Long Live the Queen

Chapter 6: Club

It had occurred to me that Luigi might be mad at having me around the house for so long. In the past I came for a day or so and was gone. I couldn't afford to leave the Mushroom Kingdom for much longer than that without strict arrangements and whenever I did it was hard to unwind to think about anything besides home.

Luigi stays several steps ahead of the both of us all the way through the room with his hands out of sight and held nervously in front of him. There's something diminutive about his demeanor. More so than normal. Is he like this with Daisy when they're alone? She has always been boisterous and confident. People used to say she was a tomboy, but the reality is Daisy loud and unapologetic.She isn't afraid to express herself and be who she is.

Mario is in the kitchen peering inside of the fridge when we enter. He pulls a bottle of juice out and closes the door to look at us. Luigi steps over next to him and sighs. "I've been talking to Mario and I suggested that I think the two of you need to slow down. You plan to rush back there and just blindly take any warp zone...we don't know how many different places you could end up or what could be waiting on the other side."

"And what would you suggest we do?" Asks Daisy.

"He wants us to take nights off and not talk about what's going on and more than anything to make sure that we take it easy on rushing into anything." Mario explains.

"Take nights off?" I ask.

"Yeah, you know, Princess," Luigi starts. "Get out of the house and see a movie or go to a club or something."

"A club? Oh you haven't taken me to one of those in forever. Ohh, now we just have to go, pretty please?" Daisy is on board with the idea for sure. She attempts to ply him by running her fingers through his hair and making small strokes with her other hand across his chest. She's just wrapped around him and all up on him. How does she do it?

"Peach, would you mind taking a different approach to things?" Mario asks.

"So long as we don't lose sight of what we're doing."

Daisy grabs my hands using her weight to swing away from me and pull me into a small twirl in the center of the floor. "We have to do the club as soon as we can. You'll love it Peaches. We could even go tonight—they don't really get good until ten."

"Ten—I-I may need to take a nap first." I haven't been sleeping the best, so it's not a lie.

"You're such a sleep-baby," Daisy says letting go of me to saunter over to Luigi. "Are you against going tonight?"

"I need to pick up some things from the dry cleaners and grab a bite to eat," Mario says. "Suppose we should gas up the car if we're going to be in the city."

"G-good idea, Mario. I'll stay here with Daisy and the Princess. Wouldn't want a repeat performance of earlier."

Mario kisses me on the shoulder where the wide neck of this shirt exposes a little skin. "Are you okay with that?" He asks.

I nod.

"I'll go out and take care of some stuff and we can eat when I get back and then head out."

My feet shuffle across the floor toward the couches and I climb up into recliner in the corner and curl up between the big plush armrests. "I'll catch a nap out here, if that's okay?" The soft sounds of the television in the background with the white noise from the city was oddly comforting.

Daisy and Luigi took a seat on the adjacent couch to watch the evening news and make sure no one tried to kidnap or kill me. I don't want the rest of my life to be worrying that I'm going to be the target of assassinations or imprisonment. Part of me wishes I could be carefree like Daisy.