"Dimitri!" The stressed Chef yelled at the kitchen boy, "The Romanov's ball starts at sun down! Where are the dishes?"
"Still in the cabinets,sir.", young Dimitri replied timidly
"Well don't doddle! Put them out boy!"
"Yes sir."
The young kitchen boy set out to get the dishes as his boss muttered something foal in Russian. Dimitri really didn't enjoy his job, but there was no other way he was going to make ends meet, so he had to stay a 'stupid, un- important servant' at the palace. Oh, well. He carried the plates the table set in the ballroom, and put them down.
He looked around the ballroom and sighed. What he wouldn't give to be royalty.
He was walking back to the kitchen, when he heard the chef screaming his head off.
"No way I'm going in there." , he said to himself as he turned and ran towards the halls.
Dimitri had a habit of roaming around the palace, he also had a habit of secretly looking in the rooms of the royals, but he hadn't seen all the rooms, because he'd usually get caught loitering before completing the entire area.
He peeked in the first room to find the Tzar and his wife signing numerous documents. Nothing interesting in there, so he continued. He looked through the next door, where the Princess Olga was brushing through her hair, lame.
He found it exciting that he had made it this far down the hall, he had never gone this far. Next door was the room of Prince Alexei making different faces in the mirror, which made Dimitri smile a little bit.
As he got further down the hall he heard faint humming. What was that? When he looked into the next room, he found the Princess Anastasia dancing with a stuffed bear, humming an unfamiliar tune. She looked... kind of cute, he thought to himself. The princess then attempted to have her teddy bear spin her around, and the kitchen boy chuckled.
"Hello?" The princess said suddenly, wondering where the chuckle came from, "Who's there?"
Dimitri tried to hide from her behind the wall, but she came out and found him.
"Who are you?" She demanded
The young boy stood there scared, he knew if the chef found out about this he'd be in a lot of trouble, instead of responding, he stared at her and gulped.
Seeing he was obviously scared, Princess Anastasia put her hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye, "Hey," she said, "I won't tell anyone you're here, that is, if you tell me your name." She said quietly
"Umm..." He said unsure of himself, "I'm Dimitri"
"Hi Dimitri! Do you want to play?" Anastasia asked
"Uhh..."
"Oh wait!" She said before he could respond, "I need to practice my waltz before the ball!"
She thought for a bit then looked at Dimitri, "Do you know how to dance?"
"No..." he replied in a whisper
"That's okay! I'll teach you! Come in!" She exclaimed pulling him into her room.
She took his left hand and put her hand on his shoulder. Unsure of how to do this, he also put his hand on her shoulder. The princess giggled, and took his hand off her shoulder to place it on her waist, she looked up at him and smiled.
For some reason, when she smiled at him, Dimitri's heart pumped faster than usual.
"And... 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1,2, 3."
Anastasia and Dimitri looked down at their feet to see which foot went where. Dimitri caught up with the princess very quickly; he was very pleased with himself.
"You're a natural!" Princess Anastasia said as he twirled her around.
They danced for a long time, and occasionally slipped up, but continued anyway. Soon enough, they came to a stop.
For what seemed to be forever, they just stood there looking at each other, as if they were trying to memorize the face of the other. They both seemed somewhat, fascinated.
Anastasia's head snapped when her sister's, Tatiana and Maria rushed down the aisle.
"I should go..." Dimitri said running towards the door, before looking back, "Um, thank you for the dance your highness..."
"We're friends now! You can call me Anastasia!" The princess said beaming
He smiled, "Okay... Anastasia, goodbye!" He replied, and then ran out.
"Bye!" She called after him
"He's... really nice!" She said to herself
The young princess took one last look in the mirror to fix her hair, "Ready." She said as she ran to the ballroom.