The mood of the two men had changed. Holly frowned as she realized that Sam was more angry, while Alex was teasing him. This might get ugly.
She shook her head and chewed on her lip, watching the two of them, mostly Sam, not that she would admit it. While Alex was hot, he seemed more of a player, proud of it. Sam was… different. Less sharp.
Lacey smirked. "The fight's picking up. Wonder who will win. I say Alex."
Holly sent her a small smile. "Then I say Sam. If he wins, you have to come to the kitchens with me and talk to the staff there."
"And if Alex wins, you have to come with me to spy on Sophie and Casey when they're on their dates with the Prince."
"Deal."
"Is it the black-haired one? Or the blue eyed one?" Alex taunted, trying to push Sam to fight harder. He clearly knew how to get the prince mad, as well as what his weakness became once he got to that point. They didn't waste more than seconds between defending and attacking the other, pushing the other to the limit to dodge and adapt as quickly as possible.
Sam didn't answer, going for Al's weak spots as he went for his. He tried the kicking move once again and half succeded, knocking one leg out while Alex landed a punch to his stomach. Both of them were off balance and fell backwards moments later, very surprised that the other had fallen at the same time.
Holly subconsciously raised her hand to cover her mouth in horror, and Lacey watched in awe and worry.
When both of the guys fell down, Lacey turned to her friend. "Does this mean that we both win, or we both lose?" She seemed eager, and her red hair was already wisping from its neat braid.
"Well, if Casey and Sophie have dates with the Prince, I will be sure to spy on them with you," Holly said with a light laugh. "It doesn't matter if you come to the kitchen with me. I've just learned that it's always a good idea to befriend the cook if at all possible."
"I would suggest you shut up, Alex," Sam huffed, getting to his feet. Fighting was the only time he let his anger out, and with Alex pushing him to his limit, he was still pissed. Sparing again though didn't seem like a good idea. It could get too violent too fast. Instead the prince walked over to where his shirt was tossed, picking it up and not putting it on, just using it as a towel to dry himself off.
Alex nodded, knowing he had pissed the prince off. Following what the prince said, he stayed silent, copying his friend and drying himself off before starting to unwrap his hands.
"Should we go over to them?" Holly asked, watching. She twirled a strand of her hair, deep in thought. The fight had been interesting, and really cool to watch, but she had sensed that, at the end, it had gotten a little bit out of hand, for both of the boys. She mentally shook herself. Men. They were men, not boys.
"Sure, why not," Lacey said, shrugging. She held out her arm to Holly with a mock smile. "Shall we go, my lady?"
Holly giggled. "As long as we don't get too close to them. I don't want to smell their sweat. Plus, it can't be a crime to approach them, right? No one said the arena was off-limits."
"What if they smell heavenly, though?" Lacey asked dreamily, and Holly laughed, nudging her.
"Clean out your mind, girl. One is off limits and the other is the Prince. Don't be so weird."
The two girls strolled toward the Prince and his friend, their guard following a few paces behind. The day was nice, if a little hot, and the air was clear and fresh. The prefect day for a stroll.
"Sorry to interrupt his highness brooding, but you seem to have some company," Alex said once he caught sight of the girls walking over. He shot his friend a small smile, finished unwrapping his hands, and then watched them walk closer as he wiped away sweat with his shirt.
Sam seemed to have relaxed at least a little by the time Alex talked, though he didn't reply more than looking up to see Holly and her friend walk up. He smiled at the two and started to undo the wrappings on his hands, having already wiped himself off and tried to run a hand through his hair so it wasn't quite as disheveled and messy. "Hi ladies," He said nodding to the two of them and letting his smile grow.
"Hi," Holly said, waving slightly. When he smiled, her face grew warm. He really was kind of attractive… well, more than kind of. "How are you two doing?"
Lacey winked at Alex. "Hey, handsome. How are you doing?"
Holly nudged her. "Lacey! Stop that."
"Seeing that I somehow just lost to that muscled mess, I could be better," Alex replied to both of them before Sam could, flashing Lacey a playful grin before glancing over at Sam to silent tell him that he wouldn't do anything stupid, "How are you? I assume you hunted us down so I could finally learn your name?"
Sam just rolled his eyes, unable to hide the tiny smile on his face as he turned to actually have a conversation with Holly, "So, for lunch at the end of this week, what's your favorite meal? Just so I have something to go off of?" He wasn't embarrassed to be standing around without a shirt on, but seeing the faint blush on Holly's cheeks made a faint red blush appear on his face as well.
"Nevermind I guess, thank you Miss Holly," Alex jumped in again, his grin growing, "Nice to finally know your name, Miss Lacey."
(This may just be me, but I seriously ship Lacey and Alex.)
Lacey flushed in indignation. “Holly! Come on! You broke my cover! How could you? I trusted you!” She scowled at Alex, tossing her braid over her shoulder with a huff. Then she shook her head and laughed. “Well, is my name suitable to you, or should I find another?”
Holly shook her head in amusement, the tiniest of smiles curling her mouth. “Well, I like anything. And I’ll try anything, too. As long as there’s no shrimp. I’ve never tried it, but it looks so weird. So weird and pink.” She grinned ruefully. “As long as there’s chocolate, I’ll eat anything else.”
(Lol its not just you, I ship them to the absolute max)
Alex didn't waste a minute, a hint of mischief in his eyes, "If you can find a name that somehow suits you better than yours already does, then be my guest, miss Lacey. I don't think it can be done though, seeing as no better names exist." He chuckled lightly, running a hand through his hair as he relaxed and let the warm sun hit his skin.
"No shrimp. and lots of chocolate. I can make that work," Sam said, surprised that she had almost given him free rein to choose whatever for their lunch. "I only have two more questions for you, then I can leave you be. One, do you prefer indoors or outdoors, and two, would you two ladies like a tour of the gardens while we're out here by chance?" He glanced between the two girls, hazel eyes filled with an easy lightness.
(Yes! I love the two of them so much… is it bad that I want to do a seperate rp about them?)
"Well, I guess that's settled, then." Lacey tilted her head in an innocent, girlish way, although the expression in her eyes was anything but. "I will keep my name, since you like it so much."
Holly's lips twitched slightly at her friend's remark, shaking her head. "I like the outdoors. Especially if it's raining. I love the rain," she said, with a small grin. "Although it is terrible for my poor, poor books." She laughed, then glanced to her friend. "I'd like a tour of the garden. I've had enough of being inside." Absently, she noticed how the sun reflected in Sam's eyes, a little bit like liquid gold. It was cool.
Lacey nodded in agreement. "Sure, why not."
(No that sounds super fun!)
The prince seemed happy that they had both agreed to a walk in the gardens, hastily pulling his shirt on so he looked presentable and motioning for Alex to do the same. "Let's get going then, there is a lot to the gardens," Sam said, smiled as he offered his arm to Holly, and the other to Lacey, though he knew she would more likely choose to walk with Alex.
Like his friend, Alex pulled on his shirt, motioning for the guards that had accompanied the girls earlier to leave. Just as Sam guessed, he offered his arm to Lacey seconds later though, smoothly transitioning to acting like a complete gentleman in a matter of seconds. "Would you like to walk with me, miss Lacey? Or with Prince Sam and Holly?"
(Alright, cool! Do you want me to make it, or do you want to?)
"I think I might walk with you," Lacey said, tossing her head. "We don't want to disturb the two lovebirds now, do we?" She smiled slightly, indicating the two of them.
Holly shook her head, ignoring her friend. She took the Prince's arm, smiling up at him. He was quite a bit taller than her small frame, which she thought was a little bit unfair. She'd always wanted to be taller. Oh well. "Those two," she said, shaking her head in amusement.
(Could you make it? :) )
"No, we wouldn't want that, Sam can get grumpy if people interrupt him and I don't think we should scare miss Holly away with that," Alex replied, trying very hard to hide the grin he wanted to show. He started walking as Sam did, trailing a few feet behind like he always did when the prince walked with someone.
"I do not get grumpy," Sam replied, shaking his head defensively, "It's just when you interrupt me, Al." He chuckled, looking down at Holly for a moment, starting away from the ring and towards a row of lush, green trees, and a white arch in the middle of the row that signified the entrance to the gardens.
(Sure XD. Now, or later?)
"We don't. She is so innocent and pure, while the Prince seems less so." Lacey shot Alex a grin. "Don't you think?"
Holly snickered. "I take offense at that, Lace. I am most certainly not innocent and pure, where ever did you get that idea." She grinned back at her friend. "You're rather loud, you know."
(Now works for me if it works for you lol)
Alex nodded, not hiding his grin anymore once he saw Lacey smiling, "I mean, Sammy is actually more innocent than he looks, but he still probably beats miss Holly in how not innocent he is."
"You're both quite loud," Sam added, his face flushing slightly at the nickname. He glanced over his shoulder at Alex, winking, "I would suggest keeping anything more about me to a minimum unless you want me to spoil your flirty comments with some stories about you." The prince led Holly through the arch, stopping for a minute so she could take in the multitude of flower gardens in front of them.
"Noted, Sammy boy," Alex replied smoothly, winking back as he got one last use of a nickname in, "I know you don't want to let the ladies know about the time you found a kitten and basically turned into a gushy little girl, fawning over it."
(Alright!)
Lacey and Holly both started giggling. Holly sent her friend a grin. The afternoon was turning out much more interesting than they had intended. "Please, I love hearing embarrassing stories," Holly said through her giggles, and Lacey nodded in agreement.
Sam's face turned even redder and he scowled over his shoulder at Alex, though there was no anger or frustration behind it, "Maybe miss Lacey will enjoy hearing about the time I found a mouse in the gardens and you almost climbed on top of me to get away from it?" He couldn't help but shoot a playful grin at him, shrugging.
Now it was Alex's turn to get red, flushed with embarrassment and he glared at Sam, again though, there were no hard feelings. "I didn't know you remembered that," He grumbled, glancing over at Lacey to see her reaction.
Lacey laughed, a sound of pure joy and mocking, and Holly joined in. "That is priceless," Lacey said, snickering. "A strong guy like you, afraid of a little mouse. Is it that I'm actually braver than you? I didn't think that was possible!" She grinned. "I actually had pet mice for a while."
"I'm not afraid of mice…I just don't like them," Alex grumbled, his face even redder than before. The sound of Lacey's laugh did perk him up a little, but he still was clearly embarrassed about the story, "The one in the gardens just scared me, it came out of nowhere and was running right at us."
Sam had to join in, his laugh joining the girls for a moment, "Sure Al, sure." He found himself caught up in Holly's laugh when the noise reached his ears, listening to the musical noise.
Alex rolled his eyes, then grinned as another story appeared in his mind, "How would Holly like to know about the time you thought it was a good idea to try to climb the tallest tower on the castle, only to find out you were terrified of being up that high and I had to come to get you down?"
Lacey snickered. "Sure, sure. You're not afraid of mice. You keep telling yourself that, and someday it will be true." She poked his reddening cheek with a playful grin.
Holly laughed with delight at Sam's red face. "You're afraid of heights?" She shook her head. "For shame. Such a powerful prince afraid of something like that." She grinned at him and Alex. "This turned out to be much more fun than I had expected. It was just going to be a walk, but now it's a case of who can tell the most entertaining stories about the other." She shook her head with a laugh.
Lacey nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And it's more fun, I must say." She sent Holly an impish grin. "Too bad we don't know each other well enough to do the same."
"It's not the height I'm afraid of, it's falling from that height," Sam tried to explain, pretending to not notice his cherry-red face, "And I could tell some very embarrassing stories about Alex, but some of the funniest he made me swear I'd never tell."
Alex pretended to scowl at Lacey, but a grin was working its way onto his face, "Sadly Sammy had me swear I wouldn't share his most embarrassing moments either, but there are still some fun ones. Being friends with him since we were babies allows for a lot of time to make embarrassing memories with each other. Like the time you tied a rope to the chandelier in the entrance hall and tried to swing from the staircase to the double doors but ended up smacking right into the old Head of Finance as he walked in with your father and mother." He couldn't help but laugh at that memory, imagining the moment again.
"That sounds really fun," Lacey said with a wistful sigh. "Was he one of those old guys who think that humor is a stupid, modern idea, and that children should be seen, and not heard?" She shook her head. "If only I was there. I would have done the same thing."
"Yes, he was," Sam said immediately, wrinkling his nose, "He was old, didn't like kids, and always smelled like bad cologne."
Alex snickered, nodding in agreement, "You smelled like that cologne the entire day after that, I remember that."
Sam glanced over at Holly, smiling, "Any embarrassing stories you want to share? Or comments on the gardens?" He had been leading the four of them around the beds of flowers, making his way towards an orchard of trees that were to the left of the flowers.
"Oh boy," Holly said, shaking her head. "I don't have any embarrassing stories about myself. My brother, though…" she giggled. "My older brother, Varin, is on the army right now. But he was such an idiot, it's a miracle that he hasn't died yet. He is super talented at falling asleep literally anywhere. One time, he was rock climbing, and he fell asleep in his harness. It was… well, he was an idiot. I don't know how he managed to do that." She shook her head.
"One time, Casey liked a guy who was like 15 years older than her, so she tried to act older than she was. So, to her, that meant dressing in clothes fit for a grandmother, and smearing lipstick all over her face. And then, she got so embarrassed when he rejected her that she wore a lampshade over her head for the next two days."
