Your Royal Highness

Chapter Eighteen

= Blake =

What the hell was wrong with me?

My face felt warm. No. I felt hot. Too hot to be normal. And no, not the hot-hot where women drool over. But the hot as in feeling like I-have-a-fever kind of hot. I threw the paper plates and trash into the trash bin. I took in a cool breath. In. Out. In. Out. The cold prickled against my warm skin. The crispness of the air caused a few goosebumps to form on my arms.

Okay. Keep it cool. Just back to normal. You're Blake Royal. You don't blush. You don't blush.

"You should laugh more often. You look cute."

Argh! Stop it, stop it, stop it! I shook my head to erase Camilla's voice. I took in some more breaths. Why am I so flustered? It's not like it's the first time someone ever called me something. Hot. Handsome. Dashing. But never, cute. I'm never cute. I'm more serious. Intimidating. But not, cute.

"Are you okay?" I yelped as I felt myself jolt upwards.

"Augh! What the f-"

"Aah. No cursing," Camilla said as she slapped her hand onto my mouth. "That's a bad habit."

"Uh uh," I said into her hand. But it was muffled, so she probably didn't understand me as well.

She sighed, knowing that this would turn into a game for me. Heh. She knows I wouldn't stop still I won. She dropped her hand back to her side.

"Whatever. Let's go get my panda."

She stalked over towards the booth, me rushing right behind her.

~*~

"Ugh! Darn it! Just one more!" Camilla yelled as she handed the five dollars to the awkwardly smiling vendor. Hey, at least he's making money.

"Wanna try another booth, Camilla? There's other kinds of cool prizes."

"But I wanna get that panda," she said as she pointed at the ginormous stuffed bear. "It reminds me of-" She stopped mid sentence. "I just want it. It needs a home." She reloaded her gun and aimed it at the target. To get the largest prizes, you needed at least two nines and a ten. But she kept getting two eights and a nine.

"Here. Give it to me," I took the shotgun from her and got into a stance. I aimed at the target and shot three times. Immediately, three holes formed at the ten mark. Camilla gasped in surprise and awe.

"You got it. Oh my goodness, you got it!" She squealed and jumped with joy. Her dark brown eyes fluttered with happiness. A large smile was planted on her face as she laughed and jumped with joy. The carnival lights sparkled in her eyes and gave her smooth tanned skin a bright sheen. It was a beautiful sight to see.

"Here's you panda miss," the vendor said brightly while handing the bear over to her welcoming arms.

"Thank you so much! Thank you Blake!" She said as she buried her face into the bear's cheek. I wish I was the bear. Wait, what?

The bear was way to big to fit into her small arms. She could barely hold onto it without it touching the ground.

"Here, let me carry it. You're gonna get it dirty."

She looked at the feet touching the ground and smiled at me sheepishly. "Right. Can you please?"

I grabbed the bear and tossed it around my back for it to be in a piggyback style.

"Oh and miss?" The vendor said. "Here's another one for all your hard work." He handed a smaller version of a panda over to her. Her eyes seemed to sparkle even more in curiosity.