I do not own these characters. Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Hercules, The Princess And The Frog, and Tangled are all owned by Disney. I write just for fun.
Hangtown - Volume VIII
"Um…Esme is everything good?", said Megara showing some confusion as Pocahontas shared that same confusion
"Phoebus said that he might not show up for the party"
"Wait…what do you mean he might not show up for the party?"
"I don't really know what this means, he told me that he and Quasi were going to be there"
"Did Quasi text you if he was not showing up as well?"
"No"
"Maybe he feels like it isn't the best for him", suggested Pocahontas, "I'm just throwing my input around, it could be that or other reasons, I mean Esme, not to sound too harsh or anything, but do you want him at the party?"
Esmeralda took some pause to ponder the question that Pocahontas just asked her
"First off Poca, you don't sound harsh, and secondly, yes I would like to have him at the party, I mean he is my friend…he is our friend"
Megara and Pocahontas nod in agreeance
"Okay then…I just asked because…"
"He and I have interacted awkwardly recently", Esmeralda stated cutting and finishing the statement Pocahontas was going to make
"Exactly"
"I can't really explain why he's done that, but then again I feel like I'm awkward around him as well"
"Care to explain why?", chimed Megara
Esmeralda takes a brief pause
"I don't know, it just took off a life on its own, happened seemingly naturally"
"Hmm, interesting…care for another question?"
"Sure, but don't turn this into an interrogation"
"I try not to, can't keep promises…When did this start, when did you and Phoebus start to become, for lack of a better word…distant?"
"I would say towards the end of junior year, maybe before then, I don't really have a clear timeline"
"Can I bring up something?", chimed Pocahontas
"Go ahead, Poca", said Megara
Pocahontas takes a pause before she speaks
"I feel that all seven of us are becoming more distant from each other"
"Care to explain"
"Gladly…I remember the days when we all had this inseparable bond we had with each other, we ate lunch together at the same table, hung out at each other's houses, and did fun things on the weekends, now I just feel that we are still doing that, but less and less"
"I think Poca might have a point here", said Esmeralda, "I mean do you remember the last time that all seven of us had done something fun on the weekend"
"That was probably at the beginning of the school year", said Megara
"Meg, you would be correct, now do you remember the last time where the seven of us all hung out at someone's house?"
"I think that was over the Summer, we had that backyard barbeque at Flynn's place"
"Yep"
"That day was so much fun, played games, watched some movies, and who can't forget those mouthwatering burgers that Flynn's dad made", said Pocahontas with the three girls nodding their heads in agreement.
"I know right, I swear I got to steal that guy's recipe", said Megara inciting a small chuckle from the three
"Hey, did you all remember that confessions game that Flynn made us play", said Esmeralda
"I do, that game was one of the best damn things that I had ever experienced in my life, it was a really hilarious time"
"It really was, felt at the end of the game I was going to get abs from the amount of laughter I was getting", said Pocahontas, "Do you all still remember Flynn's confession?"
"Was that the one where he mentioned how when he was younger he took a bite of stick deodorant and thought it was some foreign candy", said Esmeralda were started laughing a bit loud that people in the store could hear a little bit
"I do, that story was hilarious, I mean how did he not know after the first bite that it wasn't candy," said Pocahontas
"I know right", said Megara
The ladies continued to laugh a bit and then later the laughter died down. They took some pause until Esmeralda spoke again
"Poca"
"Yes, Esmeralda"
"I know it was like a few weeks ago, but do you remember when we all sat at the lunch table?"
"Yeah, I do… I and Megara were on one side, Aladdin and Flynn were on a side together, you had arrived with your boyfriend, and then there was Phoebus and Quasimodo"
"I bring this up because you mentioned that to us earlier"
"Oh, okay then"
They again take another pause. Once more Esmeralda breaks the silence
"To be honest with you, I too miss that as well…I mean school was tough, and it still is, but having that lunch break, in the middle of the day with my friends to talk about whatever that would be interesting to only us that…that was special", she says as she looks forward
"Yep, it definitely was", responded Pocahontas who too looked forward
Another silence came upon them, eventually it was broken by Megara who saw something across that caught her eye
"Woah, they're building a new Italian restaurant over there, should check it out when it opens, get a table, and have our own girls' day, could be fun…"
"Could be fun, right Poca", said Esmeralda
"Yeah, it could be" Pocahontas responds
"Ha ha, look at the little slogan surrounding the construction borders 'We're like Olive Garden…except we're not!', I don't know, I think it's funny, just how anti-joke it is…", says Megara as they all pause, "We should probably go know…"
"Yep", says Esmeralda
"I agree", says Pocahontas
"Before we do though, do we like the dresses?"
"Yeah", says Megara
"Yes", says Pocahontas
"Okay then, got plans later today?"
"If you count chillin' at my house as plans, then yeah", said Megara
"I have no plans, I'll be doing nothing", said Pocahontas, "Do you have plans, Esmeralda?"
Esmeralda took a brief pause and then quickly resumed
"Um, yeah…this might be crazy, but I'm going to Phoebus's house to see if I can try to convince him to come to the party?"
"Really?", said Megara
"Yep"
"Hope everything goes well then", says Pocahontas
As Esmeralda is about to walk out of the store and head to her car, she turns around to face the two and says
"I hope everything goes well too, see ya both"
"Bye", says Pocahontas
"See ya, don't screw this up", says Megara as Esmeralda gives her a thumbs up
Esmeralda leaves the mall and goes inside of her car to head to Phoebus's house. She drives and drives and eventually reaches his neighborhood and to his front door where she rings the doorbell. Phoebus's mom answers
"Esmeralda!", Phoebus's mom slightly exclaims, "What a lovely surprise, you should've told me you were coming, I would've made a special dinner tonight"
"Aw, thanks so much ma'am, but I'm not actually here to stay long, I was hoping to speak with your son…"
"Hey Esmeralda, how's it going?", said Phoebus's dad chiming in, "How are you and how are the parents?"
"I'm fine and my parents are fine as well, thanks for asking sir"
"No problem"
"Anyway, back to what I was saying, I was hoping to get a word in with Phoebus, is he around?"
"In fact he is, I'll call him now he's in his room…Phoebus!" exclaimed his mom, "There's someone downstairs that wants to talk with you!", she continued
"Um, yeah Mom, coming down now!", exclaimed Phoebus who was now coming down the stairs
"Wow, one yell…that's gotta be a record", said Phoebus's dad getting a laugh out of Esmeralda
Phoebus now reaches the bottom of the stairs and looks out the front door
"Holy shi…"
His parents look at him
"Shoot", says Phoebus
"Nice save", his dad says under his breath, Phoebus continues
"Esmeralda, what are you doing here?"
"Phoebus, you and I need to talk"
"I'll let you both outside in the backyard", said his mom, "Would you two like a glass of water?", she asked
"I'm good Mom, thanks"
"I'm good as well, but thanks," said Esmeralda as she and Phoebus entered the backyard sat on the bench that was set up, and began a conversation
"So, Esme, what brings you to my house?"
"Your text message"
Phoebus looks down briefly and she continues
"Are you really not going to show up?"
He looks up and then looks at her
"To be honest, I don't know"
"Well, there isn't enough time to say you don't know"
"I know that for sure, I'm leaning towards not showing up though"
"Any reason why, even though you said to my face that you would show up?"
Phoebus looks down again, he sighs, and she speaks
"Is everything alright?"
He looks at her and speaks
"Can I tell you something?"
"Sure Phoebs, you can tell me anything"
He breathes, sighs, and then talks
"This is something that I've only told Quasi and my dad"
"Okay"
"I've had a problem recently concerning, I guess with what I can call it and know as daydreaming"
"Okay, can you go into more detail, like why and when does it happen?"
"I don't know really why it happens and it seems to happen constantly"
"Any idea why?"
"I think because I'm focusing on too many things such as prom and graduation…you and Naveen's party is connected to the prom, so I'm thinking that maybe if I take a step back I can help me clear my head a little"
They sat in silence for a bit until Esmeralda broke it
"You know I was at the mall before I came here with Meg and Poca and we were getting our dresses for the prom. There was a moment where we talked about how the seven of us hung out all the time and then we just started to fizzle out, focused on doing our own thing. My hope for this party is to help rebuild that connection, like how we all sat at the lunch table for the first time in a long time not that long ago."
She looks at him
"Look, at the end of the day, I can't go inside your mind and change it, and whatever you want to do you can, but I can convince you to go. This is probably going to be the last time we all are going to something like this before we graduate and probably going to be a time that we are all going to remember once we are old and wrinkled"
He chuckled
"So, all I'm going to leave here with is this…just think about it…please?"
He looks down and responds
"Okay…I will"
"Thank you", she gets up and before she walks out the backyard door he says something
"Esme"
"Yeah, Phoebus"
"Can you tell me what dress you got?"
She chuckled a bit, "Find out at prom"
"Well whatever it is, I'm sure Naveen is going to like it"
She smiled, "Bye Phoebus"
"Later Esmeralda" She walks out and heads to her car to drive back to her place, as she is driving she sighs to herself and says
"I sure hope so"
First off want to apologize for getting this story up in the afternoon (where I am), the time zones will be posted on the profile for the moment as it stands. This was supposed to be out at 2-2:30pm in the Pacific time zone. So, once again I am sorry for posting this outside of the regular time that I wanted this to be out. Moving on from that, what happens from here as Esmeralda might of changed Pheobus's mind...find out what happens with that in the next volume coming next Thursday. If you like this volume as well as the story overall, consider leaving a like, a review, and/or a private message. Thanks so much for popping in here and reading, see ya all next Thursday hopefully at the scheduled time :)
I do not own these characters. Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Hercules, The Princess And The Frog, and Tangled are all owned by Disney. I write just for fun.