Heavy is the Head

VI

The end of the week came, and all Fantasia wanted to do was take a nap. Being in charm school was more exhausting than she had expected it to be. Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays consisted of her classes, and Tuesdays and Thursdays were for meeting with Aunjanue and Danielle for mentor time. Any time she did have for resting was spent with Taraji, Regina, and Danielle. She wasn't upset about that fact; most of the time she found herself wanting to be around them. Especially Taraji. Fantasia knew she harbored strong emotions for Taraji, but she didn't know what the emotions were. She had never experienced crushing on someone or having the urge that her mother had told her about when she got the sex talk. She didn't have friends outside of the palace, as she was homeschooled, and the girls in the palace were only out of fear of being hated by the royals and being fired.

"Sweetheart are you alright," Sheryl asked, "you seem far away." Sheryl and Keith had come to the castle to have lunch with Fantasia as a day trip before they went on their month-long vacation. As excited as Fantasia was to see her parents, she was tired and missed her bed. Taraji had made plans for them for the evening and Fantasia hoped that she would be able to take a nap before having to get ready.

"I'm alright, mommy. I just..." Fantasia wanted to continue, but as she looked at her parents, she realized that she always told them everything. Keeping this from them when they probably could help her didn't seem like a smart idea. "I have a question. Multiple questions, actually."

"Go ahead, princess," Keith assured, both of them focusing on her intently.

"How did you guys know you loved each other?" The question was a loaded one, but she didn't know how to start the conversation. Sheryl and Keith looked at each other deciding on how best to answer. Whenever they told this story to others, they started at the ball, but on Sheryl's end, things were a bit more complicated than that. Sheryl and Keith had decided years ahead of time that if Fantasia were to ever ask, that they would tell the full story.

"Well," Sheryl started, "mom was a little bit of a wild girl in charm school. She was just learning all about herself and what she liked and what she didn't and she had a few crushes on a few people. I had settled for one of my crushes for a while and I thought they were the one. We did everything together and it was like we were meant to be, but I was young and I realized that all I was feeling was friendship, but that wasn't until after I met dad at the ball.  He was such a gentleman, and he made me feel so safe and seen and comfortable. For a while I thought he wasn't it because I had never felt the butterflies everyone said I should have, but it was because everything about him calmed me. There was no need for butterflies when he gave me peace. Do you understand, darling?" Fantasia nodded, soaking in the information. She had heard about getting butterflies in your stomach, but she had never experienced them for herself. Fantasia worried that without ever experiencing butterflies, she wasn't going to know when she found her person and this worried her. She decided she was going to ask later because she wanted to hear the rest of her parents' story.

"What happened to your friend?"

"She and I were still very close. I haven't spoken to her in a while..." Fantasia stopped listening then. She? Her mother liked girls? Then how is her dad the one her mother ended up with?

"-mom?" Sheryl stopped speaking to find her daughter bewildered. "You just said she. If you like girls, how did you end up with daddy?"

"Oh boy," Keith sighed. When giving Fantasia the sex talk, they narrowly moved around the sexuality aspect, giving the basic information of 'some girls like girls and some boys like boys and that's okay', but Keith wished they had explained it better.

"Well, sweetheart, people can like both girls and boys," Sheryl explained. "Does that make sense?" Fantasia nodded and opened her mouth to ask another question. Sheryl already knew what the question was, so she saved time and told her, "yes. Mommy likes girls and boys. But I only have eyes for your father."