The Girl In The Mirror - Encanto Fanfic

Chapter 8

I only found myself sitting down on the bench outside the house, my head in my hands as I leaned them there, and my gaze only into the distance of the village.

I felt pretty crappy at that moment. Crappy because I knew Laura's words to be true... I was... shallow...

It felt bad admitting that. To realize all that had happened today was because I saw a beautiful woman in the reflection of my bedroom window... a woman just out of reach.

But all good things seemed out of reach to me.

I tensed up a little when I heard paddling of feet leave the house before I heard the whoosh of a person turning my way to look at me, and the piercing gaze of Isabella's dark brown eyes.

I sighed.

She looked at me slowly, examining my mood, and took a few small steps towards me, asking in a high strung tone, "I'm guessing the date didn't go well..."

I closed my eyes tightly and nodded my head.

"You'd have guessed right."

I dropped my head back into my hands, covering my face from her inspection, but the tension in the air around us started to ease up a little as I felt Isabella sit next to me.

She simply asked the cold piercing question.

"Who's fault was it?"

I grit my teeth and slowly looked up at her, giving her a nervous smile.

"Yours?"

"I'm just a shallow piece of crap." I uttered, tears welling up in my eyes before they could no longer hold them and they rolled down my cheeks, "I'm a monster..."

"No," I froze when I heard her say this one definite word, "No, you are not. It's okay to have standards."

Why was she telling me this? I thought she hated me because of today. I thought she had hated me for years.

"Why are you saying this?" I asked back, my voice only choked.

"Listen," She said to me, placing her hand timidly on my shoulder and turning me to face her, "A person can be ugly, but if they put in an effort to present themselves nice... it, it shows they care about themselves..."

I listened to her words, mystified at the wisdom she was speaking.

"Beauty fades." She said then, stamping that message in my head, "But the presentation, and caring how one looks IS NOT a bad thing... who really messed up the date?"

I bit my bottom lip nervously, thinking this over. It was true that Laura came out looking like a tramp. But it was also true, she didn't even bother to look even decent for our date. My mouth dropped open at this realization.

But I still knew I held just as much blame and input into this, as I had only wanted to date her in the first place – purely over looks and more affirmatively – how SHE looked.

Thinking this through, I suddenly came upon a question I was afraid to ask.

"Why did you kiss that girl I was shifted into today...?"

Isabella's eyes widened, and she flicked them quickly down to the ground. The slightest bit of blush ran up her upper cheeks and she sighed, as she finally admitted something I thought I'd never hear.

"Because I'm not like other girls..."

I raised an eyebrow confused before she slowly turned her gaze back toward the village and the sun in the horizon that had set nearly completely. Soon, the stars began to sprinkle the sky and we both sat there watching in silence the beauty of the passing day.