Her Royal Charming

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Do you know those moments where something could have been avoided? For example, not placing the milk on the edge of the counter, or leaving early to avoid traffic.

In my case, I was at work giving a mother of three her plate of food when one of her toddlers tugged on her sleeve harshly in the other direction and she lost her balance. The spaghetti and meatballs flying in the air, narrowly missing me and landing at my feet.

"Katie!" The mother scolded the child before turning to me. "I'm so sorry, they're normally not like this." She started to ramble, clearly embarrassed.

I wave her off. "It was an accident, nobody was harmed." I take one look at the mess and realize my small stack of napkins isn't going to help one bit. " I'll be back in a minute to clean it up."

I work at a catering company called Let's Eat, and was no stranger to the occasional disaster. Spills, messes, rude customers, you name it, I've been through it. It was a crappy job having to deal with such difficult people on a normal basis, but it paid well.

"Another spill?" My boss Lorrie commented when I came to get some cleaning supplies.

"Yeah, an accident caused by one of the kids." I explained quickly. "Don't worry Lorrie, I'm on it."

"Have I mentioned you're the best?"

"I don't think I heard it the first time." I say cheekily.

Lorrie laughed. "Go out there Adira."

I walked out of the back room filled with overconfidence, and my arms overflowing with industrial cleaning materials.

My self-assurance would be my downfall as I managed to slip in the same puddle of slippery food I was meant to clean up. The children at the table were laughing as their mother tried to shush them.

I got up as fast as I could which just made me slip again. By now I was covered in the sauce and it was not a pleasant feeling, especially when it started to seep underneath my clothes.

Of course it had to be me.

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I came home exhausted to say the least. Work turned out more chaotic since the accident. Things took a sudden downturn when the birthday child had a complete temper tantrum. I'm talking screaming, kicking and snot everywhere. It was not a pretty sight.

Then the other kids thought it would be an appropriate time to act out too. The screaming, oh the screaming.

Needless to say I had a massive migraine on the right side of my head, but this was just the beginning of my night.

I opened the door as quietly as I could, trying not to make too much noise. I set my bag in my room and took a quick shower. Once I scrubbed myself clean of all the tomato sauce, and let the warm water relax my tense muscles, I realized it was time to get moving.

I made myself a quick dinner, some instant soup and set to work on the mountain pile of dishes in the sink. I was only gone for a few hours and my family decides to use every single dish in the house. Unbelievable.

Doing the dishes was just the start, I still had to do the laundry, dust, sweep the entire house and begin prepping food for the next week for the entire house. It seemed like a lot, probably because it was.

While I was taking a short break to make myself some tea, my step father walked into the room. Kenneth looked as grouchy as he normally did. It seemed like his only mood was a bad mood.

"Still lounging around here like a freeloader I see." He sneered.

"I was taking a break."

He laughed obnoxiously in my face. "You think you can pull one over me." He took a step closer. "We are constantly dragging this family down, the only one to not pull their own weight." He said disgusted with me.

I lower my head to avoid his harsh gaze.

"I can't believe I got stuck taking care of you." I heard him mumble underneath his breath as he walked out of the kitchen angrily. His words hit me like a ton of bricks, their impact lasting longer than when he left.

I set down my tea, no longer feeling the urge to drink it as I did five minutes ago. I set it down in the sink, the steam hitting me in the face as I contemplated spilling it into the sink or smashing the mug against the wall.

I decided to deal with it later and move onto folding the laundry. I set the basket aside for a minute when my phone vibrated. I pulled it out to see a text from Ed.

How was work?

Smiling, I unlocked my phone to reply to him. During the second I was distracted, the basket fell to the floor violently. The laundry clattered and sprawled across the floor.

"Oops." My oldest step-sister Harper said sarcastically.

I sighed and began to pick them up wordlessly, a confrontation was not worth it.

"Who were you texting freak?"

"No one." I reply quickly. "It was just an app." She narrows her eyes at me, and after deciding I was telling the truth she walked away.

"That's right, because no one would ever want to be friends like you." I shut my eyes in a misguided attempt to protect myself against her words. It was a futile attempt.

She walks away with a smirk knowing she accomplished what she came there for. I sigh, wondering why they still have a hold over me, and why their comments still hit close to home.

To take out my frustrations on my family and life in general, I grabbed my worn out converse (not the best shoes suited for running out there) and made it to the park. The park was just a short walk away, once I was there I was ready to run.

Running was the only refuge I could find.

It helped that it was a non-destructive way for me to release my frustrations and kept me in shape. I'm one of those rare people that don't mind cardio in all its forms.

As soon as my headphones are on and I hear the opening words to Bohemian Rhapsody everything else just melts away. My workout playlist is a little strange, I must admit. The songs are not your typical upbeat pop songs that get people pumped up. My music relaxes me as I pretend my problems don't exist for an hour every day.

There were a few Beatles, Bon Jovi and Led Zeppelin songs in there, but it was predominately Queen.

During my runs it's just me, the music and the trail path ahead of me. No distractions, no problems, no thoughts and most of all, no company.

"Hey!"

"Hey you-"

"Come back!"

I paid the shouts no mind, raising the volume of my music and running a little faster. I didn't think it pertain to me until I felt a hand on my shoulder.