A Red Hot Planet

Chapter 15

*Alexia*

I sit cross-legged on the fuzzy white and black rug we brought recently for the 'living room' as I play with Leo, tickling his soft tummy. He pants, light-pink tongue hanging out of his mouth and I laugh. He's just too cute!

The door barges open, startling Leo and I as Eva marches in, her pink lips upside down in a frown.

"How'd your date go?" I ask cautiously.

"Could have been better. Marcus and I didn't seem to connect, which made it pretty awkward for me. And to add to all that, I kept on accidentally splattering food all over my dress."

I now notice the stains all over her white dress. "Hopefully those will come out in the wash."

She sighs. "Yeah, I hope so. This is one of my favorite dresses." She heads towards the bedrooms. "If you'll excuse me, I'll like to change into something clean and get this dress into the wash right away."

"Please, do."

I hear her enter her room, the door slamming shut behind her. The poor girl had a rough night. I think she could use some iced- lemonade.

Patting Leo's tummy once more, I get up on my feet, trying not to put too much pressure on my still swollen foot, and head into the kitchen.

I gather all the ingredients and get down to work.

Eva enters the room, just as I'm adding the ice cubes to the pitcher. She changed into checkered PJ shorts and a short sleeve tee.

"Go take a seat," I tell her, "I made some lemonade."

"Wow, thank you." She smiles, plopping down on one of the four chairs around the dining room table.

I place the pitcher and two glasses on the table before taking the seat across from her.

"So Marcus is out of the question." I stroke my chin, deep in thought. "What about that cute guy that works at Starbucks?"

"Joel? I don't know. You know he's just like that cute guy who works behind the counter, not the guy who you go on a date with. Plus, after tonight, I think I could use a break."

"It was really that bad?"

"It was very uncomfortable. Not that Marcus is a bad guy, he just is not the one for me."

I find myself smirking. "How about Kent? He's such a sweetie."

Eva raises a startled brow. "Prince Kent? That's out of the question girl, need I remind you he's betrothed to you."

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean?" She asks, her brows now creased in confusion.

"Kent and I have come to an agreement that our marriage isn't what we want. We're both not interested in being a couple. We're happy just remaining friends and won't let our fathers control us. I want to marry for love and so does he..."

"But your father would never allow that," she interrupts.

I continue to explain, "Kent spoke to his father first about our situation and asked his father to persuade mine. Hopefully, my father would listen to another king."

"So that was what you two were discussing when we were at the beach."

"Yup. Now I have to hear from my father. I'm scared to reach out to him, I've been waiting for him to contact me."

"Hopefully he will soon and won't be too angry."

"Yeah," I sigh while taking a sip from my lemonade.

"So your plan now is to chase after Ricky?"