Light-Years Away

Chapter 2

"His clothes? What about his clothes?" I ask.

"He makes them himself and is super proud of them, but I think they're…meh."

"I wasn't paying attention to them," I state, honestly.

"Oh, get back to me on this. I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"What do you mean by that?"

Before the princess can answer, the door opens again. This time Secré's head slides through the gap.

"Excuse me, but I'm meant to show Caitlyn around, and I've still got some stuff I need to do."

"Of course! Caitlyn, you're dismissed."

I get up, curtsey, and walk out to Secré.

"Let's go to your room first, so you can put your stuff away."

I nod. Secré leads me down corridors, up and down staircases, and straight through a bustling kitchen to a wooden door. On the other side of which was a giant room filled with beds.

"Which one's mine?" I go a few steps into the room.

"None of those," Secré pushes open a door, off to the side, which I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.
"This is our room."

The room's small but charming. OK, it's only small in comparison to the room it's adjacent to. The door is in the corner, meaning the room expands to the left. The half of the room furthest from the door is untouched, and I presume that's my half. Apart from that the room mirrors itself: a single bed in either corner with a small, square table with a drawer and a bookshelf, the same width as the beds, in the opposing corners (Secré's is just beside the door as seeing as the door is in the opposing corner to her bed). Filling up the remaining wall space between the bookshelves are two wardrobes, also not much wider than the beds. If the bookshelves and wardrobes were as long as the beds, there wouldn't be enough room to walk in between them.

"I doubt I'm ever going to have enough stuff to fill all this space," I say, walking over to my bed and dumping my bag on it.

"By all means, don't feel obliged to!"

I really didn't bring that much stuff, so I'm done relatively quickly. Before we continue on with the tour Secré asks me something:

"What do you think about Lumière's clothes? You can tell me you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings like with Tetia."

"I genuinely didn't see them. Besides, how did you know about that?" I counter.

"I heard the end of your conversation when I came back. He sent me to make sure you settle in well."

"H-how nice of him."

We walk back out into the corridor when I remember something.

"Before I left, Tetia said something about me and Lumière seeing a lot of each other, so you know what she meant by that?"

"Oh, that, of course! They have tea together quite often."

"How often?"

"Daily usually, so unless something happens and they don't get round to it."

This makes me smile. Although I only just met him today and know nothing about him, I'm looking forward to seeing the prince again. While I'm still deep in thought, I run into something and continue walking, thinking it's a pillar. It takes me a while to realise that Secré isn't next to me anymore.

"Secré?" I turn around and see Secré standing there next to the prince.

When did he get there? Realising what must've happened, I run back down the hall.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness!" I bow.
"I-I didn't see you, I thought you were a pillar."

I beat myself up on the inside.

"Not that you're not important, on the contrary -"

"Woah, calm down! It's OK, Caitlyn," Lumière says.

He's memorised my name already. He pats my head, and I can't help but blush a little.

"And please, it's just Lumière."

He walks off.

"What did he want?"

"To tell us to start preparing the tea."

"Oh, OK."

We walk back to the kitchen, although that's just where we came from, but something doesn't sit right with me.

"Is Lumière always so touchy-feely?"

"Depends on who you are."

Secré waves at a plump little woman who nods and starts filling the kettle.
"The closer you are, the touchier he is."

"Ok, so how close is a head-pat?" I lean against a wall next to her.

"Well, he's never done that to me, so I'd say between friends and family."

Before I can ask a follow-up question, the plump lady comes over to us and presses a tray into Secré's hands with four cups of tea. Secré thanks her, and we walk out again. Walking down the corridor, I ask Secré another question:

"Are they expecting guests?"

"No, why?" Secré asks back.

"Who're the other two cups for then?"

"Us."

"Oh. It's just when you said we'd be there when they're having tea, I thought you meant we'd be serving it."

"Ohhhhh. No, they're very insistent on being independent and doing it themselves," Secré giggles.
"Sorry for the confusion."

"No big deal. There's just a lot more that I'm going to have to get used to than I thought."

"It was the same way for me when I first started. I thought the prince would be a total snob, but when I met him, he turned out to be kind and generous."

"Sounds like someone's in love," I tease her.

"I am not!"

"I know, I know, I was joking."

"I'm not so sure about you, though."

"I'm not."

"I saw you blushing earlier."

"So?"

"That's a tell-tale sign!"

"I don't know, I've never had a boyfriend."

"Any good romance novel has the build up of having a crush before they actually get together."

"I've never read a romance novel."

Secré stops walking and looks me dead in the eye.

"OK, that's changing as soon as we're done for the night."

She pushes open the door we're standing next to and goes in. I follow close on her tail.