III - Sparks Fly (Red's POV)
The next morning I woke up with Chloe's head on my belly and her arms wrapped around me. It's weird because usually she's the first one up, not me. I think all her crying must have worn her out last night. I still want to follow through on my promise to Henry and make his head into a cake pop outside my window. Part of me doesn't want to get up but I know Chloe will yell at me if we don't pick up our dresses for Castlecoming today.
Yes, even during the change from Merlin Academy to Auradon Prep Castlecoming still remained a tradition. Even before Chloe agreed to go with Henry she'd asked me to go with her. Of course I'd told her I would, but only after a sufficient amount of begging was done first.
I allowed myself to relish in comfort for an extra few minutes before gently shoving Chloe to wake her up. "Chlo, come on we have to get up."
I should've known that it would take more than a shove to wake her up. When she sleeps she's dead to the world and only her alarm clock can wake her up. I move to get up and Chloe just tightens her arms around me.
"No," Chloe grumbles into me. At least we're getting somewhere now and she's sort of awake. Her hold loosens some and I'm able to break free. Her head hits my mattress and she wakes up completely now.
"Chlo, come on we have stuff to do today," I tell her as I walk over to the closet and grab clothes for the day.
"Red," she groans, "Why did you wake me up so early?" She's laying on her side now, watching me get ready like she always does.
"Because," I started as I began working on my hair. "We have to go get our Castlecoming dresses today at noon, and it's already eleven o'clock."
Her eyes widen as she remembers. "Oh no. How could I forget? Oh my gosh we're gonna be late!"
"Chloe, calm down, we're gonna be fine. It only takes fifteen minutes to get there anyway. Hurry up."
"I was comfortable, you know," Chloe grumbles as she gives me a death stare.
"I know, Princess. Too bad, so sad. You'll have to cuddle me in your sleep some other time," I tell her, smirking, and her face flushes a shade of pink, making me laugh.
Twenty minutes later we're both finally ready to go. Everything in Auradon is so close that we can walk to Evie's 4-Hearts. I'm not used to it, back home everything was so far apart it seemed like Wonderland stretched on forever. Since we're a little bit early we stop at a small cafe and we share some cookies and a drink. It's weird to be able to eat sugar and risk being beheaded. I still can't eat too much of it without feeling sick, so Chloe eats two of the three chocolate chip cookies in front of us.
"Thank you for last night, Red. It really means a lot to me," Chloe says, looking down at hands as she fidgets with a ring on her finger.
"It was nothing," shit, why did I say that? It was something, for both of us. It's just that neither of us has said anything about it yet. "I mean, it wasn't nothing, it's just that I would've done regardless." I'm not sure that was any better, but I hoped it was.
"Yeah, I, uh. I feel better now. You were right about Henry, he was a jerk. I'm glad I get to go to Castlecoming with you," Chloe smiles on the last part before she giggles, hiding her smile. "You're never gonna believe what I called him."
"What? Did you curse him out or something? Princess Charming would never curse," I laugh and Chloe just rolls her eyes.
"I did!" she laughs, "I called him a perv and an asshole."
"Oh my gosh, Princess Chloe Charming of Cinderellasburg cursed twice within twenty-four hours! Someone call the national news outlets and tell them the breaking news!" I tease her. I've never, ever heard her say anything that could even resemble a curse word, let alone an actual one.
"It's time for us to go. Let's get out of here," she says, smiling gently. That's the thing about Chloe, she's always smiling, at least whenever I see her she is. We throw our trash away and within minutes we're at Evie's 4-Hearts Boutique.
A bell jingles over our heads when we walk in and Evie pops her head out from a small storage room. She squeals with excitement when she sees who it is.
"Oh my gosh," she gushes. "I can't wait to see you guys in these dresses! I've worked so hard on them and I hope you love it." Evie's passion is truly in designing clothes. She helps King Ben and Queen Mal with their royal duties too but it's obvious her heart is in fashion. She turns away to look through the dresses on one of her racks and she finds what she's looking for. She hands Chloe and me our respective dresses and ushers us to go try them on one final time before Castlecoming tonight.
I go in to try mine on. It was a two piece in my signature red. The top had black off-the-shoulder sleeves and gold detailing. The skirt had two layers, the same red color was tight and went just above my knees while an outer layer of black tulle went all the way to the floor. Gold sparkles fell down the black tulle until they collected into a more solid pattern at the bottom. It was perfect for me, and it fit exactly as it should.
When I came out to show Evie, Chloe was gaping at herself in a mirror. She wore a one-shouldered iridescent silver dress. Whenever she moved the dress glittered between shades of silver and blue. The flowy A-line skirt gave the dress movement and life. She looked gorgeous, and for the first time she'd truly shocked me with her beauty.
Chloe saw me come out in the reflection of the mirror and she spun around. Picking up the skirt of her dress so she could run over to me without tripping, she still looked beautiful.
"Red," she said breathlessly, though I couldn't tell if it was from her running or how I looked, "You look stunning. No one else will be able to out-shine you tonight." Before I knew it she'd wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. It took me a second to register what it was before I hugged her back.
"Oh my gosh, you two are perfect!" Evie smiles with joy at her work. "Both of you look amazing!"
We change back into our regular clothes, not wanting to ruin our dresses before we could actually wear them. We talk to Evie a little bit longer before we say goodbye and head back to our dorm. Our dresses were already paid for before today, and to my surprise Chloe's parents had paid for them both since in this timeline we'd been friends since we were babies apparently. Although friends seemed like too loose of a word to use for what Chloe and I were.
Once we reach our dorm, Chloe suddenly remembers something. "Oh my gosh, I have Swords and Shields practice today! I have to go!" She grabs her practice bag before rushing out of our room. I put both of our dresses in the closet until later tonight. I glance over at her planner on our shared desk, and she's right. She has practice from one to three-thirty today. Why a coach would schedule practice on a big event day was beyond me, but maybe I just didn't understand. I plop down on my bed, waiting until Chloe comes home. My eyes stray around my room, searching for something to focus on when I realize the Looking Glass sitting on my nightstand.
In this timeline, my mom gave me the Looking Glass to keep when I'd first started school at Auradon. She said that was when she got it, and I knew she wasn't lying because she'd had it at Merlin Academy when Chloe and I went back in time. I'd accepted the gift at the time but I hadn't really touched it since. I scoot over and pick it up, moving to sit up against my pillows.
Part of me doesn't want to open the Looking Glass. What if it's something horrible and we've only put off whatever horrible thing sets my mother off into the evil Queen of Hearts instead of Bridget? What if it's Chloe and I fighting each other again? My heart is pounding and my breath is shaky as I open the Looking Glass.
Chloe and I are sitting at the Enchanted Lake, our feet dangling into the water beneath us. We're holding hands and neither of us shies away at the other's touch. I say something to Chloe and she giggles, burying her face into my neck. I put my fingers under her chin, making her look up at my face. She moves in closer to me, kissing me. The kiss deepens and Chloe pushes me onto my back, straddling my lap. Her hands trail up my sides underneath my shirt as she moves her kisses down to my neck and collarbone. A soft moan frees itself from my throat. I take off my shirt, tossing it to the side and giving her more room for kisses.
"Chloe," I say breathlessly. "What if… someone… sees us?"
"They won't. I promise. Nobody ever comes here anymore," she tells me before she unbuttons my jeans and slips her hand inside. My hand finds the back of her head, keeping her pressed close against me, kissing all over my body, and another soft moan creeps out of my throat.
"Chloe," I say again before she captures my lips again, this time her kiss is hungry and almost feral as she bites my lip. I give her what she wants and open my mouth more for her, letting her in as one hand cradling me underneath my bra and the other keeps rubbing circles…
I snap the Looking Glass closed. My face burning red, my breathing still shaky, and my heart beating out of my chest. I swallow down some strange emotion I can't name. There's no way that could happen. Chloe would never think of me like that. The Looking Glass had to be wrong Could the Looking Glass be wrong? I should've never opened it. Bridget was right, I really didn't want to know the future after all…
There's no way Chloe could like me that way. Ever. She goes on dates with boys, she kisses boys, she's happy with boys, not me. It doesn't matter how much comfort a future with Chloe could bring me, if she doesn't want that too, it won't happen. It's not like I've never thought of the possibility of dating Chloe, it's just that I know that possibility is small, like, super small. Microscopic. She sees me as her friend. Probably her closest friend.
I decide I should take a nap, get my beauty sleep before I have to get ready for Castlecoming tonight. It never takes me long to fall asleep and soon enough I'm drifting away into darkness.
The sound I wake up to is Chloe squealing excitedly and shaking me awake. I grumble at her. I knew I'd have to wake up but not this soon. "What?"
"Coach made me captain!" she's beaming at me, so proud of this achievement and being so young. I wake up more and throw myself onto her to share in her happiness. We fall backward and I'm on top of her.
"I knew you could do it," I tell her, "I'm proud of you." I can feel my cheeks turn pink after I say it but I don't care.
We linger there for a few awkward seconds. A couple seconds too long probably. It's not like we never touched. It's just that sometimes that touching was a little awkward.
"Oh, sorry," I said as I got up off of her and she was able to sit up again.
"We have to get ready for Castlecoming!" Chloe says.
"Chlo, Castlecoming isn't until six, it's only four," I tell her.
"Yeah but we have to take showers and do our hair and makeup, that takes time you know," Chloe teases me. I roll my eyes at her even though I know she's right. Chloe glances around the room, her eyes falling on the same thing mine did: the Looking Glass.
"Have you checked on the future lately?" she asks me.
"No! Uh, I don't wanna know, you know? It's better as a surprise I think," I said, knowing damn well she knew I hated surprises.
"You hate surprises. You looked at it didn't you? Red, what's wrong? Is everyone okay?" Chloe's face becomes worried and I don't know how to diffuse it.
"Yeah, everyone's okay. It just… it showed me a future I wasn't expecting, is all."
Chloe breathes, not sure if that's the answer she wants to accept or not, "Okay. I trust you."
Every year Castlecoming is held in the castle ballroom. When Chloe and I finally arrive around six thirty, it's already crowded with people. Girls in their dresses and their dates dressed in suits. I wonder how Chloe feels about going to Castlecoming, where her parents fell in love, and going with me of all people. If you'd asked her a year ago she would've cringed away at the fact that she cared about the Princess of Wonderland at all.
The ballroom was decorated beautifully. The theme this year was a romantic walk in the park and everything from the decorations to the food matched perfectly. Small tea-party-esque foods were on one side of the ballroom while there were decorations just about everywhere else. Realistic looking fake trees, white and silver twinkling lights falling down from the ceiling, it was incredibly beautiful.
Despite the beauty of the scenery around us, nothing could compare to Chloe. Her dress was gorgeous but it was her that really made people stop and stare. I'd helped her with her makeup like she's always asked me to and I hadn't gone heavy. Just enough to accentuate what was already beautiful about her. She had done her hair by herself and it laid in an intricate braid falling down her back. It took everything I had to not stare at her the entire night.
We spent the night dancing and talking to our friends. Well, Chloe talked to her friends, I just followed her wherever she went. Even though school started in August and it was almost the end of November I hadn't made any new friends. I hadn't needed to make new friends when I had Chloe. The music blasting around us suddenly changes from happy and upbeat to slow and calm. Chloe and I glance at each other but I quickly avert my eyes to the floor, trying to hide the pinkness growing on my cheeks.
"Princess Red of Wonderland, would you do me the honor of taking this dance?" Chloe asks as I look back up at her. There's an expression on her face but I can't quite tell what it is, it's somewhere between anxious and confident. She holds out her hand, waiting for me to take it.
"Why, yes. I would love to dance with you, Princess Chloe Charming of Cinderellasburg." I let my hand fall into hers and we move closer to each other. Her hands are on my hips and I rest my arms on her shoulders. We sway back and forth in gentle silence, no awkwardness between us. A few people glance over at us but I hope Chloe doesn't notice.
"Thank you, Red. For dancing with me," Chloe says, biting her lip. There's something on her mind, and I can't tell what she's thinking.
"Thank you for asking me, Blue," I say, gently teasing her. Her eyes trail down my face, almost like she's trying to commit this image to memory, and then they linger on my lips. I allow myself to let this happen, whatever this is. I give in to what I want to do instead of holding back as I should. I keep my eyes locked onto her lips. I wanted to know what she felt like, what she tasted like.
Chloe pulls me in tighter to her, her eyes never leaving my lips. She tilts her head ever so slightly and her lips are on mine. I lean in to the kiss, not wanting it to stop. She's soft and sweet. Her lip gloss tastes like sugar and coconut. She draws back a little, drawing in a breath before returning her lips to mine. It feels like fireworks are setting off in my belly and I've never had this feeling before. I've never had the desire to want to keep kissing someone the way I want to keep kissing her. She pulls back again, and I lean toward her for another kiss but this time she doesn't meet my lips. Instead I see her face, and an expression of horror is all over it.
"Red. Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I… I have to go," Chloe says, flustered before she darts out of the ballroom.
"Chloe, wait!" I almost scream as I start off after her. I can feel some heads turning in our direction but I don't care. I need to get to her. I can't let her get away from me. I can't lose the one person who ever truly cared about me.
I keep running after her, calling her name in the direction I think she went. After what felt like hours of searching, I gave up. I decided to try and call her, maybe we can work this out over the phone, or maybe she'll at least tell me where she is. I have to tell her I'm not mad at her. I have to tell her that I liked our kiss. It was sweet and perfect and everything a kiss should be.
After three tries to call her I gave up again. Clearly she didn't want to talk to me. I go back to our dorm, holding out a little sliver of hope that she's there, but when I open the door, the room is exactly as we left it, messy and Chloe-less.
I never thought I'd have a princess moment where I throw myself onto my bed and start sobbing, but I do exactly that. I cry until I'm exhausted and soon fall into a deep, haunting sleep.