Chapter 5: Prince Charming

Finally, I roused myself up enough to go and get dressed for my date. The day before, Nicole had helped me plan out everything about my outfit, hair and makeup, and she had not left until she was certain I could do a good job of them all. That was what I set out to do now.

It didn't take me that long to get ready, since my outfit was pretty simple. We'd decided that I should just wear a tank top, black, over-set with a white cardigan, skinny jeans and knee-high leather boots. I put diamond studs into my ears, and then straightened my hair, making sure every single strand was silky, falling delicately on my narrow shoulders. As for makeup, that was simple: just a thin coat of lip gloss and a bit of mascara - enough to make it look natural but still pretty- to top it all off. When I was done, I gave myself a quick once-over, glad of how mature and beautiful I looked.

Right at 6:00 exactly, the doorbell rang. My heart skipped a beat as I hurried downstairs to the main door. I opened the door, my heart pounding in my chest, and was met by a handful of lilies. My mouth fell open in shock as I reached forward and plucked out a card from the middle of the flowers. It was decorated with a simple heart on the front with the words 'You are my star' under it. I opened it and read aloud, "You are my star that fills the night of my life with eternal light." In that moment, I thought my heart would just burst out of my chest with the force it was pounding at.

Daniel also chose that moment to poke his head right out of the middle of the flowers. I blinked at him in surprise for a moment, and then started laughing my head off. When I managed to gain back even a bit of my breath, I gave him a huge smile, "This is amazing!" I cried, "This is perfect!"

He blushed deeply, "You like it?"

I kissed his cheek lightly, "Answer your question?" His blush told me it did.

"It did, but I'd kind of like another answer."

I took the lilies from his hand, "I'll give you another answer later, Casanova, I can promise you that for sure."

That sentence by itself probably made us both blush deeply, but since I was turning away from him, I couldn't see his face and he couldn't see mine. Quickly, I sought out a vase for the flowers. When I finished, I turned to inspect him, my eyes sweeping briefly over his navy button up and jeans. I smiled lightly at him, "Looking good, Prince Charming."

"'Prince Charming'? I like it," he grinned, the tension broken. He held out his arm to me, "Shall we?"

I smiled, looking into his eyes, before placing my hand gingerly in the crook of his elbow, "Let's."

Together, we walked out of the house and over to… the taxi? Whoa, dude was earning a lot of points very, very quickly. He opened the door for me and waved me in, smiling, "After you, my lady."

I slipped into the taxi and he got in after me, settling down as he told the driver the name of the restaurant we were going to. Oddly, considering how long I'd lived here, I didn't know where he was talking about. I rode in silence, Daniel content not to say anything until we got there.

When we got there, I knew instantly why I didn't know the name of the restaurant: it was a frickin' hotel. My mouth fell open in complete shock, and I held that pose for…how long? At least two minutes. I just stared up at it, speechless.

Daniel gave me a concerned look, "Elena? You alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I stuttered, "What are we doing here, Daniel?"

He blushed deeply again, "It's our first date; I thought I'd take you somewhere nice."

"This is just…amazing. I don't know what to say," I whispered.

"How 'bout saying that this date won't be our last?" he smiled.

All I could do was nod as he led me in. The inside looked as magnificent on the inside as it did on the outside, which was saying something, considering the hotel was in the shape of a half-donut with a fountain in the middle. The fountain had a sculpture of two leaping dolphins in the middle, made completely of glass. There were trees, evergreens, everywhere, and a garden of flowers around the fountain. It was so beautiful. The inside, had huge chandeliers all over the place, so it made look like there were crystals shining everywhere. The table clothes were linen, so white it almost hurt to look at it, and the waiters all wore suits, wait, not suits, tuxes. Hell, this place was high class. "This place looks so expensive," I whimpered, wondering how he was going to pay for it all.

He smiled at me like he knew what I was thinking, "It should be; it's a five star restaurant."

I swear my heart just stopped then. "Five. Star. Restaurant." Hell, this boy was putting a lot on this one date. It was times like these when I wish I had more than one set of eyes, so I could see more at once and not give myself a headache trying to look at everything at once.

Daniel exchanged a few words with the closest waiter, and he led us to our table, putting down menus on the table before leaving. Daniel held out my chair for me as I sat down before sitting down in my own chair. Suddenly, I was very much aware of how poorly I had dressed. Everyone in the restaurant was dressed formally, whether in a dress or tux, with Daniel's standard as the lowest. I blushed deeply, wishing I had just gone with the sky blue halter dress Nicole had picked out for me.

As if he knew my thoughts, Daniel smiled at me, "You look wonderful, Elena."

"Everyone here is dressed so formally," I said, eyeing a woman in a strapless, blood-red dress and her companion in a tuxedo. "I feel out of place, and very, very young."

"You are young," he shrugged, "And much more beautiful then any of them."

I raised an eyebrow at him, smirking, "Laying it a bit thick, aren't we?"

He blushed lightly, "My dad told me gentlemen always compliment their fair ladies."

I just let out a laugh at that, "Come on, Daniel," I teased, "As much as I like your flattering, your real personality appeals to me much more."

He raised an eyebrow, instantly going back to his semi-arrogant nature, "Is that so? Then perhaps I should stick with that if that is what my lady prefers." If it were ever possible to sound arrogant and humble at the same time, this would be the perfect example.

He picked up his menu, and we inspected the dishes in silence for a few moments, trying to decide what to order. Everything on the list sounded so appetizing, so delicious that I had a hell of a hard time deciding what I wanted. Finally, I settled on something simple: steak. No one can ever go wrong with steak.

Daniel looked up at me and smiled, "What do you want to eat?"

I pointed at the picture of the steak, feeling foolishly out-classed, "That."

He grinned, nodding, "Good choice."

He hailed a waiter and told him our orders, gaining himself a few more points by ordering for me. Then, we sat back and just relaxed. "How am I doing so far?" he asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

He waved his hand around lazily, "With all of this; how am I doing? Is this enough to get me a second date?"

I blushed deeply and looked anywhere but at him, "By far. This place is amazing; everything you've done tonight has been amazing. I can't thank you enough for all of this."

He gave me a wide grin, "I'm glad to hear that; I've wanted to ask you out for a long time."

"You have?"

"Definitely. I've always noticed you, but I didn't say anything because I didn't know what to say."

"Then why now?"

"Because I finally convinced myself by telling myself that if I didn't ask you out soon, someone else would and I would lose my chance, and I am a sore loser; ask anyone."

I smiled, it was endearing that he was so honest; I found it very attractive in a man. That, combined with his looks, made him a very popular man. The fact that he had chosen me, above all the beauties in the school, almost succeeded in making my heart stop.

The steaks came not long later, and we talked as we ate. We talked about school, we talked about the clubs we were in, what activities we did outside school, and our friends. We talked about subjects that were familiar to the other. We never ran out of things to talk about for the entire two hours we were out. Like a gentleman, he paid the bill, even though I insisted of paying a portion of it. As the facts went, he was almost insulted when I offered to pay some. When I'd asked why, he told me that men always have to pay the bill on the dates, because if the girl pays, it meant it wasn't a good date. When I heard that, I apologized quickly, telling him that wasn't what I meant, when inside, I was wondering what was wrong with his dad. I mean, who thinks like that? This was the 21st century for Christ's sake! Men and women were suppose to be equal, even though Winsey constantly reminds me that men and women can't be equal; men will always be superior to women in every aspect except intellect. I knew she was right, but seriously; who still thought like that?

We talked even as he got a taxi to drive us home. We agreed on many things, but for the things we didn't agree on, we argued playfully, each of us trying to prove our point to the other. At the end of each argument, we just agreed to disagree. It was fun, it was relaxing, and it was peaceful. I felt more at peace with him than I had with anyone for days, especially with all the Arsenio drama.

The moment I thought that thought about Arsenio, it disappeared in my mind, leaving me dumbfounded. What the hell? I tried my hardest to think about him, I really did, but the thoughts just kept slipping from my mind like water from your hand. It was disconcerting how I couldn't even control my thoughts like that, but again I convinced myself it was because I was so into Daniel. I should really stop trusting everyone. Winsey would tell me that I was an idiot for not questioning the weirdness of it. Sometimes I agree.

It didn't matter at that moment though. Daniel dropped me off at my house, giving me a kiss on the cheek and a promise to see me tomorrow. The taxi stayed as I walked up to my house, and on a whim, I turned and blew a kiss to Daniel. He laughed and pretended to catch it, holding it to his heart. "Good night, my lady!" he called, smiling.

"Good night, prince charming," I returned, smiling brightly.

"Until tomorrow's fair morn, may I see you once more!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air and spinning around.

His antics made me double over laughing, holding my stomach, "Go on, Casanova; your sleep awaits!"

He winked at me once more before getting into the taxi and driving off. I walked into the house in a somewhat dazed state. The only thing I remembered the next morning was saying a dreamy good night to my parents before heading up to my room. I remembered thinking about Daniel, replaying every single moment of our date a hundred times. I replayed the kiss he had given me a million times more. I squealed to myself, ignored the calls and texts on my phone, imagining what he would do, where this would take us.

The next morning, I woke up with barely any sleep, because I'd spent half the night creating little fantasies about Daniel and I. When I fell asleep, I'd been so happy, so peaceful; it'd been the best night of sleep I'd had in a long time. I went downstairs in the same dreamy state I'd been when I'd gone up, said 'good morning' to my parents, ate breakfast, and gone to school, all in that same, half awake state. I just couldn't stop thinking about Daniel. A small part of my brain, the Winsey-part, I called it, because Winsey was probably my one rational friend, told me this was wrong, and I should be wary, but I was thinking too much of Daniel to care. Stupid mistake number two. Actually, I don't know how many that is; looking back, I can see that I've done many, many stupid things.

Daniel met me at the main entrance with a kiss on the cheek. Then he took hold of my bag and walked me into the school, holding my hand, and ignoring everybody that looked at us oddly. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just followed his lead and ignored everyone, content to just be with him. I knew I should have looked further into the situation, should have done more to assess it, but I was in no mood to; I just wanted to enjoy the attention of being with him. He walked me to my locker and turned away as I opened it, giving me my privacy. He did everything I asked without question, looking as if me talking to him was a blessing. It was so cute, so romantic it made me blush uncontrollably for almost ten minutes.

He walked me to class and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before sauntering to his own, promising to see me later. The moment I got in there, Nicole, Chloe, Emma, and a bunch of our other friends attacked me. They pressed me for details, begged me to tell them what had happened, but Chloe shooed them all away, being the great friend that she was.

She got them all to settle down, then set me down in a chair, everyone else scrambling to get a chair close to mine. "So, where'd you go?" Chloe asked me as soon as everyone was settled.

"He took me to a five star restaurant," I said, dazed.

They all looked at me with open mouths, "Are you serious?"

"Totally."

"How'd he pay for it? Or did you both pay?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, you know what, just tell us everything." So I did. I told them about how he had picked me up in a taxi with the bouquet of white lilies, the card, everything. I told them how he had ordered for me, acted like a perfect gentleman throughout the date, and how he had ended it all off. I told them how endearing he had acted, how romantic. They 'awed' in all the right places, swooned during the particularly cute parts, and by the end they were all cheering.

"You are so lucky he's into you," Nicole said, jealous.

"I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I'm never saying sorry for it," I smiled. At that moment it was true. Everything I said was true; I hadn't embellished even a bit of it. I loved the fact that he was paying so much attention to me, and I was flattered beyond belief that he would ask me out over all the other beauties in the school. I was happy, so happy I had no words to describe it. It was like warmth in my chest; very, very comforting warmth that I never wanted to be rid of.

Then, a cold thought pierced through all my daydreams as I sat through class, ignoring the teachers lecture, "What would Arsenio think?"