"Trust. It's what friends do." - Finding Nemo
"WE'RE GOING TO see who?"
I was being dragged again. "Just trust me on this, Alice," Max assured me, his hand tugging on mine as we ran. I wasn't sure if he doubted my running abilities or if he just wanted to get me there before I changed my mind, but I was beginning to get really tired of being yanked all over the park. He stopped me in front of building that looked very much like a bungalow castle, with a big purple banner on top that read Princess Fairytale Hall in golden letters. "We're here," Max breathed, leading me inside without a second to lose.
"You know I haven't even seen this movie yet, right?" I asked, arms crossed.
Max arches a brow at me. "Yet? So you were planning on seeing it?"
"No, I just-"
"Max!" A red-headed girl came bounding towards him, a familiar goofy grin on her face. She practically knocked him over jumping into his arms, and I stood in a stunned silence, trying to put pieces together - but, being my usual clueless self, I just stood there and gaped like an idiot before finally connecting the dots.
"Alice, this is my little sister, Jamie." Oh. "She's playing Anna."
"She's playing who?"
The siblings just laughed - and judging from their uncanny resemblance and exact dimples that stood out as they laughed at my remark, I figured that they were probably twins. "She hasn't seen the movie yet," Max informed his sister in a warning tone, and Jamie nodded grimly, seemingly understanding what movie he meant without him even having to specify which one. Must be twin telepathy or something. I could already hear Max's voice in my head going, "You believe in twin telepathy, but you don't believe in Disney?"
Jamie smiled - hers is just as contagious as her brother's. "Well, you must really like her if you're bringing her to meet family already," she teased, and I could feel myself blushing as Max looked from his sister to me, practically sputtering as he attempted to explain that we were just friends. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding - gosh, this one can be so serious sometimes, huh?" she looked to me playfully.
I blinked at her. "Is that a joke?"
Jamie just laughed. "So how many times has he made you suffer through 'It's A Small World'?" she asked curiously, twirling one of her braids.
"You've got your sister's sense of humour," I looked over at Max with a deadpan. "And too many times," I groaned, siding with her. "He's trying to get me to like Disney - and so far, he's not doing a very good job."
Not the right thing to say to Max's sister. "You don't like Disney?" Her eyes bulged.
I crossed my arms defensively. "Why does everyone keep asking me that like I just murdered someone? It's just Disney!" I exclaimed - luckily there was no one else in the room, or I would've been one strike closer to getting fired.
The twins stared at me. "Just Disney?"
"What are you two blabbering on about now?" A voice from behind me asked in a tone that I normally used. I spun around to find myself face to face with a girl in a white wig and the most gorgeous blue dress I'd ever seen. "You know, just because we work at Disneyland, doesn't mean we have to worship it every three seconds. And I think I reserve the right to use the phrase 'let it go' in situations such as these," she lamented, sauntering over to meet me with a cool smile.
"That's what I've been saying!" I exclaimed.
"No, you haven't," Max pointed out.
"Well, I was thinking it."
Elsa and Anna - maybe I should have been referring to her as Jamie - were giving us knowing smiles. "You know, there's a difference between saying something and thinking something, believe it or not," Max argued, crossing his arms defensively.
"Funny, I didn't think you knew that, considering you say every single thing that pops into that tiny little brain of yours."
"My brain is not tiny!"
"You just keep telling yourself that, stud."
Elsa and Anna - Jamie - laughed. "We'll leave you guys alone," Jamie offered, but I stopped her.
"No, please, I've been stuck with him all day," I begged.
Jamie laughed. "Alright, well... do you guys wanna build a snowman?"
"What? Why would we-" I started, confused.
"Are you kidding me? Of course I wanna build a snowman!" Max exclaimed, clapping his hands together like a little kid.
Elsa sighed. "These two are like little kids, I swear," she mumbled, but I could hear the affection she had for them both in her voice, even though the annoyance. I liked this girl, though - she had the same attitude as me. I didn't come across that very often - especially in a park filled with Disney-obsessed weirdos like Max and his sister. The two of them scampered off to build a snowman, leaving me alone with Elsa. "I'm Kiera," she smiled, breaking the silence and offering me a hand to shake.
"Alice Winters," I introduced myself shyly, taking her hand in mine.
"So how come you're hanging around with Max? Shouldn't you be off somewhere with Will?" Kiera asked, and I froze. I should have been off somewhere with Will, shouldn't I? Wasn't I supposed to be spending the majority of my time with him? If my boss saw me running around the park with Peter Pan instead of Flynn Rider, I could lose my job. Then I'd be one step further away from going to college and have one more failed job to add to my resume. Sure, I didn't love working here, but it was a job, and it paid well. It was worth it to have Max around all the time, but not if it cost me my job.
I cut off my inner monologue, figuring that Will would trust that I would be back in time, and anyway, my break wasn't over just yet. "Max is trying to get me to like Disney," I explained, figuring that I could talk to Kiera for a little while longer. I'd meet Will back at the theatre when it was time for the next concert.
"Ah, that does sound like something he'd do," she grinned, understanding. "I totally get what you're going through with hanging out with Max - being around Jamie all day is basically the same thing. She's a bit overly obsessed at times - but I still love her to death. She's like, my best friend. And she's the only one I can actually stand at this park."
"Really?" I asked - this girl was exactly like me.
"Yeah, I can't help but love her - her random Disney outbursts and all," Kiera smiled. "So are you two going to see the fireworks later?"
I bit the inside of my cheek in thought. "I didn't even know there were fireworks here - Max never mentioned anything."
"He's probably saving the best for last," Kiera figured. "That's so like him."
I opened my mouth to respond when Max's voice rang out from the other room. "Alice! You've gotta come see this!" he exclaimed, and I laughed, rolling my eyes. Kiera nodded for me to go and I ran over through the hallway, not realizing until it was too late that there was ice all over the floor. Whether it was real ice or not I had no idea - but I knew that in my stupid traction-less Rapunzel slippers, it was definitely slippery enough to send me flying over the staircase.
(And, because I'm just that lucky, straight at Max.)
(I think the two of them were just glad that I didn't destroy their snowman in the process of flying to my certain death. I practically catapulted off the ground, momentarily losing my balance and soaring over to where Max had been sitting, admiring his snowman with pride, even though it was lopsided and only had one arm. Max extended his arms just in time for me to land in them safely, my mouth hanging open in shock as I looked up at his face, just above mine.)
"Hey, that was like a crazy trust exercise," Jamie commented, and I could hear Kiera's laugh from the other room.
"I've got to stop doing that," I muttered breathlessly, still looking up at him stupidly.
"It's okay," Max grinned, "I don't mind catching you every now and then."
I tried not to blush - knowing that there was no way he wouldn't see it this time, and that Kiera and Jamie were probably watching the whole thing and giving me knowing looks when there wasn't even anything to know. I didn't even wait for Max to put me down - I practically flew out of his arms and made my way out the door, managing a goodbye to Kiera and Jamie before grabbing my frying pan and exiting the hall, sufficiently flustered and ready to go onstage and be someone else for a while - anything to forget what had just happened. I held my hands to my cheeks, trying to get them to calm down. I could hear Max running up behind me, and I hoped - more like prayed - that he wouldn't notice how red my face was.
"Hey, where are you going?" he asked when he finally caught up with me. "We didn't even get to build a snowman together."
I stumbled over an excuse. "I um - well I have to... my break's up and I have a show in fifteen minutes, so I have to get over to the theatre before Will gets worried," I explained, trying to contain how frazzled I was.
"Oh - well hey, I'll walk you there-"
"No, no, I'm fine, I can walk myself, thanks."
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine - but I'm going to be late if I don't leave right now."
Max looked confused, but didn't stand in my way. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran - hoping that he wouldn't try to follow me again. By the time I got to my dressing room and fixed my hair, my cheeks were back to normal - but I'd discovered that thinking about the incident from earlier made me blush all over again. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it, I thought to myself over and over. Okay, so you landed in his arms a second time, and you kind of liked it. That doesn't mean anything. There are a lot of residual Peter Pan feelings in your seven year old brain that you're confusing with Max feelings, and you're not about to fall for that again. So stop being stupid and get ready for your damn musical.
"Alice, you ready for the show?" Will appeared in my doorway, and I spun around, my hands still plastered to my cheeks. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, concern filling his eyes as he stepped towards me.
"I'm great - just a little nervous for the show, I guess," I lied.
He put his hands on my shoulders and spun me around so that I faced the mirror, forcing me to look at myself. "You'll be fine - you've already done the show a couple times now, and you're the best Rapunzel we've ever had," he assured me, and I removed my hands from my cheeks, taking in a deep breath. "Now, break a leg, you're going to be as amazing as you always are," he grinned, escaping down the hallway.
(And I did. Not literally of course - that would have been a disaster. I'd never understood why theatre people used that expression - how did it even come about? What was the first person to wish broken legs upon their cast-mates even trying to say - and what did the others think? Despite my confusion and stupid wandering thoughts, I waited backstage, trying to get into my character. You're Rapunzel, I told myself. You've been in a tower your whole life, shut out from the world, and now you're here - with lanterns and magic and a really, really cute guy who wants to help you find your dreams. You've been dreaming of this your whole life - and now you're finally free.)
I walked onstage, waving as the little kids in the front rows squealed and clapped. I was more excited to do this show than the medley at the Town Square Theatre - this one actually told my character's story in a whole musical, instead of just in one song. "Once upon a time, there was a radiant young lady named Rapunzel," the narrator of the show (played by our good friend Hudson, who also doubled as Prince Charming on Fridays and weekends) began. And for the record, I wasn't the worst girl around, but I definitely wouldn't have considered myself or Rapunzel to be radiant.
Still, I kept on with the show. "From the time I was just a baby, my mother never allowed me to go outside," I explained, projecting my best Rapunzel voice. We continued, and 'Mother Gothel' was soon calling for me to let down my hair, and Hudson was coming towards me to throw it out the window. "Wait a minute, wait a minute!" I stopped him dramatically, holding my braids away protectively. "You have no idea how long it takes to braid this..." I backed away, gesturing to my hair.
Dancers with long yellow ribbons appeared around me. "Ooh, what's this?" I asked, smiling in awe as they circled me and danced, the strands flying gracefully out the window.
"It's a theatrical representation of your hair!"
I tried not to sound annoying as I clapped my hands and excitedly said the line, "Oh, I just love the theatre!" It wasn't that I didn't love theatre - I did. But for a character who had never been outside of her tower, it didn't seem to make much sense that she loved a theater - just saying. And if Max didn't have a logical reason as to why I thought that Disney was unrealistic and flawed, that was one if I ever saw it.
Soon, Will was climbing through the window, and I was using my limited knowledge of stage-combat to knock him out with my frying pan. I exhaled in relief after I didn't actually hit him - I was mildly afraid that I'd give him a concussion or internal bleeding of some sort - but I'd never tell him that. Will was on the floor now, and I gave the audience my best shriek, my voice filling the theatre. I hid slightly behind my frying pan, peering down at Will's 'unconscious' body over the top of it with scared eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Max lingering in the doorway, watching the show with an amused smile.
What is he doing here? I thought nervously. I hadn't prepared myself for him to watch the show - what if I was doing a horrible job? I'd just screamed at the top of my lungs in front of a huge group of people - but it was Max that I was nervous to perform in front of. I continued with the show, little need to act now that I was so nervous having a real unexpected person show up, without warning. My first scene with Will involved me being very scared to be around a 'stranger', and since Max was practically the definition of strange, little acting ability was required with this scene.
"Look Blondie, there is no way I will ever, ever take you to see the-" he started, but I raised my frying pan threateningly at him, and he gave in. "Okay, okay, I'll take you to see the floating lanterns. Sheesh," he ad-libbed, and I had to stifle a laugh.
I tried not to look at Max standing in the doorway with a proud smile as the show went on, although there were many points were I was required to look directly at the audience, and my eyes couldn't help but land on him on their own accord. Why did he have to come to my show? Couldn't he have watched his sister or left me alone for one second, for God's sake? It was like he was trying to make me nervous on purpose by showing up like this.
(Not that I was nervous. Or anything.)
Nervous or not, I kept on with the show. I faked smiles, pretended I was a perky long-haired princess and danced around with Will, running around and singing and making a complete fool out of myself, feeling like a complete idiot and not minding it so much when I heard Max's laugh from the back of the theatre each time I made a joke or a funny face. Looking like a fool suddenly didn't seem to matter that much when I knew that it was making him - and everyone else in the theatre - happy. And maybe it was the lack of sanity in this place, the fun that I didn't want to admit I was having running around with him or the stupidity I had for taking this God-awful job, but I was beginning to wish that it was Max dancing on stage with me, instead of Will.
What was wrong with me?
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a / n ~ So I'm really loving walking around the house wearing my Rapunzel dress that my mom and I made (since it's really only for special occasions and performances, I don't get to wear it much) and I've really been spending most of my time sneaking it on and reading in my book nook, pretending to be Rapunzel, as any Disnerd would naturally do. Anyway, what are you guys thinking about Alice and Max??? Because I'm actually really protective over Max (like Lin-Manuel Miranda, he is a cinnamon roll too precious for this life) and I want you guys to love him! Disney question of the day: favourite Disney kiss? Of course I'm going to go with Tangled again, because let's be honest, that kiss between Rapunzel and Eugene was absolutely adorable, and makes me cry every time I watch the movie (which is regularly every week or so, since I always need my Tangled fill)! I also loved Carl and Ellie's kiss at their wedding, Tarzan and Jane's, Anna and Kristoff's and Ella and Topher's in the Broadway show of Cinderella! Which kisses make your heart melt? ~xoxo, sydney ♥