Celia walked dreamy eyed back to her rooms. Kel must've gone to bed, she thought. It was late, around 2:00 am, Pacific Standard Time. Despite spending the evening with several surprisingly boring young men (all besides Neal), Celia felt like Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady", when she sings "I could've danced all night". Also, despite the fact that Neal was very charming and hansome, Celia decided that she didn't like him *like that*.

She waltzed with herself down the many confusing hallways full aware that she appeared quite drunk. She could even be heard humming "I could've danced all night". She was feeling so splendid that she decided it wouldn't hurt to belt out a few bars.

"I onlyyyyyy knowwwwwww when heee, began to daaaaaaaaaaance with meeeee, I could've daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanced, daaaanced, DAAAANNNCED, alllllllllllll niiiiiii…"

"Excuse me, I didn't mean to… interrupt." said a phantom voice. Celia looked up and discovered it was Prince Roald.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my." said Celia, half embarrassed, half hysterical. She couldn't help but let out a giggle. "Did I – disturb you?" she asked, now doubled over with laughter. Roald was chuckling too.

"No it's quite alright, although I can't say that I've ever heard that song before. Did you have a good time tonight?" asked Roald, genuinely interested.

"Yes… yes I did. It was fantastic! I loved it." said Celia, which was true enough. All the attention that she got was tiresome but it was more than she'd ever received before. Price Roald cocked an eyebrow. This girl was most certainly peculiar to say the least.

"Might I escort you to your rooms, Lady Celia?" asked Roald in a very gentlemanly like fashion, offering her his arm. Celia, beginning to feel a bit warm, nodded and gracefully wrapped her gloved hand around his arm. She could almost hear her grandmother whispering in her ear 'Go for it dearie, this one's a keeper.' She snorted, and laughed again when the prince looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

~*~

Kel, pacing rapidly in her room, replayed the night's events in her mind. Was Neal really persuing Celia? That didn't bother her as much as the fact that she was actually jealous. She had just recently come to terms with having feelings for Neal. She couldn't handle being jealous of him and Celia! Now I know I'm overreacting, thought Kel. I'll just go ask Celia tomorrow what happened. She'll tell me, she's my friend. I'm sure I have nothing to worry about, absolutely nothing…

Kel quickly changed into her nightgown and threw herself into bed. Lalasa wouldn't be home for a while, since she was visiting her cousin for a week or so, so Kel wasn't afraid to make noise. She screamed into her pillow as loud as she could and roughly snuffed her bedside candle.

~*~

Celia reached the door to her chambers, still fondly attatched to Prince Roald. She let go of his arm and leaned against her door.

"Well, here you are." said Roald. They had been becoming closer over the past two days and formal speech wasn't considered nescessary anymore.

"Yes, here we are." said Celia. "Would you like to come in? We can talk or something – I'm not tired yet."

"We'd have to leave the door open."

"That's okay, unless it would disturb someone. Will it, do you think?"

"Nah, probably not." said Roald. With that, she opened the door and showed him in. She decided she'd have to be hospitible and considering Kel hadn't told her what to do if she'd gotten this far with a guy, much less the prince, she didn't have the faintest idea. She pulled up a plush velved chair and invited her guest to sit. Having done this, she took off her gloves and kicked off her shoes which had been bothering her all night. "You're not like all the other girls here." said Roald. Celia twitched; was this some sort of weird déjà vu?

"So I've heard. Can you tell me exactly why? I've been hearing that all night and frankly, it's driving me crazy." said Celia.

"Well…" started the Prince. "You aren't as – stuffy as everyone else. You're more casual and informal I guess. Like, I could call you 'Celia' and you wouldn't care, right?" asked Roald. Celia smiled, she liked the way her name sounded when he said it.

"Yeah, call me Celia if you want." said Celia.

"See, that's what I mean. Other noble girls would become rather uptight if you called them by just their first names without saying 'lady' first."

"Do you think it's a bad thing, me being so informal? Is that all that makes me stand out?" asked Celia, concerned she was blowing her cover a little.

"It's not a bad thing at all! It's very refreshing!" said Roald. He added in a softer tone, "I like it, I like you." Celia was delighted to say the least at these last words. This must be what it felt like to have a person of the opposite sex like you as a person. He said nothing of looks or beauty, not that it didn't play a part, thought Celia, silently thanking Lalasa. When Celia didn't say anything, Roald reached over and put his hand on top of her's. His hand was warm and dry, with the soothing quality of a warm bath. She looked up to meet his piercing blue eyes and blinked. Their faces were a hand's breadth apart yet she resisted the mounting urge to kiss him, thinking it might be disrespectful. He did the thinking for her and within a second, his mouth was on hers. Celia's eyes widened and she kissed him back not sure what to do since this *was* her first kiss. She was surprised, however, at how natural it felt, and how excited she was. The idea of kissing hadn't really appealed to her until now, now she wanted more. He pulled away and gazed longingly into her deep blue eyes. How much he wanted to do it again! But alas, he was not sure how Celia felt about his sudden move. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for another long kiss.

She suddenly heard the night watchman's call of 'all's well' and remembered how late it was. How long had Roald been in her room? How long had the door been closed?

"It's late." said Celia, not wanting for him to leave but knowing it was nescessary.

"I know. I'll see you tomorrow. No classes tomorrow so meet me in the garden?" he added the last part as a question, unsure of the answer.

"Yes, I'll be there." said Celia. She hugged him and watched him walk down the corridor until he turned out of her view.

*Sorry if this edition is a little late. Sorry if you hate me forever cause I can't resist a controversial romance. Sorry if you think I'm just plain dumb cause Roald's engaged… believe me I've thought of that!