48 First Dates (Seeking Romance #1)

The Prince of Dancing Princesses

13

Throwing up my hands,

can’t pick a prince on my own!

Time for a blind date

I collapsed onto my bed with a heavy sigh and stared at the stark white ceiling. My fingers moved over the charms on my bracelet as if they were rosary beads. Four new charms since I left home.

A leaf for the plant-lover who may or may not have grown Mary-Jane in his dorm room.

A white cat for the football player who was now Cynthia’s boyfriend.

A bicycle for the adventure enthusiast who nearly killed me.

A volleyball for a nice boy who served as an unsatisfactory distraction.

I had to stop picking up guys on my own. It wasn’t working. None of them were fairytale prince material.

A part of me missed Sebastian. Was I wrong? Could the long-distance thing work? It didn’t matter because that ship had sailed. Cynthia told me Sebastian had met a cadet at the Coast Guard Academy, who he claimed was the girl of his dreams.

I rolled over onto my stomach. Another part of me wondered about Brenn. Could we be more than friends? As quickly as that thought popped into my head, I shoved it back out. That ship could never leave the port of options.

So there I was, brooding over my currently alone status. The corners of my mouth turned down. The only one in the bunch. Cynthia had shipped with Christopher. Mitzi was seeing one of the guys on the college soccer team.

I frowned and rolled my eyes, exhaling loudly. I needed help. Time to phone a friend.

I grabbed my brick of a phone and tapped a message out to Mitzi, who was studying at the library.

Me

I need your help.

Mitzi

ALWAYS! What’s up?

Me

I need you to set me up on a date. Don’t tell me anything about him. Just name and time.

Mitzi

{thumbs-up emoji}

Got the perfect guy in mind. Give me ten minutes.

I rolled off the comfy bed and trudged to the kitchen. I needed chocolate as I waited for her reply. I found Cynthia’s stash and unwrapped a square, popping it in my mouth. I closed my eyes as the earthy, nutty goodness melted on my tongue.

If only it was as easy to find a prince as it was to find good chocolate...

My phone dinged.

Mitzi

Joseph Prints. Blue Moon BBQ. 6:00 PM Friday.

Me

I’ll be there.

I set my phone back down as I exhaled. Either I had found my real-life godmother-matchmaker, or I had opened Pandora’s box. I’d know for sure in two more nights.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I saw a guy by himself at a table and headed that way.

As I got closer, a panicked thought entered my mind. What if that isn’t Joseph?

I glanced around the restaurant. He was the only single guy. I got to the table and took a chance and asked, “Joseph?” I bit the inside of my cheek.

The guy looked up and smiled. “Yes, I am Joseph. You must be Adelaide. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He stood and offered his hand.

“Hey, yeah, I’m Adelaide,” I confirmed as I lifted my hand to shake his.

Instead of a firm shake, he grabbed my hand and kissed it. My eyes flew open, but he didn’t notice my shock. He simply let go and gestured for us to sit down.

Once we both sat, he asked, “Your name is not a common one—it’s after a German princess, right?”

I nodded, glancing down as I set my purse on the bench next to me. A part of me wanted to snatch it back up. Turn tail and run out of there. But for Mitzi, I would stay. I just needed to relax the pinch in my brow if I was going to look like I was giving this guy a chance.

Breathe, Adelaide.

In. Out.

I looked back up, focusing on the blue vinyl bench behind him. “Yes, my parents liked fairy tales, so they named us all after princes and princesses. My older sister is Charlotte, my brother is Wilhelm, and I’m Adelaide.”

“That’s very whimsical of them.” He put his lips together and hummed a bit a song from a movie that he recognized but couldn’t place.

I felt my forehead crinkling, so I laughed to cover the wrinkles. It was a fake, nervous laugh, but Joseph didn’t seem to notice. I shifted on the bench and placed my hands on the table. “Mmm hmm, I think that’s because of the way they met. Their love story was kind of like Cinderella’s tale, except my mom left behind a handkerchief instead of a shoe. What were your parents like?”

“You know, the typical parents—less coddling and more responsibility as I grew up. They had boring jobs and ate at the same time every night. But they were fair, and we had a nice life.”

Joseph looked deep into my eyes. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his head on his tented hands. “Adelaide. Adelaide. Adelaide. Your name is poetic. It reminds me of my favorite movie, Barbie’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses . The oldest one is named Edeline, which is sort of like Adelaide. Have you seen it?”

It seemed like he was trying to use an inviting tone. It didn’t work.

His voice was more like an out-of-breath marathoner. One who claimed that his favorite movie was a Barbie movie. As for the movie, of course, I had seen it. Every girl my age had seen that movie. I leaned back, pushing off the lacquered wood table as I placed the song he had been humming. It was the theme song from the movie.

He didn’t wait for a response. He forged ahead.

“Oh, you’d know if you had seen this glamorous, utopian film extravaganza. It’s about twelve princesses. Their mother tragically dies. Their father brings in his cousin to help teach the girls and get them ready to marry. Then, the king falls ill. The evil cousin takes away all the girl’s fun, including dancing. She makes them all wear gray instead of their customary brightly colored dresses. But they find out that if they dance together in a special pattern on the floor of their room, a staircase opens. It leads them into a world where they can dance all night.”

He paused for a breath but went on speaking before I had a chance to get out a word.

“The all-night dancing is followed by more shenanigans from the evil cousin. She has this creepy sidekick monkey that spies on the princesses. There’s also this handsome cobbler who makes the princesses’ custom shoes. He tries to help them expose the evil cousin. In the end, they find out the stepmother is poisoning the king, and she gets thrown out of the kingdom. The king recovers. The dancing returns. The main princess, Genevieve, marries the cobbler. It’s swoon-worthy...”

My open mouth and wide eyes must have conveyed my thoughts. Because he hastily added, “At least that’s what my sister says.”

“I bet.” Either he liked spending time with his sister a lot, or this guy liked fairy tales more than I did. I glanced around the restaurant, hoping to see something that would steer the conversation in another direction. All I saw was sports memorabilia and several TVs playing the latest games. This guy definitely didn’t play sports, so no help from the decor.

I took a deep breath, and the woodsy aroma of smoked meats mixed with the scent of warm fry oil. My stomach rumbled. “How about we get some food?”

Joseph nodded, and we went up to the counter to place our orders. He ordered ribs and a soda, and I ordered a half chicken and a sweet tea. As we were paying for our meals, he said, “Rowena, the evil cousin, used tea to deliver the poison that made the king ill. Did you know that?”

I shook my head in agreement—that part I remembered. The lady behind the cash register rolled her eyes and asked, “Y’all on your first date?”

“Yes, Adelaide is auditioning for the role of my dancing princess and I, her dancing prince,” Joseph responded.

“Figured that.” She smirked as she cast me a good-luck-with-that look.

I stifled a laugh as I stood waiting in the pickup area. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long for the food to come out. We grabbed it and headed to sit back down.

When we got back to our table, things didn’t get better. I would say something or ask a question. Joseph would find a random way to tie it back to Barbie’s The Twelve Dancing Princesses . It was a bit much, even for me—a self-professing fairytale buff. By the end of the evening, I was rolling my eyes behind his back as we walked to the door.

When we reached the entrance, I spotted Brenn coming in through the double glass doors. The smirk that graced his face said he saw me roll my eyes, but I didn’t care.

“Brenn!” I soft-screamed in relief. Turning to Joseph, I said, “This was a lovely evening, but that’s one of my best friends. Sorry to eat and run. I’ll call you.”

I stepped back to avoid the possibility of an awkward hug—or worse. I watched as confusion filled Joseph’s eyes. He hung his head as I waved. Then he turned and walked out.

I think even he knew I wouldn’t call.

Ever.

Brenn opened his arms as I got close and wrapped them around me when I leaned in to whisper, “Thank you for saving me!”

He squeezed me. Before letting go, he said, “The blind date was that great?”

“You have no idea.” I rolled my eyes. “This guy was the most fairytale-obsessed person I have ever met. But not just any fairy tale, only one—Barbie’s version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses .”

Brenn barked out a laugh. His eyes sparkled as his head tilted back. “Sounds like you need a caramel fudge sundae.”

I nodded vigorously.

We turned to leave, and I put my arm in his as we walked across the street for ice cream. Brenn ordered a large sundae and two spoons. We sat down across from each other in a booth with the caramel-fudge goodness between us.

I regaled him with tales of the date and of how Joseph kept bringing up the twelve dancing princesses. “But the worst was at the end, Brenn! I had checked out at that point. I don’t know if he was trying to get a reaction or if he was serious... it doesn’t matter. I was just trying to look like I cared about the dancing princesses having a cat that looked like the one that he had seen on campus that morning. He blurts out, ‘I know how I am going to propose to you!’ Well, you can imagine how I reacted!”

Across from me, Brenn stiffened.

I pointed my spoon at him. “Exactly! But before I had a chance to say a thing, he proceeded to tell me his plan. He was going to fashion a pair of dancing shoes with ribbons that would tie up my legs. Just like Derek did—that’s the name of the cobbler in the movie. Then he was going to tie the ring to one of the shoes. And when—WHEN Brenn, not IF—when I said yes, I would get the ring and the shoes to wear at our wedding!” I shook my head in disbelief.

“What did you say to him?” Brenn asked.

“You know what I said! No thanks, Buster Brown.” I said with a guffaw. Brenn’s shoulders relaxed as a small smile reached his lips. “That’s when I saw you. Didn’t you notice how quickly I ran over to you?”

He smirked. “Yeah, you were like a little bunny rabbit. Did his movie have one of those?”

I rolled my eyes, reaching for another bite of the sundae. Brenn’s spoon got there at the same time, and we laughed as the spoons clinked. We both took a bite, but as I did, a bit of fudge dripped off the spoon. I went to wipe it off the table as I felt Brenn’s eyes on me.

“Adelaide,” Brenn said.

When he said my name, it stirred something inside of me. I didn’t want to look up. I knew if I did, he would be staring at me with those emerald eyes. The seedling of a crush would grow. So I stared at my hand as I wiped any trace of the chocolate off the table. A hand that wanted to reach out and sweep back the lock of his hair, which had fallen out of place as we talked.

The moment dragged on. I silently pleaded for Brenn to say something, anything, to let me know what he was thinking. But he didn’t say anything else, so I looked up.

He was staring at me in a way that made me forget everything around us. My insides felt like the ice cream in the bowl as it melted. The friendship frost I had around the seedling of a crush was thawing. And that’s when Mitzi’s voice broke the trance, shouting across the ice cream shop, “How did it go?”

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms before saying, “You are in so much trouble, Mitzi.” But I smiled at her and added, “Come join us!”

Mitzi and her boyfriend got their ice creams. Brenn came to sit next to me so they could share the other side of the booth. I told the whole twelve-dancing princess stories for the second time that night. As we all laughed, we agreed that I now held the record for the worst blind date.

Mitzi apologized. She promised to buy me a dancing shoe charm to immortalize the evening.

The crazy part is that the next morning, what I remembered the most was the feeling of Brenn’s thigh touching mine. In the morning light, a part of my heart wished the time at the ice cream shop had been a double date.

But that couldn’t be.

Reality dictated those moments were simply a chance meeting after a blind date with the Prince of Dancing Princesses. And I shouldn’t read anything more into them.