The Howl of the Wolf | ✓

Chapter 8- First Date Jitters

"Oh gosh! You look wonderful! Dylan will be blinded by your beauty!" Vickie gushed as I squirmed around uncomfortably in my daft dress.

"Well he better go blind, it'll be worth the trouble if he does!" I grumbled, running my hand through my tidy hair.

"Oh cheer up, Aurelia! It won't be so bad! Mr Falcone is so handsome....and his eyes....they're the colour of the grass in the meadows!" My friend lisped dreamily.

"Well I was going to say that they actually looked like cat vomit after eating one too many tuna fish, but I mean, whatever floats your boat." I said drily, hobbling off in my ridiculously high stilettos.

"Have a great date! Tell me everything!" Vickie called behind me. I sighed, feeling sorry for her. She didn't know the hardship of being forced to court someone.

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I finally made it to the balcony, our arranged meeting place. And by 'made it', I'm talking about tripping over 200 times and some very unladylike curse words. Mr What's-His-Face Falconpoop was already awaiting my arrival, much to my dismay. Is it too late now to feign a heart attack?

"Ahh Miss Aurelia, I'm glad you were able to join me on such a pleasant evening." He said, planting yet another sloppy kiss on my hand. Pleasant?? PLEASANT?!?!?!? IT WAS TOTALLY PLEASANT BEFORE I MET YOU!

"It's Your Highness or Princess Aurelia to you, Mister Falcone." I said snobbily, making a deliberate show of wiping my hand on a nearby curtain. Poor curtain, it's probably infected. Sorry curtain, but sacrifices had to be made. Dylan was taken back for a moment before recovering quickly.

"Yes, Your Highness. My sincerest apologi-" he began.

"Where's the food?" I said obnoxiously.

"F-food?" My date stuttered.

"Well obviously! I'm starving out here!" I said loudly.

"In that case, let's sit down." Falcone said, leading me to a nearby table. I quickly waved down a maid and ordered the messiest food I knew: Spaghetti with extra tomato paste. And guess what? My dress was a shiny, clean shade of white.

Ignoring Dylan's lame attempts at small talk, I grabbed a nearby daisy and barbarically pulled petals off one by one, making sure that they flew everywhere. Unfortunately for him, Dylan seemed to suffer from hay fever and began sneezing uncontrollably.

"Excuse me, Princess Aurelia. But these petals are giving me the worst case of hay fever. Would you mind, erm, not throwing them everywhere?" He said, reaching for a hankie.

"The worst case, you say? Well then I suppose you wouldn't mind if I did the same thing to all these other flowers? I mean, your hay fever won't be any worse." I said, gesturing to the large vase next to me. Not bothering to listen to Dylan's reply, I reached for a tulip.

I was halfway through the vase of flowers and just as Falcone looked like he was going to give up on this date, the maid arrived with our dishes. Ha! Let the fun begin!

I watched Dylan primly grab for a fork and knife and began to daintily cut his steak into 6 pieces. Giving him a cheeky grin, I dove right into the pasta with my bare hands. Falcone almost fainted as he watched me scoop up the pasta with both hands before shoving it in my mouth. Of course, I made sure to get it all over my chin and stopped occasionally to wipe the tomato paste on my dress. I looked up to him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Are you quite well, Mr Falcone? You seem to be quite pale." I asked, burping at the end of the sentence. Unable to take it any longer, Dylan pushed back his chair and stood up.

"I'm very sorry, Princess Aurelia. I suddenly remembered that I had something very important to do. Good day." He said, and walked away briskly. Mission accomplished!

After looking at my unfinished meal, I figured that the food couldn't go to waste and continued to eat it with my hands. No point finding a fork now. Just as I had finished the meal, Greyson and Mother were approaching me.

"Hello, I was checking to see if- WHAT ON EARTH HAS HAPPENED!" Mother said, paling in shock. Booger Boy had a stupid grin stuck on his face. I looked up sheepishly.

"I can explain...."