Childhood exchange

I walked behind Jessie and after a lot of twists and turns (I swear this place is just a giant maze) Jessie led me to two transparent doors.

Behind them I could see King, luckily in casual clothes, at a setting that reminded me of when he apologized, except, this time there was a candle on the table and lanterns lit on either side of the table. My stomach dropped.

I swear, any room/spot in this Manchester Mansion of theirs can be turned into a romantic scene.

Jessie opened the door and smiled at me before I went through. A warm feeling hit me as soon as I stepped into the early-summer evening air.

"Hey Perk," King said. He had his phone face-down on the table and wasn't even looking at it when I arrived. It's kind of weird.

"Hello sir," I drew out the words as I sat down.

King looked out across the field, avoiding eye contact, and pulled a thin rope that dangled in the light breeze beside him.

Deciding for some reason I'd have to take initiative this time, I looked out over the field, also seeing the forest that stretched for miles behind it.

"The forest looks ominous tonight," I admitted.

King looked at me for a second then nodded.

Before he got a chance to say something, if he even was going to, two maids came out holding two plates and a pitcher of iced tea.

They placed the platter directly in between the plethora of knives, forks, and spoons, and took off the lid.

Then they poured the iced tea in the glass and gave us a bow before they left.

"So what's up?" I asked, looking down at my stake, peas, and mashed potatoes.

"What do you mean Perk?" He asked me.

"You're way too quiet," I pondered, creamy, deliouish, white potato heaven half-way to my mouth.

"No!" I came to a conclusion.

"What?! What's wrong? Is it the food? We could get something else if you don't want stake." King asked frantically.

Okay first, he completely freaked when I told him we needed to go on a date. Second he's acting quiet and nervous and three he was totally way too excited when I told him I wanted to talk to him in private earlier and way too sad when it was about my could've-been love triangle.

"No, the food's fine. I just came up with a solution to a really complicated math problem." I smiled shyly, ducking my head and talking down at the food.

"And you said no?" He asked, confused.

"I got so excited I said no," I lied.

We spent the rest of dinner quietly thinking to ourselves, waiting for the other person to start something. No one ever did.

Honestly, I never thought I'd be acting like some 'in-love' shy schoolgirl for anybody. Well anybody other than Aiden, I swear I was crushing on that guy for the longest.

Speaking of the longest, it took the longest for us to start talking again.

There was no way I was going to take initiative again but I really didn't want this perfect ask-me-out time to be wasted.

Luckily, King took things into his own hands… kinda.

"So?"

"So…" I waited for him to finish my sentence.

"Dessert?" He asked. I internally sighed but was grateful for the extended time with His Royal Not-himself-tonightness.

"Of course," I answered. He rang the bell that brought us dinner the first time and this time the maids came faster and with cups of ice cream.

Mine was 1 scoop of vanilla at the bottom, 1 scoop of chocolate, and 1 scoop of strawberry.

King's cup was just chocolate.

"Um, I wasn't sure which flavors you liked so I got you the three basics," He told me.

"Not strawberry, I don't like strawberry," I told him.

"Me either, it's just so weird," He agreed.

"Anyways," I tried to keep the conversation going.

"Tell me about your extestants," I blurted the first thing I thought about.

"My extestants?" He asked.

"You know, ex-contestants-"

"No, no, I know what they are but you want to hear about them? Now?" He asked, sounding completely shook.

"Well, these girls have been most of your life. I'd like to know what most of your life has been like." It got silent after that. Our eyes caught and neither of us wanted to look away. Oh my ew, I thought romance books were being overdramatic and I cringed at this at some point. Maybe I should pay a little more attention to continually repeated things in books.

"Well um," he coughed, "how 'bout we exchange." He said.

"We exchange?" I asked.

"I tell you something from my childhood, you tell me something," he exclaimed.

"Alright, you go first."

"So, with Madison, when she first came I was so freaked out. I was still on that 'girls have cooties' thing and it made it even worse she was a little perv." King told me.

"She was a little perv?" I was shocked.

"Okay, so, the reason she went home is 'cause she was caught watching me bathe,'' He admitted.

"She did what?! Oh lord," I clicked my tongue.

"Yea, it was only slightly traumatizing," King laughed.

"Right," I dragged.

"Okay, you."

"Well, when I was still crawling, my mom left me with a friend of hers to get a nap and her friend was ironing. Her friend left me unattended for a couple of seconds and in that time I pushed the ironing board over and it fell right on my foot. Now it's kinda like a birthmark."