Maid For You 4

Chapter 14

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Nikolas promptly thanked Peter and Anna and dismissed them, taking over the speaker with his own phone and pulling up a song. As the lilting flute tones began, he walked up to me and gallantly offered his hand along with a smile, looking quite handsome in a dark sweater over a white collared shirt with the top button undone. I took his hand and he pulled me into position, with one hand holding my own and the other on my back.

"You were dancing the waltz, I believe?" He asked me.

"We were," I said, placing my left hand on the back of his shoulder. "What song is this?" I asked.

"The Blue Danube Waltz," he informed me. "If you wait a moment, I think you'll recognize this song. Though, I profess, I do not know the particulars of the American public education system."

I smiled a little ruefully. "It's not great," I admitted. However, Nikolas was correct, and when certain swells began, I recognized the song, which I related to him with great excitement as he pulled me into the dance.

"You've certainly become a better dancer than we last danced," he noted, and in his tone, there seemed to indicate a level of pride which pleased me somewhat.

"I've gotten better since December?" I asked.

"Yes, though admittedly, you were rather vexed during our dance due to the misconduct of your former beaux, so perhaps you were not dancing at your very best then."

"Oh geez," I cringed. "I forgot about all that. That was all so embarrassing."

A funny little smile wormed its way onto his lips. "It was quite the confrontation."

I'd have buried my hands in shame of the memory if they weren't preoccupied dancing. "It was certainly something!" I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe I slapped her."

"Oh, but I could believe it," he told me, his blue eyes winking with a sort of mischief that I did not often find within them. "You were quite angry."

"I was," I sighed. "Man, that ball feels like it was so long ago, but it was less than two months ago!"

"It does feel like quite some time ago," Nikolas mused. "Neither one of us is still attached to our partners from that very ball."

I thought quietly for a second. "Do you miss Princess Esmerelda?" I asked him.

He rose his eyebrows. "I cannot say for sure," he said. At that moment, the song started to come to a close, and he lowered his left hand from my back, though to my surprise, he continue to hold my hand with his right. He looked at the floor. "Truthfully, I do believe she was quite intimidated by me, and our conversation was not so great, but she is an excellent dancer. Perhaps the finest of all the royalty in the collegiate." He let go of my hand, and suddenly my hand felt a little empty without his holding it.

"Is she?" I asked, trying to push away the creeping poison of comparison crawling it at the corners of my mind. Sure, my dancing had gotten better, but how could a couple months of dance lessons really compare to the best dancer in the collegiate?

"She is rather well known for her dancing prowess," he said. He smiled a little ruefully and glanced at me. "She rather exceeds my skill, truth be told."

"And you were excited to dance with her at the Winter Ball?" I surmised, trying to push away any prickly feelings that were threatening to rise in my chest.

Don't be ridiculous, I scolded myself. There is nothing wrong with his having wanted to dance with his girlfriend! I am just a FRIEND.

"I was," he admittedly frankly.

I was thoughtful for a moment. "I'm sure you could still dance with her, you know. Assuming she's still coming."

"I have not rescinded my invitation," he informed me. "So she may very well come, though the nature of our relationship has changed somewhat. Granted, she and I were never betrothed or anything of the sort, but it is different now." He looked up thoughtfully. "So perhaps a dance with her wouldn't be too inappropriate and grievous. She and I may remain cordial with another."

I shrugged. "Yeah, why not?" I looked down at my feet, and despite my attempts to brush away any feelings of...whatever, I asked, "Was she upset that I was going to the Winter Ball with you instead of her?"

"If she was, she did not express such sentiments to me. She understood that I had already asked you to be my partner, before she and I were entertaining courtship, and thus I was obligated to fulfil my promise to you."

Obligated? The word stuck out and poked at me. I smiled as best I could.

"Well, thanks." I didn't sound very grateful. "But you know, you could have just told me you wanted to go with her. I wouldn't have held it over your head, you know." My voice did not come out as calming and soothing as I would have looked.

                I glanced at him, and his eyebrow was raised, wearing an amused smile on his face. "Are you offended?" he asked.

"No," I snapped. "Why would I be offended? It's only natural that you'd want to go with your girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" he repeated.

"Okay, your, whatever it is that you call her. The girl you were considering the idea of courtship with!"

"You seem rather provoked, Cassie."

"Why would I be provoked?" I asked.

"Is it because you believe that I preferred Esmerelda's company to yours?"

"Why should that bother me?" I demanded. "Esmerelda was your special-somebody-whatever you want to call it! So yeah, of course you would have wanted to go with her. It's just—" I couldn't look him in his blue blue eyes anymore, which seemed to be examining me with a level of amusement. "It's just I feel bad that you couldn't come to the Winter Ball with her because you were stuck going with me! I mean, I know you guys are broken up now and everything, but really, I just—I don't even know. Basically, I guess, I don't know, I'm sorry. I didn't realize or think about it. You could have always told me that you wanted to go with her, you know? We're friends, so I would have supported you in that decision."

I looked up at him, and his eyes continue to twinkle with mischief and his lips continued to form a funny smile on his face. It was both cute and vexing.

"Okay," he said simply, that smile remaining on his face.

Okay? I thought. Okay what?

"Okay..." I repeated dubiously, and to that he laughed. A real, warm laugh that showed off his pearly white teeth and made his eyes crinkle, and I was so mesmerized by it that I didn't know what to do with myself.

"W-what's so funny?" I managed to pull myself together just enough to ask.

He placed his hand on my arm. "Cassie," he said. "I wanted you to come with me to the Winter Ball. Trust me, some of my advisors supplied me with many ample excuses so as to honorably end our engagement at the ball."

His eyes were so so blue, and his smile warm and real, and I could not look at his face without blushing, so I chose to look not at his face.

"Well that's—that's, um, that's good to know," I stuttered.

"Shall we have another dance?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, let's have another dance."