Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia nor any of the characters and places associated with it.
Chapter 6: Courting and Tell
Morning comes far too fast. I lay in my bed staring up at the ceiling as the moonlight pours in through the open window. I'm still in a daze from last night's date. How on earth am I going to be able to tell the girls that the High King is now courting me without them screaming for joy and dragging attention to us? The truth is, that is not possible! I take a quick glance at the sundial on the wall. Five-thirty am. Wow! I might actually be on time. I throw my covers off me and go straight to the closet. I shove on my uniform hurriedly and very quickly scribble down a note for Bella telling her that I love her and that I'll see her tonight. I race outside through the fog filled yard to Crystal.
"Wakey, wakey, Crystal! Come on get up. If I have to be up at five-thirty, you do too!" I complain while shoving up against her. She neighs. Loudly. In my ear! "Thanks, Crystal! I really did want to go deaf the day after I got my first ever boyfriend!" I exclaim sarcastically. She give me a horsey grin.
"So I'm guessing the date went well then?" she asks. I roll my eyes.
"Oh, shoosh up!" I tell her while scowling angrily. She looks in the opposite direction to me as I get up onto her bare-back. "Oh, stop having a horsey tantrum and let's go. Hang on, I've lost it. I'm having an argument with a horse!" I exclaim, smacking my forehead.
"Broohaha. That is what you get!" she says right before she does another horsey laugh and starts running. Finally!
"Amazing, you're on time today!" Oreius exclaims sarcastically once I reach the golden castle gates. I roll my eyes at him.
"Shock horror, I'm not late!" I reply even more sarcastically, gaping at him. He laughs a booming laugh.
"You know it would be great to stay and chat, but if you don't get going now, then Starstone is probably going to end up killing you," he tells me while shaking his head sadly. I giggle.
"Well in that case, I'll see you later, Oreius," I say before riding away through the town. And once again there are pedestrians everywhere. Who in Narnia would choose to get up at six in the morning anyway? If I had it my way, I would happily sleep in till twelve pm or later. I eventually make it to the royal stable with little time to spare. I hop down off Crystal and lock her up in her stable area. I close the gate and make sure it's locked properly, before looking around the stable in curiosity. I wonder which one's Peter's? Oh well, better get going. I leave the stable and go up the ivory staircase. The castle's virtually empty. I walk around the first corner to find Starstone standing there with a huge smile planted on her face. I raise an eyebrow. It looks sort of odd to actually see Starstone happy on a work day. It isn't that she doesn't enjoy her work; it's just, usually, she's very stressed and will take it out on the first person she sees.
"You're on time!" she shouts loudly and happily. I grin.
"Yep, back on schedule," I say happily. "Thank Aslan!" I add on under my breath, while walking around her and heading up the spiral staircase leading to the Kings' and Queens' sleeping quarters. I put my foot on the first step and pause. "Hey, Starstone," I say. She turns her head to me and nods once for me to continue, "Are any of the Kings or Queens awake yet?" I ask curiously. The main reason behind my curiosity is that I just want to see my gorgeous, drop-dead, handsome, sweet, sensitive, and attractive boyfriend again, but I can't tell her that or I will get into a lot more trouble than I want right now.
"I haven't checked yet, but could you please wake the High King up? He has a meeting at seven, so I need him up and dressed as quickly as possible," she asks me very politely. I have to keep from smiling and squealing. She wants me to wake up the forbidden love of my life. How eccentric!
"Sure, I can to do that. It's easy enough, I hope," I answer her while trying to contain a threatening and give-away smile. She grins at me and leaves, obviously her way of saying "Thank you!" As soon as she's out of sight, I run up the stairs, letting the smile overcome me.
"Morning, Ash!" I hear Cabigail say as she runs next to me.
"Not now, Cabigail! I have to wake up my royal boyfriend!" I exclaim smiling. She freezes, her mouth open in shock, before she recovers. I hear her squeal and skip the other way immediately. This is going to spread like wild fire; I know it for a fact! I skip up the last flight of stairs and go up to the golden, double doors that lead into Peter's chambers.
"Good morning, Edmauel. Good morning, Yerialds," I greet politely. The two huge and muscular centaurs look down at me, then look right back up again. Okay then. Some people have issues. I go to open the double doors, but two muscular hands pin my hands behind my back. "Hey, what's the deal?" I ask angrily while squirming around, trying to get loose.
"No one is allowed in the High Kings chambers until he is awake," an all too familiar voice explains. I look behind me and sure enough see Oreius. I groan out in frustration.
"Starstone told me I that I had to wake him up so that he's ready for his seven am meeting. So let me go," I tell him, still squirming around in his arms like a worm.
"Oh, well if Starstone told you then I guess it's okay," he says, letting go of my short arms. I'm about to open the door when a hand reaches out in front of me, blocking the entrance. I try to crawl underneath the centaurs' arms, but only get pulled back so that I'm face to face with Oreius. "Five minutes is the maximum amount of time you are allowed in for," he commands me seriously before adding on in a warning voice, "And I will come in to get you after the five minutes is up." I nod my head and open the doors.
I close them again behind me. Five minutes! Does he know that Peter's courting me? I walk, or should I say climb, over towards the huge, double-king sized bed and, sure enough, Peter's right smack bang in the middle of it. I get carefully onto the bed and go to the middle. Aww, he's so adorable when he's sleeping. I shake him lightly hoping that might wake him up. All I get in response is a snore and a turn. He's now facing me. I shake him again, this time a little bit harder.
"Peter?" I say while shaking him even harder. He breathes deeply. So the High King is obviously a deep sleeper. Who knew? "Peter? Time to get up," I say, shaking him for the hundredth time.
"Okay, I'll be up in about half an hour," he promises me while flipping onto his back. I sigh. How is this so hard?
"Fine!" I say getting up off the bed before a thought occurs to me. It's only been about a minute. Oreius won't come in for a bit longer. Maybe…just maybe…I move back to Peter in the middle of the bed before I take a deep breath in and lean down to give him a kiss on his cheek. He sighs and smiles. He wraps his arms around my back and pulls me closer to him. "Are you awake now?" I ask, raising my eyebrows and smirking.
"Yes, wide awake," he replies, grabbing me and giving me a tight hug. "Why did you have to come and wake me up anyway? I was having a very good dream about you," he asks me, slightly annoyed. I roll my eyes before blushing a lovely shade of red. He was dreaming of me.
"Because you have a meeting at seven and it is now six-thirty which means that you have half an hour to be dressed and down at the Great Hall," I explain, slightly proud of myself for remembering every detail. He groans, while I just laugh at his expression.
"It's not funny!" he says as he jumps out of bed to quickly brush his teeth. It isn't until now that I realise he isn't wearing a shirt and I can't help but sneak a peek at his chest. He has a six pack? "So what are you up to today?" he asks conversationally after he's done. I smile. I could have some fun with this.
"Let's see, cleaning up after you, telling the girls that we're courting, and cleaning up after you," I state simply, but quietly. I don't necessarily want the guards outside to find out that we're courting...yet. He grins.
"Well, I suppose I'd better help you do that then," he says while lying down next to me.
"Really?" I ask, completely surprised by his reaction. He smiles.
"Yes, so I think I'll happily start with a bucket and a mop." I chuckle.
"Taking my job? I'm not so sure about this." He sticks his tongue out at me playfully and then pulls me back into him. I cuddle him back and then lay my head on his chest. He's so warm. I hear a door open then and close my eyes tightly. Please Aslan don't let it be Starstone! I hear a gasp and recognise it immediately. It's just Malina. I sigh in absolute relief and have to hold back a laugh as she miserably fails to stutter out an apology.
"I'm...um...s-s-sorry. I-I... didn't mean...to...um...y-you know...u-u-u-um...interrupt. I-I-I...j-j-just was...um." That's the best you can do, Mal?
"It's okay, Malina. I'm just glad that it was you and not someone else! Apology accepted." She's about to say something else, when Peter interjects.
"Don't worry, Malina, I'm sure Ashley will explain everything later on in your lunch break or something, okay?" She nods and sighs before her eyes roll back into her head. She falls onto the ground with a loud thud. I guess it's a little bit too much for her to handle, especially considering that he doesn't even have a shirt on. I would've passed out too. "Will you help me pull the body out? We have to hide the evidence that we possibly could've made someone have a heart attack by hugging," Peter says before losing control of his laughter. He's on the floor in it. I join in. This is so funny. I open the door and notice that Peter has picked her up and has flung her over his broad shoulder. Thank goodness she's asleep, otherwise she probably would've had a heart attack from him touching her, let alone picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder.
"Hey, Oreius!" I say enthusiastically as I walk past him. He looks at me confused, simply because I laugh out the greeting. His eyes grow wide when he notices Peter with Malina flung over his gorgeous muscular shoulder. He's still half naked, not that I'm complaining, although I'm sure he would look a sight to anyone who walks pass. "We have to go," I say, grabbing Peter's free hand and pulling him up a random staircase, smiling widely the entire time. Peter's still laughing. Once we reach the top of the stair case, we round a corner and look around to make sure no one's here. Peter tosses Malina softly onto the ground both of us looking at her like she's a diseased goat or something. "So where do you plan on hiding – or should I say stashing – the body?" I ask, tilting my head. He smirks and looks at a door that's on the left side of the hall way.
"What's in there?" he asks curiously. I look at the place where he's pointing and grin.
"You mean the supply closet." He chortles wickedly and opens the door.
"Perfect!" he exclaims before tossing her in there and closing the door. He walks away whistling inconspicuously. I laugh loudly. He immediately turns around to face me. "You think that's funny?" he asks while grabbing me into his tight hold. I giggle.
"Maybe?" I reply through giggles.
"Oh well we'll see about that!" he exclaims before picking me up and tickling me. I'm laughing so hard that I end up getting a stitch in my side. Suddenly I hear the sound of hooves coming up the stairs. My eyes instantly widen, that is until I hear the girlish screams two seconds later. Peter puts me down and I turn to look at my friends. They're all smiling.
"You have to tell us what is going on, NOW!" Henrietté exclaims. I chuckle a little bit as he presses his lips to my forehead experimentally. There's another round of screams. He's trying to make a show of this, I'm not silly! He kisses the tip of my nose before leaning away from me.
"I have to go. I have a meeting on in five minutes," he says while walking away from me. I jut out my bottom lip in a pout. He laughs a little. "See you soon...sweetie," he adds on. My head shoots up in shock just as he winks at me. Sweetie! Did he just call me sweetie or was it just me? Obviously, he did for the girls start running up to me and commanding me to tell them what happened. I giggle. This is going to be great!
"We have to go to somewhere quiet. Hmm…how about we go to my boyfriend's bedroom? Considering no one is allowed in there unless he's in there as well," I suggest. My friends all smile and nod their heads in agreement. "Great! Let's go then." I start to pull them down the stairs that is until I hear a loud groan followed by a bang. "Malina!" I exclaim, running back up the staircase to the supply closet. I jerk the door open only to see Malina covered in black ink from head to toe with a bucket stuck on her foot. I gasp. Oh this is definitely not good.
"You cuddled him...or he cuddled you! And...and he had no shirt on and why didn't you tell me earlier? You should've sent a messenger bird to come and tell me...you're secret courting!" She rambles on like this for the next ten minutes while we head down stairs. Before I tell her anything, she has to wash herself down and get dry and put on a clean uniform.
"What happened?" Starstone pretty much screeches when she sees the state that Mal's in. This is going to be funny.
"Well, she came into the High Kings bedroom while he was getting out of bed and he was shirtless so she passed out. Then King Peter panicked and tossed her into a supply closet which just happened to have ink and buckets in it. When she woke up, she banged her head on one of the shelves making the ink cover her from head to toe then, while trying to get up, her foot got caught in a bucket. So finally I decided that it would be best if she just came down stairs to get washed up before one of the Kings or Queens see her and freak out," I explain quickly. Starstone claps her hands sarcastically before she sighs and points upstairs.
"Ashley, take Malina upstairs and get her to use one of the bath chambers. Now! The rest of you, get back to work!" she screams. I hold in a chuckle before I lead Malina back up the stairs with my friends hot on our tail. We reach Peter's doorway and just as we're about to enter the guards stop us.
"The High King said that it's okay if we use his bath chamber, so I expect you to listen to me or I will tell King Peter that you aren't obeying his commands," I say, nodding my head slowly. All my friends copy me. They sigh and let us into his bedroom. "Thank you, guards!" we all say in unison. They smile and gesture us in as they open the doors for us. We all flood in quickly. The doors squeak close very quietly behind us.
"You are way too good at making up stories to be healthy," Tamilla applauds me. I giggle and open the door to the bathroom.
"Thanks, Tammy! Malina, go in now!" I say softly, but commandingly. She grimaces and walks into the bathroom. "Tell us when you need your clothes," I add on. I turn around and sit on the gold, silk quilt that's spread across the bed. I pat the places next to me and all my friends join me. We sit in a circle on the huge bed, well beside the centaurs who have perched themselves on the ground.
"Tell us everything that happened last night," Mirasdean says. They all lean forward expectantly. I chuckle. Where to start...
"Um okay, well, he picked me up from home and took me up to the top of a beautiful hill for dinner. Then we ate and he took me for a walk along the Great River. He also kissed my forehead and cheek and asked me if it was okay for him to court me. I, of course, said yes, which led us to what happened this morning," I say trying to put it simply. All of the girl's squeal. I'm half expecting the guards to come in and drag us all out.
"So he's courting you now?" Emolise asks, trying to keep her voice down as her eyes grow wide.
"Yes, pretty much," I state while starting to blush. There are sighs all around.
"What it's like to kiss him?" Kabella asks leaning it. Does she seriously expect me to answer that? She looks at me, waiting for my answer. I shrug my shoulders.
"We have only been on one date. We haven't kissed each other on the lips – yet," I say, hoping in the depths of my heart that they would cut it out.
"What? Are you serious?" Mirasdean asks, leaning right forward. "If I was you, I would've been making out with mister sexy king in a second." I roll my eyes as all the girls laugh in response.
"Ashley, can I please have my clothes now!" I hear Malina yell from the bath chamber. I get up off the bed and grab the gross dress just as she opens the door. It's open enough for her hand to squeeze out. I hand her the clothes and she quickly closes the door, locking it again. "Thank you," she says. I smile and get back into the middle of the bed. Right where was I, oh yes! The date, courting, and kissing.
"Yes I am. We are taking it slow, really slow," I answer, "but he has cuddled me a lot, kissed my face, and he also mentioned last night that he liked me." I hear the bathroom door open then. Malina walks out in the long black and white servant dress looking as stunning and normal as ever. Well at least she's not covered in ink anymore.
"Ahhh!" the girls all scream at the top of their lungs. I can't help it. I start laughing. This is just far too amusing.
Peter POV
I exit the Great Hall eager to see Ashley again. I don't care where I see her, as long as I can look at her again. I walk up the hallway and bump into someone's side. I glance upward distractedly. "I'm sorry, Starstone," I say while walking around her. I walk up to the spiral, marble staircase and start strolling casually up them. I wonder where she is.
"Peter!" I hear my little sister yell. I turn around just as she crashes into me.
"What is it, Lu?" I ask. It's probably something girly that I don't care about, but Lucy is my favourite sister. Sadly, for me, she knows it and takes full advantage of her status. She motions me down with her little finger. I kneel down so that I'm eye level with her. "What's wrong?" I ask interestedly. She leans in so that she can whisper in my ear.
"How did your date with Ashley go last night?" I give a slight chuckle. She giggles. She is so adorable when she asks me these types of questions. She always seems so eager for me to answer.
"It went well, thanks for asking," I say while picking her up in my arms so I can carry her. She giggles again.
"Where are we going?" she asks in her high-pitched soprano voice while we start walking up the staircase. I smile at her.
"Would you like to come and look for Ashley with me so that we can talk to her?" I ask, already knowing what the answer is. Her eyes grow wide as she gasps.
"Oh yes, please can we?" she begs, putting on an adorable little puppy dog face. I grin.
"Yes, we may. Now come on," I say while putting her down and grabbing her left hand. I lead her up the stairs until we reach my bedroom. I figure that will be the best place to check out first considering that Ashley always seems to find some way past the guards. I'm about to ask Yerialds whether he has let her in or not when I hear a high-pitched squeal come from my bedroom. Either someone's broken into my bedroom or Ashley's explaining to all her friends what happened last night. I think I might go for the second option.
The guards open the door for me and I enter with Lucy still holding tightly onto my hand. Sure enough all of Ashley's friends are sitting on my bed in a tight, little circle, all of them leaning in wanting to hear more. I look down to Lucy who looks as if she's about to burst out laughing. I'm pretty sure I have the same expression planted on my face for she smiles widely at me. I look back up and only have eyes for my beautiful girlfriend who's sitting cross legged on my pillow. No one has even noticed us enter yet; they're all too involved in Ashley's story to pay attention to anything else.
"But he has cuddled me a lot, kissed my face, and he also mentioned last night that he liked me," Ashley tells them happily. I look at her smiling face and smile myself. She has a way about her that always makes me smile. I hear a door creak open and Malina walks out with damp hair, which pretty much means that she used my bath chamber. I don't really care, but still I wish Ash would've asked me. It would've given me another excuse to talk to her.
"Ahh!" the girls all scream in unison on the top of their lungs. I hold back a laugh. Ashley's blushing bright red. I don't know why considering she hadn't even noticed me standing here yet. I feel Lucy tug on my shirt. I put one of my fingers over my lips, silently telling her to be quiet. I'm curious to see what else Ashley has to say.
"Anything else?" Emolise asks over excitedly. Ash shrugs her shoulders.
"Not really. I mean it was just a normal date," she says. I grimace. Maybe it wasn't that special after all. I hear a little noise come from beside me suddenly. Lucy is starting to cough.
"Lucy, shush!" I whisper irritated. 'Sorry!' she mouths. I smile down at her. She coughs again only this time it's a lot louder. I feel several sets of eyes suddenly on me. About time they noticed us standing here. All of them looked surprised to see me. I chuckle. Lucy finally stops her coughing fit and runs up to a very sorry looking Ashley.
Back to Ashley's POV
"Anything else?" Emolise asks over excitedly. I shrug my shoulders.
"Not really. I mean it was just a normal date," I say. There's no possible way that I'm going to tell them everything. They wouldn't really care for the rest anyway. All the rest is just between Peter and I. I smile at the thought before a sudden little girl cough brings me out of my precious thoughts. We all look over to the door at the same time. Sure enough there's Lucy and standing next to her is a very sad looking Peter. What have I done? I bet he heard most of the last part. I review all my words and sentences. The phrase 'It was just a normal date' rings over and over again in my head. I can just imagine what he would've heard in it. It was boring and normal; the complete opposite of what I actually feel. I don't have much time to think over my horrible sentence though because my voice being called by Lucy immediately comes to my attention.
"Ashley!" Lucy squeals, running up to the humongous bed. She jumps onto it and crawls into the middle of it. She sits on my lap and gives me a tight hug. I hug her back. Lucy will be the best sister-in-law in the world. Wait, did I just think that? She pulls away after a second and faces me. "You know Peter really wants to talk to you in private," she blurts out. I blush and climb off the bed.
"I'll be right back," I say as I walk over to my gorgeous, sad-looking boyfriend. He grabs my hand and pulls me out the door. We walk up a few flights of stairs in silence until we reach a spare room. I totally forgot it was even here. I suppose the only reason I forgot about it was because it's the smallest room in the castle. He pulls me inside and closes the door behind us, making sure it's locked. He then pulls me over to a couch that's sitting in the corner. He sits down promptly and gestures for me to sit next to him. This is definitely going to be an awkward talk. I take and seat and cross my legs like a lady before giving him my undivided attention.
"So," he starts. I grimace; so far this is not good. Usually he will at least say hello or how are you doing. "What did you mean by it was just a normal date? Didn't you enjoy yourself or was it you just didn't like me?" he asks, quite upset. I close my eyes in thought. I can't believe he thinks that I didn't have fun or like him. I love him for crying out loud. How do I begin to explain that?
"Peter, I had so much fun last night and I really do like you. I was just trying to throw the girls off. I didn't want to go into every little piece of detail about our date because that was between you and me. They probably would've been bored after the first line any way," I explain, looking into his gorgeous, cavernous, blue eyes. His pink lips lift slightly at the edges. He looks a little bit happier at least.
"Really, so you do like me. You were just trying to keep the girls away?" he asks nervously. I raise an eyebrow.
"Yes, pretty much!" I reply. He smiles at me.
"Thanks for explaining. I was starting to get a tiny bit panicked that you didn't like me anymore." I take a deep breath. Really?
"Relax, I promise there is no way that could ever happen. I really do." I pause and bite my lip. I'm about to continue when Peter puts a finger to my lips to stop me from talking.
"I lo – like you so much!" he blurts out. My eyes grow wide. "Did I just almost say what I think?" he asks, embarrassed. I smile and nod my head slowly. "Did I embarrass you?" he asks nervously. I shake my head. "Oh, but –" Now it's my turn to stop him from talking.
"I like you too, Peter; a lot more than you think. I just haven't had the guts to admit it," I tell him, blushing slightly. I look down at my legs, trying not to make eye contact, but fail miserably. He grabs my chin and pulls it up, making me look at him straight in the eyes.
"Don't be embarrassed, Ash. Honestly, I'm flattered that you like me, hopefully, as much as I like you." He opens his arms to me, a welcome invitation for a hug. We both pull away at the same time after a second. I'm about to ask how the meeting this morning went when I suddenly hear the first lunch bell.
"Come along. Lunch is ready," I say while jumping up off the couch and holding out my hand. He takes it and I pull him up off the green chair. He immediately walks in front of me and pulls the door open. "See you later," I say while giving him a quick peck on the cheek and running out the door. I run quickly down the stairs and enter the busy kitchen.
"Oh, Ashley! I'm glad you're here! Can you please serve the wine?" Starstone asks politely. I smile and nod while grabbing the expensive bottle off her. I walk out the double door and head over to the giant, oak, dining table. My mouth starts to automatically water as it does every time I look at the food on the table; meat and fish and salads and fruits and cheeses and soups. The table setting itself is lovely. A centre piece of beautiful flowers, silver plates and cutlery, and crystal glasses. If I got to sit at this table, I don't think I'd ever leave!
"Would you like some wine, Peter?" I ask politely. I hear a few horrified gasps suddenly and glance curiously around. Some of the Lords and Ladies are looking at me as if I just killed their families. "I mean, Your Majesty?" I add on quickly while curtseying. It comes out like a question though, which probably makes it sound quite fake.
"Yes please, Ashley," Peter replies politely. I grab the crystal wine glass and fill it up as far as it can go. I put it back in front of him and am about to walk on when I feel him tap me on the shoulder.
"Yes, King Peter?" I say, turning around to face him. He winks at me before he starts to talk.
"Make sure you don't give any wine to Lucy or Edmund. It will make them hypo," he explains. I nod my head in acknowledgement and walk away.
Edmund POV
I'm sitting down eating my beautifully, delicious lunch, which consists of a leg of lamb with a side salad and fruit, when I notice Ashley. I know that Peter kissed her on her cheek on their date, so being a younger brother and possible in-law to this woman, I decide that it might be fun to tease her about it. "Peter and Ashley sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I – hey," I whisper, until she decides that it will be funny to pour wine onto my head. I lick a drop that has fallen onto my lips. I like the taste. It's really sweet, sort of like blue berry. Yum, my favourite!
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. I tripped. My fault," she apologises while I glare at her. She's so going to get it! Ashley just smirks at me. "Say that one more time and I will pour it down your shirt!" she threatens quietly into my ear. I gulp. A peel of laughter comes from my darling brother and sisters suddenly so my attention naturally falls over to them. I hear her giggle and see her as she walks over to Susan when I hear the name "Ashley" being called. I look over to Starstone, who's staring angrily at Ashley, and contain a snicker. She is going to get it.
Ashley POV
I walk over to where Starstone's standing after I hear her call my name, rather sheepishly I must admit. I'm guilty and I'm extremely afraid of the consequences.
"Why don't you come for a little walk with me?" she suggests while grabbing my wrist and pulling me out of the door and into the hallway.
"Um, okay," I agree as she drags me outside and into the entryway of the castle. "What did you want to talk about?" I ask, knowing full well that she's probably going to discuss the wine incident with me. Why did I do that? Why?
"I just wanted to say that I heard what King Edmund said to you at the table and that I do not approve of it. If I see you and the High King getting close, I will fire you and with no problem considering how many times I've talked to you about servant/royalty relationships. Have I made myself clear?" she asks furiously and dead set serious. I nod. "Good! Now don't you even think about ever pouring expensive wine on King Edmunds head again. Clear!" I nod again. This is far too frightening. "Go and clean the abandoned hallway now please. It needs a good scrubbing." I feel like I'm about to cry. Being humiliated in public like this is not exactly a happy occasion.
I leave Starstone, like she told me to, and head back into the castle. Quickly, I begin to make my way up the cold, marble steps to the top of the castle. After about ten minutes of climbing up the staircase, I finally reach the top. Goodness, I hate this hallway. The problem with this hallway is that it leads from nowhere to nowhere, which is also why it's so dirty. No one bothers about cleaning it, because no one ever comes up here. I walk slowly up to the supply closet that's placed at the end of it and open it up.
Let's see; I need a mop, a window cleaner, a bucket of water, a sponge, a towel, and soap. I collect the mop, a window cleaner, a sponge, a bucket of water, and a towel. I search around for the soap. Where is it? I glance up at the top shelf and sure enough there's the bottle of liquid soap. How typical. I get up onto my tip-toes to try and get it, but it's no use. I'm too much of a shrimp. I groan in frustration and slam my foot onto the ground. I vaguely see a shadow move up behind me and reach in front of me. I look up to notice an arm reach up and grab the soap off the shelf. I turn around only to be face to face with Peter. I raise an eyebrow.
"What are you doing here?" I ask suspiciously, narrowing my eyes at him.
Peter POV
I'm leaning up against the wooden wall waiting for Ashley to come back. I need to make sure that she hasn't been fired. Starstone seemed pretty angry with her. I hear footsteps starting to move up the staircase then and glance up. Sure enough there's Ashley looking as if she's about to cry. She's moving quite fast, so I decide to follow her. We walk up to the very top of the castle to a long and fairly wide hallway. This is odd. Why would she be up here? I notice her walk into a supply closet and then it clicks. She has to clean this. I'm assuming it's a form of punishment since this places looks like the kind of place where you may find ghosts and evil spirits wandering about. I walk silently up to the closet where I see her trying to reach some liquid soap that's on the very top shelf. Being the gentlemen that I am, I reach up and grab it down for her. She spins around and raises one of her thin eyebrows.
"What are you doing here?" she asks me suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at me. I think about it while looking into her bottomless, chocolate-brown eyes.
"I came to spend time with my girlfriend," I answer brightly.
Ashley POV
I roll my eyes at him. "Really? So you're going to help me clean this dusty, abandoned hallway just because you want to spend time with me?" He shrugs his shoulders at me. He can't be serious! If I was a part of the royal family there is no way that I would want to help clean a filthy hallway. No, he can't be here to do that. There has to be some other bizarre reason. "Tell me the truth – please?" I ask him innocently with puppy dog eyes. He frowns.
"I just did. Ash, I want to spend time with you." I grimace. He picks up the bucket full of hot water, which I had grabbed on my way up here, and walks out into the hallway. I roll my eyes and pick up the rest of my materials before following him out. "What colour are these walls supposed to be, Ash?" he suddenly asks.
"I have no idea. No one usually comes up here because it's just the hallway. It doesn't lead anywhere. The only reason Starstone has asked me to clean it is because she's angry with me. The wine was imported from Calormen and was very expensive," I answer honestly as I heave everything over to a wall and place it down with a humph. He raises his eyebrows at me.
"Well I suppose we had better get started then to see what colour the walls are," he says enthusiastically. My eyes widen and I can't help but just stare at him in disbelief. He's dead serious. I can't believe he's going to help me clean. Shaking my head in amusement, I get the sponge and dip it in the soapy water. With one wipe across the wall, the sponge is immediately filthy with grime. My skin crawls while my body automatically shudders at the filthiness of it all. Yuck! I'm going to need a lot more sponges – and water. I think I saw some more in the supply closet actually. I walk over to it with pursued lips before grabbing the box of scrubbers and sponges. After heaving the box back over to where Peter is, I slip a new scrubber into the water and begin to scrub the disgusting wall with all my might. After a while I grab the sponge and wipe away the excess dirt before gasping. You have got be kidding. The walls are gold. And I'm not talking about the dim looking gold either, but bright, bright gold.
"It must be paint, surely!" I say in awe. I watch Peter as he walks up to it and knocks on the gold part twice.
"Ash, these walls are real gold!" he exclaims, the shock of it all evident on his face. My body goes slack, my hand releasing the disgusting sponge. Real gold! All this time this golden hallway has been covered in dust and grime and no one even realised. "We have to clean this hallway and fast!" I nod my head in agreement.
It takes us four and a half hours of scrubbing, but we're finally finished. We both stand at the end of the hallway with bright smiles on our faces. It's so pretty. The west wall is pretty much a window. It overlooks the Great River and the waterfall with a view of the forest as well. The east wall is bright and made of real gold, shiny and metallic. As for the flooring, well, it's made up of sparkling, white-gold tiles. The roof is pretty as well. It has gorgeous paintings covering it from one end to the other. Each picture seems to tell a different story. As I look closely at them, I realise that they are starting to move a little bit. There's magic up here; of that I'm sure. "We should make this our hallway!" I suggest. Peter smiles at me and is waiting for me to continue. "We can decorate it how we want and come up here when we want time together. No one ever comes up here. It's the perfect hiding spot," I suggest excitedly. He walks up beside me and drapes an arm over my shoulder. I quickly kiss his cheek.
"That sounds like a great idea to me. In fact let's do that. It'll be fun to do something other than attend meetings and run court sessions!" he agrees with me gently. "Hey, what's that door over there?" he suddenly and surprisingly asks after a peaceful silence. I grin as he points over to a silver door over in the far corner.
"Peter, that's the supply closet we've been using," I tell him. He's not very observant. I feel him glance behind us.
"No, that's the supply closet behind us," he retorts, while pointing to a different silver door in the other corner. I frown. I swear that the door I cleaned over there was the supply closet. I glance behind me and notice Peter tilting his head like a curious, little, puppy dog. I hold in a chuckle. He wanders over to it very cautiously. "You have to come and see this, Ash!" I raise an eyebrow and curiously waltz over to where he's standing. My eyes land on the silver door before they widen in surprise. It has a big, black sign in the middle of it that has big, white letters on it that reads 'OUT OF BOUNDS!' How in Narnia did I not notice that huge, black sign while I was cleaning it? "I think there's more on this floor than you first thought," he says. I wonder if this has been here the whole time?
"I wonder what's in there," I say distractedly while starting to reach for the door handle. Warm hands wrap themselves around my wrists and pull me back.
"I wouldn't go in there," Peter starts. He leans down and whispers quietly into my ear, "It might be haunted. What if a ghost placed the sign here while we weren't looking?" I giggle. He has the craziest imagination.
"Yes, right, haunted. Nice one, Peter!" I say sarcastically. I walk forward and start reaching for the door again before Peter pulls me back again, spinning me around so that I'm facing him.
"Seriously, Ash, I really don't think we should. I have a very strong feeling in the pit of my stomach that Aslan put that sign there and that in the future he might let us look inside, but, for now, can we please just leave it alone," he begs. I look at the door handle behind me and then back to Peter. His blue eyes are boring into my mine.
"You're right; Aslan does usually have a certain time for everything," I agree kindly while giving him a hug. He hugs me back. I know curiosity will get the better of me someday, but for now, I'm fine. That door will just have to have stare downs with me.
"What do you say that we go and buy some candles and decorations for this hallway?" he asks curiously. I grin and nod my head. "Come along then," he says, pulling me to the town. We shop around for a few hours before taking all the stuff upstairs. It's weird that none of the guards notice us together. They just bow to Peter then keep walking. Well, at least I'm not in trouble. Once we get upstairs, we hang everything up and put everything down in their places. We stand at the end of the hallway once we finish.
"I love this hallway!" I say enthusiastically. Peter simpers at me.
"It definitely is pretty," he says while he walks forward and stands next to me. "Don't you have to finish work for the day?" he asks curiously. I nod.
"Yes, unfortunately I do," I say while I turn around and give him a hug. It isn't until I lay my head on his shoulder that I realize how tired I actually am. I feel like I can fall asleep at any second. I yawn. Slowly his arms wrap around me before I'm suddenly airborne.
"Some warning would've been nice!" I chasten.
"I think you should have the rest of the night off," he tells me, ignoring my comment. I relax into his arms and nod in agreement.
"I wish it was that easy, but I've been coming in fairly late recently, I need to make up for all the hours I've missed," I explain before yawning again.
"Okay then, but you have to promise me that you'll ask Starstone for a day off sometime. You need a day of rest," he complains. I nod again. "Or you could just ask your mother to take over for a day. Which reminds me, why didn't I meet your parents last night?" he asks suddenly. I shut my eyes tightly and frown. "Ashley, are you okay?" he inquires worriedly.
"I need to tell you something."
