Happiest Place on Earth

“Good news, Ms. Ramone,” Mr. Davidson, the Disney Princesses Department Director, stated as he sat down in his brown, leather chair. “You’re costume is being re-invented. We’ve decided to start gradually changing the entire Princess dress collection as of last month. Belle’s dress will now be more of a champagne color.”
I felt the confusion on my face.
“Is that really all you called me in to ask?” I questioned.
“Unfortunately no,” He sighed. “There have been some slight complications with your contract regarding Princess Belle,”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that Liza is still under contract as Princess Belle. When/if she so chooses; she can come back and take your place. I know you are aware of this part of your contract.” He sighed. “It just so happened that Liza called in this morning and wants to come back as Belle next week,”
What happens if I’m not Belle anymore? I really don’t want to go back to being a cashier. Sure, it’s a fantastic job, but I can’t exactly back track that far. This was the best possible casting that I’ve had so far. Even if I hated the horrendous yellow dress, I’m still having the time of my life as Belle. The absolute best part is getting to meet all of the kids. They’re the sweetest. I could tell that Mr. Davidson was aware of what was going on inside my head. He just looked at me sympathetically.
“What do I do?” My mouth asked before it consulted my brain.
“That’s what I was going to talk to you about,” He stated. “We have a few positions available coming up. As you know, the Disney company has recently put out a new animated film called Frozen. We’re in need of a new princess and Queen. That is just one option. The other option is that you take Josie’s spot as Rapunzel if she so chooses to move to Princess Anna. This has been quite the predicament for us all, as I’m sure you understand.”
“Yes, sir,” I nodded along. “How long will it be before I know what is exactly going on?”
“I will call you back in to my office in two days. That’s it,” He stated with a worn smile. “Please go enjoy your last several days as Princess Belle, Jagger.”
I nodded and shook his head as I left the office. I felt a little disjointed. Everything was swirling around in my head. I literally have less than five days until I’m going to be either thrown into a completely new part or a completely new princess to the parks all together. As I sat down in the makeup chair, I began to realize how upset I truly was over the entire thing. I should have known that this day was coming. I knew that Liza was going to come back, and rule again as Princess Belle. I should have been way more prepared than this, but then again how can you exactly prepare for something like that to happen?
It also did not help the fact that I haven’t exactly spoken or seen Preston in two weeks. I’m pretty sure it had to do with my friends, but something seriously changed. Frankly, it really pissed me off. He could have at least text me and told me that he didn’t want to be around me anymore. There was no use in ruining a great friendship over it. Apparently, I was the only one who thought that whatever game he was playing at was a bonehead move. I reminded me something that my ex, Prince, had done to me many times when we first started dating. I should have dropped him the second that it did, but alas I was seventeen and in love with the guitarist.
Bennett was in my dressing room when I arrived back for make-up. Something in his face told me that I should be scared that he was, but once he saw me his expression changed. He, of course was dressed as Prince Charming already. I had only had my wig and makeup on when Mr. Davidson had called me back into his office. He looked confused but opened his arms to me anyway. I wanted to hurl myself as him, but instead I slowly walked into his arms. Ever since I met Bennett, he had been particularly protective of me. It had gotten to the point that he just automatically knew what to do.
“Are you okay?”
“I will be,” I replied, still cuddled into his chest. “He still hasn’t called,”
Bennett made a very displeased sound.
“He was a liar anyway,”
“You don’t know him,” At that, Bennett didn’t say anything else but it wasn’t exactly the kind of silence one expects. It was like he knew something else about Preston that apparently I didn’t. I pulled back to look at Bennett properly, but he was staring straight ahead. “Bennett….what’s going on?”
“Nothing,”
“Bennett Reynolds….” I trailed off.
He sighed, looking down at me.
“I’ll tell you later, okay?”
“You promise me?”
“Yeah…I promise,” He beamed, leaning down to kiss my cheek. “Have a good day, okay? I’ll see you at lunch.”
I nodded.
“Y-yeah. I can do that… gotta enjoy my last few days anything,” I stated and before he could question, I continued. “I’ll fill you in at lunch.”
“Okay.” He nodded before turning around and leaving me so I could get dressed. They brought me the huge, yellow contraption for one of the final times. I was seriously going to miss that thing.
Walking out onto the show stage for the final time as Belle was emotional for me. I had Daniel beside me, who played my Beast/Prince. The show was nearly flawless as most of the Disney shows are. I had to really force myself not to cry as we walked off of the stage. It was hard. Despite my extreme dislike of the dress (and even the wig), Belle was my very favorite role. I had been playing her for nearly a year and that is a lot of time to fall in love with a character in a whole new way. I hugged the cast that surrounded me before waving and heading toward the lunch hall. I didn’t bother to change simply because I have to go out and sign things as soon as I am finished eating.
Bennett was the only one of my friends that was sitting down at the table when I got that. In front of him was Alex dressed in his Flynn Rider costume. I sat down beside Bennett, looking over at Alex. He just smiled and gave me a small wave. Bennett’s arm automatically went around my shoulders, and I noticed how Alex’s eyes followed the movement. He looked back up at the two of us.
“Are you going to tell her?” Bennett questioned his friend.
“Tell me what?”
“I can’t…” Alex trailed off. “I just…I promised him that I wouldn’t.”
“Promised who?” I asked.
“Alex! She’s….she deserves to know, okay?”
“I know, but it’s not me who needs to tell her,” He sighed. “Look, B, if he wanted her to know then he would have told her by now. That’s how I see it,”
“Who are we talking about?” I asked, again neither of the men answered me.
“Please?” Bennett asked.
Alex shook his head.
“No…I’ll see you Friday,”
“Maybe,”
The boy turned back toward us with a hurt expression.
“What does maybe mean?” He asked.
“It means that maybe I’ll see you or maybe I won’t.” Bennett replied with a tone that I hadn’t heard in a while.
Alex snorted.
“Wow, okay. Well when you get an attitude check, you have my number….baby.” He snappily replied before winking. “I’ve got other songs to learn for my new part anyway,”
With that, Alex left. I turned as quickly as I could to look at Bennett. His jaw was clenched as he looked straight ahead to where Alex used to be standing. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell that he was hurt by Alex’s attitude and words toward the entire thing.
“Benny?” I asked softly. “Benny, are you okay?”
“Maybe,” He stated, not looking away from the spot.
“What were you guys talking about?”
“Don’t worry about it.” He stated.
“You promised me…” I trailed off.
Bennett sighed and finally broke the staring contest with the air. He looked over at me, and I could tell that he was hurting.
“Jagger…Preston is Alex’s roommate.”
“What?”
“He’s….Preston is-“
Of course it was Grace who ran and sat down in front of me, dressed as Snow White.
“Hey party people!” She stated. “What’s up?”
I groaned and allowed my head to drop onto the table while Bennett removed his arm.
“Hey, Grace,” Bennett stated. “How are you today?”
“Pretty great! A little girl bought me a candy apple!”
“That’s so sweet,” I smiled.
Grace tilted her head a bit in confusion.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” She questioned.
“I’ve only got a few more days left as Belle.” I sighed. “Guess who’s returning next week?”
Jenna groaned; having heard my sentence before she say down.
“Are you kidding me? I thought the Wicked Witch left?”
“She’s backkkkkkk,” I sang. “But yes, Liza is coming back,”
“Boo.” Jenna retorted, flipping the blonde wig behind her shoulders. “Why?”
“She’s contractually bound,” Bennett supplied. “Jay’s contract was just temporary until Liza returned,”
“I bet Kailey is thrilled,” Grace rolled her eyes. “Her other bestie will be back and she’ll be out of our apartment before you know it,”
“I don’t think you give her enough credit,” I admitted. “She’s been the sweetest thing since she moved in,”
“Only because she had to be,”
I found myself rolling my eyes at her.
“No; she didn’t, Grace.” I stated. “She’s just nice. Get over it,”
“Whatever,” Grace retorted. “Believe what you want to.”
Seriously, I think I need new friends. I can’t take that kind of friendship much longer. Beside me, Bennett was definitely somewhere else. He was staring down at his gloves in his lap while Jenna and Grace started to seriously talk over Liza coming back. I tried my best to tune them both out of my head. Instead I busied myself with looking around for Devin, whom was nowhere to be found. I noticed how packed the lunch room was with characters. Nearly everyone was grabbing a quick lunch in their character’s costume. It was interesting. I kept looking for Alex, as he had disappeared. What he said to Bennett must have really hurt him, and I wanted to get down to the bottom of it. So what if Preston was his roommate? That doesn’t exactly change anything, expect for I know how often Alex is actually out of the apartment.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I stated, standing up. No one even said anything; I just left. I went right back to my dressing room. The makeup artist was missing, so I reached for my phone while I waited. After checking instagram, I decided to text Preston. I’ve been trying to give the boy his space, but seriously two weeks in enough. I sent out a quick text, asking him to meet me in front of Uncle Jake’s record store tonight. I was hoping that he would reply. I think that he at least owed me that. I had tried my best to not contact him first, but it’s too difficult.
Sure x

Sure? That’s all I get after two weeks of ignoring my presence? Ugh….men.



“Thanks for meeting me,” I stated as soon as I walked up to him.
Preston was standing there with his hands tucked into the pockets of his black skinny jeans. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of black Ray-Bans, and he was wearing a black t-shirt with a gray beanie to match. He just looked awkward. I crossed my arms, feeling a little weird from this whole situation. He took one of his hands out of his pocket and offered it to me. I just stared at it, feeling the confusion become clear on my face.
“Take my hand, please?”
I slowly reached forward until my hand landed in his. He rearranged his fingers so that they slotted in-between mine. I felt my heart give a little flutter and instead of pulling away; I allowed him to lead the way on down the strip. I didn’t ask any questions and Preston didn’t exactly say anything in response. Instead, he just led the way for us both. I wanted to ask him questions about whatever it was that had happened. I don’t want to feel entitled, because he’s just my friend. However, I wanted to as the same time because who in the world does that to another human being?
“Where are we going?”
“Just right down here,” He replied, giving my hand a squeeze before falling back into silence once more. “We’re going to a café,”
“Okay,” I sighed heavily. “I feel like you should explain yourself,”
“I’ll try.” He sighed. “It’s a bit of a long story,”
I snorted and shook my head.
“If I had a dollar for every time that I’ve heard that line,”
“It’s not a line,” He replied softly, so softly that I knew he was hurt by my remark.
“Sorry,” I mumbled as he opened the door for me to the café. Inside, there were plenty of booths open. Preston chose one for us instead of a stool at the bar. I got comfortable on my side of the booth, and looked straight ahead at Preston as he took off his sunglasses. He rested his arms on the table, looking intently at me. “What?”
“I’m waiting for you to speak…” He trailed off.
“What the crap, Preston?” I stated. “It’s been two weeks and the last time I’ve seen you was literally when you were walking out of my door. So, please, tell me why I was all of the sudden dropped? I just don’t get it. Seriously, I thought you were my friend,”
Preston sighed.
“I am your friend,”
“Friends don’t drop each other because of their friends are crazy.”
“But I didn’t,” He sighed heavily. “There’s a lot going on, Jagger…”
The waitress arrived and handed out our menus. We went quite while we ordered them. I got a vanilla milkshake with french-fries while Preston ordered a burger and fries. As soon as the waitress was gone, I just looked over to him for a reply. I didn’t want to say anything, but I knew that it had to be me.
“Just…you dropped me.” I stated. “That was a jerk move,”
“It’s complicated,”
“I know that you live with Alex,” I stated. “It’s okay,”
“I figured that his boyfriend would tell you,” Preston sighed. “I’m sorry that I freaked out okay? When I saw that Bennett was one of your friends, I didn’t exactly know what to do. I panicked, and I thought that he would tell you that I live with Alex and I knew where you worked,”
I shook my head.
“Wait, boyfriend? Like…. Boyfriends or are you calling their bromance…..”
“They’re actual boyfriends,” He supplied. “Bennett’s been at our place a lot recently. I promise you that I didn’t know that he was your friend until he came over to your house,”
“But…how did you and Alex meet?”
Preston sighed and chose to look out of the window instead. I rested my head on my hand and just looked at him. He didn’t want to answer my question either; but I figured that it was okay. My milkshake and his water came first, and we continued to sit in the silence. It wasn’t exactly what I had wanted, but that’s what was certainly happening.
“I’ve known him since I was a lad,” He finally said. “I….I’m only here working until October,” He stated. “I’ve got four months.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s all that Disney would allow,” He smiled. “I work for them too…I’m a prince,”
I felt my eyes grow wide.
“What?”
“I’ve been working there for a month,” He sighed. “I’m the new Flynn Rider,”
“Are you kidding me!” I stated. “You…you knew this entire time and didn’t say anything?”
“I didn’t know the entire time,” He stated quickly. “I only found out about three weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked. “You seriously only had to tell me that simple sentence.”
“To be fair…you didn’t tell me either,” He laughed. “I don’t exactly tell every bird I meet that I play a prince. They might think I got some fairy in me,”
I shook my head.
“So you just dropped me instead of actually speaking to me about it?”
“It sounds so awful when you say it that way,” He stated.
“That’s what happened though,” I argued. “I don’t think you’ll find a way around this.”
He looked down at his hands before looking back up at me.
“I’m sorry…” He sighed. “I….I don’t apologize very often,”
“I can tell,”
At that Preston just shook his head and laughed.
“Can we start over? We need a fresh start, I believe.”
“I’m not sure… you work at Disney…”
“Oi!” He laughed. “You cheeky little bird,”
“You’re so weird,” I laughed. “Are you sorry?” Preston allowed his head to fall down on-top of his hands. I heard a mumbled yes that left me giggling. He finally lifted his head enough to look at me and smile. He nodded his head toward the door, and I understood. He stood up and again offered a hand for me to take. He paid for the food that we didn’t get and my milkshake before leading the way out of the diner. It was nearing dark when the sticky, Florida air hit us. I don’t think I would have had it any other way.
“I’m sorry…again,”
I rolled my eyes and leaned into his side.
“Stop itttttt,” I laughed. “Is there anything else that you may have forgotten to tell me? Anything at all?”
“Not that I know of,” He laughed. “How have you been the last few weeks?”
“Ughhhh,”
Preston squeezed my hand.
“Josie tells me that you’re going to be the new Rapunzel if she decides to switch parts.”
“Josie knows?”
“No, but she told me about this really pretty blonde girl called Jay.” He stated. “And Bennett calls you Jay. I assume it’s short for Jagger.”
“It is,” I nodded.
“Anyway, Alex is prepping up to move to be Aladdin. The other one quit. I’m not too sure why anyone would quit Disney after being here for so long, but he did.”
“Some people do stupid things,” I laughed. “I missed you, you tall, strange man.”
“Tall, strange, English man to you,” He smirked down at me. “I missed you too,”
And I realized that I was in too deep.