Chapter Seventeen: Stories, Lemonade, and a New Addition

Merida rolled over on her bed.

"Peter?"

She sat up, and realized that she was back at her own house.

"Oh."

Yesterday Merida and Peter had climbed out of the underground tunnels, and he had brought her back to her home. She realized that she must have fallen asleep.

She threw herself out of bed and got ready for the day. Once she had taken a shower, gotten dressed, and eaten, she sat down on her couch and sighed.

After a few minutes, two knocks sounded on her door. She jumped up and opened her door, preparing to see Peter. Jim stood on her porch with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh. Hey, Jim." Merida said. "Do you want to come in?"

Jim smiled.

"Yeah, thanks."

Merida closed the door, and the two sat down in her front room.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, leaning against the back of her chair.

"I just wanted to see you." Jim said. "When did you get home?"

"Yesterday. I'm not sure exactly when, I fell asleep pretty soon after, though."

"Good, you need rest."

Merida smiled at him. He was so concerned about her and Peter's well being.

"Thanks. Oh! I still have your phone."

Merida started to get up to get it.

"No, keep it. I made it for you."

Merida looked at him.

"You made it?"

Jim ran his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah. It's for you to keep since you're outside most of the time, anyway."

Merida sat back down in her chair.

"Thank you." She said. "Where's Morph?"

Jim laughed lightly.

"I left him over at Peter's place."

Merida's interest peaked.

"You were at Peter's."

"Yeah, I went over there earlier to talk to him."

Merida nodded. Of course he would want to check on Peter, too, they were friends.

"Hey, Merida…" Jim said, snapping back her attention.

"Yeah?"

He folded his hands under his chin and smirked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later."

Merida smiled.

"Yeah, sure, I'm not doing anything."

Jim stood up.

"Good. Now, I've got to get going. I'll see you around two?"

Merida nodded.

"Yeah. Sure. See ya, Jim."

Jim walked out her front door, and Merida got up and shut it.

Merida looked at the clock on her wall. It was just after ten.

She went to her phone to call Tiana. She was glad that she was going to hang out with Jim later, but she hadn't seen Tiana in days.

The phone rang twice.

"Tiana?"

There was excited laughing over the other end.

"Merida, is that you?"

Merida laughed.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a while."

"I'll be over in five minutes."

Merida hung up and laughed to herself. If she didn't know better, she would think that Tiana could fly with how fast she was able to get around Wonderland.

She went into her kitchen and pulled out a pitcher. Tiana was going to be so proud of how much she'd improved in drink making.

"Actually, in making anything edible." Merida thought to herself, and then laughed.

She managed to make some lemonade that tasted above average, and she brought it out to her front room.

After she had set it down on the table, Tiana burst through the door and threw her arms around her.

"Oh, honey, it's so good to see you!"

Merida laughed.

"I'm glad to see you, too."

They sat down and Merida poured her the drink. Tiana eyed it suspiciously.

"Is this okay to drink?"

They both laughed.

"Yes, I tasted it this time to make sure."

Tiana sipped it and smiled.

"Not bad."

Merida smiled.

"So, what did I miss?"

Tiana sat up straighter.

"There was a new arrival a few days ago."

Merida smiled. She knew that it probably wasn't someone in her family, but either way, new arrivals were great.

"Her name is Audrey Ramirez. She's a tough little thing from Sweet's old universe. Says that she likes to work with cars and machines, which is good, because we need more of those kind of people."

"How old is she?"

"Seventeen."

Merida smiled, she could be friends with Peter.

The girls drank their lemonade while Merida filled Tiana in on her life in the caves.

"We all appreciate what you did for him, Merida." Tiana said, refilling her glass.

"It was no trouble." Merida replied, smiling.

"I'd bet."

"Tiana!"

The two laughed, and then Merida looked at the clock. It read twelve.

"Expecting someone?"

"Well, not for a few hours. Jim wanted to hang out later."

Tiana raised her eyebrows.

"'Hang out'?"

Merida stared at her for a few seconds, and then what she was implying suddenly dawned on her.

"Tiana, it isn't a date."

"Really?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Then who else is going?"

Merida bit her lip.

"He didn't say, but there are probably other people going."

Tiana stared at her, eyebrows raised.

"Did you really just agree to go on a date without even knowing?"

"Hey! It might not be a date."

"Did you tell Peter?"

Merida furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why would I tell Peter that Jim and I were hanging out?"

"I feel like he'd be really interested in that little fact."

Merida sighed.

"Okay, so if this is a date, and I'm not saying it is, what do I do?"

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Merida rung her hands. Jim seemed nice enough, but did she really want to go on a date with him after everything that had happened?

Then again, it wasn't his fault.

"I… I don't know."

Tiana smiled.

"Well, this is what I think. If you and Jim are the only two people who go, then it's a date." Merida began to interject, but Tiana raised her hands. "You can talk when I'm done."

Merida leaned back into her chair. She wanted so badly to ignore what Tiana just said, but she knew that it probably wouldn't get her anywhere.

"If what you agreed to do is actually a date, you should at least go on it. I'm not saying that you have to go on any more, but one won't kill you."

Merida sighed.

"I guess you're right."

Tiana crossed her legs.

"I still think that you should tell Peter at some point. It's better if he finds out from you than from Jim."

"You're still assuming that it's a date!"

Tiana laughed lightly.

"Yes, I guess I am. If it makes you feel better, you can get ready on your own this time. I have to work a late shift at the restaurant."

Merida smiled.

"Thanks, Tiana."

Tiana stood up.

"It's no trouble, Merida. Just call me tomorrow and tell me what happened, okay?"

Merida laughed and nodded. She closed the door behind Tiana and locked it, and then sank down on a chair and looked at the clock.

"Might as well start getting ready." She mumbled, and then walked into her bedroom.

Merida sat down at her vanity and stared at her reflection. Her hair was messy, she was wearing sweats and a sweater, and she looked tired.

She walked over to her closet and looked through what she had, and then pulled out the dark blue dress that she had worn on her first day in Wonderland.

After she was dressed, she sat down and tried to fix her hair, pulling out the metal brush that Tiana had gotten her. She began to untangle her curls the way that her friends had taught her: Part your hair, start from the bottom on one side, work your way to the top, and then go to the other side.

Merida looked in the mirror and laughed. No matter how much she brushed her hair, it always retained its crazy curls. She shook her head and watched them bounce around her face, and then laughed again.

Merida automatically reached for the necklace that Peter bought her, but then her hand stopped.

Why did it feel wrong to wear the present that Peter had gotten her when she was with Jim?

She put the necklace on and tucked the charm under her collar.

Merida sighed, and then looked down at her feet. Did she need shoes? She thought about it, but then decided that she probably did. She slipped her brown shoes on, and then walked into her front room and sat down.

She looked over at the clock. It read one-fifty.

She tapped her feet, drummed her fingers, and rolled around on her couch.

Merida got up to get a drink, but there was a knock on her door. She froze, and then tried to shake it off.

"No reason to be nervous, right?" She thought as she opened the door.

"Hey." Jim said, smiling.

"Hey." Merida replied.

"You ready?"

Merida laughed.

"Yeah."

She walked out the door and looked around. It was only her and Jim. Did that mean that it was a date?

"What are we doing?" She asked, holding her hands behind her back.

Jim pointed to a vehicle that Merida recognized.

"Solar-surfing."

He led her to the surfer, helped her on, and then kicked it to life.

It rose up into the air, and they started flying faster than Merida had ever in her time in Wonderland.

Merida fell forward on top of Jim, and he steadied her.

"Be careful, there." He said, holding her back up.

"Sorry." She said, looking down.

They were flying higher than she ever remembered being.

"This is amazing!" Merida yelled.

It was like she could see all of the parts of Wonderland she knew.

"Anywhere you wanna land?" Jim shouted over the wind.

She looked down. They were flying over the trees, but there was a small section that was clear.

She pointed at it.

"Down there?"

Jim smiled.

"Sure!"

He flew the solar-surfer down at a dangerous angle, but landed without incident.

They walked off of if laughing.

Merida looked around, and then sat on a rock.

They were in a small clearing with a stream to the side.

"This looks a lot like a place from where I came."

Jim laughed.

"It could be."

Merida looked up at him.

"What?"

"Has no one told you anything? When people from your universe are getting closer to Wonderland, new places appear that are duplicates of ones from it."

Merida looked around, and a huge smile spread across her face. Did this mean that her family was coming soon?

Jim sat down next to her.

They were silent for a few seconds, and then he laughed.

"What?" Merida asked, looking at him.

"We don't really know that much about each other, do we?"

Merida looked up into the sky. There were no clouds in sight, and the shade of blue was perfect.

"No, I guess we don't."

Jim sighed.

"Well, tell me about where you came from."

Merida smiled. She loved talking about her home, and she didn't get to do it as often as she would have liked.

"My family ruled a kingdom called DunBroch, where we had ruled for centuries." She laughed "Well, I guess we still rule it, it's just that I'm not there."

"Tell me about your family."

Jim looked genuinely interested, so Merida continued.

"My father is the king. He is big and has hair like mine, though a lot of it is missing."

She laughed at the memory of seeing her father's bald spot for the first time when she was six. She had thought that it was a monster.

"He also had a missing leg that a bear had eaten a long time ago."

"A bear?"

Merida nodded, and Jim leaned back.

"What century did you live in?"

Merida smiled. Of all of the things that she had come to know in Wonderland, one of them was that time wasn't necessary here because people came from different times.

"The tenth."

Jim let out a huge breath.

"Wow."

Merida smiled.

"Yeah."

He nudged her arm.

"Tell me about the rest of your family."

"Well, my mother is very beautiful. Her hair is brown and straight, and she is the most proper person I have ever met. She and I used to not get along, but we started to a few years ago. I also have three little brothers, all born on the same day, all identical, and all with crazy hair like mine."

They both laughed.

"What about you?"

Jim smiled.

"Well, I have a mother who was beautiful. After my dad left, we were poor, but I managed to become a captain and make some money for her. I didn't have anyone else who was related to me by blood, but I did have some family friends."

Merida laughed.

"What?" Jim asked, looking up at Merida.

"It's just that, well, I thought that I was the only person whose 'mission in life' didn't involve falling in love."

Jim smiled.

"Yeah, what was yours about, anyway?"

Merida looked up at the sky. That seemed like so long ago, then again, she was fifteen when it happened.

"Well, when I was fifteen, the tradition among the surrounding kingdoms was to have each of the eldest princes compete for the hand of the princess."

She ran her fingers through the grass.

"I decided that I didn't want to get married, so I chose to compete for my own hand. Of course, that made my mother furious. I got angry at her, and then I found a witch and asked her to change my fate."

Merida pulled some of the blades of grass out.

"She did change my fate, but not in the way that I wanted."

Merida thought about what had happened to her mother, and how she felt when she thought she had lost her.

"And then what happened?"

Merida looked up at Jim. He looked so interested in what she was saying.

"My mother turned into a bear."

Jim stared at her.

"Like…Like a bear?" Jim made claws with his hands, and Merida laughed.

"Yes, a real bear. We went on a quest to turn her human, for me to fix my mistakes, and it didn't work. Just when we thought that she was going to be a bear forever, she turned back into a human. Our family has never been more close-knit."

She looked down at her fingers.

"Well, had."

Jim smiled at her.

"Well, now it makes sense."

"What?"

"Why you're so brave."

Merida smiled at him. Yes, she was brave.

"Well, what about you? What did you do before you got here?"

Jim ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Well, before I completed my mission, I was kind of a delinquent."

Merida scrunched her eyebrows. A what?

"I did a lot of stuff that got me into trouble."

She nodded, and he continued.

"Growing up, my mother had always told me stories about this place called 'Treasure Planet'. She said that they were just stories, but I… I don't know. I felt like they were real."

He looked down at the ground.

"One night I had a fight with my mother, and I went outside to be alone. I found a man who was dying, and he gave me a map. When I went inside and showed it to my mom and one of her friends (His name is Delbert), we found out that it led to Treasure Planet."

Merida had her face propped up on her hands, and she was leaning close to him. She loved listening to stories.

"My mom's friend agreed to take me on a search for it, and he hired a crew and captain to man the Spaceboat."

He looked at Merida, who was once again confused.

"Basically, a large ship that travels through space. I was put under the charge of the cook, and he worked me really hard."

Merida smiled. Jim explained things very well.

"He ended up teaching me a lot of things though, kinda like…"

He looked up at the sky.

"Anyway, the crew mutinied. The captain, Dilbert, Morph and I ended up on Treasure Planet alone. It took a few days, but we ended up off the planet. That's when I became a captain."

Merida smiled at him.

"And the cook?"

Jim smirked.

"I have no idea."

Merida laughed, and Jim did, too.

"Uh… Jim?"

He looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

Merida cleared her throat. She felt very awkward, but she had to know. If she didn't, she was going to go crazy when she got home.

"Is this a date?"

Jim smiled at her and leaned back on his arms.

"Yeah, I guess it is."