It was bright an early in the day where Lorena and her teacher were in the study room, practicing her 5th language, Portuguese.
Her teacher groaned, putting a tired hand to her face and dragging it down slowly. "It's, como você está? Not como estas!"
Lorena huffed as the breath escaped her nostrils in frustration. She picked up the tea cup in front of them and began walking around the small circular table. "But I thought Portuguese is like Spanish? You told me this would be easy!"
She sipped on her tea, moving her fingers along the sides of the warm cup. "Yes, it is LIKE Spanish. But it isn't Spanish. There are key differences," her teacher said, trying to explain to her student.
There was a loud bang coming from the hallway along with the sound of plates dropping onto the floor. This startled the two women, jolting them up and over to the hallway. Lorena peaked her head out, witnessing a blonde haired man bending down and picking up after the mess he had made.
Princess Sofia scurried out of one of the other rooms, her face as angry as ever. "Are you serious? First day on the job? You have got to be kidding me!" She walked over to the man, putting her hands on her hips and waiting for him to reveal himself and apologize.
The man turned his head in the direction of Sofia, widening his eyes and putting his arms outwards in surrender. "Your highness- Princess Sofia, I am so sorry."
Lorena's eyes opened as wide as his, shocked at who was standing there in front of her. "Ross!" She cheered, running down the hallway with her heels clanking against each other.
Ross' mouth peered up into a small smile at the sight of Lorena, but it quickly disappeared when his eyes met Sofia's again. He bowed suddenly, making Sofia roll her eyes. "Oh stop that, Lorena changed the rules around here. You don't have to bow to us, young man."
He nodded his head hesitantly, trying to dart his eyes back over to Lorena. She was standing next to her mother now, smiling up at Ross. Lorena bent down to help him pick up after the mess, receiving a scolding look from her mom. "You work here now?" Lorena asked, batting her eyelashes in shock.
"Yes, I hope that's okay. Benji told me there was an opening," He responded in a low voice, trying to avoid any more trouble from Sofia. "I'd figure I should give it a try."
Lorena grinned at the blonde haired boy, "Of course."
They put the plates back into the cart. Lorena smoothed out her pants, making sure there weren't any wrinkles that would mess up her appearance in front of him. "Maybe I could show you around the castle? Since it's your first day, you know?" Lorena suggested, hoping he would say yes.
Princess Sofia was watching this entire exchange. Her eyes didn't avert away from them and she knew there was something else going on here. She put her hand in front of Lorena, stopping her by her stomach. "Not so fast. Since it's his first day and he is already messing up, perhaps I should give him the tour of the castle. That'll bend him into shape. Besides, you two clearly know one another. I can't have you both flirting behind our backs."
Lorena and Ross shifted their attention onto Sofia. They both felt a little awkward but Ross was trying his hardest to keep his composure and facial expressions in check. "Mom, I can show him around. It's okay," Lorena assured, removing her mother's hand from in front of her.
"Don't you dare, Lorena. Go back to your classes, your teacher awaits," Sofia demanded, gesturing her hand over to Lorena's teacher who was patiently waiting for her return.
The younger princess sucked her teeth. "Alright, mother I'll go back to class. I'll see you later, Ross," she said through her teeth before flashing a cheeky smile at Ross.
Ross waved goodbye before swallowing down his thoughts. He was mentally preparing himself for spending the next hour or so with Sofia. A part of him was wishing she would just ditch him and have him figure things out by himself, but there was a small part in Ross that wanted to talk to her more. He was usually great with conversation, but the whole princess thing made him nervous. He was seriously being challenged here.
Nevertheless, Ross' wish actually came true when they were halfway through the tour and Sofia received a phone call. She had led him towards the dining room where Benji was setting up the table for lunch.
He nodded his head at his friend, walking over and hugging Benji. He was relieved to escape from Sofia, even though he felt he wasn't doing as bad. "Yo, thank god Benji. It's so hard to talk to Sofia," he admitted, clenching onto Benji's shirt.
Benji chuckled, pulling Ross away and shaking him by his shoulders. "Princesses aren't all they seem like, man."
Sofia's loud voice on the phone increased as she paced back and forth in front of the room. "He needs to get here, now. I'm afraid my daughter is starting to get too distracted."
Benji furrowed his eyebrows in her direction, moving Ross to the side and pressing his ear closer. "What is she talking about?" Ross asked in a whisper.
"I don't know," Benji answered back, trying to concentrate on the overhead conversation.
"Bring the boy in today. Get him a haircut, take him shopping, I don't care what it takes," She ordered, the aggressive tones shining through her voice. "Get on it, Flora." Sofia hung up the phone and a few seconds later her footsteps were trailing into the dining room.
Ross and Benji panicked, resuming their positions by the table. Ross picked up one of the gold plates, wiping it with a rag that was hanging out of his cart. He gave her what felt like a huge grin to him, but a creepy smile from Sofia.
She furrowed her eyebrows before shaking her head and taking a seat at the table. The boys cleaned in silence, waiting for the others to arrive. "I'm afraid it'll just be me today, Benji. You can bring my plate in," Sofia stated, looking down onto her phone.
"Will do, Sofia." Benji nodded and disappeared into the back, pulling Ross with him.
The pair stood in the kitchen. Benji looked back to see if Sofia was watching them. Ross was mesmerized by the scenery in front of them, wondering how everything in this castle was as elegant and beautiful as the rest. "I have no idea what she was talking about, but we heard about your little incident today," Benji mentioned.
Ross exhaled, "I was just trying to focus on not messing up, and I guess that didn't help me at all. Lorena tried to save me, but then I got dragged into a tour of the castle with Sofia. Did you know their dogs have their own private bathrooms? That is just- that is just far too much."
Benji laughed, putting a reassuring had on his friend's chest. "It's not as bad as it seems, and yes I've seen the bathrooms. Don't tell anyone but I kinda use those from time to time, they're so much better than our bathrooms," he responded.
"Just put your headphones in and try to get through the day. Lorena will probably be back here for dinner," Benji added, pulling out his AirPods case from his pocket.
Ross did the same, putting the ear pieces in and searching through his phone. He began playing an 80s sounding song. "Dude, I don't know how you listen to your favorite bands and not want to be in their position anymore," Benji claimed, hoping Ross wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"The dream is over, man," was all that Ross could manage to say, before exiting the room and going back to his long list of chores to do.
A few hours later, a knock appeared at Lorena's door. She was in between her 2nd nap of the day while more episodes of Gossip Girl played in the background. She slept with her mouth open and probably in her 3rd dream of this nap session.
The knock came again, this time starling her out of her sleep. She clenched onto her chest, "Yes?" She announced, a bit aggravated.
There was no answer. "Hello??" She called again, almost drifting back to sleep.
Ross carefully opened the door, peaking his head in slowly. "I was in the hallway, and just figured I should say hi If that's okay?" He looked behind his shoulder, making sure nobody was seeing him.
Lorena covered herself with her blanket, nodding quickly for him to come in. "Come in if you'd like, it's okay," She assured, holding her knees to her chest.
He came in, closing the door softly behind him and walking into the room. "Woah," He muttered his eyes darted around the pleasing room. "I can't believe this is your room. I still share a small room with my younger brother Ryland, and it still isn't even half of what this is," he added, drifting his fingers around her furniture.
She chuckled, "So everyone in your family does have a name that starts with an R. Isn't that kind of confusing?"
"For others, yeah. We hardly ever mess it up though," He answered, smiling at her comment.
Lorena watched him as he circled her room, trying to take it all in. "You can sit down if you'd like," She offered.
Ross seemed to have thought this was an invitation to sit on her bed, so he placed himself on the edge of it. Lorena widened her eyes, pushing him off. "Oh, no! Not with your uniform, I hate when people sit on my bed with outside clothes, I'm- I'm sorry" She spoke, clearly shaken up.
Ross stood up, laughing and licking his lips. "It's alright, I get it. Ms. high class over here," He joked, sitting down onto one of the yellow arm chairs.
She playfully rolled her eyes, "It's not like that. It's just that beds are meant for sleeping and so we should be on them with clothes meant for sleeping. Don't you feel a little weird laying on your bed with those tight skinny jeans?"
"You were really paying attention to my outfit that day, huh?" He replied, resting his leg over the other.
Lorena held up her phone, "So were you."
Ross flushed a smile, looking down onto the ground and back up at her room. "Your room is so yellow. This is a different taste from the rest of the castle."
"Yellow is my favorite color," she shrugged. "My mom also hates it."
He groaned out loud jokingly, "Oh gosh, don't tell me about your mom. She is so much more harder to talk to than you are."
Lorena raised her eyebrow, "You think it's hard to talk to me?"
He also shrugged, steading his light eyes onto hers. "You're a princess, Lorena. It's definitely harder to talk to you than other girls."
The princess hummed in agreement before spreading her legs outwards, pushing the blanket back and revealing her Disney princess booty shorts. His eyes fell down onto them, giving out a small chuckle. "Is that, Moana?"
Lorena pulled her shorts down, trying to hide her bare skin underneath. "Yes, what about her?"
"Nothing, I just think it's funny that an actual princess has fake princesses on her clothing. Also, Moana is definitely the superior princess," He pointed out, making a laugh escape from her mouth.
She nodded, "The soundtrack is amazing. Have you ever listened to it in Spanish? It's even more beautiful."
"I haven't listened to it in Spanish, but I can just imagine. Lin Manuel Miranda is a songwriting god, don't tell my siblings I said that though," He continued, now resting his head on his hand.
Lorena was practically geeking out at this, squeaking in excitement in her head. "Are you serious? I love him! I've been trying to get my parent's to give me lessons for years. They just won't let me do anything involving singing or dance."
Ross jerked his head back in surprise, "If you get Lin Manuel to give you singing lessons, I might have to join you guys and reconsider my decision," He replied, fantasying the scenario in his head.
This made Lorena drift her eyes downward onto her bed, "Benji told me what happened. I'm sorry, Ross. I wish things had worked out differently for you, truly."
He raised his hand up and shook his head, "It's alright, Lorena. You don't have to apologize. I've made peace with what happened, I'm just doing my best to move on."
There was a tight silence that filled the room. The situation truly disappointed Lorena, but there wasn't much she could do about it.
"But you should definitely keep pushing your parents to let you take lessons. Do you think you're a good singer?" Ross asked, shaking his hair out.
The princess laughed out loud, "Ha! I wouldn't know. I only ever sing in the shower, and you know how that goes. I don't know the first thing about singing or dancing."
"I'm sure my family could give you pointers. Rydel has been talking about you a lot, she's nuts over the idea of being friends with a princess," Ross emphasized, still locking eyes with her.
She snorted and leaned back onto her headboard. "Benji mentioned that to me before. I would love to have some female company, to be honest with you. I don't have any friends, so if Rydel really wants to, I'm sure my mom will let her."
He whipped out his phone from his back pocket, already typing away. "Great, I'll text her right now. She's gonna be so stoked."
The bells above Lorena's bed rang, breaking the comfortable atmosphere they created. "Lorena, it's time for your next lesson," Flora spoke through the intercom.
The princess groaned, "Coming!"
Lorena turned back to Ross, "I'm sorry, my Portuguese lessons are calling me."
He got up onto his feet, tapping his body to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. "It's alright, I've got to get back anyway. Your mom might kill me if she catches me messing up again. But, maybe we can do this again?"
"You know where my room is, that's up to you, Ross." She smirked, watching him walk out the door and into the hallway again.
...
im so glad I got to write the first in depth scene of them together. they're definitely warming up to each other, I wonder what could happen next ;)
don't forget to vote or leave a comment if you'd like!
-Sunflowerleaves <3