A/N: Thanks for the previous chapter's reviews. To answer your questions: yes, we will be seeing more of Sandor soon...yes, there will be more funny Stark/Baratheon/Drogo interaction at the gym...yes, there will be more jealous Gendrya scenes...and no, Arya will no longer be a virgin. Oops, got your attention there? LOL. But you're just going to have to wait for that a bit more. But it'll come...it is known!
This one's a slow chapter...just trying to prep for an upcoming birthday celebration/vacation before Uni starts for the Starks/Baratheons.
Again, not my best work, but still...ENJOY :)
"Your transcript is pretty impressive."
The Dean of the Department of Communication at University of Kings Landing remarked as he studied Arya's transcript. Arya was in for an interview upon learning that she passed the entrance exams. They were in his office - Dean Beric Dondarrion, his nameplate read - and Arya found him to be quite warm and accommodating.
"People are usually surprised that I'm not so stupid after all," Arya joked, to which the Dean laughed. "They often see me as a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, who doesn't give care about her studies."
"And you prove them wrong every time?"
Arya shrugged. "Well…not every time."
The Dean burst in hearty laughter at her admission. He started putting the documents inside the envelope and then leaned back on his large, leather swivel chair. He crossed his arms on his chest and stared at her. Arya felt self-conscious that she just focused her attention on his silvery-gray tie.
"I know your father, Miss Stark," he said after a moment's pause.
Arya was surprised by this. Her father knew she applied for UKL, the Department of Communication to be exact, but he failed to mention that he knew the Dean. Were they friends? Or are they friends?
"Are you friends?" Arya inquired with a tilt of her head.
"Yes, we are," Dean Dondarrion answered.
Okay, that was definitely in the present tense. Not good.
"We spoke on the phone last week, actually."
Arya was pretty alarmed now. "Sir, not to be rude or anything, but I hope your decision to accept my application will not be influenced by the fact that you and my father are friends. It's just that…I want…I want to be able to get in because I deserve to be here, and not because my father is Ned Stark, businessman extraordinaire."
Dean Dondarrion chuckled. "I like your honesty, Arya. And don't worry, my friendship with your father did not affect my decision to accept you into our department. Being able to pass the admissions test, your excellent transcript, and your interview are proof enough that you deserve to be here. Welcome to University of King's Landing, Arya Stark."
They all went out for dinner that night. Upon learning that Arya passed, Robert and Cersei thought it would be nice to have some sort of celebration. The couple was back in town, and everyone was in a jovial mood. They asked Arya to choose what restaurant to go to, and she chose Braavos. Well, she chose it, but technically, everyone sort of hinted at it. It was their favorite restaurant after all, and the Starks' too, to be honest.
It was a happy night for everyone. After the Ramsay incident two weeks ago, (which Robert and Cersei know nothing of yet), it was a nice change of atmosphere. Everyone was pretty relaxed and in high spirits. The food was amazing, as usual, right from the appetizers of beef lettuce wraps, to the ebi tempura, smoked salmon pizza, excellently-cooked peppered rib eye steak, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and the currently being devoured frozen tiramisu, Cersei's favorite fruit parfait, and mango and strawberry flambé. It was no wonder Braavos is a King's Landing favorite. There's a wide array of food on the menu, plus an amazing fusion of food between all four corners of the world.
"Oh gods," Arya hummed as she took a spoonful of the tiramisu. "This is soooo good!"
She was oblivious to the fact that Gendry was watching her as she took bite after bite of the mouthwatering dessert. Her eyes were closed, her pink tongue appearing as she licked the cream off her lips, her head tilted back in pleasure. Gendry's mouth must be hanging open because Jon elbowed him on the side, to which Gendry reacted with a slight jump, making his knee hit the underside of the table and causing the plates and utensils to clink and a few glasses to get knocked down.
Arya's eyes flew open and Gendry found the entire table staring at him in surprise. Joffrey and Tommen were trying to choke back laughter, but Jon, Robb and Theon weren't smiling. Nope, not one bit.
"Are you okay, hon?" asked Cersei. She signaled to the waiter to have the mess cleaned up, as Robert asked for the bill.
"I'm fine," Gendry muttered under his breath.
"You're in public, bro," Jon said through gritted teeth. "You're lucky only this side of the table saw you ogling my sister!"
"I can't help it!" Gendry spat out. "Your sister's making me crazy!"
"Oh for fuck's sake! That's our sister, you dumbass!" Robb groaned from Gendry's left. "Remember what we talked about? Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer and Shaggydog? Remember them?"
"Okay! Okay! Geez, get off my back!" Gendry replied with an exasperated tone.
While waiting for the bill, Arya realized that Gendry's distress must be caused by her open appreciation of the food, so she decided to torture him a bit more. With a blank expression, she kicked her shoe off and let her foot crawl up the length of his leg. Gendry froze halfway through a bite of the tiramisu, his face looked comical that Arya almost burst in laughter. She did it again; this time creeping higher up his thigh and was rewarded by a pale-faced, gawking Gendry. She scanned the faces of everyone in the table and was relieved to see that no one noticed anything peculiar.
When she was close to his crotch area, Gendry grabbed her ankle and gave it a little yank. Arya was surprised by the action, but she did not let up with the teasing. She wiggled her toes, making them brush the fabric of his pants, even as Gendry held her by the ankle. She knew he was getting affected by this because his grip turned deathly tight until she tugged her leg and foot away from his lap and settling back on her chair.
Arya left him alone for a few minutes before going at it again. She noticed that Gendry didn't seem affected anymore and was in fact sporting a stupid grin on his face. She teased him some more; making her foot crawl back up his crotch until Jon jumped out of the table and put his hands on his hips.
"Arya!" he hissed.
She didn't realize why Jon was pissed until she saw Gendry laughing like crazy. The others were still clueless, although some were starting to get annoyed.
Oh my effing god! Did my foot just crawl up Jon's leg by mistake?
She slumped on her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She was so embarrassed that she felt angry at Gendry, even if she knew it was all her doing. She didn't say another word nor look at anyone until Robert had paid for the bill and got ready to leave. After several thanks from the restaurant staff and some curious patrons - the Baratheons are famous in King's Landing, after all - they stepped out of the warmth of Braavos and into the chilly night air.
Gendry tried walking beside Arya and kept discreetly touching her arm and elbow to get her attention, but she walked ahead without looking at him. He finally gave up when she trudged onwards and fell into step with Cersei, who entwined her arm with Arya's and started talking about UKL.
"If you two don't stop being horny teenagers in public, I'm going to send Arya over to Storm's End and you both could forget about seeing each other," Jon threatened with a low, menacing growl.
The Starks took either side of Gendry, making the latter feel like a little boy lost and scared. Theon was walking in the rear, which only made Gendry feel even more threatened. He glanced over to the right and saw Joffrey and Tommen watching them and snickering.
Hell, even Tommen knows I'm whipped.
"Remember, bro," Robb said calmly as he patted Gendry's back. "Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog. Are we clear?"
"Crystal," Gendry mumbled in reply.
That night as he tossed and turned in bed, he mumbled this sort of prayer until he fell asleep:
"Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog. Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog. Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog. Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog…"
"Uncle Renly! Uncle Renly!" Tommen exclaimed happily as the youngest of Robert's brothers walked out into the pool area, carrying boxes of pizza. He was followed by an attractive young man, almost pretty as a girl and also as fashionable as Renly is. Arya assumed this was Loras Tyrell, Renly's boyfriend.
The guys were lazing and playing around in the pool area. Arya went up to change into her swimsuit and has just come down when Renly and Loras appeared.
"Arya!" Renly sauntered towards her with a huge grin on his face. He asked his companion to follow him so he could introduce him to Arya. As assumed, he is Loras Tyrell and Renly's boyfriend.
He opted to kiss her on each cheek than to shake her hand. It was more casual, he said, and formalities only belong to Stannis. Renly and Arya both laughed, which made Loras smile as well. As a first impression, Loras seemed to be as awesome as Renly is.
They walked back to the lounge area where Jon, Robb, Theon, Joff, Gendry and Tommen were. The youngest boy was already feasting on his second pizza. While the rest of them were…
…staring.
Her brothers and cousin were wearing scowls while an amused Joffrey was looking from Gendry to Arya then to her brothers. Gendry, on the other hand, looked like a fish out of water, with his mouth opening and closing but no sound came out.
Oh. Okay. Maybe I should have worn a one piece instead of this.
She was wearing the same black set she wore during that night with Gendry at the Jacuzzi. Maybe it really worked wonders for her; how it fit snugly to her body, showing all the right bumps and curves. She would have tortured Gendry more by flaunting more of herself, except that other people were there, especially her brothers and cousin who all looked like they would choke to their death.
"Close your mouth, stupid," she mumbled as she took a seat beside Gendry. She thinks she heard his teeth clamp together so fast he must be missing some teeth.
"I can't help it, you know," Gendry replied under his breath. "You look so fucking hot, Arya. Remember the first time we kissed? You were wearing that, right?"
"Shut up," Arya snapped, although it was a bit weak even to her ears.
"Gendry," Jon called out his name.
Fuck! Gendry thought as he quickly moved further from Arya. Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog…
"You want pizza?" Jon asked.
Gendry quickly walked over to where the others were to grab a slice of pizza. Arya had to roll her eyes at Jon, for she knew Jon and Robb were keeping watch.
"Sooo," started Renly, taking a seat from across the group. "It's your mom's birthday next Saturday. Have you guys got anything planned?"
No one answered.
Renly rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders in exasperation. "I knew it. No one here has serious party planning skills, which is why I've taken over the task of organizing something for Cersei."
"Will it be a big celebration?" Tommen asked excitedly.
"Of course, hon! If it's Cersei, it has to be grandiose! Soooo…I've assigned tasks for each of you!" Renly said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Uh oh," said Joffrey. "Last time you organized a party, we ended up wearing ridiculous Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts for Dad's birthday."
"Don't be ridiculous," Renly shot back. "You were the only one wearing the grass skirt!"
"I know! Which is why I'm kind of scared right now!" Joff said.
"Don't worry," Renly replied with a huge grin on his face. "A luau is so last year. This year, we're doing Disney Princess!"
The guys choked on their pizza. "What?!" sputtered Gendry.
Renly rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time. "I was kidding, okay? We're going on a little vacation, and we're doing it in Loras's private resort!"
"But we have a pool right here at home? Why do we have to go somewhere else for a pool party?" Joffrey asked.
Renly breathed a deep sigh. "Okay guys, I guess Joffrey won't be flying with us."
"Flying?" Arya asked in all excitement. "We're going somewhere remote and exotic?"
"You bet! And Joffrey here," Renly said, pointing his finger at his nephew. "Is staying home to feed the dogs. Wolves. Wolf dogs. Whatever."
"Alright! Alright! I was just saying..." Joffrey muttered.
"Theon, Joff and Jon," Renly said as he pointed to each of them for emphasis. "You guys are in charge of setting up the place. You have to plan how you guys would set up everything when we get there. Got that?"
"Got it," Jon said with a grin.
Renly turned to the other three this time. "Robb, Tommen and Gendry, you guys are in charge of logistics. Make sure the food, equipment, materials and whoever and whatever will be needed will be flown from here to the island. Intiendes?"
"Copy that!" Robb replied enthusiastically.
"Make sure Chef Baelish is free to fly with us, alright?" Renly added.
"Wait-did you say island? I just heard island," Jon said with a pleasantly surprised expression.
"My family has a private island in the Highgarden," Loras explained with a smirk.
Arya turned to Renly and said, "What about me? What am I assigned to do?"
"You just need to sit there and be pretty," Renly answered.
Arya raised her brows in question. "Are you shitting me?"
"Of course, I am," Renly laughed. "You'll help me with the expenses. We're in charge of buying everything we need, because that's what I'm good at."
Arya laughed. "As long as it's your money!"
"Actually," Renly whispered only to Arya. "It's going to be Robert's money we're spending!"
"Awesome! Can we start today?" Arya said, her grin splitting from ear to ear.