Chapter 30 – Jesse Flynn
Like every Friday morning, Jesse woke up early and put on one of his tackiest and shiniest suits with one of his numerous signature bowties. He loved this character he had created for himself and it had been a long time since he had heard his boring birth name – how could one be named Jasper Finley and have an amazing life? Seriously – and he wasn't going to complain. Sometimes he even forgot his own real name.
He knew that three more girls would be scratched off the princes' lists that day, he just didn't know who… He was sitting in his armchair, waiting for the royal family and the Selected to arrive.
"Jesse?"
He looked up, seeing Sydney coming over with a gossip magazine in hand. "Yeah?"
"You're gonna want to see this before you start the Report..."
Jesse frowned at Sydney's serious face and took the magazine from her, and read where she had opened the page. In big, black, bold letters at the top of the double-page was: CROWN PRINCE FAKE DATES ALL THE GIRLS and bellow was a picture of him and Malia eating a burger in town, but he was looking at a phone and Malia seemed like she was talking about something, though Silas was not listening. "What the hell is that?" Jesse asked.
"I don't know," Sydney said, "but some people aren't happy. He seems to go on a date with them and then eliminate them on the next Report." She pointed at a paragraph. "It says here that he was on his phone, ignoring his date. Which is completely wrong since that's her phone and he was looking at something she was showing him." She paused to let Jesse read the article. "You've got to say something about that… I mean, people are going to think Silas has already chosen his girl and that he's dragging the selection, giving the selected hope."
Jesse rubbed his face, thinking. "Which I don't think is completely wrong, to be honest."
"No, I know. But the people don't have to know that. They still think 'their' girl has a chance." Sydney took the magazine back when they heard the group coming in, heels clicking on the floor, and dresses swooshing against each other.
"I'm going to have a word with Silas before we start," he said, standing up. He watched as the selected arrived with the princes – Nathan had two girls in his arms, one on each side, namely Morrigan Ventura and Jenissa Stark, Valerian was talking with Evangeline about something, and Silas entered last, his hands in his pockets, making a direct bee-line for the couch.
"Silas! Hi," Jesse said. "Can I have a word with you?"
"Sure," the prince said, looking at Jesse from his seat.
"Uhm, can we just go backstage?"
Silas nodded and the two young men walked away from the loud group taking their places on the stage.
"Look, uhm, rumors are going on in some gossip magazines – magazines that I do not collaborate with, mind you – that say you're dragging the Selection for the sake of the people, and that you're eliminating the girls after each date."
Silas raised an eyebrow. "They're not wrong."
"I know, but we can't let them believe that. So, here's what I suggest– who are you eliminating today?"
Silas grimaced and chuckled nervously.
"Oh." Jesse took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "That's not helping your case."
"Yes, well, I'm not changing my mind on the eliminated girl. I already told her, so she knows." He paused. "Honestly, Jesse, what's the big deal if the people believe that? I have two other brothers who are also doing the Selection. I'm not the only one."
"Yeah, I know that. But for some reason, people think that you're the best prize and that Nathan and Val–"
"I'm not a prize," Silas huffed. "See? That's the problem with you, Jesse. You think this is all a game. It's not. It's real." He ran a hand through his hair, messing up with his perfectly done hair.
"Uh, Jesse?" Sydney said, coming on tiptoes. "We're starting in two minutes."
"Yeah, thanks." He looked up at the tall prince. "I'll try to sway the general feeling away from the 'prize' thing."
"Thank you." Silas walked away and went to his seat. Jesse saw Valerian leaning towards his brother, asking something, to which Silas simply nodded and shrugged. Jesse stayed hidden to do his entry
"Rolling in five, four," the stage director said and continued counting with his fingers.
"Goodeveningladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls!" Jesse said, coming out from behind some curtains. "I'm so excited to be here today with you all!" He walked all the way to the front of the stage to look into one of the cameras. "But before we dig deeper into what happened during this week, I'd just like to go over some things you may have forgotten…" he paused, making sure he had everyone's attention. "The Selection may look like a big televised game for love, but let me tell you something very important: this is real. The Princes are going through something very real and personal, and I don't think any of you would want to be scrutinized like this in your love life. Feelings are in the balance, love is in the air, and they're going to choose the rest of their lives!"
There was tentative applause, but Jesse was not deterred about it and continued with his Report.
"Okay! So first off, let's review the last week, shall we? Prince Silas went on a date with Malia in town – sorry you missed them – to eat a burger, and what a burger it was!" On the screen behind them, played a short footage of the burgers arriving on plates at their tables, and Malia's reaction to them. Jesse noticed that Silas didn't even look at the footage. The one from the previous Report had been enough of self-watching for him, apparently. "Nathan and Brandy played some Mario Kart, and Valerian and Phoebe went for a bike ride!"
Each time, there were pictures or a short footage to illustrate what Jesse was talking about, and he was happy about what Otis had done. He went on to talk about the moments that happened during the week, unofficially, around the palace.
"And now, as I've been interviewing three girls each week on the blog, I want to interview the princes with roughly the same kind of questions." He wiggled his eyebrows at the camera and started with Silas, since they needed to get some things straight, regarding the gossip he read earlier in that stupid magazine
Jesse turned towards Silas. "Prince Silas, let me start with you."
Silas nodded, pushing up his glasses. Jesse was pretty sure Silas was expecting something like that after their little chat, before the Report.
"Okay, so my first question for you is: How are you liking the Selection so far?"
Silas crossed his legs. Shoot. Jesse should have given him the questions beforehand. But he had planned to interview Nathan first, but with this whole article and gossip fiasco, he had to change his plans. He just hoped Silas wouldn't take too long to think about his answers. Though it could still be edited later on, he knew the Live audience would want quick answers
"It is not as bad as I had expected," he replied. "I had never dated before, so I was a little anxious about that part."
Huh. Two whole sentences. More than Jesse had expected.
"I can understand that! Speaking of dating, what was your craziest date so far?"
Silas chuckled. "I think two dates would go at the top of the list: first, the one where, uhm…, Xi and I shared our first, uhm, kiss." The audience awed, which made Silas' ears turn slightly pinker than normal. "And the second is the last date I went on with Malia. I never go into town, and there we were, eating burgers!"
Jesse wanted to burst out laughing. Had Silas had a glass of wine to be so relaxed and generous with his words? He hoped not. It was only 9.30 in the morning, way too early… right? "And what was your favorite date activity so far? And with whom was it?"
A small smile grew on the Prince's lips as he remembered his dates. "Again, two activities get the top of that list: playing music with Jenissa was something I'm really looking forward to doing again, and of course, the other one would be drinking wine by the Lake, with Ximena…" he trailed off.
"That's twice you've mentioned dates with Ximena Oliveira," Jesse said with a smirk. "Anything to say about that?"
Silas looked at Jesse with a look Jesse couldn't quite understand. "Next question, Jesse."
"Alright," he said, deciding not to push the prince. At least not yet. "If you weren't a prince, what would you do in life? What job would you do?"
There was a high-pitched laugh coming from the group of Selected and everyone turned around to see who had laughed. Leigh was holding her hand to her mouth and was smiling despite her best efforts. Sorry, she mouthed.
When Jesse looked at Silas again, he was smiling, too. "She laughed because that's a conversation we had on one of our dates," Silas said. "And to answer your question," he continued with one last glance at Leigh, "I would be a musician, playing in a piano bar."
"That's… very specific," Jesse said, chuckling. "But yeah, I could see you doing that." He looked at his iPad in his hands, where he had written his questions. "Okay, now I'm going to ask you quick one-word-answer questions. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Silas said.
"Pizza or burger?"
"Burger."
"Red wine or white wine?"
"Red."
"Sandals or sneakers?"
"Sneakers."
"Red or blue?"
"Blue.
"Nathan or Valerian?"
"Valerian," he said, casting a quick glance at Nathan who was feigning to be shocked and offended.
"France or New Asia?"
"Both," he said. He probably didn't want to offend one of their allies. Smart.
"Tie or bowtie?
"Tie."
"Tea or coffee?"
"That's a stupid question. Coffee."
"Cat or Dog?"
"Dog, obviously."
"Leigh or Ximena?"
"X– I can't answer that."
"Aha!" Jesse said. "I knew you'd say that." He chuckled, proud of his little game, but he had gotten what he wanted. "Thank you for playing with me, Your Highness, I'm sure our country knows you better, now."
Silas ran a hand through his hair but didn't dare look at the group of girls, behind them. That last question has gotten him unawares, and he probably wished he could take it back. But Jesse now knew where his feelings lay, and it was all that mattered. He wasn't sure the audience or the girls had heard what he was about to say, but at least Jesse got it. He might even edit it out, just for the public retransmission of the Report, for more suspense and less gossip.
After that, three girls received black roses, one on each list, but none of them went home, still safe on one or two other lists: Silas eliminated Malia, Nathan eliminated Ashia, and Valerian, Pallas.
Jesse finished the Report with some banter with Nathan and Valerian, leaving Silas out of it since he had gone through an interview already.
-o-0-o
It was barely seven in the morning on Saturday when Silas heard a soft knock on his door. He frowned. His valet never came that early. Who could it be? He put his phone down – yes, the prince had been awake for some time, already – and picked the covers away. Whoever it was, there was no way he was showing himself in what he called his pajamas: boxers and t-shirt. He quickly slipped on a pair of sweatpants.
"Coming," he said and cleared his throat. He was not used to talking this early in the morning to anyone. When he was presentable, he opened the door. "Leigh?" he said, clearly surprised to see a selected on the third floor, let alone at his door. "What are you doing here?"
Leigh was dressed in a pair of beige capri pants, some black flats with a bow on the toes, a puff sleeve white shirt, and a long necklace going down her chest. Her hair was done in a messy bun at the top of her head and Silas wasn't sure if she was wearing makeup or not.
"Good morning!" she said, though she tried to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake anyone else. "I have a whole date planned for us today," she said, "and I was hoping you'd come, actually."
"Uhm…" Silas ran a hand through his I-just-woke-up-messy-hair. "Where?"
"You'll see," she replied. "It's a surprise. Can you be ready in fifteen minutes? We need to be at the airport as soon as possible."
"The airport?" Now he was intrigued. "Where are we going?"
"I told you, it's a surprise." She stepped away from his door – not before casting a glance at his room – and then waved. "I'll meet you in fifteen minutes in the car. See you later!" With that, she walked away and went down the stairs, her shoes tap-tapping on the marble floors.
Silas just stood there, unable to do anything. He hated surprises, and this was the third time Leigh asked him on a date: first to drink wine after Yuna was eliminated; second, she had joined him on his morning run; and now another one where they had to go to the airport? Silas shook his head as he closed the door. This girl knew what she wanted, that was for sure. He checked the time on his phone and saw there was a message from one other of the Selected, waiting for him.
Xi [red heart emoji]: Hey ;) wanna go for a swim at the lake, today? With a picnic and wine? [7:01]
Silas: Good morning. I wish I could. I'd love to, actually. But I've just been requisitioned for the day. I'll see you this evening? [7:03]
Xi [red heart emoji]: awww... too bad. [7:03]
Xi [red heart emoji]: wait. are you going on a date? [7:03]
Xi [red heart emoji]: who are you going with? [7:03]
Xi [red heart emoji]: please tell me it's not leigh [7:03]
Xi [red heart emoji]: I mean, I really like her and all, but… ugh. [7:04]
Xi [red heart emoji]: ? [7:04]
Silas: I'm afraid so, yes. Look, I know your birthday is coming up soon. We'll do something just the two of us, okay? To make it up to you. [7:04]
Xi [red heart emoji]: [heart emoji] [7:05]
Xi [red heart emoji]: ok. Have fun today! [7:05]
Silas put his phone down and quickly went to the bathroom for a quick shower. After which, he had to choose an outfit on his own – he went with a pair of light blue jeans shorts, a white shirt of which he rolled up the sleeves, white sneakers with regular socks, and he had only three minutes left to grab a bag where he put his sunglasses, his phone, his wallet – who knows? he might need it – and Doug's leash.
"Come on, boy!" he called out, tapping his thigh to grab his dog's attention from the toy bone he was chewing on. "We're going on a date, are you ready?"
Doug wagged his tail and barked as Silas opened his door and headed downstairs. He hoped not to walk into Jesse, Sydney, or anyone, really. If he could just get out without being followed he'd be so hap–
"Silas! Where are you going? You look like a thief running away…"
He turned around to see Nevaeh in running clothes. Okay, Nevaeh was okay. "Hello, Nevaeh. I can't talk I have to be in the car in–" he checked his watch. "One minute ago."
"Oooh! Leigh's date, right?"
He nodded. Who else knew about it? Nevaeh waved him away and he fast-walked to the entrance of the palace, and sure enough, a black car was waiting outside with Leigh leaning against it, typing something on her phone.
"Oh, yesss! Doggo!" she said when Doug ran up to her to give her a big lick. "Of course, you're invited too! Who's the good dog? Yes! Yes, it's you!" She rubbed him behind the ears, using her baby/dog voice, making Silas smile. "Are you ready?" she asked the prince.
"Yes," he said, lifting his bag on his shoulder. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Somewhere that needs the jet to go there," she replied mysteriously. She opened the door for him. "After you," she said.
"Aren't I supposed to do that?" he asked, confused.
"I'm a modern woman," she said. "I can open doors for guys." She offered him her best smile and Silas obliged, climbing into the car. She followed a second later with Doug and the chauffeur took them to the airport where the jet was ready to fly them out of Los Angeles.
Once they were in the jet, seated with their seatbelts and on the way to the take-off strip, Silas took a deep breath. It was not that he didn't like flying, on the contrary, he quite liked it. "Are you really not going to tell me where we're going?" he asked again.
Leigh sighed. "You really don't like surprises, do you?" she said. "Nevaeh told me as much." She looked at the Crown Prince, the young man she had fallen for over the past weeks, despite everything. "We're going to the east coast, we're not leaving Illéa if that helps," she said.
Silas shrugged, and his stomach grumbled. "I didn't even have time to eat breakfast."
"Don't worry, I got us covered," she said. "As soon as we are at cruising speed, we can eat."
Silas nodded and looked out the window as Los Angeles became smaller and smaller. They flew towards the ocean, and then the pilot turned the plane around and a few minutes later they had reached their cruising height and speed.
From the front of the plane, Silas saw Parker coming over with two big paper cups and a brown bag. "Special delivery for His Royal Highness," he said with a smirk, putting the items on the little table between Leigh and Silas. "Have a nice flight." With that, he went back to his seat near the front.
"He's coming with us?" Silas asked.
"Yeah, it was the best compromise I could have. No Jesse, Sydney, or Otis, but Parker had to be here, and your mother and Nevaeh know exactly what we're going to do and agreed with my idea."
"I see." He looked at the paper cups. "What is this?"
"Starbucks coffee," she said. "Parker knew what kind of coffee you usually drank in the morning, so he ordered for you. I think it's black with no cream or sugar, right?"
"Yes," he said.
"And, to complete the real townie breakfast, the legendary Blueberry Muffin from Starbucks as well." She grinned and took out two humongous muffins from the brown bag, putting them on white paper napkins.
"That's what you eat every day?" he asked her, genuinely curious.
"Not every day, no. Only when I didn't have time to eat at home and I have an early day."
Silas took one of the muffins and examined it, asking how on earth was he supposed to eat that, which Leigh explained to him. They had a good laugh out of it and then talked a great deal. He asked her about her life in Allens, about her job as a lawyer, and that he might have some questions for her when they came back to the Palace, over the next few days, regarding something or another, law-related. Leigh said she was glad to help him out however he needed.
Five hours later, the royal jet was landing in Waverly, near Toronto. A car with a chauffeur was waiting for them on the tarmac, all organized by Leigh – and as much as she was happy her National Day project had been chosen, she was happy to let Gail take over for the weekend, because a date with the Prince had been much more interesting to organize – and they stopped in a nice wine bar with a plate of deli meats and cheese. But when Silas asked her if this was their date destination, she said it was only the first stop.
"You are really guiding me blindly, here," he said.
"I know, and I also know this might be out of your comfort zone. But hey, I think it's good to step out of it from time to time, don't you think?"
Silas didn't really agree but he didn't say so out loud. "When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?" he asked instead.
"Hm, good question." She tapped her index finger on her chin, sipping on her wine. "Maybe coming here to compete for your heart– I mean, for the Selection, you know?" she quickly added, her cheeks becoming a little pink. Silas put that on the wine.
"Right. Fair enough." He chuckled and sipped on his wine. They continued chatting and sipping and eating until they were done and the chauffeur took them out of Toronto.
"I think I know where you're taking me," he said. "Niagara Falls?"
"Yes!" she said, laughing. "Nevaeh said she didn't think you'd actually already been there, so I thought it was perfect!"
Silas chuckled. Now that he knew where they were going, he felt a little better. On the boat that would take them up close to the waterfalls, they gave them two matching yellow raincoats and Leigh just had to take a selfie with both of them dressed like that.
Silas also thought it was funny, and all in all, he had a good time. A really good time and he was actually surprised. His phone was at the bottom of his bag so he didn't think too much about the Selection and the others.
After the boat tour, they got ice cream and went to the souvenir gift shop, where they bought some souvenirs: a pair of socks with the Waverly flower on them for Silas, and when Leigh asked him why he just shrugged and smiled. "I can stay mysterious, can I not?" To which Leigh laughed. She bought herself a notebook with the Niagara Falls on it.
By the time they arrived back home, it was late in the evening, and they had missed dinner. They were laughing and talking about something they had started talking about in the car as they walked into the main entrance hall, and low and behold, a group of girls walked in at the same time, heading from the Women's Room to their own rooms for the night.
Silas met Ximena's gaze and he suddenly felt very self-conscious. Then Leigh saw Ximena as well, and they looked at each other a little too long. Something passed between them, but Silas had no idea what to do. Should he end his date now? They were home, anyway, so…
"Well," Leigh said once the group of girls had climbed the stairs. "Thanks for coming with me all the way to the other side of Illéa," she said, slipping her hand in his. "I really had lots of fun."
Silas looked down at the New-Asian brunette girl looking up at him with her big dark brown eyes, and he smiled. There was something about her that he couldn't quite pinpoint, feelings stirring in his chest. But it was different than with Ximena. With Leigh, he didn't have this urge to kiss her and hold her and make sure she was happy. With Leigh, the connection was, what… deeper? No, that was not the right word. He liked talking with Leigh about life and subjects people usually found boring.
"Thank you, Leigh," he said, finally answering. "I have to admit I was a little wary this morning, not knowing where you were taking me, but I really enjoyed the whole day." He offered her a smile and before he could walk away and call it a day, Leigh stood on her toes and placed the softest butterfly kiss on his lips.
"Don't tell Xi about this," she whispered and walked away, leaving Silas baffled and frozen in the middle of the entrance hall.
-o-0-o-
Jesse was just coming back from a bathroom break that same afternoon – he had already missed Silas and Leigh, damnit – when he saw Nathan coming out of his makeshift office with an orange rose.
"Ooh, you're going on a date?" Jesse asked, sensing tea.
"Yeah." The prince looked at the rose. "The flowers seem to be pretty important to them, so…" he shrugged.
"As they should be!" Jesse said. "I don't have genius ideas for nothing. Who are you going to ask on a date?"
"Come with me and you'll see," he said. "I think the main group of the girls are in the 'classroom', working on the ball thing, you know?"
Jesse nodded and followed the Prince, filming with his phone as he went. The door to the room was open – the girls seemed to be clustered in small groups, working on specific things – and Nathan stepped in. "Hello, there," he said.
"General Kenobi!" a voice said from the middle of the group.
"THANK YOU!" Nathan said. "Damn, this is the second time I've tried this, and I was hoping you'd catch on this time, Jen." He winked at her.
"What do you mean, 'this time'?"
"Last time I said that, you had a fever and you just said 'Hi'. Or something similar." He snorted. "Anyway, you're just the lady I was looking for, by the way, so this is perfect." He grinned at her and offered her the rose, which she took with a wide grin.
"Ah, yes! My fifth rose, I think!"
"Already?" Jesse asked, still filming.
"Yup!" she grinned. "One pink, two red, and now two orange roses…"
Nathan laughed for lack of whatever he should be saying right now. He invited her to follow him, and Jesse asked them if he could come with them. He hoped he would be able to come along. Because the tea… Nathan said yeah, whatever, and so Jesse was on his way to be the third wheel, again.
"Hey," Jenissa said. "You remember that big black box you brought last time?" She cast a quick glance to Jesse who perked up at the mention of the black box.
"Yeah?"
"You said you had many more things 'where that came from'…" she said mysteriously. Then she whispered something in Nathan's ear that Jesse didn't catch, but he chuckled.
"Of course," he said playing along. "The rest of it is in my room." Then he turned around. "I'm sorry Jesse but you can't come with us on this one…"
"Aww, come on!" Jesse said. "Can you at least tell me what's in that box? Please?"
"No, that's private, I'm afraid." He wrapped his arm around Jenissa's waist and steered up the stairs. They giggled and whispered together, leaving Jesse alone.
"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. He could have a good number of guesses as to what was in that box. But he didn't want to make any assumptions. Though knowing the man, it could be anything from sex toys to hamsters to a sexy photo album. Jesse went back to his office to continue what he was doing.
-.-
"Ha, I can't believe that worked," Jenissa said. "He's been pestering me about that box since our last date."
"Why didn't you tell him what was inside?" he asked her as they landed on the third floor.
"Because you didn't tell him, and I figured you wanted to keep that a secret. Either that or you just wanted to mess with him." She shrugged and waited for Nathan to open the door.
"I just wanted to mess with him," he admitted. "Though it's pretty funny! Let's never tell him what's in the box…"
"Deal," she said, holding out her hand.
"Deal." He shook hers and then invited her inside. "Please don't mind the mess," he said. "I hate it when the maids come to clean my room, I can never find my stuff. So they come only once a week."
"Huh." She looked around and saw a large window case closet with lots of funko pop figures of all the Star Wars characters. "Oh, my God this is so cool!" she said, looking more closely. "How long have you been collecting these?"
"Since I was a kid," he replied, proudly. "I have one-hundred-and-twenty-nine of them."
"That's… an insanely high number," she said, laughing. "What else do you have?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he replied, teasing. "Okay, come and see," he said, offering her his hand. "But you have to promise me not to tell anyone about what you're gonna see, okay? And especially not Jesse…"
Jenissa raised a curious eyebrow. "Okay…"
Nathan pulled her hand and she followed him through a door into an adjoining room – more like an adjoining apartment! – that was full of Star Wars stuff. The funko pop display was just a prelude to his entire collection.
"Oh. My. God," she said, looking around. There were human-sized stormtroopers and wax characters. In another window case display in the middle of the room was a–
"Is that what I think it is?" she asked, pointing at the Darth Vader helmet.
"It is," the prince said. "The original one from the movies." He paused. "I think it's my most expensive item in the collection."
"You don't say," Jen, looking around some more. There was a whole LEGO display with the Death Star, the Millennium Falcon, and many other things from the saga.
"Oh, I also have costumes!" he said, heading towards a big walk-in closet on the side of the room that she hadn't seen yet.
"Original costumes?" By that point, she wouldn't even have been surprised. He was the prince, he could get whatever he wanted, anyway.
"Some of them, not all. But those that aren't are very close to the original ones." He grinned at her, getting more and more excited by the minute. "Come see! And there are lots of accessories, too."
Jenissa stepped in the walk-in closet: there were costumes on dummies, costumes on hangers, and accessories in window displays as well. "This is like in a museum," she said. "It's amazing."
"I know, right? Here, check this out…" he went to a window display and opened it, but kept his back to her. "You wanna see my lightsaber?"
Jenissa burst out laughing. "I think I've already seen it…"
"Not that one," Nathan said, rolling his eyes. "A real one!" He turned around and turned on a blue lightsaber." Dzzzzzzz. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Jenissa's jaw dropped. "No way. Is that Luke's saber?
"Yup." He brandished it and did a little flurry with it.
"May I?"
"Sure!" he turned it off and handed it to her. "Just, careful with the laser…"
"Pfft. It's not even real," she said but was still careful because he could have paid for literally anything. She turned it on, and off. On and off. "This is so satisfying," she grinned.
Nathan leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets and staring at the girl brandishing a lightsaber in his own private Star Wars shrine. "You know, I've never shown this place and my stuff to anyone outside of my family. And even them, they don't find it impressive, because they don't know what's good in this world…" He shrugged, trailing off. Why was he getting so emotional all of a sudden?
"Really?" She looked up at him. "I'm honored, then." She looked among the hangers. "Do you have any female costumes?" she asked.
"I do, yeah." He went to another part of the room. "Here. I have Slave Leia, Princess Leia, end-of-movie Leia, I even have some Padmés and Reys, too, I think…"
They went over all the costumes and then both chose one – Nathan dressed up as Han Solo and Jenissa as Princess Leia – and took pictures and play-acted some of their favorite dialogues. They ended up spending the whole afternoon just being nerds and being silly, none of them ashamed of their love for Star Wars. They ended watching their favorite movie from the Saga – Star Wars: A New Hope – on the couch with fluffy Ewok pillows.
During the end credits, Jenissa snuggled against Nathan, both completely at ease with each other, and Nathan wrapped his arm around her. They waited until the last notes of the credits resonated to start talking again – yes because the theme music was sacred to both of them.
"I wish I could compose for the next movie," she said. "That would be so awesome."
"Hell yeah," Nathan said.
Jenissa looked up to the Prince from her position on his shoulder and grinned. "You know what I'm thinking?"
"…No?"
"We could have sex right now. In our Star Wars costumes."
"Uh…" Nathan chuckled awkwardly and rubbed a spot behind his neck. "I really don't want these costumes to be ruined, to be honest."
"Even better," Jen said. "Let's just get naked, then."
Nathan burst out laughing. "Wait, you're serious?"
"Of course! I miss sex, and you're the best partner here. I mean, I haven't tried with Val or Si–"
"Please don't say it," Nathan said, covering her mouth with his hand. "Just thinking of them having sex kind of turns me off…"
"Then let's talk only about us, or let's not talk at all," she said, taking off her costume and sitting on his lap in a nice lacey lingerie outfit. "I'm sure we have some time before dinner…" She leaned in and kissed him, suggestively parting his lips with her tongue. Nathan's hands quickly found a hold on her round backside and it just continued from there. It was not their first time, so it went pretty easily…
-o-0-o-
The Palace was usually very silent and deserted on Sunday morning. Even with the party coming up soon and still many things to do, the girls still took their Sunday morning to sleep in and rest before the crazy week coming up. Brunch was served late, that day, and even Jesse needed his beauty sleep. It was one thing to cover the Selection and hunt for the tea, it was another to have the right energy to do so.
He honestly didn't think he'd miss anything that morning, and he didn't. Everyone, even the early-rising princes like Silas, slept in. But when he finally got up and went down for a late brunch, he came across Laelia and Valerian talking and laughing over something. There was no one else in the dining room, just the two of them.
"Hi!" he said, coming over. "You mind if I sit here with you guys?"
"Actually," Valerian said, "we were done, but we were going to do something together…" he trailed off, looking at Laelia, who nodded. "And you can come along if you want."
"Ooh, I'd love to!" he said. "Can you just give me ten minutes to eat something?"
"Oh, yeah, take your time," Valerian said. "I need to go see in the kitchens if we can come and when we can come." He paused. "In the meantime, bon appétit, and we'll let you know when you can meet up with us in the kitchens, okay?"
"Sure…" Jesse said. He yawned and went to the buffet table to fill himself a plate and then sat down all alone at the table. He scrolled on his phone, looking for the latest articles he had not written himself, and to see the weekly polls. On Sundays, the latest results were always posted and he loved to see them. That week, the top three Selected were Morrigan, Ximena, and Gail, and he wasn't even surprised. Morrigan because her whole fanbase was always voting for her; Ximena because she was winning in the hashtag war; and Gail because people saw her differently now, and not just as the Cinderella story, and people were liking this new Gail.
"Good morning," a familiar voice said, pulling him out of his phone. Jesse looked up to see the most beautiful women in the universe and almost dropped his phone in his whipped-cream covered waffles.
"Hi!" he said. "You wanna sit with me?"
"Sure. Let me just go find some food." With that, Nevaeh walked away, her heels clicking on the floor. Jesse quickly put his phone away and before Nevaeh could come back, a whole group of girls entered the dining room and headed directly for the buffet without a second glance at him.
Before the table could be filled with girls, though, Neveah had joined Jesse with a plate full of fruits and maple syrup pancakes.
"So, what's new?" he asked. "How's the party coming up? How many guests? You already have your outfit?"
Nevaeh chuckled. "One question at a time, Jesse, please." She forked a strawberry and popped it into her mouth. "Nothing's new, apart from that I ran three miles this morning. The party is coming up nicely, I think, and Gail and Leigh have everything under control." She paused. "How many guests?"
Jesse nodded.
"From my latest count, we will be two-hundred and three, including the royal family and the Selected, but not counting the staff and the security people. What was your last question?"
"Your outfit?"
"Right." She eyed Jesse suspiciously. "Do you already have yours or are you going to match with me without my knowing?"
"I already have mine, I'll be all black. But…" he smirked. "Can I match my boutonnière to your dress color? Please?" He flashed her his best smile and Nevaeh snorted elegantly – Jesse never understood how one could do that.
"Fine. You may have a matching mauve flower."
"Great! Thanks!"
They talked some more about the party – Jesse wanted all the juicy info – until he received a text from Valerian:
HRH Val: meet us at 2 pm in the kitchens ;) [11:47]
Jesse Flynn: ok cool thanks! [11:47]
Jesse had a little more than 2 hours before his 'date' with the prince and Laelia so he was going to get all the information he could from Nevaeh to start writing his recap article with all the insider info.
Fifteen minutes before his rendezvous hour, Jesse went to his office to get his cameras and whatever he needed to third-wheel the couple. He wanted to be there before them so he could film their entrance.
"So, what exactly are you doing today?" he asked them when they entered, filming them.
"Cooking, obviously," Valerian said.
"Obviously," Jesse replied, rolling his eyes.
"Hello, Your Highness!" the head chef said, welcoming the couple in the kitchen. "Marco, here, is going to take care of you," he said, pointing to a redhead guy in a white cooking hat and shirt. He did a little flurry of a bow.
"Welcome, welcome," he said. "Follow me, if you will."
Val and Laelia followed the man, and Jesse was close behind, filming everything. Marco explained what they were going to do – ice creams – and then they started.
"How did you come up with this idea?" Jesse asked.
"I kinda felt bad for him for not being able to sleep for three days after reading my book," Laelia said with a smirk. "So, to prove to him that I'm not a completely dark and creepy girl, that I could do some cute stuff as well."
Jesse laughed.
"We're making each other the cutest ice cream we can possibly come up with," Val said. "And then we're going to eat them!"
Jesse didn't film the whole date because there were lots of waiting and it would have been way too long to go over to find the nice parts of the footage, so he took some pictures and chatted with Marco while Val and Laelia talked together. By the end of the date, Valerian and Laelia both had really cute ice creams: Val gave a cute pink piggy ice cream to Laelia, while she gave him a blue and purple unicorn ice cream with edible sprinkles and eyes painted with dark chocolate on the cone.
Jesse took lots of pictures of the ice creams and also of them eating them, before leaving the couple to go take a walk on their own. It turned out that they took Val's green car and went to walk on the beach where they bought balloon animals and drinks. He knew he should have gone with them, but he already had a good number of pictures and footage in the kitchens.
hiiii! so yeah, I write that during the first 3 days of nano haha! if I continue at that speed, I will have written a lot fo the story by the end of november loool. As of now, I've already written 26.5k for brothers on nano!
anyway, I hope you enjoyed these three dates! please let me know what you thought ;) and which one was your favorite :eyes:
the Ball outfits are coming out nicely! :eyes: see you next week!
