AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Apparently, I’m not the only one.
“Switch the channel,” Andi calls to the bartender when Eduard’s face appears on the screen over the bar. “Put on the football match.”
“Yes, madam.” The bartender does a half bow.
I give her an admiring look. “You definitely know how to command a room.” I offer a high five.
A shadow passes over her face and disappears as she slaps my palm. “Put it down to the Ladies Academy. I have years of deportment lessons behind me.” She fluffs her massive pink skirts and straightens her tiara.
Deportment lessons? Based on my extensive reading and viewing of animated fairy tales, I know only royalty and girls of good birth in Regency romances go to finishing schools for deportment classes. And since I’m relatively sure Andi doesn’t have a time machine, that rules out one option. “Are you a princess?” It’s the closest I can come to asking about her royal or nonroyal status without straight up asking.
“Tonight, I’m a fairy princess.” She shakes her shoulders, causing the lights to flash off her tiny, sparkly wings. “And I’m wearing it ironically.”
I nod wisely, although I am no wiser. “Of course. Even fairy princesses have to take deportment classes, I suppose. But I thought they were all about pouring tea and how to address His Dukiness.”
Andi spits beer across the table. When we’ve finished mopping up the mess, she stabs a finger at me. “His Dukiness. That’s hilarious, but don’t let anyone else hear you say it.”
“It’s not like I called him a warthog-faced buffoon.”
“The Princess Bride! I love that movie! You don’t by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?”
I laugh and hold up my boring five digits. “Do you always begin conversations this way? Oh, hey—you wanna go to Vienna with us? Road trip!”
Andi sits up a little straighter. “Really? Vienna? On your own?” If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she’s never taken a road trip. Although on second thought, maybe that’s not a European thing.
Lina leans forward. “One of Eva’s favorite K-pop groups is doing a European tour. The other cities were sold out, but they just added a last-minute show in Vienna, and she got us tickets! We’re going to take the train down on Friday and spend the night in a youth hostel.” She raises a brow at Andi, as if she doesn’t think the other woman will want to come along.
I pull out my phone and head to the bookmarked site. “Lemme see if there are any tickets left.”
“That sounds amazing! I haven’t—” Andi breaks off and glances at me. “My parents are kind of overprotective.”
“I’ll say. Teo said they drove him to Portland instead of letting him take the school bus on a field trip. If they were worried, they could have come along as chaperones.”
Lina chokes on her beer, nearly doing a repeat of Andi’s earlier performance. I slap her on the back until she stops coughing. She wipes her lips with a napkin. “Sorry. I can’t imagine Andi’s parents on a school bus.”
“You can’t?” I’ve worked for Feltz Ornaments off and on since I turned fourteen, and now that I think about it, imagining Herr or Frau Feltz on a school trip is impossible. “Okay, I see your point.”
I click the site, and a “sold out” banner appears across the screen. “Drat! There aren’t any tickets left!”
Andi frowns. “I can still come, right? I can go shopping while you’re at the concert. Or maybe I can find a ticket. What’s the name of the band?”
“You can try…” I airdrop the link to her. “The band is Tripl3Threat. There are probably scalpers selling tickets at ten times the cost. I was amazed I got ours. Lucky timing, I guess.”
She slides her phone into her purse as Teo and Hans arrive. Leaning close, she lowers her voice. “Don’t tell the boys about the road trip. It’s just us girls, right?”
“Sure. I don’t mind telling them they aren’t invited. They don’t like K-pop anyway.”
“Better if you don’t mention it at all. Teo might let something slip to our parents, and they’re… well, you know.”
“Still? Aren’t you over eighteen?”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m twenty-one. It’s a nightmare.”
“That’s extra.” I do the zipper and lock thing across my mouth. “My lips are sealed.” I turn to the boys, excited to tell them we got tickets, then realize I can’t say anything now.
Later that evening, when Andi wanders off to talk to a friend who just arrived, Teo slides onto her stool. He’s wearing a cape over a black button-down shirt and has his hair slicked back with a widow’s peak drawn on his forehead. “You’re kind of quiet tonight.”
I sip my beer, trying to think of a reason—and the right way to say it in German. “Just tired, I guess. It’s been a long week.”
