Who: Eric Prince and Zelda Hyrule What: Catching Up Where: A Restaurant When: Backdated: Mid May Rating/Warning: Family Friendly Status: Complete
Eric hadn’t seen Zelda in awhile so despite the fact that he was filming and would have to be accompanied by a film crew to lunch with her, he agreed to meet up on the weekend. He still had a couple weeks left and he didn’t want to wait to see her, because chances were that wouldn’t be until her wedding and he wanted to see her before that. She’d have to sign a release for them to use the footage they shot, but Zelda was usual pretty easy going about most things so he didn’t think it would be a problem, plus he’d already told her that the crew would be with him.
What he’d really wanted to do was talk to her about Ariel, the cute red head he liked, but he didn’t want to do that on camera, so he’d just have to text her about it later on. Arriving at the restaurant, he parked his car and headed inside, followed by the camera crew and sent Zelda a text to find out if she was there yet or on her way.
Zelda was two stops away, in the back of a towncar. She’d asked her father’s driver to come out and get her--as she normally did when she had places to be. Zelda had a driver’s license, and she had cars, but she didn’t like to drive herself places. It took a long time, and she had things to do. The farmhouse where she lived with Link was in the middle of nowhere. She started to get bored while driving, and that was saying something.
“Grab a table, I’ll be right in,” Zelda texted back. She’d already signed the release form, and the show had apparently squared it away with the restaurant to be filming inside. Everything was set for their dinner. Zelda was actually a little excited. It’d been a while since she’d made an appearance on television that wasn’t something like TMZ.
Eric texted back an okay and headed inside to get a table, which he was shown to immediately as a result of the fact that the restaurant knew ahead of time that they would be filming there that day. Had Eric gone on his own, without the cameras, chances were he’d have to wait just like everyone else, but not today. Sitting down, he glanced towards the cameras, knowing that he’d more than likely end up doing a voice over thing later on to talk about his lunch with Zelda. While he enjoyed some of the perks of being semi famous, even he knew that some aspects of the whole reality show thing was pretty stupid.
Zelda almost never had to wait for a table. She was so used to her lifestyle, she couldn’t imagine it any other way. It caught her off guard when her friends didn’t seem to understand. The first time she went to Disneyland with Link, for instance, and signed autographs and took pictures with fans. It was actually a little embarrassing for her.
Anyway, she showed up a few minutes later, and was shown back to where he was sitting. A bright smile was on her lips, a little pink on her cheeks. “Eric! Hi!” She said, and reached over to give him a big hug in greeting.
Eric grinned when he saw Zelda and stood up to greet her, hugging her back, “Hey. It’s good to see you.” Of course he wished that they could do this without the cameras, but Eric knew what he was getting into when he auditioned for the show. Okay, so maybe all he really wanted when he auditioned was to get out of Ohio, but still, he knew he’d have to do some things with cameras following him around for awhile, “How’ve you been?” He asked once they were sitting down.
“It’s good to see you, too!” Zelda said, beaming with excitement. She released the hug quickly and slipped into the chair opposite his. “Good! Really, really good. Planning the wedding!” She added, grinning. “Scotland. I’m so excited, I can’t even tell you.”
“I still can’t believe you’re getting married in Scotland. How did you decide that?” Eric asked as the waiter came to ask if they wanted anything to drink. He ordered a soda and waited for Zelda to order her own drink before continuing, “Now if I google this castle, will I find out that there are reports of ghosts and shit?” Truthfully, Eric wouldn’t have minded that one bit. He would have a blast looking for the ghosts.
“I wanted somewhere magical. Fantastic. Kinda like my dreams.” She ordered some sparkling water with lemon, then turned back to him. “Gosh, wouldn’t that be amazing?” She added, breaking into a bright grin. Zelda may have been a little queen in this world, but she sure loved adventure. More and more the more she Dreamed. “We could equip all of the guests with nets and flashlights, and send everyone on a ghost hunt!” As if Zelda Hyrule knew what proper ghost hunting tools were.
“Nets won’t work against ghosts, Zelda.” Eric spoke as if he were a ghost expert then smirked at her, “You need all the infrared shit.” He was only half joking about going ghost hunting and made a note to google the castle where Zelda was getting married when he got back to the house, “We’d have to carry around cameras too. So if anything crazy happens we’d get it on tape.”
“Ooh, high tech stuff?” Zelda grinned. “All right, we’ll get the infrared shit for our guests.” She said, nearly laughing now. “I have a feeling everyone’s going to have a camera anyway. They’re practically standard on cell phones now.”
“Exactly. Just hand them out to everyone as they get there.” Eric laughed and leaned back in his chair, “So, tell me about this guy you’re marrying. All I really know is that you moved to a farm and you’re getting married in Scotland. Who is this guy who has you living on a farm?”
Zelda laughed. “That’s… well, that’s it in a nutshell. His name is Link, and I…” She really couldn’t or shouldn’t talk about the Dreams with the cameras rolling. “I met him at the Farmer’s Market. He helped me when I got pricked by an artichoke. That’s what his family farm … um… farms. Harvests? Anyway, they have artichokes and cows and stuff. I’ve added a few things myself. A big strawberry patch, chicken coops, and I’m getting a goat.”
“Wow. How do you prick yourself with an artichoke?” He smirked at her teasingly, “So, you actually do some of the farming yourself now? That’s pretty impressive.” When Eric had first met Zelda, the last thing he would have expected her to do was anything farm related, “What’re you gonna do with a goat?”
“Hey, they’re sharp!” Zelda grinned, going slightly pink. “I do! I know how to milk cows and everything.” She was still quite the princess, though she had her designer jean coveralls to wear out on the farm. “I want to make goat cheese.” She said, her eyes lighting up. “You know, from goat’s milk. So I need a female goat that’s had a baby. I looked it all up on the internet.”
Eric’s brows rose slightly, “Wow. Are you sure you’re really Zelda Hyrule and not a pod person?” He smirked again, leaning over the table to poke her in the arm, “Not that I’d know how to check if you were a pod person of course.” He enjoyed teasing Zelda cause she was just so easy to tease and he knew that she knew that he was only doing it because they were friends.
Zelda laughed. “I don’t know, sometimes I feel like a pod person. I guess love changes a girl?” She wasn’t really sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Okay, so it wasn’t a bad thing. She was terribly happy in her current situation, and it was a healthy, safe place for her to be. Link was the love of her life, and nothing would ever change that. So, it must have been a good thing. “What about you, hmm? Any girls ringing your bells lately?”
“Ringing my bells? Is that a sex thing?” Eric grinned as he teased her then shook his head, “No. Well…” He tried not to glance towards the cameras, which he was very aware of at that moment. He didn’t want to talk about Ariel on the show, “All I’ll say right now is that there’s a girl I’ve noticed.” He gave a slight head nod towards the cameras, not noticeable to anyone but Zelda. Hopefully.
Zelda went pink. “What? No! That’s not what I meant!” She said, then tossed her napkin at him across the table. “Naughty.” But then he looked as if he was going to spill some gossip, and Zelda leaned in a little, conspiratorially. She was a little disappointed when he nodded, and her eyes flicked to the camera and back again. “Oh, really? Well, then.” She cleared her throat. “I suppose you’ll have to email me about her later.”
Eric couldn’t help but laugh at Zelda’s reaction and he caught the napkin, tossing it back at her, “I’ll do that.” He hadn’t actually had a girlfriend since high school and the fact that Ariel was only seventeen while he was a few years older did make things a little more complicated, so he was glad that he’d have Zelda to talk to about her when he got the chance.
“How long until the show’s over?” Zelda asked, glancing over at the cameras. It was the reason they’d become friends, really. Zelda ran around with the fame and fortune crowd, and when Eric was cast into the reality tv show he’d been caught on the fame and fortune crowd’s radar. Didn’t hurt that the show was immensely popular. But Zelda had seen something in him that the rest of the crowd may have missed, and they’d become friends over time. It was nice to get to be real around someone who hung around in the same circles she did.
“Filming should wrap just before the end of June. Should be right before your wedding.” Eric had been completely new to the fame train and had let it take him for a ride the previous year, not that he was complaining of course, but he had been happy to become friends with Zelda, “I still can’t believe you’re getting married all the way in Scotland. You may live on a farm, but you’re definitely still the same Zelda.”
Zelda laughed. “Well, that’s a relief. I was worried I’d have to wear overalls for the rest of my life.” She said, teasing then broke into a grin. “Now… can we order some food already? I’m starving.”