15 The Red Dress

Maria had made it through her first whole day with the suitors under the palace roof, and my, what a day it was.

She not only had her first official date ever, but her first kiss...and her second kiss, with an entirely different man.

It had not taken her long to fall asleep that night because the conversation she had with Alexandria had put her at ease about what was to come more than it made her anxious.

She had a full night's sleep before she was awoken by the familiar sound of Alexandria pulling the curtains back.

Knowing what was in store for her today, Maria sat up and called out to the maid before she could go to the dresser to pick the princess out an outfit for the day, "I have my dancing date with Rafael today, Alex. Is there a dress in there that's a little easier to move in? I'd hate to get tangled up and trip".

"Hmmm, let's see," she said as she fingered through the dresses, "Ah! How about this one?" she asked as she turned to reveal a red, long-sleeved dress that would hit right at Maria's ankles.

"Wonderful," Maria answered in approval as she stretched out her limbs and yawned before she threw her blanket off and moved her feet to the floor to get out of bed.

She took her time putting the dress on, and was putting on her heeled slippers when there was a knock at the door.

The women exchanged a glance as they had not been expecting Rafael to arrive an hour before the date was to begin, but Maria made her way to the door and opened it to find Jason.

"What are you doing here?" Maria inquired.

"Good morning to you too. Hi, Alex." he said as he walked past her into the room and threw himself onto the bed that Alexandria had just made.

"Good day, my Lord!" Alexandria exclaimed before Maria gave her a nod to excuse her for the morning.

Alexandria gave a bow and left the room for the siblings to talk.

"If you're going to get on my bed, can you at least take your shoes off?" Maria asked, annoyed, as she closed the door before she walked over to sit on the back edge of the bed.

"Fine," Jason said as he kicked his shoes off before he laid back to get comfortable, "Ready for your date?"

"I think so? I'm dressed so I can't think of anything else I need to do to get ready."

"Great! What are you doing for music?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well surely you don't intend to dance in silence, do you? That might make things even more awkward than you thought they would be."

Maria's eyes widened in fear because she hadn't even thought of how to prepare for a date that involved dancing.

She had every intention of just showing up; clearly she was out of her element.

Seeing how worried she was and how the wheels were turning in her head, Jason spared her by telling her, "Don't worry, I instructed the orchestra on what music to play".

"You brought in the whole orchestra?!" she questioned loudly.

"Only the best for you, sister. I set up the whole ballroom for you so you don't have to worry about anything else other than enjoying yourself," he laughed as he leaned forward to give her a kiss on the forehead and a wink, "I'd love to be a fly on the wall for this one though, just to see how awkward you will be around him. He's a very passionate person and you're….well, you".

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, offended. Jason gave her a knowing look and Maria groaned before she hopped off the bed and said, "I know, I know. You're right of course".

"Well, you still have some time before he's supposed to meet you. Do you have any other plans?"

"I wanted to deliver Julien's invitation since our time together is next".

With that Jason jumped off of the bed, put on his shoes, and walked to the door, "Alright, I'll leave you to it. Good luck today. Let's grab a drink later and talk about it so we don't end up in another awkward dinner like last night".

"Yes, I'd much prefer to avoid that at all costs," she said with a laugh as Jason smiled and made his way out of the door before he closed it behind him.

Maria went over to the table and found the invitation for Julien before she left the room herself to make her way over to his chambers.

She made it to his door and paused because she wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him, or if she just wanted to slide the parchment under the door to avoid him.

She was still confused about what Arthur had said last night about her trip to the kitchen, and she was upset with the fact that maybe Julien had told his brother about the time they shared together.

Knowing her attention was supposed to be on Rafael today, she did not want to deal with her feelings around Julien.

Maria decided to just slip the invitation under his door and into his room.

She bent down to do so right as the door flew open to reveal Julien looking down questioningly at the princess.

"Maria? What are you doing?"

She stood up as fast as she could, clearly flustered as she had not planned on being caught, and mumbled as she racked her brain for what to say.

"I, um, I came to give you this," she finally mustered before she stretched out her hand to offer him the paper.

He had an eyebrow raised as he took the paper from her before he silently read it.

His eyes raced along the words and his lips pulled up into a smile as he read what she wrote.

"We're going to bake? When?"

"Is tomorrow night before dinner alright? I thought it would be nice to make everyone some desserts to enjoy after we have our meal," she replied.

"I would love that," he said, still smiling.

They stood in awkward silence, staring at each other before Maria finally said, "I'll see you later then," before she turned to walk back down the hallway without waiting for a proper goodbye.

"Maria?" he called after her.

She turned back around, not expecting him to have called for her, and waited to see what he wanted to say.

"You look beautiful, by the way," he said with a longing behind his eyes that was attached to a sad smile.

Maria noticed the change in his face and felt confused, but she tried to ignore it. "Thank you," she said before she turned back around and continued to walk.

Maria went back to her room and paced back and forth trying not to think about how confused she felt over Julien.

She finally promised herself she would ask him for clarity about what Arthur knew tomorrow during their date, when she heard a knock at the door.

She opened it to find Rafael, dressed impeccably in all black, smiling down at her.

When he saw her, he said with hungry eyes, "I must be the luckiest man alive to get to spend time with you while you look like this".