The next day, I was feeling the need to go explore our new home. Flynn had been acting sort of...I don't know, funny - he was prowling back and forth like some caged animal, despite the fact that he was too tall for the shelf and had to bend down and lean on something in order to stand; so I thought maybe he would like to come as well.
"How about we go for an adventure?" I asked.
"Last time you wanted an adventure, according to the movie, I was beat over a head with a frying pan, tied to a chair with your hair, and then risked my life repeatedly; ending with me ultimately being backstabbed by your crazed, fake mother, and finally, being saved by a single tear. I don't know if I want to go on another adventure with you!" He joked, grinning.
I know I giggled like a schoolgirl when he grinned like that. Oh, goodness. My face was probably red, too. "But really. Do you?"
Suddenly, his grin kind of vanished and he shifted from side to side, almost like he was anxious. "Uh, well..I'll pass. I have to go do something."
"Well, why don't I come with you? If you're going somewhere, I'd like to go too - that would be kind of like what I was wanting to do anyway." I laughed, wondering why he was being this weird.
"N-n-no, best not - it's a long trip and you'd probably get tired out quickly. But I'll see you later, okay?" At that, he grinned again.
Knowing that for whatever reason, he needed to go by himself, I nodded and waved as I watched him descend the shelf.
Turning around, I gasped. Merida was standing silently behind me.
I gestured at her, still surprised. "What're you..?"
"Did ye say ye wanted to go do some adventurin'?" she asked with a mischievous smile.
"Um..uh, well, yeah," I stammered.
"Well, why don't you and I go? It'll be fun."
"Don't you..uh, can you.." I gulped, not sure how I should ask. I knew she'd likely be mad if I told her that Rayne had explained about her legs.
"I know. I have good ears, y'know. And no, today's one of the days where I feel fine."
"Ookay, I mean, yeah sure."
"Where do ye wanna go? I've been wantin' to go up to the top of the shelvin' unit, personally, to see what kinds of dolls're up there." Merida said.
"That would be okay," I said.
So we quickly got to work. Merida boosted me up to the shelf. When I finally had scrambled up, I squeaked. I barely had any room to move! One wrong move and I would be doomed. I carefully rolled to my stomach.
I grabbed Merida's wrist, steadied myself with my other arm, and pulled.
Merida scrambled up, but then she bent over to peer down - we were close to the top - and her single arrow fell out of her quiver.
"Oh no! That was my only arrow!" She wailed. I carefully peered down.
I could hardly see the arrow, but it was on the floor. The floor was wayyyyy...down..the height of the shelving unit seemed to stretch for miles. Suddenly, I knew I was losing my grip and had leaned to far over to see.
"Help me!" I whimpered as I scrabbled to get a grip and not fall.
I saw Merida grab at me, but she was too late. I fell, and I fell hard.
Merida leapt from the other shelf down onto our shelf, dropped to her knees, and stared at me. I had landed on a printer. I had landed on my arm, and as I rolled over onto my back, I noticed my arm ached badly.
"Are ye okay?" Merida yelled. I could hear the fear in her voice.
I tried to speak, but the breath was knocked out of me, so I just laid there, mouth agape. Finally, I drew in a ragged breath and said, "My arm hurts. Like really badly."
"Can ye sit up?"
I struggled to sit, trying not to use my arm. "Yeah. I c..I can probably get up there if you lean down and help pull me up."
Merida did so, and, cringing with the horrible streak of pain I felt, she dragged me up to our shelf.
"Do you think it's broken?"
"I.." I was on the verge of tears, and my voice cracked. "I don't know." I hated how whimpery my voice sounded.
"Lemme see." Merida said, and I let her. As she did, I finally took a good look at my arm.
The joint enabling me to move my arm at the elbow was pulled out of the socket. (Now, something you all should probably know is that I absolutely cannot stand to see injuries of any sort. I tend to get lightheaded and often pass out.)
I started to feel like I was going to pass out, but when I was just getting tunnel vision, I heard whistling.
We both looked up, and Merida jumped to her feet. "Flynn." she muttered to me. I felt slightly relieved that he was here, and was distracted by his sudden arrival, so I was able to keep myself from passing out.
Indeed, Flynn came walking in the room, a hand carefully placed behind his back, with his silly grin on his face; but when he saw me, his hand dropped to his side. I think I saw a flash of color or something, before whatever it was fell to the floor far below us - but I might have been wrong, because I was still feeling woozy. It had appeared to me like if I wasn't imagining anything, it was a ribbon -which would be even odder, because in the doll world, if a guy proposes to a girl, he gives her a ribbon to wear in her hair to signify her betrothal; once they are married, the ribbon may be removed. It's basically like an engagement ring, but since our hands are so small, we can't wear rings. That really confused me, so I just blew it off as my imagination.
Merida stood and gestured to my arm.
"We were climbing, and she fell." Merida explained things simply, though her face was so pale that her freckles stood out like black gems on white satin - or something to the similar effect; you probably get the idea.
Flynn just stared at my arm with a horrified expression on his face. I felt an immense urge to cry. I aimlessly stood up, not sure what to do with myself, but then Flynn took one big step and grabbed me into a hug.
While he did this, he tightly wrapped an arm around my messed-up arm, and I gasped in pain. The poor guy; he was just horrified that he'd made it hurt worse. He carefully let his arm away from mine and just stood there for a few seconds; then he placed his hand on my shoulder. I gave him a one-armed hug, and swallowed the lump in my throat.
Suddenly, Tangled Fan came into the room with camera in hand and a smile. When she saw the distraught look on Flynn's face, she immediately asked what was wrong. I turned away from Flynn and held out my injured arm. With an "Oh, no!", she immediately left, and went to work arranging things to get my arm fixed.
* * * * *
The next day, the pain had subsided to a dull thudding feeling. My heart was heavy, though; because I knew that this morning, I would be taken away from everyone and I would have to have surgery on my arm. Although it would only be around a week or so before I would be able to return, I definitely was sad to go - I'd only been here a couple of days and already liked everyone! And Flynn was just about as upset, if not more. I was still wondering what he had had in his hand yesterday, but didn't want to pry, so I dropped it.
I decided to attempt to quietly braid my hair so that it would be out of the way. It was pretty early in the morning yet, and didn't want to wake anyone else. However, Flynn and Rayne were both light sleepers.
I was in the middle of braiding, and Rayne noticed I was getting ready. She gave me a smile and then went back to sleep. Flynn, however, stayed up with me.
"You're a lot braver than I am - I would probably just deal with it. I can't stand surgery stuff." He said. I'd never really seen his serious side.
"I'd very much rather deal with surgery stuff than the pain. I can't stand either, but I have to do something, I suppose. I'm not a big 'macho' man like you, either, and don't have the same pain tolerance," I tried to make a joke to lighten the mood.
"Eh, I might look or act like I'm such a bad dude, but on the inside I'm basically like a big old marshmallow that was cooked over a campfire for too long. Got a crusty exterior but a soft and gooey interior." He joked right back, and I smiled at him, until he turned serious again. "Especially when it comes to you!"
I gulped. Sure, we'd known each other at the Disney Store warehouse for a good while; we'd been set beside each other on the shelf, and had talked a lot, but other than that... My smile faded and my face grew terribly hot - and I'm quite sure it was not from the hot weather we've had! Flynn got a confused look on his face as well, and I felt horrible. I'd probably just acted like I hated the poor guy, or something. He made aimless motions with his arms, like he wanted to hug me or something, but wasn't sure what to do. I gave up on braiding my hair and walked over to give him a one-armed hug. That probably REALLY confused him, but I did it anyway, and he hugged me back.
I heard Tangled Fan coming into the room, and I started to pull away from him, extremely embarrassed, but he still held me in such a bear hug I couldn't move. He gave me a quick peck on the forehead and when Tangled Fan cleared her throat and said, "Rapunzel, it's time to go. I'm sorry, but it'll just be a little while,", he drew away from me. He was teary-eyed and I almost told Tangled Fan that I didn't want to go through with the surgery. I mean, it wasn't major surgery or anything, but still. I still felt bad for making him go through this, if he obviously felt so strongly about it. Or me. Or whatever. I was so confused, too...Ugh! And wow, this is getting to be a far too long post, so I'm going to stop rambling on and on!
I asked him to post a few updates on the blog while I was gone, as Tangled Fan did tell him that she would take him to see me once or twice until I'm okayed to come back. I hopefully will be back sometime soon; I will keep you updated!
I clambered up into Tangled Fan's hand, sat down, and waved to Flynn. Though he waved back, he didn't look at me directly. I suddenly remembered him dropping whatever it was onto the floor yesterday, and decided to look down.
A single, thin, purple ribbon lay on the floor. When I looked back up, Flynn did too, and finally met my eyes.
I'm going to take a line from Merida right now. Och!
Och. I had no idea what to think. But now I knew for certain he liked me. But then I told myself that maybe it was even for Blondie, or Rayne, or - even Merida! There were three other dolls around us, so maybe it wasn't me. Or maybe he would even have forgotten about it by the time I was back. But I wasn't sure I wanted that! Then again, I don't know what I want. Yikes. You guys are all thinking I'm a nutcase - congrats if you made it all the way down through this horrendously long post. Hopefully I'll be back soon to keep you all updated, or Flynn. Hope you enjoy the few photoshoot pictures below!
PHOTOSHOOT PICTURES:
(I love this one, but at the same time, I don't like how I was looking off-camera. Ugh!)
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