The Inside Story

Chapter Five

  "Lottie," I heard a voice whisper. I covered my face with my hands. "Lottie," the voice said again. I then felt a finger poke my stomach. And then tickling.

  "I'm up!" I screamed. I tried to get away from the person who was tickling me, and ended up falling off the bed.

  "You okay?" Alexander asked. I nodded. He held out a had and helped me up. He was wearing a suit, and it was 8 am.

  "What are you doing today that you have to wear a suit for?" I asked.

  "Well, we have to eat breakfast, and then go do some couple-ish  thing with you, then go to the orphanage," he said.

  "And I'm going to all of this too?" I asked. He nodded. I fell back on the bed.  "You have to tell me what to wear and how to act because I have no idea how to be a prince's girlfriend."

  "Well what were you planning on wearing today?" I showed him my pari of jeans, boots, top, and hat.

  "Today I am taking you shopping," he said. I was taken back, but nodded. I put on my outfit, and curled my hair. I walked out of the bathroom and showed Alexander my outfit.

  "That's acceptable," He said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, and followed him downstairs to the formal dining room, where the entire Montgomery family was.

  "Dad, Henry, this is Lottie," Alexander said. King Joseph gave a curt nod, and Henry waved. We ate breakfast silently, and once everyone was finished, everyone separated.

  Alexander and I went back up to our rooms, and he got his wallet.

  "Is breakfast always like that?" I asked. He laughed.

  "No, they were just intimidated by you," he said.

  "Intimidated by me?" I asked. He nodded.

  "I've never brought a girlfriend to the castle, and you're an American, so you're like a pink and blue zebra to them."

  "Oh, great to know," I said. We kept walking for a little bit, and we eventually got to the stores.

  "Pick out dresses, and I'll tell you which ones could work," he said, a smirk on his face.

  "Great," I said. It took me about 45 minutes to go through the entire store. I started to go to the dressing rooms, but Alexander stopped me.

  "Try this on," he said, handing me a top and skirt.

  "I'm gonna look like a grandma in it," I said.

  "Well, like you said, Lottie sounds like a grandma name, now you can be dressed the part," He said. I rolled my eyes at his attempt to be funny and went into the dressing room.

  The first dress was taupe and had black lace and large sleeves.

  "That could work as a casual dress," he said with a nod.

I then tried on a patterned shirt and skirt.

  "That's nice for going out in public," he said. I tried dresses and skirts on for another hour until I got to the last outfit, the skirt and shirt he picked out. I put it on, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

  The shirt was nude and went off my shoulders, and was essentially a crop top. The skirt was pink and high waisted, and reached my knees. I spun around in a circle, and looked down to see the skirt fly up. I smiled, and went out of the dressing room.

  Alexander stared at me for a moment.

  "Well, what do you think?" I asked.

  "Uh, it's great," He said, and scratched his cheek.

  "Great," I said. I went back into the dressing room to put my clothes back on, and then returned with all the clothes we were going to buy. He ended up spending a lot of money, but he assured me it was no big deal.

  We went back to the castle and changed into something we could wear to the orphanage. I put on one of my new dresses, a red long sleeved skater dress. We met up in the hallway, and we headed down the stairs and out the door into the village.

  When we got into the orphanage, Marie looked relieved to see us.

  "Can you two watch the kids? John is talking to a couple who wants to adopt, and I'm about to talk to a reporter, but we need someone to watch the kids so they don't burn the place down," she said frantically.

  "Marie, relax, we don't mind," Alexander said.  I nodded, and we walked back to the kids play room. The boys were playing in a corner, and several girls were reading, but all the little girls came running up to us. I recognized Talin and Cherilyn, and they had another girl with them named Adeline.

  "Alex, Stella, will you play with us?" Cherilyn asked.

  "Sure," I said, getting down on my knees so I was closer to her height. "What are you all playing?" I asked.

  "Family!" Talin shouted.

  "You and Alex can be the mommy and daddy," Adeline said. I looked at Alexander and he looked at me.

  "Stella why are your cheeks red?" Cherilyn asked. I looked down at the floor and Alexander laughed.

  "Let's play!" Talin shouted.

  _____________________________________________

  We ended up playing with the three youngest girls until it was time for them to go to bed. They asked us to tuck them in and kiss them goodnight, which we did. Right as we were leaving, Talin stopped us.

  "Alex! Stella!" she shouted. We turned around and came back to her bed.

  "What is it, Talin?" Alex asked.

  "You two didn't give each other a goodnight kiss," she said. I laughed to myself, and Alexander chuckled.
  "How foolish of us," he said. He wrapped his arm around me, and kissed my cheek lightly. I closed my eyes slightly, and he stayed a few inches away from my face. I turned and looked at him, and before I could say anything, Talin giggled.
  "Goodnight, Talin," Alexander said. "I'll meet you in the foyer, Lottie," he said. He got up and left, and I was surprised to say that as soon as he left, I got a strange feeling in the pit of the stomach, I didn't know how to explain it, but nevertheless, it was most definitely there.