"Nah, he passes as me quite a lot, no one would even know I was gone," He replied, shaking his head, "Thankfully he likes me enough not to do that." Sam shifted a fraction of an inch closer to her as he talked, loving the conversation and just talking to her in general. She was easy to get along with and he loved hearing her voice. It was like music, and her laugh was even better.
"Are you sure he does?" Holly teased, not noticing Sam moving closer to her. "What if he's just been tricking you for all these years?" Her voice was light and joking, so it was clear that she wasn't being serious about these concerns she was voicing.
Sam laughed and shrugged, "I think so. He's not very patient, so playing the long waiting game isn't his style." He studied Holly as he talked, pausing and not realizing the awkward staring. She was gorgeous, and gosh she was fun to be around. Before he stared for too long he snapped back to reality and tried to hide his flushed cheeks by speaking more, "If anything, he'd just ask to pretend to be me for a day and just never give me the title of prince again."
Holly finally took notice of his staring, and her cheeks burned at the intense gaze. She ducked her head, hair covering her face, trying to let her cheeks cool. After she had gathered herself, she lifted her head again and tucked her golden hair behind her ear. "Is it really that difficult to be a prince?" She asked, grinning shyly at him.
"It's definitely not easy," He replied, chuckling, "Though being the King is much more difficult. I barely have a quarter of the duties that my father takes care of and I'm normally worked to the bone." Because of the selection, his workload had become lighter, but he was still required to take care of several things, and on the days he was tired, it was torture. "At least when I'm King I'll hopefully have a Queen to help take care of things. That is, if I don't scare all of you ladies away."
"I think you might scare us all away," Holly said with a small, teasing grin. "You're pretty scary, after all. Handsome people are terrifying." She realized what she had said and blushed crimson, looking down in embarrassment. Had she really just said that out loud?
Sam's own cheeks turned a flaming color at the compliment and he became highly invested in his shoes as he replied, "I…uh..thank you. I didn't know I was considered a handsome person." It seemed rude to just take the compliment without giving one back, and though he was terrified of her reaction, it gave him a chance to say what he thought of her. "I suppose the same applies to gorgeous people. You're pretty scary after all."
(Boop)
"You are handsome," Holly assured him quietly, her cheeks redder than cherries. Her face felt hot, and she wanted to melt into the seat. This thought was made all the clearer when he told her she was gorgeous. She glanced around, trying desprately not to make eye contact with him. "I-uh… are you sure you're talking about me?"
"I am more than confident that I'm talking about the you," He replied in a soft voice, not sure if his cheeks could turn any darker of a color. His eyes had averted almost instinctively to the floor and he didn't know what to do, saved by the fact that he could feel the car roll to a stop and be shut off. That was their signal that they had arrived. He just hoped she would like the place he had picked, especially after he had just confessed that he thought she was gorgeous.
Her face was so hot, she was pretty sure that she had caught on fire. Although, there hadn't been any screams, so…. probably not.
She wasn't' good at accepting compliments from cute guys. And this guy was the prince! She felt flustered, and the butterflies in her stomach felt like they would burst out at any minute.
When the car stopped, she almost felt grateful, so she had a place to look out of while she let her face cool… a little bit, at least.
Quickly, Sam stepped out of the car and made his way to her side of the car, doing the polite thing and opening her door with a tiny smile. His face was still quite red, but he tried to ignore it. "We're here Miss Holly," He said, waiting with a gentle smile as she stepped out of the car. Clearly, the place they were going was now visible. The smell of the sea was in the air, and just a little walk away was a path leading down to what looked like the ocean.
Holly stepped out of the car, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face, face still quite pink.
The first thing she noticed was the smell, and she let out a small, contented smile at the smell and feeling of a slight breeze on her face.
"It's beautiful," she said softly, looking around.
"It gets prettier the closer you get to the water," He added quietly, holding out an arm for her with a smile, "I don't think any paparatzi or news crews will find us, if you're worried. I didn't tell anyone besides the necessary people about this." The guard that had drove the car circled around, holding out a wicker picnic basket to the prince who easily took it.
Holly took his arm, but she found that she couldn't look at him, or else red would blossom across her face again. It was happening a lot. "That's good," she said in relief. "I'm glad. Thank you."
Her dress fluttered slightly, and she smiled at the water around her, which seemed to glow in the sunlight. "How did you think of this place?" She asked.
Sam smiled, leading her towards the water as he answered almost sheepishly, "I thought of it after our conversation about dolphins, and even if it's rare to see them around here, I wanted to bring you somewhere that we could possibly see them. Plus, this is one of the nicest views of the oceans around." He had originally wanted to bring her to swim with dolphins, but seeing as this was still one of the first dates, he decided a picnic would be better. Though he still had plans to fulfill his original idea later in the selection.
"It's super pretty," Holly said dreamily. "I love it." Although she knew that she might not be able to see dolphins, she was still really touched that he had remembered what she had said. She saw the picnic basket in his hand and her grin widened slightly. He was… so thoughtful, it was unbelievably amazing. Was this really real?
"I'm glad you like it," He said in return, hiding just how happy it made him to hear that she liked it. His cheeks flushed as he motioned around to the now visible stretch of ocean and sand, adding on quickly, "You can pick where to sit if you'd like. You are my guest after all." Sam wasn't sure if she would like a picnic, but she seemed to like everything else so far, and he only hoped his luck with this gorgeous girl continued.
As Holly glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, she realized that he was blushing, and so naturally, she blushed pink, too. "A-alright." She took the opportunity to look around to place her free hand on her cheeks, hoping it would cool her blush down. There wasn't much success. She spotted a group of rocks not too far from the edge and pointed. "There. Then we can have a table."
Sam smiled gently, nodding as he internally cursed how visible his blush was. He led her there slowly, setting down the basket next to the rocks before pulling out a checkered cloth that could act as a picnic blanket, or in this case, a tablecloth of sorts. He had to unhook her arm from his sadly, but he pushed the thought away in favor of thoughts of eating with her while looking out on the water.
When he pulled his arm away, Holly shivered slightly for a moment. It had been so warm… but he needed his arm. She sat down, brushing her dress carefully under her before sitting down on a rock. She smiled up at him as he spread the tablecloth, and a warm blush crossed her face as she looked at him. Outlined by the sun, he seemed to glow… he was so handsome. Like, ridiculously so.
“So, I wasn’t sure what you liked…so I brought a little of everything,” He said once the cloth was laid out, glancing up at her for a split second with a smile, “Plus I may have brought several samples of desserts…” Sam had debated over what to bring to eat for a while, eventually settling on a few different choices of fruit, some sandwiches, chips, and a variety of other things.
Holly's face lit up at the amount of food there was, and she smiled happily. "This looks amazing!" She said, voice tinged with awe. "Did you pack all of this by yourself, or did you have help?" Her mouth watered at some of the things she saw laid out… he was so considerate.
He blushed furiously at the compliment and he shrugged, “I picked out everything and packed the basket, but I let the cooks make the food…otherwise it might not have been edible.” Sam smiled and looked up at her, his hesitant smile growing when he saw how happy she looked. That was a sight he was sure he could look at forever without complaining. “As for drinks, I only brought lemonade and water..I hope that’s alright.”
"I don't know how to cook very well, either," Holly admitted with a small laugh. She saw him looking at her, and her cheeks pinkened(is that even a word lol). "I can make sandwiches, and that's about it." She smiled and looked down at his gaze, fiddling with her fingers. "And water and lemonade is fine. I don't really drink much else… besides coffee, of course, but that's only when I've stayed up reading the entire night. Which kind of happens a lot."
(Lol hey, if it's not a word, become the next Shakespeare and make it a word)
Sam nodded easily and pulled out two sealed pitchers, each labeled carefully with their respective drinks. He finally sat down as he took the final things out of the basket, two plates, cups, and sets of silverware, all painted with seashells and sand dollars as if they were made just for something like this. "I've tried to learn, but I end up eating everything before it ends up in a recipe," He admitted with a small laugh even as he blushed.
(Exactly. Then I might make a lot of money…and stuff. I'll make a dictionary of words I made up lmao)
Holly laughed softly. "That sounds like something I would do," she said, smiling. "If the food is good, it's better to eat it right away before anyone else can get their hands on it." Privately, she was very impressed with his preparation of food and dishes. Unless this was the chefs' ideas… but still, it was very neat and tidy. She felt a rush of happiness that he had done this for her, and no one else.
(See? Perfect idea lmao, I would definitely buy it)
"My thinking exactly," He replied with a gentle laugh, looking at her but glancing away as soon as he felt his cheeks heat again. To hide the betraying color of his cheeks, he busied himself with filling his plate with some of the food, offering her the other plate as well as a cup. He had prepared almost the entire date by himself, from when and where, to what to eat and even how to pack the basket. The only thing he didn't do was cook the food, and he was even tempted to do that if he knew it would taste good. Sadly he wasn't sure though, and so that was the only thing he left to the chef.
(I'll give you a copy for free, since you've given me the idea lol)
"I guess I'll have to make sure that you don't eat everything, then," Holly teased with a small grin at him. She started to fill up her plate as well, and for the slightest moment, her fingers brushed against his. She hurriedly pulled her hand away, butterflies flapping wildly inside her, and used a stray strand of hair as an excuse to look away from him and not meet his eyes.
(Ayyy yesss I love free books XD)
He chuckled lightly, going to respond before he felt their hands brush. Quickly he busied himself with filling the rest of his plate, wondering why he felt so electrified just through one simple touch. It wasn't like it was their first time touching, but this was a different feeling. At least he didn't blush as hard this time. "I'll have to make sure you don't eat everything either…or at least save room or desert," He said, glancing up at her and softly smiling.
(Gosh these two…where Lacey and Alex are little flirts…these two are going to be torture to write them falling for each other its going to be such a slow burnnn )