A Much Needed Hero

Chapter 14: Date

[Zelda]

Zelda grumbled at the light shining through the window. 

She wasn't ready to wake up yet. She was still tired and had been having the most wonderful dream. Closing her eyes, she willed the dream to continue.

In the dream, she and Link were sitting on a couch in front of a crackling fire. He leaned forward and she moved to meet him halfway. She could already imagine the brush of his lips against hers...

Zelda sat bolt upright, suddenly feeling wide awake. That hadn't been a dream. She and Link had almost kissed last night.

Her face flushed at the memory, but a sense of euphoria flooded her veins.

Link had almost kissed her.

Link had almost kissed her!

Zelda bit her lip trying to stop herself from smiling, but it didn't work. She would be smiling for days. It was hard to wrangle her emotions when she felt like she was on cloud nine.

Knock. Knock.

"Zelda, sweetie," Calla's voice said, floating through the door. "Are you up?"

Zelda shook her head, forcing herself back to reality. "Yeah, I'm up."

Calla entered, holding a pile of neatly folded clothes. It took Zelda a few seconds to realize that they were hers. "I hope you don't mind, but I washed your clothes for you."

"Thank you." Zelda took her clean clothes and suddenly felt on the verge of tears. It had been years since someone had done her the simple kindness of washing her clothes.

"Of course, sweetie." Calla smiled. "And when you're ready you can come down for breakfast. I'm making pancakes!"

"I'll be down soon."

Calla nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Zelda ran her hands over her folded clothes. She was currently wearing a pair of Calla's pajamas, and, while they were way too long for her, she didn't mind wearing them.

It had been nice of Calla to let her borrow them and even more nice of her to wash Zelda's own clothes. It was the kind of motherly action that Zelda had been longing for since her own mother's death.

The thought of her mother made Zeda's heart squeeze. She missed her mother terribly, and her father was, well, kind of a jerk as Link put it.

Zelda set her clothes aside and picked up her phone hoping to see a text from her father, but, like usual, nothing.

She growled in frustration. She had sent him a text last night telling him that she was safe but staying at a friend's house, and he couldn't even be bothered to respond?

Zelda set her phone down. She didn't want to deal with her father and all the painful emotions tangled up around him right now. She would take things one step at a time. Right now, her next step was to get dressed, so she'd start with that.

After getting dressed, Zelda inspected herself in a mirror that hung on the back of the guestroom's door.

Her hair looked a little ruffled, but that's how it usually looked. However, something was still missing— her hoodie. In her hast to leave last night, she had only grabbed a jacket, and she found herself missing both the warmth and security it gave her.

Zelda's stomach growled, a sure sign that it was time to head down to breakfast.

She reached down and opened her door to find Link standing there. His hand was raised as if he was about to knock and he was holding something behind his back.