Once upon a time...
"I know you from somewhere," he said. "Yeah we used to go to school together," I said. He smiled, "That and you are the princess. I'm an idiot." I laughed. "I'm Brailee." He shook my hand. "I'm Terrence. So were we friends in school?" I shook my head. "Not really. We have mutual friends so that's how I know who you are." He nodded in understanding, then shot me a smile. "I think we should be friends. Want to go out some time?" Smooth, I thought to myself. "Why not!?" I said in agreement.
Terrence planned a date consisting of dinner, croquet, and skating. Dinner was awkward. We had been able to carry a conversation before, but it wasn't flowing like it usually did. I became nervous for the croquet part, especially since I was so bad at it. He realized quickly that I wasn't joking about being terrible at croquet. He did something that a guy never had done before. Rather than being competitive with me, he began to do things to help make me feel better. "Kick it with your foot!" he'd say. If I hit the ball and it was way off, he made sure to be standing there to lead it in the right direction.
After croquet we went to skate. Terrence helped me on to the ice and I stumbled a bit. He tightened his grip on my hands. We began to skate. I fell multiple times, as did he. Mine was due to clumsiness, his was due to trying to ice dance. By the end of the night, I had laughed so hard that I was pretty sure I had incredible stomach muscles.
Later that week, Terrence called on me again. I was thrilled of course. We decided to go on a walk. We walked down the sdirt pathway and were coming up to a bridge. As we were crossing, he stopped me. "Stand here," he ordered. I stood confused. He ran backwards a few feet. "What are you doing!?" I cried. "Just wait!" He paused, put his head down, then began to raise it and serenaded me one of the songs from the musical I had been in. There on the bridge, we acted out the scene as dramatically as we could. We laughed hysterically after and then continued on the path across the bridge. He skillfully grabbed hold of my hand as we walked.
The sun had gone down and it was dark. We stopped at the edge of the river and took a seat, resting our feet on some rocks. We began to talk about life and everything we could think of. While he was talking, I looked at him, taking in his good looks. He had perfect brown hair, with just a patch of grey behind his right ear. His skin was soft tan. His eyes were big and a medium shade of brown. When he smiled, it made you want to smile. He had a beautiful big smile that alone could melt the wicked witch of the west.
He caught me looking at him and pulled me closer to him. Raising his hand, he tucked some hair behind my ear and left his hand holding the back of my head. He then rested his forehead on mine. He pulled back slightly, our eyes meeting. Hesitantly he leaned in and kissed me.
If the scenery wasn't romantic enough, the kiss would have been enough on it's own.
When he pulled back he began to laugh. "Was I that bad at kissing?" I asked somewhat hurt. He shook his head and looked at his foot, raising it up so I could see. He'd taken off his shoes to make sure he didn't accidently get them wet, but unfortunately our kiss had distracted him and his foot had slipped off the rock into the water and his sock and the bottom of his pants were soaking wet. "I'd say quite the opposite!" he said still chuckling, removing the sock.
The spot became our favorite one after that. We'd go there often. Once when we were there we saw two ducks in the water. "It's too cold for them to be here. I wonder why they're out here?" He said, thinking out loud. "Well," I began. "That one is sick. All the other ducks left to head south, but that duck was in love with her and stayed to take care of her." He looked at me. "Oh really? What are their names?" I raised my hand and pointed at the "sick" duck. "That one is Gladys," then I pointed to the other. "And that one is Florence." Terrence began to laugh. "Wow I'm impressed! You didn't even miss a beat. How'd you come up with that!?" I smiled and shrugged. Then I flirtatiously looked at him and said, "It's part of my charm." He grabbed my hands and helped me to my feet. "I'll say it is!" he said laughing.
I was standing on a rock and despite his tall frame, I stood a little bit taller than him. "Wanna know what this reminds me of?" I said whispering. "What?" He asked. I turned around so he was behind me, his hands still on my waist. I then held my hands straight out. "I'm flying Jack! I'm flying!" I said quoting one of my favorite fairy tale love stories. He began to laugh. "You know how that scene ends right?" I grinned and turned my head and our lips met.
When we finished our kiss, we traded spots. I was now positioned behind him and he held his hands out, quoting the story. Then we kissed and began laughing like children.
I liked Terrence. He was charming, silly, an amazing kisser. It was when he sang for me that I knew I was done for. We were in my carriage and he was bidding me a good night. He asked if I'd heard a particular song. I shook my head no. He began to sing it for me. His voice was low, unique, strong, smooth, skilled. I was blown away. He cuddled up close to me and rested his forehead on mine, still singing it. After that it was "our" song. And after that I knew Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel's men didn't stand a chance against my prince charming.
Months passed, and we continued to go out. I began to attend banquets with him and visited his cottage and met his family. They were lovely. As lovely as he was.
When I was at his cottage one day, we went on a walk to a big open field of grass. We decided to play croquet on the field, but didn't have the right equipment. We began to play with a stick and a ball of yarn. It was close to ridiculous, but I laughed the entire time. After we grew tired of the yarn and stick game we evented, we climbed a tree and sat chatting about life.
In the distance I saw a man, dressed in torn clothes, carrying a bag, walking on to the field and I began to feel frightened. Terrence could tell. "He's probably homeless," Terrence said to me. "I'm kind of scared," I replied. "We can go if you'd like. I'll protect you." I nodded and he climbed down the tree, me following closely behind. He helped me down and we ran as fast as we could to the carriage. Once, safely inside we began to laugh. "Brailee he was not even close to frightening. He probably wouldn't have said anything to us," Terrence said. I smiled at him and felt badly for assuming the worst, but also feeling safe being there with Terrence.
A few weeks later, Terrence was leaving to a far away land for work. I was so disappointed, but we promised to still go out once a week. He followed through with his promise for the first month, but slowly began to bail on dates or just not show up for them. Our dates became superficial. Rather than becoming closer, our conversations became more shallow, and we grew apart. I was getting frustrated. It seemed like he didn't want to get to know me. I was just being dragged along for a night when he didn't have things to do. I found out girls would go visit him at his work and that's when I decided I was officially done. Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel were definitely not going to be impressed by my prince charming.
I refused to write him back when I received letters saying how he missed me. After time, when I thought I was over him, he asked me to go out and I agreed. We went to our usual spot at the river. When we were there we fed some of the bread from the castle to the ducks. Then Terrence took my hands and pulled me close to him. He began to sing me "our" song and we danced in the starlight, the slight sound of the river running in the background. Then he kissed me. Our first kiss in months. "Brailee, I keep thinking about you," he said. "I'm sorry I kind of fell of the face of the earth for a while." I didn't respond. He kissed me again. "There's something different about you. I don't want to say goodbye to you tonight, or ever." I just smiled and kissed him.
History repeats itself, even in fairytales. And as before communication failed yet again. Terrence stopped talking to me, and I began to date other people. But like before, we caught up again after months and decided to go out.
We went to a gazebo located in the gardens on the castle grounds. It was one of my favorite places to go. It was lit all around with candles and had a mistletoe hanging from the middle of it. In the gazebo, you could stand on opposite sides and whisper to each other and hear what the other was saying as if they were right next to you.
We stood on opposite ends and began whispering to each other in foreign accents. We then walked towards each other until we met in the middle. I looked up at the mistletoe. He did too. "I've never kissed someone under a mistletoe before," he said. I smiled knowing what that meant. Then, as I predicted he would, he kissed me. I had secretly wanted him to, but didn't really think he was going to.
Afterwards, we returned to my castle and cuddled by the fireplace, until the time came when he had to bid me goodnight. I walked with him outside. When we reached his wagon, he told me he'd see me soon, and then we said goodbye. I was in a good mood after, the kind I'm always in when I spend time with him.
My mother advised me to just look at him like a friend and not try to be more. I thought that'd be best. I didn't need a relationship with Terrence. A friendship was acceptable. And maybe a few kisses here and there. After another month passed of unreturned letters and silence, however I gave up. Friendship or not, I couldn't handle it anymore.
Everytime I give up, the guy decides to show up. And Terrence was no different. A servant entered my chambers saying Terrence was there. I went downstairs to see him standing in the door. He asked if we could talk. I agreed and followed him out into the gardens.
"Brailee, I owe you an apology," he said. Yeah you do, I thought, but said instead, "For what?" He looked at me. "For dropping off the map after we went out. It was wrong. I should have communicated instead of being distant." I snorted a little. "It's fine. I got the point pretty fast. It's all good." He looked at me apologetically. "But I could have done it in a more mature way. Thanks for not being mad. I still want to be friends." Anger was burning inside of me. I was mad, I was just not showing it. And I most definitely did not want to be friends anymore. "That's how you treated me when we were friends Terrence, so consider yourself forgiven, but I definitely don't consider you a friend." With that, I turned and headed back to the castle.
"Brailee," he called, stopping me in my tracks. "Being exclusive with you was always on my mind, but I couldn't make up my mind. I understand there's no excuse for my actions, but I hope one day you'll consider me a friend again. What do I need to do in order to accomplish that?" I was going to explode. I turned and faced him.
"I never pressured you to make up your mind. Our whole friendship has been up and down," I said as calmly as I could. Then I forced a smile. "You have plenty of friends Terrence so just don't worry about it." I could see him losing his cool. "You were sending more than friends vibes. That's not fair to say you didn't want that. I am sorry that I wasn't more straightforward. I really still want to be considered a friend."
I lost it. I hated when people assumed I felt or wanted things. If I say it, I will own up to it. If I don't, don't assume. "I don't know what 'vibes' you got," I said angrily. "But guys who want to be exclusive with me actually learn things about me. You never did. You kept everything superficial."
"I'm trying to be genuine here. Don't try and say I never tried to get to know you," he responded. I glared at him. "All I'm saying is you got the wrong vibes. I know you and so I had no expectation," I retorted. With that I turned, ending the conversation. "Have a good day Terrence!" I shouted back. "You too, Brailee," he said irritated.
And we lived happily never after.
