1Love Songs
The best love songs are simple- meaningless. Fluff. Not reflections on love itself, but the state of mind, that blissful, happy state, that you find yourself unable to escape. They hardly make sense, but that hardly matters, for it is not the song that matters, but the love.
Of course, these songs are only good if you are in love. If, however, you are watching two love-sick teenagers sing along to eachother the words to their latest favorite song, it's not so fun.
Which was what I was doing, when this story decided to take over my life.
We sure are cute for two ugly people
I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else
But you
I remember that line so clearly, because it was then, with a rip and a tear and a crackle and the smell of burning paper, with a fierce longing and a great big pull, with the color suddenly turning brighter, like someone adjusting the contrast on your moniter, that my world came to a screeching halt.
What happened was this:
A small, white furry-looking creature seemed to step through the are and land right in front of me.
My sister and her boyfriend, lying on the couch behind me, stared.
He ignored them, bowed to me, and said,
"Hello, princess. You have been summoned to the Summer Court to appear at the Midsummer's Ball, and meet your fiancé, his majesty the Prince Shawn, of the fairies of light."
I stared.
Most people's immediate reaction wold be to think that it was a dream, and then act as if it weren't real and just take off their clothes and run around because it was a dream and hey- it didn't matter.
But I've always been pretty laid-back. My train of thoughts went thus:
Cool! Is this for real? Probably not, for obvious reasons. Then it's a dream. Sweet dream! I've always wanted to be a princess. But you never think something's a dream when you're dreaming it. I guess it's real.
Or I can just pretend and act like it's real. Because I'd rather do that and be wrong than vice versa.
Having sorted that out, I said, "Where and when?"
The creature replied, "Midsummer, the Summer Court."
As this didn't help me, I gave hima blank stare.
He'd obviously been doing this long enough to know a confused expression when it was staring him in the face.
"You'll find it, don't worry. You mortals invariably do. This is just an advance warning to believe what you see."
I nodded, accepting this new developpement like I had all the others that had flown my way recently. (As in, in the last minute.)
He bowed again, I returned the favor, not wanting to appear rude, and then once again a rush of smells and sounds overwhelmed me and the colours dulled again and became normal and I closed my eyes against the ever-changing world.
When I opened them, he was gone.
It wasn't like I'd never run into magic before.
Hell, I could even draw a couple simple runes.
Fairies and magic, however, don't always run hand in hand as children. Their mothers aren't always friends. Neither are their grandparents. They don't always grow up together. Their teenage years aren't always filled with dramas that come with dating your best friend. In real life, it hardly ever works that way. Sorry to break it to you. So fairies- it was a bit of a stretch, to say the least.
Still, if there was one thing that magic- especially history class- had taught me, it had been to be prepared for the unexpected. Hell, expect it.
So I took the fairies in stride, putting the question to my teacher the next day in school. She said that some people do still believe. In theory, they would have so much magic in their blood, all it would do would be to carry that around, nevermind oxygen. Most people believe that at that point you would die. Others, though, say that the magic would somehow, inexplicably, let you live, magic being the life-affirming substance that it is. Their blood is almost pure, they wouldn't even need runes save for the strongest spells.
They can pull the aire around them into a cloak and hide behind it's invisibility. They can ride it, into the nigt, or spend their lives underwater. The magic hardly ever lets them die.
And if the legends are true- for that's what they were, merely legends, then they also loved to party. They were like eternal teenagers, she said. But back to the magic, she said, the concrete and the facts. Andwe spent the next forty-five minutes learning the danger of attempting a rune we couldn't handle. The same message we'd learnt since daycare.
"Anyone can draw a rune. The real power lies in closing it." It was more complicated by now, but the message at the heart of the lesson was still the same, and it still managed to put everyone of us to sleep.
But this story isn't about magic. It's about fairies. If you're interested in magic, go read a history book.
For the rest of the week I saw him looking at me, wherever I went.
I only assumed he was a fairy, since he always seemed to step out of thin air, and no one else was ever able to catch a glimpse of him. He was always far enough away that I didn't smell of hear those telltale signs of magic, but nonetheless I felt that longing when he was near. More than one, actually, him being quite hot by my small town standards.
I'm not going to describe him for you- exercice your imagination with the information already given. If you're a guy, just pretend that I'm a lesbian and imagine the girl of your dreams anyways.
Come on, it'll be good for you. People play too many video games these days.
Anyways, he came to be everywhere, until I'd finally had enough and I walked over to him. I ignored my friends (who were probably wondering who I was looking at and why I'd just walked away) and said a simple, "Hi,"
He was hot. I never said I was shy.
"You're not supposed to do that."
"Do what?"
"Talk to me. Before the ball, I mean. You're hardly supposed to notice me, except at the back of your mind."
"Kind of hard, don't you think, with you following me everywhere."
He looked frusterated, said something I didn't understand but felt a lot like "Mortal girls are infuriating," and shook his head.
I grinned. "You gonna explain why?" I asked, after a moment's silence.
He looked confused, so I clarified my question fo rhim, and then he said no, it was none of my buisness.
I shrugged.
"You wanna go out?" I asked.
He clearly hadn't been expecting this.
So I smiled and asked who he was. He was too startled to lie, he told me later, and said he was the Prince of the Summer Court.
"Then you're my fiancé!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly, to the annoyance of my friends, and the others waiting at the bus stop.
He tried to hide a smile, then tried not to laugh at me, failed at both, then nodded.
So I told him that I intended to court him the human way, which was old-fashioned and included balls and holding hands when not chaperoned.
He looked indignant, then agreed.
Throughout that conversation, all personality he may have possessed lay pretty much dormant, as you may have been able to tell. He did have one, all right, it just took awhile coming out.
Eventually I even convinced him to appear in front of my friends. Of course they all liked him.
Four months later, I was still falling harder every time we hung out. He had more to him than his looks, which was good, since guys that good looking usually just don't bother.
It was then, four months in, that I attended the dance, formally known as the ball.
My sister helped me pick out the dress. As the story goes (I'm sure you already know this part, at least) I looked amazing in it. Imagine for yourself the Prince's reaction.
I forgot to name him. It was Shawn.
At the dance, we danced. I'm sure to everyone else, it looked like we had just met, that he was spellbound bu this curiously familiar and mortal girl who had shown up.
When I kissed him and sealed my fate, I'm sure everyone was appreciative that the Prince had found a girl at last.
So, like a love song, my story spread. For, as the years went by, I realized it was just that that had fallen from the sky to the familiar melody of the Moldy Peaches. A love song. So here it is, for you to sing, to your love.
I love you.
To all my friends, and my family, too
This story is for you.
Shameless Plug: (It is inspired, however, by the band Hellogoodbye, because they are amazing and you should dowload their music RIGHT NOW.)