Sam wanders through the halls once he got to the library doors, not going in and instead turning down other hallways and making his way up to his room. He figured he should look his best when meeting the girls, meaning a clean suit and maybe trying to figure out the girls names from somewhere. Time would probably fly and soon it would probably be the afternoon and then most of his life would be televised for the next forever.
Getting the dress on for lunch was the worst. Holly didn't really like hers, but from what she heard from Sophie, she looked really good. Not that Holly herself cared. She didn't place much on appearances. After being poked and prodded and stabbed with pins and having makeup applied to her face until her eyes watered and she was sore all over, she was finally done.
At least she didn't have to wear heels, she reflected, as she noticed some girls walking in those horrible tall things. They looked like they hurt.
Sophie, who was standing in the corner of the eating room with the other two girls from their plane - sisters, Holly assumed, they looked so alike - and she headed over to them. Sophie grinned at her.
"Holly, this is Lacadia and Caseline Ash. Girls, this is Holly…" she trailed off, looking at Holly expectantly.
"Ara-Hollin Whiteman," Holly said, smiling at the girls. "Call me Holly. My real name is kind of a mouth full."
As Sam adjusted his casual suit once again, he made his way into the dining room, almost feeling too casually dressed compared to some of the girl's outfits around him. Him getting dressed up to eat though wasn't something he did often unless it was a televised event. Even his mother and father looked surprised as he came in with a smile, though they smiled back before taking their seats and watching as he glanced around at the girls. "How am I going to decide?" Sam asked, looking over at his father and smiling gently.
"Very carefully." He said, laughing deeply and shrugging, "Follow your gut and give all the girls a chance, one will stick out by the end and you'll know for sure that they're the one. That's what my selection was like anyway." Sam did take the advice to heart, trusting his father and his words as he leaned back in his chair and waited for food to be served.
"Oh, look! There he is!" Sophie squealed. Lacey and Casey smiled at each other, excitement in their faces. Holly felt a flutter of nerves, but squashed it down. It was fine. She and the other girls sat down, all next to each other, and waited for the food to be served.
The food came out only a few moments later, the tables becoming stacked with sides and salads, enough food to feed all of the girls and let them have as much of whatever they wanted that was served, the same food appearing on the table in front of the prince and his parents. It was clearly more food than some of them had seen all at once, from the wide and amazed eyes from some of the contestants. The happy reactions made Sam smile, at least this was good so far. He pulled food onto his plate and started eating, or trying to eat. The nerves at this point was making it hard to focus on eating, but he was determined to eat something.
"There's so much," Lacey whispered, digging into a piece of meat. "And it's good!"
Casey, who had glanced at the Prince to see what he was having, took some of the same, while Sophie was too busy gawking at him.
Holly nudged her. "Come on, girl. Eat. There will be time to ogle him later." She herself never let any guy, no matter how cute, get in the way of eating. She glanced up, to look at the prince, and their eyes met for the slightest moment, but it made her turn beet-red and look down.
(Sorry it's short, I'm swamped today and just wanted to make sure I responded)
Sam glanced up occasionally as he ate, making eye contact with one girl in particular and quickly looking back to his food. He mostly just pushed it around, smiling and talking with his parents instead and nibbling at the food.
(You're fine! I honestly don't care how long it is lol)
Sophie cleared her throat. "So, Prince… do you have any interests?"
Holly admired her bravery.
He looked up when one of the girls asked a question, smiling gently and replying politely, "As in things I do in my free time? Or just things that interest me?" It surprised him that one of the girls had asked a question, but he was also impressed.
"A-anything," Sophie said, looking surprised that he had actually answered. "I just… I don't know much about you. What do you do for fun, I guess?"
"Well, I read, and I like to swim a lot." He started, thinking over what he really did in his limited free time, "That's mainly what I do for fun, but other than those two I just do a variety of different things." Sam's smile grew and he looked to the girl that talked, "What do you do for fun, Miss….?"
"Loveland, Sophie Loveland." Sophie looked pleased and surprised that he had answered, and Holly felt the smallest twinge of jealousy. "I like to play pool, and other games."
"Really?" Holly asked, before she could help it, feeling slightly shocked. "You like to play those kinds of games? I'm terrible at it! Can you teach me?"
Sophie grinned at her, although the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Of course!"
Holly, on a roll now, turned to the Prince. She tilted her head curiously. "You like to read? What kinds of books?"
Sam listened carefully, nodding and not interrupting the conversation as another one of the girls cut in to talk. "I read a lot of different books, though I haven't found a favorite type just yet." He explained when the other girl asked him a question, happy that talking to the girls didn't seem as awkward as he had thought it would be, "I'm guessing you like to read too? Miss..?" Asking for all their names was going to be slightly tedious, but he didn't want to get their names wrong.
"Really? That's too bad," Holly said, grinning at him. She spoke to him as if they were friends, and not as if she was just trying to show off. "I'm Holly."
"Well, Holly," He said, chuckling at her informalness, "What's your favorite book genre?" Sam wasn't paying attention as dessert was brought out, though he did realize it was bring brought out from some of the surprised gasps of the girls.
"Fantasy, all the way," Holly said, happy that he didn't seem annoyed at her behavior. "Though I don't usually like if it has romance, because the author usually makes it seem cheesy and weird." She shrugged. "I've never actually read a good romance, ever."
He leaned back on his seat and smiled, taking a slice of the cake that was placed at the table and putting it on his plate, "What's your favorite fantasy book? I haven't read any good books in that category."
"Um… well, I don't think think this counts, but I love fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers," Holly said, giggling. "They're so weird and messed up! I think you'd like them."
Sam laughed and nodded, "They sound very interesting, I'll have to check them out in my free time someday soon." He had heard of the fairytales by the Grimm Brothers, but he had never read them, always having more important things to be working on or things he wanted to do more than try to find the book in the royal library.
"You should." She shook her head in amazement. "Have you ever even been to a library?" She didn't sound judgemental, more curious. She spoke to him as if they were friends, treating him like an equal. She probably shouldn't, but he was interesting and entertaining.
"Yes, we have one of the largest libraries in the country in this very palace." He said, eating his cake a little at a time as he talked to her. He didn't seem to mind her question, or lack of formality that he was used to, happy that someone other than his parents talked to him like he was a normal being, and not the prince of a country.
"No way!" Holly gasped. "That's awesome! Do you go there often?" She loved to read, loved libraries and books and everything to do with them.
Sam shrugged, thinking about his busy schedule and smiling politely, "Not as much as I would like to, but when I have the time I usually stop in to try to find a book I haven't yet read. It's actually a pretty easy task, but getting harder as I get older and read more." He did really like the library in the palace, with its towering rows and ladders used to get to the top of the shelves.
"That's so sad! Who doesn't have much time to read?" Holly cocked her head. "Well, you must have read a lot of books." Then she glanced around and saw how many girls were glaring at her, and realized how long she had been talking to the Prince. She smiled apologetically to all of them and looked down at her food, a blush rising on her cheeks. Did they honestly think that he would choose her? She was just a nobody, and not even that interesting! She took a bite of some desert, which turned out to be chocolate cake, and gave a sigh of contentment. It was delicious!
"You could say that." He said, laughing softly and not paying attention to any of the dirty looks from any of the girls. Sam himself dug into his own desert, knowing that after this the girls would get to see their rooms, as well as get a small orientation of sorts. Then he wouldn't see them again until before dinner when the reporters would barge in and get pictures of all of the girls, along with a little about them before getting yet more pictures of him and even more about himself.
When it was time to be done eating, Holly stood reluctantly and pushed her plate away from her. It still had some cake on top of it. She had had several slices. She didn't know what was happing next, but she knew that she couldn't eat any more of that delisciousness now. She moved over to Sophie and the twins. "Hey," she said, waving.
At the end of the meal, the king and queen stood up, both nodding to the girls before exiting. Sam didn't stay much longer after, finishing off the last bite of his dessert before standing on his own and making a small announcement, "After you ladies are finished with your meal, you'll be escorted to your room for a few minutes before meeting with the queen in the ladies parlor for a final introduction. After that, you have free time before dinner, which is at promptly 6 o'clock. See you then." He smiled and waved at them before making his way out of the room, not sure what to do with his own free time.
Lacey shook her head at his words. "But why? I mean, I mean, I get that we need an introduction talk or whatever, but this is annoying."
Holly shrugged. "Come on. I can't wait to see what my room looks like!"
Sam took his time as he walked back to his room, whistling softly and messing with his hair until it was no longer combed nice. Paperwork would probably arise that he would need to do in his free time, and so he purposely was going to take longer to get there because of that.
Holly lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Now that she was alone, she could feel all of the pent-up emotions bursting out of her. She knew she shouldn't, as it would ruin her makeup, but she really didn't care. She was homesick. She sobbed silently, tears leaking down her cheeks, mascara smearing down her face, before she gathered herself together.