needed to practice for his jousting match. PRACTICE. I pleaded and pleaded with him saying he only took me to one ball and I didn't want to go to the biggest one alone. He didn't budge. I knew what I had to do.
Later that week, I called upon August. "Hey Princess!" he said when he saw me and gave me a big hug, the kind I hated because they were too rough and made me feel like I couldn't breathe. "You look so gorgeous!" he continued, scooping me up and spinning me around. "August we need to talk," I said seriously. He put me down, puzzled. "You are an amazing guy and we have a lot of good times, however jousting is the most important thing to you. I never come first. I don't need to always come first, but I sometimes do. Being second in line is not how my fairytale is supposed to end," I said. He looked at the floor. My heart sunk into my stomach. "August I'm sorry. I just can't do this anymore. This isn't what I want. Good luck in your future jousting matches, I'm sure you'll do great," I finished. I turned and ran to my carriage before I could change my mind.
I looked out the window as I drove away, watching August slowly fade from sight.
And we lived happily never after.
