Naveen was happy with his life. He was a prince, and his wife was a successful restaurant owner. He couldn't see himself wanting much else. Still, he couldn't help but notice how his wife stared at her best friend.
It had been two years since he married his wife, and he recognized the little things about her. The way she was a morning person and could wake up the moment the sun peaked above the horizon, or how she always showered at night so she could sleep easier. And he noticed the way she looked at him, sometimes when she thought he wasn't looking. She would stare at him as if he lifted the stars up and threw them into the heaven himself.
And it wasn't hard to see that she was staring at her best friend the same way. When Naveen fully noticed what was going on, he took his wife's hand gently, and led her up the stairs of her friend's home so they could talk for a moment.
"Is something wrong?" Tiana asked, slightly taken aback at the gesture. Her eyes almost seemed to sink as they were forced to move from their comfortable position, but they slumped back into peace as they fell on her prince of a husband.
"It's nothing much, but I can't help but notice how you're looking at Charlotte," he said softly and sweetly, causing his wife to tense up slightly. "I was just wondering if you were alright."
Tiana loosened herself up slightly and leaned on the wall, overlooking the crowd and spotting her mentioned friend twirling in the crowd with some noble man. "Of course, I'm alright. What makes you think I'm not?"
"You just seem a little... distracted," Naveen mumbled, glancing off and watching the pink-covered woman as well. "by Miss Charlotte." He darted his eyes curiously over to his wife and saw her tense up slightly yet again. He couldn't help but blurt out the question on his mind. "Do you love her?"
Right away, his wife backed away at the words, her eyes wide in shock. Before she could say anything, her husband continued to speak.
"Tiana, it's alright, I don't think it's odd, or anything. That's not why I'm asking, I just want you to be happy, and if that means..." He trailed off, his eyes traveling back to Charlotte.
Softening at the words, Tiana stepped forward and grabbed his hands in her own. "You know that I love you, Naveen."
"I know, that, but... you didn't answer my question. You love Charlotte, too, yes?"
When the woman couldn't bring herself to answer verbally, and could only stare down at her grip on her husband, he gave her a smile and pulled her in. "It's alright. I won't tell anyone... do you want to tell Charlotte?"
Shrugging, Tiana leaned against her man. "I don't know. Maybe I do like her, but... she's my best friend, Naveen. I have no clue how she would react."
"Well, you can't sit around and pretend you don't love her your entire life, can you?"
Humming in thought, Tiana rested her head on Naveen's shoulder. "No, I don't think I can, but... are you really sure about this?"
The man shrugged. "Why not? I've met many princes who like other princes and princesses who like other princess, and many who like whoever they fall in love with. It doesn't bother me if you fall in love with another woman. I just hope you stay in love with me, too."
Laughing whole-heartedly, Tiana held her husband's hand tightly. "Of course, I will. Whatever comes of my feelings, I won't leave you, Naveen."
The husband smiled at that and kissed at his wife's forehead affectionately. "Now, why don't you go and talk to her?"
That night, Tiana slid into bed with her husband, who turned around tiredly. "How did it go?"
"She said she has some thinking to do. She seemed really into that nobleman this evening, but she said he isn't quite royalty, so she could see herself falling in love with me."
"How sweet. I didn't think she would like that man too much. No offense to Sir Barkis, but he doesn't seem all that... kindly."
"I know. Even Lottie said she could tell he wasn't that great of a catch, but she's still meeting with him next week."
"That could be an issue with how you feel for her, yes?"
Tiana shrugged and reached forward and kissed her husband. "Maybe, but... I'll just wait and see how things turn out."
"Sounds like a plan."
The next week came, and surely enough, Charlotte returned home from her date with Lord Barkis crying.
According to the princess of the town, the man had been way too forward with her, kissing her hand and calling her pet names. Whenever she told him to tone it down, he proposed. She couldn't be more disgusted by the idea and rushed out and straight home, where Tiana was waiting.
She leaned on her friend and calmed her tears, thinking of what her friend said the previous week. "Did you really mean what you said, Tia?"
Tiana couldn't help but be shocked at how nervous her friend suddenly seemed around her. Did she really render her embarrassed? Gulping, Tiana only nodded and kept her eyes downwards. Was Charlotte disgusted by her, too?
"Well, truth be told, Pumpkin, I couldn't stop thinking of you during our date. I just kept thinking about how nice it could be to dance with you for a change. Like when we were younger." As she spoke, she gently grabbed the other's hand in her own. "Are you really sure it's alright with Naveen, though? I mean, it's not every day a princess like you has a girlfriend on the side."
Tiana lifted both of Charlotte's hands up and held them tightly. "Oh, you would never be just someone on the side to me, Lottie. You know that. And... so what, if I'm married to a prince? Why can't I be dating a princess like you, too?"
Charlotte seemed to turn as pink as her dress and shrugged her shoulders. "You know, it's funny. I always thought I would fall in love with a handsome prince, who would sweep me off my feet. I never thought I would be falling in love with a beautiful princess, or my best friend, for that matter."
Shrugging, Tiana leaned back. "I never thought I would be, either. And here I am, being happily in love with a handsome prince and a beautiful princess."
"Awhh, don't say that." Charlotte laughed lightly, stopping suddenly. "You know, way back when you and Naveen were turned into frogs, I had this wild dream for several nights, where I lifted you up and kissed you and you turned back to yourself. I still have that dream sometimes, and every once in a while, you were never a frog in it. I just... kissed you."
"Did you want to kiss me, back then?"
The blond shrugged in thought. "I don't know. Maybe I did. Maybe I still want to."
At those words, Tiana lifted her hand up and gently turned her friend's head towards hers'. "Why don't you go ahead and kiss me, then?"
Charlotte wasted no time in doing just that, holding tightly to Tiana as she did. When she broke away, she couldn't help but beam over at the other. "I can't believe I kissed a princess," the girl muttered, sending her friend into laughter.
"And I kissed one, too, and I'd like to do it again, if that's alright with you." The other nodded excitedly and pulled her new girlfriend back in.
Two months later, Tiana and Charlotte strolled through the marketplace near the old café Tiana used to work at, listening to an interesting tune coming from down the street.
"Oh, do you hear that Tia?" Charlotte squealed, recognizing the sound instantly, dragging her friend down the street happily, stopping in front of the glorious street piano, shoving the player out of the way and taking over.
Charlotte was no piano star, but still, she was able to pound the keys with such enthusiasm that people still danced around the square.
As Naveen joined his wife's side and saw their girlfriend's gleeful playing, he couldn't help but laugh and take a small guitar from a nearby man and began to strum to the tune of the piano.
Tiana never learned to play any instrument, but she remembered back to the many times both Naveen and Charlotte had complimented her singing voice and strode up to her lovers with joy and pride, singing along to the gleeful tune she sang just a few years ago, when she first opened her restaurant.
"In the south lands, there's a city, way down on the river," She started, swinging around to Charlotte, running her fingers lightly across her girlfriend's hair, "where the women are very pretty," she placed a simple kiss on Charlotte's cheek, before dancing over to Naveen, kissing his cheek as well as she sang out, "and all the men deliver."
She finished her song, and the other two gazed over at her with pure adoration, letting others take over the instruments before sitting on the side of the road tiredly, listening to the gorgeous music that played on.
Tiana was happy with her life. It wasn't every day that a simple, hardworking woman like herself fell in love with and married a prince, and it wasn't every day that they fell in love with their best friends, either. But she was happy she did, and she wouldn't change a thing about her happy ending.