Not Just Any Royal Pain

Chapter Four:
What A Girl Wants

I was about to look over at Bailey, when her grandmother quickly scolded us both for being late. I had no idea what to do in response to her questioning so I remained silent. Bailey quickly answered all question and even made an excuse as to say on the way up one of my earrings had fallen out and we couldn’t find it. She accepted it and told us to take our seats.

I sat across from the redheaded boy with Bailey to my right and across from the brunette man. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone of these people, but Bailey said it was key. When I looked up from my seat at the redhead, our eyes met and I sent him a quick smile before turning my gaze to face her grandmother.

“Thank you so very much for letting me stay with you for a short while.” I told her, giving her a sincere smile.

“Of course dear!” she told me. “A friend of Bailey’s is always welcome.”

We had some small talk for awhile until the salads came out. I looked down at my plate and quickly picked up the fork that I needed. There was always a bit of dressing on the salad, but there was more placed in front just in case. However I never cared much for dressing so I left it. I still wasn’t positive who the boys were, but I figured they must have been some type of royalty because they had some of the best manners. Whenever the brunette spoke, I would look at him carefully studying him. I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but I couldn’t remember where from.

“Excuse me miss.” He finally directly spoke to me. “I believe we’ve met before.”

That’s when it struck me. It had been at the airport, I had dropped my luggage on his foot. My cheeks turned a slight pink as I remembered him. Before I could speak, though, he started to talk again.

“Ah, yes. I know you, you were the girl who dropped her heavy luggage on my foot and apologized fifty times.” He laughed as he remembered the event.

I felt a kick from under the table on my right ankle and I knew it had come from Bailey. I wanted to shoot her a glare, but I focused on the brunette. “Still terribly sorry about that, I lost my grip.” I apologized again.

“No worries, all in the past.” He told me, giving me a small smile. “I believe I didn’t catch your name though.”

“My goodness! How silly of me to not introduce all of you.” Bailey’s grandmother exclaimed, as she laughed at her mishap. “This is my granddaughter, Bailey and her friend Skye. Skye is staying for the summer to explore the city of London.” She smiled at me as she later continued. “We’ve decided to take care of here during her stay and to help Bailey with her coming-out party.”

I looked over at Bailey; she had made no mention of a coming-out party.

“That’s very nice of a friend to pitch in.” the brunette commented. I was wondering why Bailey’s grandmother hadn’t introduced the two boys to us, but then I figured that I was supposed to know who the two were. But I was completely lost pretending as if I did know.

I gave him a smile. “Yes it is. We were going to discuss the details after we had finished eating.” I told him and glanced back over at Bailey. She looked over at me and gave me an apologizing look.

“We expect to be invited.” The redheaded boy finally spoke up, looking over at the grandmother.

“Of course, we would not miss inviting the two of you young lads.” She laughed and then she took a sip of her wine.

The rest of dinner went smoothly. I knew everything that I was doing and I even engaged in the chatter going around. It wasn’t like me to talk to strangers, especially in a foreign country but I wanted to make the best of this summer.

“Thank you both for coming.” Mrs. Marshall told the boys, sipping from a china cup.

We had moved into the sitting room, where Bailey and I had first gone to take a quick rest before getting ready for dinner. We had all been given a china cup filled with tea. I sat down in one of the brown leather chairs when Bailey had sat in the other which left the two boys on the couch.

“It is always a pleasure to see you.” The brunette told the elderly woman who laughed in response.

“Always quite the charmer.” She told him, as he took her hand and kissed it. He then followed suite with Bailey and then to me. However, he had to make a comment about me dropping my luggage on his foot and made me blush uncomfortably. The ginger did the same thing, but simply told me that it was a pleasure to meet me and that he liked my name.

I gave him a smile and thanked him for complimenting my name. I would have told him that I didn’t care for it much, but I figured that it wouldn’t be proper, especially since he was trying to leave.

When the boys left, along with Bailey’s grandmother (who went out to the gardens), Bailey and I went upstairs to her room, where I immediately fell onto her bed. I felt her sit down next to me and I lifted my head up to meet her gaze.

“What is this party that your grandmother has told me I’m helping out with?” I asked her.

“It’s my Debutante. My grandmother is presenting me to the English society as a mature, young woman.”

“Oh.” I breathed, not sure what to say. “Wait! Like in What A Girl Wants?”

“Yes, just like that actually, but not quite.”

“OK, now I’m excited to be helping out.”

“Don’t be, it’s tedious work and most of the details are already planned out.” Bailey told me.

I gave her a reassuring smile, “You know how I am though.”

She laughed as she got up from the bed and picked out some comfortable clothing. “Go to your room and change into your pajamas because we are having an old fashioned slumber party.”

“No need to tell me twice.” I told her and left for my room. When I finally discovered which one it was, I couldn’t remember which door had been mine seeing as they all looked the same, I shimmied out of the blue dress I was in and opted for a pair of boxer shorts and a large v-neck men’s top that was a dark grey.

I came back to Bailey’s room, which I had left slightly opened, and handed her dress back before we both settled into her bed and turned on the big screen T.V. on the opposite wall and put a movie on.