Wishing For the Stars

Phil

Life as it I knew it was mundane as anything I had ever witnessed before. Watching grass grow? More interesting than my life. Star gazing? Better, but then I had been banned from the roof, because the oh-so-important prince of London couldn't be endangered. So I lived, day by day, in absolute boredom.
It sounded childish, but ever since I had almost been shot by an assassin last summer, my parents hadn't allowed me to even step foot outside of the grounds. When you spent so many months without any human contact besides the passive guards and royal families that visited, you began to crave any companionship at all.
Well, not ANY, I suppose; my parents did allow certain children of royal families to spend the day with me. Girls and boys, all of equal dullness and royalty that made me hate my inheritance. I wanted someone real, someone who I could have a meaningful conversation with about anything besides the life of princesses and princes.
I was wandering the halls one day when I thought maybe running could keep my mind off of my boredom. So after I checked my schedule and made sure no one was visiting today, and that my parents had left for a meeting, I took off. The halls in our palace were long and winding, so I had lots of free space. It was distracting, if exhausting, and I was going pretty fast when I hit what felt like a brick wall out of nowhere. My head spun, and when I could focus on my surroundings again, I saw that I was on the floor next to another person, who I must've ran into.
'Oh great, I'd never hear the end of this. It's probably a guard that I've already upset before, like Thomas, and-'
"What the hell are you running from, mate?"
I looked up quickly, not recognizing the voice. The face that it belonged to took my breath away with its beauty, and I was stunned into silence until his face changed from irritated to apologetic.
"Oh, your majesty. I apologize for my rudeness-"
I interrupted him, studying his face. "No, no, you're fine. Who are you?"
He blinked a few times, cheeks slightly darker than before he'd identified me.
"I was hired as the new food servant today."
He seemed ashamed of his title, so I smiled, standing and pulling him to his feet.
"What's your name?" I asked softly, and he looked at my smile and returned it hesitantly.
"Daniel. But you can call me Dan. Your majesty."
He bowed slightly at the last part, and I suppressed an eye roll. "Nice to meet you, Dan. Call me Phil."
He smiled again, a small dimple appearing in his right cheek. We heard a yell from inside the kitchen, where Dan must have been working.
"Um," he started, but I held up a hand, smiling at him reassuringly.
"I'll see you soon, then?"
He nodded, bowing quickly before nearly jogging to the kitchen. I couldn't quit thinking about him all day, whether it was because I'd never seen him before or because he had an air of endearance about him I didn't know. Either way, I liked the thought of him.
Despite everything in my family, the one thing I did enjoy was my mother's insistence of "family meals". This consisted of my parents, my brother, and myself, and was the most relaxed time of the day. Martyn-my brother-never stopped talking, so that left me to my thoughts. I was usually reserved and quiet, listening to my brother's crazy stories. I got that from him; my magnet-like attraction for insane scenarios. Except tonight, I was distracted by the new addition to our wait staff.
Dan looked positively dashing in his uniform, serving the food around the table with practiced ease. I could feel someone's eyes on me, but they weren't Dan's-I was looking at him. He seemed to be avoiding my gaze, and I understood-we weren't supposed to associate ourselves with our servants.
I swept my face over everyone in the room once, and only Martyn had been looking at me. Well, that was fine-he wasn't one to scold me for staring at servants. After my parents had caught him with Daphne two years ago, he stopped chewing me out for the little things I did. Like sneaking up to the roof, or running down the halls like a child.
But something different was in his stare tonight, and I waved it off as paranoia. I hadn't even spoken to Dan but once, so I wouldn't be lying to Martyn if he asked if something was going on between us.
I did catch Dan watching me once, on the way out of the dining hall, and his lips twitched up in a smirk before he rounded the corner, disappearing from view. I wandered the halls long after dinner, trying to catch him on his way to another room, with no luck. I went to my room, feeling dejected, before an idea made me feel silly for my previous quest. The new servants always got the most difficult, tedious jobs, which included bringing any wanted food to people around the palace. All I had to do was give my order into the telephone, and a little while later, I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in!" I called, and there was Dan, balancing a tray on one hand and opening the door with the other. His eyebrows went up in surprise when he saw me, before dissolving into humour.
"Well, hello again."
I grinned. "You can stay here a minute, if you want," I said carefully, and Dan looked hesitant.
"They really warned me against that...I'd need a pretty good reason."
I thought for a second, eventually standing up and walking past Dan, "accidentally" hitting the tray in his hand and sending it, and it's contents, clattering to the floor. Dan's eyes were sparkling as he knelt to "clean" the mess, and I closed the door, walking back over to my window seat.
"My bad."
Dan shook his head, still grinning as he cleaned the silverware up first. "You're a clever little shit, aren't you?"
Almost immediately after he spoke, his face took on a worried look, and I waved his worry off with a flick of my hand.
"You can curse. Also, please stop bowing to me and calling me 'your majesty'. I hate when people my age do that; it makes them seem more like peasants and less like..."
"Friends?" Dan suggested, and I nodded, smiling sheepishly.
"So am I your friend, Phil?"
I glanced up, and Dan had a devious smirk on his face, still cleaning the contents of the platter from the floor.
"Yes, Dan. I think you are."