Link for dA: xxscarletxrosexx.

deviantart.

com/art/A-G-F-F-I-L-Ch-7-Perspectives-568957000

(c) "A Guide For Falling In Love" and banner belongs to me
(c) Elsa belongs to Disney's "Frozen"
(c) Hercules belongs to Disney's "Hercules"
(c) Remy and Linguini belongs to Disney's "Ratatouille"
(c) Kronk, Scoops Saltimo, Malina belongs to Disney's "Kuzco Academy"

Summary:

My name is Elsa Lillian, I'm 21, and a virgin when it comes to a topic called love. The idiot God paired me with has a first-crush-elementary-school-boy syndrome, and we're a recipe for misunderstanding predicaments and disaster. If you ask me to describe love, I'll tell you it's an intangible object you wish you can strangle. Because in reality, love is messy and awkward from the moment you lock gaze to a dog pile of tangled limbs. The funny thing is, I wouldn't trade our discombobulated love for anything else.

May 2 (Evening)

Dear Diary:

The double date regarding Malina and Kronk resulted with a disaster for the poor girl, resulting with an inevitable broken heart. I wish I could say this date was wonderful in the end (because we did have fun), regardless the result will always be the same.

Tonight, Kronk reserved four seats at La Ratatouille. Where, surprisingly, our server had been none other than Alfredo Linguini (Tiana's former competitor and present colleague).

The perfect gentlemen, Hercules and Kronk exited the car first and circled around the vehicle to open their dates' doors. With practiced, large hands, they opened their doors and offered their hands to assist them out. After closing their doors, they took their slender, petite hands at the crook of their arms, and sauntered into La Ratatouille.

Elsa had her hair curled and fixed up in a messy updo, and applied little effort on her makeup to maintain a natural appeal. She wore a short, black dress with a heart shaped bust that hugged her chest to her waist and flowed out in layered wisps, teasing a peek at her toned thighs with every stride she made. She carried herself in black zip-up pumps with large velvet bows substituting the straps, a pair of sterling silver of six strand spiral earrings, a snowflake beaded bracelet watch, and at hand, a black envelope clutch with silver shoulder chain.

Complimenting her color scheme, Hercules wore a white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow, a gray unbuttoned vest, dark slacks, and shiny, black dress shoes. His auburn hair was slicked back to give a clean look in contrast to Elsa's messy updo. They were the perfect juxtapose pair, attracting attention to their contrasting features, and yet complimenting their characteristics in an elegant and harmonious manner.

Meanwhile, Malina donned a collared, button-down dress. The color resembled a summer's sunset with a floral patterned top, and a hip-hugging plain tube skirt that stopped mid-thigh. Over the tube skirt, a thin, transparent fabric of the same hue cascaded a trickling trail behind her long almond legs. She wore a pair of ruby, open-toe heels with three red straps that hugged her ankles. With every step she made, a pair of gold triangular earrings swung out of her curly, raven hair, and a soft jingle emitted from her gold bangled-arms.

Ambling in synch with her, a brawny man with amber skin and coal hair escorted Malina into the restaurant. His hair was shoulder-length and appeared greasy by the amount of gel used to slick his thick, wavy mane into a ponytail; nevertheless pristine. To match his date, he wore an auburn velvet coat. Contrasting his overall, he wore a royal blue button down shirt, dark slacks, and shimmering, igneous shoes.

As the two couples neared the entrance, both Kronk and Hercules strode ahead to hold the glass doors open for their companions.

With immaculate timing, after making a couple rounds tending other guests, a lanky man with deep auburn, curly hair skated to the front desk with four jet black, leather menus tucked beneath an arm.

The setting had been a vision. Our reservation included the VIP treatment: residing on the second floor and overlooking the city landscape behind glass windows. We settled on their house special, La Ratatouille (compliments to Chef Remy for his visionary taste), and had our laughs over many recollected topics. The atmosphere had been jovial, that is until Malina and I had excused ourselves to the powder room...

"Elsa, right?" Malina inquired as they washed their hands.

"Yes," the platinum blonde nodded, "President Malina of the Golden Pens Club, right?"

"Yeah," raven haired woman giggled delightfully. "I didn't think I would see you again after high school."

"It's been a while," Elsa agreed while scrubbing suds all over her pale hands.

"What do you major in now?" she piqued.

"English education, although I'm taking up a variety of language arts on the side."

"Oh! That's cool! Then I suppose I'll be seeing you around in the field."

"Your taking up English too?"

"Journalism for the most part," Malina clarified while grabbing several paper towels and handing her half of the sheef. "I was scouted by editor Scoops Saltimo for Incan Teen Magazine during my internship a couple years back."

"Oh, congratulations! I recall your big debut happened by my senior year. I tried to contact you, but I never had the opportunity."

"Right!" she exclaimed regretfully, "I was planning to visit the future presidents of the club but my schedule was piling since then."

"I don't blame you," Elsa smiled wryly, "Walt University hasn't been fairing well with me either."

Malina planted a hand on her shoulder apologetically, "Humanitarians with Professor Goofy?"

"Eeyeup!" Elsa impersonated his infamous hiccup. "The one and only."

Malina guffawed, "That was pretty good!"

"He was a big sweetheart, though."

"Yeah, he sure was passionate about what he taught," Malina nodded reminscingly as she reached for the door. "Infectious too, don't you think?"

"Definitely."

Just as Malina opened the door, her movements ceased, as if she had turned into stone.

"Malina?" the platinum blonde called out worriedly.

"Shh!" she whispered as she met Elsa's gaze briefly before pointing to the dining area.

Quietly, Elsa inched beside Malina to overhear the dairy haired man's slow, bass voice echo into the bathroom stalls.

"She was a vision. Feet like a pair of landlocked tugboats. Knees like brass doorknobs. Elbows so rough they could take the grain right off a two-by-four. And her eyes..." the dark haired masculine sighed dreamily, "They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Hers were more like steel-reinforced security doors with a combination I just had to crack. No doubt about it. She was the kinda girl you'd want to bring home to Papi."

"So, you sure you've met the one?" a hesitant baritone piqued. "I mean, there's also Malina."

"I'm definitely sure of it," Kronk nodded positively, "I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on her. I mean,I could say that you've met your match tonight with Elsa."

"Oh come on, Kronk," Hercules waved off, "you know very well that I care for her like a sister."

"Exactly," Kronk pointed out. "And you have your fair share of experience, right?"

"Right," the auburn man replied wryly.

"Riiiiggghhht," Kronk agreed

Closing the door slowly, Malina sighed softly just as Elsa voiced out her empathy.

"Malina, I-"

"Don't sympathize with me, please," she had cut her off. Her almond eyes were notably wet as she chewed on her lower lip, painting her front teeth a startling crimson. "I know you mean well, Elsa, but a word of advice: don't try to be empathetic to someone when you don't know what it feels firsthand. Or else it comes off as pity and an insult."

...which was conveniently next to our table. And where Malina and I overheard Kronk's romantic confession to a woman from his scout retreat, respectfully acknowledged as Miss Birdwell.

Malina's words still haunt me ever since our evening itinerary. Not only had it given me a different perspective of her character, but it gave me something to think deeply about-in regards to my comprehension about love.

I had excused myself after the short debatical with my eyes lowered and head tucked throughout the remaining time we spent there. I didn't dare to look at Malina. Although, from my peripheral vision, she carried herself as if nothing had ever happened.

She was the first to speak to me once we had a change of scenery. The guys thought it would be fun to go bowling dressed in the way we were. At first, I had been against it because of the unwanted attention. Then again, to hell with it. We're college graduates, and we've mastered one thing throughout our higher educational career: not giving a shit.

"You know..."

Elsa turned to her with a patient, polite smile. It was all she could do to prevent displaying sympathy in a boisterous room of hollering players over colliding plastic maple wood and urethane balls. Regardless of the dim room, Elsa knew her eyes would betray her. Distracted or disregarding the multicolored LED lights bouncing across her pale complexion, Malina had said nothing more about it. Instead, she wore a small smile as the pair watched two absorbed, towering men wagered bets and bantered laughs in a friendly, competitive match.

"It's so much better when a guy rejects you or when he has someone else he likes." Malina's mahogany eyes fall to her bony, clasped hands on her lap, and laughs bitterly to herself. "Do you know why?"

The platinum blonde shakes her head, puzzled by the diction of the interrogation.

"Because..." she lifts her head up and looks on to the cheaply displayed, winking disco ball. "We, humans, are compulsive blamers. We want to blame others before accepting our faults. You know about that smelt-it-dealt-it deal, right?" At Elsa's brief nod, she continued. "Although my head is still clouded with a whirlwind of mixed emotions about what Kronk had announced earlier, I just had this epiphany about how much easier it is to nurse this broken heart. I know it's different for everyone, but for me personally, I think that it's so much easier to get over losing to someone else, because I know for a fact that I will never be like her." As the raven haired woman continued, her hands begin to unravel, clasp, and squeeze routinely as if she were grasping words within her small hands. "And the fact that there is a woman who embodies what he considers perfection..." she sighed glancing in Kronk's direction, followed by smiling gauchely to Elsa after catching herself in her miffed, exacerbated vehemence. "Well... it tells me that I can't can't do anything about it." Malina sighed again, but continued to establish a positive attitude by wearing a wry smile on her lips. "Hopefully... someday... I can be someone's definition of perfection by just being me..."

Malina's words baffled me to silent awe. Still, it perked my interest as to why she didn't push through. After all, Malina is a confident individual, and I know for a fact that she could have pushed through and won. But before I could voice out my thoughts, she shook her head.

"There are times when a woman needs to know when to stop and bow out gracefully. This is one of them."

This left me a lasting impression on me, like leaving footprints in the sand. I'll probably forget about this exchange, but they'll forever be printed at the back of my mind and resurface when the time comes to relearn this lesson. I digress before my stream of consciousness floods out and carries my hand off topic.

After tonight's event, it feels like I witnessed something unreal. To be honest, I expected Malina to react differently. I had expected a more frivolous reaction and a heated motivation to win Kronk's affection... Then again, Malina was never that type of gaudy woman. And for that, I respect her even more.

The result of our double date had been successful despite a small hiccup on the road to closure. It is all thanks to Malina's mature response to the situation that the entire experience had run smooth. Regardless, we all concluded it to be a fun and good night.

Still... I can't help but feel unsatisfied about something.

A/N:

I've returned from hell! MWAHAHA!

Okay well... hi again! It's wonderful to be back and to write again! It's been a while, and yes I've went to hell. I'm so surprised about how busy college is. But I should've expected it since I've decided to take up 17 units in total of 5 classes (which is overdrive on full time student, which is close to how many units a graduate student needs per semester for their masters degree).

Just recently, I bought myself a planner for stories that will keep track of my updates. My attempt is to keep writing for 160 days straight (because that's how many star stickers I have for it and I'll buy more once I run out). So hopefully I'll be more productive. ^^

First of all, I'm so sorry for the super long-ass time I've taken to write this chapter. It's just been crazy with settling to the new things in my life. Long story short, my grandma moved in so I had to give up my room to her and move into my sister's room, who is gone in San Jose State University for the next 4 years, and then it was the endless pile of homework. I kid you not, I'm so shocked how my homework takes 5 hours per class so I'm trying my hardest to be at the top of my game. That taking top priority, writing has been pushed aside T.T
But this is my attempt to squeeze in writing fanfics :D So thank you for always being patient with me. I'm extremely grateful for having wonderful people like you.

As for my Teen Titans fanfics update... I'll try to whip something up during my observation hours if I can't participate in anything... and try to post something this Friday hopefully. I also have plans coming up this Friday to meet Pewdiepie at his book signing in LA, so we'll see how that goes and if I'm lucky, I'll post a picture on deviantart to show how that went :D

~~~ vv READ HERE TO SKIP LIFE RANT vv ~~~

Okay life rant over. I just wanna say that this chapter was hell to write, because to be completely real with you guys, I had no idea how to write this chapter. It took me months to come up with a situation because I was stumped with how Malina would act (then I had to watch a couple episodes of Kuzco's Academy and Kronk's New Groove just to get a grasp of Kuzco, Kronk, and Malina's interaction). It was tiring, but fun nonetheless. I enjoyed it a lot!

Please let me know what you guys think and how you feel. Your comments really mean a lot to me because they are what fuels my motivation to write more :D

And I'll see you guys next time for the next chapter! Until then~ :D