Chapter 2 : The Dinner

He came over to where I stood and swept his hand across the table.
"Its still dusty. You need to do it again." He said. I felt his hand flick my skirt ever so slightly. I shivered. I huffed and went to do it again. He left the room saying,
"Mother wants you to serve our friends this evening," he turned and looked at me, "So be polite."
I turned toward the maid who was eavesdropping.
"I'm Aaliyah." She said, with a smile. "Here most maids have to work a month before appearing in public."
"I'm Seeta and it's nice to meet you. Could you help me prepare? I'm not sure what to do."'I said.
She beamed. "Of course!"
We finished the room. I absorbed her excitement, not sure why she was so excited. Maybe it really is fun to serve guests, I thought. The sun was low when Aaliyah and I got ready. In that room we became best friends in mere hours. When the butler came to get us we went down the stairs, and brushed our skirts off. The mistress came to greet us. She was holding a dress in her hands. It was a navy blue with ruffled cap sleeves and the bottom section was velvet. I looked down at my own outfit and it dawned on me that it might not be the best outfit to serve strangers in.
"This is what you shall wear instead." Said the mistress. I went upstairs and changed. When I came back she and the butler had left. Aaliyah looked anxious. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"The guests are arriving any second." She said. She grabbed my hand and led me through all these hallways and rooms at an unimaginable pace. When we were at the main door, we heard the door bell ring. The butler was already there, he gave one last look at me then opened the door.
The family just walked through the doorway with smiles on their faces. None of them said anything when they passed us. Instead they went straight to the Mistress and Tristan.
"Heello Elizabeth, how was your trip to Paris? Is your husband still in Rome? It's been three months already!" The Lady said. She embraced Martha and gave her a kiss on each cheek.
The Lady and Felix looked at me. The Lady nodded her head and went to the dining room. Felix said hello and he too left. The butler came up to me when they had left and handed me a pitcher of water. I went into the room, and filled everyones glass up. Afterwards I wasn't sure what to do, so the butler beckoned me over to stand by him.
He leaned down and whispered that I should always stand at ready for their requests. So I held the pitcher steady and waited. I waited some more. Finally I was so bored I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. I also couldn't help notice how often Felix was glancing at me.
"On the third day I went to the Tuileries gardens, and met a lovely french couple. Tristan went to the Arc de Triomphe, and looked at the statues." Elizabeth was saying. I heard Tristan whisper something to Felix.
"Yeah," He said, " And all the statues were naked people."
Felix snickered. The Lady cast a severe glance at them. They straightened up and Felix looked over at me.
"Water please." He said. I went over next to him and bent to pour the water. He patted my butt and I yelped.
"Is everything ok?" he asked with a grin on his face. He offered his hand to support me but I pushed it away. "Everything is fine." I said. Refusing to look at his face. I went back to standing when Tristan called for some water.
I was a little worried what would happen. As I bent over, he whispered in my ear. "You are to accept everything we ask of you without complaints." He said.
I nodded quickly and carried on. I offered the other two ladies some water and poured them water. When I was pouring Elizabeths water, I spilled some down the front of my dress. I was shocked. But all I did was stand there, staring at the wet spot, with water pouring from the pitcher onto the ground.
The Lady jumped up. She pushed her chair and it landed with a resounding thump onto the ground. No one made a sound. Then suddenly Felix was at my side and he grabbed the now empty pitcher from my hand and not very subtly grabbed my waist. He put the pitcher on the table and he dragged my toward a different spot in the room. Tristan grabbed some napkins and he threw them at me, with a glare.
I finally understood what was happening. I couldn't believe it. I had made such an embarrassing mistake in front of honored guests! The butler had a few rags and he got down on the floor and scrubbed. So did the Lady, and Elizabeth. I felt horrible. That was my job. I jumped from my seat, forgetting that now the entire front of me was wet. But Tristan had stood behind me and grabbed my shoulders and pushed me back down.
"Oh no you don't." he said. "You still need to dry off." A maid had brought over an extra uniform, and she handed it to me. I got up and Tristan grabbed my arm and led me out the door. We walked in silence....or shall I say grim silence. I expected to be led to the servants bathroom, but we came up to the private bathroom. This was meant only for the family. He waited at the entrance for me to go in. I looked at him one last time before going in.
The bathroom was gorgeous. The door had opaque designs with frosted glass. When I stepped inside, I saw a giant window overlooking the pool. Underneath the window was the bathtub. The outside was made of marble and it had a black and white swirl design that filled the inside. There were steps leading up to the tub, reminiscent of grand staircases. The floor and steps were marble as well. There were two smaller windows that shouldered the center one.
When I turned there was a sink that had a deep base and a bamboo spout. The base had a Chinese dragon circling the edge. The counter was mostly empty except for two toothpaste tubes and a soap bar. There was a mirror as well.
I stood in the center and changed. I peeked around the door to see if Tristan was still there. He had left. I closed the door and went over to the tub. I brushed the surface and shivered. It was cold. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I quickly left the bathroom and proceeded to the dining room.

Reviews

[K.N. Thorn]

A good continuance but I think you need some more description of your characters. You do very well on the surroundings but I can't picture there faces or there ages exactly. I also have a hard time knowing who is talking sometimes in your dialog until way later and then I go oh. You have a good flow from the last one to this one. Keep at it. Reading out loud to yourself might be helpful in some instances when it comes to sentence structure and such. Good job overall, I hope there is more to come!