ANTHONY HAD BEEN RESTLESS ever since we arrived at the cafe. Henry thought nothing of it earlier, he thought that maybe he was just nervous to show the others the cafe, but it's been a couple of hours and Anthony was still restless. Henry had approached him about it but he shrugged it off saying it was the first time they had plenty of customers and made him nervous.
"I'll be fine," Responding with a cold tone, Anthony quickly walked away from him and proceeded to make orders. Henry felt a stab in his chest but quickly brushed it off.
...
Henry's mind kept thinking about Anthony. It's not like it bothered him, it just didn't make sense for him to think about him. Henry had been surrounded by women who were drawn in by his status or looks. He looked out of it. It concerned Elijah, who reached out to him and asked if anything was wrong.
"I'm fine, just a bit dizzy" Elijah stood up and pulled Henry's arm for him to stand. The women who surrounded Henry were inconsiderate. They kept whining and pouting, it pissed Elijah off.
"Can't you see he's not feeling well?" The surrounding women became silent as if anything more embarrassing than getting scolded by a prince is worse. The others who were out of the prince's range were whispering to each other, curious about what was happening.
"This is why women don't like to be around you," one woman shouted. "You aren't as kind as Prince Henry that we can say looks can be deceiving." Every woman who was surrounding Henry was complaining spiteful words to Elijah, adding up to Henry's queasiness. A loud sound came from the counter. Everyone shifted their eyes to where the noise came from.
Anthony and Eric eyed Alejandro as he stood up, head lowered. He turned to the counter again and placed the fragments of the large cup he dropped. He raised his head suddenly and glared at the women.
"This is a cafe," His voice raised. "You are not the only customers we have, be mindful of your surroundings." The women who were saying foul words were flustered and sat back in their seats properly. You could hear the murmurs of the ones who sat away from the customers who were scolded. Athena lowered her book away from her vision and turned to the women.
"What you people had just said is an insult," She stood up, taking her last sip from her drink. "You do not know what he has done, so you people have no right to insult someone who is capable of the throne. Blabber your mouth, spread your rumors, insult us behind our back, but you never and I mean never insult someone who you do not know of."
After finishing what she had to say, she handed Eric her cup. "Thank you for the drink, can I read somewhere else?" Eric nodded and took her outside and went somewhere. By the time Athena left the noise began to grow and grow. Murmurs left and right. Elijah called Anthony.
"Is there a break room? Henry needs to rest" Alejandro handed Henry a glass of water. Anthony explained that there was no break room since they would spend it in the cafe or in their house, the room at the back was just the storage room.
"Then can you take us to your house?" Elijah asked. Alejandro whispered something to Anthony and pushed him to Henry.
"Anthony will take him to our house" Alejandro declared.
"Can you handle the cafe for a while, Alejandro?" Henry held on to Anthony's shoulders, clearly nauseous. "Though I know you can."
"I'll be here to watch him" Elijah smirked, glancing at Alejandro, trying to see his reactions. Alejandro ignored what Elijah said and reassured Anthony.
...
Henry was light. Though it was quite obvious that he didn't place all his weight onto Anthony's shoulder.
"It's okay, just a little more and we'll be there" Anthony reassured Henry.
After a few more steps they finally arrived. He opened the door and led Henry to the couch, where he could rest. Anthony went back to close the door and went directly to the kitchen and looked into the fridge to get water. The house was silent besides the clock ticking. Henry sat up straight to drink water. Anthony offered for him to sleep in his room, walking towards the room like they were drunk, swaying side-to-side.
They had forgotten about what had happened days prior to their meeting. Since Henry had a terrible headache, he slowly got into bed. Henry didn't bother covering himself with the blanket prepared. Anthony placed a glass of water on the drawer next to the bed. Henry's furrowed eyebrows concerned Anthony. He hurried to the living room and got the medkit lying inside a drawer. He hurried back and opened the kit. There were all sorts of medicine; stomach ache, diarrhea, teeth, and headache.
"Henry sit up one more time and take this medicine" Anthony assisted. After Henry took the medicine Anthony tucked Henry in his bed. The furrowed brows on his face loosened. He closed the door before going back to the cafe.
Anthony felt relieved that he was just having a headache. It was probably from the night before. Sighing, he entered the cafe to see it empty. What happened when he left? Alejandro and Elijah were nowhere to be seen. He began searching for them both. They weren't outside, they weren't at the small library spot or at the counter. He figured they went somewhere with the ladies and left the cafe but Anthony knew Alejandro wouldn't be so irresponsible. There was one more place he didn't think of. The storage room.
Walking towards the door, Anthony heard mumbling sounds. He didn't want to interrupt so he decided to eavesdrop. He placed his ear on the door, hearing what they were talking about.
"I meant what I said last night, Alejandro" Anthony thought back to what happened this morning.
Alejandro replied back in an unusually soft tone. "You can't just say that" It was clear Alejandro was embarrassed without looking at him.
"Why not?" Alejandro argued back, trying to push Elijah back and away from him. Are they fighting? Anthony thought. Wanting to open the door and protect his friend, he held the door knob before hearing soft yet loud moans coming from the other side.
Anthony couldn't hold himself and got curious. He turned the doorknob slowly and slightly opened the door. His eyes searched for Alejandro, whose waist was held tightly by Elijah's left hand, the other cupping Alejandro's face. Moans escaped Alejandro's mouth when they stopped for a moment to breathe in between their kisses.
Elijah went for Alejandro's lips once again, smashing them together. He inserted his tongue and left hand traveling lower to his backside, squeezing it while Alejandro moans louder. Alejandro raised his arms and placed them onto Elijah's shoulders.
Anthony stopped peeking, embarrassed, and felt sorry for looking at them while making out. He closed the door but left a sound, alerting the ones inside. Anthony freaked out. If he was found out, would they be embarrassed or act as if it never happened. He had to find out.
Anthony was wiping the tools acting as if nothing happened. Alejandro and Elijah got out of the storage room and acted as if nothing happened. Anthony asked the question, "What were you guys doing there? And what happened to the customers?"
Faces turning red from embarrassment, Anthony got his answers.
"They all left when Henry left" Elijah spoke, "It was quite dramatic, they kept complaining about Athena too."
"It was bothersome anyways, good thing they left or else the cafe would be full of noise" Alejandro backed Elijah up.
"But we would have earned a lot," Anthony complained, clearly thinking more realistically than the two.
"It's okay, lots of people will come here soon," Elijah commented.
"What? Don't tell me you did that for---" Alejandro was cut off midway from his sentence by Elijah. "Nope, I did that because I was serious".
Whatever happened between them two made Anthony more curious. They both clearly avoided the first question meaning they didn't want to tell anyone yet, and it was fine for Anthony as long as it didn't cause trouble.
"Whatever happened earlier is fine as long as nothing troublesome happened," Anthony tidied up the seats for the next customers who arrived after. Anthony texted Eric to come back saying the women weren't there anymore and a few minutes later, Eric and Athena came back with gloomy faces.
Athena explained. Someone had seen them two together in another cafe and thought they were dating and so that person had spread about it online. While trying to catch the person who posted it, they encountered the Prince of Amaris. Like the others, he thought they were dating and avoided Athena.
"This is such a troublesome situation," Athena whined, "Mother's going to scold me." A text tone chimed within the counter. We shifted our eyes to the phone by the edge of the counter. It was Henry's phone.
"Pick it up," Athena said, "It's probably important." Elijah grabbed the phone and checked the notification on the screen. He looked confused and proceeded to open the phone, tapping on the screen until he stopped to read. He turned to us and with a confused face he said,
"The Queen would like to meet all of us tonight for dinner," Athena commented that it wasn't normal and reassured that it was just the three of them.
"No," Elijah spoke, "She means all of us" He raised the phone, showing us a picture sent to Henry's number. It was all of them, all 6 of them. The photo looked like it was taken last night and with secrecy. Alejandro was frantic. Eric barely spoke but reacted similarly. Athena was confused too and demanded to know.
"It's a secret she says," Elijah replies, making Athena annoyed. She didn't care about them meeting again but why drag the other with them. She apologized saying it was her fault in the beginning.
"Please don't apologize," Eric spoke softly. "I also wanted you to come to the cafe and we could talk more, as friends of course." Athena became embarrassed and disregarded what she said. Until it could be sunset, they worked together in the cafe either it was to clean, serve, make the orders or deliver the orders.
It was finally closing time and cleaning up was easier with a lot of people involved. Elijah paused from sweeping the floor. He looked like he was deep in thought. He eventually sat down and continued to think. It stayed like that until we finished cleaning up. We called out to him.
"Sorry, I just made plans for your outfits for tonight's dinner," Elijah said. Anthony, Alejandro, and Eric were confused. They knew it was dinner together with the King and Queen of Wares but didn't think the need to look too formal. Athena didn't bother joining the conversation and went ahead outside, Eric walking behind her.
They made their way to the house and started to change clothes appropriate for dinner. Anthony saw Henry sitting on the chair by the desk, reading a book from his shelf.
"Oh, you guys are finally home," Henry said with a happy look on his face.
"Yeah," Anthony replied, "Are you feeling better?" Henry replied with a nod. He obviously felt better for sleeping for who knows how long. Anthony began to rummage within his clothes. He sorted out some clothes on the bed, trying to match out some pants with a top.
"By the way," Henry spoke, "Have you seen my phone?" Anthony explained everything that had happened.
"Mother, called for all of us?" Henry frantically asked. Anthony replied with a slow nod. "Oh no, this is bad".
"Why is it bad?" Anthony began to worry too. Was it because they were from different kinds of backgrounds that they can't talk anymore? "Tell me" Anthony paused from sorting out clothes, trying to calm down.
"Which photo did she send?" Anthony then explained. Henry looked even more anxious than before. He turned to Anthony and asked, "What are you going to wear?"
"I haven't picked out an outfit yet," Anthony responded, "Mind helping me?" Henry agreed. Whatever made him help didn't matter to Anthony. He just wanted to see what kind of people the King and Queen were, and what kind of people raised Henry and Athena.
A knock came from the door. Elijah entered the room.
"What's your outfit?" Henry explained what Anthony was going to wear.
"Good thing Anthony has good taste," Henry spoke in relief.
"Alejandro actually shops for me," Anthony commented, "So thank him. I don't even know if this would look good together, but I try"
Elijah began to pair clothes together and let Anthony try them on. Surprisingly, all the clothes matched and looked good. It began to be an outfit match with Elijah and Henry.
"Since Anthony is tall, this suits him," Elijah commented.
"No, this one suits him better," Henry argued back. It stayed like that for 15 minutes until Alejandro came in. He complained about taking too long.
"They can't decide on what I should wear," Anthony looked exhausted from trying all the outfits. Alejandro finally broke the contest off when he pulled out the perfect outfit that Henry and Elijah became quiet.
"Wear this and let's go," Alejandro glared at the two, who were still arguing. "What a waste of time" He turned back and went outside waiting. Henry became embarrassed for showing his competitive side and apologized.
"It's okay," Anthony smiled "He's a good person, so please treat him right." The last part aimed at Elijah. "Making out in the storage room should be banned." Elijah tried to lessen the embarrassment but fails when Henry became fascinated a Prince did that.
...
"Can you please get out?" Anthony asked "I need to change my clothes." Elijah heads out first followed by Henry. Henry slowly walked out, trying to peek at Anthony's body but stopped by the door closing.