· ℱake it || magicaedestruit
She’d received the invitation a long time ago, along with a small note. Don’t forget to bring a date.
A date? Why on earth, out of all the mothers that Wendy could have received, did she get the mother that had to nag her about having no suitor. Well, luckily she could get out of having one, and they wouldn’t even know. There had to be some perks for having a male friend. She felt bad, of course (it had to be awkward to hear your dear friend beg you to pretend to date them for one night), but she’ll feel better about it later.
Surely the open bar made up for that. She fidgeted with the hem of her dress, the ends of her curls. It was almost six—the party started in a half hour. They had to plan; what stories would they tell, would they plan out the stories, were they going to make it up as they went along? They probably wouldn’t have to tell much—it would only be for an hour or two. Unless Mother decided to bring out the party games.
Oh, please, don’t bring out the party games.
The doorbell! Wendy rushed to her door at once, grabbing her coat. “There you are,” she said in a rush. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to wear a tie, so I bought one for you. You like blue, right?” She was nervous, can he tell that she was nervous?
Family parties. Though Neal, during the period of time he had still gone under the name of Baelfire, had always held family in high regards, he hadn’t gotten the chance to spend quality time with his own family in quite some time—let alone someone else’s. Still, when he had first come to the Land Without Magic, it had been the Darling family that had supported him, kept him off the streets and fed him. And he owed it to them, at the very least, to attend this party. The only problem was…he was going to be attending it as Wendy’s pretend boyfriend. Joy.
With his prior knowledge of the family in mind, Neal was sure he would be in his element in no time, but there was one question that plagued him. Or one option, rather. Would Wendy’s mother recognize him as the boy named Baelfire, the little rascal she had taken into her home so many years ago? And if so, what was he to do?
Many years had passed since he had vanished from the Darling residence, no doubt suddenly and inexplicably for the parents of the family, though Wendy was well aware of what had snatched him away from them that night. The chances of the Darling couple recognizing him were very slim, but it took just one slip of the tongue to alert them to his identity.
No. He’d behave, mind his words and make sure to leave a good impression on Wendy’s parents so they would quit bugging her to find a good suitor. He’d never been in her situation himself, but he could imagine the burden of being frequently pushed for such things, so he didn’t have to consider his answer to the question of whether or not he would accompany her to the party very long.
He was relatively calm as he arrived at her doorstep, even though there were a bunch of questions running through his mind. They had time to discuss things still, everything would be a-okay. Wendy was quick in opening the door after he rang the doorbell, as though she’d been waiting anxiously for him to arrive, which wasn’t all that far-fetched an option to start with, and he presented her with a lopsided smile as she mentioned having bought him a tie.
“Knew I could count on you. Yeah—blue’s fine. So, you nervous yet?”
Of course she was; it was plain and obvious, and he asked the question in a joking tone of voice. Just to break the ice a little.
