Queen of My Heart

17: I Think that I Bumped into My Father

  "Are you planning on getting out anytime soon?" He asked, his mouth to my ear. I reluctantly got out of his arms and made eye contact. He brushed my hair back to see my eyes and the area where his hand grazed my skin, burned.

  "Can we go somewhere private?"

  "Sure." And I made my way to his dorm for the second time.

  "We have got to stop meeting like this." I joked, eyeing his heart underwear. I felt slightly better. The effect of being with your best friend/crush, I think?

  "What's the matter, Eenie?"

  "Nothing and everything." It was true. Everything was as it used to be; my mother ignoring and using me. That is wrong, I know that, but it is the usual for us.

  "Spoken like a true princess of Wonderland. But you've got to tell me the problem. I can't do anything for you until you do except hold you."

  "Maybe we can just do that." So we went into his bed and he hugged me from behind. I turned in the blanket, facing him now and wrapped my arms around his torso. We had a short nap and I think that we ditched class; I'm not sure and I don't care.

  We both gradually woke up and we unwillingly made our way to the cafeteria. Torri was almost worried sick. She had no idea where I was so she was just frantically eating her dinner, mumbling to herself. "Sorry I disappeared, I was sleeping with Alex."

  "Excuse me? Did I hear that correctly?"

  "We took a nap in his room, sorry for not telling you."

  "Oh, okay. I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed, but thank god that you're okay. I thought that something bad happened!"

  "I'm fine now." And Alex crept up behind me and asked "Are you ready to tell me, or us, why you were crying?"

  "You were crying? What happened, Eenie? You're a strong girl, I've never seen you cry!"

  "Because I can't see my mother, due to 'distance', Fairy Godmother arranged a video call for us as a treat. Mother only asked me about how our plan was going, and she walked away. I guess that I should be used to abandonment from my mother, but it still stings every time. I think that she is just using me to get what she wants."

  "Queenie, don't be sad about that woman. You are amazing and I am so glad that I had a chance to meet you." Alex said, staring into my eyes.

  "Me too. I'm so glad that I have a friend that I can relate to and relax next to, that is not a boy." Torri told me.

  "Thank you both so much. I think that she lost weight, dyed her hair, changed her eye colour and changed her whole demeanour. I have no idea what is going on."

  "My best guess is stress? Or maybe living with the Evil Queen has that effect on people. Look at Snow White and Evie, they are absolutely gorgeous!" Torri suggested.

  "You also said something about a plan? What plan? Am I missing something?" Alex questioned.

  "It's not anything really important, it's just that mother told me to convince The King of Hearts to talk to her. In real life, I think? So I have to talk to him during family day. That was the one thing that she asked about."

  "Queenie, you're going to be fine. We are going to be fine. There is nothing you have to do except convince your own father to visit his wife." Torri stated.

  "I am so grateful to have you two, thank you." We finished our dinner and I decided to perform 'Karma' now. We went to my dorm and I performed it for them. They both liked it. It really was nice, an insignificant, silly and sweet memory of music and laughter.

  Days passed and it was time for the family visiting day. I put on a red dress and tied my hair into a ponytail. I was near the front, actually, holding Alex's hand, who wasn't singing. Their voices were okay, but I thought that they might be able to harmonise better with some more practice. If a synchronised dance was what they were going for, they failed miserably. But okay for a bunch of untrained teenagers. I saw Audrey vying for attention, even in this situation.

  I saw the King and Queen calling Alex and Ben over for a picture so I let go of his hand and shoved him toward them. He looked back, smiled and ran to them. He really looked handsome, in a blue suit. No use denying my feelings now, no reason not to, anyway. I saw Ben gesture to Mal and her running over. The King and Queen looked shocked. Ben introduced Mal to his parents, I'm assuming, and Alex called me over. I was nervous because I had zero confidence that I would not act out in front of these fake people, pretending like they're good when they were some of the most biassed people in the world. Why else would they have sent everyone to the Isle of the Lost anyway?

  I ran over too, and waved. "Mum, dad, this is the person who I was telling you about. She is Queenie Heart, daughter of the Queen of Hearts, princess of Wonderland and my best friend."

  "Hello." I simply said.

  "Hello there, I am Alex's dad, Adam. King of Auradon. This is Belle, my wife and would you like to join us for croquet?" He said awkwardly.

  "Sure!"

  "Let's meet at the field in 15 minutes, shall we?" Alex suggested.

  "We'll see you there then," Alex's mum said. We both waved goodbye and left, holding hands again.

  "How do you play?" I whispered.

  "You have no idea, don't you? I should've known. So how you play is..." And he explained the game.

  When we were going to get drinks, I bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" I looked into his eyes and I knew, from the golden hair, medium-short height, hearts adorning his body, and the face that he was the King of Hearts, of Wonderland and my father.