บท 11: Pink
This chapter has been edited on December 1, 2018
Chef Brent Lucas woke up to giggling and the smell of pine. He wrinkled his nose before opening his eyes groggily.
There, he found a girl standing over him, not even two inches away from his face. She had big hazel eyes that crinkled with a smile when she saw him wake up.
"Good morning, Mr. Lucas," she gushed.
He sat up (and luckily she took the hint and backed up as he did).
Brent looked the girl up and down. She could easily be about 20, but at the same time, she was so cute that she looked about 14.
She had brown pigtails that went down to the floor with roots that were dark and curly. She wore a teal blouse and khakis. "You've been sleeping for a long time," she said, her voice very high.
"Who are you?" He asked, looking around the room. He heard the shower running and figured it was Lucas in there, but that didn't explain who this random girl was.
She jumped up from the bed and landed comfortably in her beige moccasins. The window was open, so the light made her mocha skin glimmer, almost like an angel.
And angel with very long hair and no sense of personal space.
"My name is Eugina Fitzherbert. Daughter of Queen Rapunzel and King Eugene of former Gothic European Empire," she bowed dramatically, "But you can just call me Gina." she beamed
"Nice to meet you," Brent wiped the sleep from his eyes and looked at her in bewilderment, "how did you get in my room?"
"Through the door," she giggled, as if what she said what the most clever thing she had ever heard of, "I'm Lucas's best friend in the whole wide world. He always invites me everywhere when he travels."
"Is that so?" Brent sat up, "So I'm guessing he let you in and you didn't just break in."
She winked, "Whatever you wanna believe."
Brent laughed, "I like you," he smiled, "My name is Brent Lucas."
"I know who you are. My dad and your mom were friends," she smiled, "Well they were... until the incident with the royal family."
Brent's eyes widened, "What do you mean? How did your dad know my mom?"
"Well my dad liked to explore and stuff before he became a king and all that," she said with a shrug, "he discovered her after her and her little clan tore apart an entire village. He made peace by offering a baby rabbit to her, he said, and they became friends after that."
"My mother tore apart an entire village?" Brent raised an eyebrow
"Do you not know about your parents?" Gina mirrored his expression
"You probably know more than I do, and that's more than I want to know." Brent shook his head, "And most importantly, I don't know the relationship between Lucas's mom and mine, but I'm pretty sure Lucas doesn't either. And I think it's best if it stays that way."
Gine leaned forward, "I think you should probably know that your mom-"
"Gina!" Lucas burst out of the bathroom, hair wet but still looking immaculate. "When did you get in?"
"Hold on," Brent narrowed his eyes, "You really did break into our hotel room?"
Gina just laughed nervously, "Aaaaaanyway, Lucas, it's so good to see you again!" she hopped up and gave the blonde a big bear hug. He wheezed in her arms, clearly out of breath.
"You're crushing me!" he croaked, "How did you know I was here, Gina?"
She let him go, still holding his hands and bouncing up and down, "I heard tell that you were traveling to the Northern Kingdom to tell your brothers about your engagement with a hot new chef." she turned to Brent, still holding Lucas's hands, "Don't worry, honey, I'm a flaming lesbian."
Brent just laughed.
Lucas turned the deepest shade of red, he could muster. "I'm going up to the Northern to visit my brother. My quote-on-quote fiance is none of my concern."
"Wait," Gina let him go "So Brent isn't your new fiance."
"Unfortunately," Lucas said. Then he seemed to realize the full meaning of his statement and turned a bright red, "I-I mean, unfortunately, I'm being married to someone I don't love. Not as in it is unfortunate that I am n-not engaged to Brent. That would be a ridiculous thing to get upset over, of course."
"Of course," Gina rolled her eyes. "So what do you ladies wanna do while we're here. How long are you here for? Diana's staying in a motel across the street"
"We're here for the rest of the day. We pack up and leave early in the morning" Lucas answered
"I have no idea what's going on," Brent shrugged, "I feel like this is just one big dream." Gina laughed.
"You guys should spend the day with me and Diana," Gina suggest and then turned to Brent, "Diana is my girlfriend"
"I see," Brent nodded, "Another princess I'm guessing?"
"Yup," Gina beamed, "She the daughter of Queen Melanie, who's the daughter of the late Queen Ariel. Don't worry, she has legs."
"She was actually supposed to marry me, but Gina got to her before I could develop any feelings," Lucas explained, "Good thing too because I don't think Diana and I wouldn't have made a very good match... mainly because she's gay."
"Maybe Brent can do the same thing with you, so you won't have to marry your fiance," Gina suggested
Lucas scoffed, "Brent wouldn't want to marry me. Also, he's not royalty. Unless my father has something to gain from it, it wouldn't go over well with him."
"Why wouldn't I want to marry you?" Brent asked
Before Lucas could even answer, Gina chimed in, "Brent is a lot more than what meets the eye, Lukey," she winked, "But I guess you'll learn that as you two get closer."
"What does that mean?" Lucas flushed, looking between Gina and Brent, "And how do you know him so well?"
"She apparently knew my parents." Brent shrugged, "Or something."
"No, I only ever met your dad. My parents knew your parents." She clarified
"Wait," Brent raised an eyebrow, "How could you have met my-"
"Anyway!" Lucas interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt your little buddy-chat, but I thought you people wanted to go have fun."
"Alright, alright." Gina giggled, "No need to get jealous."
Lucas was bright red and urgently avoided eye contact with the both of them, crossing his arms and looking a random wall to his left.
"Oh, Bite me."
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A/N: I'm not sure if this is like a known thing, but "bite me" is an expression used to mean "f off" or "whatever". I just don't want anyone to think Lucas was actually asking them to bite him LMAO
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"Having some fun" apparently meant trying some Lacigam delicacies. Well, it should have. Brent found the only thing he liked was these weird things called Shellydings and that if you actually sprinkle some salt over it, it was heaven.
Diana turned out to be a lot different from what Brent was expecting. She was a tall redhead with thick black glasses. The red hair was obviously dyed that color and black at the roots. She was nice, Brent supposed, if not a bit odd. She was fiercely protective of Gina and didn't shy away from PDA when she was bored.
What Brent really found a bit weird was the fact that they were all royalty. Meaning, everywhere they were, so were the press and followers. On their way back to the hotel after a long day, Brent heard a bit too many shouts toward Lucas for his liking.
They were waiting outside for the carriage to pick them up when a crowd formed around them. Luckily, they had security around them, guarding their every move. Still, people shoved past to try and shout things at them. Diana and Gina were way too engrossed in their own conversation and were far too used to it to be bothered.
"My family is dying!"
"Can't you give some of that gold to the lower class?"
"Get off your high horse and realize people are dying!"
Brent looked to the prince to see him looking very awkward. He didn't seem to mind what the people were saying, just very embarrassed at having Brent here it.
"Do you get those comments all the time?" Brent asked, "What those people are yelling?"
"There's always a new plague going around," Lucas sighed, "And there will always be people who blame us for not being able to buy the perfect cure."
"That's not your fault though," Brent snarled, "You shouldn't have to put up with this. I thought the people loved you."
"They usually do," Lucas nodded with a smile, "No one can love you strong enough to shout it in your face. However, someone can hate you enough to do it."
"That doesn't change the fact that it's not your fault." Brent persisted, "Why are you acting like this is normal?"
"Because it is normal," Lucas let out a bitter laugh, "For me at least. When you're in a position of power, anything that happens within your territory is your fault. That's just the way it is."
"That's not fair." Brent scoffed, crossing his arms like a brat
"That's just the way it is," Lucas repeated just as the carriage pulled up in front of them. Guards held open the door and ushered the two ladies in first. As Lucas stepped in the carriage, he brushed against Brent softly and heard the chef's rough voice in his ear.
"If I loved you I would shout it in your face," he pouted before following the prince back in the carriage.
Lucas didn't know whether to laugh swoon.
***
"If you don't do the dare, you shave your hair!" Gina shrieked
Lucas shrieked even louder, "No! Absolutely not! I don't wanna play anymore!" Lucas jumped up and tried to run back inside from the balcony, but Brent caught him around the waist with his own arms and slammed him on his lap.
"If you do the dare, it won't matter what the penalty is." Brent tried to coax him.
Lucas huffed at him, "I didn't want to play this stupid truth or dare game!" He shrieked, "Now you're telling me I have to shave my head if I don't do the dare? Absolutely not!"
"Boo!" Diana cried, "What a wuss,"
"Shut up, you fishwoman," Lucas snapped, glaring playfully, "You're not even a real redhead."
"Oh, that's it!" Gina slammed a fist on the table, "You have to play now. I have to avenge my lady. Prince Lucas Charming of the Southern Kingdom, truth or dare?"
"Truth, obviously," he rolled his eyes, not able to hide the small smirk playing at his lips. And so the game of truth or dare began.
This consisted of Brent having to ding-dong-ditch their entire hotel floor, Gina being forced to admit that her long locks got caught in a tractor engine and those are actually extensions, Diana jumping from their balcony to their neighbors and then back again, and Lucas only choosing "truth".
"This is madness, do you not know what fun is?" Gina scolded him
"Your definition of fun is nearly losing my life or shaving off my head?" Lucas avoided all of their eye contact, "My god, I'd hate to have fun with you guys every night."
"It doesn't always have to be a bad dare, princess," Brent said in that soothing voice that made Lucas swoon more than he'd ever admit, "Gina will go easy on you. Won't you, Gina?"
Gina scowled at the chef before rolling her eyes, "Fiiiiiiine. It'll be easy. Not life-threatening. You won't even break anything."
"Alright then, ask me the dang question already." Lucas crossed his arms like a child. Brent smirked.
"I will say for the final time: Prince Lucas Charming of the Southern Kingdom," She stood up dramatically, raising her arms in the air, "Truth or dare?"
At Gina's dramatics, Brent shook his head, picking up his cup of beer and taking a sip to hide his grin. Diana giggled and Lucas just rolled his eyes, "Dare,"
She lowered her right hand to point at him with an evil grin on her face, "Excellent, I dare you to kiss Brent."
Brent choked and spat his beer out onto the balcony's wooden floor. "Oh..." he looked around, adorably embarrassed, "I-uh- wasn't expecting that, sorry."
"Kiss Brent?" Lucas turned to the chef in question, who was already looking at him. Gold eyes met green and, for a second, they forgot the situation.
"I wouldn't mind kissing a prince," was all Brent said, which made Lucas's cheeks go bright pink.
"Now remember," Gina said in a sing-song voice, sounding way too pleased with herself, "I said you have to kiss him. Not the other way around."
"I heard you the first time," he said softly. It made him even more nervous because Brent was just staring at him so expectantly.
Slowly, but without warning, Lucas started leaning in. Not wanting to see the eyes staring at him ominously, he closed his eyes and kept leaning until he felt the other pair of lips.
It was very quick because he didn't want them to know how much he enjoyed it. The feeling of Brent's soft lips on his was foreign to him, but he felt a shiver run through his body as soon as he made contact.
Then he quickly pulled away and they both stared at each other again. His embarrassment went down slightly when he saw that Brent, the most confident guy on the planet, has a slight blush around his cheeks.
They were too caught up in each other's gaze to notice Gina's squeaky whisper:
"OTP"
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