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As Charlotte pulls Tiana’s dress from the closet and hangs it on the back of the bathroom door, memories from their childhood flood her mind. Charlotte doesn’t remember how old she was, but she clearly remembers begging Tiana multiple times to join her in dress up as a child; she always said no. This frustrated her to no end and the word “no” maybe, just once, made her throw a temper tantrum. Tiana had gone back to her mother in the other room, leaving Charlotte well enough alone, when Big Daddy came in to see what all the fuss was about.
After calming down, she explained to him that she was upset because no matter how many times she begged and pleaded Tiana to play Princesses with her, she never would. She always wanted to be the prince or a knight or the fire breathing dragon from the story instead of another princess, and she absolutely refused to put on one of Charlotte’s many pink dresses.
She remembers Big Daddy stammering for a moment, perplexed. Then, with a soft smile, he bent down and kissed her head then said “Maybe she knows pink is your color darlin”. Now as a young adult she understood that Big Daddy was trying to save her from the real reason Tiana may not have been comfortable with trying on her dresses; apparent when a few years later she had thrown a tea party for the girls from her dance class and invited Tiana, who had once again had said no to a dress, party or not.
They were still talking about it when the other girls arrived. The girls had giggled and asked Charlotte why she would want to put any of her gorgeous dresses on ‘the help’, that it would ruin the pretty fabrics. Charlotte started yelling at them and Big Daddy, who’d been chaperoning the event with the girls’ mothers in the other room, had overheard this conversation and the guests were escorted out promptly with a few strong words to the mothers that both Charlotte and Tiana had to promise they wouldn’t repeat. Charlotte quit dance that very day and vowed to herself that she’d never ask her best friend to dress up again.
However, the thought had never left her mind and years later, when Tiana’s mother announced that she would be retiring at the end of the month, Charlotte asked for one last dress. When Eudora came to talk to her about what she wanted the dress to look like, she said everything she wanted right down to where to put the sparkles so they hit the light just right and a pair of matching gloves, but Eudora was taken aback when her final sentence was “Oh and instead of pink, make it blue. I want it to shine like the evening star.”
The memory causes Charlotte to giggle to herself as she sits at her vanity, Eudora’s facial expression had been priceless. “Blue?! Honey you’ve been in pink since you knew how to say the color!” Charlotte remembers smiling and looking down at the notes Eudora had made and gently tracing her finger over the paper. “I didn’t say this dress was for me, Miss Eudora. I want her to be a princess with me. Just once.” That was the first time Charlotte had ever seen Eudora cry.
When the dress was finished, Charlotte put it in her closet and kept true to her vow to never ask Tiana to dress up again. Now while she’s not sure what happened to have her best friend all covered in powdered sugar, honey, and jam, she can’t say she’s too upset about it; she’s been waiting on this day for years. When she hears the bathroom door open, she busies herself with her makeup that she doesn’t really need and starts spouting some nonsense about the prince to cover up her anticipation.
She’s looking in the mirror, fixing her mascara when the prettiest sight she’s ever seen meets her eyes. She’d known the dress was beautiful, as bright as the evening star and easily Eudora’s best work, but she hadn’t known how perfect it would look on her best friend. “Why look at you! Aren't you just as pretty as a magnolia in May?” Charlotte immediately grabs her tiara from its box and goes over to Tiana. “Seems like only yesterday we were both little girls wishing our fairy tale dreams. And tonight, they're finally coming true!” She says as she places the tiara on Tiana’s head and adjusts it just so.
She can tell Tiana might need a few moments to herself, and rightly so, as she was just embarrassed in front of some of the guests. She takes Tiana’s silence for what it is, adjusts herself and goes back to the party. As she walks down the stairs that lead out to the dance floor, Charlotte can’t help but be excited for when Tiana decides to come out. She finally got her evening star wish.