Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 108 - Story Hour

Willow

This has been such a strange day so far.

Everybody seems to have come to some kind of agreement to give me space to deal with the results of my night of debauchery and reckless abandonment in my own way, and I appreciate that. I'm feeling less and less awkward by the minute, and the memories are slowly fading into white noise, only coming into sharp focus when I'm suddenly reminded of a specific moment in my quest for taste verifications... or whatever it should be called.

It was fun having Ronja here. Her presence certainly helped a lot in turning the focus away from me in general. I feel like I got to meet an entirely different side of her today. Paisley's theories on people and their layers are proving to be even more accurate than I thought they were.

Today, Ronja wasn't the reserved, quiet, almost sickly girl I met. It was wonderful to hear her laugh and to see her get angry and... well... other things, and now that I'm really thinking it over, most of her more animated, emotional moments occurred when she was dealing with Jake.

I've not known him very long, but I've never seen him act the way he did today. It was rather amusing. I do remember what it was like to kiss him, and I think Ronja is very lucky that he is interested in her. I like Jake very much, and if he becomes romantically involved with Ronja, it might remove the slightly strained atmosphere that's been building between us today, and our friendship will be saved.

I hope Ronja doesn't hate me if she comes to hear about what I did with her beautiful boy last night. I should've told her, but I'm still too embarrassed about it, and I didn't really get the chance anyway.

When the grown-ups went upstairs, Aunt Beth told Ronja to pop in later and say goodbye before Hunter walks her home. It was sweet of her to volunteer Hunter's bodyguarding services. Earlier, I could see that Ronja was rather nervous about walking even the short distance between our houses and seeing Tanner's injuries really unsettled her. She would probably lock herself up in her closet if she knew how he really sustained them.

She hastily declined the offer of having Hunter as her escort, saying that her father would lock her in the attic if he saw her walking around with a boy.

"He locks you in the attic?" Hunter had been horrified at the thought until Ronja gave a soft laugh.

"He must build one first."

"Hear that, Ryan," Aunt Beth had perked up. "An attic might be easier to build than a basement... but I think that escaping from an attic might be easier too... so... a dungeon will probably still be best."

Everybody was gaping at her, having no idea what to make of her strange words, until Uncle Ryan gave a nervous little laugh, tousled her hair and kissed her head. "Yeah, yeah, Elizabeth Bathory, let's get you upstairs. You're scaring the kids... and me..."

And off they went to go enjoy each other's company in a more civilised way. Well, I imagined that they would be spending the afternoon in a more civilised manner than the hooligans downstairs. That illusion was shattered when I saw Uncle Ryan and Uncle Dev playing games just now... and heard the things my mother said...

Goodness! Could Ronja be right about her and Hunter's coach?

Would that be a good thing? The man seems rather rough and violent but also quite funny and kind. Paisley clearly adores him, and Tanner made him fall into the swimming pool. I saw them through the window, sitting side by side, and there was something rather similar about them. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I would believe it if I were told that Uncle Dev is Tanner's father, even though they look nothing alike.