67. Queen's Day
2325 Words
Monday morning I wake up to a text from Cyrus. -I love you.-
I throw my phone. "Asshole."
School is annoying. After school, I go to the casino. Everything is in its place. The slot machines are making noise. The wheels are ready to go. People are being trained. It's amazing. I can't believe this came together so fast.
Tuesday morning I wake up to a text from Cyrus. -I love you, baby. And I miss you.-
I throw my phone. "Asshole."
After school, I go to the casino. Everyone spends the evening fixing little things or adding last-minute stuff.
Wednesday morning I wake up to a text from Cyrus.
I throw my phone before I read it. "Asshole."
Then I jump up. We're letting people into the casino today.
Mike pulls me off the bed before I jump on it. "Let's get a shower before the excitement kicks in."
"BUT."
"You're going to school for the first half of the day. Then you are coming with Conner to the casino."
"BUT."
"No. You're going."
I wiggle all over. Then I do him in the shower because I can't stop being excited.
I sit behind Akmae in our first period class. He turns around. "Did we remember to put lights on the Coffino sign?"
"I think so."
"When are you going over?"
"After lunch. I'm going with Conner."
"I'll come with you."
"Ok. You can check for lights."
He nods and goes back to whatever he's doing.
Group chat. Clayton: -What time does it open?-
Mike: -Noon. Conner and Thena are coming about 1.-
Akmae: -Me too.-
Mike: -I can't do this right now. We're getting ready to open. Focus on school.-
I lay my head on the desk. "I should be there."
"You'll be fine. It's only a few classes."
"True."
It takes forever to get to lunch. The classes each seem to take 7 hours. It's horrible. For choir, we practice our solo a little. So, that's ok. It doesn't take as long. Then we're off to the casino.
The helicopter lands right in the middle of the road in front of the door. Akmae helps me out. They stopped traffic and everything.
Conner runs off to yell at the press. "SHE'LL COME BACK OUT. DO NOT TAKE HER PICTURE IN THAT UNIFORM. I WILL BREAK THE f*****g CAMERA." He points at someone. "POINT IT DOWN." Then he damn near shoves me in the door. "Woman, dress fancy and go let them take your picture."
"What was that about?" I cross my arms.
"You're not dressed like a queen or business owner. You're dressed like a school kid running a casino. And..." He spins around. "WHY THE f**k IS THE PRESS HERE?"
Drogon runs over. "We sent invites. Think, Clayton's birthday party. Plus advisors, our families, people like that. It's an invite-only event. The press caught wind of it and set up shop outside the damn front door. Make it work, Conner." He runs in a different direction than he came from.
Conner nods. "Akmae, check the coffee shop and make sure someone is working over there. If they're not, open it. Woman, clothes. Fancy. Please."
"Fine."
I go to my office and get ready. The prizes are all out of here. I have plenty of room now. I step out of my office looking like a queen.
Monte is the first one I see when I step off the elevator. "Where are the prizes?"
"I moved them to the vault. They don't need to be stuffed in your office." He fixes my hair. "Your interview was good this morning."
"I forgot I did that."
"Yea, you have a lot going on. I recorded it so you can see it later. The video clips came out good too."
"Thank you."
"My pleasure. Go get your picture taken before too many people start showing up."
"When are they coming? There are people already here."
"We opened at 1. But it's Wednesday. A lot of people don't get off work until 4 or 5."
"How late are we open?"
"I think 11." He smiles and kisses my head. "It's a soft opening. Don't worry. We're making sure everything works like it's supposed to."
I give him a hug, then go outside. The press start in with the pictures and yelling immediately.
I smile and pose. "One at a time please. I can't hear you."
"Is the casino open today?"
"This is our soft opening. It's an invite-only event. I believe the casino will be open until 10 or 11 tonight. Alterations will be made tomorrow. Then we will open this weekend for everyone."
"Are you excited?"
"I am so excited. I have been waiting for this, and I can't believe it came together so fast." I point at a reporter.
"How many shops are in the casino?"
"I have 2 restaurants. Smoke and Fire and Savor Station. Both of them came highly recommended. Then I have the coffee shop, Coffino. Fruit Fusion is here. I know a lot of people already know that one. Popcorn Palace also doesn't need an introduction. The Pit is where people can buy alcoholic drinks. That's it as far as shops for right now."
"Are you planning on adding more?"
"If we stay like this, it's fine. But if I came across a shop that I think would do well in the casino, I would ask the owner about it. But for right now, I think we're good." I point at a different one.
"Will you be giving away door prizes this weekend?"
"Yes. I have a whole wheel set up." I see a helicopter approaching.
Then a guard puts his arm around me. "No more questions." He ushers me inside. "Sorry, ma'am. Too much royalty in one spot makes us nervous."
"Who was landing?"
"Prince Clayton and Former Queen Mary Dark."
"Understandable. Thank you. I think I would have been stuck answering questions forever."
"That's possible." He opens the door for Mary.
"This is something. It's beautiful, sweetie." She gives me a hug.
"Thank you."
Clayton nods. "You need a helicopter pad."
"I did notice that."
He laughs and pulls his mom the rest of the way in.
I look out the door as a limo pulls up. The flashes start again when Drogon's dad steps out and helps his mom.
They come in, and his dad shakes his head at me. "You can't be right in front of the door. At least go all the way in the casino. Someone can walk by and pull you out the door."
"But I want to see."
"DROGON." He pulls Drogon's mom in with him.
Another limo pulls up and Drogon puts his arm around me and leads me further inside. "Babygirl, you can see the people in here. Don't be that close to the door."
"But they have limos."
"We can get a limo this weekend. We'll pull up in our own limo."
I hug him and squeeze. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Why don't you go check the coffee shop?"
I run over to Coffino and Akmae and Monte are behind the counter. "MOCHA MAGIC."
I lean on Monte, and he puts his arm around me.
Akmae hands me coffee. "We don't have mocha magic. Here's some coffee and chocolate."
I take a sip. "It's perfect." I wiggle against Monte. "Why are you here?"
"The coffee is good, and I'm trying to let the guards do their jobs without being up their asses. They know what they're doing, and I have the radio if they need me."
Akmae gets a cup of coffee. "Smart."
Then a girl comes in. "Hi, I'm Amalee. I'm supposed to open the shop at 3 and work until 10."
Akmae nods. "We move to the other side of the counter now."
We refill everything and sit in a booth. I watch the girl for a while. She does good and seems to be making everything right. Then I take her my empty cup. "I need a Lady Luck please."
"That'll be $5."
"No. I don't pay."
"But that's stealing."
I hear the boys crack up laughing.
"But it would be stealing from myself. I don't think that's possible."
She looks at me like I broke her brain. Then we stare at each other. I have no idea what to say in this situation.
Clayton runs in and gets my attention. "The Pit is swamped. We need people to catch up."
"We're on our way." Monte puts $7 on the counter. "I need a plain black coffee, and I'll pay for hers."
"Wonderful." She smiles and hands them over.
I walk out shaking my head.
Monte puts his arm around me. "That was an interesting stand-off you had going on."
"I really don't think she was going to give me my coffee."
He laughs and pulls out a stool from me at the bar. Him, Clayton, and Akmae join 2 other guys making drinks. They are making them fast. Then Conner comes over and helps. He sits a Queen of Diamonds drink down in front of me.
"Thank you. I love you."
"I love you too, babygirl." He winks and takes the next order.
I push the coffee away and enjoy my new drink. It tastes so good. Then there's a big bang. It sounds like a car backfires or something.
Conner and Monte jump over the bar. I hear "Shots fired." over the radio. My guards surround me and Clayton gets tackled by his. "All clear." Akmae cracks up laughing watching Clayton get up.
"Assholes."
Monte kisses my head as he walks by. "One of the escalator motors froze and made that noise. Nobody got hurt. Conner's dealing with it."
"They said shots fired."
"Yea. I'll deal with it later. I'm not going to yell at them in front of a bunch of people." He makes drinks again.
I watch them until Drogon puts his arm around me. "Let's go have dinner, babygirl."
"We're leaving?" I get up and go with him.
"Dinner at Smoke and Fire. I got the VIP room for us. It's something. I wanted to do something with you for Queen's Day."
"Thank you. That's sweet."
"Not as sweet as you."
The VIP room is nice. It's private with a view of the park out the window. There's a bouquet of roses on the table. -Happy Queen's Day to my beautiful queen. I love you more than words can express. You are my everything. Drogon.-
"I love you too."
He pulls me into the booth with him. He's starting to look red. "You really are my everything, babygirl. I love you."
"I love you more." I wrap my arms around and snuggle him. "You're so perfect. Thank you for this. Are you ok? You're red."
"I'm fine." He smirks and shakes his head. "I wish I could do more. But I didn't want to get too far away from here. At least we can have a quiet dinner."
"I love it. Everything is perfect."
He wipes his head off. He's starting to sweat.
"What is happening?"
"Nothing, baby. Just a little warm. I'll get some water."
"Ok." I snuggle against him.
An hour later, we leave, holding hands. That was a nice dinner. "Back to the real world." He kisses my head.
His mom runs up to us. She has a box. It looks like it could hold a book.
"Mom, no gifts here. Not now."
"I'm going to give it to Thena."
"No."
"UGH." She storms off.
"Is she trying to give me your present?"
"It's for both of us. But she hates waiting. And she gets so excited about giving gifts. My dad is making her wait though."
"Do you know what it is?"
"No. But she has a melt down every time she buys a gift and has to wait to give it. The week before Goddess Day is horrible. One time she got me a book and gave it to me 3 weeks before my birthday."
I laugh and hug him.
He steps onto the escalator with me. "It was a school book. It wasn't even anything I wanted. My dad usually has to hide the gifts she buys from her. It's bad. Sometimes she'll yell out what it is." He hugs me. "I need to check the bank, baby. You want to make sure the bar is keeping up now?"
"Of course. Thank you for dinner, love."
"Thank you for joining me, my sexy queen."
I get a kiss out of him before I go to the bar. They seem to not be so slammed now. Clayton, Akmae, and Monte are making the drinks. "Don't people other than you work here? Show me how to make a drink."
Monte puts his arm around me. "We sent them on break. It's slow right now. We can keep up. You will have to hire a few more bartenders before the weekend though."
"We can do that. Thank you for helping." I give him a kiss.
He pulls me closer and deepens the kiss.
"NO." Cyrus runs behind the bar and picks me up. "No more of this. We're going right now to end this."
"PUT HER DOWN." Mike's pissed.
"f**k you. I'm done with your bullshit." Cyrus is pissed.
Mike rubs his face. "You don't want to do this."
"Yes. I do. I don't care what you say."
"Fine. We'll go after you put her down."
Cyrus puts me back on my feet. Then Drogon punches him in the face. "Don't you ever grab her like that again. I don't give a f**k what she's doing."
Cyrus nods and puts his arm around me. "Let's go."
I heal his face quickly and Clayton hands him some napkins. He wipes the blood off on the way to the helicopter. Mike gets in with us.
I fake a smile. "Where are we going?"
Cyrus sits back. "To see your grandmother."
- Writer
