Love in Ireland

/24/

-Thursday November 30th-

It was cold and raining so I decided to spend time in my studio. Alannah and I were supposed to have a movie day, but she got dragged to a meeting. When Alannah gets back, I'll probably start designing her dress for Zach's birthday party before we watch movies, though. Until then I am just painting in my paint studio. I have on a pair of black mom jeans which are almost completely covered in paint and have tons of holes. I also have on a cream, cropped, crewneck sweater which had a hole near the hem, multiple paint stains, and a couple of bleach stains. The sleeves were rolled up into large bunches at my elbows. Not that it really mattered, because the sleeves already had so much paint on them. My hair is up in a high ponytail with a scrunchie and I have a pencil stuck in it, so I didn't lose it while sketching. I have been painting for about an hour, so my bare feet are covered in paint and my arms and probably my face.

"Milena?" someone called from the door to my studio. It was faint, so I took out one of my earbuds to hear better.

"In the painting studio!" I yelled back.

I turned around and saw Maisie on of Alannah's ladies-in-waiting, walking towards the studio. "Hey Maisie, what do you need?" I asked

"I'm fixing this zipper on one of Alannah's day dresses but we ran out in the communal sewing room, so I was wondering if you had some?" Although I'm the royal seamstress, I don't make all the royal family's clothes. A while back, during Madam Bowden's time as royal seamstress, the royal family decided to wear clothes only made by castle staff. But creating a lot of day clothes is hard for one seamstress. So the royal seamstress does the clothes for the entire royal family for events. Ladies-in-waiting sew more casual clothes for the women to wear while at the castle or during casual non-royal outings. Tailors sew the casual clothes for the men. So I only have to make clothes for things like balls, cotillions, parties, galas, royal outings, etc... Alannah and Bridget have asked me to design them a few things from time to time, which I don't mind doing on slow days like today. And sometimes the boys will ask for stuff, but it is not my main job.

"I do. There should be a whole bin labeled zippers somewhere in there." I said, pointing to a set of drawers in my sewing studio.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" I yelled back. Alannah, Bridget, and Mrs. Finnegan each have 2 ladies-in-waiting and the boys each have their own tailor. I have gotten to know all of them quite well since they'll sometimes come in to get stuff. I'm the only one with my own sewing studio, since my job is all sewing. There is a communal sewing room which gets restocked every month with orders the ladies-in-waiting and tailors put in. I have to order everything I need. I get a monthly budget that is covered by the castle and if I go over, then it comes out of my paycheck.

I heard the door to my studio shut and put the other earbud in my ear. My wired earbuds had paint on them as well. I always end up dipping the string in paint, and I refuse to get wireless ones.

I consumed myself in my music and paint. I was painting one of the pictures of the garden I had taken over the summer. Right now, I was in my happy place. Just me, my music, canvas, paints, and paintbrush.

"Milena!" someone yelled, knocking. They seemed much closer than Maisie was when she called my name. I took out my earbud and turned around. Declan was leaning against the doorframe with a grin on his face. He was wearing black dress pants and a light gray long sleeve button down. The top few buttons were unbuttoned and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His hair was messy, but compared to how it usually looks, it looked almost tame.

"What?" I asked, taking out my other earbud and shutting off my music.

"It's raining."

"Yeah, I've noticed. And it's freezing." I said, confused.