We pretended to be characters of a Fairy tale, but they were too many so we decided to call ourselves, Dreamworks and Disney...
"Oh no! Maleficent has become a dragon!" I screamed as Po - my dog - dressed like Maleficent ran after him.
"Shhh! You are supposed to be asleep!" He yelled at me. I was supposed to be Princess Aurora, and he was Prince Philip but I can't help but warn him.
"But, Po - I mean Maleficent is right behind you!" I screamed back. We were at our backyard while our mommies are inside baking cookies. This is what we do every weekend, visit each other's houses and pretend like characters from a Fairy tale or Animated movies.
"I know, Disney! I know, so get back to sleep!" He screamed as a reply still running around with Po right behind him. It was my idea to play Sleeping Beauty, I love Disney though it was not my name he decided to call me that.
"Okay!" I said and lie down to the ground with only a blanket as my mattress.
I turned my head and saw him waving his wooden sword at Po as if slashing him the way Prince Philip did in the movie.
"Play dead, Po! Play dead!" He told Po, but Po ignored him and continued to chase him.
I giggled, and sit up again. "You are never gonna slay Maleficent, are you?"
His face wrinkled and he pouted, "Po won't listen!" He grumbled and threw the wooden sword aside and remove the cape he was wearing. "We should have played How To Train Your Dragon, instead."
I stood up holding the crown in my head so as not to fall. "But Astrid is not a princess."
"But we can ride on Po's back, pretending he's Toothless." He said and wrestled with Po as he removed the costume from the dog.
Po is a St. Bernard, so riding his back won't be a problem specially when both of us are just seven years old.
"But I want to be a Princess, Dream!" If I love Disney, he loves Dreamworks which I made it as a nickname for him.
"Princesses ain't real." He murmured.
My eyes widened. "But they are! Mommy said so!"
He shrugged his shoulders, "They could be, but not all girls are."
"Daddy said I am his princess, and so did mommy!" I said and stomped my foot.
He sighed and ruffled Po's fur. "Alright, you are a princess." He said defeated.
I giggled and ran to him and hugged him. "And you will be my Prince, right Dream?"
He chuckled. "Of course you are."
I hugged him tighter and I jumped with joy. Po barked as both of us laughed in our hearts content.
Our parents, asked us to come inside and eat our cookies. Hand in hand we went inside, with Po trailing behind us.
"Next weekend, let's play Frozen" I said beaming.
"But I want to be Jack Frost, next time." He complained.
I felt my eyes glowed as an idea struck me. "I can be Elsa and you can be Jack Frost, and we will both have winter powers!"
Dream wrinkled his nose, and his mouth twitched. "But they are from a different movie, Disney."
"Let's just pretend that they are from the same movie."
"Okay." He said and smiled, as he thought the idea as genius.
"Okay." I replied and felt contented.
"Disney?" I jumped and turned to see who it was, and I saw him. My Prince, my Dream.
I broke into a smile and said, "Dream?" He nodded, "Oh my God, It's been so long!" I said and ran towards him and we hugged as if the ten years of not seeing each other did not pass between us.
He chuckled, "How are you?"
"I'm doing great! It's good to see you back in town, so how are you?"
"I'm doing great as well, came back here to visit Mom and Dad."
I just smiled as I took all of him in, how he looked and how he talked. He was so achingly familiar and at the same time different. "So you're a Director now, huh?"
He smiled sheepishly, "My love for story telling, never left me. How about you?"
"Teaching preschool. Like you, I never stopped loving stories."
He nodded and said, "That's good to hear. Anyway, I dropped by your house to give this." He gave me an elegant envelope, inscribed with his name and someone else's.
"You're getting married?" I said in half a whisper.
He smiled brightly and said, "Yes, and I also included your parent's copy. I heard they are on a vacation?"
Absentmindedly, I nodded. "They'll be back next week."
"That's great! The wedding's next month."
I smiled at him ignoring that gnawing feeling in my gut. "Congratulations."
"Thank you."
For a minute we stood there just staring each other. It was like there were words that needs to be said between us but we do not know what they were.
"I'll go ahead." He then said after a few moments.
I nodded, and a bark interrupted his leaving.
He looked behind me and saw my dog. "Is that Po?"
I looked at my pet and ruffled his fur as she settled beside me, sniffing Dream. "Po's daughter, she's Tinkerbell."
His brow raised. "And you're Wendy?"
I chuckled halfheartedly. "I don't think so."
"Hmm.. Wendy isn't a princess, so I think you won't like her."
I crossed my arms on my chest and watched him play with Tinkerbell. "Very judgmental of you, sir."
He chuckled. "Sorry, but I can't seem to know why you don't want to be Wendy."
"I thought you're about to leave?" I said, ignoring his query.
He sighed, amused. "Alright then, see you around."
I just nodded and looked at him as he turned his heels and walk away.
"I wanted to be Wendy, but even if Peter chose her over Tink they still didn't end up together. Just like Elsa and Jack Frost, they are of different worlds." I whispered as he fades away from my sight.
I turned and walk the other way from him, to my house where we once used to play, and memories came flooding..
The Prince grew up and so did the Princess, at seventeen he had to leave and she waited, yet they both discovered that there are other worlds out there, other Prince and Princess.
Now, he found his Princess, while I found none. Not yet, though I hoped it was him. He said he would be, he promised, but that was when we were young then. We had no idea growing up was like this. Drifting apart and promises broken.
So the Princess, stayed and wished. I wish we were young again.