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(My Disclaimer is on the former first chapter.) I had great fun writing this one. It's not long, and, again, I take the liberty of assuming they were friends as kids (See "Trusting You"). The dialogue will make you laugh, definitely. Also, part of this is the flashback in "Trusting You" Chapter 6, which I actually wrote BEFORE this, so it was fun to give the scene a backstory. I really love how my stories are beginning to tie in to one another. Read on!
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He met her at a quarter to three, as they'd agreed, at the base of the tallest old tree in Tsarskoe Selo, as they'd agreed. Completely spontaneously, she carried with her a sandwich to share, and she handed it to him now as she stepped up the trunk of the oak.
"Careful. If anyone sees us, they'll tell Papa." Anastasia shook her red curls out across her back and reached for another branch.
"Don't worry," Dimitri called from below her. "No one will see us. I've been climbing trees since I was five."
The two of them reached the top branch, overlooking all of Tsarskoe Selo, and sat down. Anastasia widened her youthful cerulean eyes. "Really?" Clearly, she was impressed with his five years' worth of experience, in the way only a child could truly be. "Did you ever fall?"
"Nope," Dimitri bragged, puffing up to his full height of four and three-quarter feet. "I never get hurt." He reached into the folded square of cloth and pulled out the sandwich, handing the first half to Anastasia. "Here."
"Thanks. I took it from the leftovers from lunch today, so it's two different halves. There wasn't a whole one left." She peered over his shoulder. "What'd you get?"
"Ham."
"Beef. Trade you?"
"Yeah."
Below them, a flurry of flustered female voices began arguing with each other. Anastasia looked down. "Oh! Shhhh," she laughed, "it's Tatiana and Olga."
Dimitri took a bite of his sandwich and settled in for the show.
"I can't believe you read my diary!" Tatiana was saying. "Why would you do that?"
"You tell me," Olga countered. "I never read your diary!"
"Then why wasn't it where I left it? We share a room!"
Quietly, so as not to be heard, Anastasia giggled. She leaned closer, indicating she had something to confess.
Dimitri leaned in too. "What'd you do now?" He was trying not to laugh himself. Instead of washing dishes, he was getting dinner and a show.
Anastasia looked proud of herself. "I hid Tatiana's diary," she admitted. "After I read it. She likes the blonde guard, by the way."
The young duchess finally lost control, and went into a silent fit of hysterical laughter. Dimitri laughed too, genuinely impressed by his feisty friend, and they finally erupted at full volume once the warring sisters headed back inside.