When I was done with my fashion show, Ria and Em picked out their favorite jacket, after quite a bit of deliberation, as all clothes Aileen had brought were very much to their taste.
“So, have you two had your fill for the day?” I smiled as I neatly folded the clothes that had to be folded and hung the jackets on some coathangers.
“I am not tired yet.” Em replied to my surprise. It was already getting quite late and considering what she and Ria had done earlier, I would have assumed her battery to be running really low by now.
“Me neither.” Ria decided to bamboozle me even further.
“Are you sure?”
“Very.” Em nodded.
“Alright then.” I chuckled. I wasn’t going to start an argument, that was rather pointless anyway. “What else do you want to do then?”
“How about a movie?” Ria proposed.
“Yeah, I would like a movie too.” Em agreed. The two of them were leaning quite heavily on top of each other at the moment. Em used this moment of mutual agreement to give Ria a tight squeeze.
“Okay, give me a second to finish up with these clothes. Why don’t you two pick a movie in the meantime. I don’t really mind any movie so just pick one.”
Em and Ria nodded and started browsing the movie library that came with my television subscription while I brought the clothes I had unbagged upstairs and hung them in my dresser.
When I returned, Ria and Em had already decided on a movie, while I had given them the task to do so, I was still surprised they had already decided. Deciding on a movie to watch generally took longer than this. Then again, I felt like my girlfriends were really in-synch today so I probably shouldn’t be as surprised as I was.
“So, which movie are we watching?” I sat down next to my cuddly girlfriends. Ria was practically laying completely on top of Em now.
“The Probationer.” Em replied. “It’s actually already a pretty old movie but I’ve never seen it yet.”
“When we are talking about old… How old are we speaking?”
“2015.” Ria replied matter-of-factly.
“2015 isn’t old.” I chuckled.
“In Hollywood it is though.” Em countered.
“With the same logic ‘Lady of the Bracelets’ would be ancient, no?”
Em shrugged. “It’s definitely getting there. It’s a classic but you can’t argue that it’s a new movie.”
I smiled. “In any case, let’s not talk to Aileen about that measuring staff of oldness, she might fall into a depression if you do.” Then again… She might actually roll with it if we did.
“Hehe.” Ria giggled and softly lobbed the remote control at me. “Can you start the movie, Rora?”
“Will do, will do.” I nodded and quickly pressed the play button. Don’t know why Ria couldn’t do it herself, maybe because she was passively aggressively telling me to shut up and start watching. In any case. I wasn’t going to say no to any demand she made.
Watching the movie was fine, at least for the first thirty minutes… I should have expected it but both Em and Ria had pretty much fallen asleep in each other’s embrace and we weren’t even halfway through the movie yet. As I had actually started to enjoy the plot, I decided not to wake them and continue watching the movie by myself. I did pause the film for just a second so I could throw a light blanket over my girlfriends. That way they could continue snoozing with enhanced cozyness. Besides, it looked very cute to see them sleeping like that, only their heads poking from underneath the blanky.
I took a glass of water and continued watching the movie. It wasn’t the best movie ever but I enjoyed it greatly. The movie was about a guy who had just retired, who then got bored while being retired and then decided to work as an intern for a fashion company that was situated in the same building he worked practically his entire life in. It was mostly the chemistry between the two lead actors that really made it fun, but in general there wasn’t really a moment in it that I found boring. That’s why I was a bit surprised at the low review scores when I looked them up.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The movie also made me think about certain things that were definitely not intended by the movie’s writers. It dawned on me after reading the reviews that as the movie talks about retirement and the proverbial ‘black hole’ people fall into when they do, that I will never experience such a thing and neither will my girlfriends. I suppose Aileen and Alessia will already have experienced something similar in a way. What do you do if you’ve already done most things that are to be done on this planet? I suppose you could always go back to places you have once visited to see what has changed, especially if it’s been a while in vampire standards.
Anyway, I didn’t dabble in those thoughts for too long as I shut off the television and looked at my girlfriends who were peacefully sleeping next to me. It left me with two options, leave them like this or carry both of them upstairs to bed. Ultimately I decided option two was the one I was gonna go with. In the end it would be better for their backs to sleep in a bed rather than on a sofa.
I managed to carry them upstairs without them waking up. A little bit surprising but they were both rather vast asleep and I was being incredibly careful too.
And as a reward for doing so, I could treasure the faces they made when they woke up the morning after. Their eyes full of disbelief and wonder. Although Ria was a little bit miffed she didn’t get to see the rest of the movie, but that quickly halted when I said I wouldn’t mind watching it along with them after breakfast from the point where they had fallen asleep. Seeing people’s reactions to movies you know is pretty darn fun after all.
The rest of the weekend was a blast and the same was true for the next couple of weekends too. We really got in the habit of being together one to three days during these school weeks. The first real big event that broke the rhythm was a fortuitous 5-day weekend in which we didn’t need to go to school. We took the opportunity to fulfill a promise we had made with Em’s family to invite them to the chateaux to have dinner together. Alessia made me come over on Thursday after school already so we would be ready to receive Em’s family on Friday. We would also use the rest of the weekend to start some lessons which we had put to the side a little bit.
Em’s family, together with Ria, would arrive on Friday at about 14:00 or so at the chateau, so my adoptive mom put me in my formal attire and made me await their arrival in the main entrance hall of the chateau together with Rosemary, Julie, Marie and Stephanie. Alessia was present as well but she had put me in the role of the castle manager. Part of my training, or so she claimed.
I was finicking a bit with my shoulder mantle as the entire situation actually made me feel rather nervous. “Are you sure it is sitting okay? Seems a bit crooked to me.”
Alessia chuckled. “I told you five times already, Aurora. It looks great. Stop finicking with it, you are just making yourself more nervous. Just put your hands behind your back and squeeze them. That works way better.”
“Pfff.” I sighed. They were already two minutes late and that wasn’t helping my nerves at all. “Why don’t Viktor and Aileen need to be here? They are going to the dinner too, aren’t they?”
“They aren’t the lord and lady of this castle, Aurora. You are.”
“You didn’t receive me the first time either though.” I squinted at my mom.
“Aurora isn’t wrong, Lady Alessia.” Rosemary giggled.
Alessia puffed her cheeks a little as she blushed. “Look, I’m trying to put forward a better example too right now…”
At that moment Evelyn, one of the junior maids in training walked into the room from one of the side doors. “The guests have arrived, my lady.”
I waited for Alessia to reply but instead Alessia prodded me in the side with her elbow and gestured to Evelyn.
“R-right… Uh…” I stammered. “T-thank you Evelyn. Could you guide them in please?”
“Immediately, my lady.” She bowed and walked outside of the big front door, so she could wait for the guests to exit their car and to then guide them through the front door.
My stress peaked as moments after the door opened again. The Maier family walked in with Ria, Karin and Emma closing the ranks.
“The lady of the house.” Evelyn gestured towards me.
“W-welcome to… uh… th- Ouch!” I accidentally bit my tongue. As you might imagine. Biting your tongue as a vampire, not fun. And even though I am supposed to be rather tough, I still felt that one. “I’m sorry, I bit my tongue.” I covered my mouth.
Soon everyone started giggling, the maids included. The only one who really didn’t was Em’s mom who just stepped forward and came to give me a hug. “You shouldn’t be so nervous, you know us don’t you?”
I froze for a second before I hugged her back. Em’s mom had such a warm energy that she just melted straight through my nervousness.
“I know, but this high aristocratic setting… I’m not really used to it.”
Ilse hummed affirmatively. “You’ll get used to it with practice.” She then backed off just a little but she kept the physical contact by rubbing my arms. “But Look at you. You look so handsome in that outfit, Aurora.”
I instinctively started blushing. “Thank you. I hope the trip here wasn’t too tiring?”
“A little bit, it was a pretty long drive.” Ilse nodded gently. She did look a bit weary already.
“Alright.” I smiled. “Then I’ll keep the introductions short. You already know my mom, Alessia.” I then gestured towards our lovely maids. “And these are Rosemary, Julie, Marie and Stephanie. They will be the main housekeepers while you are here. If you need anything, feel free to ask them if you see them around. Of course you can also ask me or Alessia.”
Alessia bowed ever so slightly and nodded politely. “I hope you will enjoy your stay.”
“I’m sure we will.” Ilse returned the gesture.
-Let’s just hope I won’t get ‘bullied’ by my girlfriends too much with my tongue accident just now… But I have the feeling I’ll be hearing about that for at least a little while.-