I was a kid, my mom said I used to watch The Lion King every day when I came home from school.” This time, the smile that grew on her lips was genuine, and it was a smile I wanted to see more often. True, sincere, wistful.
“The Lion King, huh? Have you seen the live version?”
She scoffed, “How can it be considered a live version when it’s all CGI?”
I acted confused. “You mean they didn’t get real lions to sing?”
The laugh that came from her right then made all of this worth it. It was a sound that instantly caused my heart to skip a beat and my mind to wander. Such a melodious, entrancing sound. I could listen to it all day.
Eventually, her laughter died down, and she said, “No, and no. I haven’t seen many new movies. I just…I can’t get into them now.”
That was sad, but I had the feeling that sad was Bree’s middle name. It was strange, because before, when I’d only seen her in passing, I never knew how seriously dejected this girl was. She seemed normal, pink hair aside. But talking to her, seeing her up close…it was impossible not to see the deep-seated sorrow in her eyes.
“Well, I think we should do something involving Disney, then,” I told her, pushing past the way she instantly seemed so depressed. “Does being obsessed with Disney when you were younger relate to how you are when you’re older? Or something like that.”
Bree nodded, and for the next hour we talked about what we could possibly do it on. The professor had been lenient about the subject of the project, so that really left it all up to us. Did watching Disney movies when you were younger affect your outlook on life when you were older? We specified movies, because I knew Disney had its own channel, not to mention it owned a bunch of other networks and had its own streaming service now.
Our hypothesis was yes. Yes, being obsessed with Disney when you were younger was related to how you viewed life when you were older.
Bree was into it, which was good. I wanted her to enjoy this project as much as anyone could enjoy a college psychology experiment.
What Bree failed to realize, however, was how close to home this experiment truly was to her. We weren’t saying watching the movies when you were younger affected you outright when you were older, but there was probably something to be said about how many times girls watched the princess movies and how they viewed dating when they were older. Guys? I didn’t think guys watched Disney nearly the same amount as the girls. Hell, I didn’t think I’ve ever seen Sleeping Beauty or any of those older ones.
Finding Nemo, though? That shit was awesome.
By the time we’d settled on what we were doing, it was early afternoon. Kind of late, and my stomach was not happy since I’d skipped lunch. We’d decided to meet at the library again sometime this week—we’d discuss it in class, since we’d see each other every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—to check out and make copies of the scholarly articles we’d use to write the paper and back up our hypothesis.
Bree and I were walking out of the library together when I stopped beside her and said, “Did you eat lunch?”
She shook her head, the outside breeze whipping her pink hair around. Today was a bit warm for any jackets, and yet she looked snug in her long sweater. I couldn’t help but wonder, right then, what she looked like under that fabric. I bet she looked fantastic naked.
No, definitely shouldn’t be thinking of her body without any clothes on. Definitely not…
“You want to stop by the union and pick some up? I’ll buy,” I offered, giving her a smile I hoped she couldn’t deny.
And, for a long moment, it looked like she was about to—but then something inside her changed, and she let out a soft sigh. “I guess I could eat a little something.”
That I would consider a win.
We walked to the union together, Bree mostly being quiet and listening to me ramble and joke about anything that crossed my mind. That girl better be careful; I would weasel my way into her heart before she knew it.
Chapter Seven – Bree
It was seven on Tuesday night when my sister Michelle barged into my room, folding her arms across her chest and giving me an unimpressed and yet pissed off look.