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Chapter 6
Moonlit Night
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True to his word a maid had come to collect Viviana from the women's room at 5 o'clock and she had followed the girl to the Prince's study. He came out with a half hearted smile. He looked exhausted and Viviana decided then and there to have him laughing by the end of the date. That had been two hours ago and the two were already roaring their heads off in fits of giggles.
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"Ok, ready? Three, two one!" Viviana and the prince each threw a piece of popcorn in the air moving their heads in an attempt to catch the popcorn in their mouths.
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"Yes!" The prince crowed, "I got it again!"
"Three, two!" Vivana laughed, "I'm still winning."
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"Ok, wait, wait." The prince laughed, clutching his side through a stitch, "You are making me laugh too much. You planned this! You have an unfair advantage!"
"Oh, whatever!" Viviana chuckled, throwing another piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in her mouth, "Four,two," she coughed out around the piece of popcorn. Yeah...real lady like.
"Hey, hey!" The prince held up his hands, his eyes glinting with laughter as he glared at her accusingly "That's cheating!"
"It's only cheating if you're the loser."
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The prince snorted. There was a movie playing in the background but Vivana hadn't caught more than the first few minutes. She'd unthinkingly settled onto the couch at the front of this ridiculously large movie room...
- pfft, more like theatre -
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....and started chucking the popcorn in the air and catching it with her mouth like she did at home when watched TV. The prince had seen her doing it and after smiling innocently - because, oh yeah, refined women and all that - he'd asked her to teach him.
And he had been awful! Popcorn was splayed all over the floor and he'd only just gotten the hang of it in the last five minutes.
"And what should your prize be if you win and I lose." he asked.
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Viviana considered for a moment. She assumed that he was giving her permission to ask for anything. "If I win," She said, "I get the first dance tomorrow and if I lose... I'll reconsider my job my dream job of owning a restaurant and become a teacher instead. Because clearly I was made for it if my student can beat me on the first day."
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"Best of three, starting again?" The prince asked.
"Best of three." She agreed.
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~*~
The two were in absolutely fits of laughter by the time the movie ended and Vivana was sure that her mascara was smudged all across her face. Eh, the price you pay for a good eye-watering laugh.
"Sir, Madame," a servant bowed deeply in the doorway, catching their attention "Dinner is served."
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"Oh sorry, Ross." The prince smacked his forehead, "I completely forgot! Come on." The prince jumped up from the couch and lead Vivana outside.
Her mouth dropped open as soon as she saw the setting before her. Ella had said that the prince put in an amazing amount of effort planning their date, but this was crazy. And it kind of made her smile falter.
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She had been having an absolutely blast with the prince, but it was the kind of laughs you had with a friend. It was easy and familiar...
...but the prince wasn't looking for a friend and that realisation made her squirm. She felt like she had to perform here somehow.
The prince lead her over to the table and she sat down with a forced smile as he pulled the chair out for her. Yeah...there were roses and candles. Definately not just a friend's kind of thing. The whole set up was utterly amazing but Viviana shifted in her seat feeling completely out of her element.
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Vivana knew how to laugh and joke around, she knew how to make fast friends but be romantic? Eat dinner like a lady and not some food mad goofball who liked to dissect her food in her head and mull over the flavours trying to figure out what the ingredients were and what could have improved it.
This was going to go down like a lead balloon. She was sure of it.
"You look like someone just died," the Prince laughed, eyeing her with concern though their earlier laughter glittered in his green orbs. "Are you ok?"
"What? Huh?" Viviana said actually looking at the prince for the first time since they sat down. "Yeah, I'm fine." The look he gave her made her realise that, that white lie wasn't going slip passed.
"Ok, so I'm a little nervous." she admitted, feeling her arms shake.
"I am too. You do know that right?"
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Huh. Viviana hadn't considered that before. The servant from before -Ross- came and put plates covered in lamb chops still pink in the middle and steamed greens and beans cooked to perfection before them. Viviana smiled by way of thanks and turned back to the prince.
"Ok, well why don't we go back to what we liked?" He suggested.
Viviana furrowed her eyebrows, then practically shot out of her seat completely shocked when the prince pushed his knife and fork to the side and split open a bean with his fingers.
Hello! With his fingers!
He fumbled with the bean in a clumsy way and pulled out the small green fleshy seeds.
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"Do you think I can use the same technique as popcorn?" He asked throwing a single bean in the air. He caught it perfectly and threw his arms out in triumph "I do believe that we are now tying. Two, two!"
Viviana laughed, her crossed arms loosening. Ok, maybe this she could do.
The food was absolutely exquisite, at least that is what she gathered from the food that actually made it into her mouth. They had stopped counting awhile ago and eventually stopped massacering the delicious food before them and instead settled into eating it -with their knives and forks- and conversing quite naturally.
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Their laughter came even easier than before as the night wore on, and Viviana was happy to admit that by the time that they had drifted over to the couch, their conversation was fairly personal and she actually enjoyed it when their knees brushed.
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They hugged awkwardly When they finally called it a night, but a spark had lit in her heart and she looked forward to the next time they could spend some time together.
