I'm Not a Princess, This Ain't a Fairytale

"Mia, oh Mia," Joe called from downstairs. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

"I'm in my room," I called back, rolling my eyes as I held an earring up to my ear in the mirror. The door opened, but my back was turned. "Wow, creep much," I joked.

"Um… thanks," someone else said -- someone not Joe, someone like – Kevin?

I spun around, so confused. He was standing at my doorway, looking nervously at his feet. What was he doing here? "Kevin? Um. . . Joe's downstairs."

"I know," he mumbled. "You going out?"

"What," I asked, taken back. Was he showing – interest? It had to be a trick. But, then, why did his voice sound so. . . kind?

He gestured to my outfit. I had on a short navy blue dress and gray tights tucked into my boots for my date with Troy. "You look nice."

"T-t-thanks," I stammered.

"So – are you going out with that Troy guy," He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets, looking at me awkwardly.

Was he really interested? Was I seeing some sort of change of heart? Or had I somehow come into an alternate reality? Cause there was no way Kevin was being nice to me. "Um yeah I am. He's taking me to a party."

"Oh," he said.

I turned back to the mirror to get ready. He was going to be here in half an hour. I was pretty sure I could trust Kevin not to hurt me while my back was turned. "So um," I said when he continued to stand there. "Did you need something?"

"Nope," he said quietly. But then he sighed. "Actually yeah, um – okay, I don't know how to say this."

I turned back to look at him. "Is everything okay," I asked quickly.

He sighed, looking at the floor. He quietly ran a hand through his hair before looking at me with a weird expression on his face. It confused me. It looked like – concern. From Kevin? For me? No way. But the look in his eyes begged to differ. "It's um – it's Troy."

"What about him," I asked quietly.

He sighed. "He – I don't think you should go?"

I froze, my shoulder squaring. "Oh you don’t?"

"No," he said timidly, hearing the ice in my tone. "H'es not – what you think."

I scoffed. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen this before. He was trying to get me to not be happy. I laughed once, glaring at him. "Right, because you know exactly what I think. Please Kevin. You don't know anything about me. And you really don't care. So why don't you just get the hell out and go back to pretending I don't exist or whatever the hell else gets you to sleep at night?"

"Mia--," he started.

But he was cut off as Joe came in. "Mama Mia," he was yelling, but froze as he saw Kevin standing in my room, and my expression. "What's going on," his tone was cold. I noticed he was glaring at Kevin too.

Kevin shuffled his feet, not looking up to meet Joe's gaze. "I um --," he sighed. "She shouldn't go out with Troy, Joe."

I opened my mouth to tell him to shut the hell up, but Joe beat me to it. "It's none of your business," he said coldly. "You don't care about Mia. So don't give your opinion. He makes her happy. And that's it. You don't get a say. You don't usually care. Don't pretend to care just so she'll be robbed of this happiness."

"That's not what I'm--," Kevin started, but again he was cut off.

"Save it for someone who cares," Joe stepped away from the door, clearly dismissing him. "For now, get the hell out of our room. Mia is getting ready for a date with Troy."

Kevin threw one more beseeching look my way before sighing and leaving. Did he really hate me so much that he wanted to ruin even this small thing for me? I felt the tears coming into my eyes. I blinked rapidly to stop them. Joe's arms were around me. "Don't listen to him twinie," he told me.

I sighed, nodding. "Do I ever," I tried to smile.

Joe smiled too, but I noticed that it didn't meet his eyes. And that told me one thing… he didn't believe me one bit.