Her assistant coughed. ‘Sorry, Sky, Prince Gustav Xavier III is waiting.’
‘WAIT. WHAT?’ I blinked at Sky. ‘PRINCE GUSTAV IS YOUR DATE?’
‘He is so dreamy,’ she said, as her assistant checked her dress again.
‘But . . . isn’t he a bit . . . I don’t know . . . ’ I searched for the word and failed. ‘I mean, he didn’t even have an Instagram page until a couple of months ago. And . . . he didn’t know how to take a selfie! Who doesn’t know how to take a selfie?’
‘It’s so nice, isn’t it?’ She sighed. ‘He’s not into that kind of thing at all. It’s such a breath of fresh air. My last boyfriend wouldn’t stop taking photos of everything we did. Prince Gustav actually listens when you talk because he’s not busy picking a filter.’
‘Isn’t there a word for that? Old?’
‘He’s in his twenties, Flick!’ She giggled. ‘He’s just never really got into the whole social media thing. His Instagram page is really coming along, though.’
‘Oh. Well, OK then.’
Sky let go of my hand and winked at me. ‘Eek! I’ll see you down there.’
She elegantly swept down the stairs and I peeked over the bannister to see Prince Gustav wearing a blue sash at the bottom of the stairs looking up at her as though he’d just won the lottery. He spotted me and gave me a salute. I waved and then leaned back, shaking my head.
I did NOT see that one coming.
I waited at the top of the stairs, listening to the music of the band floating out from the ballroom and thinking over what Sky had said about Cal. I guess it was kind of weird for Cal to have made that deal when he’d already decided to do the hotel piece. But maybe he thought the interview with Sky would be better. Or maybe he was just being nice. Or maybe he had jumped at the opportunity to boss me around?
I was so deep in thought about it, I didn’t notice Audrey come sidling over from the lift and lean on the bannister next to me.
‘Your date is here. Though I can’t say much for his timing. He’s ten minutes late.’
I jumped to attention, and immediately began straightening my dress.
‘Stop fidgeting, you look lovely,’ she said sternly.
I took a deep breath, put one hand on the bannister and lifted the hem of my dress with the other so I wouldn’t trip, and then made my way downstairs to where Ethan Duke was waiting, looking so handsome, I couldn’t believe he was there for me.
‘Nice dress,’ he commented, holding out his arm.
‘Thanks.’ I smiled, taking it.
All eyes were on us as we came through the archway into the ballroom, taking a lot of the attention away from Fritz, who, as usual, was the main star of the show, perched on a velvet armchair by the door wearing his Santa suit.
The ballroom had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Every year, the decorations for the ball blow me away but this year it seemed even more amazing because I actually knew the work that had gone into it. Every tiny detail had been planned, each bauble and sprig of holly perfectly placed, and I even made Ethan stop to properly admire the crystal chandeliers – which I’d never taken the time to do before – as I knew that someone had been up a very tall ladder the night before, delicately attaching dozens of red and gold bows to the frames.
Timothy gave us some drinks and we made small talk for a bit, but Ethan seemed restless, as though he’d rather be somewhere else.
‘Is everything OK?’ I asked finally, giving up on trying to ignore his frantic glances around the room. ‘You seem distracted.’
‘Yes, sorry.’ He sighed. ‘I guess I’m feeling guilty about inviting you to be my date tonight.’
‘Oh.’
‘It’s just. I don’t –’
‘It’s OK, you don’t have to explain.’ I blushed.
‘No,’ he protested, putting his drink down on one of the tables. ‘I do. Everyone I knew was going with a date, and I had no idea who to take, so I just asked you because you’d been so nice.’
‘I’m not sure this is making me feel better.’
‘I’m explaining this badly.’ He sighed, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘I guess, I felt you actually listened when I talked to you.’
