For the first time in a long while, Matt felt the urge to laugh. He held in his laughter afraid of hurting the little girl and tried to think of ways to console her. Unable to stop himself, he patted her little head lovingly and said," There, there little angel! You just said you are a strong girl and yet you are crying?". His voice held amusement and a small smile that made little Ella suddenly stop crying as she looked up at him with wide eyes. Her prince was right! If she cried like this then he may misunderstand her and think that she was a cry baby.
Immediately, her tears dried up and the little drops that were glittering on her cheeks, were wiped away by little fingers. As Matt saw this scene, he was tempted to laugh out loud. Shaking his head in amusement, and asked her," So my little angel, what are you doing here so late in the night and that too alone?"
It was at this point that little Ella realized that she could not confess to her prince that she had come to look at him. And if she told him that she lived in the small resort on the other side of the lake, then he would definitely take her home and leave her there. And she had not even learnt his name. Her forehead scrunching she tried to think hard of some way to get her prince to stay with her when her stomach growled loudly. Like the brightest bulb she was, she gave a bright smile to her prince and pouted, "My Prince, I am really hungry! Can we eat something before you drop me home?"
Matt looked in awe at the little girl as he tried to think of a way to let her down. She really was a clever little one but her face was too expressive. He could almost see the wheels in her head spinning as she continued with a pout," My Prince? Are you going to leave me so soon? Are you not a prince? Also If you leave me home now then my mommy will know that I ran away umm...I mean my mommy will know that I spoke to a stranger. But if you can tell me your name and if we eat a meal together, then we will not be strangers!"
Inwardly, Matt felt concern for the little girl. On the one hand, he wanted to scare her a bit so that she would know that her mother was right and it was dangerous to talk to someone she did not know. A sudden inexplicable feeling of protectiveness rose within him as he thought what could have happened if she had fallen into the wrong hands. Another emotion that shook him was anger. This little girl's mother should have been more careful about teaching her daughter! How could her parents be so casual about this? Even if this was a small town, it did not mean that danger could not touch her here. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as he decided to have a talk with her parents but before that he looked at the bright starry eyes looking at him with expectation and sighed,"Alright, my hungry little angel. But there is a problem in that!
Ella, who had just brightened up, felt deflated as she peeked at him in disappointment. Was he going to reject her? Was her fairy tale going to finish off before it started? Her lips started to tremble as she almost started to cry again when she heard what the prince said next," You see, I am new here! So I do not know any good place to eat! Do you know any!"
With a mega watt smile, Ella nodded her head like a jack in the box and told him,"Yes! Use the GPS on your phone! There is a nice food place here called Mama's Home Food! My mommy and me don't here every weekend! They have the best chocolate cake and chicken pot pie in the whole wide world!"
The sudden bossy little attitude in this pocket sized pixie made Matt break out into laughter, the rusty sound echoing in the small confines of the car.