70 The Dance

When Roselle and James walked into the building, they were immediately greeted by the loud beats of the music accompanied by the cheering and dancing of the people who were there. The space was dim-lit, and the decorations inside were themed black, white, pink and red: the perfect Valentine's Day colors. There were themed banners, heart-shaped balloons, and table cloths. In addition, strobe lights were prominent and gleaming on the dance floor, further enhancing the youthful feeling of being at a high school dance.

"This looks exactly like how Michelle described her prom to be like," Roselle said, scanning the room. "I mean, wow. It's crazy in here."

James scoured the scene as well. "It's an odd sensation to be actually seeing one of these things in person." Even after moments of viewing it, his face was still blank and expressionless. Roselle studied him for a second. He looked critical. Did he not like it?

Eventually, a wide smile spread across the king's face as he kept staring at the room in wonder. "It's even better in person than it is on TV."

She raised a brow. "It is?"

"Of course it is!" He raised his arms in the air. "Look how lively the room is! It's loud, it's rambunctious, and the energy of the people here make it even better. Let me tell you, peasant. I've been to events before, but none of them were quite like this."

She couldn't help but feel a wholesome feeling within herself seeing him so happy over something so simple. She giggled. "I'm really happy to see you enjoying yourself."

He turned to her. "What about you? This is your first high school style dance as well. How do you feel?"

She returned his smile. "It's perfect," she said. 'Because I'm here with you,' is what she wanted to say, but didn't. Wait, what? What were these crazy thoughts that were always infiltrating her mind? Make them go away!

"So, what do we do now?" James asked. "We don't wait in line to go on the dance floor, do we?"

Roselle wanted to facepalm, but she refrained from it. "We can just go there if you want."

"I've always wanted to experience a dance floor." James took her by the hand and dragged her there.

"Hey, don't hold my hand all of a sudden, dummy!" she shouted, becoming hot from the intense blushing.

He looked back at her. "What's wrong, peasant? Flustered?"

"NO! I JUST--"

James snickered.

They got to the dance floor and stood there awkwardly for a few minutes.

"Why aren't you dancing?" James questioned.

"Why aren't YOU dancing?"

He shrugged. "I'm unfamiliar with the dancing norms among these types of events. You'll have to demonstrate first so I may follow accordingly."

"Uh . . ." She rubbed the back of her head. "I don't think there's actually a right way to do it, exactly. You just . . . do it, you know?"

James sighed. "So you don't know how to dance, eh?"

"You're completely misinterpreting what I'm saying!"

The king looked at the dance floor and narrowed his eyes at them. "I guess I'll just try to copy what they're doing." He began to dance to a popular song while copying the movements of some random guy that was giggling around. The random guy was moving ridiculously, so James was dancing ridiculously as well.

Roselle's inner giggles were back and she laughed so hard that she fell on the floor this time.

"Peasant!" James moaned. "What's with you?"

"You're--" Her own laughs disrupted her speech. "You're so ridiculous!" Ha ha ha ha ha!

James grabbed her hands and helped her up. "Well, you dance now, then."

"Oh no . . . I can't."

"That's unfair. I just danced, now it's your turn."

She grunted. "I feel weird if I'm the only one! You dance with me." She took his hands and they moved together to the upbeat music, flowing nicely with one another. They weren't dancing too hard since James still had to look out for his chest, but it was still a solid rhythmic movement.

"Ah, so that guy I was copying was just an imbecile," James said.

"Yeah, he was super bad. Please never copy anything like that again." She giggled. "That definitely was not a 'normal' dance."

He nodded. "Understood."

Everyone on the dance floor stopped dancing suddenly little by little, and they all gathered around something. Eventually, James and Roselle stopped dancing as well. The people watching cheered and screamed in a fit of excitement.

James raised a brow. "What do you suppose is happening there?"

"Someone is probably break-dancing or something," Roselle deduced.

They followed the crowd to see the muse, and in the center of the dancefloor was none other than--

"The Prince of Spain is here?" James questioned, crossing his arms.

Roselle looked at him. "You know Vicente?"

"Of course I do. All of us royals have met before, though I'm not very fond of him."

"Yeah, he gives me jock vibes. He goes to my school and ALL the girls are super in love with him." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't like him very much. He thinks he's so debonair just because he's of a royal bloodline and he's far too confident for his own good."

She raised a brow. "Uh . . ." She was going to point out the irony, but she decided against it.

"I see you're watching Vicente," Veronica said, coming up behind Roselle. "Yeah, that's right, I'M the one who came with the prince this time." She gave a passive-aggressive smile.

"Well, congratulations," James said, taking off his glasses.

Veronica looked at him, looked away, then did a double-take. "Wait a minute . . . You look like . . ."

He gave her a passive-aggressive smile back. "Yes. It's exactly who you think it is."

"OH MY GOD! IT'S THE KING OF--"

Roselle slapped her hand in front of Veronica's mouth. "Shut up, honey."

"Yes, I would prefer if you didn't tell anyone about this," James said. He wrapped his arm around Roselle. "Can you get me and my date some punch, peasant?" he asked Veronica. "I'm thirsty."

"Oh, yeah! Right away!" She scurried to the snack bar as quickly as she possibly could.

Once Veronica was out of sight, Roselle untangled herself from James's arm. "Why did you reveal yourself?" she asked. "She almost screamed your name!"

He put his glasses back on. "Well, I can't let Vicente have all the glory, can I? Besides, I didn't like how she spoke to you. If she was going to condescend upon you because her date was royalty, then two can play at that game." He chuckled. "After tonight I doubt she'd ever dare to look down on you ever again."

Roselle gave him an annoyed look for a second, but she couldn't stop herself from having a satisfied grin. "Okay, I'll admit it. It was pretty cool to see her completely melt all of a sudden."

"It was, wasn't it?"

Veronica hurried back with two glasses of punch. "Hey!" she panted. "I got you guys the punch!"

James took the glasses. "Why, thank you, peasant. 'Twas very kind of you."

She was overly clingy and happy like a little puppy. "Oh, King James, is there anything else you need? Can I get you a cookie or anything?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. This is all I need."

"Cake? Chips?"

The king pointed at Roselle. "Ask my date if she'd like anything."

"Oh, right!" Veronica whipped her head at her. "Do you need anything?"

The hairdresser shook her head too. "Uh, no thanks."

"Hey, you know, I think we got off on the wrong foot a while ago. We should be friends! Can I get your number?"

Roselle gave her an annoyed look. "Oh NOW you wanna be nice to me?"

"I mean, yeah! You seem so cool."

"Bye."

Veronica pouted and walked away.

"Like I said." Roselle put on a mischievous smile. "That felt good."

James took a sip of the punch and immediately spit it back into the cup. "Note to self: punch is dreadful." He tossed it in the nearest trash can.

She took a sip of her own punch and cringed. "Yeah . . . It kind of is . . ."

* * *

They continued dancing to the upbeat music for a while, but soon, the DJ played a slow song. The people without dates went off to the eating area, and the people who had dates held them close and intertwined with one another, swaying from side to side to the music.

Roselle tucked her hair behind her ear. "So, should we go eat something now, or?"

James chuckled. "Are you joking? Dance with me."

She shrugged in an attempt not to look too forward or eager. "Well, I guess since it's a big part of prom, we should."

He pulled her in close, putting his hands on her waist. She slowly put her arms around his neck in turn, and they swayed to the sound of the sweet love song that was playing in the background.