A few days later…
Around 10:30A.M. Justin finished up his with his French lesson, thankful that he could keep up with Ryan in that subject, and wandered around the palace. He had gone down three hallways before he spotted the people he was looking for. Ryan’s parents were talking in the den and smiled up at him as he knocked on the open door. “Mind if I come in?”
“No problem, Honey. Come sit down,” Ryan’s mother said. “What did you need?”
He tried to appear confident. “Have I done an acceptable job arranging the masked ball?”
The king and queen both agreed that he had. “Son, I’m very proud of you and how dedicated you’ve been to putting this together,” the king said.
“Since I’ve proven that I can be responsible, may I ask for something?”
“Anything you wish,” Ryan’s father said.
“It’s been a chaotic week and I was wanting a place to relax and unwind on my own. Could I have your permission to stay alone at the boathouse this weekend?” Justin asked them. “I mean all alone, with no servants. And no one is to see me or even know I‘m there.”
The two looked at each other. “Why don’t you give us a minute, Ryan?” the queen answered.
Justin left them alone and several minutes later, he was allowed back in the den. He sat down hopefully. “Have you made a decision?”
“We’ve decided that you’ve earned this privilege,” the king began. “You may have the rest of the day off from your classes and the weekend is yours. No one will know you are at the boathouse and you may have it all to yourself. Like we said, Ryan. We’re very pleased with how responsible you’ve become lately.”
Justin smiled, happy at how his plans were working out. He thanked them and made his way out of the den. William was standing near the door and waved Justin over. “I’ve just received a phone call from the Edwards’ household. Miss Emaria has requested you to join her this afternoon. What do you say?”
Justin half smiled at William. “What do you think?” he said, winking.
William smiled and nodded knowingly. “A car will be ready for you in an hour.”
Ryan sat down next to Sam and watched as she got up and moved across the room. He sighed and gave up. ‘Why is she acting like this?’ he thought. ‘It was just a kiss.’
Sam had completely avoided him all day. Even when he approached her locker earlier, she had ignored everything he said. At lunch, he had tried to sit with her and she had placed her backpack in the only seat available.
Samantha tried to pay attention in class, but her thoughts kept roaming to the guy across the room. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just leave her alone. He knew better than to keep talking to her when she was avoiding him. It had been common knowledge since they were young. If he did something wrong and she ignored him, he always knew to back off until they both forgot anything had happened.
Today, though, he was being ridiculously persistent and Sam was mad that she couldn’t just get up the courage to talk to him about it. ‘Why did he have to kiss me?’ she thought. She had seen too many friendships ruined by relationships gone bad and she wasn’t about to let it happen to her and Justin. She had worked too hard to build up a close friendship with him, for it to be shattered by silly feelings.
Samantha glanced over at Ryan and saw him talking to a girl sitting in front of him. He smiled as he spoke to her, leaning forward to hand her a pencil. ‘Flirting!’ she thought, as jealousy was creeping into her mind. ‘This has got to stop,’ she chided herself. ‘Justin and I aren’t, and can never be, together.’
Justin arrived at the Edwards’ palace and was greeted by one of Emma’s servants. The servant led him to one of the back doors and pointed outside. “She’s asked you to join her at the stables. Can you find your way, sir?”
Justin nodded and began his journey to the stables. He was glad Ryan didn’t have horses at his palace. He thought horses were cool, but he had never had the opportunity, or courage to ride one. He took a deep breath as he pushed open one of the doors. “Emma?”
“In here,” he heard her call out. He saw a hand wave out of one of the stalls.
Justin peeked around the corner to see Emma smiling up at him. “Hey.”
“Hi!” she said. She stepped out of the stall and gave him a tight hug. “I’m so glad you could come. My parents are gone for the night and I was starting to get lonely.”
He smiled, and kissed her forehead. “I’m glad I came.”
She got shivers down her spine as she took his hand and pulled him into the stall. She then patted the horse on her right. “Meet Glory.”
Glory was a golden mare with the shiniest hair he had ever seen on a horse. “She’s beautiful. Is she yours?”
Emma nodded. “Yeah, she‘s mine. I have a few, but she‘s always been my favorite.”
“I can see why. So are you like an expert rider?” he asked.
She blushed. “I wish. To be honest, I’m a little embarrassed. We’ve had them my whole life, and I rarely find time to ride. I’m pretty terrible,” she confessed.
He laughed. “That makes two of us.”
“Well, I’m glad. So then you can’t make fun of me when we’re riding.”
Justin froze. “Both of us are going to ride?”
“Don’t worry,” she said, noticing his nervous expression. “I‘ll let you get used to the horses and then I’ll teach you how to ride them.”
He let out a nervous breath. “Okay.”
“How about that one?” Emma asked, pointing to a white horse. They had seen at least 50 horses and Justin still hadn’t found the perfect one.
“Nope,” Justin replied, smiling. Honestly, he knew he was stalling and taking his time to find a horse. He had walked all around the stables with Emma on his arm and was enjoying it too much to go horseback riding just yet.
Emma was looking away, when suddenly, he spotted one in the back. It was a pitch black horse with a shiny black coat and black eyes to match. “Whoa,” he said, pulling her to a stop in front of it. “That’s the one.”
“This one?” she asked, stepping into the stall. “Are you sure? He’s a stallion and might not be very disciplined.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Justin said, following her lead. “He’s perfect. What’s his name?”
“He doesn’t have one, yet. We just brought him in a few weeks ago,” she said, grabbing a brush. “But he’s yours, so you can name him.”
“Okay,” he said, thinking for a minute. Emma handed Justin the brush and showed Justin how to do it.
“We might have to let him get used to you before you can ride him.”
He nodded, running the brush along the horse’s back. After thinking for awhile, he said, “How about Shadow?”
Emma agreed. “Perfect.”
The sun was setting as Emma and Justin made their way slowly through her orchard. They walked beside their horses and held hands in the middle. Emma glanced over at Justin walking next to Shadow. She was surprised at how quickly they adjusted to each other. Shadow wasn’t as spunky and spirited as Glory when the two were riding. Emma had been constantly pulling Glory back all day. Instead, he had been strong in a calm sort of way. “He sort of fits you, Ryan,” she said. “At least how you’ve been acting lately, laidback and sweet.”
Justin smiled at her and noticed how the sunset casted a soft glow on her face. He couldn’t help but stare at her all day. She was too perfect. The two had had a blast all day, riding around the palace grounds. He thought to himself that he hadn‘t had that much fun in awhile. “I’m just glad he didn’t throw me off or anything. You know in the movies, when people are horseback riding, and someone’s horse always goes crazy? I always pictured that happening to me.”
She laughed as they stopped beside a pond to let the horses drink. “You don’t have to worry about Shadow going crazy. I’m the one you should be worrying about. I think Glory’s been wanting to go wild all day.”
“If she did, you know I’d save you,” he said, sticking out his chest and pulling her into his arms.
“My hero,” she said, batting her eyelashes up at him. They both laughed and then looked at each other seriously.
Wrapped up in his arms, Emma had never felt more safe, but the chills running down her spine were making her nervous, nonetheless. Justin tried to stay calm as he held her close to him and locked eyes with her. He brought a hand up to her face and traced down her jaw with his finger. When his finger reached her chin, he tilted it upwards and leaned in. They both felt electric shocks throughout their bodies as their lips met.
Emma savored the kiss and then pulled back a little to catch her breath. Then she pressed into him further, wrapping her hand around his head and pulling him down to her. The breath was sucked out of her as her mouth met his again. Her heart fluttered when she thought of it. He took her breath away.
Justin twirled her hair around his fingers as he kissed her. He had to admit that her kiss was addicting and he wasn’t about to stop her anytime soon. After a few minutes, though, the horses began to get impatient. Emma reluctantly pulled away, “Well, it’s getting late. Is it okay if we head back?”
He nodded and then remembered the boathouse. “Hey Emma? Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said, turning the horse around.
“Since your parents are gone until tomorrow afternoon, would you consider staying with me tonight and hanging out?” he asked.
“Where? At your palace?” she asked.
“Well, not exactly. My parents gave me the boathouse for the weekend. It’s a few miles from my palace. But I have it all to myself tonight, so I was thinking….ya know…instead of both of us being alone…” he stumbled.
“…I’d love too,” she said. “Just let me grab some clothes from my place and we can go.”
