I find it funny, how young girls believe in fairy tales. How they always want to find their very own prince, or knight. How they're sure that he'll come and whisk them away to a fantasy life of love, and everything will be 'happily ever after' from there on out.
I, however, was never one for…traditional…fairy tales. See, from the beginning, I always had this feeling that my knight, or prince, wouldn't be royalty. He would be more along the lines of my best friend…
Just think back to third grade…
"Oliver, let's play!" called an six-year-old Miley, "Come on Lilly! Let's play Princesses!"
"Princesses?" Oliver and Lilly complained together.
"Does that mean I have to wear a dress?" whined Lilly.
"No," Miley said, "You can be…an alligator!"
"An alligator?" Lilly asked skeptically.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Oliver, "You can be a hungry alligator that lives in the moat that goes around the princess's tower and tries to eat the heroic knight!"
Miley and Lilly giggled, and Oliver looked confused.
"I get to be the heroic knight, right?" he asked worriedly, "Right?"
"Yeah, sure, Ollie," said Lilly, "And you get to save princess Miley."
"Right!" Miley said, grinning. She climbed onto the highest point of the playground at Malibu Community Park, and looked down at her friends, "Oliver, you have to save me from this tower, cuz the wicked wizard…Jackson…put me here. And he won't let me leave."
"Duh," interrupted Oliver, "I wouldn't have to rescue you if he would let you out."
"That's true," Lilly nodded in agreement.
"Come on! Let's play," Miley called impatiently.
Lilly laid down in the sand surrounding the playground, and began to snap her teeth together, just like an alligator would. Miley put on her best 'damsel in distress' face, and Oliver began to run around Lilly to get to the ladder to where Miley was 'imprisoned'.
"I'm coming, my princess!" Oliver cried, "I'll save you from the evil wiz- OW!"
He bent down to Lilly, and whispered loudly in her ear.
"Lilly! You aren't supposed to really bite me!"
"Sorry," she replied. Miley giggled.
The game resumed. Oliver ran back and forth, hoping to confuse Lilly-the-alligator. It worked, and he darted up the ladder.
"Come on!" Oliver called to Miley.
"Yay!" Miley cried excitedly. She was discovering that being the princess was boring. All she got to do was stand around and wait until she was rescued. Finally, she got to do something else!
"Sorry," said Oliver, shrugging, "I don't have a noble steed, unless Lilly…" He trailed off, looking to the ground, where Lilly was shaking her head 'no' adamantly, "Nope. No steed."
"That's ok," Miley said, grabbing his hand, "Let's go before the evil wizard comes back."
"We can't go back down the ladder," Oliver commented, "The alligator is waiting at the bottom, and wants to eat us." Lilly gnashed her teeth again.
"This way," Miley cried, pulling Oliver after her. The pair raced through the playground, stopping when they got to the monkey bars.
"Do you know how to do those?" Oliver whispered to Miley.
"Sure," Miley whispered back, "Don't you?"
"Uh…yeah?" Oliver answered uncertainly.
"Then let's go!"
Miley began to cross, Oliver right behind her, but suddenly about halfway through, she stopped.
"Oliver, I can't do it!"
"Then drop," Oliver suggested.
"That's far!" Miley frowned, looking down, "My hands are slipping!"
Oliver's were too, as he didn't really know what he was doing.
"I'll catch you at the bottom," he said, falling to the ground. Miley screamed slightly when he fell.
Lilly was now watching interestedly from the other end of the monkey bars.
"Miley, drop!" Oliver called, standing underneath her with his arms outstretched.
"A-alright…" she said quietly. She dropped off of the bars, and landed squarely in Oliver's arms. The force of her landing, and her weight, however, caused Oliver to fall backwards onto the ground. Miley and Oliver lay on the ground in a heap.
"Are you ok?" Lilly asked, rushing forward.
"Yeah!" Miley said, rolling off of Oliver, and standing up, "My knight in shining armor saved me."
"I did?" asked Oliver. He stood up, and brushed some of the sand off of his pants.
"Yes. You did. You saved the princess from her terrible fate," Lilly said dramatically. Miley giggled, and Oliver blushed.
"You saved me. So, I still have to do something," Miley said, smiling.
She kissed Oliver on the cheek. Lilly gasped, and Oliver turned redder.
"What?" Miley asked, "The princesses in movies always do that."
After that, the kiss was forgotten, and the children returned to their game.
"Hey, Oliver," I walked up to him after our Algebra class, "Do you have the homework?"
I had basically just daydreamt the entire class period away, getting lost in childhood memories.
"Yeah," he said, pulling his notebook out of his bag, "Here."
"Thanks!" I cried, "I can't afford to miss another assignment. You just saved my life."
"Am I your knight in shining armor?" he joked.
"You'll always be my knight, Oliver," I said, and kissed him on the cheek.
As I walked away, I saw a silly, reminiscent grin cross his face.
"Love you too, Miles," he called after me. I giggled.
…
My boyfriend was so weird.