Peace Maker - Chapter 179

Annabeth simply blinked. She wasn’t taken aback, she had been waiting for the question. She had seen it coming from the moment they had first locked eyes. ‘About time he asked.’ She tilted her head slightly and smiled. “Why else would one be in the baby room?”

Falls flinched staring into Annabeth’s eyes. ‘She didn’t even flinch…’ he thought to himself.

“I came to see the babies of course…’ Annabeth muttered. She looked away for a second, like she was contemplating, before turning back to Falls with a surprised expression on her face. “Oh my! I didn’t- I didn’t know it looked like that.. I’m sorry- I swear we were just looking at the babies-”

Falls stared at her for a moment before a slight smile formed on his face. ‘There it is… Her reaction,’ he thought to himself as he watched the panic take over her face. ‘Looks like she’s pretty innocent… how cute.’

“I’m sorry- I was just asking for directions to ghetto the baby room… I really like kids and I wanted to see them but I didn’t know the way and-”

“Woah, Woah, Woah, my lady,” Falls chuckled, “it’s ok! No need t get nervous or anything”

“No… it is… I had no idea how wrong that’ll look to others around me… It must have looked so disgusting… Like I was trying to-” Annabeth continued, tearing forming in her eyes.

“No, my lady, I was simply curious as to how he knew you were in the baby room and all. It’s not that I was trying to villainize you and such, I know you’d never do that, and for goodness sake, Antonio is my brother, I know he would never do that to a woman or allow that to happen.”

Annabeth stepped back, covering her face with her hands. “Nono… Lord Falls I- I’m so ignorant..” her voice trembled, “I didn’t realize that it would be seen like that, I could have ruined your brother’s reputation and tarnished mine without even realizing it… I’m so sorry…”

“No…” Falls muttered, concern washing over him. ‘Wow… I shouldn’t have teased her… she really was too innocent…’

His hand raised up to reach for her hand. “Please don’t cry… I really didn’t see it like that either. I was simply just curious so there’s no reason for you to get so-” he continued as he stepped towards her, about to grab her hand-

“Lord Falls!” a young voice exclaimed, freezing Falls in his steps as he turned to look at who called out to him. “Lord Falls! The first dance is over! Can you accompany me in the second?”

Falls flinched, immediately standing in front of Annabeth, hiding her behind him. “Oh… Lady Cele, I didn’t see you there-”

“Hehe.. now you do,” Cele grinned, linking her arm in Falls’, “and now you can dance with me!”

Falls twitched as Cele immediately started to tug him away from Annabeth. “But- I- Lady Annabeth! C-could you wait a bit for me? I promise it would be long, I just need to-”

Annabeth nodded, her hands slowly dropping as Falls was pulled away.

“I promise I’ll be back soon-” Falls’ voice trailed off as he locked eyes with Annabeth for a split second before her figure disappeared into the crowd. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the expression in her eyes when they had locked eyes. ‘Why… why were they so…’

Annabeth watched as Falls disappeared into the crowd for a moment before turning around and walking back to the food tables. She stared at the food in front of her, her eyes running up and down all the selections in excitement. ‘I wonder what I should eat first…’

She picked up a place and slowly started loading it with food. ‘I couldn’t even get all I wanted to eat because he was right there watching over me… ah, I’ll take this chocolate too… There was no way I was just going to eat a cupcake when there is so much to pick from in front of me…’

She picked up a mini tuna sandwich and placed it on her filling plate. ‘I need to get to somewhere where I can eat all of this though… in privacy too. I’d hate for someone to walk in and I’d have to abandon my food because of them.’

She looked up for a moment, scanning the room for any corners she could hide in to eat. ‘Maybe I should have kept him around a bit longer… I would have been able to find a spot where I can eat this… sigh… that fruitcake looks nice though, I’ll take some of that too…’

Her hand was about to grab the cake when she felt a presence behind her.

“I wouldn’t take that if I was you…” the voice muttered, “I tried some of it earlier and I didn’t really like it… it had some raisins in them.”

Annabeth flinched, nearly dropping her plate of food. Her body froze as the words ran through her head again. Then after a moment, her shoulders relaxed slightly as she recognized the voice. “Lord Antonio?” she asked, turning around to face him.

She looked up, her eyes locking with his bright hazel eyes.

Antonio immediately flinched, stepping back when they locked eyes. “Ah… sorry I was too close Lady Annabeth,” he stuttered, his eyes looking away from her immediately.

Annabeth stared at him for a moment, her head tilting slightly. Antonio peeked at her, flinching again when they locked eyes immediately. He stared back at her nervously before his eyes darted back to the fruitcake and then back up to her again,

“Oh.. uh… about the cake… I was just saying that because I didn’t like raisins… if you do, however, you can go ahead and eat it because the cake itself is amazing,” he muttered, his hand touching his nape as he smiled nervously.

Annabeth continued to stare at him for a moment before a slight puff left her lips. The puff multiplied and soon she was laughing. “Raisins?” she asked through her fit of laughter.

Antonio blushed, his shoulders loosening up a little as he watched her laugh. “Yes… haven’t really been a fan of raisins… So I tend to stray away from them even when the actual food is good..”

Annabeth continues to laugh, completely taken by his words.

Antonio smiled nervously, touching his nape again. “Is there something funny that I said, my lady?” he asked, his nerves slowly calming as he was soothed by her smile. “I didn’t know raisins were something funny to be used in a conversation… if it was I would have used it a lot more often…”

Annabeth trembled from her laughter, almost staggering.

Antonio immediately reached over, catching her by her arm. “Woah there! Please be careful Lady Annabeth!”

Annabeth smiled, looking up at Antonio, their eyes locking once again. “Yea… Sorry about that, I tend to get a little weak-legged when I laugh…haha…”

Antonio blushed, “No worries…” he replied as he helped her steady her footing.

They stood in silence for a moment as Annabeth calmed her giggles, Antonio’s eyes wandering down to the plate she had in her hand. He stared at the mountain of food she held and then looked away, his eyes scanning the room.

“Wow… what a load of food you have there…” he muttered.

Annabeth flinched, glancing down at the food in her hand. A wave of anxiety washed over her. ‘Dammit… I forgot to hide it… is he going to talk about how I can’t finish it all or make fun of my amount..?’

She readied a nervous smile on her face, unconsciously pushing the plate a bit behind her out of his sight. “Ah… I was just getting some food for me and my sis-”

“I wonder where you’re going to be able to eat that… I’m not sure there are a lot of places in the ballroom where you can sit quietly and eat,” Antonio muttered, his eyes going over all of the people in the room. “You might have to leave the ballroom if you want to eat that in peace…”

Annabeth paused, her voice trailing off. “What?”

Antonio turned back t her, locking eyes with her. “U-uh I mean that there isn’t a lot of places where you can sit and be able to eat. There might be a lot of people silently watching you and stuff if you eat in the ballroom… you might have to eat outside the ballroom,” he continued, a slight smile forming on his face as he touched the back of his neck again.

They stayed in eye contact, a blush starting to form on Antonio’s face as he looked at Annabeth’s blank expression. “I-I mean, that’s if you’re uncomfortable with them staring and stuff.. I was just wondering if you might need a place to eat because people watching you might give you indigestion and-”

“Yea…” Annabeth interrupted.

“But maybe I’m in- huh?” Antonio paused, his bright eyes showing clear confusion in them. “Ah…” he muttered, his eyes lowering, “I’m intruding right?”

“No,” Annabeth replied, her head tilting curiously. “That’s not what I meant…”

Antonio slowly looked back at her, their eyes locking. Annabeth peered at his nervous eyes as Antonio looked into her blank gaze.

“You sure….? I was probably intruding in the situation when I shouldn’t have be-“