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Some would think that, having spent five days on the road in a freezing blizzard, our team would have gotten used to the cold. That statement couldn’t be further from the truth though, and all of them could agree on one thing: the shorter the trip could be made, the better.
That is what got them all in the van at (what they could only guess) around nine or ten, in hopes to get to Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the morning.
It was Daring’s turn to drive after Briar had taken the lead on the previous occasion. He regretted giving her the chance to ride then with a passion. Still, he got into the car with Blondie by his side and stiff fingers that couldn’t even grab the steering wheel. He did know that luck definitely wasn’t by their side, but the chances of the car not starting… to be fair, those weren’t that low. A couple of tries later, some of the girls were already exasperated and Blondie felt like it was the perfect occasion to film Daring and upload it into her blog.
“Freezing news Ever After!” She said, emphasizing the ees. “Our trip has a huge setback! The van won’t start! Daring, something to add?”
Daring gave her the biggest side eye he could muster and said that, no, he definitely did not want to share anything with his so-called fans. (He was still bitter about the Apple-not-waking-up fiasco).
“Seems like the freezing cold got to this charming prince, doesn't it?” Blondie then gave her audience some big and worried blue eyes. “What will we do now? For more updates, stay connected! Bye!” She stopped filming the scene and went back to shivering.
“Blondie, did you think it was a good idea to film that? Let me remind you, that is our only way of getting anywhere. Not even my magic is working.” Faybelle told the reporter. At this point of the trip, everyone was getting a bit tired of everyone in the group and they tried to get as much alone time as they could.
“People are worried at Ever After too, Faybelle!”
“Oh, I am sure they feel very much relieved now, thank you!”
Briar stopped the conversation from escalating, all of them had been there before and knew that those two would probably never get along.
“Your bickering won’t solve anything girls.” She yawned. “The only solution is to spend the night in Cindrella’s castle. We are too tired to think of anything in this freezing cold.” When she said that, she left the car followed by Ashlynn and the rest of the group.
They started to make their way into the castle again, exhausted from the day’s events, when Ashlynn spoke:
“Before we go to sleep, I must tell you that only three rooms have a chimney in the castle. We are not that used to the cold here and sleeping in a room without any source of heat will probably make any of us sick. Let’s make groups of two, okay?”
“Ashlynn, there are seven of us, remember? Also, I am NOT sharing a room with anyone in here” The fairy sure knew how to get into everyone’s nerves. Luckily, they were getting into the castle so at least the wind was not hitting their faces mercilessly.
“If you want to freeze to death that’s on you Fay. You could share a room with me, I sleep soundly” Briar told her. Out of the remaining six of them, she was the one that could put up with her persona.
“Whatever, you won’t let me do otherwise” Faybelle didn’t look that upset by the outcome. They remained silent until Crystal spoke.
“Guys, Faybelle is right, we are now five.” She looked at Daring. “You wouldn’t mind sleeping alone? I mean, surely you must have been trained for this kind of weather before, right?”
Before he could say anything, Rosabella defeated Crystal’s argument with ease.
“Living in the cold for your whole life also gets you prepared for these situations. Wouldn’t you be a better fit? Daring will get sick if he sleeps alone and without heat.”
He couldn’t have said it better. Even if he couldn’t feel some parts of his body, some warmth grew into him from feeling appreciated by Rosabella. By anyone, really, not that it being the brunette was better. Definitely not. Although, her words didn’t hide the elephant in the room: all of them were girls, and Daring was a boy so naturally none of them wanted to share with him. He addressed the situation in the way he knew best: self-sacrifice.
“Thank you, Rosabella, but it wouldn’t be too charming of me to sleep beside one of you girls tonight. I’ll take a single room and you can make pairs” He looked at the brown eyed girl with a tired smile on his face. Her face was contorted, and somehow she managed to still be beautiful. Pretty. Like any other princess, really.
Ashlynn broke the silence. “Okay Daring, thank you for your kind gesture. I’ll sleep with Crys-” She did not have the chance to end the sentence when Rosabella grabbed Daring’s hand.
“I’ll sleep with him. He has been driving for us selflessly, and this is the way you treat him? This surely is no princess-like behavior.” Yep, none of them were talking to each other after the trip.
The tips of his fingers started to feel less numb thanks to her shaky hands. Knowing Rosabella, the cause probably wasn’t the cold, but the anger that grew in her because of the way they treated him.
“You act like sleeping in the same room as him is princess-like.” Blondie replied. She knew Rosabella didn’t want to share a room with her, but that was borderline dirty.
“Wouldn’t you like to know what being a princess is like, Blondie?” Her eyes were sharp, she looked at the curly haired girl with hatred, her beastly side winning over her. Daring knew that she would regret saying that later so he lightly squeezed her hand in his. She looked at him, and her gaze softened. Before Blondie could stand up for herself, Ashlynn spoke to the couple.
“Let me show you where you will stay.” Both of them followed Cinderella’s daughter through elegant, huge, blue halls, covered in paintings and in sweet details such as little flowers and crystal shoes. Ashlynn stopped at a door, and gave Daring a pair of keys with a lighter.
“I am sorry for the way we treated you before, Daring. This is your room, it has two separate beds so you guys don’t need to worry about who sleeps on the floor. Good night.” He smiled at the girl in blue, accepting her apologies. Both wished her a good night as well and went into the room.
They expected a big place, only to find out that it was tinier than any room they had ever seen in a castle. Royal problems, in the end. The room being small meant that the temperature there would be warmer, so the princess had done them two favors already.
Both of them left their backpacks in the entrance, in hopes of blocking the cold from the outside. Rosabella sat in one of the beds while Daring wasted no time in getting on his knees and lighting a fire with the wood available in the room. It wasn’t a lot but it would do for that night. Neither of them spoke to the other, an unsettling silence installing itself into the room.
Daring managed to make some sparks with the already used lighter and a discreet fire made its way through the wood in the chimney. He turned his head to see his new roommate for the night and found her staring at the floor.
“Are you tired?” He asked. Rosabella got out of that trance and her gaze met Darings’.
“Oh, I am.” She gave him a shy smile and stayed quiet for a while. Then the princess explained herself. “I just regret being mean to the girls before, I’m sure that we could have made a deal without me being so aggressive to them. I tend to feel bad about these things after they happen.” Her eyes left his once again and she looked at the floor, in what he supposed was an attempt to hold her tears. He remained quiet as she seemed to want to say something else. Her voice was very quiet when she spoke.
“I get so angry with these things. I hope you didn’t feel embarrassed there. Sorry.”
To Daring, Rosabella had always been a very peculiar princess. The way she spoke had always been elegant, as expected from royalty. But the message she wanted to share was fierce and true, such a passionate girl. Adequate words spoken through a broken throat. That had an effect on him that he was too scared to think about, but she could even convince him of doing good actions towards those in a worse background. They had become closer to each other after those events, one could even say they were very good friends and started trusting each other. Hearing her voice so quiet, almost a murmur, made him want to cry right in the spot, as he felt like he wasn’t supposed to see Rosabella in that state.
“Rosa, I really appreciate what you did for me earlier.” He sat beside her on the bed. “You didn’t embarrass me at all, and I don’t want to see you sad because of me. Look at me” Her brown eyes looked at his blue ones and his frozen hands grabbed her arms softly. “Show me a smile and promise me that you won’t think about this anymore tonight. Please.” She laughed, softly, and even though she obeyed Daring’s instructions her smile came along with two stray tears falling from her eyes.
“Rosabella…” He hugged his friend and she couldn’t help but break into tears, her silent cries silenced by his chest. They remained like that for a couple minutes and the prince asked her what was going through her mind those days.
“I feel like I will never get to be a part of them. I mean, it’s obviously not their fault, they have known each other for a while now and I’m just… there, you know? And I realize that now that we have picked the rose from my castle my presence is not needed. Also it feels like I might be a burden to you and that I am stopping you from talking to the girls, when that is not really my intention but… I don’t even know what I am saying, sorry Daring.” Before she could continue expressing herself the oldest Charming interrupted her.
“Rosa, I believe all of your thoughts are a consequence of your tiredness. It is normal that you spiral into all of this negativeness, but I truly think that none of those opinions will turn out to be true. In no time we will seize those flowers and everything will go back to normal, please don’t let yourself suffer like that.” He felt her nod and he searched for her gaze. When she returned it he mustered all the courage in him to speak his mind.
“By the way, I wouldn’t have wanted to spend time with anyone else more than with you on this trip. I mean it.”
He wanted to express his gratitude towards her for being one of the only friends by his side when everything in his life crumbled to pieces. For opening his eyes and making him understand that looks weren’t all that mattered and that there was a very special version of himself waiting for him beneath that distinctive vanity of his. As she once had said, he might not have been the prince for Apple’s destiny, but he was becoming a real prince at heart. Nonetheless, he decided his statement was suited to his thoughts.
Because there was something about Rosabella that made him want to discover her slowly, enjoying each second by her side. He wanted her to smile at his actions and to laugh at his jokes, he could speak his mind to her freely. He could stop troubling himself with the endless questions about a non-existent future when they went for a walk, which was when she felt like they needed to go for a walk. Daring found himself thinking about her on several occasions and taking the long path just to meet her when she ended her classes and went back to her room. And the list could only grow, yet he was only sure that if they got along it wasn’t because he felt like he owed her a favor.
Rosabella’s cinnamon skin went red around her cheeks, which he noticed and thought that sometimes being daring was really one of his best virtues. Yet, he decided that maybe it was enough emotions for the night, so he freed her from his grasp and he told her that it was best if they tried to get some rest after the long day they had had. To his surprise, the princess softly caressed his cheeks and gave him a soft kiss in one of them.
“Thank you Daring, it means a lot to me.”
It definitely meant a lot to him too. Eventually, they found themselves staring at each other for the second occasion that day (without any unexpected Faybelles around this time). Her features looked mysterious in the dim light that the fire offered, and he thought that maybe, if he got closer, he would be able to take a closer look at those lips that had just touched him. Lips that got closer to his as well. In the intimate, quiet night they shared their first kiss and even though it had been a brief and shy peck neither of them could have asked for anything better.
“Will we talk about this when everything’s back to normal, Daring?”
He nodded his head.
“Promise me.”
And he gave her another kiss, hoping she’d understand that he was as compromised as she was. After that, when the princess yawned he decided that they would regret the lack of sleep the day after. They both said their goodbyes and went to bed.
Daring didn’t wake up that morning thinking that kissing Rosabella Beauty was in his plans, but fate has always been a little too playful with him and even if life didn’t go as expected and if a deathly blizzard swarmed upon them he felt, somehow, lucky. After all, in a world of fairytales where finding true love was tough, they were about to discover that they were, in fact, one of the few exceptions.