Maid For You 3

Chapter 23

When Coleman and I got into his Bugatti, he said, "That was nice of you to let down Lord Harrison easy."

"Lord Harrison?" I asked tiredly. The chlorine and the drama had drained me of my energy.

"'Harry'," Coleman answered. "Since you made up that you had a boyfriend."

"I didn't make that up," I answered as I rummaged for my dry towel in my backpack.

"What do you mean you didn't make that up?" Coleman asked.

I folded up my towel and set it against the window to use as a pillow. "I mean just that," I said with a yawn. "I have a boyfriend."

"Since when?" he said.

"It's recent," I told him. Technically, I could tell Coleman I had a boyfriend so long as I didn't tell him it was Luke.

"It must be really new," Coleman said.

I knew what topic he was dancing around—it had only been a couple of weeks since I had told Coleman that I liked him.

"It is," I said, resting my head on my towel-pillow. "We started dating after the Autumn Festival."

"Who is it?" asked Coleman. "Is it someone you met at the Festival?"

"I'd rather not say," I admitted. "I don't need you prying into my personal life."

"Prying?" he guffawed. "This coming from the girl pestering me about which Princess I'm going to marry?"

"That's different," I said. "It was theoretical anyways. I'm not asking you who all those girls with you at the party were. That's your business, and my boyfriend is mine. I'm just your maid, after all."

"Tch. Seems like this 'boyfriend' of yours isn't real."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "Believe what you want to believe," I said. "But I'm taking a nap."

We got back to the palace around midnight, and when I got to my room I texted Luke to let him know I was back. I was surprised to get an almost immediate response.

Luke: I'm glad you're home safely.

I responded.

Me: I am. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. :)

I sighed. I'd also have to tell him that I let it slip that I had a boyfriend—hopefully he'd understand. The next day, I called Prince Nikolas to tell him how the party went and to confess that I'd run my mouth off more than I should have.

"Hi Prince Nikolas," I said weepily when he answered. "I mean, Nikolas."

"What's wrong?" he asked me. "You sound upset. Did your party not go well?"

"No, it was good," I sighed dramatically. "I actually got along really well with a lot of people, even though my swimsuit was ugly."

"Your swimsuit?"

"Yes. Lady Madeline—who is a whole story in and of herself—told me that my swimsuit looked cheap and ugly. Which is kind of true but it's not my fault that I don't have nice fancy clothes!"

"You do not have nice clothes?" Nikolas asked me.

"Well, I do have clothes but they're all from Walmart and Target and stuff. I can't exactly afford luxury high-fashion brands—and I wouldn't even know where to start. Anyways, I'm off topic. The point is, even though I wore a lame swimsuit I still got along well with people."

"Then what is the problem?" Prince Nikolas asked. "It is good that you made some connections."

"Well, it's just I kind of feel bad about something."

"About what?"

I sighed. "Well, everyone was talking to me asking me why you invited me to the Winter Ball and I said how we were friends, but I think they thought it was more like...you know, friends with benefits or something and I said how that wasn't true, and I mentioned that I call you on the phone sometimes and that you said we were friends, but I feel really bad about it! Plus, when I talked to Coleman in the car I started asking him about which Princess he was going to marry because talking to you made me think about it, but I also shouldn't have betrayed your confidence! And I went around talking about how we were friends and stuff at the party which was lame of me to use you as a crutch!"

I heard a soft chuckle from the other end of the phone. "Well," he started, his voice light. "It's no secret that I intend to wed a Princess, though I do suppose it would be best if you don't tell Coleman the details of our person conversations."

"I know!" I cried. "That was so bad of me!"

"It's alright," Nikolas said. "I hope you weren't too specific?"

"I wasn't!" I insisted. "I just said that 'oh, I was talking to Nikolas the other day and he mentioned how he needs to marry a Princess, so who are you going to marry?'." Then I thought about mentioning Esmerelda and cringed. "Oh, I did ask Prince Coleman's opinion on Princess Esmerelda and he thought that you might be interested in her since I brought her up, but I covered for you and said that I had looked her up myself!"

"I see," Nikolas said. "Well, doesn't sounds like much harm was done, then?"

"No, I don't think so," I said.

"As for your other source of guilt, your admittance of our friendship, you have nothing to feel sorry for."

My heart lit up at that. "Really?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered. "I would not deny our friendship if asked. Besides, I did invite you to the Winter Ball, which I knew would garner you some attention. I expect you to use our relationship to establish yourself in society. As long as you aren't telling tall tales, I have no issues with that. You should leverage every connection you have."

I exhaled a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad to hear you say that." I went on to tell him about the party and about how I helped Madeline go talk to Roiben and how the guys were all very interested in my story about the Autumn Festival, but also how Prince Coleman low key seemed kind of jealous of the attention I was getting and made me leave early. As always, Prince Nikolas was a very good listener.