text: authors note: Hey y'all! Hope you guys all are having a fabulous Friday. I Just wanted to say a few things before you get your read on. This is dedicated to my bestest friend EVER, Lilah Blackburn.❤️❤️❤️ QOTD: Apple or Samsung? If you don't get all of this, don't worry there are a lot of inside jokes (like the prince's first and last name and others) so that's why. ONE WEEK TIL CHRISTMAS!!!! This was just for fun. I thought it'd be cute and I was bored. I wrote this in like an hour so it's not good. When I say creative nonfiction I mean it hasn’t happened yet, but it WILL. Im Determined. I shall WILL it into existence. PLEASE DONT KILL ME LILAH It was a lovely Christmas Eve, the pure white snowflakes were falling, sleigh bells jingling, and the princess of Genova was not happy. Her father, Reginald, had plans to set up an arranged marriage. ”But I don't want to!” Lilah protested. ”Dear daughter, you must! It is the legacy, that on your eighteenth birthday you shall be married to a foreign prince, ” the king said. At that, the princess ran away to the wooded forests that stretched beyond the castle. Sighing, a frustrated Reginald let her daughter go, knowing she would eventually come back. Lilah flew down the hallway and out the door until she saw the forest in her hazel colored eyes. When she saw the trees she began to slow down, and breath more steadily. Lilah was not your typical talk-to-animals-and-wear-big-sparkly-dresses type of princess. She would rather be riding horses or climbing trees with the boys. She wouldn't be able to stand it if she were married to a prissy boy who thought she had to be all proper and fancy. Lilah pushed the thoughts out of her head as she made her way up the treehouse that she found upon moving to the castle. It wasn't the most beautiful or elegant, her father offered to have another one built, but Lilah rejected. The treehouse held too many memories of a young princess who would rather be outdoors than dancing in a ball. After cooling down slightly, the princess made her way back to the castle. She had just seen the clearing in the trees when, suddenly, a large blur sped past her. Upon closer inspection, she saw a boy, about her age, gripping the neck of a horse, trying to stay on. Despite his greatest efforts, Lilah could see he was slipping. She ran to the stables where she grabbed her horse, Celeste, and jumped on bareback. She had spent enough time on Celeste that she didn't need a saddle. Her legs gripped the silky bay’s sides as she urged him into a gallop. With the speed of a race car she caught up with the boy and cut off the path of his horse. The mount reared up, tossing said boy into the brush. Lilah winced as she saw him land with a thump in the thick sticker bushes. ”Ouch, ” she heard. Peering from inside the bushes was a medium-sized boy with blonde hair and braces. ”Are you alright?” she called. For a moment the boy was silent taking in the girl's beauty. Her middle-length wavy hair flowed around her shoulders and the leaves on the top of her head looked like a halo to him. ”Ye- yes, I'm quite alright thanks to you, ” he said sheepishly. ”And who might you be?” The princess asked. ”My name's Kevin Rostin, ” he responded. ”And who are you?” the princess chuckled at the strange last name. ”I’m prin-, ” Lilah paused, not wanting Kevin to know she was a princess. ”I’m Lilah, ” she said instead. ”Anyhow, what were you doing on that horse? You don't look like you know how to ride at all.” ”I don't, ” he answered honestly. ”My... Friend, said that I needed to learn to ride.” The princess shrugged. ”Alright, well I should be off.” ”Don't go!” Kevin called. ”Why not?” ”Well, I just thought we could get to know each other more. You seem really sweet an- and smart, and your beautiful, and-. Well, I should probably stop talking, ” he stuttered. The princess felt heat rise to her face and she looked away promptly. After she was in her room, Lilah spilled everything that had happened to her favorite handmaid, Abby. After she finished Abby asked, ”Well he sure seemed to like you? Do you like him?” ”No, no of course not!” Abby wiggled her eyebrows at the princess. Lilah looked away, knowing that she really did like Kevin, but knew it could never be. The next day was Christmas, and today Lilah would meet all the princes her father had found. Not to her surprise, the princess did not like any of them. They each had the same proper attitude and tried too hard to woo the princess. At the end of each ”date”, all four of the princes proposed. And each time she curtly said ”no”. For she only had eyes for Kevin. Her father was upset that she had said no and continued to try and find princes for her. Whilst all this was going on, Kevin and Lilah we're secretly dating. She didn't even tell Abby. After a year of dating, Kevin knew he had to make his move. They were on a ride through the woods, when Kevin stopped. ”Is everything alright dear?” Lilah inquired. Without answering, he got on one knee. ”Lilah, I loved you ever since you rescued me last year. You are so much different than any other girl I hath ever met. Would you be my Lilah Rostin?” The princess’s eyes brimmed with tears as the words ”yes” escaped her lips. After telling her handmaid the news, Abby promptly swatted her on the head before saying ”I knew it! I knew it!” and danced around like a little girl. She might be been the happiest of them all. Even the king was happy for her, and found Kevin to be a wonderful man. The soon to be queen and king lived happily ever after.