CHAPTER TEN:
𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐚𝐳𝐳 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞
❝ ɪ ᴀᴍ ꜱᴇᴇᴋɪɴɢ, ɪ ᴀᴍ ꜱᴛʀɪᴠɪɴɢ,
ɪ ᴀᴍ ɪɴ ɪᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀʟʟ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. ❞
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
Today was the second Friday of June.
Today should've been like any other day.
But it wasn't.
Nor were all the days that came after the night I met her.
Tonight was the night of the oh-so-grand first-ever Aurora Creek Pride Ball, to be held at Teana's because of course it was.
Why it wasn't the House of Rainbows who sponsored the event was beyond me. Can't believe they lost to Tiana.
"Are ye guys sure you're not going?"
"No."
"Trust me, Merida. If I attended, I would be the life of the party." Jack boasted, "And you wouldn't want Elsa's attention to be taken away from you now, would you?"
"And they couldn't handle all this." Hiccup joins in, gesturing to all of himself before flexing.
Right now, I was at the pictures place, the Crescent Moon. It was the wee cinemas where Jack worked as the popcorn man, the ticket giver, the ticket tearer, and as the usher. A real doozy.
It was especially hard not to think about her right now what with how the establishment literally being named the Crescent-freaking-Moon.
"At this point, I can't even take your whole 'butterflies in my asshole' episodes seriously anymore." Jack refills the tiny pot in the popcorn machine with more corn seeds before sealing it with a lid. "No offense."
"H-how is that not offensive?" I slammed my fists on the bar separating Hiccup and I from Grandpa.
"Well, obviously, you've been on way too many dates with Elsa already and all those dates ended with a happy ever after, didn't they? Now, you're going on a date with her again. You got this in the bag!" He did have a point. "Haven't you seen, smelt, and felt her enough that you won't get the heebie jeebies when you're around her anymore? You should have confessed a long time ago and have already hooked up!"
"I concur with that observation, Dr. Ross." Hiccup raises a finger, making me want to raise a certain finger at him too. Cheeky bastards.
Ain't no way I'm letting them win.
"First of all, Dr. Ross, I've only been on two dates with her. The visits at the bar don't count. That's like saying you've dated every customer here at the cinemas."
"Like I said, way too many times." He shrugs. I look over to the brunette for help, but all I got was a second shrug. Some friends.
I continued after another eye roll, "Second, 'smelt' means to melt a rock or whatever. It's not the past tense of 'smell', you dobby."
And no, I wasn't sure about that. I found that if you say something confidently enough, people are sure to believe you. Guess which friend I got that from.
"Woah ho-hoah! Look at you! Hung out with Elsa for two weeks and now you're Grammar Nazi 2.0!"
See?
"Actually, it's not accurate to call her 'Grammar Nazi,' Jack. The proper term is 'vocabulary naz—' wait, who's 1.0?" all traces of intelligence faded away from his green eyes.
"You." It was a no-brainer.
"Okay, I am not a Grammar Nazi. A-am I a Grammar Nazi...? W-whatever!"
Using up the last of my eye-rolling powers, "Finally, no. No, it's not yet enough to lose the heebie jeebies every time I'm around her." refusing to touch the 'hook-up' part.
"Okay, missing sock." I wanted to kick him where the Sun doesn't shine.
"I don't know about you, but I don't think being nervous around Elsa is what you should be worrying about tonight."
"Then what?"
"What you'll wear."
I paced the room like a maniac for a solid minute immediately after those words escaped Hiccup's lips, until one of them (Hiccup, obviously, because Jack apparently only filmed the entire scene of my breakdown on his phone) finally made the decision to calm me down and stop me from my goal of achieving the 'World Record of Most Paces Made in One Minute.'
"Don't sweat it, Van Gogh. I got your back." Jack started after he tucked away his phone, "My cousin will help you out."
"Cousin?"
"Yeah, she's a pro at this stuff. Heck, she's probably already working for someone who'll attend the Pride Ball later too as we speak but, I'm sure she'll agree to meet you too if I... ask nicely." he paused to stare at the ceiling in deep thought, like he didn't exactly relish that idea, "Green is her color too. I know she has tons. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to lend you a dress."
"Huh..." was all I could say, still processing the unexpected luck I'm given, "That's... awesome."
"Right!"
An actual presentable face to show at the party? Check.
Something to wear? Check.
Guts of steel? Semi-check.
"You ready?"
What was that I see? A smile on my face? It's a sign that everything is going to play out smoothly like it always does, right? "What the heck!"
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
WHAT
THE
HECK
"I-is that me?" I pointed at the mirror with trembling fingers. Even I couldn't tell what emotion my face tried to convey under all this... make-up.
"You best believe it!"
I cannot believe Jack hooked me up with Toothiana.
He never told me once in our thousand-year long friendship that she was his cousin! And that apparently, she was Aurora Creek's most famous (and most likely only) hair and make-up artist.
He probably did it on purpose as he knew I would never have agreed to his offer.
Nothing against her. She's lovely. Top Ten on Santa's Nice List. I just can't keep up with her exuberance. She's confetti in a birthday party, to put it mildly.
I looked over at the window and saw that it was already dusk. The ball was about to start soon. Tooth came back holding a handful of three green dresses in her arms and displayed them carefully on top of our couch.
"I heard the dress code for girlies were cocktail dresses so I only brought those, which is a real bummer because you should really see my long gowns! Why did they even call it a ball? Anyway, Jack told me you wanted green so here are my faves. Take your pick!" My jaw dropped when got a closer examination of the dresses.
What's with all the cleavage exposure in these dresses?!
Were these really dresses from someone like Tooth?
Did she have some kind of alter ego we need to know about?
Does she even have...?
No, Merida.
Don't even think about it.
Don't you dare!
Don't. Look.
I looked.
YES, SHE DID.
Crivens, I'm blushing.
And I blushed even more at the thought that I would look like that if I wore them, and Elsa would see it all damn night!
"Uhm, Toothiana." How the heck do I say this? "What's with all the...?" I gestured to the dresses in a circular motion. She stared at me like I was insane.
Crap, I have no choice but to... do it.
I gestured to my bosom, avoiding eye contact because by doing so will only push me deeper down the bottomless pit of awkwardness.
"OH!" She got the picture. Thank the stars! "I'm so sorry, these were all gifted to me by my... ex-boyfriend." she tugged on the blue and yellow-colored streaks in her hair.
I heard that noun again. Ex-boyfriend. It still left a sting every time.
Toothiana was beautiful. Inside and out. Who would want to break such a heart? I'm just going to believe that it was her who initiated their breakup.
Also, what?
Her ex bought all these cleavage dresses?
"That's why these are my favorites!"
Crivens, now I feel awful for even having the audacity to be picky with the dresses, and her favorite ones as well. I know if I had a favorite, I wouldn't let anyone near them or even breath in their direction. But she trusted me enough to lend me hers.
"I'm sorry. I like these dresses, Tooth. Thank you." I mustered a smile which she returned. "I'll take that one."
Moving from Top Ten to Top Nine in Santa's List, Toothiana offered me a ride to the party.
I wonder what would happen at the party. Will it be a full house? How successful was this party with regards to advertising Are a lot of people aware that there will be a Pride Ball to be held in the first place? Just how many trees did they impale to hang posters on? Most importantly, how many of us were there in Aurora Creek anyway? Will it flop?
I'm ready to feel the embarrassment when I find that only Elsa and I had showed up for the event.
I mean, think about it. Just how many people would want to sacrifice the extra effort and time to pick a dress, put make-up on, and almost shave off their entire head of hair brushing it for a wee ball, right?
Five seconds later, my question would be answered.
I was so wrong about the flop theory. So very very wrong.
People crowded the entrance of the coffee shop as if an anarchy was taking place. Jazz music and the simultaneous conversations of people polluted the air. Reds. Oranges. Yellows. Greens. Blues. Indigos. Violets. Everywhere. You didn't need me to tell you what color the fairy lights were that hung above us like cobwebs. Tia really gave the House of Rainbows a run for their money.
The only thing missing was a rainbow disco ball.
Thank the heavens, there wasn't any, though. I would've puked rainbows. I would've left the party right then and there.
From here, I could see the long tables inside that carried scran and bevies that could feed a hundred people. A hundred gay people.
"Woah... there's a lot of us in Aurora Creek." I joked to Tooth as I was hopping off her bike.
She merely chuckled, "Silly, Mer! Some of them could be straight and just came to support the Pride."
Where was Elsa?
I said my goodbyes and thanks to Tooth and started my journey of finding Elsa, like a children's show where the main character constantly addresses the audience.
Hey, kids!
Merida needs your help!
Do you see the undeniably most gorgeous creature that the universe has ever created in all of its billions of years of existence and evolution with platinum blonde hair anywhere?
"Merida!" I heard her.
Great job, guys!
We found her.
Blue never looked so good.
"You look... beautiful." I muttered before thinking better of it. I realized Elsa and I actually spoke it in unison.
She looked down with a flushed smile on her face. Her signature purple eyeshadow gleamed and glowed. It was only until she was a feet away from me that I noticed a thin colorful streak in her hair in the colors of a rainbow.
It was the only rainbow-adjacent thing I will tolerate tonight. No bias at all, I swear.
"I... uh, yer hair. Rainbow. Cool. Wow. Wow. Nice." What the heck?
"Thank you. It was actually Rapunzel's idea."
I peeked over her shoulder and was almost scared poopless when I saw Rapunzel and Eugene have been standing there the whole time!
Elsa just has that power, to effortlessly stand out despite the presence of a crowd of colorful people.
"Isn't it exciting?" Rapunzel bounces up and down.
"Tell me again why they called it a Ball but had you, ladies, wear mere cocktail dresses?" Goatee moaned. He reminded me of Tooth.
"Because 'Pride Ball' would be 'PB', which sounds good. Like, peanut butter or peanut brittle! So, if it were 'Pride Promenade' or 'Pride Party' or even, 'Pride Gathering', it wouldn't have the same pizzazz to it, and frankly, they'd be inappropriate as acronyms." Blondie wagged a finger.
"Pride Party? P— oh." his face dropped, "Well, it doesn't matter what the dress code is, Sunshine. You still look perfect in every outfit. You're beautiful... like Cleopatra!"
"You're the king too, Eugene. Back at ya!"
The two continued to have a debate about why the event was called the way it was as they aggressively flirt with each other. Apparently, it was a very interesting subject to them that hours of argument could be devoted to that single topic.
I ignored them and turned to Elsa, "You look really great in blue. It's like... yer color."
"And dark teal is yours."
I don't know what that was, but I still smiled. And we just stood there, staring at each other underneath the starry night sky while a giddily ridiculous smile was plastered across my face.
I was happy.
I was happy to be here.
I was happy to be with her.
The lingering hatred for the way I looked tonight and social gathering events involving dress codes in general became bearable because of her and her alone. I might even give things like these a chance in the near future for her. And because of her.
Jack's words began to ring in my head.
Should I confess?
Is tonight really a good time?
As much as I'd like us to be in this position, in that place, and in that time, looking into each other's eyes, blocking out everything else in the word, forever and ever... all good things must come to an end. My 'good thing' ended when Tiana's voice blared through a microphone accompanied with a sudden burst of light coming from inside the venue.
"COME ON IN, EVERYBODY!" the vibrations from the speakers could be felt under my sandals, "Not back to your closets, of course."
The crowd laughed but I groaned. Not because of the joke she jested but because I saw that the source of the sudden burst of light came from the gigantic spinning rainbow disco ball on the ceiling.
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧