**Look at those handsome princes up above. :D Who is your favorite prince? Mine would be Aladdin or Eric (Even though Eric isn't in this pic **Cry**).**
**Beowulf**
I can't help smiling as I pull Newbie from his little sisters room. I can't believe Annie Jo told him to give me mouth-to-mouth and then called it true loves kiss. I'm glad Newbie "saved" me though because after that stinging slap I was worried of what else Annie Jo might do to revive me. How could such a little girl produce such a hard slap in the face?
At least Newbie's reviving skills didn't hurt like Annie Jo's. Newbie didn't even kiss me though, just rested his lips against mine as to not force himself on me. I'm glad he didn't force himself on me though. I'm also glad I listened to that little voice in the back of my head that told me to "play dead" just a little bit longer when I wanted to get up after Annie Jo slapped me.
The odd thing is that when Newbie pretended to revive me I became so happy that I actually pulled him to me and kissed him. I can't seem to get enough of him. Every time he touches me I just want to pull him closer to me and kiss the daylights out of him. I just want him to hold me and tell me he cares about me.
I have never cared about people caring for me except my immediate family. I have never worried about my appearance or if I might say something stupid. But ever since Newbie came along I find myself actually rethinking everything. I actually plan my outfits instead of throwing random things on and hope for the best, and I am thinking more before I speak. Why now? Why Newbie? How does Newbie do this to me? No one has ever gotten these types of reactions from me. Not even when I had my first and last girlfriend sophomore year.
Angel Milos was far from an angel in my opinion. Angel was a few months younger than me but we were still in the same grade. She was living in Minnesota because her dad was in the military. She was proud to call herself a military brat and let everyone call her one too. She was a gorgeous girl and knew it, although she still piled on the thick makeup. We got together as a couple after a month of meeting, believe it or not she was actually sweet in the beginning.
Angel was also one of those girls who are really smart but they play dumb to get attention. I didn't like that about her because she would always play dumb around me and get mad when I told her to act normal. She was also clingy as hell and called me every five minutes practically.
What really set me off about Angel though was when she told me to quite Boxing because she was tired of going to my trainings and meets just to watch me be mean and hit people and get all sweaty in the wrong way. First of all, she was only going just to make sure I wasn't cheating. Second, at the time I didn't understand what she meant by "getting sweaty in the wrong way". Third, what the fuck bitch? No one could tell me to quite Boxing, even if it was slowly killing me.
We got into a huge fight after the Boxing incident. But we soon made up only to end up drunk at a party. That's when things got really bad. Angel wanted to have sex, but even intoxicated I had a bad feeling about it. I told her no and she got pissed saying something about her not being pretty enough or something. Then she told me she wanted to have my baby that way she could stay with me because her family was going to move again. I told her no again and left her there at the party.
We didn't speak for a few days but when she came back she tried to have sex with me again. I turned her down again and that's when she broke down crying telling me all she wanted was my baby so she could stay in Minnesota. Of course I then told her she was stupid to think that would keep her in Minnesota. By me getting her pregnant would only result in me getting in shit trouble by both our parents and her still moving away, leaving me to probably never know my child.
After that all we did was fight. I couldn't stand her anymore. She was even clingier and I even caught her making out with a few guys, to which she would lie to me and say they forced themselves onto her, even though it was plain to see that she was enjoying herself immensely with them. So we got into a huge fight and I broke it off with her.
I told my parents everything that happened after they got a phone call from Angel's furious father telling them I made their "little angel" cry. So my parents then called Angel's father back up and told them my story, only to hear Angel's side of the story, which was complete lies by the way. My parents believed me though because they knew I was smarter than that, they knew I had no reason to lie to them, and they knew how big a pain in the ass Angel really was. My parents even knew Angel and I were having problems after a few months of dating.
And I haven't dated since. High school girls are too much work. Too much drama. Annoying. I just really hope Annie Jo doesn't grow up to be like that.
"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Newbie asks as he pulls me to a stop in the hallway.
I blink before giving him a questioning look. "What?"
"You were squeezing my hand tightly and looking pretty pissed,"
I look down at our clasped hands before looking back up at him. "Oh, sorry,"
"Do you want to talk about it? We can skip dinner if you want," He actually looks pretty concerned.
"No, no, that's okay," I clear my throat. "I was just thinking of something,"
"Are you sure, Beowulf? We don't have to go in there if you're not ready," I actually love it when he says my name. I even told Annie Jo to call me Wulf, which she pronounces "Woof". No one is allowed to call me Beowulf except Newbie, not even Niles can call me Beowulf.
"Yeah," I say and smile at him. "Now come on, their waiting for us," Before I walk into the kitchen I plant a chaste kiss on his lips only to find a surprised expression on his face when I pulled away. "We better not hold hands since Annie Jo is in there," I say and give his hand one last squeeze before letting go.
"Right," He says and clears his throat. "Well, let's go before they send out a search party," I chuckle at his joke and follow him into the kitchen.
The kitchen seems to have transformed since we were last in here just a few hours ago. The room is bright with food covering every open countertop. A few people rush in and out of a different door with dishes of food in their arms and on carts. An intricately designed screen was placed by the table to give more privacy to the family eating behind it.
"We usually eat in the dining room with everyone else, but when a family has guests they eat in here," Newbie informs.
"Cool," I say as I follow him around the screen that successfully hides his family sitting at the table for eight. "You guys seem to have a pretty good system running,"
"We better, otherwise we would have chaos in such a big place,"
"I bet," I say as we walk around the screen.
Lydia, Annie Jo, and the man Annie Jo and Newbie called 'dad', are already sitting down at the table with food placed in the center of the table. Lydia smiles up at Newbie and I when we come into view.
"Hello boys," Lydia says cheerfully.
"Wulf!" Annie Jo hollers. "You're here, you're here!"
"I am," I laugh at the little girl. "I couldn't stay away from you that long,"
"I know," Annie Jo giggles. "Everyone wants to be my friend,"
I bite my tongue as to not laugh out loud, only Newbie doesn't succeed as he bursts out laughing.
"Jojo, you're only five and you already have a big head." He laughs.
"I don't have a big head!" Annie Jo says appalled. "At least I don't have big feet like you!"
"Big feet?" Newbie asks with tears in his eyes. "I don't have big feet,"
"Yeah, you do," Annie Jo says as she crosses her arms across her chest. "That's why you can't dance, because your feet are too big and you trip over them,"
"Hey," Newbie's voice cracks.
"Wulf can dance better than you and he's just as big as you,"
"He just had beginners luck, I'm sure he'll suck just as much as me next time,"
"Nuh uh," Annie Jo says as she shakes her head. "Wulf is the best prince ever, and you're terrible at it,"
"Hey, I'm the original prince here," Newbie argues. "He can't take my place,"
"He already did, big brother," Annie Jo informs.
Newbie's jaw drops as he stares at her before snapping his mouth shut and turning to glare at me. I throw my hands in the air and shrug my shoulders.
"I guess I'm better than you in everything physical," Only after it came out did it sound so bad. Newbie snickers and winks at me.
"We'll see about that," He says before taking his seat at the table.
"No, I'm pretty sure you're just bad at everything," I say as sit down next to him.
"I was pretty good at training," He says matter-of-factly.
"That was definitely beginners luck, besides, we didn't even do anything,"
"Yes we did, we did footing and that shuffling thing,"
"Precisely, we did nothing," I reply.
"You're just mad that I got the hang of it so quickly,"
"I'm not mad," I say. "And again, we didn't do anything. I mean did you see me and Matt? That was me going easy on him,"
"Poor guy, you didn't look like you were going easy on him."
"I was," I reply before I remember his family is sitting across from us.
Lydia smiles from ear to ear at the both of us, while Annie Jo plays with her tutu, and their father stares at me. He actually stares right at me. I gulp and bite my bottom lip as my nerves get the best of me.
"Oh, right, sorry," Newbie says quickly. "Dad, this is Beowulf, my friend," Even to me I heard the hidden meaning behind "friend", whatever that means.
"Nice to meet you Beowulf," The man says. I notice he is pretty buff as his plain black shirt strains to cover his body. His hair is black as night, nothing like Newbies hazel brown. But he does have Newbie's eyes, or Newbie has his eyes. His left eye has little flecks of lighter brown while the right has a light brown ring around the pupil. Such beautiful eyes.
"Please, call me Wulf," I correct him.
"Wulf?" He asks with curious eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I find it weird to be called Beowulf,"
"Ridge calls you Beowulf," Annie Jo points out.
"That's because he's stubborn and won't take the hint," I say.
"You won't call me by my name, you still insist on calling me Newbie,"
"That's because you still are a newbie,"
"Am not,"
"Are too,"
"Ugh," Newbie scoffs. "You know what, call me whatever you want, I'm still calling you Beowulf though,"
"Ugh," I scoff right back. "Then I'll continue to call you Newbie,"
"Fine," He says.
"Fine," I repeat.
"Okay," Lydia says and clears her throat. "So how about we start eating before it gets cold?"
"Great idea, mom," Newbie says as he picks up a roll from a basket.
I smile as we all dish out our food. After a while the kitchen is quiet, probably because everyone else is having dinner in the dining room. We eat our dinner in silence before Newbie groans.
"Why is everyone so quiet? We never eat in silence?" He complains.
Lydia smiles at him before nodding her head in agreement.
"Okay," Newbie's dad says. "So Wulf, what do you like to do?"
I swallow down the mashed potatoes in my mouth before answering him. "I like to Box," I answer.
"Box? Really?" He asks with wide eyes before he nods his head in approval. "I was wondering what you did to keep yourself so well fit. I was actually thinking you were big on weight lifting,"
"I am, I just do it for boxing though,"
"Nice," He says. "So what do you do for boxing then? I've never really watched the sport,"
"He hits people," Newbie says.
Annie Jo gasps in her little pink high chair. "You hit people? Like bad people?"
"I don't hurt them," I say. "We have special gear on so it doesn't hurt,"
"So do you hit them when you get mad at them? Like when they break a promise?"
I smirk at Newbie who sets his fork down and shrinks in his chair. "One time," He mumbles to himself but I know his parents heard him from the curious looks they give him.
"No, we don't make promises in the ring," I inform the little five year old. "We also can't hit them just because we get mad at them. We have to follow rules just like any other sport."
"Can I have some of that special gear?" She asks innocently. "I need to hit Ridge for breaking our promise,"
"Annie Jo," Lydia scolds. "We don't hit people, especially family."
"Someone should inform Braider of that then," I say under my breath only for Ridge to give me a sad look. How the hell did he hear me?
"But mama, Ridge broke our easy promise,"
"Ridge, why did you break your promise?" Lydia asks with that motherly tone that suggests punishment later on.
"I didn't mean to," Newbie says quickly. "It was a slip up, I swear,"
"What promise?" His dad asks. What is his name anyway?
Newbie sighs loudly. "I wasn't supposed to hold anyone's hand unless she was holding mine as well,"
"Yeah, and he holded Wulf's hand!" Annie Jo cries out. "He broke our promise, but then Wulf made everything better by dancing with me,"
I smile at her and Newbie sulks in his char. "It was an accident, I swear Jojo,"
"Nuh uh, you did it on purpose," Annie Jo says as she points at him from across the table.
"I would never break our promise on purpose," Newbie tries. "Do you think I enjoyed watching you cry like that?"
"Yeah, you probably did," Annie Jo fires back, her blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders. I realize now that Annie Jo is a spitting image of her mother Lydia. The bright blue eyes, the blonde African curls, the round shape of their faces, even their noses are the same.
"No I didn't!" Newbie argues back. "I hated seeing that, Annie Jo,"
"Nuh uh," Annie Jo shakes her head. "It's a good thing Wulf is such a good prince to you and saved you from me hating you,"
"Hating me?" Newbie's eyes widen to impossible sizes as his jaw drops. "You would hate me?"
"Yeah, I would," Annie Jo says not picking up on her brother's change in attitude that is no longer playful. You can tell that Newbie is wrapped around his littler sister's finger so tightly that I'm surprised nothing snaps. I can't imagine how Newbie would take things if Annie Jo said she actually hated him. I can't imagine her teenage years. Newbie is in for one heck of a shock.
"Annie Jo," Lydia scolds. "We don't hate family, not even pretend hate,"
"But mama, he broke our promise,"
"Did he say sorry?"
Annie Jo scrunches up her little nose. "Well, yeah,"
"Then you should find it in yourself to forgive him," Lydia says. "If he said sorry he probably meant it,"
"What if he didn't mean it though?" She cries out. "What if he isn't really sorry?"
"Annie Jo," Her dad says. "I can't see your brother not being sorry. He has always kept your promises, hasn't he?" Annie Jo nods her head slowly. "And he has always apologized when something went wrong?" She nods her head again. "And he always tries to make things fun and always tells you he loves you, right?" Annie Jo shrugs her shoulders. "Annie Jo, you know he has,"
"So," She says stubbornly.
"So," Her dad continues. "I'm sure he is honestly sorry for breaking your promise. I'm also sure it was an accident,"
Annie Jo sighs loudly and glares at Newbie. "You better keep our other promises mister,"
"I will," Newbie says as he quickly nods his head.
"That means the flowers and chocolate too," She says as she juts out her bottom lip.
"I will, I will. You're to help me pick them out, I remember,"
"And don't forget it either," Annie Jo says. "And you better do it soon before your prince gets away,"
"Gets away?" Newbie says with wide eyes before glancing at me.
I shrug my shoulders at him. I am totally confused now. What about flowers and chocolate? What is he to do soon? I'm the prince she's talking about, right? Why would I get away?
"Man, she's a sassy little thing." I laugh, causing Lydia and her husband to laugh as well.
"You have no idea," Newbie mutters as he stares at his dinner plate.
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Author's Note
6/14/16
I need a sassy Annie Jo in my life. HAHA.
Who is your favorite prince?
Mine would be Aladdin from, well, Aladdin :D
or
Eric from The Little Mermaid.
Fuck they are gorgeous. :D :D