andie stuck with josh the rest of the night, she didn't want to leave his side. eventually, she got evan to explain to him how she lost her voice, making up an excuse.
she didn't want him to find out yet.
but josh kept her hand intertwined with his so she wouldn't get lost, an act that gave her butterflies.
as he spoke to many guests at the coronation ball, andie would look around; she didn't have anything to do or have anyone to talk to. the only time andie would speak to anyone, was if the people josh was speaking to wanted to speak to her.
eventually, ezekiel approached them. his jaw clenched from the sight of andie, bringing goosebumps to her skin. behind him was clarisse, a blonde haired girl, and another man; the girl was gorgeous, she had blue eyes, a beautiful simple tiara that rested on her pretty head, and wore a dress that was similar to andie's. the only difference between the dresses were that the girl's dress was pink and strapless.
isn't having a strapless dress against the dress code...? never mind that.
what was andie going to do? the man who basically tried to kill her twice was approaching.
she slid slightly behind josh, she didn't know what could happen. but thankfully, she had maeve in her locket; and she trusts that they'll take care of everything... right?
"son! ...andromeda," he greeted, practically spitting out andie's name, "i wanted to introduce you to princess brooklyn of antropia."
"pleasure to meet you, your highness." brooklyn smiled, doing a little curtsy before making eye contact with andie, "who's this?"
"oh... she's just a maid." ezekiel lied.
"oh, then i guessed right!"
"what?!" andie questioned. her straining voice showing through.
"woah, why do you sound like your vocal chords got ripped out or something." brooklyn laughed, causing andie to become slightly insecure about speaking. "princess and the frog, only that.. you are the frog."
"please don't speak to her like that. it's rude." josh spoke, trying to contain himself from going further.
"i'm speaking the truth." brooklyn spat.
"okay! well... lovely introduction as i can see... erm, josh, she's the one you're going to marry." ezekiel spoke, causing josh's and andie's eyes to go wide.
"marry?!" josh questioned, clearly shocked.
"now, ezekiel, i think this is a heavy topic to speak about. we shouldn't speak about this on his coronation day." clarisse spoke, leading to being ignored by ezekiel.
as andie watched the conversation, she didn't realize a pit of jealousy grew inside of her. it grew bigger and bigger, like a virus.
"father," josh spoke, clearing his throat, "may i speak to you... alone?"
andie wanted to ask him if he could stay with her, or to go with him. but it was too late, he was already in walking away from the three, building a conversation with his father.
she turned towards the pretty blonde again, who was already looking at andie's figure in disgust.
"do you eat? like genuinely." brooklyn asked, eyeing andie's body.
andie attempted to cover her torso by crossing her arms in an act of insecurity. she wanted to yell, she wanted to say something; but she couldn't. her voice was too tired to even be put to use.
before brooklyn could say any more, evan approached andie's side.
"hey, andie! i've been looking everywhere for you!" evan chuckled, wrapping his arm around andie's waist.
pulling her away from the situation, he saw an uncomfortable expression andie's face.
"were they bothering you?"
in response, andie nodded. she wanted to cry and tell him everything that happened, but she couldn't.
people were shitty.
and there's nothing anyone can do about it.