Tears of Queens

11 - Wyatt

After the woman – Nubia, I think? – left, I went back to my own room to explore it even more. I walked in and stood in the doorway to take in the sheer size of my new residence.

The first thing you would see when you walked in the door was the fuzzy white rug in the center of the room and the window across from the door, overlooking the grounds. It had thick, white curtains to block out the sun. To the immediate right was a large wooden desk with a soft white armchair behind it. In the corner behind the desk was a queen-size four-poster bed with white curtains and a white stone nightstand on either side. At the foot of the bed was a plush white bench, similar to the one Tala had in her room. A few feet to the left of the door was a large walk-in closet, smaller than Tala's but still pretty big. Past the closet was a small sitting area, with two armchairs and a couch, all gold with white upholstery. On the wall was a white stone fireplace, identical to Tala's. There was a white stone slab as a coffee table, and sitting on it was a bouquet of strange white flowers in a gold vase.

I went into the closet and the first thing I saw to my left was a long rack of suits in every possible style, all of them either white, gray, black, or gold. Beneath this rack was a line of dress shoes, all of them black. To my right, normal, everyday clothes, from t-shirts and sweats to button-downs and jeans, all of which were somehow identical to the clothes in my closet back home. A vertical shoe rack stood to the left of these clothes, containing sneakers, sandals, any shoe anyone could possibly want. This is the coolest closet ever, I thought to myself. I left the closet and ran to flop onto my bed, taking in my new reality. The Royal Advisor.

"Nice bed, huh?" I heard Leo say from the doorway. He was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his toned chest.

"Yeah," I sighed, content. He pushed himself off the door and came to sit on the bench at the foot of my bed. I turned to lay on my stomach and face him. "What's up?"

"I don't like how secluded these rooms are. They're too big," he pouted. I chuckled.

"You can stay here whenever you want, don't worry." I offered, smiling fondly. Wait, what? What did I just say?

"Thanks, man!" His smile lit up the room. Wait, no it didn't. AGHH!

He readjusted so he was laying on his back and he pulled out his phone, playing a game silently. Did he really enjoy my presence or did he just not like being alone? I had so many questions that had yet to be answered, but I didn't want to ask them in fear of getting the answer I was expecting.

"Do you want to explore this place with me?" I asked impulsively. He put his phone down and turned his head to look at me with a straight face.

"Are you kidding? I'd love to!" his grin spread from ear to ear, and it was just now that I noticed his dimples. He stood up and pulled me off the bed, making sure I had my key before dragging me out of my room and down the hall.

We turned the corner to the right and ran down the hall together, Leo cluelessly leading the way. We turned corners blindly and ran aimlessly through the halls of the huge stone palace until we reached a huge, golden door. The same one I saw in my dream. We slowed to a stop as the hijabi woman from the office came out from behind the door. Her head was turned away from us, giving us time to run and hide around a corner, sincerely hoping she didn't see us.

"I saw you!" she sang out. Crap. We came out from our hiding place and she grinned wickedly when she saw us. "I don't think I ever got your names!" she pointed out, overly excited, but in a suspicious way.

"Wyatt and Leo. What's your name again?" Leo asked.

"I'm Leila. Khalili. Current Royal Advisor," she looked at me specifically with that last part. Leo stuck out his hand for her to shake, to which she shook her head.

"Oh, sorry, I can't touch you,"

"Oh, right. Well, it was nice meeting you!" Leo said. We both gave her a little bow and turned the corner again, starting back down the hall. Once we were out of earshot, we burst out laughing at the pure awkwardness of the situation.

We turned some more corners until we reached the gardens. We ran around outside, admiring the beautiful plants and flowers for what seemed like hours, until the sky started to turn dark, forcing us to go back inside. When we reached our rooms, I knocked on Tala's door so we could hang out with her a bit before we went to bed. The door opened a few moments later, but it wasn't Tala opening it. It was Leila leaving the room, clipboard in hand, another wicked grin on her face. We stepped aside for her to pass, and, once she did, we rushed inside, only to see Tala sitting on the couch, clutching her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth.

I ran over to her, kneeling beside the couch. I knew not to touch her in this kind of situation, it had happened many times before, mostly before dance competitions.

"Wyatt, what's happening? Is she okay?" Leo asked, concerned. He still stood by the door, not daring to move.

"I think so. Come here," I instructed. He hesitantly approached the couch, coming around to kneel next to me. Tala looked around, wide eyes brimming with tears.

"Wyatt?" she asked shakily. My heart always broke hearing her like this.

"Yeah, it's me. What do you need?"

She didn't say anything, choosing instead to grab my arm and pull me up onto the couch with her, pulling both my arms around her. I immediately understood what she was trying to say, and squeezed her in a tight hug. Most of the time when something like this happened, she needed compression to feel truly stabilized, to come back to the real world, and these tight hugs did just that. She stopped rocking and came out of her panic-induced trance, turning around to bury her face in the crook of my neck and letting the tears flow.

"It'll be okay, I'm here. I'm here." I rubbed her back softly with one hand, my other arm still wrapped tightly around her waist, not letting go until she wanted me to.

~

We sat there until the sky outside was pitch-black and the stars were out. Tala got up out of my lap and silently opened the door to the balcony, going to lean against the thick stone rail. She looked over the gardens, her eyes still puffy from crying, the cool summer breeze relaxing her.

"Should we go too?" Leo asked. I shook my head.

"She needs to be alone. We should wait here, though, in case she needs anything." I told him, and we sat there in comfortable silence until Tala came back inside.

"Thanks, guys," she smiled sadly, making her way into her closet. She emerged a few minutes later, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and loose cotton shorts.

"I think we're gonna go now, just call me if you need anything." I gave her a kiss on the forehead and led the way out of the room.