Page 46 of Pictures in Blue
“Right, you’re a fan of classics. Okay, okay, continue. I promise I’ll be quiet.” She pretends to zip her lip and lays her arm back down, closer to mine, but still this time.
“Once upon a time,” I start again. “There was a princess, beautiful as the sun. She had magic and loved to experiment with potions, finding ingredients, mixing them together to imbue with her magic, creating any potion she desired.”
I look over at Avery and watch her for a moment; she’s staring at the sky, eyes lazily closing, hesitating to open longer each time.
“She could do anything. Until one day she ran out of the ingredient she needed the most. Pages. She often used pages from old books in her potions. She would tear them to pieces, cut them to shreds, or burn them using the ashes in the mixture. Any way she could think to use the page, she did it. But when she ran out, she had to visit the local bookshop in town, desperate to continue making her potions.”
Her eyes are now closed, but I can tell from the motion of her breathing that she is still awake. Listening. When I glance up though, her hands are finally still, the nervous movements stopped.
“There, she met the town’s grumpy, but very handsome, shop owner who knew exactly what she did with her books and he refused to sell any to her,” I continue. “He was mortified by the idea of her decimating what he thought was the most precious thing in the world. So, every day the princess came back, and every day the shop owner told her no, until finally they made a deal.”
I look over expecting to be met with deep breathing and closed eyes, but instead Avery’s eyes are wide open, gazing at me, listening intently. Without second guessing, I remove my hand from my chest and place it on hers, tangling our fingers together, and she doesn’t pull away.
“He would give her one page per day, but that was it. And he would choose how to destroy it for her potions. He knew the way it was destroyed mattered to her, but she was desperate enough to get back to her potions that she agreed. Her magic was calling and she needed to let it free before it burst out of her. What the shop owner didn’t know was that she hated using pages. But it was what her magic demanded of her. She didn’t know why, she just knew that’s what it needed to stay under control. To stay satiated. So, every day, she went back to the shop and every day the young man was there waiting with her next page. But every day, her visit lasted longer and longer until she was often there from morning till night and she was somehow able to ignore the calling of her magic. At least, in his presence. There was something about him that changed her. And something about her that intrigued him. They continued on that path until they decided to move on and marry. And they lived happily ever after.”
She sits up suddenly, untangling her fingers from mine. “What?” she yells. “That’s it?”
“What?” I ask. “They lived happily ever after. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Yes, but… they just had a beginning and an end. There’s no middle! There has to be a middle!” she exclaims.
“Hey,youwanted a story. I provided one. You can’t critique it.”
“It was good until the end. There’s no build up.”
“She went to the shop every day and they talked. There was plenty of build up.”
“No!” she yells louder. “There wasn’t! Build up is small touches and almost kisses.”
My face heats for the same reason hers does and I wonder if she also wishes she didn’t stop me earlier.
“It’s realizing one has feelings for the other but not knowing how to express them,” she continues, hands flying in the air. “And denying to the ends of the earth that they are in love with each other until the end where they have the kiss that leaves all the other kisses rated the most passionate and the most pure all behind!” She says, using one of the last lines of the movie, passion and irritation coating her voice.
“Now, who’s quotingThe Princess Bride?”
She hits my shoulder, “Oh shut up. You completely robbed me of the middle. I demand a middle.”
I smile. “When I think of one, you’ll be the first to know, I promise.”
“HAH!” she laughs. “I don’t think I hold much stock in your promises, considering you can’t even play capture the flag fairly with yournephew.”
I chuckle. “Point taken. But I really did intend to play fairly. I just had to drag your ass on this hike.”
She rolls her eyes and lays back down next to me a little closer than before.
“It’s a nice ass though,” I say without thinking. My mouth moves way faster than my brain around her and I’m not sure how I feel about it.
“Goodnight, Hudson,” she says, rolling over on her side, facing me this time.
“Goodnight, Sunshine,” I whisper.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
HUDSON
“H-A-P-P-Y,” Sarah spells.
“Mmmm,” I groan. “A word that’s hard to come by these days.”
