The King and the Girl

Chapter 7

You felt yourself getting more nervous the closer you got to Caspian, even though he couldn't see you yet... You managed to sneak behind him before tapping his shoulder lightly.

"King Caspian?" You said softly, afraid to speak any louder in case you were the reason he looked so glum. He jumped up and turned around quickly, causing you to jump.

You both burst into laughter at how easily you scared each other and then sat on the ground beside each other in front of the log where Caspian had been sitting before. You sat twirling your hair and staring into the fire, unsure of what to say when Caspian took a breath that caused you to look at him.

"____, I'm sorry..." He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck again, and you allowed yourself to admire it for a moment before smiling at him.

"No, I'm sorry, I tend to be a bit awkward and flee when I get really nervous..."

He chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Why would you be nervous, ____?"

You giggled slightly before wrapping yourself in the cloak that Caspian handed you. "I'm not sure, I... I just..." You covered your face in your hands and wondered why it was so hard to say. You sat straight, dropping your hands and closing your eyes breathing before stating. "I don't really know how to act around other people, but especially guys. No one has really looked at me before, and when you do..." You stopped to look in his eyes finding the rest of your words. "When you look at me... I just feel... Seen." you looked down at your hands nervously playing with your hair and continued. "I'm pretty invisible where I'm from, and you've been really nice to me, it's just not something I'm used to, and then to think you're a king..." You let out a small sigh. "It's just... It's like a dream." You looked into the fire again. "A very intimidating dream that I don't ever want to wake up from." You closed your eyes and whispered the last sentence toward the fire, holding your hands together above your chest, willing it to carry your words out of your mouth and sending them to whoever needed to hear them.

You felt Caspian's hand grab yours and pull it towards him. He looked down at your hands together, a smile spread across his face. "I think I know exactly what you mean, ____. But, do not worry about the whole king thing." He smiled as he began to run his thumbs across your knuckles. "Most people only see me as the king, the one who has all the power, the one who knows what to do. No one ever takes the time to ask me how my day was, or what my favorite color is... It's mostly just bows and curtsies everywhere I turn, and for once, it's nice to talk to someone without the formalities. To just be, Caspian." He looked up at you, with a slightly crooked smile and you thought, for a moment, that he might kiss you.

"Ahhhhhh!" you suddenly had Reepicheep flying between you, and you quickly backed away from each other as he pulled himself off the ground.

"Reep!" you reached down and he climbed into your open hand. "Are you alright?" you asked as you held him up.

"Oh, quite alright, Lady ____, the boys and I were just messing around when a certain CENTAUR! Decided to throw me out of MY OWN TENT!!" He yelled over your shoulder rather angrily. You let out a small giggle and set him on top of the log behind you as he scampered off in the direction he came from.

You and Caspian began to laugh together watching him run off. "Always with the timing, that one..." Caspian said as he looked to the ground. You smiled.

"Reep is... Entertaining to say the least." You said, still giggling as one of the centaurs in your group walked over handing you each a plate and a goblet of wine.

"Thank you." You smiled at the centaur warmly and he nodded respectfully as he walked away and turned around. You smiled over the plate at Caspian. You asked him questions about the kingdom, and he answered them with ease.

"Now, time for the hard questions." You said as you took the last nibble of the food on your plate.

"Those were easy?" He chuckled.

"Those were questions I'm assuming you're used to hearing. As King. Now that the formalities are out of the way..." you smiled as you leaned against the log facing him. "What's your favorite color, Caspian?"

He smiled as he considered it for a moment, and then he leaned against the log facing you again. "Purple." He answered with confidence. You smiled as you spent the rest of the night asking each other silly questions, getting to know each other a little better.