Love Me Better
@loveisweakncss
Regina hadn’t meant to be caught, she never did of course but this wasn’t a simply hand in a cookie jar, this was a boy. Still young and naive, Regina had a place for kindness in her heart and it had been filled by the quiet boy who tended to her horse. She noticed when Rocinante received the best hay, fresh water, and some extra apple treats. She noticed when her saddle and reigns were polished and Rocinante was always brushed until he too, was shining. Regina would give him small smiles in gratitude, careful to keep them for him alone. At first he didn’t speak to her, only smiled back until she thought he was mute and then one morning, he spoke to her. A single greeting and Regina latched onto it. He was her only friend and she did everything she could to hide it from her mother.
One word became two and multiplied exponentially over the course of a year. She would bring him cakes that she snuck from her kitchen and he would carve her little trinkets, her favorite being the little wooden horse he had first given to her when she had hidden in the stable during a thunderstorm. He had slowly added to her menagerie, carving rough likenesses of animals they saw when he would accompany her to and from the riding trails she liked to frequent, and kept them in a box she had hidden inside of her vanity.
It was during summer he had first kissed her and Regina was confused at first to what it meant until he had to nearly spell it out for her that he enjoyed her company and wanted to be with her always in the way that fairytales spoke of. She had been elated because what else could be more perfect than to find your love within your best friend? They met often after that, stealing kisses and affection where they could in places that they thought were out of sight from anyone else but them. Their young minds created this safe little bubble in which only they existed but the problem was that, if one lives in a bubble for too long, one begins to think themselves invincible.
So when Regina ascended the stairs to her room, flushed from riding and perhaps one too many daring kisses, and found her mother standing near little wooden horse sitting upon her vanity where she had left it, Regina stood tall and defiant.
“Hello, Mother,” she greeted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
She would make her mother see that she was happy and that Daniel was good for her. Nothing could break them apart and they would live happily ever after. Regina would have Daniel’s love and her mother’s if only she could just show her how much he meant to her.