It was finally summer break, and Big Daddy had payed for Lottie and some of her sorority sisters to go on vacation. Kronk stayed at home so that Lottie could have a girls trip out, but of course he gave her a kiss goodbye.
It was the first night of their vacation and the girls decided to make a bonfire at the beach. She passed some beer around, and they all got to laughing. They had the music up loud and were dancing around having a good time.
Lottie almost didn't notice someone coming towards her in the distance. "Oh hello! Care ta join us! We have plenty of fun ta go around! I'm Lottie!"
It was an absolutely perfect night, and with Eric out with an old friend, Adam, Ariel decided to spend the evening enjoying the night atmosphere with nothing but her phone, for emergencies, of course, a glass of pink lemonade, and a book by one of her favorite classic authors, Hans Christian Andersen.
After texting Eric, letting him know she got his message, she leaned back in her chair on the balcony and propped her legs up. She took a deep breath and smiled to herself, thinking of no better way to spend the perfect evening. Melody was sleeping over a friend's house, and Hayden was already fast asleep behind her, leaving Ariel all alone, something she hadn't been in a long time.
As she opened her book, however, the redhead heard girls' giggling and laughing, and soon, music could be heard. And it didn't sound like it was coming from far away. Confused, Ariel put her book to the side and stood up to look down at the beach. Instantly, she noticed a group of about ten or twelve girls down on the beach, passing around drinks. They looked like they were about the college age. Oh great. A sorority.
Frustrated that the young girls' partying ways had interrupted her night, Ariel stormed downstairs and out of the castle, walking towards them. No one usually was at the beach this late at night, and though it was open to the public, Ariel liked to believe that that section of the beach was for her and her family only.
She crossed her arms as she made her way towards the group, when suddenly a young blonde approached her cheerfully, surprising Ariel into losing her unamused expression. "Um.. I'm.. Ariel," she said, unsure of how she had got into a conversation with the girl. She noticed the smell of beer on her breath. "Sorority?" she questioned, glancing around at the other girls, who hadn't seemed to have noticed her.
"Nice ta meet ya, Ariel! That is a beautiful name!" Lottie nodded her head. "Yeah! Those are my girls! Hey ya should come join us, we are havin' loads of fun!" She said already grabbing the redhead's arm, not really giving her an option of what to do.
Ariel shrugged and replied with a simple "thank you." Before she knew it, Lottie was sweeping her away to come join her and her friends. The princess had not been planning, at all, to join the party, especially since all the girls were much younger than her. But at this point, she figured it would be rude to just leave.
Finally, some other girl had noticed her, and ran over to her with a bottle, shoving it into Ariel's hand with a drunk giggle before frolicking away. Ariel questioningly looked at the bottle in her hand and realized it was beer. In the past, she had never liked the strange alcoholic beverage. She knew Eric would have it on occasion, such as tonight when he was out with a friend. Ariel debated trying it, and finally decided it was worth a shot. She hesitantly sipped out of the bottle, her face instantly contorting with the taste. Yup. I definitely don't like this. She walked over to a small table that had been set up and placed the bottle onto it, knowing someone was bound to claim it, before walking back over to Lottie.
Lottie got distracted by one of her girls and was telling her something quick while Ariel walked away. When she saw her coming back over she smiled, "Hey girls! This is Ariel, she is gonna have some fun with us!" The girls cheered and said hi before continuing back to what they were doing.
Lottie put her drink down and led Ariel to the side. "They are sweet girls, so tell me about yaself."
When Lottie introduced her, Ariel gave a half-smile and a wave of the hand. But the giggling college girls didn't really seem to care all that much, which frankly didn't bother Ariel at all. She followed Lottie to a break from the crowd and replied, "Well, I'm, uh, the princess of this part of Denmark." She shrugged and looked towards the castle. "My daughter is out with a friend right now, and my son is sleeping up in our room.. That is, me and my husband's." She let out a small laugh. "To be honest, I've never seen a sorority, or any other group for that matter, come to this part of the beach to have their party." She shrugged and folded her arms over her chest.
"Princess?! Shut up! Ya are not a princess! All my life I have dreamed of bein' one! What's it like! Oh! Please tell me!" Lottie exclaimed excitedly. She looked back to the girls who were dancing around the fire. "Really? Well I told 'em it looks quieter here an' I didn't want 'em ta get distracted by boys, all that causes is trouble."
Ariel giggled, feeling herself blush. "Yes, I am! It's.. Well, it's pretty ordinary, I guess. I mean, there's lots of responsibilities, and sometimes a lot of royal meetings and all that stuff, but other than that it's a pretty regular life, I guess," she said awkwardly. At least, she thought it was a "regular life." She had never experienced life as a human who wasn't royal, so she couldn't be exactly sure.
"Yeah, it usually gets quiet around this time of the night," the redhead continued. "Just.. Make sure everything is cleaned up before you leave, if you can." She gave a brief smile.
Looking around at all the partying girls, who seemed to be getting more drunk by the minute, Ariel joked, "So, you're not one to go overboard with the drinks?"
"Responsibilities or not, that life sounds wonderful." Lottie sighed before giving a shrug. "At least my daddy an' my husband treat me like a princess! It's close enough!"
"Oh of course! We wouldn't want anythin' ta go inta tha ocean! I've been pushin' ta go green eva since I learned all that is goin' wrong with tha environment." Lottie nodded excitedly.
"Well…no. I will usually get a drink or two, but I'm not one ta go drunk. I like ta be aware of what's goin' on."
"Thanks," Ariel shrugged, before giggling and adding, "Well, definitely! Every girl should be treated like a princess!" She laughed and gave a wink. "And thank you. You have no idea how much it bothers me to see garbage floating in the water." The redhead growned and rolled her eyes.
As she was about to comment commend Lottie on her drinking habits, two convertibles sped down the street, stopping in front of the beach. A harmony of men's shouts and laughs echoed through the air, and their music seemed to be louder than the sorority's. Then, the boys started piling out of the cars, their own coolers and boom boxes in tow. Ariel looked at Lottie hesitantly. "Uh… Do you know them?"
Charlotte nodded. But turned when she heard the noise. She looked at the boys trying to recognize them, she groaned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah I think those are some boys from school. The girls must not know how ta keep their mouths shut. I should get them out of here."
Ariel simply nodded and crossed her arms, watching as Lottie went up to the boys. But they didn't seem to pay much attention to her as they ran through the sand to get to the other girls, who squealed at seeing them. Ariel didn't know if she should help Lottie by telling the boys to leave or just leaving them alone. She had a feeling that they had already had a couple of drinks before arriving.
After having no success with the boys, Charlotte returned to Ariel. "They aren't gonna leave, but I will keep my eyes on them. No one hurts my girls." She said crossing her arms with a huff. "Sorry, but bein' in a sorority ya will see a ton of heartbreak an' tears. We did this trip ta be boy free. I even took their phones away at one point."
"Yeah, yeah, I understand. Makes sense," she nodded, looking over to see the group laughing and flirting. "Well, the girls seem to be happy that they're here!" she shrugged, hoping to brighten Lottie's mood.
Noticing that she and Lottie were obviously separated from the others, Ariel turned to her and said, "Hey, if you want to go hang out with everyone.. I mean, I don't want to keep you from your party. I can just go back to the castle or something.." she bit her lip awkwardly as she trailed off.
Lottie smiled, she knew Ariel was right, they were here to have fun after all.
"Oh no! Pumpkin! I host so many parties a year, I would much ratha make a new friend ratha than sit at anotha get togetha." Lottie smiled. "So, back ta tha whole princess thing. That means ya must have a pretty awesome prince!"
Ariel shrugged in defeat, "Alright, if you say so.." After a moment of silence, Lottie asked Ariel about her princess lifestyle, and Ariel let out a giggle. She nodded proudly, "Yes, yes I do. You could say he's pretty awesome." She chuckled, feeling herself blush. "I think I'll keep him around," she joked.
"Aww! How romantic!" Lottie sighed. "Ya sound just like a Nicholas Sparks novel."
"Yes, I guess so," Ariel replied, thanking Lottie for the compliment. Though Ariel wouldn't call herself a huge fan, she did love Nicholas Sparks novels and movies. Besides being absolutely adorable, they gave her more ideas and motivation to be romantic with Eric.
"You said you have a husband?" the redhead asked, shifting the conversation to be about Lottie. However, she was a bit skeptical, as she'd never heard of college girls being married at such a young age.
Charlotte nodded. "I do! We haven't been married that long. It was love at first sight." Charlotte swayed while thinking about Kronk. "He is a fantastic chef, I bet he will end up on one of those cooking shows one day, as well as fatten me up."
Ariel laughed, replying with a nod, "Oh, yes, I know what you mean. Our chef, Louis, makes the most amazing food I've ever had. Like, ever." Just thinking about all the delicious meals Louis made made Ariel crave his food at that moment. "It's all about self-discipline," she laughed, remembering hearing that on one of those dieting shows she had seen briefly as she was flipping through the channels one day.
Just then, Ariel turned to look over at the group of college kids, just in time to see one of the boys chuck a beer bottle into the ocean. "Hey!" she yelled, turning from Lottie and rushing over to the ocean to snag the bottle before the waves swept it away. As she was walking over to the trash can, the boy, who seemed to have noticed her approached her from behind and grabbed her waist, which Ariel instinctively responded to with an elbow to the stomach. "Watch it," she snapped, glaring at him as she stuck up her left hand, flaunting her wedding ring. She wasted no in going back over to Lottie. "I hate pollution," she mumbled, mostly to herself.
"Self-discipline. Oh tha struggle of dealin' with that!" Lottie laughed.
Lottie watched the scene play out in front of her. A smile grew on her face when she noticed the princess could defend herself, for she could not do such a thing. "Want me ta call tha party off an' make 'em leave?"
"Nah," Ariel shrugged, crossing her arms as she walked over to Lottie. "To be honest, I guess I can't blame them. They're at a college party and expect no one but college kids here. I don't really.. fit in, I guess," she shrugged, crossing her arms. "I should probably get back inside, anyway," she added, jerking her thumb towards the castle. "I can't leave Hayden alone for long." She gave Lottie a half-smile.
"I guess ya are right, but I'll keep a close eye on them an' make sure they clean everythin' right up! Ya beach will look just as good as new." Lottie said with a smile. "It was so nice meetin' ya, princess. Give tha lil prince a kiss for me!"
"Thanks, Lottie," Ariel smiled, leaning over to give Lottie a brief embrace. As she did so, she subconsciously let out a yawn. "I guess I'm not the only one who needs to be sleeping," she chuckled, brushing her hair back.
After a final goodbye, Ariel turned from the rambunctious college kids and trekked back to the castle, the sand now cool between her toes. She hoped Hayden was still asleep, the sound of the spring breakers' partying not disturbing his slumber.