The Frog: Part Deux

When we left off, The Prince and The Princess were falling madly in love. Or at least that's what The Princess thought. Please play THIS music whilst reading.

After about three weeks of bliss The Prince stopped talking with The Princess. To be fair, they would communicate verbally about where they would dine or when they would go to the lake, but all conversation was shallow and non-committal. Things were really awful at home and The Prince completely closed up. The Princess asked and even pleaded with him to tell her what she could do to help. He just told her he'd be fine. She resorted to figuring it out herself. She tried talking with him, she tried being quiet. She tried giving him space and being around all the time. Nothing helped. He was pulling away and she felt like her world was coming to an end. She would have given up right then except that at the beginning of their relationship he had told her that he felt that everyone in his life had given up on him at some point. He felt alone, especially now that the small town had taken sides in his parents’ divorce. The Princess refused to give up on him now. He needed her more now than ever, even if he didn’t know it. Unfortunately, all that ended up happening was The Princess ended up heartbroken night after night when he didn’t call or did call but didn’t talk. She cried a lot. The Queen and The Best Friend comforted The Princess the best they could and listened late into the nights.

What had she done? What had she not done? How could this have happened? He had said he wanted to be with her. Why was it all falling apart?

One evening towards the end of summer a mutual friend of theirs, The Actor, was performing in a local theater production. The Prince and The Princess went to see the play with The Best Friend and another mutual friend...who happened to be The Ex-girlfriend of The Actor. The Actor had dumped The Ex for the female lead in the play. To say the show was awkward would have been an understatement, but the Ex insisted on coming, and assured everyone that she and The Actor were on good terms. However, by the end of the evening The Ex was more than upset. The Prince, being the dashing hero that he was, quickly swept The Ex away to his empty castle—empty of parents that is—without so much as a goodnight to The Princess, leaving her and The Best Friend to fend for themselves for the evening. The Princess stood with a blank stare for some time as The Trusty Jeep dove off into the distance before The Best Friend exclaimed a royal “WTF?"

The Princess and The Best Friend returned to The Princess’ castle, and were quickly sent back out by The Queen to drive by The Prince’s castle to determine what was going on. Nothing was found out because The Princess was too much a chicken to actually go bang down the drawbridge like she should have, and she and The Best Friend ended up crying on the side of some dirt road listening to sad songs on Ye Olde iPod.

Want to know what was even worse? The play they had gone to see was Grease. Yes. The irony was not lost on The Princess. If prom was her Grease moment, then why the hell was summer ending this way?! Danny and Sandy were supposed to end up together in the end. Not Danny and Danny’s alter ego’s ex girlfriend.

The Princess lay in bed for what felt like two years, but only amounted to two days. The Queen and The Best Friend took turns sitting with her, trying to feed her, and holding her while she cried. Why was this happening? She had done everything right. Before they had started dating The King had threatened The Prince’s life in the appropriate fatherly way (with the help of the trusty Fire Breathing German Shepherd who, although he'd never admit it, scared the crapeth out of The Prince). She hadn’t let The Prince get the milk for free. She had been praying for him. And she wanted to be with him. The Princess was devastated. She could shake the negative talk going on inside her head. "He never loved you." "He never meant anything he said." "The Ex had been planning this all along." "He wants her more he wants you." She also was angry. Angry at him for going off with this The Ex. Angry at herself for letting it happen. Angry that The Prince hadn't called. Angry that she’d let herself be vulnerable with him. Angry that everyone else being right. Maybe he was a lost cause. Would she ever find her prince? 

 She didn't realize it at the time but he wasn't The Prince anymore. He hadn't been for some time. He was The Prince who, after being kissed, had in fact turned into The Frog.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am The Princess.

I broke up with The Prince after those two days. I tried to stay positive and keep moving, but every night I ended up in my room crying or numb. If you seen or read Twilight's New Moon (don't judge), remember when Bella is sitting in her room after Edward breaks up with her and the months are just passing? It felt just like that. Except it was my own fault, because I'd broken up with him. There was no comforting me. My parents tried. My best friend tried. I needed to feel bad. When I started feeling better I'd watch depressing movies. If I didn't feel bad, then it had all been a lie. He'd never really meant those things he'd said. He'd never really cared. Nothing anyone said really made any difference.

As I mentioned when I was talking about The Crush, I had a thing for guys with issues. I knew intellectually that as a general rule they would be nothing but trouble, but it took a long time and a couple broken hearts to really know.  

It took me a long time to get over The Prince. We dated for 7 or 8 weeks and I mourned him for close to six months. Seems silly, doesn't it?  In my defense, I had had a crush on him for at least a year prior to us dating, and since I was such a good emotional manipulator (of my own emotions I mean) it really felt like we had been dating that whole year. It had been the real for me. I assumed that because he said "you're the type of woman I want to marry" he meant "you're the woman I want to marry." Anyone else might have been able to see he wasn't ready, but I couldn't. I didn't want to. We were supposed to live happily ever after. But we didn't.

Sorry to leave you on such a morose note. Here's something funny to lighten the mood.

Before The Prince and I started dating, my mom and I were shopping at Rite-Aid. She gently suggested that I think carefully about pursuing a relationship with The Prince because there was a very good chance I could end up very hurt at the end. We were leaving the store and I told her (and I quote) "Mom, I need to make some mistakes in my life. I need to get out there and spread my wings!" after which I walked smack into the closed "Enter" door at Rite-Aid. Not even kidding. I guess that should have been a sign. Except I couldn't have read it anyways because it was backward.