A Royal Mess

14. Chances

At school, Ace becomes my lab partner.

Together we give all the chemicals, reactions and experiments some colorful names. I gotta say the guy knows his curse words in Spanish too. Impressive!

To cap it off, he tries to go all scientifically romantic on me. He was like, "Do you have eleven protons 'cause you are so-dium fine." Then grins cheekily.

"You know, I'm a nice person but, please don't push the bitch button." I reply, acting annoyed even though I am anything but very amused at his ridiculous goofy attempts to make me laugh.

"Do you like science? 'Cause I've got my i-on you." He keeps flirting.

"Row your boat gently the fuck away from me cause you are walking on a really thin thread here, mister." I give him a dangerous expression.

Even though he knows I am kidding he still moves a little sideways to make sure I won't explode one of our experiments on him. Wise choice!

This morning took off to a good start. We all had breakfast at the palace as usual. Jenna seems to be doing well enough, she successfully managed to get a laugh out of the king and queen by the time we were done and ready to head off to school.

The previous night Jenna too convinced me that though my father still scares me and remains an unsolved mystery I don't want to get into, I can at least try spending some time with the Queen. So I reply to all of my mother's questions at breakfast today. 

I decide to take it slow though.

A few weeks pass in a blur and I fall into a comfortable schedule; I go to school and have fun with the group, talk to my parents back home, video call Maggie and help her with wedding preparations, text my old friends, talk to Archer about everything and nothing, then spend time with Alexius. I make more conversations with the queen, during the meals, when we are in the garden at the same time, sometimes in passing but I don't properly hang out with her until today.

When I asked her if we could spend the day together, after breakfast this morning, she was overjoyed.

After I return from school my maids hand me a note saying I am to meet the queen in the palace's kitchen. I am surprised. Why would the queen be in the kitchen of all places? Nonetheless I get dressed and make my way to the lower layers of the palace where the kitchen is. I have become a lot better at finding my way around.

When I get there I see that it is huge, men and women of different ages are milling around, talking and arranging stuff. All of them look so happy to be here that one won't realize they are at work if one didn't already know, they look right at home.

I see the queen standing in front of a huge counter. It is stacked with different baking ingredients as far as I can gather.

"Ah there you are, Al. So yesterday when I was talking to Lexius he told me that you have always wanted to try blue chocolate chip cookies. I happen to pride myself in baking, so I thought maybe we could do that today. You know, baking is a really soothing activity, with all the measuring and stuff. You forget many of your worries. So I often find myself here doing that when I want to run away from my work for a while. Have you ever tried it?" The queen rambles excitedly.

Not only am I surprised at the casual nickname but also at the fact that the queen would talk about such a minor detail about me with someone and then even remember it. This is something I find confusing and yet I am impressed and decide to make the most of the occasion to break as much ice between us as possible seeing as she is also putting her best efforts.

"I often used to help mom in the kitchen but I have never really tried baking. I and dad were mostly there to eat them as soon as they were out of the oven. But I would love to try it today." I reply sincerely.