A/N:
The whole story is going to be in Cortelia's point of view... hope you enjoy :)
Dragging my feet, I walk up the gravel path which leads to the ornate mansion before me. I can not believe that my mother made me take the cookies over to our new neighbours. I know we've just moved in, but why do we have to give them cookies and invite them to the barbecue. I really don't see the point. And more importantly, why do I have to be the messenger? When I reach the front door I tuck the tin of homemade cookies under my arm and knock three times with the ostentatious knocker that adorns the dark coloured wooden door.
The door opens to reveal a stunningly beautiful women that must be at least forty years old. She is wearing a sharp, white suit and her black hair flows just past her shoulders. Her face is flawless, with almost glowing green eyes, and I find myself thinking that I just wish my mum looked like this.
"Hello, I'm Cortelia Windsor and my family just moved in down the road" I smile at her and her eyebrows raise slightly. Her face remaining cold and expressionless.
"Nice to meet you Cortelia" She speaks, with a charming smile slowly making it's way across her lips. Her voice clear and aristocratic.
"My mum wanted me to bring round these chocolate chip cookies that we made, as you're our only neighbor" I gesture to the tin tucked under my arm. Her eyebrows raise again and I can tell what she's thinking. Only the British.
"Well, would you like to come in darling?" She smiles at me again. I nod curtly, she opens the door further and I enter.
I'm taken aback in awe, as I take in the foyer in front of me. It's truly beautiful. The wooden floor is perfectly polished and so are all of the wooden features of the room. There is a slowly spiralling staircase that stands elegantly at the back of the foyer, and the walls are ordained with elegantly printed wallpaper.
"Your house is beautiful" I speak in awe. She lightly laughs.
"I guess it is and I'm Olivia. Olivia Godfrey. Would you like to come into the kitchen?" She walks off through a door way and I follow.
The kitchen is your typical old-fashioned, manor style kitchen. Wooden cabinets, a wide stove, a nicely scrubbed breakfast table and a huge fridge. Everything is a dazzling white, and sparkly clean.... too clean, perhaps.
"Have a seat, darling. I'm just going to fetch my children so that they can meet you. They attend the local high school, and I can imagine that you wouldn't want to start high school without knowing anyone" She strides out of the room, gracefully. So... she has children? I pull out a chair and perch myself on it, placing the tin on the table.
I sit patiently until I hear three sets of feet coming this way. One pair of heels obviously Olivia, a pair of trainers and one set of heavy feet. Bracing myself, I wait for them to enter the room.
When the door opens I shift on my seat to face it and brush my long Brown hair out my face. Firstly, Olivia enters and sits down on a chair at the other end of the table. Then my eyes widen as a very tall, broad girl enters the room. She has bandages wrapped around her hands and wears a green dress with floral printed tights and black boots. Her face is mainly covered by her shoulder length black hair, but I can see one sapphire blue eye looking out from under her fringe. She waves at me and I wave back, smiling. She quickly sits next to her mother.
I look back at the door and my eyes widen again. A six foot tall male about my age stands there. He is wearing black trousers, some well worn Converse and a black vest. His vest shows off his well toned arms and shoulders. Looking up at his face, I note that his Brown hair is styled backwards and his plump, perfectly shaped lips are puckered perfectly, giving me the urge to kiss them. His beautiful green eyes appear to be masking some sort of secret sadness deep within them and there are small dark circles under both of them. He is imperfectly perfect, much like a flawed Adonis.
When I notice his eyes roaming over my body, I shift to face the table and cast my gaze onto the tin in front of me. A light blush making itself present on my cheeks. Calm down Cortelia. It's just another boy... But he is quite attractive. Oh, do shut up. Collecting myself, I look up and note that the whole family seem to be sat down now. All of them avidly gazing at me. I probably look like a deer caught in head lights. I really don't do well with social situations. Why did my mother do this to me?
"Darlings, this is Cortelia Windsor. Her family have moved in down the road. Would you please introduce yourselves" As Olivia speaks I exhale a sigh of relief. At least I didn't have to break that awkward silence. The male turns to his mother.
"What? Do you mean the house that's recently had workmen in?" He asks. His deep voice sultry and dreamy. I sigh internally. Hormones stop it! Olivia nods and he turns to me.
Shit!
"Hi, I'm Roman. Nice to meet you" He holds his hand out for me to shake it. My eyes widen. Shit, I don't know him I can't shake his hand. My social anxiety makes me freeze for a second.
But I have to grin and bear it.
I slowly swallow. I grasp his hand and firmly shake it, thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have a panic attack. Quickly, I collect myself.
"How do you do?" I reply and I can tell what he's thinking. Typical British girl. Roman chuckles lightly, releases my hand and smiles at me. I reciprocate the smile and then turn toward the girl, continuing to smile. She taps something with a stylus on her phone.
"Hi, I'm Shelley" A computer voice speaks from her phone. Oh, she must not be able to talk.
"Hi Shelley, its nice to meet you. Do you read a lot?" I question, spotting a copy of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte on her lap and pointing to it. Shelley nods and I smile. "What's your favourite book?" I ask. She starts typing again.
"Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen" The voice from her phone speaks. I smile wider.
"I love that book, classic, but my favourite book has to be Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier" I speak causing her to smile. She types really quickly.
"I love that book...." The voice announces.
"To be honest, I just love the gothic in general. Another of my favourites is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" I reply with a wide smile spread across my face.
"I've read Rebecca. It's a good book" My eyes move to the owner of the voice.
Roman.
"Really? You read?" I ask, shocked is not the word. He nods. "Then how did Rebecca die?" I look him straight in the eye.
"Maxim killed her and made it look like she died in a boating accident" He states coolly, staring back at me.
"God, don't bring that up..." I trail off, watching Roman as he pulls out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket.
"Yeah, I just love how the narrator's name is never revealed. It's quite interesting" Roman speaks, pulling out a cigarette and placing it between his teeth, smoothly lighting it. He goes to offer me a cigarette before placing the packet back in his pocket.
"I'm alright, thanks. I value my lungs" I sigh and cough slightly when I breath in the smoke from Roman's cigarette. "And I have asthma" I continue to cough.
"Sorry, I'll go outside" He nods at me, stands up and exits through a door into their back garden.
"He's never done that before" Olivia muses, resting her chin on her hands. I give her a confused look.
"Done what?" I question, looking at both her and Shelley.
"He never smokes outside unless he's already outside" Shelley replies through her phone.
"Yes, I've asked him sometimes to smoke outside when he's around younger children, but he refuses" Olivia adds, now standing up. I shrug and open the cookie tin.
"Want one, Shelley?" I offer one to Shelley and she takes it after typing a thank you through her phone. I smile and bite into my own cookie. Hearing the door open, I jump and nearly choke on my cookie. Shelley starts laughing and I glare at her.
"What's so funny?" Roman asks, sitting next to me.
"Cortelia just jumped a mile and nearly choked when you opened the door" Shelley types.
"Not my fault, I'm really bad with jump scares in horror films too" I retort crossing my arms, defensively. Roman glances at me and chuckles. "It's not funny" I grumble.
"Anything else we should know about you?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. Shelley looks at me.
"Well... I'm 17,I have social anxiety, I'm scared of spiders... and my full name is Duchess Cortelia Victoria Anne Louise Windsor" I rush, staring down at my hands.
"You're scared of spiders?" Roman questions, snickering quietly. "And you're a duchess?" I look up to see his mouth hanging open and try to contain a laugh.
"Don't judge her, Roman. You're scared of clowns" The voice from Shelley's phone announces and Roman's face falls instantly.
"Yep... I'm a duchess. Duchess Cortelia of Windsor, hence my surname" I watch both of them for a reaction. Their eyes widen and they look at each other before looking back to me. "So... how old are you two?" I ask, attempting to break the slightly awkward silence that has built around us.
"I'm 15" Shelley types.
"Oh, my younger brother is 15. You guys will get along great" I smile at her and turn to Roman.
"I'm 17. We're in the same year of high school. I hope to see you in some of my classes" He responds. His piercing eyes staring right into mine. I blush heavily and look down at the table. Damn, this is awkward. Cortelia, it's alright. Just try not to embarrass yourself. I reprimand myself. Shelley stands up.
"I'm gonna go read" The voice from her phone speaks. I turn and wave to her as she walks out. The room becomes silent. I start to pick at my nails whilst Roman pulls the cookie tin towards himself. Looking up I spot him study the contents before pulling a cookie out and taking a huge bite out of it. A smile spreads across his face and his eyes close as he chews and swallows. Then his eyes open.
"Where did you get these?" Roman asks, hurriedly. I laugh and a blush steadily spreads itself across my cheeks.
"I made them" I awkwardly mumble, gazing down at my hands.
"These are the best cookies I've ever tasted" He exclaims. However, I continue to look down at my hands and blush. A smile tugging at my lips. I glance around and see that Olivia is nowhere to be seen. She must've left when we were discussing books. Crunching sounds emanate from Roman's side of the table as he continues to eat through the tin of cookies. I drop my gaze back to my hands, lost in thought.
"Umm... I kind of ate all of your cookies" Roman waves his hand in front of my face. None the less I continue to stare blankly at my hands, still deep in thought. Not noticing. I am only taken out of my thoughts when he places his hand on mine and carefully shakes my hands.
When I jump backwards away from him in fright the chair that I am sitting on decides to join in and threatens to crash, with me still sat on it, to the ground. I close my eyes and embrace for impact after letting out a high-pitch scream.
But I don't hit the ground.
Slowly opening my closed eyes I see Roman. His arms are holding me, stopping me from falling to the floor and the chair lays flat on the tiled ground. I study his face and my eyes begin to admire his features. His broad, straight nose, his perfectly shaped, plump lips, his flawlessly pale skin and his eyes. I stare into his murky green orbs and immediately become lost at sea. I have to blink a couple of times to recover, but then I come to.
My breathing begins to pick up and my heart rate accelerates. I start to shake uncontrollably. Roman looks down at me with a confused look and my hands attempt to push him off of me whilst my shaking becomes more noticeable and my breathing more erratic. His eyes widen as he realises that I'm uncomfortable with the current situation. Briskly he pulls the chair back upright, lifts me up slightly and places me onto the chair. He slowly returns to his seat. His eyes watching my every move.
"I'm sorry. You won't hear me say it much, but I'm sorry... I didn't think" Roman speaks, still watching me. My shaking begins to subdue and my breathing calms down along with my heart rate.
"I-I-It's alr-right... Th-th-thank you" I stutter and gasp, trying to calm myself down. Eventually, after what seems like forever, my breathing becomes normal again. "That was like some crazy trust exercise" I laugh. I always try to make a joke in awkward situations. No idea why. He chuckles lowly and winks at me. Did he just wink at me?
Yes, he did.