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“Goddess, Marianne, there’s no reason to be so nervous!” Hilda said cheerfully, locked arm in arm with Marianne.
Marianne gulped and looked down at her shoes. She was wearing the same brown loafers she’d worn in high school, even if the leather was starting to crack and peel in some places. “I don’t feel so good,” Marianne said to the floor. She could feel and hear the way Hilda’s witch cackle shook her body.
“Oh, c’mon, it can’t be that bad!” Hilda chided. “Hi!” She greeted as one of the maids came forward. “Table for two, please. Marianne, don’t you have something you need to show her?”
“Y-y-yes, I d-d-do,” Marianne stammered. Her palms were sweaty, but she managed to present the little sliver of plastic that passed as her membership card. She’d been holding it in her hand since they got off the train, a full ten minute walk away. Honestly, Marianne wasn’t sure she was breathing. Her head felt fuzzy and stuffed full of cotton, just imagining what was beyond the castle-themed entranceway. Her pulse thundered in her ears.
Instantly, it was like a switch being flipped. “Welcome back, princess!” The maid for the day greeted them, smiling earnestly. Marianne dared to dart a peak up at the maid’s face. Her eyes shot back down to the ground when she made eye contact. A shiver wracked her slender frame.
Please, please, please, Marianne began a wordless chant in her head, flinging it out at anyone that might be listening, Just let me survive this. If she could get in, she would be okay, but getting there was the hard part.
If anything, the maid in front of them voice's softened. “Give me just a second to check this,” she said, “I’ll be right back.”
Marianne stood there, shivering with fright, while Hilda rubbed small circles into the small of her back and made soothing noises in the back of her throat and tried to distract her by telling her how hot her boyfriend Dimitri had looked the other day, running across the soccer field.
The maid returned after what felt like hours, but had probably only been a few minutes. “We’re so happy you’re here, mistress!” The maid said warmly. “Right this way, please, I’ll show you to your seats. Ah, watch your step!”
Hilda caught Marianne by the arm before she could stumble over the low step that the maid explained was a dojikko trap meant for the clumsy and cute to trip over. Hilda laughed as she helped Marianne back up. “It looks like you caught one! C’mon, Mari-chan, let’s go sit down.”
Marianne felt like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. Her face was so hot she was certain she must be turning crimson. She nodded meekly and let Hilda guide by the arm to their spot, not once looking up.
“Ah, princess,” the maid said gently, “Here is the menu,” and gave them the run-down. Hilda picked the Magic Shaker because she said it sounded fun – Marianne tried not to die on the spot, knowing what it entailed – while Marianne ordered a Princess Sundae for Hilda and a Unrequited Love parfait for herself alongside some oolong. Sakura took out a device and tapped their order in, smiling all the while and continuing to rain down moe upon them.
Before Sakura-chan could go far, Marianne stopped her with a timid question. “Um,” she said, blinking furiously behind her bangs.
“Yes?” Sakura asked, her smile just this side of fond, her eyes warm. Marianne didn’t know how to tell her why that instantly made her guard go up – she could scarcely explain to herself. Nevertheless, she preserved.
“I-i-i-s T-t-itania h-h-here t-today?”
Sakura’s smile grew a hint more authentic. “Yes, she is,” she enthused.
Marianne breathed a sigh of relief. “Um. We paid for a picture. Can I… ?”
“Oh, yes, of course!” Sakura said. “I’ll let her know you’re here.”
Marianne sank back into the booth seat they’d gotten as Sakura walked away, feeling like she’d just gone three rounds with a minotaur.
Hilda, ever incorrigible, grinned at Marianne. “Is that who we’re here to see?” She asked. “The reason why you called me last night, telling me you needed a friend and it was an emergency?”
Marianne pretended to be fascinated by the napkins. “M-m-maybe,” she whispered. She heard the faux-leather squeak when Hilda leaned back.
“It’s fine,” Hilda said, dismissing her cares away with a wave. “But I’m really curious to meet her! Is she the reason you’ve been so hard to get a hold of lately?” Hilda’s smile was predatory.
Marianne took a sip of her water so she didn’t have to say anything.
Hilda cackled, scaring a couple people next to them. “Oops, sorry,” she smiled and like always, when Hilda smiled, people forgave her. Not like Marianne. Marianne couldn’t do anything without getting it wrong.
Hilda leaned in close as she whispered furtively, “But no, really, is the girl you’ve got a crush? That you haven’t been able to stop talking about since you met her last week?”
Marianne’s face felt like it was on fire. She fidgeted in place, twisting a corner of her blue gingham skirt between her hands. “M-maybe,” she said. She could tell Hilda was about to prod her for more, but at that moment, their food arrived. Hilda turned to her sundae with a coo of delight.
“Oh, my gawd, ” Hilda squealed as she took the white chocolate heart with ‘princess’ written on it and signed with a heart, “This is so cute.”
“I figured you might like it,” Marianne said with a smile. She picked up her spoon and took a bite of the chocolate ice cream on top of her sundae. She smiled privately to herself. Hard to go wrong with dark chocolate.
“Wait, hang on a sec,” Hilda said as she licked strawberry ice cream with chunks of strawberry off her spoon. “What did she call that one?”
Marianne was valiantly trying to shove a blush down. “N-n-nothing.”
Hilda narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you,” she decreed. She rang the bell and Sakura came running over with a big smile on her face.
“Yes, princesses?” Sakura chirruped, looking pleased as all hell they were ‘home.’ Marianne was trying her best to hide behind Hilda, but there really wasn’t anywhere to go. Thank god Sakura seemed to have picked up on it and was relaxing her enthusiasm, otherwise, Hilda or no, Marianne was pretty sure she would run out of her without ever getting to see Mercedes. And she’d gathered up her courage, even brought Hilda, because she did want to see Mercedes’ smile, even if it felt like fire ants were climbing over her flesh and she was one loud bang away from running away anyways.
“Remind me what this one is called?” Hilda grinned, pointing to Marianne’s parfait, her own silver spoon held aloft with another bite of ice cream.
Sakura’s smile softened. The look on her face was warm when she said, “It’s called the Unrequited Love parfait. Don’t worry, princess,” she said earnestly, “I’m sure whoever it is just hasn’t realized your feelings yet! Anyone who’s met you should know you’re an incredibly amazing person to be around!”
“Yep, you’re right about that!” Hilda laughed, grinning like the cat that caught the canary while Marianne hid her face behind her hands.
“Please stop, Hilda,” Marianne grinned, bright red.
“Nope,” Hilda said, popped the p, “You’re stuck with me, unfortunately.”
Marianne sighed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Sit in your room all day worrying and get nothing done.”
Marianne looked down. Hilda patted her on the shoulder, slowly working her way through her parfait. She was on the twizzlers that looked like unicorn horns now. “It’s cool,” Hilda added, squeezing her hand a little, “I like you that way. My brother likes you, too. He says you’re good for me.”
Hilda laughed and Marianne wondered at her ability to wave her magical wand and make Marianne’s burdensome cares seem inconsequential. “I’m lucky you’re my friend,” Marianne said quietly. She let her head rest on Hilda’s shoulder for a second, squeezing her eyes tight to shut out the bright overhead lighting that was giving her a headache. “I don’t know if I’ve told you that recently or not.”
Hilda guffawed. “You have, but it’s always worth hearing. Love you, Mari-chan. Cheers to always being the very best of friends!” Hilda easily picked up her parfait glass and gently clinked it against Marianne’s, smiling like Marianne was in on the joke, not the butt of it.
“Thanks, Hilda,” Marianne said quietly.
“What’re friends for? Now, gimme some of that chocolate ice cream!”
“You won’t like it, Hilda, it’s too bitter for you.”
“I’ll be the judge of that – oh, yuck!”
“I tried to tell you so,” Marianne sighed.
In no time at all, Sakura was calling Marianne’s name at the front of the cafe, where the stage was. Hilda decided to stay behind and polish off her sundae. “This is for you,” she said, “Go get knock ‘em dead tiger.”
Marianne did manage not to trip on her way down to the stage, but all bets were off when Sakura moved aside and there Mercedes was. Marianne swore she could feel all the breath leave her body. She felt dizzy and light-headed. Her legs were numb and wouldn’t move when she told them to.
Mercedes came over and took her hand. “Hello,” she greeted with a warm smile. Marianne took a breath in, feeling like bars had snapped off her ribcage when Mercedes took her hand, warm even through the thin cotton gloves she was wearing. “Welcome home, princess. It’s good to see you.”
And see, it was cheesy when Sakura did it because Marianne didn’t really believe her, because she’s spent every minute of every day trying her level best to ignore the voice in her head that tells her she’s worthless, useless, that no one will ever love weak little scaredy-cat her. But it was a different story entirely when Mercedes did it. Marianne felt like she’d stepped out of the shadows and into sunlight. She was warm from head to toe.
When Mercedes guided her towards the middle of the stage, Marianne tripped a little, but with her hand in Mercedes, there was no way she was going down. Mercedes caught her easily, both hands holding her up, something warm dripping from her eyes. Marianne felt like she could die tomorrow and she would be happy, just from having had this.
“There, let’s be careful now,” Mercedes said. She dusted Marianne’s skirt off - not like it had had the chance to touch the ground - and continued to hold both of Marianne’s hands in hers, and this was it, sayonara, this was how Marianne died, so full to the brim with happiness she felt like a supernova.
“What pose were you thinking of?” Mercedes asked, gentle and low, every drop of her soothing voice landing like honey in Marianne’s ears.
Marianne swallowed, her throat gone dry. “U-um.” Her mind was blank.
Thankfully, Mercedes seemed to have noticed. She squeezed Marianne’s hands once before letting go. Marianne’s heart felt like she’d swallowed glass for a brief moment before Mercedes was stepping into her space, close enough that she could smell honey and lavender layering over her scent. Marianne stopped herself from huffing it in like a freak, caught in the spider-web delicacy of the moment and trying not to break it.
“Why don’t you put your hand over your head like this and I’ll do the same?” Mercedes demonstrated and then nodded her satisfaction when Marianne mirrored her. “Good! That’s really good, princess.” Every time Mercedes called Marianne a princess felt like a guilty pleasure, the kind Marianne wasn’t supposed to have, but kept going back to anyways.
The photographer took their photo, Marianne trying very hard not to think about where her side was touching the bows on the back of Mercedes’ uniform, where her hand was resting against Mercedes as they formed a heart together with their arms, just trying not to think at all while the photographer counted off until the flash went off. Marianne blinked and it was over, and she was being shown back to her seat by Sakura.
Sakura had a mischievous look on her face when she helped Marianne sit down, very careful to only touch her as long as she needed to not trip and then letting go. Marianne rubbed the skin anyways, trying to will away the feeling of somebody else’s hands on her. She shivered and shuffled closer to Hilda until their shoulders were touching. She drank in the warmth radiating from Hilda’s body and tried to focus on the half-demolished parfait in front of her. There was a lump in her throat and a pit in the base of her stomach that she was probably coming back again next week, just for a chance to hold Mercedes’ hand and stand close to her, even if she wasn’t her server.
“I think I have an idea of who you’re in love with,” Sakura said, sing-song.
Hilda and Sakura traded grins while Marianne tried to ignore them, blushing furiously. Hilda put a finger over her lips and winked. “Can you blame her? I don’t play for the other team, and I’m catching feelings over here.”
Sakura swallowed a smile, her brown eyes flicking to Marianne’s for a second, considering. “It’s technically against the rules,” she said reluctantly, “But let me go talk to Mercedes. There was a cute blue-haired girl she thought was utterly adorable last week. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was you.” Sakura smiled and Marianne’s heart skipped a beat. She had to dig her blunt fingernails into the tender flesh on the back of her hands to remind herself not to jump at the opportunity.
“Um,” Marianne said, not able to look away, “I-I would be grateful if you c-could.” Sakura’s smile softened around the edges.
“Let me go talk to her,” Sakura said, disappearing in a flurry of ruffles.
Hilda punched the air. “Score! See, aren’t you glad you brought me?” Hilda grinned, “I bet you would’ve been too scared to ask her for help, haha.”
Marianne ducked her head to hide her smile. “M-maybe…”
“No if ands or buts about it! Marianne, you made the right decision taking me along for the ride. Just you wait until I tell Dimitri. He’s gonna be so proud of me.” She giggled and for just a second, her cheeks turned rosy. Marianne smiled down at her parfait, happy that Hilda had found someone worth keeping. She’d been worried Dimitri was going to turn out to be one of those icky men Hilda dragged back home because they were cute, but it turns out Dimitri had looks as well as brains.
Plus, he was so dog-gone gone on Hilda. It was obvious from being around them for more than five minutes that Dimitri thought Hilda hung all the stars and moon in the night sky, and it was readily apparent that Hilda enjoyed all the attention and praise, but also thought Dimitri was really sweet. Marianne liked how being around Dimitri had made her easier to be around, happier, softer, less willing to judge and more willing to help, still unlikely to do work she could foist onto others, but a little more eager to try.
And trying was everything.
The two of them managed to polish off their frankly massive parfaits – Marianne was pretty sure hers was at least two inches taller than Hilda’s, something Hilda squawked about and them made them compare heights and found, to her annoyance, that Marianne’s was bigger than hers. So, Marianne was laughing hard enough to bust a gut while Hilda pouted at her empty parfait glasses, her arms crossed, whinging, when Sakura came back, the card with Marianne and Mercedes’ picture hidden inside of it.
Sakura was struggling to hide a grin as she passed it to Marianne and cleared the table of their dirty dishes. “You should take a look at what Mercedes wrote,” she said, a grin breaking through despite her efforts. “I guarantee that you’re gonna love it.” That said, she was gone.
Hilda scrunched her brow. “What is it?” She asked, forgetting to be cross for a moment. She uncrossed her arms and legs and peered curiously at the card. Marianne shied away from Hilda and peeked inside, squeaked, and then turned bright red. “Oh, goddess, this is gotta be good,” Hilda laughed, scooting closer on the booth seat until she could peer over Marianne’s shoulder. Instantly, she started laughing. “Oh, Dima is gonna love this!”
Marianne was pretty sure she stopped breathing a full minute ago, her head woozy even if it felt like liquid gold was flowing through her veins.
Mercedes had written on their photocard, I think you’re pretty cute, too. If you wanna meet up after work, my phone number is 000-XXX-XXX.
Even if it killed her, Marianne was going to have to call this number.