Pocahontas had been texting John Rolfe for the two weeks now, he had proved incredibly gentlemen like and sweet, they had met last week for a coffee and were planning another meetup this weekend. That afternoon however, Pocahontas' grandmother had come home from shopping with a pretty dress she had seen in the sale,
"Now I know I'm no fashion expert, but I saw it and just thought of you!" she had said,
it was beige, strapless and fell a-line to the floor. The skirt, however, was very chiffron and a tad too ballet like for Pocahontas' liking. So she tried on the dress, it fit like a glove, and called up on Cindy for some tweeking.
The two headed to a few fabric stores and thrift stores and headed back to Pocahontas' where they sat in the family room and began chopping changing. They decided to remove parts of the huge chiffron skirt and replace it with assorted laces in shades of beige.
Pocahontas chose parts to use and where, while Cindy sewed and cut and tore.
"I suppose I'll find some brown heels' Pocahontas pondered aloud,
"I think that could be lovely" Cindy agreed, "with a nice necklace"
"Oh I have a gorgeous turquoise one, it was my mothers"
"I'm sure I've seen you in it, it really is lovely" she nodded,
"What about you, Cindy?" Pocahontas asked, "Found a prom dress?"
"Anastasia and Drizella just ordered their gowns but I'm... on a bit of a budget"
Pocahontas frowned, feeling quite guilty
"It's OK though" Cindy said quickly, "I have some of my mothers old dresses I'm sure I can tailor it to me... add a sash or something"
"Vintage is always the way to go" Pocahontas nodded, "And Aurora? Has she chosen a colour?"
"She's been buying and returning gowns like there's no tomorrow" Cinderella laughed, "Dark blue, light blue, pinks and even peach"
"She'd look good in a bin bag" Pocahontas laughed, "God I fancy some food, are you hungry?"
"Oh no I'm fine" Cinderella smiled,
"Cindy we haven't eaten all day" Pocahontas half laughed, "you're welcome to have some lunch here, honestly"
Cinderella considered this for a moment,
"If you really don't mind" she shrugged, "I skipped breakfast and-"
"Say no more," Pocahontas laughed, and headed into the kitchen
She put together some sandwiches, cheese and tomato for herself and jam for Cinderella.
She headed back in, with some coffee too and the two took a break from their handywork too eat, but just as Pocahontas went to bite into her sandwich her phone began to ring,
"Es?... You are?... Well sure but I'm pretty busy... No, not with John, Cinderella... yeah seriously, we're working on my prom dress, the fabric... yes still... well just go... I'm not your parental guardian... Ok Ok, love you too"
"Esmeralda?" Cindy asked,
Pocahontas hung up and nodded, "they're going prom shopping, she wanted me to go"
"They?"
"Aurora, Tiana, Arista and Es"
Cinderella nodded and ate her sandwich and Pocahontas felt a tad guilty, she did think Esmeralda would feel a tad awkward. It wasn't like she was the best of friends with any of them, but then again she did know them. She did, however, figure that they were only dress shopping it wasn't like they were going for dinner or anything too personal. Esmeralda she'd be fine.
Anna had finally been invited to Hans to meet his parents that weekend. They'd been together now since the beginning of the school year and he had met her parents, and she'd yet to go to his house.
He was over a lot of evenings now, they didn't talk much mainly just watched Adam Sandler films that he found funny and then pecked at the end of the night and he would leave. Elsa hated him, and on the occasions they watched an annoying and abnoxious film she'd head up to her room and wait for him to leave. Last night, however, when she headed down and put on cartoons, Anna and her ended up arguing.
"Anna why do you want to watch soccer?"
"I like it now!"
"Anna... Hans isn't that great just because he's a senior with a nice smile"
"You don't know him like I do"
Elsa sighed, and Anna refused to talk to her. Elsa just knew she wouldn't listen.
Hans, on the other hand, had his bet with Gaston fresh in his mind and Gaston was reminding him about it almost every week,
"Hows the bet going?" "Have you slept with the first one yet?" "Remember, both Winter sisters by the end of the year"
So he decided to move things along and invite her over to 'meet his parents'.
Anna headed over to Hans' big house. Well, it was big I mean he had lots of brothers. She arrived in the late afternoon and the sky was pretty grey, and the walk had been a good twenty minutes. Safe to say, she was freezing.
Hans answered the door almost immediately, he looked a lot more casual than usual in a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and tshirt, his hair was also somewhat dishevelled,
"Anna" he smiled, "come in, come in"
Anna shuffled inside and pulled her coat and scarf off to reveal simple jeans a simple blouse. The house was pretty quiet and Hans shifted on his feet.
"So where is everyone?" she asked with a small smile
"Bernard's at college, Laurence and Greg are at gym, and my parents and Isaac are shopping"
"I thought you invited me round to meet them all?"
"Oh sure sure, I did" he nodded, "but you showed up early"
Anna blushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Whatever" he shrugged, "come on we'll go upstairs"
Anna hesitantly followed her boyfriend up the staircase,
They entered his room. His house was nice enough, big and clean but his room was the opposite to say the least. It was dingy and dark, his bed was huge but unmade and there were half empty glasses of soda on the side. He switched the TV on quickly and flipped the light on. The room was very red decorated, bright and still unkept looking.
He grabbed the remote and put the TV on, a boring Adam Sandler film was playing and Hans grinned,
"Love Adam Sandler" he said, flopping onto the bed, "Do you like this film?"
Anna just nodded, "sure I love Adam Sandler too!"
She fell into the spot beside him and they watched on for a few moments, Hans laughed several times but Anna didn't find it that funny. She even felt herself falling asleep, she began to rest her head on the pillow and her eyes fluttered a bit before they closed. She heard the film in the background and convinced herself she wouldn't flal asleep...
"Anna?" Hans yelled, "Anna, are you asleep?"
She jolted awake, caught her breathe and jumped up, "Yes-yes I'm awake sorry"
"It's OK" he said, and then leaned in to kiss her
They kissed for a few moments, Hans became more intense and Anna became less interested. She needed a drink, she fancied a snack and she had just half woken up. She wasn't in the mood to kiss,
"Hans" she muttered, pulling away, but he pulled her in again. This time she felt quite uncomfortable and she didn't like that his hands were roaming now.
"OK, let's stop now" she tried again,
"Stop being such a baby" he said, half scoffing and continuing but Anna didn't like this at all anymore, he was pushing her to lie down and his hands were under her blouse.
She began to try and push, feeling really uncomfortable and then she began to whinge like a baby and a few tears fell from her face. Her legs were wriggling around now in fight,
"Hey Hans have you seen my- Hey what's the hell?" Anna heard a voice, and Hans turned to the bedroom door and flew off from Anna,
"Get out" he said to the guy who had walked in, who was huge and muscular,
"Hans are you kidding?" the guy said with a sneer, and he looked quizically at Anna with her tear stained face. She got straight off the bed and grabbed her bag, rubbed her cheeks and headed out,
"Wait" the guy said to her softly, "Hans if you were doing what I think-"
"Of course I wasn't" Hans said with a chuckle,
"You horrible little snake" his brother spat, and he shoved his brother "you've no idea how much trouble you're going to be in"
"Hey!" Hans cried, "get the fuck off of me"
"When will you learn?" he yelled,
"Whoa whoa" another guy ran in, presumably another brother, smaller and leaner than the huge guy with glasses and a sweater,
"He's being a pig again" the big guy said with a grimace,
The boy with glasses shook his head, "Stay up here" he told him firmly,
The large guy took Anna's arm softly, and took her downstairs. They sat her at the kitchen table and handed her a glass of water before the two went across to the other side of the room and began a serious conversation in whispers.
Anna sat, her hands shook and her throat was dry and yet she couldn't drink the full glass of water in front of her. It had come to her now, that everyone had been right. Her sister, her friends. She'd pushed them all away for a guy who cared nothing about her.
"Hey, are you OK?" Hans' brothers headed over and took seats opposite her with warm faces,
"Fine" she nodded meekly,
"I'm Greg" the large guy said, "This is Bernie"
"Bernard" he corrected, pushing his glasses higher up his nose
"I'm sorry that happened, are you hurt? It's a good thing I finished college early" Bernard continued,
"I'm fine" Anna repeated, "I just didn't expect that.. I mean-"
"He's always bringing girls back here" Greg said, "and he's always treating them like shit"
"What my brother means is, he's not kind to ladies"
"I'm sure she knows what shit means" Greg said,
"Whatever" Bernard shook his head, "the thing is, the rest of us- we're OK and God mum and dad are going to kill him"
"Kill him? They'll stop him going to school" Greg said, "god mum will-"
the two stopped and stared at Anna who hadn't looked them in the eye once,
"We'll take care of him" Greg assured her
"Do you want a ride home?"
Anna considered this, she thought about Hans upstairs and all the lies, the fake sweetness and the first date- come to think of it the first date was terrible- how he never laughed with her, never liked her cartoons and was always putting her down. She looked at his brothers, she did seem to trust them but she didn't really want to be alone with them, or anyone for that matter. She wanted Jasmine, Ariel and Mulan and even Rapunzel. No. She wanted Elsa, but they had argued over him, several times and she'd feel too embarrassed- she wanted Kristoff. She widened her eyes at the very thought. Kristoff? Surely not? He wouldn't say anything... but then she didn't want him too, she wanted to just be hugged. She shook her head of the thought.
"I'll get a taxi" she said, slowly standing up, her hands shaking
"Please" Bernard said, "We'll pay, Greg, call a taxi"
"Sure" Greg left the room and Anna sat down again, waiting for the taxi to arrive,
"Are you sure you're alright?"
she nodded,
"I am sorry again"
she nodded,
"Do you want the wifi code?"
she nodded,
He tapped it into her phone, and her phone connection strengthened and she saw a few messages come through, Elsa asking when she was home.
She sighed, and didn't open the message. One from Kristoff asking if she wanted to walk Sven with him later on, he was headed to the park. She thought of walking so much, talking, she sobbed a tiny bit more. She just wanted to be in bed.
His brothers talked awkwardly and politely, they saw her into the taxi and paid and she got home, headed through the door and headed past her parents in their study and straight upstairs holding back her sobbing. She even headed past her bedroom and didn't even knock, she headed straight into Elsa's where Elsa was sat on her bed with a book in her hand.
"Anna?" she asked, putting the book down "I thought you were at Hans"
Anna fell onto Elsa's single bed, creasing the neat sheets and then sobbed like a baby,
"Ok Ok" Elsa said, throwing the book to the side and she began to stroke at her sisters hair. She didn't question her, she didn't try and figure out what was wrong she just knew her sister needed to cry.
Belle and Adam went shopping that morning and chose a cute embellished green dress for Belle, the small flowers detailed the bodice and the skirt was just above her knee. They paired it with a little yellow cardigan and green shoes and she looked rather adorable. Then they headed for 'Basil's' a posh restaraunt uptown and when Adam's old pick up truck arrived beside all the mercedes benz and Audi's Belle laughed at an old couple who scoffed and practically ran away.
They went inside, Adam's parents were already sat around a half full table, it seemed they weren't the first to arrive but not the last. They took seats beside his parents and ordered two drinks for themselves, Belle's dress was complimented and after that the two were scarcely spoken too.
The meal was quick and Gaston wasn't at this event this time, they had a three course meal, she even tried the 'grey stuff' the waiter reccommended. The stiff buisness men made bad and sometimes politically incorrect jokes and Belle and Adam bit their tongues. Then, when it was over they got back into his pickup truck and he headed to drop her home.
"That was quite good" she said, "good food"
he just shrugged as a reply, she was getting used to the way he didn't always reply
"Hey actually" he said, taking a U turn, "I have to show you something"
Belle looked behind them shocked, "Ok?"
Adam drove back to his house, his father had stayed at the restaraunt for a few drinks with his friends and his mother had taken the car to the airport where she was heading to Miami with her sister.
They got back to the huge, huge house and headed inside. Adam ran upstairs and changed out of his smart clothes and into some jeans and a plum hoodie, while Belle stood in the hall in small talk with Mrs Potts.
Adam ran back down and then lugged at Belle, "come on"
"What did you have to show me?" she asked, giggling
He pulled her along the corridor and then stopped suddenly,
"Ok Ok" he said, "but first, close your eyes"
she raised her eyebrow,
"It's a surprise" he explained
She closed her eyes with a small smile and then he took her hands very gently,
She felt him pull her along, ligher than air, and she walked very slowly through with him. He pulled her and then stopped, she could see the darkness in the inside of her eyelids and her heart thumped with anticipation.
She heard the racking of the curtain poles and light shed in to the right and left of her,
"Can I open them?"
"Not yet" he said, and she heard him rushing around
She heard another curtain pole and grinned, "Now, can I open them?"
"Alright, now" he said, glee in his voice
Belle opened her eyes and saw the old dusty library she had once seen but this time, it had been cleaned, polished, and filled with books!
The mint green-blue walls and shelves glistened with golden detailing and beautiful stairs, chairs. The marble floors gleamed and beautiful, plush couches were near them. The windows were huge, it looked almost fake! The light poured in even on the dark day and the fireplace was taller than even Adam. Then there was the books! So many books, crammed in on one another and beautifully binded. Not a single shelf was bare,
"I can't believe it, well I've never seen so many books in all my life!"
"You-you like it?" he asked, with a grin
"It's wonderful!" she glistened, a happy tear in her eye
"Well... then it's yours"
Belle gasped, "thank you so much!"
Mrs Potts, Lumiere and Cogsworth had hastened and were peaking through the library doors,
"Would you look at that!" Mrs Potts cooed,
"It's very... promising" Cogsworth grinned,
"And who'd had guessed they'd come together like this?"
"We'll wait and see, a few days more... there may be something there that wasn't there before!" Mrs Potts pondered aloud.
Esmeralda cursed Pocahontas and then forced herself to the mall. Aurora, Tiana and Arista were waiting around, the same spot as last time they had gone shopping.
"Hey Esmeralda!" Aurora called, "ready to try shopping again?"
Esmeralda sighed to herself, "Sure!" she really wished Pocahontas was here,
They headed into a few shops and it was just like before. Aurora couldn't choose a colour, Tiana couldn't afford anything and Arista, a newfound shopper, tried on everything. It seemed Andrina had taken the dress Arista wanted, a magenta mermaid tail, and now Arista had to choose a new one.
They passed past the huge blue dress Cinderella had loved and stared, mesmerised again
"It's so beautiful" Esmeralda said, enchanted again
"I really wish Cindy would wear it" Aurora said, "She'd look beautiful"
"Cinderella?" Arista asked, "Oh yes she'd look wonderful!"
They fleetingly walked past the dress and headed into another store. Arista found her perfect dress, a golden strapless with a tight skirt, bringing out the blonde white of her hair. Everyone agreed she looked wonderful.
Esmeralda still couldn't find anything, her usual bright oranges, purples and reds weren't looking any good, she wondered if she even suited it anymore. Maybe she could try what Pocahontas did and go a little more neutral coloured. She shook her head, God she was so unsure of anything anymore. And who would she even take to prom? She grimaced at the thought. There were the cute couples like Philip and Aurora, the unseen couples like Naveen and Lottie and then there were the inevitable couples, they'd get together right at the very end like Rapunzel and Flynn. She caught her own eye in the store mirror and just sighed,
"Hey guys" she said bluntly, barely looking at them
"What's up?" Tiana asked,
"I'm heading home" and she walked away, without explanation or even a smile. Sick to death of prom.
Pocahontas got ready and headed down to Duke's where she had arranged to meet John Rolfe. Their texts had been friendly and so had their meetings but when he text her to say he really couldn't wait to see her, she frowned a bit at that. She'd hoped she hadn't led him on, she told him how John Smith had only left not long ago and how they still texted sometimes but she couldn't deny it even to herself, they had drifted and it seemed his work was causing a lot of stress. He barely spoke to her.
She entered Duke's and saw Tiana rush in just before her,
"Hey Pocahontas- just been shopping- God I'm so late" she hastened in and disappeared
Pocahontas spotted John, his hair back and a cable knit jumper and chinos. Admittedly, he dressed similarly to Naveen.
"Pocahontas!" he stood up, gentleman like "Are you cold?"
"Very" she nodded, "Have you ordered?"
"Not yet, but I'm pretty hungry. I might get something to eat"
"Sure, same" she smiled, "Oh I could go for the lentil soup"
A waitress headed over and they ordered a lentil soup, a panini and two coffees,
"So how are you, hows school going?" he asked,
She sighed, "Quite stressful, I've had to drop out of the school play and everything"
"You were in the play?" he grinned, "That's awesome"
"Only a small role" she said modestly, "anyway, I quit to work on my school work"
"That's a good decision" he nodded, "Sensible"
"Thank you, I've not been leaving out prom committee though"
"Ah Prom!" he said, "How exciting- I remember my prom"
"What was it like?" she asked excitedly, admittedly needing a confidence boost over prom. She was at the moment too preoccupied with her John's and studying,
"Not bad" he shrugged, "All guys school so didn't have a date but was a fun night I suppose"
"Date?" Pocahontas cried, "Oh God never thought about that- John Smith had asked if he could come but... well"
He tilted his head, "I know it isn't romantic..."
Oh dear. She thought, he's going to ask me to prom, am I ready? Will I want too? Of course I want too, he is lovely but-
"Do you want me to take you to prom?"
Pocahontas automatically grinned and any doubts she had, faded. She really liked this guy, he was lovely and great and so handsome! And John Smith was being so blunt, so unreliable
"Oh John" she smiled, "I'd love it"
WOO chapter. I actually love writing these :-) ALso it's killing to me write about John Rolfe considering I hate him and all that, gosh.