Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

Green

Luke noticed how shocked people were to see the Princess at the baseball game. She sat in the bleachers with everyone else, sitting in her sundress, lacy socks with sandals, and a yellow visor. He told her she looked like a mom and all she did was bump her shoulder even harder into him. He blushed as he laughed.

He sat next to her, eyeing the crowd for anyone strange. There were three additional knights there, one who he recognized from the academy but didn't know well enough to talk to. Reggie was the referee, and he was already arguing with all the kids who were ganging up against him. "Poor Reggie," Luke told the Princess. "Imagine training for years and this is what you do with your training?"

"Isn't it better than fighting a war?" Julie asked. At that moment, all the kids tackled Reggie onto the floor. "I stand corrected."

"Well, you're sitting."

Julie gave him a weird look. "What?"

"You said you stand corrected but you're sitting," he grinned. He liked messing with her. If she did it with him, he'd do it back to her. Of course, her levels of teasing were in a you obviously like me type of way and his were in a spare dad joke level. Her teasing wasn't wrong, either, but he knew it would be wrong to pursue anything. Legally and morally. He was satisfied with making her laugh.

The Princess stood for a moment and said, "There. I stand corrected." Luke clapped for her, and she gave a mock bow before sitting down. She didn't sit as close to him in public. She was a good foot away from him, and she scooted over further every few minutes. He sort of missed having her so near that he could smell her citrus perfume. It lingered around him for hours even after she went to sleep.

Reggie managed to get the kids off of him and the game started. The Princess cheered loudly for Carlos which seemed to embarrass him as he waved her off, but his smile never went away. Luke sat there, watching the adults and kids, and realized he didn't know shit about baseball. He clapped when the Princess did and said aww when she did. He didn't recall being so free as a younger kid.

"Who's winning?" he asked her in the middle of the game.

"Carlos' team is home," she said to him, pointing at the scoreboard. "I thought you knew."

"Not much of a baseball guy," he admitted. She nodded like she agreed with him.

"You look more fit for soccer," she said.

"What does that even mean?" he asked her. She smiled and shrugged, turning back to the game.

Carlos' team won, but all the kids seemed happy at the end. They were all bombarding Reggie with questions and surrounding him. "It's going to be impossible to congratulate him," Princess Julie said to Luke. "I'll do it at home." They both stood up and left the baseball field, walking past a park and through town on the sidewalks. People recognized and bowed at Princess Julie who gave them all verbal hellos and a smile.

"What do you want to do?" he asked her at a crosswalk. He didn't know why the town had crosswalks when there were very little cars. Everyone seemed to use the bus or walk everywhere. "Don't have to get you home until dark."

"Let's go birdwatching," she suggested, leading the way. Luke wasn't one to recognize Montseratt inside out, but once reaching a certain side of town near the club and cemetery, he knew it pretty well. There were mostly houses there, and it was always quiet and calm. Of course, you could feel the tension in the air as more soldiers patrolled and as less residents spent time outside. The baseball game was the first time in weeks that Luke saw such a huge gathering.

They got to the cemetery where the Princess stood in front of her mother's grave for a few minutes, staring at her face in the marble. She didn't cry or talk, she was still, staring, emotionless. Luke stood next to her even though he rarely got this close to her. He wanted to be there for her if she needed him. He read the epigraph almost thirty times in his head before he noticed the Princess was walking away towards the hole in the fence.