Royally Falling

~ 21 ~

"And being here without you is like I'm waking up to
Only half a blue sky
Kinda there but not quite
I'm walking around with just one shoe
I'm half a heart without you"
Half a Heart - One Direction

oOoOo

On New Year's Eve, we host a party for some of the other European Royal Families. The palace staff spend most of the day cleaning and preparing for our guests.

Xander and his entire family arrive after lunch. Our parents have some business to discuss, so they come early to get it out of the way before the party.

Since my parents are in a meeting, I'm stuck entertaining Xander, his brothers, and Maeve. Andrew and Michael are twenty-seven and twenty-five, respectively. It's awkward with such an age gap between all of us.

"How about we go play with our new puppy, Duke?" I suggest after a moment of tense silence.

They follow me to our mini-movie theater. Along the way, Maeve grabs Duke from his kennel.

Since he's not fully trained, we're keeping him in his kennel today. All of the new people coming over might overwhelm him or make him really hyper.

"So this is Duke. We got him for Christmas."

I grab Duke out of Maeve's arms and set him down on the floor.

He walks over to where Xander and Andrew are sitting on the floor and sniffs their hands.

After he gets bored of being petted by Xander, he runs to Michael. Duke jumps, signaling he wants to get up on the couch.

Michael lifts him up. Duke crawls in his lap and lays down.

"Do you guys want to watch a movie or something?" I ask. I gesture towards the giant movie screen in the front of the room.

"We have Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus. Does someone want to pick something out?"

Maeve goes to grab the remote. She launches Disney Plus and scrolls through the movie options.

"Let's watch Finding Nemo," I interject as she scrolls through the Pixar movies.

"Yes! Dory is my spirit animal."

"Of course she is," I roll my eyes.

"I can see it," Xander smirks.

Maeve presses play and the movie starts. I sit on the black recliner and put the footrest up.

oOoOo

By the time the movie is over, we need to start getting ready for the party. It's not a formal event that requires fancy clothes, but I don't want to wear my sweatpants in front of a bunch of Queens and Kings.

Maeve and I get ready together in my bathroom. She helps me pick out a cream-colored sweater and ripped jeans to wear.

We do each other's makeup, experimenting with the new eyeshadow and highlight/concealer sets I got for Christmas.

When I'm doing my mascara, I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in," I shout, focusing on my reflection in the mirror. I carefully coat my eyelashes with the wand.

"Hey, is it a good time to exchange gifts?" Xander asks from behind me.

I glance at him. He's wearing a royal blue button-up shirt and dress pants.

"Just give me a minute. You can wait in my room."

I take one last glance at myself in the mirror and join Xander on my bed.