"The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work." - The Princess and the Frog
"HEY, BLONDIE!" Okay, not how I wanted to start my first day of work.
It was bad enough that it was eighty-six degrees out and I was clad in a ridiculously sweaty purple dress (not in the job description, might I add), but it was barely a half hour into my first day before I found myself getting catcalled by a co-worker. At least I didn't have the blue eyes to fit the exact stereotype - but that didn't make it any less irritating to be addressed by a physical feature of my body rather than my name. I turned, instantly regretting it as my annoying yellow locks whipped me in the face for about the hundredth time today, to find the Flynn to my Rapunzel walking towards me. I had to admit, he wasn't nearly as unattractive as I thought he'd be. Still, there was probably an equal amount of make-up on his face as mine, and he was still running to catch up to my stride a good distance behind me.
"Alice? Hello? You there?"
I blinked at the boy standing before me, coming back down from my thoughts. "I - yes. I'm here. What do you want?"
He offered me a welcoming smile. "We have to get to the concert - it starts in fifteen."
Damn - I was hoping he'd forget about that. "Right, right," I muttered, not really paying attention as I fiddled with a flower on the enormous braid that almost reached my feet. Will (I think it's Will?) offered me a hand that I hesitantly took as he led me through the tunnels toward the Town Square Theatre. Little wouldn't begin to describe my knowledge when it came to Disney, but I definitely did not know that the parks had a secret system of underground tunnels, all designed to help face characters and workers get from place to place quickly, without being seen. It was the one thing I'd found myself thankful for when I first began work - it meant that I didn't have to be all happy-go-lucky as I was making my way to my post, which was just about the best thing I'd learned all day. Still, here I was, about to go onstage in a ridiculous princess dress and sing about floating lights (or are they stars?), and I knew that I couldn't avoid the inevitable for very much longer.
"Alice, are you alright?"
Why did he keep asking that? No, I'm wasn't alright. I was far from alright - I was going to be spending practically all of my time at stupid Disneyland, dressed as a stupid Disney princess, singing stupid songs about stupid love that didn't even exist. Suffice to say, I'd decidedly hit a personal low. "I'm fine, let's just go," I grumbled as he took my hand again and quickened our pace. I didn't try to stop him this time - we were supposed to be a couple, and I was supposed to stay at his side all day like some sort of lapdog. The long locks of blonde hair that had been braided to my ankles trailed behind me annoyingly, making it a lot harder to run than I'd expected.
(At least they'd allowed me to wear shoes - from the picture I saw of this girl, she didn't own a pair in her entire wardrobe. Then again, if I'd lived in a tower for my whole life, I'd probably spend my time barefoot in sweatpants, too.)
As my costume gathered more sweat from the running, I made my way backstage with Will - or should I say Flynn? - at my side. In a flash, a wireless mic was taped to my cheek, the stage manager was calling places, and Will was telling me to remember to smile. There were three levels on the stage, and from the left wing I could just make out Kelly (Pocahontas Wednesday through Friday, Dressing Room 3B) singing Colours of the Wind at the top. I watched as Kelly ran off after her song, and a girl who played Mulan took the stage, belting out Reflection as pink flower petals float down to the stage.
(Man, they really go all out with this Disney stuff. What was the big deal, anyway? With a roll of my eyes, I waited until our Mulan had made her way into the wings before bounding onstage myself in an air of determination, painting a smile on my face despite the bright lights and sounds of little kids cheering as I belted out the words with everything I had in me.)
"All those days, watching from the windows. All those years, outside looking in. All that time, never even knowing just how blind I've been," I sang, trying to obey Will's orders to smile. The lights that were currently blinding me were far brighter than I'd expected, and out of the corner of my eye, I could still see Pocahontas and Mulan waiting for their cue to come on again. I could barely hear my own voice - let alone the music - over the thumping of my heart in my chest. Why was I so nervous? I never got nervous - especially not for Disney.
I became aware of Will onstage beside me, singing his part in harmony with mine. "Now she's here shining in the starlight. Now she's here, suddenly I know, if she's here, it's crystal clear, I'm where I'm meant to go!" I focussed my eyes on his like I was told to, but I was caught completely off guard from the moment he began to sing, because damn, this boy could sing. I almost forgot to turn back to the audience for my last note, the thundering applause filling my ears as we belted out the final note to the medley, in harmony with the other performers. I stood for a moment in shock, my eyes catching on a group of little kids in the front row, smiling and waving at me. I tried my best to smile and look cheerful - even waving briefly at a little girl in a Rapunzel dress, who beamed at me in response.
(Well. That's a first.)
"Well, well, well, blondie," Will joked as we made our way back out into the park to take pictures at our post. "I didn't know you could sing like that."
I crossed my arms. "I applied for a singing part - did you really think I couldn't sing?"
"You didn't think you could sing," he pointed out.
I smiled, "Well, I underestimated myself. And don't call me blondie - it's offensive."
Will shrugged, "I have to - it's in my contract."
"Is that a Disney thing, or something?" I asked, confused.
"Shouldn't you know? Blondie is what Flynn calls Rapunzel - he calls her that practically the whole movie," he said plainly, as if it were common knowledge.
I blinked at him. "Weird." Will looked at me like I was from another planet as I adjusted my braid again. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I questioned, arching a brow at him.
He shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "It's just... Rapunzel's your character - shouldn't you know a little more about her?" he asked delicately, and I shrugged again unenthusiastically. "God, how did you even get this job?" he laughed.
I echoed his laughter, making a face. "Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't even want this job."
Will looked at me incredulously. "Then why did you take it?"
His question was interrupted by the sound of children scampering towards us, cheering and fighting to get to the front of the line, parents running along behind them and getting out their cameras. "Hi, Rapunzel!" A little girl, probably no more than six years old, beamed at me after making her way to the front of the line. "I'm Georgie, and I'm turning seven in three and a half months." Knew it! "Did you get to see the stars?" she asked, looking up at me with hopeful eyes. I glanced from Georgie to Will - I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. I looked up at Will helplessly, but he just shrugged. Thanks for the help, Flynn.
A woman who I assumed to be Georgie's mother came to the rescue just in time. "She fell asleep halfway through the movie," she informed me in a whisper.
"Oh," I replied, trying my best to smile. "Uh, yes, sweetie... I did see the um... stars. They were beautiful," I grinned down at her, hoping that my answer would suffice. She was really cute - all dressed up like Princess Aurora in a perfect replica of the dress and a golden tiara settled crookedly on her head. It bothered me a little bit that girls looked up to Aurora - she was pretty and everything, but her story lacked substance. She was stupid enough to get tricked into pricking her finger (what a way to go) and then she fell in love with a man she just met simply because he kissed her awake. If a guy kissed me, I'd probably be surprised enough to wake up too - spell or no spell. Georgie didn't seem to care about Aurora's story line, however - I guessed that a lot of little girls probably only liked her because she was pretty and wore a pink dress.
Georgie beamed. "Awesome! Can I take a picture with you?" she asked, and I nodded yes, admittedly flattered at how polite she was being. I forgot that kids could be like that - once you start hanging around teenagers all the time, you kind of forget that people in the universe can actually be nice. I watched as Georgie jumped onto Will's lap and grinned over at her mother, who was getting ready to take our picture in a routine that looked as though she'd gone through quite a few times today. Looking at all of the parents who hauled their children through the hot park all day, I began to think that maybe I wasn't the one with the worst job here, after all.
As Georgie's mother pulled out her camera, I posed with the frying pan I'd been given (these costume pieces were seriously starting to freak me out) while Will put his arm around me. We took the pictures in record time, and Georgie planted a soft kiss on my cheek before skipping away with her mother, leaving me with an oddly warm and satisfying feeling in my chest that I didn't particularly like. And for the next hour and a half, I took pictures with kids and their families all over again, chatting and posing and trying to ignore the strangeness that I felt each time a child offered me a gap-toothed smile, not unlike one I used to have when I was just like them.
We went on break not long after, and Will raised an eyebrow at me as I fought back a stupid smile. "What?" I asked sharply as we made our way up the stairs towards our regular room that'd been decorated as Rapunzel's tower.
He laughed. "It's weird to see you being nice," he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
I cocked my head to one side skeptically. "You've known me for a total of four hours."
"Yes, and you've only been nice for one of them."
I grinned. "Oh, shut up, you love me."
Will smirked. "What makes you think that?"
"It's in your contract, remember?" I reminded him playfully.
He held his hands up in surrender. "You got me."
I raised my frying pan threateningly, and for a moment he looked like he thought I might actually hit him. "I'm kidding - but don't get used to the being nice part. I really do hate it here - and I'm not making you an exception."
Will looked wounded. "Come on - we were just getting to be friends! And I promise, I won't cut your hair off without your permission."
"What?"
"Never mind," he laughed. "But I really do have to call you Blondie, you know. And you can't call me Will - at least, not when anyone else is around. To you, I am Eugene Fitzherbert," he announced regally, swinging his satchel around in circles playfully.
"I thought your character was Flynn."
He grinned, shaking his head. "We'll go over that later." There was a long silence as we stared at each other curiously, and I might have been mistaken, but for a second the thought passes through my mind that he may have been flirting with me this whole time. I smiled at the ground after he left, leaning my back against the railing at the top of the stairs. To think that someone could actually be flirting with me was an odd and flattering thought - one that I was sure wouldn't last for very long. Whenever anyone came knocking at my door I'd always found a way to turn them away, and I had no experience with love. Even if Disney hadn't ruined my expectations about love, I don't doubt that I would've found a way to blow it all on my own.
This moment with Will though, this was nice. Unfortunately, it seemed to pass right over my head that a promotional stunt was beginning right in front of the tower - and that I was standing right in the middle of it. I was pulled out of my trance suddenly as a group of burly men dressed as pirates bounded past, one of them effectively knocking me right over the railing and sending me plummeting towards the ground below the staircase in the process. The staircase wasn't extremely tall - but from the looks of it, a fall from that height could still surely do some damage.
(And I was just beginning to think that my day couldn't get any worse.)
Long locks of blonde hair flew messily above me as I fell backwards off the railing, falling at an alarming rate towards the concrete. I flail my hands and feet as I grasp desperately for something, anything to hold onto, coming to the hopeless realization that I was definitely going to land on my back on the pavement - hard. What a great way to start my first - and quite possibly last - day of work. I wondered briefly mid-fall if they'd think that I was too much of a burden to have around - being my usual clumsy and irritating self - and just fire me.
(God, I hoped they'd fire me. It'd be the best part of my day.)
Just as I was about to hit the ground, I found myself landing in the arms of someone who'd been standing below the staircase - conveniently in the perfect place to catch me. I looked up to find a red-headed boy in all green, most likely waiting in that spot for his cue to participate in the stunt with the careless pirates. My brain connected the dots slowly as I realized that the boy with the red feather in his hat was no innocent bystander - this boy was the star of the show that I was currently interrupting. No, worse; this was the boy who had ruined Disney for me ten years ago - the boy I'd been hoping and praying I wouldn't run into. And, as I stared up into his eyes, all I could manage was one heart-pounding thought;
I just landed in Peter Pan's arms.
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a / n ~ *squeal* After quite a bit of research and admittedly getting lost in Disney procrastination while I watched as many videos of this performance as possible (thanks, Youtube), I decided on the medley between Pocahontas, Mulan Rapunzel and Flynn simply because the music, staging and scenery is beautiful, and because I love each and every one of those songs and characters. Anyway, what did you all think of Alice's fall into Peter Pan's arms? What a way to meet, huh? On that note, here's the Disney question of the day; what's your favourite cute first meeting? I'm quite a sucker for meet-cutes (evidently), and I'd definitely have to say that Rapunzel and Eugene are a no brainer. Still, I always laugh at Tiana and Naveen's first meeting, and love Ariel and Eric, Aladdin and Jasmine, and of course, Jane and Tarzan. What are your favourite meet-cutes? Let me know in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading! ~xoxo, sydney ♥