A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Forty-Five

We rounded the corner and came face to face with the ice cream shop I had begged to go into earlier.

"No way," I gasped. "You used my own idea back on me for a date?"

It was only after it slipped out of my mouth that I realized what I had said. A date. How can I cover this and be cool? What do I say?

Before I could think of anything to say to make myself seem normal, Clarence stepped in.

"I've never actually been here." He pointed inside. "And I thought 'what better place to discuss curtseys and royal protocol than a place that makes their own cones?' I hear they are delicious." He smirked at that last part. Using my own words against me.

I pushed past him and opened the door, walking inside as the bell chimed above me. The warmth of the building starkly contrasted what I was expecting from a place serving ice cream.

"There are so many choices." I read through the menu items. "It's going to take me a year to pick one."

"Why don't you have chocolate?" Clarence offered.

"Ooh, and I could have orange. Chocolate and orange sounds delicious."

The woman behind the counter must have heard me and thought I was ordering. "Did you say you wanted a chocolate and an orange, Miss?"

"Oh, no. I wanted chocolate and orange together." I answered. "I'm not sure what he wants."

"I'll have a strawberry, please," Clarence ordered his own ice cream. I guess Janet was wrong. Royals can have strawberry ice cream.

"In a bowl or a cone?" she asked.

"Are the bowls edible?"

Good one, Clarence.

"Yes, sir, they are."

"Then I think we would like bowls, please," I answered for both of us. Clarence nodded his approval.

"We'll bring them over to you if you want to sit down. We have prepared the patio out back."

"Thank you." Clarence nodded to the woman. "I appreciate it." He walked over to the counter and handed her some orange-coloured money. "And I insist you allow us to pay."

"I'm sorry, your highness. I had to try."

"And I had to refuse. Thank you for everything."

She smiled and waved as we made our way through to the back patio. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I found. The back patio was surrounded by tall hedges on both sides, and a small gated fence along the back over which you could see the rolling golden hills and hear a rushing river in the distance. The tables all had small trinkets on them that looked like they represented something about the area, and the stone under foot was broken up with bits of foliage everywhere. It was like a little garden.

"This is beautiful," I said, choosing a place to sit down.

Clarence held my chair for me as I sat and then sat in the chair beside me to look out over the fence. "It is."

When our ice cream came, we kept gazing out into the hillside, finding more and new things to look at with every passing moment. I at least didn't want to break the silence between us as I spotted a new patch of pink flowers. I used my free hand to hold my bowl so I could keep it from wandering.

Finally, I finished my ice cream and put my spoon down on the table. "That was delicious," I said, picking up my bowl. "I am going to enjoy this bowl in the least ladylike fashion available now."