I was tiptoeing on the deck, to the bins beside the chair when I heard Eugene whisper.
"Rapunzel - that you?"
How on earth had he even heard me?!
"Yes?" I asked quietly.
"Come over here, please,"
"Why?" I asked, uncomfortable at the idea.
He caught on, and from the light of the alarm clock, I saw him appear at the edge of his shelf.
He looked terrible...bags under his eyes and sleepy...but I suppose I shouldn't say anything, because I probably looked WORSE!
Stepping out to meet me on the deck, he touched my arm. "Can't sleep, right?"
"No..." I sighed, burying my face in my hands. "Why're you up?"
"Same reason," he told me.
I instantly felt terrible. Pascal wasn't even his responsibility, and yet I'd made him worried about him. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told you..Pascal's not even your responsibility! I...ugh...I just feel so bad that you can't sleep either! I mean, I know why I can't, and it's because I just feel so alone and I'm so afraid, and..."
"Hey. Quite frankly, I'm glad you told me, because if you woulda just gone AWOL, I woulda been even more worried. I was just...gosh, it just kills me to see you like this, I wish I could do something about it, and I'm worried about the little bugger, too." He finally admitted.
I was touched. We'd only known each other for little over a month, and he was willing to give the search his all. All I could say was a quiet thank-you, wilst staring down at my feet. I stayed that way for a minute, but then I took a step towards him and then grabbed him into a hug. I think he was surprised, because it took a moment for him to relax - when he did, he pulled me close and held me for a few seconds.
"Now...go back to sleep, sweet girl. Get rested up so we can start searching in a few hours, okay? I'll do the same...or try to." He winked, and I knew he was trying really hard to get me to lighten up. I gave him a small smile and a nod.
"Okay...well, good night. Or good morning...whatever it is," I told him.
He chuckled. "Same to you." I pulled away and started back for my shelf, but then he called out again - quietly, of course. "And, Rapunzel?"
"Yes?" I asked.
"I love you."
I almost returned it, but I didn't think this was the right time, so I just turned to give him another small smile, and left.
Four hours later, at seven, I got up, brushed my hair out, braided it, and changed into my dress - I just now had realized that I'd gone in my nightie all day yesterday, and quite frankly, was horrified. But regardless.
Everyone else was still asleep, so I went right down to the deck, knocking on the side of Eugene's shelf quietly.
He promptly appeared at the edge of his shelf.
"Good morning, darling girl," he told me with a smile. "Ready to go on another search adventure?"
"Hmmh..." I sighed. "I just hope we find him today!"
"You and me both. Don't do into it hopeless today, though, okay?"
"I'll try not to," I told him. He reached towards me and took my hand into his, and then we left.
But we didn't find Pascal that day, or the next...or the next. By October 22nd - I had given up completely. Eugene, Elsa, and Anna still tried to keep my spirits up, but I was really bummed - I mean, losing a friend of three years is hard! :[
October 23rd, I didn't meet up with Eugene in the morning, like we'd been doing all week.
He was obviously worried, because he came up to the shelf at seven. I was the only one up, so I was sitting and just staring up at the top of the shelf.
"Hey...you gonna come with me to look some more?" He peered down into my face, quite obviously concerned.
I shook my head. "Nah..."
"Well, I'm gonna go - why don't you want to come with? We could just go for a couple hours-"
"Eugene, I appreciate your determination...I really, really do, and I'll be forever grateful for your helping me search even when nobody else would..but it's been almost a week. We've searched this place top to bottom - as best we could, anyway. I don't think we'll be able to find him."
He sighed. "You might have a point...I'm sorry, Rapunzel. I was just...I thought for sure we could find him..."
"It's fine," I gave him a small smile and reached up to give his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back and then knelt beside me.
"You okay? You just look so...I dunno. I mean, yeah, you have a right to be upset - I'm upset too! - but you just look so, so...devastated."
I started to say I was fine, but then I realized how big of a lie that was. "No, I'm not okay. I just...losing a friend of three years - especially when the stinkin' thing was your only friend, and it was a chameleon, for goodness' sake! - is really...really hard. He was my only buddy there for soo long, and now he's gone." I sighed, too tired to even cry anymore.
He gave me a pained expression. "I'm so, so sorry."
"I'll get over it," I told him. He put a hand on my shoulder.
"If you need someone to talk to, don't hesitate. Come down and chat - if I had a door, it'd be open. Even if you want to talk at...two in the morning! Just come in and yell in my face till I wake up, okay?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.
I giggled at the thought and nodded. "M'kay. Thanks."
"Anytime, sweetie. I'll see ya later."
"See ya," I told him. He gave my shoulder a gentle pat before he stood and left.
The day dragged. Anna also tried to convince me to go look for Pascal some more, but I didn't want to. Eventually, she just gave up - with an aggrivated huff - and left me be for the rest of the day. Elsa tried to cheer me up, but that failed big time when she mentioned that everything happens for a reason. What reason would that be, exactly?!
Punzie, of course, made hay while the sun shone (for her), and harrassed me mercilessly; taunting me and calling me irresponsible - among other things. Even Zelia shot her a few surprised, horrified looks from what all she was calling me! Even. ZELIA.
Around three, I was sitting in my corner with my eyes shut, thinking about Pascal, Eugene, and just random stuff in general, when I felt something climbing into my lap.
I opened them to find...none other than Pascal!
I screamed in delight, scooping him up to excitedly check him over to make sure he was okay. He was. I cuddled him against my cheek. "Buddy!! Where were you?! We were all so worried!" I exclaimed to him. Everyone turned to look. I grinned from ear to ear and set him up on my shoulder.
Anna spoke up. "You might want to go talk with that handsome guy over there. I think he has something to do with Pascal's homecoming." She jerked a thumb towards the edge of the shelf, and I followed it.
Eugene was standing there, giving me that cute grin of his.
I gasped, standing up. "You found him?"
"Yeah. I was just walking on the floor, not even looking for him, when I thought I saw 'im go by, and I almost didn't look back, but then I thought, 'well, you know, that looked like him,' so I turned to look and there he-" He didn't get a chance to finish, because I took one huge step and then threw myself towards him, grabbing him into an excited hug. He caught me - luckily - and chuckled.
"I could seriously kiss you right now!" I whispered in his ear. In a normal tone, (well, what was normal for me when I'm excited :P) I added, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He laughed before whispering back, "Anything for my girl."
His girl, eh? Hm.
I grinned into his shoulder and then he set me back onto my feet. Actually, I hadn't even noticed that he'd grabbed me into such a tight hug that my feet had left the ground!
I suddenly realized where we were - and more importantly, our audience - and backed away.
"Uh...thanks. Soooo much." I gave him a huge smile, and he gave me a wink.
"You're welcome." He grinned again, and I reached to give him a one-armed hug. He bent to whisper in my ear the second Zelia glanced away from us. "I'm gonna head out before things get ugly, okay? See you later."
"Mmhmm. See ya," I whispered. "Thank you so much!"
He gave me one more smile and then left.
"Wow. I guess you really do like him!" Zelia crowed as soon as he left.
"Nooo," I laughed it off. "Nope." I knew it was bad to lie, but I knew Zelia and Punzie would give me grief beyond reason. I'd been denying anything Zelia said since I came here, anyway.
"Why'd you hug him, then?"
"Zelia, I woulda hugged and thanked you the same way if you'd found Pascal."
"Why do I not believe that...,"
"Because you didn't go look for him," I finished. I was too happy and thankful to let Zelia bring me down.
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