"Are you nervous, Kevin?" the woman asked with a huge smile.
"Very," he laughed lightly, nodding a little, "Any advice, Caroline?"
"Smile bright, don't let go first with hugs, sign if they have a book and stay in character. Smiling though is the most important part," Caroline said, "That's just what I've learned from doing this job."
"I'm so nervous," he admitted, "I never thought I'd be here… doing something like this!"
Caroline smiled and smoothed down her dress, "No one expects to do this. It just kinda happens. Hell, I started from a shop worker and here I am," she laughed a little, "Kevin, you'll be great. I've seen you with kids before. It'll be fine."
"I mean, the meet and greet parts I'm not too nervous about," he paused.
"Shows?"
He nodded awkwardly.
"Kev, nothing to be afraid of," she patted his shoulder then fixed his jacket, "We've ran through it how many odd times. Tonight's show will be easier though."
"Dancing though?"
"Hon," she grabbed his shoulders, "You're incredible at what you do. Just don't be nervous and go out there and knock 'em dead, make them think that you are this character!"
"You're right," he nodded, "As usual."
She smiled proudly, "Hey, at least we're inside doing this and not out in the heat."
"I'd probably pass out in this if we were out there," he laughed.
"The shows are thankfully at night so it's not too bad," she noted.
"Cinderella and Charming," one of the workers poked their head into the dressing room, "You're on."
"It's now or never," Caroline smiled.
"Shall we?" he offered his arm to his Cinderella.
"We shall, and Kevin?"
"Yeah?"
"Break a leg, Charming," she smiled before starting the walk out.
The hallway leading to the Princess quarters was dimly lit with the bright florescent glow at the end of the hall from the main room. Both party members started their smiling as they walked out to the room. Caroline had given Kevin a final reassurance squeeze of his forearm before they walked into the bright blue and pink room with little girls and their parents.
Once standing at their spot among the other princesses and princes, little girls began to walk up shyly to them. Some were more eager to meet them than others. Whenever a little shy girl in a Cinderella dress walked up to the two, Kevin would get down on his knees and talk to her like she was his actual princess. They'd both sign their autograph books without question and do all sorts of poses for pictures, just like they've been told.
Before the two went in for their customary half hour break, the other workers allowed one more person though. Kevin and Caroline were expecting another eager little girl waiting to met her favorite princess and prince. To their surprise, and Kevin's surprise, a bright eyed ginger walked in. He was about Kevin's age and held a notebook in his hands as he walked up to him. Kevin's fake prince smile changed into a genuine happy smile.
"Hi," he smiled, "I thought they weren't going to let me passed to see my favorite Prince and Princess," he smiled.
"And what may your name be?" Caroline asked in her usual Cinderella voice, having no idea who he was.
"Connor," he smiled, "Connor McKinley. I was wondering if you'd sign my autograph book?"
"Of course," she smiled and took his book and pen.
Kevin was too busy smiling at Connor. Caroline had handed the book off to Kevin to sign like he normally would.
"Oh! Could you do a personalized message, please?" Connor asked Kevin with a smirk.
"Of course," he responded, smiling his genuine smile, "What do you want it to say?"
"Whatever you want it to, just make it special, please," Connor smiled.
Kevin shook his head a little and wrote in his book I've missed you, Con. Love your Charming Prince. With a smile, he put a few little sparkles and hearts on it before handing it back to him. Connor took one look at it and turned bright red and flustered.
"Picture?"
"Oh, I have a suggestion," the photo pass guy mentioned, "You both can give a kiss on the cheek to Cinderella."
"I'm not really into princesses. I'm a prince guy, if you catch my drift," Connor shrugged awkwardly to the guy.
He nodded, completely understanding.
"If the prince is alright with it, I'd love to get a kiss from him and have Cinderella looking at us mad," he suggested with a shrug.
"My princess might get upset with me," Kevin responded, trying to stay in character as best he could.
"It was a request," Caroline responded with a sweet smile, "Of course we can do that for you."
Without hesitation, Kevin leaned in and kissed Connor's cheek. He wanted to kiss him everywhere his mouth could reach besides his cheek. But he had to keep it Disney safe. If not, he'd be fired and that wasn't going to happen. Caroline stood on the other side of Connor, arms crossed and her face looking mad at her prince. The photo pass guy took the pictures he needed.
"Thank you," Connor smiled and gave Caroline a hug first.
"Of course, thank you for coming," she smiled.
Connor then gave a hug to Kevin, whom happily returned it. "I've missed you," he whispered in Kevin's hear.
"Meet me in front of the Mansion at eight tonight. That's when I get off of work."
Connor pulled away first and nodded to him. He took a deep breath and nodded to the both of them, "Thank you for your time."
"You're very welcome," Caroline smiled.
"Come back soon," Kevin waved.
Connor smiled to the ground and walked out of the room. Last one for another half hour. Caroline let out a huge sigh of relief and the two walked back through the hallway.
"Glad that's over," she flopped down into a comfy chair when they got back to the face character break room.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Kevin nodded.
"So," she smirked, "What was the deal with that last guy. I saw something in you… change. Something with your smile. I know you're fake smile like the back of my hand," she leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees, ready for a story, "Do tell."
Kevin felt himself turn a little red, "Well, uh, it's a long story…"
"Oh come on! It has to be good if you're turning bright red!"
"Uh, well, I met him about three years ago in Uganda on my mission. I've told you about that," she nodded, wanting him to continue. "Uh, so when we weren't missionaries anymore, we kinda uh hit it off pretty well… We considered ourselves dating. But when the two years were up, Connor left three months before I did. We kept saying we would hook back up when we got home, but just never did…"
"So you moved to Orlando and decided to be a face character for Disney instead of finding this guy?"
He shrugged, "I guess so…"
"Well, you found him. What are you gonna do now?"
"Meet up with him after my shift ends," he smiled.
"Where ya meetin?" she asked with a smile.
"Haunted Mansion."
"Cute! Well," she popped up out of the chair, "I wish you the best of luck. If you excuse me, I need to spend these remaining twenty five minutes attempting to pee without having to change out then back into this damn poofy dress."
Kevin laughed lightly as she walked away. Very princess like. When she was gone, he flopped into the seat she was just sitting in and grabbed his phone from his backpack. He unlocked it and went to his pictures and began to flip through the ones of him and Connor. With each swipe, his smile got bigger. He really did miss him a whole lot.
Connor had checked his phone clock for the twentieth time in two minutes. Eight was not coming soon enough. What if he doesn't show… What if he was just kidding… He's not gonna show, he has a great gig here… he sighed and checked his phone again.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and saw the smiling prince he'd seen earlier. This time, he wasn't a prince. Just a regular guy in red skinny jeans and a black disney shirt.
"Kevin!" Connor exclaimed, half jumping into his arms in a hug.
"I've missed you so much," Kevin gushed, hugging him back.
"I feel so awful for not keeping in touch," he said into Kevin's neck.
"It's my fault too," Kevin admitted, "I should've called when I got back."
"Let's both take blame," he suggested.
"Deal."
The two pulled away, Connor half a second first due to Kevin's habit from work. Kevin gestured to the victorian mansion lit up by green and cyan lights. He shrugged, suggesting to go on the ride since they were there.
"The wait is like forty five minutes though," Connor whined, "I really don't wanna wait that long."
"But we can talk," he smiled.
"Alright, you talked me into it," he grabbed Kevin's hand and they ran into the long line.
Once settled in the nonmoving line, Connor leaned up against the brick wall with Tom Sawyers Island to his back. He crossed his arms and smiled to Kevin.
"I was going to ask what you've been up to, but I clearly saw earlier what you are doing."
Kevin turned red, "Uh, yeah… Don't tell the other guys this is what I chose to do with my life…"
"Please, half the guys would expect this from you anyway," he smiled, "You're a perfect Charming face character, Kev."
"So I've been told," he crossed his arms, "What about you?"
"Play writer," he smiled, "I'm here with my show and we decided to take the day off and come here. And I'm glad I did."
"You're living your dream, Connor," Kevin smiled to him.
"Not quite. I haven't won my four tony's for writing, dancing, directing and acting yet."
Kevin laughed lightly, "Someday soon."
"You're still as humble and sweet as ever. Still the occasional jerk?"
"Little bit," he smiled, "I can be when I have to do something I didn't sign up for… Like my understudy work."
"Who are you understudy for?"
He sighed, "Prince Phillip. I hate it, I look nothing like him but they claim I'm perfect."
"I'm sure you are," Connor smirked.
"Not when I have to do one of those shows as the understudy."
Connor nodded, "Yeah, ok that would suck a lot…"
"Hate doing shows as it is," he laughed lightly.
"At least you do shows," Connor sighed, "As the creator of the show, I can't do anything but read lines. It sucks sometimes."
"At least you're working with theater," he smiled to him.
"Yeah true," Connor's mouth twitched up into a small smile, "I really have missed you."
"I've missed you too."
"Did you change your number?" Connor asked, "I've tried calling before, but always got a dial tone."
"Yeah, I got a new phone and number when I moved out here," he pulled his phone from his back pocket, "I guess some of the numbers weren't backed up so they didn't transfer. Of course the ones that didn't transfer were the District Nine guys."
"Whose do you need?" Connor grabbed his phone.
"Yours," he smiled.
"You're smooth," he smiled, "Wow, I have missed you."
"Wanna see some cool stuff?" he asked, pulling his disney ID from his backpack.
"You're so evil and I love it. Yes!"
Kevin bowed to Connor like he would as one of the princes he acted like by day. He offered his hand to Connor with a smile, "Care to join me?" he asked.
Connor laughed and grabbed his hand, "I'd love to."
