Princess for Hire

5

"So she's your date?" Daya asked, busy scraping My Little Pony stickers off of the living room wall.

Crystal groaned, sinking further into the couch cushions. "No, she isn't my date. She seemed sad, I didn't want to be alone with Jan and Jackie again, so I invited her out. That's it."

"Alright. You know Luna is going to freak if she finds out you're dating Elsa." Daya smiled victoriously when a colorful horse was freed from the wall.

Crystal narrowed her eyes, unsure if her sister was just messing with her or if she hadn't even heard her. "I'm not-"

"For my first date with Bosco, I didn't wear anything fancy. I kept it simple." Daya continued talking and scraping stickers. "And you're going to a fair. Keep it simple. Dress comfortable but not too comfortable. No sweatpants. A flannel or something is fine."

Crystal gave up on convincing her sister that this wasn't a date. But she was going to take the advice she gave. "That's not what I came here to ask you."

Daya raised a brow, removing yet another sticker. "What is it then?"

Crystal looked down at her hands and let out a quiet sigh. "I just...I don't really know how to talk to her. Like how do you talk to someone you hardly know?"

Daya turned away from the wall to stare at her. "Like...like you talked to her the first time. You just speak. It can't be that hard."

Crystal sighed again. "You really aren't helping at all, you know that?"

Daya placed down the knife she had been using to scrape off the stickers, coming over to drop herself down beside her older sister. "Okay, let me try again." She said. "This is your opportunity to get to know her and actually make a new friend. Don't think too hard about it or it won't come across as sincere. Ask her about her interests and her hobbies and stuff like that."

Crystal was going to have a very hard time with not overthinking it. Gigi was pretty and seemed really sweet and she didn't want to mess this up. She ran a hand through her hair in an effort to calm her nerves. "I don't understand how some people can like, meet people and become friends with them so easily."

"Well the hardest part is over, you got to give her your number and invite her out. Now you just need to relax and let whatever happens happen." Daya laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.

Crystal felt almost pathetic having to take advice from her younger sister. But she was really the only person she wasn't too afraid to talk to about this sort of stuff. "I just don't want her to think I'm weird." She mumbled.

"I hate to break it to you, but we all kinda think that." Daya smiled, earning a shove to her shoulder that made her laugh. "But in a good way."

Crystal took a deep breath. She hoped Daya was right about the hard part being over. But she had a feeling a certain friend of hers was going to make it harder for her to relax.

----

"I can't believe this is happening!" Jan squealed from her spot in the passenger seat, one of her hands holding tightly onto Jackie's arm. "You finally have a date to come along with us-"

Crystal was getting tired of trying to stop her from saying "date." She just ran a hand through her usually messy dark hair instead, hoping she looked okay. "Please don't call her that when she gets in the car..." She said from the backseat.

"Calm down, baby. You're shaking the car." Jackie laid a hand on Jan's leg. "And try not to embarrass Crystal too much."

At least Jackie was just a little more sane than her girlfriend and would hopefully help Crystal not freak out or anything. She remained quiet for most of the drive, only speaking up to remind Jackie where Gigi's apartment building was. It had taken her forever to ask for her address the day before. But she had somehow managed.