a commander's waltz

19. Do you Love Me?

8 days until the ball...

...

Espresso's POV
That next morning we decorated til we dropped. We went to the ballroom and set up tables and lights everywhere.

Even though the ball wasn't until next week.

I look around the ballroom. It looked NOTHING like how it looked whenever I first saw it. I hear a fall and look over at Madeleine who dropped the stage lights. He laughed for a minute or two before picking it back up.

I stared at him with such warmth in my body. Everything he told me yesterday meant so much and it stuck with me. You are so important to me. I would rather die than for you to feel this way repeated in my head.

I stare down and frown. Please don't go... I love you. I think. I suddenly widen my eyes and shake my head, A-As a friend... I... I look up at him and feel my heart pound.

"Espresso?" I hear. I snap back into reality and look behind me. Princess chuckled, "You were staring at Madeleine pretty intensly." she leaned on the wall with her arms crossed.

I groan and shake my head so hard my glasses nearly flew. "Sorry, I just..."

"Nah, it's ok." she smiled, "I think he's already getting the hint. He told me you were whispering his name in your sleep again." she turned her smile into a smirk and mimicked a purring cat.

I blush and look back at Madeleine. "Do you think he likes me back?" I whisper fidgeting with my hands gently.

Princess painted a mischievous smirk on her face and chuckled. "I don't know. Let's see,"

With that, she hopped off of the wall and ran over to Madeleine. I gasp softly and back away, "N-NO!" I shout after her. I find a pillar to hide behind and peeked my head out to watch Princess do her 'magic.'

Princess' POV
I tapped Madeleine's shoulder and watched him turn around. "Hey, Madeleine," I giggle and cross my arms, "You're thinking about Espresso aren't you~"

Madeleine blushed and looked behind me. I knew I was right. I was so fucking tempted to set them up somehow, but I wasn't sure. "U-Uhh..." he took a step back and looked away.

I smack my hand on the wall and laugh, "YOU ARE, AREN'T YOU!" I shout.

Madeleine quickly put a hand over my mouth and shut me up before I could say more. "Shut up..." he whispers slowly taking my hand off.

I smirk, "Shut doesn't go up."

"Look," Madeleine rolled his eyes and frowned. "I don't even know if he likes me back... There's a 50 50 chance!" I tells me, I shake my head.

"Go talk to him a bit! I'm sure he likes you back. You told me you two were cuddling last night, and you guys were having a nice time in the shower, right?" I whisper.

Madeleine groans and shuffles his feet a bit. "Ok..." he looks at me, "I think I want to wait until the ball... and ask him to dance-"

"You're going to dance with him anyway." I mutter crossing my arms again.

Madeleine's POV
I growl suddenly hearing a cough from the distance. I look up and see Espresso over a trash can behind a pillar throwing up. I frown, "Y-Yeah, whatever..." I start walking toward him, "Give me a second."

Princess scoffs, "Alright, Romeo~"

...

I rest my hand on his back. He's shaking. "Are you ok?" I whisper.

In pain, he slowly nods and chuckles. It felt like he was trying to say something but he couldn't. "I," he kept saying. "S-Sorry I-" he coughed again and threw up into the trash can.

I rub his back and take his glasses off carefully. "You don't have to talk," I smile, "I do have a question for you when you're, uhm... finished." I mutter quietly.

After he was done, he leaned his head against the pillar behind him as I wiped off the blood and rest my hand on his shoulder. He looked over to me weakly, "What did you need to ask me?" he whispered.

I widen my eyes and play with my fingers. "Uhm..." I look behind me to see Princess giving two thumbs up. "I was just wondering if... you, uhm..." I blush.

Espresso tilted his head, "If I what?"

I swallow a weird lump in my throat and let out a shaky breath, "If you... wanted to go out-"

"What do you mean?" He asked so surprisingly he shot up straight and stared into my eyes. His eyes even looked shocked.

I panic, "L-Like, not on a date..." I felt Princess' frown sting my senses. "Like... just to explore more of the kingdom with you, you know?" I smile nervously.

Espresso frowns and looks down. "Yeah." he smiled, "Sure."

I sigh with relief. "Since we're real busy today, I thought it would be best if we... do it tomorrow?" I smile nervously again. My cheeks felt weird from smiling like this.

He nodded, "Yeah. Of course," I watch his smile widen as I place my hand on top of his. He giggled and tilted his head, "Do you guys have aquariums in your kingdom?"

I nod, "Yeah, of course we do!" I smile, "Would you like to go there?"

He nods, "Yeah," Espresso suddenly sits on his knees and reached his hands up. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he placed both of his hands on my head and scratched it pulling a cheesy cute smile, "I'd like that a lot."