the Christmas crown

ten

SURPRISE TWO CHAPTERS!! anyways yes, go enjoy even tho this one is a bit shorter

Nina's pov

I'm sitting on the cold stone floor of the garden, attempting to put together this sparkly reindeer family. I'm not the best at building things...but I'm determined to do it. I slice open the box and pull out the parts, getting gold glitter all over my black jeans and coat. I read page by page in the manual and I begin to put pieces together.

{Hours later}

It's been like three hours and the sun is beginning to set...and I'm still doing these reindeer. I keep messing up and having to restart and let me tell you...it's a process! I'm exhausted and beginning to get hangry and annoyed. I angrily groan and sigh as I toss the pieces of these reindeer on the stone once more, failing again.

"You okay?"

I turn around and see Ricky standing in the doorway to the garden. I awkwardly stand up, straightening out my clothes.

"Uh- yeah I-I'm okay..."

He softly laughs a little before looking around himself and coming in the garden. He stands next to me and looks at the mess of sparkly reindeer limbs.

"What're you doing? It's 7pm already...shouldn't you be eating dinner or something?", he asks.

I stay quiet for a second, wondering why all of a sudden he's so interested in me and what I'm doing. But, as soon as I look up at him, I don't care. I see his face perfectly. His complexion is...perfect. His brunette curls make a mess on top of his head. His skin is smooth and soft looking. His dark brown eyes are staring back into mine as I have to look up at him because of our height difference. I blink my eyes and look away after I realize I've been staring.

"Uh yeah- I've just been trying to build these reindeer for the past three hours. I haven't had time to eat something.", I chuckle, awkwardly.

"Well, uh- you want me to help?"

I clear my throat, "Uh- yeah sure"

"Alright give me a second. What do you want to eat? I'll call Eric to bring out something.", he says, pulling his phone out.

"Uh no, no it's okay. I can just eat some chips or something when I get back to my house.", I reply.

"Are you going back right now?", he asks.

I shake my head, "I wasn't planning on it- I was gonna stay here and help you..."

"Okay then, I'm getting you something to eat.", he says, typing on his phone, "Alright, Eric is bringing food in a few."

I slightly smile, "Thanks...should we- try to build these?"

He nods and we both take a seat on the cold stone floor, and I pick up the manual, beginning to read out to him.

Ricky's pov

Okay so...now that I admitted I have some feelings for her, all my friends are going insane. And, I'm also beginning to see and come to terms that I have feelings for her. She is actually so cute.

"Um...attach part A and B, the leg and the torso, together with the little screw thingy", she reads out. I can't help but chuckle a little, looking at her. She was glowing under the moonlight.

"What's so funny?", she says.

"Little screw thingy?", I chuckle.

"I don't know what it's called!", she says, getting defensive.

"Calm down...I'm just messing with you", I say, picking up the attachment and doing as she read.

We continue for about ten minutes before we finish the first reindeer. It looked pretty good.

"One down...three to g-"

"I have a delivery", a voice sounds.

We both turn around and EJ is standing the doorway, a plate of food in hand, smirking. I roll my eyes and walk up to him, taking the plate.

"You're welcome!", he shouts as I turn my back and walk towards her.

I hand her the plate and she smiles, "My favorite."

My mouth parts a little in surprise, "Blackened chicken pasta is your favorite too?!"

She nods and giggles a little, "Yup!"

I watch as she stabs a piece of chicken and pasta with her fork, placing it in her mouth and smiling, while doing a small happy dance.

"This is delicious!", she exclaims.

I nod, "Right?! The chefs here are amazing at their job"

Nini's pov

After about fifteen minutes, I finished my meal and Eric took my plate away. My stomach was now full, and it was about 7:45pm now.

"Should we continue with building?", I ask.

"You bet", he replies.

Once again, we both sit on the floor, and I read the manual to him as he puts the parts together. In the blink of an eye, all four sparkly reindeer are complete and standing on the stone floor.

"I'm impressed. You did good.", I chuckle.

"You did good too", he says back, looking at me.

"Doing what? Reading?", I laugh, throwing the manual onto the floor.

We share a laugh before it goes quiet again.

"I should probably get back...it's dark and getting late. But I'll be here early tomorrow morning again.", I smile, beginning to walk away.

"Wait.", he says, "Let me tell Eric to drive you back..."

I shrug it off, "It's okay...I can walk. Thank you though."

"Then at least let me walk with you...it's just- really dark.", he says.

I'm not complaining because he is cute...but why's he all of a sudden so into me?

"Okay then.", I smile.

He smiles back at me as we enter into the castle again, heading for the front doors. We walk outside back in the cold and head down the black road, towards the guest housing. The walk was pretty silent. I was admiring the beautiful nighttime scenery as we walked along. I eventually look up at him and I realize he was already looking down at me. We meet each other's gaze and awkwardly laugh.

"Thanks for helping me again...", I say as we arrive on the front porch of my house.

He nods, "Yeah no problem"

"See you tomorrow.", I smile.

"Have a good night...Nini...", he says before walking off.

I enter my house and lean against the door as it shuts. I bite my lip and smile to myself as I feel my cheeks get hot and probably turn pink.