Gem

The Great Gatsby

I walk into the kitchens, "excuse me?"
A chef walks out of a room, "morning your majesty."
"Good Morning, um... do... do you think I could use the kitchen?"
"Thinking of breakfast in bed for the fiancé?"
"Y... yes."
"Okay, knock yourself out."
He leaves and I begin cooking. When I'm done, I put it on a tray and bring it up to Damiens room.
They wake up, "ooh, what's this?"
"Breakfast in bed!"
"You're too kind."
I smile and they sit up and I set the tray on the covers.
"This looks marvellous! Oh, I don't want to ruin it, it's perfect!"
"Well, i shall leave you to your food, if you need me, I'll be in the library."
"Okay." They smile sweetly and I leave the room.
Theo walks up to me, "you're in a good mood."
"Well, of course I am. I'm to be married to Damien, in three days! Please tell me someone's been planning."
"Of course they have sir, don't worry about it."
"Okay. That's good. Have all the invites been sent out?"
"Yes sir."
"Are the gardens being decorated?"
"Yes sir, why do you think we have not allowed Damien to go out into the gardens?"
"Fair point. Well, I'm glad that everything is going well, I'm off to the library."
"Of course sir, have a good day."
"You too."
He walks off and I head to the library.
I pick up a few books off the shelves and begin reading. Pretty soon, Damien walks up to the table, sits down and looks at the wooden surface.
I pat the seat next to me, "come sit here."
They get up and move to the seat next to me.
"Would you like to learn to read?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll teach you."
I pick up The Great Gatsby, "this was always one of my favourites growing up, and it's how I was taught to read as a child. So now, I shall teach you how to read, with the same book."
They smile, "okay."
I turn to the first page, "can you read that?"
They look at the page, "I... in... Mm..."
"My"
"In my?"
"Yes."
"In my y... yo... you... n... jer... is that right?"
"Younger"
"Younger... In my younger... and."
"That's correct."
"Does that say more?"
"Where?"
"After and."
"Yes it does."
"In my younger and more."
"Your doing great!"
They smile and look again at the page, "vun? Oh... er... vuln, era, bleh?"
"Very close, put them together."
"Vulnerable."
"Well done."
"Y... yes. No? Yeas. Years. In my... young...er and... more vul....ner... able... years... in my younger and more vulnerable years! And then it's My again, and f a t h e r. Feather? No. Father! My father g... ave... is that my? No, that's... that's an e. M e. Me. So me. S o m e. Some?"
They look at me and I nod.
They continue, "a d v i c e. Ad... vice. Advice. That! I v e. Ivy. That ivy? That I've. Bee n. Been. Turn I n g."
"Turni...."
"Turning?"
"Yes."
"O v e r. Over. In my m i n d. Mind. Ever!" They point to me, "Ever!"
I chuckle, "yes."
"S i n c e. Sin... c e. Since... dot. In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning in my head ever since!"
"Well done Damien!"
They smile at me and clap their hands together, "I read a whole sentence!"
"I know, I'm so proud!"
Theo walks up to us, "what, may I ask, are we celebrating?"
"I read a whole sentence!" Damien exclaims proudly.
"My congratulations, Damien! Soon, you'll be able to read a whole paragraph!"
"Then a Page, then chapter, and then the whole book!"
"Exactly! And might I add, your writing is coming along incredibly well!"
"Thank you!"
"I shall go to the baker for a celebration cake! This deserves candles!"
He bows and leaves and Damien concentrates on the page, "I know that that is whenever, because yesterday, I wrote a sentence that started with whenever because Theo said it was quite a hard word and thought it best if I learn that first."
"What sentence would that be?"
Their cheeks go slightly grey.
"You can tell me. What's it about?"
"You, sort of."
"Okay, will I be offended?"
"Hopefully not."
"So do you want to tell me?"
"Whenever I am with Ever, I am happy."
"That's so sweet. I'm happy when with you too."
They smile and kiss my cheek.
Theo walks back in with a box, "I was only able to get cupcakes, but they do have candles! And," they put the box down, open it and remove a tinier box, "matches!"
I look at the table of books and laugh, "maybe we shouldn't do this in a library."
"You're quite right your majesty, we don't want to burn down the library now, do we?"
"Of course not."
"Let's go to... the kitchen!"
"Yes, I shall hold these delightful little cakes in cups."
"Try not to eat them all Theo."
"I won't, don't you worry your majesty."
We get up, and Damien picks up The Great Gatsby.
We then all head to the kitchen where Theo lights the candles on the cupcakes.
I ask, "why are there candles again?"
"Because candles make everything more fun."
"True."
"Now, all take a cupcake, and blow out your candles. Theirs only candles on three of them, the rest are without."
Me and Damien take a cupcake each and Theo takes one as well. We then blow out the candles, and Damien grabs the candle from the bottom and puts it down. They basically use their nails to not risk their fingers getting burnt. Theo and I then remove candles and we eat the cupcakes.
Damien exclaims in delight, "sho gub!"
I burst out laughing and cover my mouth to not get cupcake everywhere.
Theo grins, trying not to laugh and then the head chef walks in, "what's going on here then?"
Damien holds up the remaining half of their cupcake, "*uhwawes."
"What?"
"Cupcakes." I say.
"Oh. I'll... " he looks at Damien, "why are you all eating cupcakes?"
Damien finishes the cupcake and then says, "because I read a whole sentence!"
"Congratulations!"
Damien smiles, "thank you!"
I turn to them and smile...