Every girl watches Disney princess movies as a child. Every girl dreams of a magical ball, with flouncy dresses and handsome gentleman. Every girl wishes for their very own Prince Charming. Some girls live in their fantasy forever. Some girls are forced to wake up.

Time to wake up, Kim, I bitterly thought to myself. Another blast of cold wind hit me, but I sat there, unmoving, barely feeling it.

I should've known. Should've known not to give my heart away so willingly. But, unfortunately, I am too naive and gullible to be trusted with the care of something so important.

Another gust of wind.

"Kim?" A familiar voice echoed out of the darkness. I hurriedly wiped my tears off my face and stood up, hastily brushing myself off. Composing my features into a normal expression, I turned around and tried for a smile.

"Hey, Jack. What's up?" I said brightly. A bit too brightly.

"What are you doing here? Its pretty late," he said, stepping into the light. Even now, after knowing him for so long, his good looks never failed to make my breath catch. I gave my head a slight shake and chided myself for thinking such things about my best friend.

"I was just leaving. I'll see you tomorrow," I muttered quickly, ducking my head down and trying to walk past him. His hand shot out and grabbed my arm, effectively stopping me.

"Kim?" He pulled me around to face him and tilted my face up. "Have you been crying?"

"What? No," I said, my voice cracking. I drew in a shaky breath and blinked back the tears that had reappeared.

"And what happened to your face?" he asked, concern lighting in his eyes. He brushed some of my hair from the side of my face and peered at the tender flesh of my temple. I was certain it had already started to bruise.

"Nothing. Danny-"

"What? Did he hurt you? If he did, I swear to God I'm going to kill that-" Jack said furiously, before I interrupted him. The insane glint in his eyes was truly frightening. I knew Jack didn't like him, but this was far from what I thought.

"No! Jack, he didn't do this to me. I ran into a door when I was-" I stopped suddenly.

"When you were what?"

"Running. From Danny."

He raised his eyebrows, but kept silent, letting me go on.

"I.. I saw him with another girl. Her name's Kelsey, I think. I didn't think too much of it, and I went over to say hi, but he leaned in and kissed her. And that's when I ran. I don't think he saw me," I finished in a whisper, my heart slowly breaking in two as I recounted the events of the past hour. Tears resumed their track down my face.

I really did think he loved me. He made me feel like he loved me, and that I was the most important thing to him. Something inside me snapped when I saw him kiss another girl. The same way he had kissed me earlier today. I wondered how long he had been seeing her. I wondered if I was ever important to him.

The murderous rage had died down in Jack's eyes, and I saw sympathy instead. He knew he was right about Danny, but was too chivalrous to say so. I wished he would. It would give me the slap in the face that I needed.

"I'm sorry, Kim. If it makes you feel better, I'm gonna go hunt him down and make him regret the day he was born."

I choked out a laugh. Even now, Jack could make me smile.

He offered me his customary crooked grin. "C'mere," he murmured, holding his arms out. Without hesitation, I stepped forward, welcoming his warm embrace. I let myself go then. I let all the emotions that were bouncing around inside of me free, all the anger, the betrayal, the hopelessness.

He moved his hand up and down my back soothingly, as I drew in shaky breath after shaky breath, emptying all my tears into his chest. He held me until I couldn't cry anymore, no matter how much I wanted to. Anything but this raw emptiness that was currently eating away inside me.

"You're going to be okay, Kim. He's not the only one out there. There is going to be one guy someday that will deserve you, and Danny ain't it," Jack whispered to me, his breath brushing my face. A slight shiver passed through me that had nothing to do with the cold.

I pulled back so I could see his face. "I just feel so.. worthless. Like he never loved me, but I was gullible enough to believe he did. I'm an idiot," I muttered.

"Okay, you may be a lot of things, but you're not an idiot," Jack said. "Anyone could fall for somebody like that."

I crossed my arms across my chest. "But, still. I should've known. I thought he was the kind of guy that wants to know every small thing about me, and love me despite all my crap. I guess those kind of guys only exist in the movies, huh?" I said wearily.

Jack was silent for a long moment. I glanced up to see him watching me with an incredulous expression. "What?" I asked, getting self-conscious.

He exhaled a soft laugh and shook his head. Putting his hands on my shoulders, he fully turned me so I was facing him.

"Your favorite color is green. You'll only eat chocolate chip pop tarts, and only if they've been microwaved for exactly 23 seconds. You like raspberries. You don't like blueberries. You sleep like the dead. You only like running and despise weights. You love the winter, but the fall more. You want to go to Texas A&M, because that's where both your parents went. You'd rather live in the mountains than the beach. You've always wanted to ride a horse. You're the most stubborn and headstrong person I know. You're not afraid to kick me back in line, and, frankly, you're definitely not a morning person-" he paused, his brown eyes searching mine. I was shell-shocked, my mouth slightly agape.

"And, I still love you. That has to count for something, right?" Jack said, releasing me. I was still trapped in his gaze. Did he mean-?

Before I knew what I was doing, I had grabbed the collar of Jack's shirt and pulled him down to my level. And kissed him, full on the mouth.

I pulled away after a couple seconds and looked up at him. He looked surprised, as if I had startled him with what I did. The burst of radiant happiness that filled me after he had finished his speech slowly ebbed away, leaving doubt behind.

Immediately, I was mortified. Of course he didn't mean it in that way. He was just saying it as a friend. My cheeks flushed a violent shade of red.

"Oh, gosh. I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. I-" I started, rambling as my hands quickly unclenched themselves from his shirt.

"Don't apologize," he murmured, his voice low. He closed the distance between us in one swift movement and pressed his lips to mine in a searing kiss. My knees almost buckled, and I gripped the front of his shirt for dear life, but I shouldn't have bothered. Jack's arms had come around me, holding me so tightly I couldn't draw a full breath in. And, strangely, I was completely okay with that.

He pulled away too soon, after a couple minutes. Or was it a couple seconds? My foggy mind tried to think past Jack.

"So, you're over Daniel now, right?" he said, smiling. I was taken aback by the brightness of it.

I looked up at him, eyes shining and dazed with happiness.

"Who?"


Okay! Well.. I honestly did not expect to be posting anything today, but here it is! Something grabbed hold of me and forced me to write this. I don't know what to think of it. For me, it has its good parts and its bad parts.

So, what did ya'll think? Like, hate? REVIEW!(;

-Courtney(: