For all the regrettable things Merida had done in her life this one just took the top spot right of the ball park.
It wasn't just an act that should be forgotten it should be something to have never happened in the first place. It was stupid, preposterous and most of all desperate.
Yes she was now sober enough to realize that what she had done was an act of desperation. It wasn't just the alcohol that drove her to do it, she wanted to prove it upon herself that she was a grown woman capable of making her own decisions may it be stupid or not.
And damn this was definitely a stupid one.
Now exactly what was this thing our dear Scot found herself tangled into that it made her have a mini existential crisis?
She had just slept with Kristoff Pavle.
Yes it was that Kristoff. The man who grew up raising reindeers in who knows what part of Europe, the man whom her roommate and best friend Anna couldn't stop ranting about.
And she had a boyfriend for crying out loud. She felt like one of those chambermaid bed warmers in the shows her mother watches.
To add insult to injury she not only had sex with him, she just happened to lose her virginity to said man. And boy was it not a good way either, she could tell she wouldn't be able to run as quick as she wanted to and it'll take a few days to actually recover from this painful ordeal.
She was currently in his bed, well she assumed it was his heck she wasn't even sure if she was in a bed. After mentally scolding herself she finally opened her eyes, only to close them again because of the bright light blinding her.
"Ergh . . . " she covered her face with her hands "You had to take on the keg did ya?" she again scolded herself. She was slightly thankful that the person sleeping beside her was snoring so loudly that he wouldn't be able to hear her monologues.
"Ok" she tried as fast as she could to get out of the bed find her clothes and get out of there as fast as she could. She was quite successful in doing so and making a mad dash for her dorm and room quickly collapsing on her bed as soon as she got there.
By the time she had woken up again it was already noon and not only was her head giving her one heck of a headache but her throat was so dry and she was really really hungry.
Still with her face against the mattress she tried to locate her phone underneath the discarded pile of things on the floor, after locating the device she pressed number 3 on her speed-dial.
There were a few rings before . . .
"Oh Merida I see you're finally up" came the 'I-told-you-so' tone of Tiana.
The red head only grunted a reply.
"Well don't worry I'm already coming up there, Anna told me you just came crashing into your bed this morning and she was pretty scared of moving you" Tiana explained "Well I'm almost there so wait a moment"
After the Louisianan hung up Merida flung her phone to wherever in the room and cursed herself once again. Why the heck did she do that? How did she end up to the point of losing her virginity to some Scandinavian lumberjack?
Well sure now that she was a senior finishing requirements and thesis making was taxing, she has her future to think about, college loans to start paying and her mother's lectures to prepare for. Sure it was stressful but she was pretty capable of handling stress especially after dealing with everything she's gone through, adding the current event to the list of "things I must get over from".
She lifted her head from the mattress and saw a something on the bedside table. It was a photograph of her Al during a Christmas party last year, for once she had actually suck up to Rapunzel and straightened her hair for the occasion. She had done it just because he got curious on how she looked like and according to him she was quite a beauty.
Lies. That's what they were. She stood up from grabbed the frame and glared at the Indian in the picture "I should have burned you" she then opened her window and threw the picture.
She collapsed on the chair nearby as guilt dawned upon her. Kristoff wouldn't have went on with the act if she didn't push him to the bedroom and started handling his 'business'. She wouldn't have done that if she didn't drink too much that night. She wouldn't have drunk that much if she didn't see Al doing his own business with some cheerleader. She wouldn't have dated Al if she just told him what she really felt before he graduated. And she wouldn't have been feeling everything else right now if she just didn't fall in love with her very dense senior.
"Oh my lawd, what in the name of Mama Odie happened to you last night?" Tiana asked as she was already inside the room holding a box of muffins in one hand which she almost dropped after seeing the mess Merida was in.
Merida was a complete train wreck. Her hair curly red hair was even more messed up than usual and actual objects actually got tangled up in the mess. Her eyes were black from smudged eye-liner and eye bags and her pants and shirt were almost falling off of her.
"I got a couple of drinks" Merida gave a tired smile, hoping the girl will bite and cut her some slack.
Tiana did a look "You go to shower now, it's like you came back from a crack house or something"
"Maybe I did" Merida contemplated.
Tiana placed the box of muffins on the bedside table before pulling the Scot by her collar and dragging her to the bathroom "Now take a bath, will you?" she placed her hands on her hips "Or do you want me to take off your clothes?"
"How 'bout bathing me?" Merida yawned.
"Are you sure about that?" Tiana questioned as she tapped her foot "I just might."
The red head groaned "I can handle myself" she pushed her friend off the bathroom locked the door and quickly tried washing herself.
But while washing a certain area she couldn't help but wince remembering the events that occurred last night.
After taking the shower she threw in jeans a white t-shirt and a long polo shirt she had no idea where she got from.
Tiana was seated on the single chair in the room cross-legged "Ok you better tell me what happened to you last night, I don't want no smart-ass answers and I don't want no vague ones either so you might as well go straight to the point to save us from whatever drama it is"
Merida was about to open her mouth when Tiana lifted her finger "Also speak in English, one that I can understand and not some Northern whatnot"
The red head sighed and sat on her bed and remained silent for a while.
"I'm waiting" Tiana said.
"I'm trying to remember what happened" Merida muttered as she took a muffin from the box "Ok now I remember . . ."
Before she could say anything a certain Scandinavian entered the room her face puffy red with tears in her eyes. She slammed the door which shocked the other girls but what really surprised them was when Anna quickly went for Merida and slapped her face.
This made Tiana jump up from her seat "What on earth -"
"YOU TRAITOR!" Anna pointed at he red head "I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND!" she was about to do another blow but Tiana managed to grab her hand just in time.
"Anna calm down" Tiana told the girl heavily "What is going on between the two of you?"
Anna quickly reclaimed her own hand "'Between the two of us?'" She quoted in spiteful tone, she glared at Merida "WHY DON'T YOU ASK HER!"
"You're not making any sense right now" the Louisianan was raising her hands in confusion "What the heck happened last night?"
Merida remained silent, her head still sunk low from the blow.
Anna on the other hand didn't contain her anger "SHE SLEPT WITH KRISTOFF!"
It took a moment for this information to register to Tiana "SHE DID WHAT?"
Merida was getting tired of all this screaming, she was tired of everything really she pretty much had enough of it. She just stood up making the other girls look at her before she went over to the door.
Anna and Tiana just stared at her before Anna spoke again "So you're just gonna run away?"
The Scot paused before holding the doorknob and opening the door.
"That's just great you know" Anna continued her rant "Like ok I guess I'm overreacting a bit but . . . Merida you knew I liked him, you knew I was practically this close to ask him out and you just . . . go . . . hanky-panky!"
"Anna it's just a crush" the Scot finally spoke.
"'Just a crush'?" the strawberry blond pushed her roommate "'JUST A CRUSH'? Merida I knew him longer than you did, I'm actually friends with him- we had a . . ."
"DO YOU THINK THAT MATTERS NOW!" Merida slammed the door shut "DO YOU THINK WHATEVER YOU SAY NOW MATTERS ANYMORE?!"
Tiana tried to be the voice of reason "Ok would everyone just calm . . ."
"DOESN'T MATTER?!" Anna held her chest "HOW ABOUT FRIENDSHIP? YOU TECHNICALLY BETRAYED ME!"
"I didn't technically betray you" Merida opened the door again "I bloody did" and with that she slammed the door close behind her.
Tiana collapsed in the chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering. "This isn't on my schedule today."
Anna just stared at her friend and the discarded muffins that fell on the floor.
/
After running off from her dorm, Merida just started wandering off in the campus thinking of particularly nothing. All she knew was that she felt really pissed at the moment and if anyone would try to approach her, if anyone would even dare to, things would look very dirty. Just a few minutes ago Mowgli choked on his drink, ran and made sure he was at least 50 feet away from the Scot.
She then found herself in the soccer field with some of the team members practicing. She ignored the stares she was receiving from some of the players and continued walking not minding where the heck she was going, even if that involved walking across the field.
But that didn't mean it went unnoticed by coach Phil Agyris, as the short stout man ran towards the Scot waving a bottle of Gatorade. "You little tartar sauce!" the man stood in front of her "Can't you see we're practicing here?"
Merida just looked down at the man "Who are you?" she asked. "Pretty short for soccer player aren't ya?"
"Oh oh . . ." Keone Jameson whispered to his teammate "She just called him short"
Pierre Charming gulped "This ain't good"
Keone tried to sedate his coach "Umm . . . coach . . ."
"OK LISTEN HERE BRAVEHEART!" Phil threw his bottle on the ground "YOU DON'T JUST WALK AROUND IN HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAINING FOR THE REGIONALS! LIKE WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL!"
"BRAVEHEART?!" Merida twitched "YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH SCOTS?!"
"WELL I WILL IF YOU DON'T LEAVE THIS PLACE RIGHT NOW!" the man rolled up his sleeves "OR I'M GONNA START DOING WHAT THEY DID TO MACBETH!"
"Coach she's a girl" Keone looked between Merida and the man "Come on you'll be sued again, you're already on probation for spitting at . . ."
"WELL HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO WIN AGAINST PIXAR IF SHE'S WALKING AROUND IN HERE LIKE SOME LOOSE SPRITE!"
"What the heck is going on in here?" an Arabian woman wearing a green and white cheerleading outfit with her black hair in ponytail came.
Keone was about to open his mouth when the coach spoke "THIS GINGER JUST WALTZED INTO THE FIELD IN THE MIDDLE OF PRACTICE SESSION!"
"Jasmine, now isn't a really good time" Keone tried to be calm for everyone else "So maybe you'd better practice somewhere else"
Jasmine crossed her arms "But we need to use the field, we have preliminaries tomorrow"
Merida looked up from the coach to focus on the girl, didn't Jasmine sound familiar, she then turned her eyes to the said person for a minute.
Her eyeing didn't go unnoticed "Why is she looking at me . . . oh . . . oh"
"What is it Jasmine?" Keone asked.
Merida's eyes widened upon realization of course she knew this girl. The only reason she knew her name was because Al kept moaning her name while they were busy in the closet when Merida caught them.
"It's you" the Scot finally spoke.
"Um . . ." the Arabian took a step back "About what . . . you saw the other day . . ."
At that moment Merida snapped "Ghalla"
/
Aladdin didn't know what to expect when he came to the infirmary after receiving a text from Jasmine to pick her up there. He had only assumed that she had sprained her ankle doing some cheer stunt or something. What he didn't expect to see was not only a black eye on her right eye but Merida with a similar injury on her left.
"Just . . . what the . . ." Al looked from Jasmine to Merida and back "How . . ."
Merida just stood up stared at the man before knocking him out cold with an upper-cut.
/
The following day while waiting in Dean Moghadam's office Aladdin finally spoke.
"Ok I admit we were all at fault" he had a bandage wrapped around his head and was missing two teeth.
Merida was seated on one of the white chairs in the waiting room and remained silent.
Jasmine sighed she was also seated in a chair "I am actually ashamed of what occurred that time between me and Aladdin. I was aware of your relationship with him yet I still committed infidelity with him." She bowed her head "I'm truly sorry"
"Then why did you hit me?" Merida finally asked.
"Well I couldn't just let you hit me like that" Jasmine raised her head "And a part of me thinks you deserved that"
The red head fixed her gaze "I thought you were apologetic"
"Half of me is guilty, half of me is grateful" Jasmine raised her chin "And from what I heard from Al is correct, your relationship was crumbling already"
This made the Scot blush hard "What are you . . ."
"Jasmine" Aladdin sighed "Could you go get a bottle of water for me?"
The Arabian woman gave her one last glare before leaving the room.
The man took a deep breath before speaking "Well what she said was true"
"She said a lot of things" Merida refused to look at him.
"You know what I mean" he sighed "We were gonna break-up anyway"
She clenched her fists "Could you have at least broken up with me before doing that then, could have saved you some decency"
Aladdin seemed a bit hurt "Decency huh? Well at least I was decent enough to actually be in love with you"
Merida turned to face him "Excuse me?"
"You have to admit it" Aladdin stared at her "Were you ever in love with me?"
Her eyes widened "Of course I was in love with you!" she stood up "I practically almost gave everything to you!"
"From what I heard you went all the way with Pavle" he retorted with a snarl.
"Well I assumed we were done!" Merida waved her fist "I was angry and depressed, I took too much booze and he happened to be there"
Aladdin stood up as well "So all you needed was alcohol?!"
"SEX DOESN'T DRIVE A RELATIONSHIP!" Merida stomped her foot.
"THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SEX!" the guy yelled back, he pointed at her "I wasn't the only one cheating in this relationship!"
Merida was taken aback by that statement "Me cheating?!" she was threatening him with her finger "You're out of your mind!"
"You know very well who I'm talking about" Aladdin shook his head.
The Scot glared "Don't you drag him into this"
"You're already defending him" he crossed his arms "I knew I didn't stand a chance against him, but you could have at least given me a chance"
"Can you please not" the tone in Merida seemed more dangerous, it was almost a threat in itself.
Aladdin went closer and looked into her eyes "Tell me right now, whenever you say I love you who was it for?"
That was when the secretary came "Miss McCullough, the dean would now speak with you"
/
"Could you believe the service they're giving me!" Kuzco landed on the sofa after a ten hour flight from Lima to New York to Rome.
Pinocchio managed to navigate himself around the apartment despite the several bags he had to carry and place the luggage in the guest room.
The Incan raised his finger "I want you to prepare my bath, I use chamomile for my delicate skin and Russian duck paste for my pores I'll be having black heads any minute right now so make it quick"
"You'll have to do it on your own" the Italian boy stretched his arms "I'm off to work right now"
Kuzco snorted "Who does work in the middle of the day?"
"It's 1 in the afternoon" Pinocchio checked his watched.
"I do not need a watch to know when the middle of the day is" Kuzco waved his hand "Where is my bath order?"
"Everyone works in the middle of the day Kuzco" Pinocchio went to leave.
The Incan sat up "But it's my vacation!"
"Well good for you" Pinocchio smiled before closing the door.
This made Kuzco groan "Oh where do I find good service around this place!" he tried to fall asleep again but his muscles were so tired, and he thought the ten hour flight was enough to raise a jet lag flag sheesh. "Sheesh you think that after working in here for two years he'd have a bigger place and actual help, his condo in Taipei was even bigger than this!"
"When I get my hands on . . ." just when he was about to plot death unto the owner of the apartment there was a knock on the door. "If you own this place at least open the door by yourself!" as a reply he got even louder and more persistent knocks.
"Urgh what is with Italian people?!" Kuzco then rolled out of the couch then rolled to the door then used his long arms to reach the doorknob and open it. "Some host you are to make the guest do the work"
What he didn't expect was to see a certain red headed amazona at the door "Well if it ain't the pansy"
/
In the elevator full of fashion designers, shoe designers and furniture designers, Arthur wondered how much creativity was packed in this metal box. He had just finished his lunch break and was gonna go back to the office to finish the model of the bank their team was designing. He had hoped Fred wouldn't try to get circular looking trees or the whole building would look like one giant male genital.
"Oh my gosh!" a woman exclaimed "I like your bag is that new?"
The owner of the Birkin bag scoffed "No, I got this only a week ago"
In the midst of the women bickering about the current state of bags Arthur's phone started to ring, and he didn't need to check the caller id to identify who it was "Kuzco I'm at work" he answered.
"Well your assistant didn't do any help to me at all!" the Incan groaned "He just dumped me and my poor babies like we were crocodile dung"
"He would have gladly held crocodile dung than you" the elevator reached the 8th floor making the two fashion editors leave.
Kuzco gasped "You wouldn't dare!"
"I wouldn't he would" Arthur removed his jacket since it was getting quite hot in the elevator "Now is that the only reason why you called me?"
"Oh yes there is" Kuzco then yelled "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU HAD ANOTHER GUEST!"
This made Arthur and the shoe designer near him squint at the yell "Hey, I'm in public transport" the blond hissed.
"I thought you were at work" Kuzco asked.
"I am I'm in the elevator" he answered.
"How is that public transport?"
The Brit just groaned and got off the eleventh floor even though it wasn't his floor, he didn't know if he could handle arguing Kuzco sweating in a packed elevator. "Kuzco, I have no idea what guest you're talking about, you're not supposed to be a guest in the first place you just called me last night that you were coming here out of the blue"
"Well don't you like bonding with an old friend?" Kuzco said dramatically.
"I'm tired, I'm sweating and I'm almost cranky" Arthur made his way to the stairs to go to his floor which was just upstairs "So what guest are you talking about"
"That Scandinavian Amazona" the Incan hissed.
Arthur almost missed a step "Wait woah wait woah" he paused "Who?"
"LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE HECK I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Kuzco yelled.
"Stop yelling on the phone" he was definitely gonna get hearing aids by the end of Kuzco's vacation. "And how can Merida be there she's . . ."
"STAY STAY RIGHT . . . .AHH" he heard a girlish scream on the phone "NO NO! Not the MONEYMAKER! HERE TAKE IT!"
Arthur placed a hand on the wall and leaned "Are you watching a soap-opera there by any chance?"
"No, he rather be the soap" said a very familiar Scottish tone.
Arthur's eyes went wide and for once he actually dropped his phone.
/
"So Senor Arthur what can I get for you?" the waiter asked, they were currently having dinner at Arvolo, a restaurant a few blocks from Arthur's apartment.
He didn't need the menu "The usual"
"For the madam" the waiter referred to Merida.
"Uhh . . . how do you even pronounce this?" she raised her menu and pointed at the order.
"That's pasta and chickpeas for the lady" the waiter wrote "And for you?"
Kuzco flipped his hair "Special braid Buffaloes with prosciutto, basil and tomato"
"Very well sir I'll be back with you shortly" the waiter bowed before getting their orders.
"Good thing he spoke English" Merida sighed.
Arthur shrugged "You're lucky he's the only fluent one here"
"Well then excuse me I have to powder my nose" Kuzco stood up.
"Isn't that a woman's excuse?" the Scot accused.
Kuzco snorted "Any excuse just to avoid another abuse from such a revile woman" and with a jump he left for what he assumed were the restrooms.
The two just stared at the departing Incan before looking at each other and then staring at other things in the restaurant. It was a bit awkward for them as the last time they had spoken in person was in Taipei two years ago, when he had just finished interning there.
"Why are you here?" Arthur asked "Christmas break isn't due in two weeks"
Merida was staring intently at her napkin "I needed the break already"
"I see . . ." he looked down at his plate "How do you know where I lived?"
"I followed your scent; spent three days walking around the city" Merida lifted her head "Actually had to ask directions from a deaf man, he was the only person who doesn't speak Italian"
Arthur looked at her and raised his brows "The deaf can't speak"
"And I don't have that good sense of smell" Merida leaned back against her seat "You have a return address on your letters you know"
He was silent for a moment before saying "Oh . . . right"
"Soo . . ." Merida tried to change the topic "How's working in here so far, it's been what two years?"
"Uhh . . . great, we're gonna have a presentation on Monday" Arthur blinked.
"That's good to hear" the Scot nodded.
"So you got my letters then" he said.
Merida nodded "Yeah all 7 of them"
"Uhuh" Arthur rested his arm on the table "Then why didn't you write back?"
"I reply on Facebook!" Merida defended.
"Yes with either a word or an emoji" Arthur raised a brow "Especially that poop emoji"
"It's not a poop emoji it's . . . umm . . . Nutella" Merida was blushing hard now.
"You know I rarely even use my Facebook anyway"
She scoffed "Well why are you so old school that you write letters, I mean who does that anymore? It's what 2016?"
"Well I rather write a more meaningful letter to journal what I do in here than use an emoji" Arthur crossed his arms "Yes that old school, you know that deal with it"
"I was wrong saying you look to young" Merida leaned in closer to him "You're actually too old"
"Says the woman who probably wears a chastity belt on her waist" Arthur deadpanned.
At that Merida's face fell and she leaned back to her chair "Yeah . . . chastity"
This made Arthur quickly regret what he had said "Oh . . . um I'm sorry . . . I mean well . . . it was joke then . . . and . . ."
"It's alright" she raised her palm "I'm . . . just tired . . . it's been a long flight"
"You sure . . ." he studied her face for a moment "There's something bothering you isn't there?"
That was when their waiter came in "Now here are your orders"
"Shouldn't you call Kuzco?" Merida did a smile "He's been powdering for a while now"
Arthur stood up "He's probably going for a geisha look"
/
After they got back from the restaurant Kuzco immediately retreated to the sofa to turn on the television and see Incantesimo was on and the Incan apparently was now hooked.
"I didn't know you knew Italian?" Merida said in surprise.
"He doesn't need to know the language to feel the story and the characters" Arthur shrugged "Trust me you should see him watching Korean novelas"
Kuzco glared "Shh . . . I'm watching!"
"There's a TV in the guest room" Arthur went to the kitchen to make tea.
Kuzco quickly got up "And why didn't you say so?"
"I thought you saw it when you unpacked" he yelled from the kitchen.
"You liar you didn't say anything!" Kuzco yelled before running to the bedroom.
Merida then took the spot in the couch and got the remote "Do you have cable?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure SpongeBob Squarepants is on" Arthur sat next to Merida.
It was the episode where SpongeBob takes a hold of Mermaid Man's utility belt and ends up shrinking everything around him.
"So you watch this on a daily basis?" Merida asked remote in hand and feet on Arthur's lap while he was sipping his drink.
The Brit shrugged "Pretty much, rather watch this than an Italian version of General Hospital"
"Point taken" she played with the remote "I always thought Patrick was smarter than they take him for granted"
"Didn't they have an episode where he became a genius?" Arthur poked the heel of Merida's foot.
Which made her foot jump and she pulled her feet back "HEY! What was that for!?"
He raised his cup "Need to refill"
The woman rolled her eyes "Dunderheid"
He replied by smacking the back of her head before getting another cup "Just say if you want one as well"
"No" she stuck her tongue out and turned back to the TV.
Arthur just shrugged and went back to the kitchen just in time for another ring from his cell "Ciao" he said.
"Isn't that bye?" said a certain Scandinavian.
"No Anna its hello in Italian, I thought you were my boss" Arthur answered; he had been expecting this call to come.
"Umm . . ." Anna seemed uncertain "Did Merida say anything to you?"
"What do you mean?" he said looking at the said red head at the corner of his eye. "Did something happen?"
Anna sighed "Yeah . . . we kinda . . . had an argument"
"Argument? Did you fight over who would pay the rent again?" this has happened before with Merida threatening to live with a hobo a few blocks from the campus if Anna didn't pay.
"No it's . . . worst" Anna's voice cracked before she spoke again "She's gone"
"Gone . . . like what?"
"Gone she's oh my gosh"
The show was done and she didn't seem interested in the following show that was about monster dolls in some boarding school. She then turned to the kitchen to see Arthur on the phone; she decided to make herself a cup of tea before taking a snooze herself.
So she got off from the sofa then walked to the kitchen but stopped when she heard the conversation going on.
"Look, Merida hadn't told me anything" Arthur had his back faced against her "I hardly check my social accounts and she usually just sends me emojis"
The Scot just took a step back before slowly leaving the kitchen but was stopped when Arthur pulled the hood of her jacket, damn it and he wasn't even looking at her.
"Ok . . . I'm sorry" he said "I'm sure you'll find her, she won't go to some place that she would harm herself" he nodded "Ok bye Anna"
Merida tried to remove the jacket off her but he pulled her again that her back was now against his chest.
He placed his phone in his pocket "Ok from what I heard from Anna you've got a rough week at school" he then had an afterthought "I sound like a parent back there"
"Paw let me go then" she said.
"I'm not even holding you" he said releasing her hood "So that's why you reacted that way when I said chastity"
"I'm tired I've had a long flight" Merida said slowly walking away from him.
He then followed her "You slept as soon as you crashed in here; come on there's something you're not telling me here"
"There's nothing to tell" Merida was speeding in her walk. "Anna told you everything, didn't she?"
"That's not everything" he blocked her way to her guestroom "Tell me what happened?"
"I want to sleep" Merida glared.
"Well we won't be getting that tonight if you don't start talking" Arthur crossed his arms.
"Like you would even listen" Merida pushed him.
He was pushed against the door "Ow . . . since when didn't I listen?"
The Scot was silent for a moment and it ended up with a staring contest between the two. Who was more stubborn between the two, who had more pride between them, who was more tired between the two.
Merida finally took notice of the eyes staring at her, it wasn't obvious awhile back probably due to the light but right now she could clearly see his eyes were more bloodshot than a person actually shot in the eye. There were also bags in his eyes that were actually making him look his age, heck even older now.
"When was the last time you slept?" she asked forgetting about their staring contest.
It took a while for him to register she said something "Huh? Oh never mind that"
"You know . . . you seem . . . different" Merida stepped closer to him; she then wondered why she was smelling something weird.
"You're changing the topic" Arthur broke his gaze on her.
She stood on her toes and held his shoulders to take a whiff of him "You're smoking has gotten worse"
"It's the only thing that keeps me awake" he said looking at the ceiling "I get rashes from nicotine patches"
Merida still holding his shoulders "Do you still have work to do?" she asked softly.
"Not at the moment" he looked at her "You still didn't tell me"
"We're both tired" she let go of him "I'll tell you tomorrow"
"What if you suddenly leave tomorrow" he held her cheek.
She closed her eyes, fatigue was slowly getting to her now and if she didn't move now she would just sleep right on this floor. "Do you think I have anywhere else to go?"
"You broke up with Al didn't you?" he said rubbing her chubby cheeks with his thumb.
She just mumbled a "hmm" as a reply.
"Fine I won't bother you for now" he released his hand and he actually heard a whine from the girl, which surprised the both the Brit and herself.
She blushed red "Umm . . . yeah I think I really need sleep"
"Go ahead then . . ." Arthur moved out of the door and she quickly went for the door but stopped holding the doorknob. "Sorry for crashing on you like this"
"Well if I let Lord Lady Duchess of Superiority and Gluttony in, I'm pretty sure I can handle another visitor" he rubbed her head.
She looked at him again then removed his hand from her head, she then went closer to him stood on her toes again (she hated the fact he was 6'7) and kissed him.
It was a quick one for a soon as it was done she quickly went for her room leaving a surprised Arthur.
A/R: For my old readers, this is my apology for not continuing Coincidence. A lot has happened to me that time and I just couldn't wrap my head around the story anymore until recently. I'm so sorry for that. But I assure you that I'm still on with it.