Princess

35

We walked in the door and Taylor ran to her mother to tell her about her time at the park. "Mommy! Mommy!" She squealed. "Fun park!!" Mrs. Daniels smiled at her daughter and then glanced at me. "You weren't hurt were you?" She asked Taylor.

The little girl shook her head no and scampered off to play with her toys. "You aren't staying for dinner, right?" She asked me. "No I wasn't planning on it but-" "Good." She interrupted. My mouth gaped open slightly and I decided I didn't have the self-esteem to be around her anymore. I walked away to find Travis.

"Find out what she likes and get back to me. I can't stand how much she hates me." I told him while I hugged him. I kissed him on the check and said a quiet goodbye before starting my walk. I pulled out my phone and called Ariel. "Hey Ar!" I greeted when she answered. "Still at the park? Great, I'll meet you there." I hung up before she could say anything.

Ariel POV

I wandered around the park aimlessly, just thinking. I decided it would make sense to wait for Keira under a tree, so I chose one and took a seat. I was listening to whatever random music was on my phone when I heard a text message come through. I unlocked my phone and saw that it was Carson. It read: how do u like my room??

Underneath were some photos of what I assumed to be his room.

The first one was just a shot from the door, showing the whole room. The next one was a selfie of him and some other guy who I guessed was probably his roommate, and lastly was a picture of his nightstand. On it he had placed four picture frames, and I zoomed into each for a better look.

In the first, was a picture of him with his parents and Catherine at his graduation. The second held a picture of him and Eric from their grad. The third had two pictures compiled together. First was a selfie of him and I making weird faces together and the second was him kissing my cheek. And when I zoomed in to the last one, tears came to my eyes.

I remembered that day so well, but I had never seen this picture. Heck, I didn't even know that it had been taken!

It was at Eric's 8th birthday party. Since his birthday is in October, we would always have a costume party for him. That year, Carson, Eric and I decided to do a group costume since we would always trick or treat together.

I was a princess, Carson was a knight and Eric was a dragon. In the picture, Eric was pretending to attack me and Carson had his plastic sword out, pointed at him. But instead of looking at Eric, Carson's eyes were on me, while I faked terror behind Eric.

I hadn't realized that I actually had tears streaming down my face until Keira spoke up from beside me. "Ari are you okay?"

I jumped, as I hadn't noticed that she had arrived. I showed her the pictures that Carson had sent me and she smiled. "Ariel Waters, you don't realize how much this boy really loves you." She sighed. I smiled and pulled her close to me. "So, wanna tell me why you're back? Alone?" I asked my friend. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath before telling me all about Travis' angel of a mother.

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By the way guys, I'm picturing Carson's dorm like the rooms at Pacific Coast Academy (PCA) from Zoey 101. If you don't know what show I'm talking about, then you had no childhood :P