Live in Living Color

“True enough”he says with a laugh, “I reckon I could, but then again I’ve been living on the least amount of money that I can”he explains to him. He shakes his head, “No, it’s been a couple of months. Why do you ask? Have you seen him?”

Ben laughs, “You know I don’t mind him but I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy with the booze”he comments as he enters the apartment. Placing the bag on the counter he sits down and looks at Jack, “So how are you?”he asks as he takes the bottle of cognac out of the bag.

Ben laughs, “Well I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop by”he says as he holds up a shopping bag. “Are you going to let me in? I brought booze and some really bad cheese that’s not going to eat itself.”

Dee felt like an ass. In her make shift pity party, she hadn’t thought about Wes or everything Jack had gone through before he met Owen. She was preaching to the choir about wanting to avoid love at all costs to keep from getting hurt. When did she become so inconsiderate? When did she become such a terrible friend? Even as she beat herself up for not remembering Wesley, Dee’s mindset didn’t change much. Maybe she could have a second chance like Jack. Or maybe…maybe she was meant to be single. That wouldn’t be so bad…right? She smiled as he talked about Owen, the tears running down her cheeks slowing down and eventually drying. God, she missed Jack. And Owen. She missed them being down the hall or down a floor. She missed seeing them everyday. She had taken that for granted.  Dee listened to Jack all the way through, not wanting to interrupt him. She was too caught up in her thoughts to jump in anyway, taking cautious sips from her bottle of wine every so often. She wasn’t sure where to begin when the time came for her talk. “You’re not a shitty person, Jack.” She gave a short laugh at that, as if the very idea was preposterous. “You’re one of the best people I know…I know I deserve happiness.” Truth be told, that statement was a it questionable from all angles. “And I’ll find it…in time. I’ll make it work. The way my mother makes it work. It’s in our blood to be strong.” Dee tried not to think of her grandmother, her name sake, as she spoke. It was damn near impossible. “I can’t even begin to imagine what losing Wesley must have felt like for you. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m so, so happy that you haven Owen. But maybe, no offense, you and Owen are the exception….not the rule. Always is a strong word. Sometimes you’re Jennifer Aniston, sometimes you’re Courtney Cox–who I’m sure is doing well for herself despite her divorce.” She sighed and push hair out of her face. “I don’t pay attention to their endings because they’re all bullshit. You’ve clearly never met Prince Phillip, Jack.” Dee started to laugh but it felt mean, as  if she making fun of him. “All I’m saying is that we know first hand that ‘happily ever after’ isn’t all its cracked up to be. Endings themselves are. …just places to stop the book. I appreciate everything you’re saying, Jack And I get it. Okay? I get it. I understand what you’re saying but…I’ve made my bed. It’s time I lie in it. Please tell me you understand that, Jack. Please don’t be upset with me for doing this.” She chewed on her lower lip. “It’s getting late…maybe I should head off.”

The last thing that Jack wanted Dee to feel was worst. It seemed like his mention of Wes did the opposite than it was suppose to do, and all he could do was stare at her sadly. He messed the times at WDA when they would sit and do dumb things, and just talk about life. He missed not being so far away from everyone. He just wished he could go back at least for a little bit, or at least go to Maldonia and maybe talk to her one on one. He laughed softly without her, but without her usual energy, it felt forced and as if she was doing it to hide something, which he supposed was true. At the mtnion of Prince Phillip, he gave a look like ‘Alright true’ because he did know how much of an ass he could be, but it was for demonstrative purposes. The idea of a happy ending. She made a good comment about happily ever afters, and it was true. There was no such thing, but that was a metaphor in itself. Happily ever afters never existed, only in storybooks, but they weren’t made to create the light at the end of the tunnel affect, it was used as a motivator. To get your happily ever after, you first need to things to make you happy. Happily ever after didn’t mean the end, it meant your life. It meant happiness would be your ever after, no matter what way that went. He sighed at her last sentences, and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arm. “I understand that you need to go to bed but you’re not going to because I won’t let you. I know you want to turn me off but you won’t,” Jack replied after a few minutes of silence. He took a deep breath, and offered a weak smile. “Dee, I’m not upset with you that you’re doing this, I’m just worried because I care about your well being. You can lie and say you’re okay with this, that you’re okay with everything, but being Mrs. Bjorgman...” He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the kind of person you want to be.” He sighed. “Maybe Owen and I are the exception or better yet, there aren’t any rules there’s just mankind who fucks up all the time. Dee, give the world a chance before you make such a drastic decision. In ten years, do you want to still be Mrs. Bjorgman in an unhappy marriage? Just think this through thoroughly, okay? Because this is your life. Not your dad’s. Not your mom’s. Not Harold’s. Not Faye’s. Not your country’s. Not your grandparents. Your life is going to be different than all of theirs based on the decisions you make. There’s a difference between being selfish and strong. Being selfish is putting your wants before anyone else’s and strong is putting your needs before anyone else’s. “ He sighed again, taking a swig of his drink. “Either way, I will always be walking you down the aisle in a sexy tux.” 

She hated this. Part of her wanted to come up with an excuse to cut off the conversation, finish her drink and call it a night. And maybe never talk to or about Jack Stoppable ever again because he was currently saying everything she needed to hear and she wanted no parts of it. Of course it was all bullshit. Of course she forced her own hand, of course she was playing it safe. Isn’t that what she always did? Whenever she didn’t want to get hurt, she hid behind her responsibilities (real or otherwise), made up excuses as to why what she was doing was right. As to why what she was doing was noble, rather than cowardly. She was better at being a princess than a person. It was all too much. She let Jack finish her piece before setting down her wine bottle and facing the camera with a fire inside her much more akin to the typical Dee Rana. The words that followed and her attitude were not very ‘her’ though. “And what if I don’t? What if I never get that and I grow old only to find out I wasted my life sitting around for someone I was never meant to call mine? We aren’t all lucky like you and Owen. When I think about love, I see Faye, getting sick on herself, stumbling through hallways, completely lost without Kyle. I see my mother–my beautiful, intelligent, strong mother–hiding out in the kitchen during Christmas, pretending like she hadn’t just been crying every time someone comes in to grab a drink. I see Harold, going along with whatever nutty ideas his family’s advisers can come up with just to get over a girl–who broke his heart a few times before that. Everywhere I turn, hurt and love are linked together. So wouldn’t it just be better to say fuck it?“ There was no attempt to hide the tears now. “Listen, I tried to do the whole ‘love’ thing and it had its moments of being really great, but mostly it was just a shit show. And I have better things to do with my time. I’m as happy as I’m ever going to get, Jack. Is that enough?”

It was true, Jack was bias, but there was a time in his life when he was exactly like Dee. After Wes was killed, he vowed never to fall in love again. Never to date anyone. Never to put anyone else in the danger. It was a bit of a different situation with Dee, but the situation still stood to be close. They both were feeling the same thing: scared, and wanted to wrap onto anything for safety. They wanted to take the easy road to get to their box of comfort, no matter the consequences. He knew how she felt, and he wanted to bring her back though like how Owen did. Seeing that fire start to burn again in her eyes - something that had been missing the whole conversation - sent a gentle smile to his face. Despite the situation and everything in between, it was good to see that the Eudora Rana that he knew and loved was still in there. She was buried beneath all the emotions and she was willing to come out. Her last sentence made him frown, and his heart break in his chest. It cracked seeing that she thought this was the happiness she was going to get, and this right now, seeing her with tears streaming down her face, wasn’t very happy. His eyes were filled with heart break, and all he wanted to do was wrap Dee in his arms and tell him they’d figure something out, and that everything would be okay. He couldn’t though, so all Jack did was smile sadly and pulled his chair up so he could set his arms on the table. “Don’t degrade your happiness because you think you deserve it like it’s some compensation for something because what’s most important in life is being happy or it’s some award for dealing with shit. Happiness is something you deserve, everyone deserves. It’s something a shitty person like me even deserves.” He shrugged. “You deserve more happiness than this, Dee. Because you’re amazing, strong, passionate and most deserving of the Macedonian crown.” He sighed softly. “Life is a shit storm. I can attest to that. You remember my ex-girlfriend who died? Wesley? It hurt, Dee. It really hurt when she died because I know I caused it. Do you know how shitty that feels? Hella shitty, but I swore then I would never let anyone else into my life like that because I don’t want to get hurt again. I didn’t want to get my heart broken again. I didn’t want to have that taken away. All my happiness taken away in a blink of an eye.” Talking about a hard topic like this, he wanted to look down and look at his clapsed hands but he stared back at the screen trying to show his confidence. He wanted Dee to register this. “I did it because it was easy. I did it because I didn’t want to get hurt. I did it because I believed that love was shitty and that it was never going to go my way. And then in walks fucking Owen into my life.” He groaned, running his hands down his face. “That bastard. I’m glad that he’s out so he doesn’t hear me say that, but that fucking bastard who tore all that down. Who tore down everything.” He paused for a moment to take a breath. “But it ended up being for the better. I love him, Dee, and he loves me and we’re really happy together. Just because the people closest to you may be broken, that doesn’t mean everyone is broken. Life is a shit storm and everyone has their bad moments, but if you push out of those moments, they always end up having a happy ending. Aka me and Owen. Aka Jennifer Anniston and her boyfriend. When you think love, why don’t you look at the ending than the road it took to get there? Faye will find her Prince Phillip, Harold will find his Anna, and your mom? She’ll find her Prince Charming too. He may not be a Prince, but he’ll be someone whose perfect and more for her. Trust the guy with future sight. Love is a hell of a bumpy road but no one ever said it was going to be easy. No one ever said it was not going to hurt. But every single person who gets to the end always says it’s worth it.” 

As soon as he got out of frame, she reached up to wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes. She was not going to cry. She had yet to cry about this in front of anyone and she wanted to keep it that way. As soon as she heard Jack’s footsteps coming back she dropped her hands and tried to make it look like she had just been staring at her bottle of wine’s label. When he sat back down she glanced up at the drink he was pouring for himself. “Looks good…and strong,” she mused, more so to herself than to him. “I guess so.” She could have forced a laugh, but what would be the point? He would see through it anyway. “They might get a bit repetitive though…they’ll all just be about how I don’t have sex. At least not with Harold.” The moment the words left her lips she knew she should have held her tongue about that particular detail. She raised her bottle up and took a nice gulp of wine to keep herself from saying anything else stupid. When he continued speaking she almost wished she kept talking, anything to keep him from asking these questions. “Because it’s my duty, Jack. You have your job and I have mine. This is part of the gig. I guess I mean…it would help us with some…trade agreements. And stuff. It’s boring to talk about,” she attempted to brush it off. She moved to take another drink, but then she decided to hell with it. Since she was talking to Jack, she might as well be honest. “I guess…maybe also…I agreed to do it because its easier. Because…this way no one can ever hurt me the way that my father hurt my mom. Who isn’t happy, by the way. But it’s not her decision. It’s mine. No one forced my hand…not really.” That wasn’t entirely true. She had been given a choice–technically. But saying no was never really an option. “Yeah, Faye knows. She’s going to be my maid of honor.“ She suddenly felt very small, like the weight of it was suddenly hitting her. This was really happening. She was the future Mrs. Bjorgman. Gross.

Jack hated seeing Dee like this. Jack hated seeing anyone like this, but especially her. Someone who was so sassy and strong torn away by the level of reality. He churned his drink in his hand and clutched it in his hand when he heard Harold’s name. Not because he hated the person, but because he was the one that was going to make Dee miserable and that was an unforgivable mistake. He realized that he shouldn’t have made that joke to lighten the mood because it seemed like he made it worst without knowing it. When she raised the bottle, he did as well almost to cheers her and took a long sip. He set it back on the table, turning back toward the screen to finish up his questions. To his surprise, he related to the feeling of responsibility. His job to “save the world” even though his life was on the line was enough to keep him going and his respect for his parents kept him tied. Though he had bigger dreams of becoming a doctor. He let out a soft sigh at the trade agreements. “That’s bullshit, Rana,” he murmured. He knew there was something else eating her that was causing her to go through with it. “You guess maybe also,” He repeated, sighing again. “I think you forced your hand because you want to play it safe and you don’t want to ride that wave of having a love life.” He pulled his legs up cross legged and stared directly into the camera lens instead of into her eyes. “You’re right, it isn’t anyone’s decision, but yours. That’s true, But what if you meet the love of your life? What if you divorce him because you meet said person and your ties with Arendelle are broken forever? Why have you given up on true love?” Maybe Jack was a bit bias saying these things, since he had been with Owen for a little less than two years, but the last thing he wanted was to see Dee unhappy like this. He looked intently into the camera lens. “Eudora, are you happy right now? Are you happy with your decision? If I asked you in ten years from now, would you make this decision? Would you make this decision if you ever met the love of your life?”

Dee took a swig from her bottle as he spoke, not caring how it made her look. This was Jack after all–he had seen her at her best moments and at her worst. Unfortunately this Skype call would probably end up in the latter category. The point was, she didn’t need to hide from him. And that was refreshing. She felt a bit better when the invitation was out of sight. She hated looking at it. It made it all too real. It was her turn to sigh. “My grandparents thought it would be good for the country and, after everything my da–Naveen did, for my family’s image to have this partnership with Arendelle. I’m not the first princess to have an arranged marriage and I probably won’t be the last. It could be a lot worse–Harold is a great guy and we get along really well. And once we had sex and it was…pretty okay. We just need to do it once more to get me knocked up and we’ll be golden. It’s not the end of the world, Jack. It’s just a marriage…and the rest of my life.” Her voice had cracked on that last bit, but she refused to cry. Putting on a brave face she kept talking, “I know you might not understand it, but I would really appreciate your support now. Who else is going to walk me down the aisle?”

There wasn’t many times that Jackson Stoppable was left speechless, but this was one of those times. He was completely stunned at the old aristocracy and conservative nature of her parents and her kingdom. She couldn’t believe Tiana was letting her doing this. Naveen he believed, but Tiana? She was always the one with quite a backbone. He stared at her for a moment, his feet on the desk as she talked and his arms folded across his chest. He pursed his lips, searching for the right words to say. After a couple moments of silence, he stood up from his chair. “I need a drink to swallow this down,” he muttered, walking off camera to go to his fridge and poured out a glass of vodka, mixed it with some juice then sat back down. taking a large sip of it. It wasn’t like him to drink but for a situation like this, he needed it. He sighed, softly. “I guess that means I’ll be making sex jokes,” he finally started. He lenaed close to the camera and frowned slightly. “I’m obviously going to support you because I always do , but , why are you doing this? Do you really think this is good for your kingdom? What does your mom think about it? What do you feel about it? God, Eudora Rana..” He ran a hand through his hair. “Have you told Faye?”