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Samantha felt the sunlight filtering through her curtains and stretched. It was Saturday. At this time last week she was waking up to Justin, err Ryan, and Olivia jumping on her bed. The thought of the whole situation made her feel empty inside. Now her room was silent, too silent.
She heard a knock on her door. “Sam, sweetie? Are you awake?” Her mother’s voice said.
She yawned and sat up, noticing in the mirror across the room that her curls were still perfectly in place. “Yeah, I’m up.”
“You have a visitor.” Sam’s mom opened the door and allowed Justin in the room before closing it again.
Sam looked at him standing awkwardly by the door. “Hey,” she said.
He looked at her glumly, “Hey.”
She patted a spot on the bed next to her and he obeyed, crawling under the blankets beside her. He pulled her in for a hug. “I’m sorry about what happened, Sam. I should have told you.”
Sam shook her head as he pulled away and leaned back on her pillows. “I think I kind of knew all along that he wasn’t you. But he had me convinced that he was, and that your feelings for me were just changing. I could act differently with him, and it was just too perfect that we fell in love, ya know?”
He nodded. “How do you feel about him now?”
She laid her head on his stomach. “I don’t know. Everything’s just so messed up…I’m angry with him, Justin. Things could have been so different if he just would have been honest with me from the beginning. Now I can’t separate you two in my head.”
He nodded again and thought for a moment, fingering her curls. “Maybe that’s how Emma feels too.”
She tilted her head to look at him. “What happened with her, J?”
“It was like how you described you and Ryan. It was just too perfect. We started to hang out a lot, and she and I just clicked. She was so beautiful and she fit so perfectly in my arms…” He paused, and Sam noticed a miserable, faraway look in his eyes. “I felt like I had everything, Sam. But when she found out the truth, it all just fell apart. The thought of her falling in love with someone like me, a nobody, was just too much for her.”
As she listened, she could almost feel his pain. It felt a lot like her own. Looking at him made her ache inside, because her mind still told her that he and Ryan were the same guy. She felt Justin’s arms around her and it was all too familiar, like he had always been the one with her. Sam turned onto her stomach and inched up to him, burying her head in his neck. “It’s not fair, ya know? Just being with you kills me because it makes me think of him. It’s like we were all placed in the wrong worlds. Why couldn’t things just be reversed?”
Justin nodded and looked down, sadly.
She lifted her head to look at him and put a hand to his cheek. “It’s going to be the same with Emma, J. Whenever she sees Ryan, she’ll really be seeing you.”
He lifted his eyes to meet hers and it was silent for awhile. It was then that she realized how close she was to his face. She leaned in and kissed him deeply, pulling his head closer with her hand. As they pulled apart, his eyes were wide with surprise.
Sam smiled at him. “That was weird.”
His surprised eyes softened and he laughed. He nodded. “It was nothing like kissing him, was it?”
“Not at all,” she said, shaking her head. “At least now I can associate the two of you in my head.”
He smiled and then his gaze turned serious. “Hey Sam, can I talk to you about something?”
She nodded, seeing the concern in his eyes. “About Emma?”
He shook his head. “About Olivia and I….it’s just…well…okay, I’ll just say it. My dad left us.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What? He left for good?”
He nodded. “He left last week, when I was…well you know. I can try to find a good job after next week when we graduate, but until then, I can’t afford to pay the rent on our place. I don‘t know what to do, and I‘m scared for Livie.”
She nodded, energetically. “You’ll both stay here,” she said, definitely.
“You wouldn’t mind? I mean, I‘ll try hard to get a place as soon as I can, but until then, we can really stay here?” He questioned.
“Absolutely.” She pulled him into a hug. “Stay as long as you want.”
They pulled apart and he looked at her, teasingly. “You won’t, like, fall in love with me or try to kiss me again will you?”
She laughed and punched him. “Jerk.“
He laughed and hugged her again.
“Alright, class. Please remember to stay with your group and don’t touch anything!” Olivia’s teacher announced.
Olivia’s class field trip was to visit the Edward’s palace. She couldn’t have picked a better time to invade the life of a certain princess. It had been almost a week since the masked ball, and Emma still hadn’t contacted them at all. Olivia and Justin had moved into Sam’s house, and he had been trying to stay positive for her sake. But being as intuitive as she was, she still saw the hurt in his eyes when he was deep in thought.
Olivia heard the leader of her group point out one of the large doors, and said it was Emma’s bedroom. The group wasn’t allowed to see inside, though, because “Princess Emaria wanted to be alone today”. After that, Olivia waited for her leader to be distracted and at the perfect moment, she snuck away from her group.
She crept down the hallway to Emma’s room and then opened the door and slipped inside. Emma was sitting on her bed reading as her head shot up to see who was disturbing her. She quickly sat up and said, “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
Olivia walked over to her bed. “Do you remember me?” she asked.
Emma looked closely at her, and then half-smiled. “Oh yeah, from the beauty salon, right?”
Olivia nodded. “From more than that, actually. If you remember, I told you my name was Olivia.”
“…Yes I remember, Olivia. But you’re really not supposed to be in here…”
“You didn’t let me finish,” Olivia insisted. “My name is Olivia…Olivia Timberlake.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Timberlake…”
“Yep, Timberlake.”
“But that means…”
“Sure does.”
“You can’t be…”
“I am.”
“So you’re…”
“Related to Justin?” Olivia finished.
“Please tell me you’re not his daughter!” Emma cried.
Olivia laughed out loud. “Relax, Emaria. Justin didn’t get anyone pregnant when he was ten, okay. I’m just his little sister.”
Emma breathed a sigh of relief, and then regained her logic. “Listen, if he asked you to come talk to me, then you can just tell him to forget it and move on.”
Olivia sat down on Emma’s bed and looked her in the eye. “No, you listen to ME.”
Emma perked up, surprised.
“I’m not doing this for Justin. I’m doing this for you, princess, so you better listen closely.” Olivia pointed a little finger at her. “Justin is a good guy. I’ve lived with him my whole life and never seen his bad side. He’s kind, sweet, responsible, and he’s taken care of me since I was born. Both of my parents left me, but Justin has always stayed. He’s not just my brother, he’s my hero.”
Emma thought for a moment, not saying anything.
Olivia spoke up again. “I heard that you aren‘t interested anymore just because he‘s not a prince.”
Emma sighed. “It’s more than just that, Olivia. He’s not a prince. He has nothing to support me with, and more than that, he deceived me. He made me think he was someone else just so he could get close to me.”
“Are you really so blind, Emma? He didn’t plan this whole thing, Ryan did. Justin has always thought you were pretty, but he never planned to trick you into falling in love with each other. You just did. Once you did, it was too late to go back. But you really just need to forgive and forget.” Olivia said.
“How old are you again?” Emma said, astonished.
Olivia waved a hand in the air, brushing the question away. “Eight, and Justin has taken care of me for all eight years, with or without money. He didn’t need anyone to take care of him and tell him what to do. He’s really more of a prince charming than any of you royal people and if you can’t see that, then maybe you don’t deserve him.”
Olivia had proven her point, and turned to leave. “Olivia, wait!”
She turned around slowly. “What?”
“Do you really think he’s in love with me?” Emma asked, timidly.
Olivia nodded. “Head over heels.”
Then she turned and walked out of the princess’ room, and tried to find her group.
