A Short Outtake Regarding Trav
Posted by:
The Traveler (IP Logged)
Date: January 26, 2010 03:40PM
lol--I wrote this a while back. Enjoy.
“I’m so going to trip in this dress,” I muttered, stumbling for the fourth time in as many minutes.
“Since when do you wear dresses, anyway?” my friend Mandy asked as we started up the stairs into the dining hall.
“Because it’s pretty, and it makes me look taller, and because this is a formal dinner, and…well, I suppose that’s all.”
Mandy grinned over her shoulder at me.
“I can think of another reason,” she said. “It starts with a B, likes to hunt with a bow, and happens to be cuter than Zac Efron, William Mosley and Orlando Bloom combined. Oh, and it’s royal.”
“OK, first,” I retorted, panting a little as I struggled not to step on the floor-length hem of my dress. “Orlando Bloom is only cute as a blonde elf. And as for the rest…I have no clue what you’re talking about.” I reached the head of the stairs and faced my friend haughtily. “So there.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you’d better not turn around, then, because the subject of my comments is now ascending the stair.” Mandy loved big words.
I spun on my heel to see Benjiah Andira coming our way. Unfortunately, my toe caught on the hem of my dratted dress.
I fell.
And kept falling.
“Oooohhh-nooooo…” I heard myself yelling. In slow motion, as I slid down the stairs alternately on my chin and shoulder, I saw Benjiah look up. A look of surprise, amusement, and concern flashed across his features; and then he jumped out of the way as I avalanched past him.
“Gangway!”
I hurtled by, wincing both at the spectacle I was making of myself and the pain of skidding down a flight of stairs on my face. All the way down, I was trying to decide what I’d say to Benjiah as soon as I could stand upright again. In the time it took me to hurdle five stairs, I had discarded “Guess I really fell for you,” and “You’re dangerous even without a weapon,” and even a (normally) safe “Hello”.
I decided that I’d simply never speak to him again. In fact, I may just become mute. I hadn’t felt any bones break yet, but maybe a hit to the head that left me permanently speechless would at least get me more pity than teasing.
As soon as I got out of this mess, this dress was going into the garbage, I vowed, bumping past an incredulous servant. Someone should have warned me about the thing—something like “Now, don’t try wearing this around cute guys, dearie. You might just die of embarrassment while falling down stairs or off of cliffs.”
I saw the bottom step looming up and the level floor beneath that. With a thud and a hearty “Umph”, I landed, sliding a few feet across the smooth marble floor. An instant later, the aches and pains of my fall descended and I groaned, blinking back tears.
I heard Mandy clattering down the stairs, and closed my eyes in an attempt to look fairly calm and collected.
“Oh my gosh! Are you ok, Trav?” she asked worriedly. “You just fell one hundred and forty-two stairs!”
I opened one eye and glared at her. “Trust you to count the steps while I’m falling to my death,” I growled. Mandy counted everything.
Then I opened my other eye and saw—
Benjiah.
He stood a bit awkwardly, but he extended his hand to help me up. “You alright?” he asked.
“I think so,” I said, wincing and rubbing a raw place on my cheek. I flushed. I was holding Benjiah Andira’s hand, and I probably looked worse than the bride of Frankenstein!
But Benjiah actually smiled. “You know,” he said, as I nervously straightened the skirt of my dress. “There are easier ways to get a person’s attention.”
“Maybe I’ll try one of those next time,” I agreed with a wry smile and a deeper blush.
He and Mandy helped me back up the stairs and into the royal dining room. As Benjiah turned to go to his place at the table, he turned back and said with a smile,
“By the way…nice dress.”
http://www.musings-in-a-strange-land.blogspot.com/
