The Otaku and The Prince

The Visit and The News

I woke up to a storm brewing outside.

A snow storm.

The dream of mom going with dad was slowly beginning to fade again. I reached for my glasses and got off the bed, making my way across the cold floor to the window. Is it really that time? I pressed my hand and forehead against the cold glass, closed my eyes, and breathed. My breaths fogged up the glass, my fingers curled, and I remembered.

That awful Christmas day when...

I shook my head and headed back to the bed. Sleep... I need to sleep.

It took a while but eventually I was able to fall back asleep. The next morning when I woke up I had a visitor. I pushed myself up and looked at Kale.

He was sitting on the stool, his hands clenched, his dark hair messy.

"Hey..." I said softly.

He looked up at me, his blue eyes soft. "Hey."

There was an awkward silence.

"I..." He started to say but then closed his mouth. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay..." I mused.

Another round of silence but then he stood up. "I... gotta go."

My heart pained at seeing his back turned to me. "Kale, wait...."

"I gotta go." He repeated and stuffed his hands down his pockets.

I clenched my jaw and nodded. "See you..."

Kale left shortly after. I sucked my teeth wishing that he'd stop with the nonsense. I did however notice the red carnation on the nightstand. I reached over and picked it up; it's fresh. Kale must've left it.

Later on that day Jack came to visit me and brought me a massive supply of new RPG games, manga, and food. My jaw dropped, "You didn't!" I gasped.

He grinned, "I did."

His eyes flickered to the carnation and cocked his head, "Who left that?"

"Oh, uhm, Kale..." I didn't know why I felt so embarrassed saying it. Like guilty... ugh, Jack's done something to me.

I cleared my throat when I saw the look on his face. "Uhm, anyway, thank you for this." I smiled, then groaned. "Ugh, why won't they let me out? I should be good by now right?"

Jack shrugged. "Who knows."

But the way he said it, the way he avoided looking at me made me think otherwise.

"Really." I deadpanned. "I feel fine; they need to let me go. Seriously, I want to go home."

Jack nodded.

I eyed him, "So... you have something you want to tell me?"

"No." He answered, "Just relax, they'll release you when they say its fine."

I groaned.

Jack suddenly grinned, "It's about two and a half months until Christmas."

"Okay? And?" I asked as I ate.

"I have two and a half months to make you fall in love with me."