Paisley

Chapter 18

I finally made it to my room and locked myself in.I don't think I've ever cried this hard since my parents died. I laid on the bed and cried myself back to sleep. Hours had passed and before long it was late when I woke up to a pitch black bedroom with the only light coming from under the bedroom door. I didn't move. I just laid there. Still processing what happened. I felt horrible. I was the person who lashed out at my new found friend and lover in my mind. I was the girl that knocked Prince into the real world. My world. I think I shattered any hopes he had for me of being a star. I didn't mean to. In my mind I felt like he was forcing me. I should go find him and apologize. If only my pride would let me get out bed. I'll be surprised if my anger didn't have me thrown out by morning. I'm more surprised it hasn't happened at all. My stomach was in knots. The guilt was eating my alive. I needed something to shake this painful feeling. I don't know what would help other than going to see him. I needed to look at him. Wanted to look in his eyes and tell him that I'm sorry. This was hard. I let the real me come through at the worst time. Good job Erin. The winner for best lash out at a celebrity goes to you. I better get up and face the music. I finally worked up the courage to get out of bed when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
  "Come in." I said to the mystery person on the other side.
The door opened slowly. Nobody came in.
  "Derrin if that's you you're not funny."
The door opened some more but still there was nobody coming through it.
  "I know that's you Derrin stop it!" I yelled.
One more time the door opened a little wider. This time I could see a shadow of somebody standing on the other side. I aggressively jumped down off the bed.
  "Look nerd I had a bad day! Stop playing around and-"
It was Prince. He looked pretty pleased that I came to the door.
  "Are you still mad at me or is this going to be round 2?" He said grinning at me.
  "Sorry I thought you were-"
  "It's ok. You don't have to apologize." He said. He walked in the room and turned on the lights. I let out a sigh and shut the door.
   "Yeah I do." I said sadly.
  "No you don't it's fine." He explained.
  "No Prince really. I owe you an apology."
He looked at me as if he had never gotten an 'I'm sorry' from anyone before. Prince went over to the bed and sat down. He patted the bed like he wanted me to sit down beside him. I walked over slowly and sat at the top of the bed Indian style with a pillow to rest my arms on.
  "Did I hurt you P? With what I said?"
He turned and looked at the door.
  "You called me little man. That really hurt." He told me.
  "Sarcasm much?" I said.
  "If that was your best insult you really have to do better than that. Little man. HA! I'm proud to be small. It give me more of an advantage." He said smiling at me.
I was happy that he was happy. I didn't feel so terrible now.
  "Look Prince I'm really sorry for the way I acted. When I get mad I say things.......mean things. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. If I did I hope that you could forgive me."
Prince looked at me with this brown Bambi eyes.
  "I had already forgiven you the moment you walked away."
  "What?"
  "You stood up for yourself! You needed to. I didn't want you thinking that just because I'm famous you had to do something for me. You made me very proud. I just didn't think it would get that....explosive."
I put my head down and stared at the pillow.
  "You already have a plan in place for the rest of your life and you never once tried to change your plans for me. You stayed honest and true to who you are. Not many people can say that about someone."
I glanced up at Prince confused and a little proud of myself.
  "Ummmm......thank you?"
   "Be proud of that Erinalia! I'm serious! That was a very brave thing you did. I'm sure it was hard but at least you were honest."
  "Yeah brutally honest."
  "That's what makes you....well...you."
  "Prince I yelled at you and told you that you weren't my father. That's not honesty that's cruel."
  "Well you were right about one thing. I'm not your father." He said smiling.
  "No, you're not, but I know how badly you wanted children and I used that as a weapon when I shouldn't have."
  "I know how bad you want to have a father to argue with."
He looked at me. I looked at him. The room was quiet and still. He took a deep breath and grabbed my hands.
  "I know what it's like to have that feeling of emptiness when you grow up with out a parent. Especially two parents. You went from having them in your life to losing them in one night. That must have been heavy on you."
  "Must have been? Prince it still is! I think about my mom and dad all the time. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't find myself asking if I'm making them proud. That's what hurts the most. The not knowing."
I saw the sparkle in Prince immediately.
  "Come here my friend." He said
  "Why? What are you doing? You're being weird again!"
  "You need a hug!" He said as he pulled me closer to him.
  "Oh sure now we're just giving out hugs!" I said.
He laughed as he embraced me. I wrapped my skinny arms around him and squeezed him tightly. His hug was awesome! I think I fangirled on the inside a little bit. We let each other go and smiled.
  "Feel better?" He asked me.
  "Like a million bucks baby!" I said joking.
  "Good. That makes me happy to hear."
He stood up and jogged to the door.
  "Let's get going."
I looked down at my watch and then looked at him.
  "Get going? It's 1am! Where are we going?" I asked.
  "To jam!" He said. You can hear the excited in his voice.
  "Sweeeeet!" I said as I jumped up.
He put his hand out and I grabbed on. We left the room and went to the studio. Everything was alright again. The universe was back on center.