Tower of Thorns

Chapter 6

Mila's POV

It was about a week after the surprise at the Tourney game. Ben's declaration of love did nothing to help the amount of distrust the majority of the student population displayed. On Friday after class, I was sitting outside in the rose garden when a set of hands covered my eyes.

"Guess who?" A man's voice said.

"I wanna guess... Jay," I said teasingly. The hands were removed and Ben sat next to me. "Oh, it was Ben, my bad." I let out a giggle at his adorable pout.

"How would you like to go on a date with me?"

"I would really like that."

"Great, I'll pick you up from your room in two hours." Ben leaned down and gave my cheek a small kiss before leaving me alone once more.

Once it all set in I began to panic. I had never been on a date before. I quickly got up and began to look for Evelina. I finally found her talking with Zache.

"Hi Eve, sorry to interrupt. I need your help," I said.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Ben just asked me on a date and I have no idea... on anything."

"I can help. See you later."

We walked back to my room to pick out outfits. Evelina finally decided on a maroon dress with cutouts above the chest. She paired it with black wedges and a black see-through shawl. I picked up my sun necklace and put it on. She then walked over to my very limited makeup supply and began to do my makeup.

"Thank you for doing this," I said as she was applying the blush.

"It's no trouble. I love fashion and doing makeup," she said, putting the brush down. "So I noticed that you have sketchbooks with you all the time. What are you putting in them?"

I walked over to my desk and pulled one out. "It's not much but I like to design." I showed her some pages that I did for her.

"These are of me?" She asked astonished.

"I did some for the others as well."

"These are amazing."

We spent the next few minutes talking about fabric design. She had some great insight and it made the designs even better. A knock sounded at my door and I went to answer it. Ben stood on the other side wearing a pair of white jeans, a blue long-sleeved shirt, and his tourney jacket. He was holding two helmets.

"Wow. For the first time I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful," Ben said speechless. "I hope you like bikes."

I gently took the helmet and told Evelina that I would talk to her after the date was over. I let Ben lead me down the many flights of stairs and we landed outside. He walked over to a motorbike and got on.

"I've never been on one of those," I admitted sheepishly.

"Don't worry. Just hold on tight and everything will be fine," Ben said.

I nodded my head and got on the bike. I put on the helmet and held my arms tightly around his waist. He took off and it honestly felt like we were flying. We went faster and faster until we reached our destination. He turned the bike off and we got off. We clipped our helmets to the bike and I let Ben lead me into the forest. We came across a rope bridge and I went first.

"Tell me something about yourself that you've never told anyone," Ben said startling me.

"Um... My middle name is Tilda."

"Tilda?"

"It is a condensed version of my mother's name Talida."

"Mine's Florian."