LJ Idol Season 8: Week 36(C); It's Not Easy Being Green
Princess Eleanor plopped her butt down in the grass and sighed. She had finally escaped her mother and the meddling suitors at her door, and could finally get some peace and quiet.
"Why hello, Princess!" a voice came from behind her, nestled within the thicket.
"Who's there? Alfred? Or Peter perhaps? I told you to not follow me!"
"Nope, none of the above." A frog jumped out from the brush, and Eleanor wondered if she had lost her marbles! He even had a grin stretched upon his face, gleaming white teeth that looked too perfect and out of place on a lowly old frog... Speaking of which...
"Frogs don't have teeth! Do they?" She blushed as she realized she'd missed the most obvious question, "And they don't talk either!"
Maybe she really was losing her mind.
"I'm a magic frog, you see...Not really a frog at all. But a valiant and noble gentlemen trapped in this body because of the curse of an evil witch!" He jumped high to enunciate his words, causing Eleanor to scoot backward, almost falling into the pond in the process, "Scared of frogs, Princess?"
"Maybe a little... But only because you're slimy and gross!"
"If you kiss me, I'll become the man of your dreams!"
With that proclamation, Eleanor scrunched up her nose and then felt bad as shame passed over the frog's face, "I'm sorry, that's not very lady-like of me....What's your name?"
"Lucas. Or so it was at one time." He held his head down, eyes cast to the ground.
"Well Lucas, as a lady, I never kiss someone I've just met. So be my friend first and we can see what happens, okay?" While she knew kissing a frog wouldn't be in her future, she couldn't stand to see him looking so pitiful and sad either.
“Okay, then. See you around the pond?” His smile returned and Eleanor couldn’t help but smile herself.
"Yes, sir. I’m here everyday about this time.” And with that. The little frog hopped away into the brush, humming what sounded like a love song under his breath. Eleanor had to wonder... Had she fallen asleep? Was this all a dream of hers?
*********
Day in and day out, Eleanor visited with the tiny frog, eventually gaining enough courage to hold him in her hand. Surprisingly, he wasn’t as slimy as she originally thought he would be.
"May I kiss you yet, Princess? I hate to be rude, I would just really like to be human again...” He nuzzled up against her cheek, sending shivers down her spine at the mere thought of it.
"Not yet, it just doesn’t feel right...” She kept putting him off, and despite that, she noticed that he remained a gentlemen. She wasn’t sure how she’d like to be stuck as a frog... Her guilty conscience started getting the best of her.
One day, as she ventured down to the pond and was just a few steps away from meeting her friend, Peter appeared in front of her and asked for her hand in marriage.
Staring at his chiseled face and dark eyes, she wasn’t sure what to say. He was a fine specimen of a man and he was very strong, someone who could provide her with sturdy children someday. Or that’s what her mother had always said.
But what if I didn’t want that, she would often ask?
Her mother would shake her head and tell her to maybe consider Alfred instead. He was an intellectual, and they would have scholars for children.
Eleanor just scrunched up her nose and wondered; perhaps she should kiss the frog and hope for the best.
But there Peter stood, and it would make her mother happy to see her wed to such a strong, handsome boy. Instead of saying no, she told him, "I’ll think about it.”
He leaned in for a kiss, and she lightly touched his lips to hers before returning to her path once more to meet Lucas. When she dropped down in her usual spot, he came out, but pouting instead of smiling.
"You’d kiss him, but not me? You told me you didn’t like him...”
"I don’t! But what else was I supposed to do!”
"I don’t know, tell him no? Like you tell me all the time?”
Eleanor couldn’t believe her ears! Lucas was jealous?
"Kiss me and it will make it all better....”
With a sigh, she nodded her head and closed her eyes. It really couldn’t be any worse than kissing Peter after all, could it?
She leaned in closer to the frog who was now situated in her hand and she felt something brush her lips. When she opened her eyes, the frog was gone and had been replaced with a boy so fair, so beautiful, she knew her mother would approve of him in every way. He smiled at her with those perfect, beautiful teeth.
But she couldn’t do it. With a heavy sigh, she looked at the ground.
Lucas lifted her chin up to meet her eyes, "What’s wrong, Princess? Don’t you like me?”
"You’re very handsome and everything I’d want in a man, it’s just that....” Eleanor hesitated, not sure if she wanted to tell him what was really lurking in the back of her mind...
"Yes?” He stroked her cheek softly, concern showing in his cerulean eyes.
"I don’t think I like boys too much...” She looked away as she spoke, "I think I’m in love with my best friend, Camilla... And perhaps it’s time I actually said something to my mother about that...”
With that, Eleanor stood up, leaving the beautiful prince mouth wide and gaping at her as she walked back toward the village, finally understanding that she’d been looking for love in the wrong place all along.
It was time for her happily ever after, on her own terms.