Chapter 16 Red Haired Flirt

I was jumping on the clouds and enjoying my freedom. The clouds then suddenly turn into those soft mushy cotton candies. I squealed in delight as I flopped down and hugged the sweet candy goodness.

This is heaven, I thought.

I was enjoying my life when suddenly, it started to rain making the cotton candy dissolve. And since I'm floating on one right now...

I started to sprint away from the rain cloud. Wait...a cloud raining on another cloud? That's weird. The thunder started to roar, but instead of the normal BOOM, it decided to call my name.

"ROSE!!"

A lightning suddenly strikes in front of me, making me fall off the ground - er cloud. The rain cloud was approaching me, but I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot from fear and shock. When I looked up, there was a shadow of a man in front of me. I couldn't decipher the face of the man. Heck, I couldn't even see from the darkness of the rain cloud.

I muffled a scream when the man suddenly reached out to me. To make it more creepier, he was calling my name. "Rose". I started to scream and tried to slap his hands away from me as he shook me back and forth.

"Rose"

"ROSE!"

My eyes jerked open, only to be met by two green orbs staring at me. I recognize those eyes. Those eyes would only belong to Nate, whose face is currently above mine making me see the red specks in his eyes.

"Well good morning Princess" He said, complete with a smile and all. On reflexes, I screamed and slapped him across the cheek. My palm connected his cheek with a loud smack. My hands throbbed from the impact, which made me sit up and clutch my hand.

"OW!! WHAT THE HECK?!" Both of us screamed.

"Why'd you slap me?" Nate asked while clutching his cheek.

"Cause you startled me!" I snapped at him. One thing to know about me is that I am not a morning person. I grunted as I rubbed my aching palm. "And why do you have such a hard cheek!? What is that made of? Rock?"

At that, Nate's lips twitch in the tinsies smile that he could. "It hurts huh?" he said with pride as if he was amused that slapping him hurts.

I gave him a glare. How dare he smile knowing that he injured my palm. Well technically it's my fault, but hello? He's the one with a hard face!

"Of course it does. Try slapping yourself to see if it hurts or not." I said, not easing my glare at him. He rubbed his chin as if he was thinking about it.

"Nope. Sorry. I'm not gonna damage my face by doing that cause I'm pretty sure that my slap is stronger than you, babe. And besides, your slap hurts too you know." He made a pouty face at me and pointed towards his said cheek. "Now go and kiss it to make it better."

I ignored him as I pulled the sheets over me, ready to take my sleep once again. "What are you doing here, Nate? Can't you see that I was in the middle of my sleep?" I yawned to prove my point, but Nate didn't move away from my bed. He was still sitting on the edge of it. Even though my bed is a queen sized one, I still prefer to have the full space for myself. Call me selfish but that's just me.

"Oh. I'm sorry to disturb your beauty rest. I'm guessing the twins must have exhausted you yesterday?" He asked.

"Tell me about it." I said as I fixed my pillow. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to dreamland since I was RUDELY interrupted earlier." I emphasize on the word 'rudely' just so he could get my point before I gave him one of my sweet-fake smiles. "Bye, Nate." I then covered myself with the covers.

"Woah woah woah. Not so fast, little love." Nate tried to pull the covers away from me but I held on to it. Not wanting to lose my comfort zone, which is currently this bed. If you thought that Nate had stopped bugging me about waking up, then you are definitely wrong. He's really pushy as he started to shake me back and forth. "It's time for your training with me. Now don't you want to have a quality time with me?"

"No."

"Aw come on." He whined in such a very cute tone that would make you want to pinch his cheeks like you would with a child, but I am so not touching his cheek again. I threw the covers off of my head and looked at Nate. His eyes sparkled with hope as I did so, but was immediately crushed when I stuck my tongue out at him and covered my head with the sheets again.

"I knew hanging out with the twins was bad for you." he muttered under his breath, which made me snicker. I can see why the twins like to make fun of Nate now. "Come on, Rose. Get up or I'm gonna cry." He threatened.

"That's nice."

I felt the bed dipped a little at his weight and heard him whisper in my ear. "If you won't get up now within 5 seconds, I'm going to tell Prince Fred that since you didn't have your lesson with me that you're cancelling your class with him tomorrow too." He said in his most seductive yet threatening tone. I flinched

Wait. Did he just say what I think he said?

Nate must have felt me flinch when he said. "Fred, is a nice guy. I think he'll understand." I could tell that he was enjoying this and I could picture him smiling through the covers. "What do you say? Either ways. I'm fine with it. But Prince Charming on the other hand..."

Don't move, Rose. Don't let him fool you. It's probably a trick, I thought but I quickly perished it when Nate started to count.

"5"

"..."

"I'm being serious here, Rose. 4."

"..."

"Still nothing? 3-"

I threw the covers away and made sure to toss it at Nate as I scrambled to my feet. "I'm up! I'm up!" I screamed as I arranged my nightgown and made a beeline to the bathroom. It didn't help my mood when I heard Nate chuckled outside of the bathroom. The maids were there as usual to help me.

"DON'T TAKE TOO LONG, SWEETHEART!!!" He yelled, which made me hate him now.

30 minutes later, I made sure to take that long, I got out of the tub and put a bath robe around me. After making sure that the robe is now secured around me, I got out of the room and headed to my closet.

"Ohhhh nice. Very nice. I should come here more often."

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I saw Nate lying on on bed and looking at me with approval. I pulled the bath robe tightly around me and I screamed. "Nate, what are you still doing here?!"

"I was waiting for you and-"

"Please escort this stranger out." I asked one of the maids as I pointed towards the door.

"Prince, right this way." The maid said, showing him the way out of the room. He gave me a sad look as if he was pleading for me to let him stay. He tried that for at least 5 seconds before accepting that fact that I would NEVER let him stay and watch me get dressed.

"Fine. But just so you know. You can wear that robe on our training." He winked then wiggled his eyes at me.

"NATE!"

"Alright alright. I'm going." He got up from the bed and stuffed his hands in his pocket grumpily. I made sure not to leave my eyes off of him as I watched him leave, but when he passed me he muttered, "Kill joy." I almost laughed at his childish behavior but no. I mustn't cause he's a pervert. He left the door with a dramatic 'humph' before closing it behind him.

I shook my head as I scanned the closet for something to wear. I decided to go for a mint colored-long sleeved dress that ends just below the knees. I wore my flats since we're just practicing the proper etiquette. I checked myself in the mirror.

"Thank you!" I told the maids when I left the room.

I saw Nate leaning on the wall probably waiting for me. When he saw me, he pouted in that cute way that would make girls swoon. "I prefer you wearing a little bit more revealing." He glared at my dress as if it would melt under his gaze.

"Sorry, Nate. I'm not taking any chances with you around." I smirked at him.

He huffed. "Fine. Lets go." He offered me his arm, which I took. We started to walk down the halls. I let Nate guide me through since I know that he's more familiar with this place more than I do.

While we were walking, we suddenly stopped and scratched his head.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

He then began to scratch his cheek in embarrassment. "Umm.....I think we went the wrong way." He laughed nervously after that.

My jaw dropped at his confession. I take it back. He doesn't know his way around this castle. The bastard. And I even let this guy with no sense of direction lead me!

"Nate!"

"Umm....oh! I think it's this way." He started to pull me to another room. "Hmmm......yep. This is it, love." He said and pulled me forward as he opened the door to a room. It had nothing in it except for a single round table and some long tables at the side with white cloths over it. Roses were placed on vases on top of the tables, making it look elegant and presentable.

I stared at the setting in awe. "Wow, Nate. You really took some time preparing this place."

"Of course. Anything for my beautiful Princess." He winked at me. "So, do I have a kiss?" He bit his lips and made a seductive face at me.

"No"

"My heart can't take anymore rejection." He put his hands to his heart to prove his point.

I smirked at Nate and shrugged my shoulders. "Oh poor you." I let go of his arm and started to walk to the table to examine the roses and daffodils on the vase. When I looked up to Nate, he was starring at me for quite a long time, not saying anything.

Finally, he spoke. "Am I not good looking?" He asked.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion at him. What is this freak talking about? "All girls can't be interested in you, Nate. Just accept the fact that someone might be better than you."

Nate gasped dramatically. "Is it because of this Fred guy?" He asked in a fake angry tone which made me laugh. "It's him isn't it?!" He said in a tone that boyfriends would use when they are jealous. But his acting was very sloppy.

I decided to join in to humour him. I placed a hand to my chest as I said with all the fake sincerity that I had. "Oh, Nate. I'm so sorry. It's not me, it's you." Wait. wasn't that the other way around?

"It's the cape isn't it?" He looked back towards his cape which was hanging onto his back. 

"That and the ridiculous look on your face.”

"What face? This sexy little thing?" He raised an eyebrow and puckered his face in a sexy pose. I laughed harder if that was even possible. "Alright. Time to get serious and start this training." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together in excitement.

"Nate, you're the only one who's fooling around you know." I said after I caught my breath. I whipped the exes tears away from my eyes.

"True, but I know that you loved it." He said as he went towards me. He moved the chair in front of the table back and motioned for me to sit in a gentleman like gesture. I sat while I watched Nate delicately arranging the utensils in front of me. He picked up the smallest spoon of the group and showed it to me. "This here is a teaspoon. It's used to stir tea or coffee." He said and placed it back on the table. His finger glided to another one just beside the teaspoon. This time, he took a spoon which is in between the size of a normal spoon and a teaspoon. "This is the dessert spoon. This is used for eating desserts. It's size is larger than the teaspoon so don't mistake it as one. Okay?"

"Noted." I confirmed.

He picked up another one which is of normal size this time. "Now this is our regular spoon." He said. "I don't think I need to explain what this is used for since you probably know it, right?" He looked at me for confirmation which I gave a nod to.

Something that I noticed while Nate was explaining is that he always makes sure that you understand what he's talking about. And the way that he talks to you gives you that vibe that you could easily ask him for anything without him snapping at you.

Unlike a certain PRINCE that I know of.

Nate continued to explain that do's and don'ts in eating. Like - don't leaned your elbows on the table, don't chew loudly, don't stuff yourself, don't slouch, don't burp in front of the table, say 'excuse me' when your leaving the table, and even your eating pace with the others so you'll finished the same time as them. Nate also showed me the proper ways on how to use the knife and how to properly hold the spoons.

"Now you see? This is the proper way to cut. You use your knife to cut through so we could avoid the flying meats." He teased. I pouted at him as I remembered the time when I attempted to cut the meat and a piece to it went flying towards Ace's plate.

"Forget about it!" I was too flustered to make up an excuse about that time.

He chuckled at my childlike behavior and patted my head. "Oh sure, love. Whatever you say. But just remember that if you needed an assistant to cut your food for you, you know who to ask." He winked.

Just as I was about to say a smart comment, we heard a knock at the door. Nate stood up and walked towards it and opened one of the large double doors of the room. He smiled at the person behind it before nodding his head and opening the door wide. As soon as he opened it, a bunch of servants came rushing in holding a tray of what I assume is something edible. Smells of freshly cooked meat wafted in the room making me drool and my stomach screaming in protest, reminded me that I forgot to eat my breakfast thanks to a certain someone.

The servants piled the trays on the long tables at the side and arranged it. They moved in perfect sync as if they had done this a bunch of times already, which I'm probably thinking that they did. A minute later and they were done. As soon as they disappeared behind the doors, I was left with Nate and the delicious smell of the food a few feet in front of me.

I saw Nate smile from the corner of my eyes as he looked at me with amusement as I drooled. He strode towards me and offered me his hand and pulled me up to my feet. He handed me a plate and led me to the table. "Let's start our lesson. Now come on and fill your plate. Remember what I said." He said and nodded for me to start. I didn't waste anytime as I filled my plate, ready to feed my growling stomach.

By the time that I was done you couldn't see a vacant space on my plate anymore. All was covered with mashed potatoes, beef, a slice of pork, and many more. I looked at my plate in approval and satisfaction.

I'm pretty sure that this would do the trick, I thought.

As I was about to head to my table, Nate stood in front of me, stopping me from moving further. He looked at my plate and shook his head in disapproval. I gave him a look. "Um, Nate? I'm about to eat lunch now so can you please move?"

"This won't do." He said, still looking at my plate.