Twelve
"Dastan no!" I yell as he attempts to drag me across the aisle. " No, I am not going up there!"
He rolls his eyes and continues pulling me.
The guy on the stage laughs, "Come one, it's not like we're going toco mpletely humiliate you." He says.
Something in his tone doesn't make me so sure.
"Now you sit here," He says giving me a chair in front of everyone else and Dastan a chair beside me. "Now play along,"
I gulp.
I've never been very good at, you know, "winging it".
The music starts and immediately I know what song it is. I look to Dastan and he looks as puzzled as I do and his cheeks redden to a shade that I can only guess is one mirroring my own.
"There you see her, Sitting there across the way," They sing.
I laugh nervously.
I'm not sure if they've realized this or not, but
1. I'm not a mermaid
2. I'm not under a spell and
3. If they want Prince "Eric" over there to "Kiss the Girl" they're in for a big disappointment.
I'm not going to be kissed.
"She don't got a lot to say," They continue.
Oh yes I do, and if I weren't so dignified I would tell it to them right here and now. What do they expect us to do?
"Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
It's possible she wants you, too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl "
Dastan and I exchange queer glances with unsaid sayings of "Look what you got us into," and an embarrassed "I can't believe this is happening". Our only outward appearance must be a mixture between nervous smiles and blushed cheeks.
When the singers realize that we're not doing anything, one of them leans over and whispers something in Dastan's ear. First confusion, then a mark of a mischievous grin crosses his face before he can wipe it off so that I don't see.
I send a questioning glance and he shrugs. But the shadow of a wicked grin remains.
By the last chorus of the song I suppose the audience is pretty bored with Dastan and I's performance, but I could have told them that in the beginning.
The last lyrics of the song are sung,
"Do what the music say
You wanna kiss the girl"
"Kiss her!" The audience cheers.
"Go on and kiss the girl"
The next few moments pass so quickly I'm not sure if they really happen. The music fades and just when I stand to walk off, Dastan takes my hand and whips me back to face him. He wraps the other softly around my cheek and pulls me in for a kiss.
The crowd goes wild.
When I open my eyes I look into his. He smiles, but I don't smile moment is so much different than before at the bench. That moment was completely natural and this one is so forced. Still, I remind myself that he didn't have to kiss me. Somehow knowing that doesn't make me feel any better. I become dizzy.
Everyone applauds and Dastan leads me away. Still in a daze, I follow him trying to process what just happened.
Dastan kissed me.
About a hundred people witnessed it.
What?
Dastan walks incredibly fast, so it's next to impossible to read his expression. When we reach the parking lot we both silently slide into the front seats and stare out in front of us. He pauses before turning the car on and plays a tapping game with his fingers on the steering wheel.
The car's so dark; so quiet. All I hear is myself breathing.
"What just happened?" I ask wearily.
"Um," He says as the tapping gets louder. "I'm pretty sure I just kissed the girl."
"Right," I say not daring to look at him. "Got that,"
He laughs and I can just imagine his cheeks getting redder by the second. "I'm sorry," He says.
"Why?" I ask, laughing.
Don't judge me. His laugh is kind of contagious.
"Well, I just kissed you in front of a bunch of people," He says.
"Yeah, I know."
"Well," He says. "Um,"
I raise my eyebrows. "What?"
"Nothing." He pauses. "Uh sorry for...violating you."
At that I burst out laughing.
"I'm absolutely never going to forgive you," I say. I catch a grin of his.
"Hey, I apologized," He remarks. He starts the car and we make our way back the the Animal Kingdom.
Although he clearly answered my question, I still want to know what just happened. This evening doesn't make any sense. For the last few weeks all I've done is follow Dastan around the parks, picking fight after fight with him. And in this one evening so many things have changed. All the way from Dastan taking me the Gharadelli just to make things up to me, to the bench when I swear time stopped, our shopping trip, and playing with the Perry the Platypus stuff, and then there's the acopello
group and Kiss the Girl, and...yi yi yi. If only I had bought a journal. I don't know what to make of it all, and maybe if I just wrote it all down I would know what to think right now.
The wavering question in my head continues to circle around and around.
What changed?
That's what I should have asked him. Not that wimpy "What just happened?"
I'm such a girl.
Dastan carries my shopping bags through the park until we reach the tree. He sets them on my bed and walks confidently back to the door. I follow him out.
"Hey, I'm serious." He says softly. "I am sorry, and I shouldn't have done that earlier."
I frown. Then why did you kiss me? I think.
"It's okay," Is all I say.
Silence.
"Oh, and let's not mention this to Fairy Godmother. I could be fired." He adds.
"Well we wouldn't want that," I say. "Who knows what freak I'd get next."
"Hey, I'm not a freak," He says.
"Uh huh, whatever makes you happy."
"Not a freak."
"Right..."
We stand there in silence, at the mouth of a tree that was never supposed to be seen by someone as normal as me. For the first moment on
this vacation, (you know, if you still want to call it that,) I take the moment in. Of how many people would die to be able to do what I've been
doing. How awesome this experience would be to so many people, including my family. My mom would just love to be here right now- to get as many
behind the scenes tours and ride the attractions over and over as much as I have. And then there's Dastan... how did he get put in charge of
me? Why wasn't it someone else? And why do I care. Why do insist on believing that this would be ten times worse without him? Why-
"Well, I'll see you in the morning," Dastan says breaking my thoughts "Fantasia."
"Fantasia," I repeat.
Why do I get this feeling that I'll actually miss him when I go home?
I hear him disappear behind the foliage. "What changed?" I mutter to myself.
In the faint distance I hear Dastan's voice. What he says remains a mystery.
You know what I really want to know? Why out of all things that are going wrong in my life, do I only think about him and what the heck he means to me. Why?