The next time Kaycee left her house was on yet another errand run on behalf of her mother.
The ball had just barely passed, a mere couple days separating the day of the dance from the day they were currently in the midst of, but it still felt as if it were just yesterday.
At the same time, the whole thing seemed blurred in Kaycee's mind. Obviously, she remembered most of the large events- dancing with Sean, discovering he was a Lew, and then dancing with Joshua (and luckily making no discovery of a background which involved past family feuds)- but when it came to the reason they had gone in the first place, it took quite a lot of focus to remember.
Oh, and the help of Devon, who couldn't seem to shut up about it.
As soon as they entered the carriages that night, Kaycee barely able to take a breather, Devon had begun to blabber on about how incredibly well his meeting with the royal family of a country Kaycee didn't know about went. Apparently the king thought him to be a perfect fit, and especially liked their father, so he may as well have handed his blessing over on a silver platter.
Kaycee slips on her other boot frustratedly, huffing when her dress gets caught and she gets stuck in a crouched position. Who believes in love? Not I, she thinks to herself, nearly tearing her dress as she tugged it free.
Kylie took note of her struggles as she watched silently from her bed, shaking her head with a smile. "You really have been in quite the mood these past few days. Ever since the ball, in fact. What happened there?"
"Nothing of importance," Kaycee replies back quickly. "I danced, as I said I would do. I got yelled at by mother, as I assumed I would do. And then I came home, as I knew I would do."
Kylie raises her eyebrows, clearly not buying it. "How poetic. But obviously not the whole truth."
"Well, what more would you like to know, dearest Kylie? I believe I copied down a word for word dialogue, perhaps I can find it for you-"
"No need for your sarcasm," she remarks. "Anyway, you have plenty of time to tell me about it on the carriage ride into town."
Now, Kaycee raises her own eyebrows. "You're coming along with us? But why? There can't possibly be that much that mother needs."
"No, but she did say something about watching over you. Keeping you out of trouble, as an older sister does."
Her words make Kaycee groan, rolling her eyes. "Of course she said that. Why not go herself then, if she intends to turn an easy errand run into such a challenge solely because it is me doing it?"
"Because she finds some sick joy in watching you get frustrated? I'm not sure, I guess I'm not our mother," Kylie remarks, slight sarcasm laced in her tone.
Huffing, Kaycee decides that she can suffer through no more of the conversation, turning on her heel to head downstairs and await the others. Figuring she has nothing better to do, she stops by the kitchen, where her mother is preparing lunch for her sisters. "I heard you hired a babysitter for me. I figured I should come down and thank you myself."
"Oh, she told you about that, did she?" her mother says distractedly, too preoccupied with the food she was making. "Can you truly blame me? You can't seem to be able to tell our worst enemy from a normal, well-respected man, so I figured Kylie could help prevent any confusion."
Kaycee grits her teeth. "Is it my fault that the people we consider enemies are actually human beings who do not demonstrate any of the traits you warned us about?"
"Yes, it is your fault, because he obviously did exhibit those traits. You were just too lovestruck to notice."
Once again, there's that word. Love. Kaycee holds in her own choke, shaking her head a bit too hard. "I would never and could never be lovestruck. Not with a man, who has no other intent but to suppress me"
"Would being suppressed be so bad? Perhaps it would be good for you to finally quiet down your mind. It races with much too many over-the-top ideas." Her mother replies, finally finishing up their meal.
At that moment, Devon, Kylie, and their father make their way down the stairs, saving Kaycee's mother (and probably Kaycee) from the argument of a lifetime. Not wanting to talk to her any longer, she quickly takes the paper list off of the kitchen counter and walks away.
In the carriage, Kaycee sits alone on one side, her two older siblings opposite her. Silence engulfs them for much of the ride, until Kaycee finally snaps under the weight of their persistent staring. "Is there a reason you two are looking at me, other than to be creepy and aggravating?"
"Yes, because I believe you owe me a story," Kylie responds sweetly.
Devon just shrugs. "I just saw Kylie doing it, and figured it was for a reason."
Grunting, Kaycee shrugs, recounting the ball's happenings in as little specific detail as possible. She doesn't think about the way Kylie's eyes light up when she mentions Sean, or her look of intrigue when she brings up Joshua. Devon remains silent too, until the end, when they both talk at once.
"So you danced with Sean and-"
"Wait, does this mean you like-"
"Yes, I danced with both Sean and Joshua," she cuts off. "No, I don't like them in the way you think I do. I believe them both to be respectable men. But I still would not marry either of them."
"Even Sean?" Kylie asks with a frown.
Eyes widening incredulously, Kaycee shakes her head. "Did you tune out of the part in which I told you that he was a Lew? Or did it conveniently slip your mind?"
"I tuned out," Devon admitted with a sheepish grin. Kaycee rolls her eyes at him.
Kylie, on the other hand, looks rather devious. "Who cares if he's a Lew? If you like him, then you like him."
"We also established that I don't like him," Kaycee says firmly. "His family history clashes too much with ours. Mother would have a fit. I would have better luck pursuing Joshua- but I won't, for obvious reasons."
"Since when did you care about what Mother had to say?" Devon asked, seemingly stealing the question that Kylie was going to ask as well, because she gave him a look.
Kaycee shrugged. "Since I realized I will never escape her if I truly pursue the whole never marrying thing."
Kylie gave her the same look she gave to Devon, one that said really?, but before Kaycee could scold her the carriage door was opening.
Their father gave them the same rundown as last time. Kaycee would be looking for groceries, and Devon would stay close to her. Except this time, Kylie would actually be the one staying by her side, while Devon ran off and did whatever Devon wanted to do. Most probably talk to the princess again.
The three merely nodded, and then started out on their own personal missions. "Don't be annoying," Kaycee said as she and her sister fell into step together.
Kylie laughed obnoxiously loudly. "I would never!"
Kaycee grunts, and the two bicker until they arrive at the first of many vendors they'll have to go to. Her first instinct is to stop at the fruit stand she went to last time, dragging Kylie along to help pick them out.
Keeping with tradition, she saves the apples for last, except this time she grabs them all without issue. It isn't until she has already purchased everything and moves to turn around that she runs right into someone's chest, a hmph leaving her mouth before she stumbled backwards and nearly knocked over her sister.
"Kaycee! I'm so sorry, I didn't expect you to turn around that fast," says Joshua, beaming but still looking apologetic.
Kaycee opens her mouth to assure him that it's fine, but the words are taken by her sister before she can. "She's fine. Quite clumsy, but fine," Kylie answers for her.
If only Joshua weren't there. Then Kaycee could have whipped not only her head in her sister's direction, but also her hand, in the hopes that it would knock some sense into her. Instead, she settled for an obviously irritated look in Kylie's direction, muttering "You're being annoying," under her breath.
"I don't believe we've met before. I'm Josh," he says with a grin, holding out his hand. Kaycee feels like the contents of her stomach would come out- Josh? He introduced himself by his nickname to her sister and not her? "And you are?"
"I'm Kylie, Kaycee's older sister," she answers, shaking his hand. "I heard many good things about you."
Kaycee's face turns red just as Joshua's attention finally turns back to her. "Oh, all good things I hope?"
"Most definitely. I had to fill her in on everything that happened after she fled," Kaycee replies with a grin, giving Kylie a look. "She was with me at the ball, right before you asked me to dance! And then, poof, she was gone-"
"I had to powder my nose, thank you," Kylie cuts off quickly. "It's nice to finally meet you, Josh."
He laughs uncomfortably, probably sensing the tension between the two. "It's nice to meet you as well. But I was sent to buy some food for the week, so I guess I'll be off. I'll see you both soon, then?"
"Of course," the sisters answer unanimously. With a grin, he nods his head, and then saunters off.
As soon as his back turns, the two turn to each other in disgust, hands flying. "I tell you to not be annoying and you do the exact opposite?!"
"You didn't tell me he was handsome!" She exclaimed in a whisper, smacking Kaycee's arm with a force that makes her gasp.
Kaycee narrows her eyes, smacking her arm back. "You would have known, if you had only stood by my side, instead of cowering in the ladies' room!"
"I was not cowering, I was powdering-"
"Your nose! I heard you the first time!" She replies, shaking her head.
Before Kylie could get another statement in, the man running the fruit booth behind them cleared his throat. "Hm. Sorry ladies, but there's a line. I am going to need you to take your womanly struggles elsewhere."
Kaycee scoffed, opening her mouth to tell him just what she thought of the phrasing, but Kylie was already pulling her away.
••
Arguing with Kylie for the entirety of a shopping trip is exhausting. Kaycee found herself dozing off on the carriage ride back home, and then completing all of her chores early to go lie down before supper. She couldn't explain her sudden lack of weariness, or her lack of an appetite, but nobody in the house seemed to question it. In fact, her mother seemed overjoyed to see her leave early. Of course, Kylie looked the same way.
She was too tired to take offense. She changed into her night gown, trudged all the way to her bed, and the fell fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She dreamt of herself chasing after an unreachable man, so unreachable in fact that she could only see the back of his head. It looked achingly familiar, and so she spent the entirety of it running, never getting any closer, only further away thanks to occasional obstacles set in place by her family. Eventually, she was just about to reach him, and then he shifted an inch and she slipped, falling down, down, down...
Kaycee awoke with a start to Kylie shaking her arm, an emotion plastered on her face that she was too tired to figure out. It felt like she had only been sleeping for a couple minutes. Kylie did not care. "You need to get up. Someone is outside for you."
This perks her up, her legs pushing her into a sitting position. "Someone is outside for me? That's simply not possible, the sun isn't even out-"
Plink.
The sound of something small hitting the glass of their door, the one leading out onto their balcony, made Kaycee freeze completely mid-sentence. Kylie grunted. "Not so impossible now, is it, sister?"
"Perhaps you could have begun the conversation by telling me of the fact someone is throwing pebbles at our door?" She replied frustratedly, pulling on a shawl to cover her nightgown. "I'm going to go on the balcony."
Kylie scoffs loudly. "What if it's a man, with a weapon of some sort?"
The look on Kaycee's face makes her sister scowl, looking away in embarrassment.
Without gracing her comment with a reaction, Kaycee, walks swiftly to the door, opening it and almost immediately getting hit in the forehead with a pebble.
The culprit gasps, just as Kaycee whisper-yells, "Ouch!"
"I- uh- over 2 million miles!" Replies the pebble-thrower, as if he had ignored what transpired completely. When she finally bothers to glance down, she almost scolds herself for not knowing who it was earlier.
She shoots Sean a glare, rubbing at her forehead. "What? What are you talking about?"
"The circumference of the sun! You told me to tell you that the next time I saw you."
"That is quite amazing. I am grateful for that tiny seedling of knowledge. I am not so grateful, however, to forget the fact that you just threw a pebble at my forehead."
Sean pulls his mouth into a grimace. "That was... accidental. I had to get the number out before I forgot. And I didn't see the door open. It is quite dark outside, did you know?"
"I did not know that, because my eyes were closed, until you woke me up with your rocks."
"I had to. I have a spectacular idea," he replied, with a smile that made her think his idea was anything but what he claimed. "But I had to wake you up first. Knocking on your door would have introduced me to your angry mother, so I had to try my luck with the balcony."
A traitor smile graces Kaycee's face. "For some reason, I'm not sure how spectacular your idea is."
"I am Sean Lew. My ideas are always the best," he states with a smirk. "And this one requires you to climb down your balcony."
Kaycee laughs, clutching at her sides, only stopping when she noticed he wasn't laughing. "Oh, my, you can't be serious."
"Of course I am. What is the worst that could happen?"
"I break my legs. I fall and die. My mother wakes up and kills me herself. I fall on top of you and break your legs-" she rants, listing off points with her fingers.
Sean scowls. "That question was rhetorical. Now come down. I'll catch you."
"Your arms are most probably the width of twigs, I doubt you could catch me without breaking," she says matter-of-factly.
He grins. "Something tells me you don't believe that fact either."
With a huff, she glances back at the balcony door, her sister looking at her with concern. Her gaze then shifts to Sean, and his obviously-not-twig-like arms. "Fine. Let me explain to my sister, then, you heathen."
She gives Kylie a look, walking quickly and peaking her head into the door. "Kylie, I am about to do something incredibly stupid. I need you to promise not to tell Mother."
"Stupid?" She asks incredulously, eyes wide. "What are you planning, Kaycee?"
"I am going to go out for a bit. I'll be back soon. I just.. I need to do this,"
Kylie scoffs, looking more hurt than he expected. "You don't need to do anything, Kaycee, are you kidding? What, you plan on sneaking downstairs and out the door to see Sean?"
"I plan on climbing over our balcony and scaling the side of the house," Kaycee answers bluntly.
Kylie laughs without humor. "No, you do not. As your big, more sensible sister, I forbid it."
Kaycee gives her a look. "You just told me on the way to the market that I should pursue things with him! Not that that is what I'm doing, but-"
"Well, I've changed my mind. And if you decide to do it anyway, I will tell our mother."
Kaycee rolls her eyes. "No, you won't. Because you love me. And because of that, I'll be leaving now! Love you, sister!"
Without waiting for Kylie's inevitable explosion of lecture and anger, Kaycee shut the door, giving her sister a shrug and then racing back to the balcony railing. Sean stared up at her expectantly.
"I'm coming down!" She declared, throwing a leg over the rail. She decided that thinking about it would only serve to stress her out, so she slid her other leg over while repeating some prayers to herself, refusing to look down until she absolutely had to.
When she finally did, to her surprise, she discovered she was not that far off the ground. She heaved a sigh of relief. "Uh, Sean? Are you ready in the high chance that I fall?"
"Low chance. And yes, I'm right down here," he answers. She sighs, clenching her eyes shut as she leaned down to grip the edge of the balcony, slowly letting her legs slip from the safety of the floor.
She wasn't sure when the whole thing went wrong. Perhaps the fact that she decided to follow through with basically tossing herself from the second floor of her home was her first mistake. But what she does remember is things running very smoothly, her hands gripping the edge of the balcony as her feet searched for a grip below, until a rapid, sudden tap at their window threw her off.
It didn't seem like something that would literally throw her off. But, unluckily enough for her, the sudden burst of noise made her own grip loosen so drastically that her hands slipped. They slipped, her eyes widening in search for the source of the noise, only to find her angry looking sister moving in what seemed like slow motion as she fell from the side of the balcony. Kylie had panicked, and knocked on the doors to the balcony to get Kaycee to change her mind. That is why she slipped.
She had no time to linger on that fact. Just like in her dream, she was falling down, down, down...
But this time, right into a strong pair of arms.
She gasps from the force of the collision, and the fact that she had already accepted her death before she reached the ground. "Oh, my God!" She exclaimed, breath erratic.
Sean smiled, obviously shocked too. "Wow, I didn't think you would actually fall."
"Well, she did!" Kylie yelled from the balcony above, at some point finally coming outside. Kaycee scrambled out of Sean's arms, opting to stand on her own with her arms crossed. "This was your bright idea, Sean!"
Kaycee scowls. "It was your sudden pounding on the window that scared me off of the ledge!"
"The ledge you ought to have not been on," she replies frustratedly. Finally, in a last ditch effort, she states, "I'm sorry, Kayc, but if you decide to go with him, I will tell Mother. I have to."
Kaycee knows her sister, so she knows this is an empty promise. "No, Kylie, you won't. I'll be back soon. Just... find a good excuse! I trust you. Now go back to bed."
Her sister opens her mouth in surprise, looking offended, and then stomps her way back into the room.
Taking a deep breath, Kaycee turns back to Sean.
"So? Where are we off to?"
••••
a/n: shorter than the other two but here it is! hope you enjoy! next chapter will be more sean and kaycee, trust me ;))