Mid-Week Blues Buster Week 12

(I know I've used this picture before, no idea where I found it....probably goggle   Anyways, click it to check out all the other entries in this weeks Mid Week Blues Buster).

Understanding

I never understood…

I never understood much when it came to people.  I always spent more time avoiding them than trying to assimilate.  I felt like it was meant for me to be alone, to be invisible.  I thought that was what I wanted.  Introspective people liked to call me.  Behind my back I had no doubt they either called me antisocial…emo…a snob or any other judgmental phrase they wanted to.  It was all about labels. 

In the end people scared me.  I always felt like they were judging me.  Looking at me with their deceptive eyes, lying saying they cared or were interested in me.  So no one was more shocked and surprised than me when I found myself falling in love.  She wasn’t the first woman to pay attention to me.  She was the first that didn’t put up with my bull and broke through every wall I put in her way.  I regret that now, I put up a lot of walls for her.  She was just different and I knew it from the moment I looked into her eyes.  The moment I talked to her on the phone the first time, there was a connection there that was indescribable.  Almost magnetic. 

I wanted to run.  I have never been so scared in my life.  Truly terrified and I think she knew it.  There were times, lapses; I think she was just being nice.  The strange guy who used to tell her she was beautiful, called her princess, or tried to surprise her by being romantic even though I had no clue how.  I would do anything to make her smile.  It warmed my heart and for a moment it gave me a purpose in life.  I never had it before, a friend who I trusted and thought was always going to be there.  No matter how big of a screw up I was.  She was always going to be there.

I’d known for two months before I said those words to her, words I had never said to any other woman in my life and knew I meant it.  I didn’t want to hear it back.  I never said it to hear it back.  For the first time I wanted someone to know how I truly felt about them.  She did say it back, there was hesitation and I think my heart stopped in that time but she did.

“Do you remember?” 

“Yes,” I smile.  I was listening to her but she is giving me that look because she thinks I was off in my own little world.  I guess in part I was…I sit here listening to her talk about him and I’m thinking about us.  She doesn’t look into my eyes like she once did and every time it seems our eyes meet for just a moment too long she looks away.  Down to the shiny new ring on her left hand and smiles.  It’s a different smile than I think she ever gave me.  I smile for her.  I can’t help it.  Her smile always made me smile, even though I know it’s not meant for me.  I know I will never touch her again.  I know I will never kiss her lips again.  Or say I love you and mean it the way I want to say it.  I smile because the one person I love most in this world is happy.

Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower - With a Kiss

I'd like to Congratulate my dear friend Anna and her future husband Micheal on their coming nuptials   I wish you the best and all the happiness in the world!

Title:  With a Kiss
Author:  Steven Paul Watson
Ebook: Yes

“I do not believe she is coming my lord.”

Prince Elijah had counted to thirteen when the sound of the stone bouncing off of other hard surfaces followed by the faint sound of water reached him.  He glanced out to the distant horizon, the ocean drowned in the orange and reds of the setting sun.  He knew it would not be long, “She will be here.”

“And if she does not show?”

“All that awaits us is fire and death if I am wrong.  With it my father’s best laid plans.” Elijah missed his mail and boiled leathers, the silk and cotton attire he now wore felt unnatural.  Most of all he missed his sword.

“The coming winter will cause pause, if the wedding does not occur then the storms may allow additional negotiations,” the guardsman stated. 

“We hold numbers over them,” a second guardsman stated.

“Numbers are not an advantage in this campaign.  There is no mistake at wars end whose blood will boil and lands will be fertilized with the deceased,” he turned.  The other men were dressed in their plate and mail armor with horses at their sides.

“If your father heard you speak in such a manner…” the second guardsman spoke swiftly.

“I have many times over, and he always neglected my advice until now,” Elijah smiled.

“Why are you so confident my prince, why do you believe she will come and honor the arrangement?” the first guardsman questioned.

“I was still a boy in every way but age when I first met Princess Elisha.  The moment I saw her, my life was changed forever.  My heart beat in a way it had never before and has not since.  Only a few years younger than me, bluest of eyes and brightest of smile more beautiful than anything I had seen.  I believe she will come because I asked.”

“And if she does not?” the second guardsman tone remained cynical.

He picked another stone from the ground giving a last fleeting look at the sun now closing on the black waters.  It was a chance for him to gather his thoughts before he answered, “Then I will know I tried.  That is all I can ask of myself, for once I did what for so long I let fear stop.”  He twirled the rock around his fingers, “If she does not show I will be no more important than this stone lost in the pit of rocks and water below.  Without her there is no meaning to life.  I have known this much since that warm spring day with a kiss on my cheek.  I did not volunteer my life to wed merely to stop a war.”

He released the rock and again counted but lost his concentration for the loud commotion behind him.  He turned in time to see five dragons of variant colors land.

Elijah could not hide his smile as he watched her dismount her dragon with its green vibrant scales.  She pushed the short strawberry blond hair from her eyes as she approached.  She still wore the armor of war, stained with the blood of his brethren from battles of the past weeks.  Her sword hung to her hip, but none drew his gaze from her eyes as she approached.  Her lips, a light shade of blue, curved in a mischievous grin.    

“The sun is nearly set, Princess Elisha.” 

“I am never late, my husband to be.  This you will learn in time.”

He stepped closer running a hand down the side of her face until it rested under her chin and they shared a smile.  He leaned in for a kiss but she pulled away not allowing their lips to meet.  He knew then, just as before she had all the control.  She closed the distance and kissed him.  The crowd cheered, dragons roared but he heard none of it over his own beating heart.  With a kiss a kingdoms fate was sealed, most of all the emptiness in his heart was gone.

((PS:  After multiple attempts of trying to get the inlinkz tool to work I gave, be sure to go check out all the fabulous writers who are contributing to the Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower!)