It didn't take much for me to fall. I had always been the kind of person to wear my heart on my sleeve. I had liked plenty of boys, but I was shy, as I've said before, so I never confessed to any of them. As always, they would tease me and pick on me and I would realise it wasn't love... just another crush.
But one... One guy... Why can't I break it? He got me to fall with one look. It's just that I can't stop thinking about him. Whenever he's not in my site, I wonder what he's doing, where he is. I dare not tell anyone, it might just be another passing crush that's lasting longer than normal. And besides, even if I do like him more than a crush, he hasn't shown any signs that he likes me back. He's just mean to me. Calling me names, teasing me... He acts like a little kid. He acts like it's a kindergarten crush, toying with my heart.
It's not like it matters. None of my crushes have ever liked me back
***
December 20th
It was cold, or at least to me it was. I was wearing 2 sweaters, a long sleeve shirt and sweatpants and I was still cold. Bel was laughing at me for my inability to keep warm. I was glaring at him as he snickered that silly little laugh of his. I kept walking beside him though. In the unfamiliar streets of Bari, Italy, one can get hopelessly lost
"When are we going to go back to the hotel?" I huffed, not wanting to be outside in such weather.
"Soon, we're only a few blocks away." Bel glanced down at me, grinning, "Ushishishi. How can you be so cold? It's 4 degrees."
"Because I can't retain heat well; what's it to you?" I hissed.
He wrapped his arm over my shoulder as we walked. He had been doing that lately; touching me. Not inappropriately, an arm around my waist or shoulder was all. He had kissed my forehead about 5 times, but nothing more than that. It's almost as if he wanted people to think we're together. I've gotten used to it; his touch and the feeling of his hand in mine. I often dragged him down streets to go over and look at something in a shop window and clasped onto his hand.
"Ushishishi." Bel snickered, "Maybe you should've stayed inside then."
"That's not my fault!" I frowned up at him, "You're the one who dragged me out of the hotel!"
Bel grinned, "Of course I did. I'm allowed to do that. I'm a prince."
"Yeah, yeah. I know." I grumbled, spotting the hotel about two blocks away.
Bel brings me a little closer; his warmth was something I loved. Just like his smile and snicker. He was always up to no good, a little mischief maker, but I didn't care. I hung out with him anyways. There was no one else my age to be with.
As we came closer to the hotel Bel started talking again.
"You know, it's my birthday soon." He said.
"You have a birthday...?" I said, not thinking.
"No, I've lived forever." Bel said sarcastically, "Ushishishi."
"When is it?" I asked, noticing my mistake and rolling my eyes.
"In two days." Bel held up the arm that wasn't over my shoulder and made a 2 sign with his hands. "On the 22nd."
I smiled up at him, "What do you want?"
"Hmm... I never asked for anything." Bel said, bringing his arm back down to his side and looking straight again, "I just wanted to make sure you knew when it was."
I smirked. This was his way of telling me he wouldn't be ignored. "Well, now that you've told me, I'm going to get you something."
"No. You don't have to." Bel said, sounding almost angry.
"But I want to." I pouted. "Come on! Tell me what you want! I'll get it for you."
"I don't want you to get anything for me." Bel said as we crossed the street. He opened the hotel door for me as I stepped inside. It was so much warmer in there; why did he have to drag me outside?
"But please! It's not fair!" I pouted, taking off one of my sweaters as I walked towards the elevator.
"How is it not fair? It's my birthday." Bel said, pushing the up button next to the elevator.
"You tell me when it is and now you tell me not to get you anything! That's what's not fair." I frowned as the elevator door opened and a man in a suit and a woman in a skirt walked out. Bel and I entered and I pressed the tiny 18 button on the wall.
As the doors slid closed, Bel snickered. I looked up at him with furrowed brows. "What's so funny?"
"You're cute Princess." He grinned at me. "Very cute."
***
December 21st
I was laying on Bel's bed, playing a game on the laptop Xanxus gave me for my birthday in October, when Bel walked out of the washroom. He had no clothes on; the only thing keeping me from seeing all of him was a white towel around his waist. He looked at me, frowning.
"When did you come in?" He asked.
We weren't that awkward, since I'd seen him in a towel before. Hell, I'd seen him naked. But that's only because Lussuria walked into Bel's room while he was changing and I saw him from the kitchen. I really didn't care, since he's my best friend, so... whatever.
"A while ago. You take long showers." I said, not taking my eyes off the computer screen. My legs were bent so me feet were towards the ceiling.
"Don't look." Bel said, turning to his closet and getting a pair of jeans and a shirt out.
"Mmmhhmmm." I said, not looking.
Apart, were most likely would've looked at the other's body, but with each other, we were horribly modest. That was a good thing because if Xanxus caught Bel staring at me or something, he would kill him.
"So, Princess," Bel said, laying beside me on the bed and wrapping his arms around my waist, "What brings you here?"
"Okay," I said, sitting up and closing the game. Bel sat up too, looking at the computer screen, "What do you think of this?"
Bel grinned, "Ushishishi. Looks amazing."
I smiled, "I thought you'd like It."
"What's it for?" Bel asked.
"You." I said, sitting in Bel's lap.
He frowned, "Me?"
"Yea! I thought you'd like it for your birthday!" I said, smiling at him.
He was still frowning, but then he grinned and started laughing, "You really want to get me a present, don't you?"
I smiled, nuzzling my nose in his neck, "Of course I do! You're special Bel! You're important to me."
***
December
22nd
I watched them dance. It's true, they were all wasted, but it was fun watching them. Xanxus held a bottle high in the air as he moved from side to side and Squalo was dancing with him, just without the beer bottle. Bel, Levi and Lussuria were also drunk, and thankfully, we got back home today, so they didn't get drunk in a hotel room. That would've been horrible.
"Come on and dance with us, Violetta!" Squalo said loudly, almost falling over.
Levi walked in and turned the music up louder, then began dancing with them and Lussuria started squealing from down the hall. Where they got the alcohol from, I will never know. But at least they were having fun. For the moment.
Bel came in grinning and wearing the new tiara I bought him for his birthday.
"Birthday boy!" Xanxus said, dumping some of his drink on Bel's head.
Bel didn't seem to mind; he just kept grinning. The other four were pushing Bel slighting and giving him drinks. It was 1 am and I had already seen this scene about four times. Levi and Lussuria kept running away to do something and they would come back at turn the volume louder and dance and then leave again. They all looked like drunken idiots. That was most likely because they were drunken idiots.
"Ooiii!" Lussuria said, sitting down on top of me, "My head hurts!"
He was wearing a blue bra outside of his shirt and he reeked of alcohol. I was tempted to push him away and run, but I didn't. I pet his head gently, like so many people had done to me.
"Do you want to go to sleep?" I asked and he nodded. I sighed, "Alright, let's get you to bed. Stand up now. I'll come tuck you in."
As he got off me, Xanxus started yelling, "Zexion! Zexion! Where is my Zexion?"
"He's my Zexion!" Levi shrieked.
Xanxus giggled and hic-upped, "We'll do a threesome!"
Levi grinned, and also hic-upped, "Okay!"
As I brought Lussuria to bed, I wondered how the hell my brother knew about a game like Kingdom Hearts. I ended up getting everyone to bed by 2:30 am. Out of everyone, Bel had the least to drink and Lussuria's the most lightweight and Xanxus had the most alcohol.
I walked back into the living room after putting Squalo, who refused to let go of Lussuria's teddy bear, to bed. Bel was crouched by the CD player, changing the tracks. He turned to look at me and smiled sweetly. He stood up and walked over to me. I had a bad feeling he was going to grope me or something, but he held out his hand as music started playing.
It was our song; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Concerto in D.
I laughed a little as I took his hand and he pulled me closer. His steps were a little clumsy and out of time, but it was still a waltz, no matter how you looked at it.
"Did you have a good birthday Bel?" I asked after a minute.
"Ushishishi. Yes." He said, grinning. "Thanks for the present."
I smiled, "No problem."
"Hey! It's Christmas soon! What do you want?" He asked, accidentally missing a step.
"Nothing really; I'm glad if I can spend Christmas with you guys." I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.
"Princess?"
"Yes?"
"I..." He hic-upped, "I love you...."
***
December 23rd
I cleaned the whole base during the night and took care of the hung-over boys during the day. They all slept until pretty much 2 pm. By then, everything in the base was back to normal, all neat and tidy. Xanxus got mad at me for staying up and cleaning up their mess, but he said he was so hung over he would've been able to do it. He said he'd get me something extra special for Christmas since I took care of everyone so well.
But I kept thinking about what Bel said. I love you... He was drunk but I felt like he was telling the truth. After that, he passed out, but.... Still. I wish it was true.
December 24th
I sat on a bench outside the mall. I hated the mall; it was stuffy and crowded and smelled like gross perfume. Surprisingly, Xanxus let me stay out there alone while everyone else ran inside happily. Even Bel.
I told Bel about what he said to me when he was drunk. He ignored me. I wondered if he meant it or not; Bel never ignores me. He listens to every single word I tell him. But he ignored me. It almost hurt.
I looked at my cellphone: It was 8:47. I sighed as a mother and her child sat down on the bench.
"Are you alone?" Asked the woman as her child started playing with the necklace around her neck.
"Hmm?" I looked over to her, "Oh, No! I'm just waiting for some people!"
I hated waiting for them. I was cold and my nose was runny.
"Are they in the mall?" Asked the woman, patting her child's head.
"Oh, yea. They should be out in a while."
"It's getting dark though. Are you sure you don't want to go sit inside? I've seen you sitting out here for over 45 minutes!" The woman looked sympathetic.
"Violetta!" I heard Bel cry from the entrance of the mall, "Behind you!"
I ducked down quickly as the blade barely missed the top of my head. I stood up swiftly and swung my leg around, kicking the guy behind us in the face. The woman stood up and ran away with her child. I skipped backwards, moving away from the guy. I had broken his nose that's for sure.
"Come on." Bel hissed, "I don't care if you hate malls. You're coming inside. I'm not letting you get hurt out here."
"But Bel-"
He cut me off, "You're important to me Violetta. I'd hate to see you get hurt."
***
December
25th
"Merry Christmas!" Lussuria said, setting a turkey on the table.
"Merry Christmas!" Everyone yelled back. Somehow everyone, even Squalo, had the Christmas cheer in them. I was glad. It wouldn't be the same if no one was happy.
We talked about anything and everything during dinner. We were smiling most of the time, except when Lussuria started saying that Squalo would look good in spandex. But as everyone was laughing about one thing or another, I noticed Bel kept glancing at me.
After we were all done eating, we lay around the house for a little bit, digesting our foot.
"I want to go outside." Lussuria said, as he shook one of the presents with his name on it.
"Why?" Levi asked, eating one of the chocolates from a box on the mantel.
"'Cause it's snowing, silly! On Christmas too! How lovely!" Lussuria said, smiling as he looked out the window.
"It's snowing on Christmas? That's weird.... It normally doesn't snow in December." I said, looking out the window as well. Soft snow was falling gently; in the dimly lit street, they looked as if they were glowing.
"Then let's go outside!" Lussuria said, standing up.
"You guys go ahead." Xanxus said, sitting in his chair with his hand on his stomach, "I'm staying here."
"Vooiii! I'm coming!" Squalo said. He was lying on
the floor and his hair was pulled into a ponytail, just so it
wouldn't go everywhere. He sat up and smiled, "I love the
snow."
"To bad it doesn't snow too much here." Bel said, looking out the window, I had pinned part of his bangs to one side so his right eye was visible. He looked back at me and smiled, "Let's go."
I smiled; pushing off the wall I was leaning against and walking towards the front door. I pulled on Xanxus' big jacket, even if it was about 14 sizes to big, as Lussuria put on his robe thing. Out of nowhere, I ran outside into the lightly falling snow. I spun around slightly, dancing almost as the street lights came on.
"Vooiii! It's amazing!" Squalo said, coming outside.
"Oh! How beautiful!" Lussuria said, spinning around, "It looks like a winter wonderland."
"If light snow is your definition of 'winter wonderland', you need to go read a dictionary." I said as Bel came over to me, wearing his big coat.
Lussuria went on about how wonderful the snow was and Squalo started tapping on the window of the house that looking into the living room.
I looked at Bel, who was smirking at Squalo, who was grinning at Xanxus through the window. I took his hand and squeezed it lightly, "Isn't it cool to have snow on Christmas?"
He looked down at me and gripped my hand gently, "Yea, it is."
Xanxus burst through the front door with no jacket on, only a hoodie and started chasing after Squalo, who began running away franticly.
"Um...Bel? Violetta?" Lussuria looked over to us, his pinkie to his lips, "You do know you're standing under mistletoe, right?"
"Huh?" I said as I looked up. Above us hung a few small, green leaves and a red dot or two. We were standing under a streetlamp and as I looked down to the rest of the streetlights, I noticed they all had mistletoe hanging off them.
"Uh...." Was all Bel said as he looked up at the leafy thing.
"Kiss!" Lussuria said.
"What?" Bel and I said at once.
"Oh, will you two quit it?" Levi stood at the doorway; his hands on his hips as Xanxus went back inside, complaining that it was cold. "You two have liked each other since Violetta started living here."
"Vooiii!" Squalo yelled, glaring at us, "It was so fucking obvious!"
I looked up to Bel, who was blushing a crimson red. I took my hand from his and turned to him. He did the same and we looked each other in the eyes.
"Oh for hells sake! Kiss already!" Squalo yelled.
Bel's hand touched me cheek softly and he pulled me a little bit closer. I finally realised I was aching for him to kiss me. He slowly began to close my eyes as I did the same. I heard Xanxus yell something from inside, then stop midsentence, most likely watching us. First his touch, then warm breath and as his lips crashed into mine, I knew I was in love with him.
My arms wrapped around his neck and added pressure to our lips. His hand moved from my cheek to snake through my hair and his other arm wound around my waist, pulling me closer. The kiss deepened and Lussuria and Levi started yelling 'Finally! Finally!' with Squalo yelling at them to shut the hell up.
I'm pretty sure Xanxus' blood was boiling and he was going to punch Bel's lights out after I let go of him. But I didn't really care at the moment. With my lips pressed against Bel's for the first time in however long I've liked in for, I knew that whatever happened, everything would be okay.
The kiss seemed much to short lived, but I didn't care much. There was going to be many more.
"I love you Princess."
"I love you too, Bel."
