Royal Disaster

the disastrous stroll

it means so much to me that there are wonders like all of you here and taking a chance on my novice-ness <3 

It was four in the morning and I found myself awake, my mind still reeling over Arthur and North's conversation. We had all gone to bed at two, with the exception of Kurt who'd managed to fall asleep right before we'd all left for some ice cream- which is why we'd all forgotten him until we came home and found him still passed out on the couch, the TV turned on to Teen Nick.

I glanced over at Aiko, who was snoring beside me. Further left, I looked to the clock. The digital numbers blinked at me, reminding me that I'd been awake for the past two hours and that I, most likely, wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon.

I pushed myself up, sliding my feet from under the covers and slowly getting up. Aiko's snoring masked my steps as I grabbed Betsy and my phone before heading out. The hall seemed quiet enough. North and Arthur were in their bedrooms, sleeping and the only sounds were coming from the TV downstairs. It was Kurt, no doubt.

With Betsy, phone, and one of the sweaters draped over the chair in the room, I went down. I was right. Kurt was popping popcorn into his mouth while watching what looked like Kim Possible.

Giggling, I leaned on the frame of the living room entrance and softly called, "Kurt."

He turned to me, brows raised curiously.

Raising Betsy up and then shaking my phone, I said, "I'm heading down to the beach if anyone looks for me, okay?"

He nodded, turning back to the screen. I shook my head at him, amused, before pushing off the frame and heading towards the door. Once I had slipped some flip flops on, I made my way back the other way to the backyard. It was a more convenient way to get to the beach.

The beach was quiet, as expected, since it was four in the morning. All I could hear were the waves lapping up on the shore and the occasional seagull, up early to catch some food. There were stragglers here and there, probably on their own thoughtful walks. Hobos lay asleep on the benches by the sidewalks, taking in the time before they were booted by local authority.

I settled into a spot a little while later. It was close enough so that the high tides would be able to lick at my knees but far enough that I wouldn't get soaked. Betsy's case lay beside me, Betsy in my lap. My phone sat in vibrate mode on top of the case so that I'd still hear and access it when someone needed to contact me but it wouldn't disturb the peacefulness of the place.

I took in a whiff of fresh air, my fingers strumming at the strings. I started to tune the strings, humming under my breath as I watched the rare local walk by, looking up and lost in their thoughts. When Betsy was tuned, I started off with a mellow pattern of notes, my head swaying left and right as I got lost in thought.

It was a funny thing how I hated being alone. I mean, that was why I constantly had friends over, why my friends had their own rooms in my house. Yet here I was, alone on the beach and actually in peace.

But I guess that there were several factors contributing as to why I was here, the major one being a certain dark haired, brown-green eyed, obnoxious guy who was going to live with me for the duration of the year my parents were on a business trip. The others were all somehow linked to him, too, so I might as well have just made him my sole problem.

I swear, I'd never felt such anger or irritation for anyone in my life as much as I have him and he's only been in it for a week. What's more is that, in the week he's been here, it's like he'd known more about North and my parents than I did in the many years – and life – that I've known all. He knew my best friend and my only blood-related family more than I did and it had me feeling very insecure about everything.