Never Saw THIS Coming...Part 1

This morning, bright and early, we got up to the sound of knocks on the side of the shelf.
I about fell out of bed in my rushed - and awkward - attempt to go see who it was. Eugene, even though I hadn't helped him up, managed to get out of bed and up on his feet, hobbling rapidly behind me.
It was Kristoff and Hans.
"Oh - um, good morning, guys. Wh-what's up?" I asked, my face red with embarrassment. I still had my nightie on, and my hair was probably a mess. But if they were horrified by my appearance, well, it was their fault, because I hadn't had time to dress or brush my hair! But regardless.
"We wanted to talk with Eugene." Kris said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Come in, then," I stepped away from the edge of the shelf and rammed into Eugene's chest. He put his hands on my shoulders, likely so he wouldn't fall down.
"We'd...well.." Kris stumbled over his words, his cheeks getting red.
"We need to talk with someone more experienced than us. Alone, preferably. I thought we could go to the chair and discuss a couple of things."
"Experience?" Eugene finally piped up.
"In...in relationships." Kristoff's face was about as red as one's face could be.
Eugene coughed. "I...er...well..what's the issue?"
They both glanced at me. "Nothing personal against you, Rapunzel, but it's...we just don't...it's complicated."
I'd never really heard a guy say 'it's complicated', and I'd never, ever heard Hans at a loss for eloquent words.
"You don't have to elaborate. But Eugene's leg joints are still pretty weak,"
"I'm trying to do therapy every day, though, and walking is one of them. It's just a few hops over to the chair," Eugene reassured me.
I sighed. "Just be careful, okay?" He nodded, bending to kiss my cheek. I turned my attention back to the guys. "And you two - if something happens to him - Kristoff - you'll be answering to me."
"Yes, Miss Natasha Romanoff," Kris let his humorous side show through his awkwardness. When I gave him a curious look, he barked, "Black Widow. From 'The Avengers'."
"Ohh," I said, figuring it out. Eugene and I had watched that movie on Tangled Fan's laptop awhile back.
"Hm, I'm not sure. I think she could take you - you haven't seen her dark side yet." Eugene teased me, and I threatened to elbow him from behind, giggling.
"Okay. Well..we doing this or not?"
"Yeah, I suppose," Eugene said. "I'll be with you in a minute."
When they turned to go and wait for my hubby, I twisted around to give him a serious gaze. "Don't hurt yourself, okay? What they have to say can't be more important than your joints."
"I know," he told me. "I just wonder what they're wanting to discuss. Relationship experience?!" Eugene rolled his eyes around in mock-horror, and I laughed.
"Good luck."
He swooped down to give me a quick little kiss before he left. "I'll see you in a bit, okay?"
"If you're not back by five, I'll be coming for you." I told him.
"No-"
"Yesss," I told him, and he chuckled, nodding.

 

I watched as he ambled across the deck. He was getting better with walking already, but I was still worried. Once I saw that Hans and Kristoff were going slow so he could keep up, I heaved a sigh of relief.

Hmm. So that left me alone for a good bit of the day.
Sounds like a reading day to me!
After slipping into my purple dress [sidenote: you may have noticed I haven't worn my Christmas dress since, well, Christmas. This was because Tangled Fan needed it for a doll she was planning to sell on eBay. While I was horrified that a doll was being sold in that manner, I let her use my Christmas dress for her--what would be more traumatizing than having pictures taken and being shipped off to a new home, in just your factory plastic? Eugene agreed with me.] and braiding my hair, I started to rummage in the drawer below us. Something had caught my sight yesterday in here, and I was planning to figure out what it was.  

Tangled Fan's Kindle!
It was about as tall as I am, and a lotttt wider than me, but I was able to heave it up into the shelf. 
Stumbling backwards as I tried to carry the ungainly thing, I tripped over the box I'd left on the shelf as a bed/chair for when we officially adopted the girls.

I got tangled in my own hair and fell across the bed, right on top of the Kindle.
Kicking and struggling to get freed from my hair, I grunted and grumbled to myself.  Pascal turned and gave me a 'what in the world are you up to now' look. 

 Since it was relatively chilly in the 'cold' corner of the room, I burrowed under the blankets and turned the Kindle on, looking for a good read. Much to my pleasure, Pascal hurried up onto the bed, plopping down beside me. I grinned, tossing a little corner of the blanket over him, and then started to read a random book I saw on the library list on the Kindle.

"Weddings by Bella: Fools Rush In" by Janice Thompson. It's a romantic comedy, Christian, and absolutely adorable and hilarious. To my excitement, Tangled Fan had all three books, as well as the first book to the spinoff series. Woohoo - looks like a lot of good reads for me! (:
I completely and utterly lost myself in the book and enjoyed every minute of it.  Curled under the blankets with my chameleon, I read for I don't even know how long - must have been around four hours or so!

I didn't stop reading, either.  At least, not until Eugene spoke up. 
"Hey, darlin'.  What'cha reading?" 
I gasped, clapping a hand down onto the screen of the Kindle.  Pascal, surprised, hurried to finally inspect the device - likely wondering what kind of madness it had done to deserve me striking it.  "Oh!  Hi, hon.  H-how long've you been back?  Sorry, I didn't even notice you!" 
He chuckled, leaning on the chair in an attempt to peek at what was on the screen.  "I just got back in." 

I quickly turned the Kindle to sleep mode, and he quirked a brow.  I don't know why I was so self-conscious of reading a Christian romance book.  And a funny one to boot. 
I tried to slide the Kindle aside, making room for him to sit on the bed, but I accidentally shoved it clear off of the bed, and it clattered to the floor of the shelf.    Luckily, Pascal leapt off of it and onto the wicker chair before he got hurt.
Stepping around the Kindle, Eugene laughed.  "Do I want to know what you're reading?" 
"A-a...romance book."  I choked out, and he chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the bed and scooting back. 
"Is it a good book?" 

"I-I guess so," I muttered, my eyes flitting back and forth.  I was too embarrassed to meet his eyes. 
Noticing, he laughed.  "Hon, do you really think I'm gonna mind if you read a romance book?  Well, I don't," he reassured me, reaching to cup my chin in his hand.  
I grinned.  "I just feel weird saying about that kind of book," I laughed.  "So anyway.  How're you feeling?  What on earth were they wanting to talk about?" 

He scooted to lean up against the box at the other end of the bed, and I followed suit, but before I could situate myself, he snagged my waist and pulled me onto his lap.
"Mmm, well...it was interesting.  Quite frankly, I don't understand any of it.  And, my legs held up, so don't worry." 

"What's up with them?  I'm intrigued," I told him.

He spilled the whole story.  "Well, turns out that Anna and Kristoff aren't...dating anymore.  I guess.  I don't think Kris is quite sure.  Apparently, Hans is quite taken by her, and vice versa.  Meanwhile, Kristoff's fine with it because after she said she didn't want to go 'so fast', after nearly two months, he's thinking she wasn't madly in love with him anymore.  And he says the feeling's mutual.  Or lack of feeling, actually.  And Hans is concerned about liking anyone else, after his breakup with Piper.  In other words, it's madness." 
I twisted to look at his face easier, amazed.  "What in the world?  That's...wow.  I can't believe that!  They used to be absolutely insane over one another."  I gave him a wide-eyed stare.  "Did you hear right?"  He couldn't be right.  Kris and Anna were so crazy for each other!  Maybe that's the key term there...they 'were'. 
He nodded.  "He kept obsessing over it.  That four hours?  That's all they wanted to talk about.  It was weird.  Most male dolls don't go that deep into relationship conversations." 
I nodded absentmindedly, still trying to process this.  Wow.  How could they be so sure they loved each other, and then turn around and realize they didn't? 

 

Eugene suddenly put his arms around me and pulled me snug up against him. 
"What?"  I asked him, quirking a brow. 
"I'm just glad we didn't go through all THAT drama.  We met, we knew, we fell in love, we got married." 

"Well, I broke up with you out of insane stupidity, and then we got back together, and THEN got married," I half jokingly laughed, half groaned. 
He shrugged, chuckling.  "Regardless, our relationship hasn't been near as crazy.  Or is there something you're hiding from me?"  He joked, tickling my side. 
I gasped in surprise before laughing and squirming to get away.  "Oh, yeah.  By the way, Flynn found my blog and he's coming here." 
"Mmmhmm.  Problem is, I know he's married, and I KNOW you're married."  He winked at me before kissing my forehead.  "I hate to say, but even if that did happen, Flynn won't get you back." 
I laughed through my nose.  "Fine by me."  I snuggled a bit closer to him, still trying to process this new information. 
"Anna will likely come over soon to talk to you about it, no doubt."  Eugene told me. 
"Mmhmm.  Wouldn't be surprised," I told him.
I kept trying to figure out what had gone wrong between those two, so we were silent for a few minutes before my hubby spoke up again.
"So...if you wanna pull that romance book up again, feel free to.  I didn't mean to interrupt your reading," he told me with a grin. 
"I will.  But I still..I can't believe those two aren't together anymore!  I'm trying to understand why, but I can't." 
"Don't try too hard to understand.  Don't want to give yourself a headache  - trust me, I almost ended up with one, trying to make sense of it all." 
I laughed, reaching to haul the Kindle back up.  I sprawled out on my belly, and Pascal hopped back over to sit beside me.  And that's pretty much how we spent the day.  (: