Torture Me Sweetly
Chapter Four

I woke up to birds chirping outside my window. I groaned at the cliche before turning to face a wide-awake Viv.

"Everything okay?" I asked her, knowing that the answer was probably no.

Viv rested her head on the pillow and angled her body to face me. "I'm free but I still feel like I'm trapped, you know?"

Mira nodded. 'Trapped' was one of feelings she felt on a daily basis. "Come on, let's go to Rafe's, go swimming, and relax."

Viv shook her head vehemently. "No, Mira, I can't. I can't see Henley right now. I've realized how much I've... how much I've hurt him. I'm the one who turned him into a violent obsessive stalker. I'm bad for him. He shouldn't be near me."

Mira smiled lightly. "Well it's a good thing he's out on a date with someone else today, then, isn't it?"

Viv sat up from the bed, clutching the comforter to her chest. "He's dating someone else?"

Mira nodded, smiling. "He's supposed to get out of the hospital today, and him and Blair were gonna go out to dinner tonight."

Viv frowned. "Who's Blair?"

Mira found her cell phone and showed Viv a picture of her and Blair. "That's her. She was a cursed Romantic, but Henley broke her curse!"

Viv stared disbelieving at Mira. "How the hell did he break her curse? He's not an Honor-Bound prince. He's my Huntsman."

Mira just shrugged and ignored Viv's possessive 'my'. "The loophole was that Blair's curse would break if she found a guy who could empathize with her plight. After he collapsed and when he was in the hospital, Blair told Henley her story and he connected to her. So she's free from her curse and then he immediately asked her out. Don't worry about her Viv, she's awesome. And I think she'll be good for Henley."

Viv frowned before swinging out of the bed. "Well if he can move on quickly, then so can I. Maybe Freddie, now that we're both not cursed."

Mira's fists grabbed at her comforter when Viv mentioned Freddie. She clenched the fabric between her fingers, but tried to keep her face an indifferent mask. "So Rafe's house then?"

Viv smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Can I borrow a swimsuit?"

Mira nodded and handed her a mint green bikini with a big bow on the front. Mira slipped into her strapless pink-and-black-striped bikini and threw a long t-shirt over the top before beginning the decently-long walk to Rafe's mansion.

When they arrived, Rafe was still asleep but Freddie and Jewel were there to open the door for them. Freddie seemed to stare at Mira everywhere she went, much to the annoyance of Viv, who kept trying to unsuccessfully gain his attention. Mira sat down next to him and told him about Viv's plan to use him to move on from Henley. Freddie just shook his head and said that he didn't feel that way about Viv.

When Blue arrived, the first thing he noticed was Freddie and Mirabelle staring deeply into each others' eyes. He frowned before making his way over to them, interrupting their staring contest, both trying to express the things they couldn't say. And the reason of their silence was standing in front of them with a frown on his face.

Blue sat down in between Mira and Freddie, kissing her quickly on the cheek. "Morning, baby."

Mira looked over at Freddie for a second before turning to face Blue fully. "Morning, Blue."

Blue hollered across the room over to Viv, who was talking furiously on her cell phone. "Yo, Viv, I hear congratulations are in order? The curse is broken and all that?"

Viv stiffened before quickly hanging up and turning to face Blue. "Yep, I'm free. And I was only asleep for like 20 minutes."

Blue smirked and raised his glass of water up, as if in a toast. "So when can we meet the lucky boy?"

Viv frowned at him, knowing that he was egging her on. "In about twelve years when he turns 18."

Mira flinched at the coldness of Viv's voice. She quickly pulled Blue down and glared at him before he finally stopped mocking Viv.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Layla walked in, looking as if she'd be anywhere but here. "Morning everyone," she commented to her group of friends.

Mira smiled and made her way over to her. "I thought you swore that you'd never come here until you had to?"

Layla frowned before smirking at her. "This is a special occasion. Viv's curse is broken! That doesn't just happen every day you know?" Mira smirked at the irony, thinking about Blair's curse being broken just yesterday as well.

Mira was sitting on a lawn chair out by the pool trying to catch a tan when a shadow loomed over her. She opened her eyes only to see a serious-looking Freddie. "Can we talk for a second?" Freddie asked politely.

Mira nodded and they walked off to the small garden of roses with a bench that Mira had found on one of her first times here. They sat down, and Freddie continued to stare at her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Mira asked curiously, wondering what Freddie was being so secretive about.

Freddie took a deep breath before smiling reassuringly at her. "My mom wanted to know if you'd be able to come over for dinner tomorrow night? She wants to get to know my Sleeping Beauty."

Mira blushed at the affectionate tone he used to talk about her. "I'd love to Freddie, but I'll have to ask Bliss and Elsa first and make sure they're okay with it. Will Caspian and Wills be there as well?"

Freddie frowned. "Actually, Caspian has signed up for swimming lessons after your suggestion, so tomorrow he's not going to be there for dinner."

Mira smiled. "That's great! Good for him. And how's Wills' detective case on finding his Cinderella?"

Freddie frowned. "No luck yet, and they're both a little jealous that I've already fulfilled my role in your curse. They're both older and they've been waiting longer than I have for their princesses. And they're both confused about why we're not having a happily ever after until I explained that you're dating Blue."

Mira looked down at the ground, looking everywhere but at Freddie. "Right, glad you cleared that up."

"Right." The duo fell into a silence that seemed unbreakable after the mention of Mira's boyfriend.

Mira thought of the locked up key that was in the back of her closet, the thing that never seemed to leave her mind anymore. And Suite 3024 seemed to always be on a continuous loop around her thoughts, forgetting the room number and then suddenly remembering with clarity the look of the door that she had passed by countless times without realizing what was behind it.

Jane. Blue's first love.

Mira felt strong hands shaking her out of her thoughts and heard Freddie calling her name. "Mira? Mira, are you all right?"

Mira shook her head and focused on the person in front of her. "Sorry, wandered off into thought."

Freddie frowned. "Whatever you were thinking about, you're scared of it. You looked terrified." He paused, probably trying to think about what could scare her. "Is it Felix? Is that who you're worried about?"

Mira shook her head no. "I haven't given him much thought lately. Actually I was thinking about... Jane."

A look of pain crossed Freddie's face. "Ah." He was staring at her, silently asking her to elaborate.

Mira looked around the deserted garden. "It's just, lately I've been worried that someday I'm going to end up like her."

Freddie's eyebrows scrunched together. "Blue's kisses can't kill you anymore though?"

Mira pursed her lips. "I know. But if I ever walk into that room, I'm never walking back out. I don't have another curse to fall back on, and lately I've been wondering if maybe... I don't know."

Freddie stared at her, his face half-hopeful half-sorrowful. "If maybe you made the wrong decision?"

Mira sighed and dejectedly stared at the ground. Freddie put his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

She had finally relaxed when she heard her name being called. Layla walked into the clearing and stopped at the sight of Freddie and Mira sitting closely together on the stone bench. She looked pensive, but moved toward them quickly. "No one could find you and everyone was getting worried."

Mira pulled her head up from Freddie's shoulder, and his arm fell away from her back. "Oh, sorry Layla. We've been here the whole time."

Freddie stood up suddenly, pulling Mira up with him. "Well we should get back then, because I don't want anyone to worry."

Mira read between the lines. He didn't want Blue to think they had snuck off together. The trio walked back to their group of friends in silence, all lost in their own thoughts. When they got to the pool, everyone fell silent.

Jewel stepped forward and hugged them both quickly. "Here's some pearls for both of you. We've all been really worried."

Mira smiled and put the pearls in her pocket. "We were just over in the rose garden place. Layla found us easily enough. You guys worry too much."

Rafe rubbed his eyes sleepily. "In a town like Beau Rivage, you can never be too careful."

Mira thought about Felix still being on the loose. "Right."

Viv tapped her wristwatch, telling Mira that it was time to go. "Well, we better be heading out," Viv called out to her friends as her and Mira headed towards the front door.

They made their way back to Bliss and Elsa's, trudging up to Mira's room and falling onto the bed when they made their way through the door. They both fell into a sleepy pile before taking a quick nap. Mira woke up to the doorbell ringing. Viv just rolled over and went back to sleep.

Mira walked down the stairs, pulling her long t-shirt down her thighs to try to fight the chill in the air. She opened the front door, but no one was there. She was about to shut the door when she heard a small squeak. Mira looked down, only to be shocked by the sight of a basket with a baby in it. The baby had a shock of blonde hair on it's head, and it looked tiny like a newborn. A sticky note was attached to the top blanket that was covering the baby. The note had a name written in blocky lettering. Arachne Bay Evansley. Mira slowly pulled the baby from the basket and pulled the pile of blankets away. She discovered the baby was a girl and turned her over.

Mira gasped when she caught sight of the little baby's back. There was a fist-sized shape taking up almost the entire baby's back.

The shape was a snowflake.

A/N- Y'all know where this is going, right? At first, I was going to have Mirabelle become pregnant, but I wasn't very fond of the idea. So bam, baby left on the doorstep cliche.