Chapter 12 - Looking For Prince Charming

I’m almost done with this floor, only one room left and I’m on my way when I see the door opening so I stop. I had enough interaction with a celebrity for the week, I don’t need to run into any other. I recognise Niall walking out of his room, slowly and with his eyes on the floor. He looks tired and a bit down, but he doesn’t notice I’m there, plus I’m kinda hiding behind my cart so it’s normal he can’t see me. Once he takes the lift and the doors close, I stand straight and let go of the breath I was holding. I didn’t even notice I was doing that.

I sigh relieved and walk into his room because that’s the only one I have left on this floor. I’m still really slow but I try to hurry because lunch is near, which means a little break, which means I can stop and breathe again.

His room is a mess, I’m not surprised. All his clothes are around the floor, the black tuxedo and the mask, but there’s something missing: girl’s clothes. Niall has a girlfriend, but her dress is not around. I frown and look more carefully around the room and notice that there’s nothing feminine there. I really don’t know why I’m doing this, but I walk up to the wardrobe and I gasp when I can only find clothes of men where there were girl’s clothes before.

What does this mean? Where is the blond? What was her name? Zoe, I think.

I blink surprised because I don’t care about this, this is none of my business —although Kimmy and Jenny would love to hear this— and I have no right to pry on his belongings. For all what matters, she maybe had to go due to an emergency or she just decided to ask for a room for herself. I don’t know and I don’t care.

Yes, I don’t care.

So I close the wardrobe doors and go back to cleaning the room, making the bed, picking and folding clothes, cleaning and tidying everything up. Then I go to the bathroom and when I’m done, I’m so tired I could just lie there, on the bathroom floor until someone finds me and think I’m dead. I would wake up in the morgue.

I head to the lift so I can go and grab something to eat and see Charlie and Liv, but on my way I see another door opening and a blonde coming out of the room. In a matter of three seconds I recognise her, she’s Niall’s girlfriend.

Oh, so she’s still here, she’s just in the room next door. I don’t really know why and I try not to think about it. I tell myself it’s none of my business and I have work to do and a stomach to feed. When the doors open I walk into the lift and she hurries so I hold them open for her. We’re both making our way down but we don’t say anything, she doesn’t acknowledge my presence until the doors open again in the hall and she smiles goodbye at me. I’m impressed because it’s a nice smile, a sweet one, yet tired, very tired.

I’m still shocked when the doors close and by then I shrug the feeling, I still have things to do.

+ + + + +

“So,” Charlie says, extending the vowel, whilst we’re eating our lunch outside. It’s a lovely day, warm and sunny and it can’t go to waste. Plus, I need the vitamin D if I still have half day to go. “Did you find out the identity of your mystery prince already?”

I choke on my food and I swear I see my life flashing before my eyes.

Charlie actually laughs at my reaction, but I wasn’t expecting that, and it’s not only that he called the mystery guy prince, which is just repulsive, but that he thinks I want to find out.

“You’re mental,” I state. Not an insult, just a fact. “Seriously, you need to get over what happened last night.”

“Oh c’mon!” Charlie insists, bumping shoulders with me. “You don’t go around kissing strangers, so when you do, it means something. I know you, Ella.”

I look away. He doesn’t have to tell me that because I know it; I never did something like that before. Sure, I’m not prude and I’m not the never-been-kissed-before kind of girl, but I’m not a slut either. I don’t really know what drove me to kiss him last night. Maybe it was the way he looked at me, or maybe it was because I’d drunk quite a few glasses of champagne by then. I don’t know; I just know that whatever the reason is, I kissed a stranger… and it was the best kiss of my life, so I don’t regret it. I’m just ignoring that I kissed a celebrity, but of course, Charlie is not.

“And moreover, you kissed a famous unknown guy. We have to find out who he is,” my best friend adds and I groan like a real princess would do if she suddenly turned into an ogre; like Fiona.

“Please, don’t say that out loud. It makes me want to puke,” I state and that gets me a smack on the nape by Liv.

“Don’t say those things, Ella!” She reprimands me sternly and I sigh. “The indifference card won’t work with us, okay?”

I curse under my breath. I’m used to play the indifference card, it’s the way I’ve survived all these years. I pretend I don’t care, the way Rhonda treats me or the way I don’t have a family anymore, or the fact that I’m practically a slave for a cunning woman. I pretend it doesn’t hurt, although it does and Charlie and Liv know me so well, they know when I’m pretending I do care and when I don’t. When it has an impact on me or when it doesn’t.

“Why don’t you want to know who that guy was?” She asks me and I sigh.

Charlie and Liv only met this summer, when he came to work here. I always had them both in my life, but separately. Now they team against me to make me talk about things I don’t like saying out loud because I don’t really know how to articulate my thoughts.

Sometimes I’m really happy they became friends, too; others like today, I’m not that happy. I feel cornered.

“Because it doesn’t matter. He is a celebrity, a guest here, and I’m just the toilet girl. I don’t want anything to do with some famous bloke, I just want this summer to end and leave. Whether I know his name or not won’t change anything,” I try to explain but Liv only frowns. She is not following me. “What happened is something that won’t happen again, it was a thing of the moment, we got carried away by the cheesy air of the ball… I dunno! It happened and it’s over.”

“And what if he is looking for you?” Charlie adds to the conversation and my head snaps in his direction, too shocked.

“Why would he do that?” I inquire, really puzzled. Charlie rolls his eyes but before he can add something, I tell him something none of them know. “Plus, maybe he got back with his girlfriend. Oh right, did I tell you that right before we went to dance he just had a fight with his girlfriend?”

“Did they break up?” Liv asks and I nod, a bit confused. “Then he was single by the time he kissed you. There’s nothing wrong.”

“He had a girlfriend before he kissed me! That’s not okay,” I exclaim, shocked by her reaction and when she shrugs, my lips form a big O.

“Technically, he didn’t cheat on anyone, so he was free to kiss whomever he wanted, and that person was you,” Charlie supports and I really don’t like when they team against me. “C’mon, aren’t you a tad-bit curious? Even a wee bit?”

“No,” I lie because of course a part of me wants to know whom I kissed last night, but then I also have a sensible side that tells me I don’t need to know. It’s better if I don’t know.

Both my friends shake their head and I roll my eyes before taking another bite of my lunch. Even if it felt like we had a connection last night, even if it was kind of magical while we were dancing under the mirror ball… that ended the moment I ran away, storming into reality once again. As much as I’m not trying to find out who he is, I bet my lungs that he is not looking for me either.

“You know, I could find out,” Charlie says offhandedly and for a second time today, I choke on my lunch. This is not healthy, I may die!

“Why would you do that?!” I snap at him, my eyes wide open in disbelief.

“’Cos I wanna know, of course. And ‘cos I know you wanna know but you’re too stubborn to accept it. I’m just making you a favour, Ella.”

“You’re just giving me a headache!” I shout out and he laughs. Charlie laughs!

“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s not like I’m gonna hire a private investigator or anything; I’ll just pay attention to the conversations around. People talk by the pool. And if I hear something about the Cinderella of the ball, I’ll know he’s your prince.”

“Say that once again and I’ll strangle you,” I warn but he only smirks.

“I’ll find him for you and I’ll satisfy my curiosity. It’s a win-win situation, Ella. Just accept it,” he taunts me, bumping his shoulder against mine again.

I refuse to take part in his game, so I just focus on my lunch and ignore him and Liv for the rest of my break.

Later on, we have to go back to our jobs and although I feel a bit better after eating and sitting down for a while, I’m still tired. At least I don’t have to clean more toilets for today, but I do have to clean the showers at the gym and help at the spa with all the towels and robes and other things.

This day has been endless. I just want to go to bed and forget everything. I just want to say hi to Morpheus and tell him to take care of me for the night. The only good thing is that I don’t run into the twins or Rhonda during the rest of the day, but by dinner I realise Charlie wasn’t joking about finding out who my mystery guy is.

“I paid attention, but no one mentioned anything about looking for a mystery girl,” Charlie communicates to us in whispers, like this is a secret mission.

“That’s because he is not looking for me,” I tell him in a whisper, mocking him.

“Oh hush,” he says waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll find out and then I’ll say ‘I told you so’ and I’ll do my victory dance.”

Liv laughs at our arguments. It’s always like this with Charlie, we’re always bantering, like siblings would do.

“I’ll pay attention at the spa, too. Maybe I’ll hear the ex-girlfriend talking about it and we can put the pieces together,” Liv suggests and I stare at her betrayed.

“That’s great! You’re a clever one, Liv,” Charlie compliments my friend and I groan. It’s not fair, they are two against one. “I’m sure that by tomorrow we’ll have the name of your prince, Ella.”

“And it will make no difference,” I state, ignoring them. Even if they find out, that doesn’t mean I’ll listen to them. The moment will come when they realise I really don’t want to know this.

“We’ll see, Ella. We’ll see,” Charlie says ominously and I raise my eyebrows at him, but he only smirks, like he knows something else. I roll my eyes because he is mistaken, nothing will change.

-:-:-:-

Dedication to @theLighter. You don't need to leave a comment in Spanish for me to notice you, you just have to leave a comment. I read them all.

Bel, xx