Love in Ireland

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-Saturday June 10th, 2023-

It's been three years since I became Madam Bowden's apprentice. And three months ago she announced she would be retiring June first. And well, she retired nine days ago and completely moved out of the castle four days ago. I'm nervous and also super excited, because now I'm the royal seamstress. Today I'm moving into the castle. Alannah said I couldn't refuse to live in the castle and that my family could come and visit whenever. Over the years, Alannah and I became best friends. At first, some of the people didn't take kindly to us being friends, but most people slowly got over the initial shock. I've actually gotten to know the royal family pretty well through being an apprentice and Alannah's friend. The king and queen actually took Alannah and me being friends better than I thought. Alannah told me that it was because she doesn't make friends easily since most of the people at her boarding school were just not her type of people. Which means boring clothes and boring personality. I've gotten to know Alannah's siblings pretty well as well. Bridget liked that I had red hair like her and as she started to find her own style like Alannah, she's been coming to me for advice on what looks good. Owen just thinks I'm cool.

Now, if you told me I would be best friends with Princess Alannah and spending most of my time with the royal family, I would have thought you were nuts. Since Declan is a year older than Alannah and I, we hang out with him and his best friend Zachary (Who goes by Zach) a lot and a few years ago we became one big friend group. Of course, Declan's still has his crown prince stuff to do but he tries to balance everything. 

One time, Declan and Alannah tried to teach me how to dance. That did not end well. I am by no means flexible. Declan and I both like reading, so he'll come recommend books to me. I forced him to read Harry Potter as punishment for coming up with the idea to teach me dance and now he's a potterhead like me.

"So how's moving in going?" Alannah asked from my doorway. So far, I had done no unpacking. It was so overwhelming. Of course Madam Bowden left the fabric, thread, and all that stuff. But all her sketches, art, and posters were gone. And my bedroom was even more bare.

"I don't know where to start." I admitted.

"Good think your best friend does!" Alannah exclaimed. "We will have to do some rearranging. Because I feel like this place is still too much like Madam Bowden, even with all her personal stuff gone. You should have space in here or in your room to paint." One of my big hobbies besides reading was painting. I had acrylic paints, oil paints, watercolor paints, gouache, everything. Madam Bowden insisted she pay me for the apprenticeship, so with my paychecks, I would go out and buy more art supplies. Alannah considered it part of my style how I would show up to work with paint covering my arms and legs and sometimes my face. The apartment I lived in with my mom and brothers had multiple levels. The top floor was my grandfather's studio. He was an artist. Since he didn't use his studio much anymore, he gave it to me along with all his art supplies. I brought some of his drawings, paintings, and art supplies with me to the castle.

"How are we going to make room for a painting studio?" I asked. The room was HUGE, but somehow it felt so cluttered with stuff that it was packed full.

"Madam Bowden didn't have a very good organization system. So if we organize a bit, I think we can make room for an area to put a shelf, drop cloth, and your easel. Or... Wait a minute!" Alannah ran across the room to another door next to the dressing room.

"This was a room for Madam Bowden to have a desk. It was her office in the studio. We can have the desk cleared out. It's a pretty decent space. We can move the shelf to this wall. Put drop clothes on this wall and on the floor, your easel, hang some of your paintings and your grandfather's paints. Move the small table over there for brushes and palettes." Alannah explained. "I completely forgot this room was here. Madam Bowden never seemed to use it often."