I sighed, staring out of the big window in the ballroom. It was a dark, stormy night, perfectly matching my mood. Suddenly, I heard a knock on my door. "Come in!" I called. It was probably Hilda, our maid. I didn't like calling her maid; it sounded too much like servant. She had been working for the royal family since my dad was a little kid – she was already his maid, then my sisters', and then mine.

I turned to face the opening door, not moving away from the window. A girl came in, only a year younger than me. She had caramel hair, blue eyes, and the sweetest smile in the world. It wasn't Hilda, but her niece, Cassie. I had been in love with her since she came to work in the palace last year, but it seemed unrequited.

"Hey, Leo," she smiled shyly. "Hi, Cass. What's up?" She walked over to where I was sitting. "Umm, I was going to clean up in here. I didn't know that you were... What are you doing, actually?" I could feel myself blushing slightly and scratched the back of my neck. Thinking about you, I wanted to say, but I didn't. "Nothing really," I said instead. I could see she didn't believe me because of the way she pulled up her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything.

Suddenly, I got an idea. It was probably stupid, but before I could think about it, I pulled out my AirPods. I handed her one while sticking the other one in my own ear. "What are you doing?" she asked, a smile playing at her lips. I had never seen anything more beautiful. "Dance with me," I whispered into her ear. My dark brown eyes met her gorgeous blue ones, which were sparkling in the snowflake LED lights that were still hanging from the "Welcome Winter" ball earlier that week.

She popped the earbud into her own ear. "Do I get to choose the song?" I handed her my phone. She scrolled through my Spotify for a second, then a well-known melody filled my ears. Experience, by Einaudi. We started to dance, moving in perfect sync. It was sweet but heartbreaking at the same time, and the most dramatic piece I had ever danced to. Her hair had fallen out of the ponytail it was in and was swirling around us in flowing motion. The violins were building tension. I threw her into the air, catching her, twirling her around. I was surprised the headphones hadn't fallen out, but even if they did, I doubted it would matter. We were both fully concentrating on each other, on this one dance.

When the song ended, I twirled Cassie around one last time. She laughed, and it was just the best sound – so melodic and carefree. In the moment, it just felt so right; I couldn't stop myself. "I love you," I said. Cassie looked at me, the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face. "God, I thought you'd never say it!" She grinned, and then she kissed me. It was better than I had ever imagined it to be.

I broke our kiss for a second. "So, I guess you like me too?" I asked. "Well, duh!" she smiled, before kissing me again. And this time was even better than the first.

Note: If you think I test read this, think again.

Hope you liked it anyway :)