Rich Girls Don't Date King Thrushbeard: Part 2
Larisa's day takes an upward turn...then a downward one.
“That’s one of my favourites.” It boasted a selection of handmade wooden ornament. “They’ve been coming to this market for years now. I always buy at least one thing from them.”
This year, the stall displayed some wood-chimes hanging from the awning. I made a mental note to choose one later. Mum wouldn’t like that; she kept saying my bedroom had too many trivial things in it.
“I’ve seen photos of Sunset Fields,” I said as we started walking. “I’ve always wanted to visit.”
Sunset Fields almost didn’t look real in those photographs. It was as if someone had taken drawings of villages on a perfect spring or summer day, brought it to life and then taken a photo. Sounds crazy, but that’s what I felt every time I looked at them.
One day, I’d just get in my car, and I’d drive there.
“I’d love to show you around,” Tyler told me. “Sometimes I can’t believe those villages and fields are actually real.”
I laughed. “Sorry, that’s what I keep thinking when I see a photo of them.”
“Hey, have you ever tried Goldbriar Honey before?”
Tyler pointed towards a stall with white and yellow awning. Beneath the awning was a selection of jars filled with different shades of honey: dark amber, pale gold and a colour that looked almost silver.
“I think I have. My granny loved it; we used to have their acacia honey with toast.” It was my favourite treat on a winter evening. “We’d sit by the fire, toast the bread and add as much honey as we could.”
Toast and honey was still one of my favourite comfort foods.
“My favourite’s the clover honey,” Tyler said with a grin. “Sweet and full of vitamins.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the stall. “I’ll have to try some before we leave.”
Since Tyler lived in Sunset Fields, he was probably very familiar with Goldbriar Farm. I’d never been there, but I’d tasted products from their farm shop, which was supposed to be even more popular than Greenfield Farm. And that was saying a lot.
The sunlight caught the golden strands in Tyler’s hair, and made his eyes almost shine. His skin had a healthy, natural tan.
A strange tingle ran through my chest and down my arms.
What was going on with me? I’d felt like this around only one person before, and that was Ethan.
“Hey, um…” Tyler looked around quickly before saying: “I’m supposed to be meeting someone at the market and that might take a long time, but…are you on socials? My surname’s Paston.”
“Yeah. I’ll look you up.”
He grinned at me and sauntered away. I couldn’t stop smiling and as I moved away, it almost felt like I was walking on air.
Snap out of it, Larisa, I told myself. You’ve met the guy once.
So why did it feel like I was still floating?
A familiar laugh sounded in my ears. Walking in the opposite direction to me, her blonde hair blowing in the breeze, was my best friend Claire. She looked radiant – and her smile only brightened further when Blake came up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her on the cheek.
“Larisa!”
OK, now wasn’t a good time to go over and say hi. Not if Mum was calling. Suppressing the urge to groan, I went over to her.
She immediately started fussing with my hair.
“Mum, stop.” I pushed her hands away. “My hair is fine.”
“Make sure you brush it,” she ordered. “There’s someone your father and I want you to meet.”
Another one? I shouldn’t have been surprised to have my suspicions confirmed, but…now? Seriously?
She gave me a warning look. “Be nice to this one.”
“I am nice to them.”
“Then why do you never go on a second date with any of them?”
I sighed heavily. We’d been over this a million times. “Because they’re either way too full of themselves, not nice to me, or there’s no chemistry.”
“Because you don’t give it any time to develop!”
I could have screamed. “You can’t force chemistry, Mum.”
“No, but it develops naturally…”
“Not between people.” I put my hands on my hips and looked her right in the eye. “If there’s no spark, I’m not going to keep trying to light the flame. That is not how it works.”
Mum looked away from me, and bit her lip. A thought slowly started to creep into my head, one that I couldn’t ignore.
Was that what had happened between her and Dad? Had they been set up on a date with each other, and then kept going because that was what they were expected to do?
As the thought sank in, Mum kissed me on the cheek and whispered: “Just give this one a try, OK? He does seem very nice.”
She’d said that about boys before, and she’d almost always been wrong.
“So when am I meeting him?”
“At the fountain in about…” Mum checked her phone. “…ten minutes. We’ll both be there. By the way, that’s a good choice of necklace. It goes perfectly with that top.”
She walked briskly away. I smiled and shook my head: I’d learned from the best about how to match jewellery with clothes.
There was an empty bench under a nearby tree. I’d been in the sun for a while, so I went over and sat in the shade, leaning back so that my hair fell down the back of the bench.
“You’re not actually going to go ahead with this, are you?” a male voice asked somewhere to my left. “I mean, going on a date with some little rich girl?”
I sat up straight. The contempt in those last three words made me feel sick.
“Seriously, Tyler? I’ve heard stories about this girl.”
Cold shock froze me where I sat.
Tyler? Tyler was the guy my parents were trying to set me up with?
He was there, standing a little way away from the bench with another boy. This one wore a black T-shirt and blue jeans.
Dread started to creep down my spine. What stories had this other boy heard about me?
“Her parents have been trying to pair her with boys for ages and none of them are good enough for her. She turns down all of them.”
Was that really what people said about me? Did they think I was a snob or something?
He wasn’t wrong about me rejecting them, even though I’d been willing to go on at least a first date. But I wasn’t turning them down for superficial reasons. It wasn’t like I made fun of their appearance. Like I’d told Mum, why go out with someone you didn’t like?
Tyler laughed. “Wow. She’s picky, is she?”
“Yeah. Let’s face it, there’s no way she’s going to think you’re good enough for her.”
“Her dad must be really low on options.”
Embarrassment and anger heated my face.
Tyler was speaking again. “It’s not like I’d ever want to go out with a spoiled little princess anyway. One date to keep her dad happy, and that’s it!”
They walked away, laughing.
Spoiled little princess.
I sat on the bench, gripping the edges with my hands until they hurt. Spoiled little princess.
My parents were rich, yeah, but…spoiled?
He didn’t know me. He hadn’t thought that about me when he was talking to me earlier.
The worst thing was, people at college really did think that about me – almost always behind my back, very rarely to my face. I acted like that didn’t bother me, but the truth was, it did.
Were they right? Was I really like that?
I really didn’t want to be that girl they all thought I was.
Something warm trickled down my cheeks. I furiously wiped away the tears and checked my watch.
Only one minute before the “date” started.
Well, there was no way I was turning up to that. One thing Mum always liked to say was Never let anyone you don’t like know you’ve been crying, and she did have a point there. Besides, how could I go through with it knowing what he said and what he thought?
My phone suddenly started ringing. It was Mum.
“Hi, Mum.”
“Darling, how far away are you?”
I wiped my face again. “I’m not coming.”
“But…”
“Please tell Tyler it was nice to meet him earlier, and I’m sorry we couldn’t go on the date to keep my dad happy.” I hung up, got up from the bench and walked away.
“Hey! Hey, Larisa!” That was Tyler’s voice.
Tears welled up again. No way was I going to let him see I was upset, so I kept walking.