The only things that were running through Chuck’s head were the dice, his poker chips, and winning his 100 grand. Everything was set up right and going according to plan and he threw the dice.

Chuck’s eyes watched the dice as they rolled around on the table while everyone around him started to yell. Come on, only one more roll and I win a hundred grand, Chuck thought as the dice began to stop, “C’mon, C’mon, C’mon… Boom!” Chuck did a fist pump as he saw the dice land on a four. Chuck gathered his earnings and said, “Let’s see if anyone’s got this much. Hey, I’m betting 60 grand!”

He looked around but didn’t see any challengers and said, “Looks like I wagered a bit too much –” Suddenly, a voice from the crowd said, “I’ll wager 60 grand as well.”

Chuck whipped his head around and landed on the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. “Is it okay if I play too?” Chuck nodded his head, “Um … sure … uh, anyone else wanna join too?” and looked around but no one made a peep. The people around them were whispering, “It’s her.”

The girl walked to the other side of the table and the game began. “I say four, how ‘bout you ma’am?” The girl thought for a little bit and uttered, “Six.” Chuck handed the dice to the girl, “Here you go.” she looked at Chuck and threw the dice.

Why am I so nervous all of a sudden? Chuck thought as he watched the dice roll around. “What… how –”, Chuck struggled to speak “I-I-I lost?!” as he saw the six dots on the dice meaning his defeat.

Chuck looked up and saw the girl looking down, just as flabbergasted as him. Chuck took a deep breath, clapped,  and walked to his opponent and said, “Congratulations.” Chuck then walked away to look for other games to play.

Dejected, Chuck kept his head low and his hands in his pockets, “I guess this is the feeling that everyone who lost to me felt.” Chuck made it past the doors and, suddenly, someone’s voice said, “Hey.” Chuck spun around and saw the girl who beat him standing behind him.

“Oh, uh … hey,” Chuck started “are you waiting for someone?” “Not really,” the girl looked down “Say, are you free tomorrow?” “Yeah,” Chuck answered “anything going on tomorrow?” “Um … if it’s fine with you … do you mind g-g-going out with me?”

Chuck’s mind went blank, Why would she pick – out of all people – me? “You really want to go out with a guy like me?” The girl nodded, “Yup! Give me your address and I’ll pick you up at 10 tomorrow morning, don’t forget!” Chuck told her his address and she spun around on her heels and skipped off. “This is gonna be interesting,” Chuck mumbled as he went home.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” Chuck turned off his alarm and looked around the room, “What a drag, it’s only 7 right now … Wait, I should get ready before –” Chuck stopped for a second. “Wow, that’s lame, I didn’t even ask the girl for her name I’m so useless! But I really should get ready.”

Chuck got out of bed, went downstairs, and made himself some breakfast. “Hmm … I don’t really have anything fancy to wear so I guess something simple should suffice,” Chuck said as he looked through his closet “Besides, I don’t think that she’s gonna actually dress up nice for a guy like me.” Just as Chuck was slipping his shoes on, the doorbell rang and he ran out, “Well, here it goes …”

The first thing was the red carpet that extended from the porch to the limo. The second and most important thing that absolutely stunned Chuck was that the girl looked like a role model with her extravagant clothing and accessories that she could’ve lit up the dark side of the moon.

“What do you think?” “Umm … I –” Chuck started but he was interrupted by someone, “Lady Cecilia, your ride is waiting!” Cecilia took Chuck by the arm and ran to the limo. “My Lady, I believe that this young man’s attire is somewhat pedestrian. Would you want me to change it to one that suits your liking?” Cecilia gave Chuck a good look and replied, “Thanks Burt, but I think that he’s fine the way he is.”

Chuck gave Burt a quizzical look and got in the limo. “Don’t mind Burt, he’s not used to commoner clothing,” Cecilia told Chuck as she got in “By the way, I don’t think that we’ve had proper introductions yesterday, did we?” “I guess I’ll start then,” Chuck blurted out “Umm … Chuck Iverson.” “Cecilia Lancelot,” Cecilia said. “Nice to meet you Chuck.”

Chuck gave Cecilia one more look and turned his head away, “They look nice on you…the clothes I mean.” Cecilia smiled, “I’m happy you said that because it took me four hours this morning to pick the right dress.” “Wow. Amazing,” Chuck said with a nervous laugh. “By the way, Cecilia, why are we doing this again?” “I felt bad when you lost so I want to repay you using the money I earned! Not only that, you didn’t cuss or fight after you lost and I like people like you,” Cecilia answered. “Is that so …”

The day was average to Chuck because he, and Burt, had to accompany Cecilia in her shopping until lunch with her firing off questions, “Hey Chuck, do you think I should buy this or this?” One time, Cecilia asked him, “Hey Chuck, should I buy this one or this one? Which one do you like better?” “Umm … I-I don’t really know because they all look nice,” Chuck looked away “I-I’m really not good with those things!”

He quickly found that he didn’t have anywhere to avert his eyes to and closed his eyes, “I’ll be waiting outside!” and ran from the store. Chuck saw Burt waiting outside, “You look like a guy in a horror movie.” Chuck took a few breaths, “I didn’t think that she would actually take me into a lingerie shop and ask me to pick which one I liked the most! I don’t even know where to start!” Burt patted Chuck on the back and laughed, “That’s our Lady Cecilia for you. I bet she’s interested in you because she’s never asked anyone about what to buy before you lucky son of a gun!” “Hey, Burt, I’m gonna run and go buy something really quick!”, Chuck yelled as he dashed off.

Chuck looked around and found what he was looking for, “Can you put this in a little box?” “Sure,” the cashier said. “You want it in a little bag too?” Chuck nodded and thanked the cashier.

After the shopping madness was over, Cecilia took Chuck to her favorite Italian cuisine, “Feel free to order whatever you want and the dinner’s on me!” Chuck had a difficult time reading the menu but before he could decide what he was going to eat, a waiter came and asked for their orders. Cecilia went first, “I would like to have the Spaghetti con le vongole and some water please.”

“How about the young man?” “I would like to have the …,” Chuck flipped frantically through the menu, It has to be here somewhere where is it? Finally, on the first page, Chuck found what he was looking for, cleared his throat, and pointed at the triangular food, “I would like to have the Pepperoni pizza and Coke please.”

Right after he made his choice, Cecilia said, “Actually, I would like to have one more Spaghetti con le vongole please.” “Two Spaghetti con le vongole, one Pepperoni pizza, one water, and one Coke coming right up!” After the waiter left Chuck said, “Wow, you must eat a lot.”

“What are you talking about? I ordered that for you, silly. I don’t think a slice of pizza would be enough for you,” Cecilia responded. “Here we are,” the waiter said as he passed out the food “Bon appetit.”

After the waiter left, “Did he curse our food or something?” Cecilia let out a little laugh, “Haha, you sure are one funny guy. But no, the waiter just said ‘Please enjoy your food.’ in Italian.” “Oh,” Chuck muttered “fair enough.” Chuck and Cecilia ate their lunch while discussing about what to do next, “How about we go to the carnival this afternoon Chuck?” “Sure, why not?” After Cecilia paid for lunch, the two went to the limo, “You get into the car first,” Cecilia said as she whispered something to Burt.

At the carnival, Chuck went around and played some games, “Too easy. I’d figured they’d be a lot harder.” Cecilia wasn’t doing bad too as she won a teddy bear from throwing darts at water balloons. They walked around to look for other games when Cecilia yelled, “Hey Chuck! It says that there’s going to be fireworks at 10 and the best place to see it is at the top of the ferris wheel! Let’s ride the ferris wheel last!” “Okay, no prob.”

After winning the shooting contest, Chuck asked, “Hey, we should get something to eat, it’s already 9.” There was a small burger stand by the ferris wheel, “How about we eat there, it’s close to the ferris wheel.” Cecilia nodded and they went to the stand.

As they got closer, Chuck heard the strumming of a guitar, “Excuse me sir, I would like to order,” Chuck said tentatively. “Groovy man! What y’all want?”, the man said. The moment he stood up, Chuck saw sunglasses, a rainbow headband, a mustache, flip flops, a tie-dyed T-shirt, jeans, and extremely long hair.

Cecilia whispered, “He looks like a hippie, what now?” “Well, we’ve gotten this far …,” Chuck whispered back “I guess we’ll just go with the flow then.” Cecilia ordered first, “I would like to have the Classic hamburger please.” The hippie turned to Chuck, “You?”

“I would like to have the-”, Chuck saw a sign with a hamburger “I’ll have whatever that is over there.” The hippie stopped strumming, “You sure, lad? No one has ever lived to tell the tale of the Voodoo Burger.” Chuck nodded and took Cecilia to an empty table. When their food arrived, Chuck looked at his burger and saw a purple sauce on it, “What’s with the impossible color of this sauce? I guess it’s the special sauce or something.”

Chuck ate the burger with no problem and looked at the hippie, “‘Tis too easy.” At the ferris wheel, the instructor told Chuck and Cecilia to keep everything inside the carriage since it was open. When they were at the top, the ride stopped, “Sorry, but there has been some malfunction with the system. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm as we attend to this issue. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Hmm … not bad since we just happen to be at the very top!” Cecilia squealed in delight. “Yeah …,” Chuck murmured. I’m gonna die for sure up here, Chuck thought as he looked down, I don’t feel so good.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Hey look, the fireworks are starting!”, Cecilia shouted as she bounced around. Chuck coughed and quickly looked at the fireworks. Meanwhile, the hippie – who just so happened to be cleaning the counter – saw a drip of purple liquid land, “Can it be?” but just as he looked up, it was too late, a purple blotch nailed the hippie on the face.

“Man, that felt much better,” Chuck said after throwing up. “You okay there Chuck?” Chuck quickly turned, “Yeah, o-of course, haha, Chuck’s always okay.” “If you say so,” Cecilia turned. “Aren’t fireworks just so pretty?” Chuck gave a quick umm-hmm and let out another load off the edge.

After the fireworks ended, the ferris wheel was fixed and they went back down, “That was the best hour of my life watching fireworks!” Cecilia announced as they got off. “Same here,” Chuck managed, I’m surprised how well I hid my little act from her, “I’m guessing it’s time to go home.”

Chuck expected a somewhat awkward drive back but it turned out that Cecilia was the one driving, “I told Burt he could head on home and let me drive you home as a thanks for today.”

Cecilia went on to talk about how Chuck helped her shop which he totally forgot about and the prizes that she got from the carnival. “If you want, you can have my prizes too since I got them using your money,” Chuck offered. “Awwww, thank you sooo much Chuck! I’ll treasure them forever!” Chuck looked away and murmured, “Haha, treasure them.”

Cecilia’s primary topic was watching the fireworks on the ferris wheel. “It felt so romantic up there with all the pretty colors! I wish that it never ended!” “Haha, same here,” Chuck said. When they got to his house, Chuck looked down and said, “Hey, uh … thanks for everything today Cecilia.” “No problem! It was really fun today with all the things that happened.”

Should I give it to her, Chuck thought, what if she doesn’t like it and hates me forever? “I wished this day never ended,” Cecilia concluded and looked down. Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out! “Hey Cecilia, I-I got you a little something,” Chuck handed the little bag over, “as a thanks for today. Don’t know if you’ll like it.”

Cecilia took out the box and opened it, “Awww,” looks at Chuck “is this beautiful stallion keychain for me?” Chuck nodded, “You like it?” “Hmm…,” Cecilia set the keychain down “maybe this will help you.” she unfastened her seatbelt, leaned over and hugged Chuck, and planted a kiss on his lips.

After they kissed, Chuck stammered, “W-W-Wait, you don’t mean-” “Yes,” Cecilia replied “I l-love you Chuck. Do you love me back?” Chuck smiled, “No reason not to.” and kissed Cecilia. Cecilia asked, “Do you want to go out again Chuck?” “I’ll call you.”, Chuck said as he got out the car. Chuck waved as Cecilia sped off, “Why does the name Cecilia Lancelot seem so familiar? Hmm… I wonder…”

Chuck went to his room and got on the bed, “I don’t even know what happened but I like the way things are now.” Suddenly, the door opened and his dad came in and picked up a book that was in his way, “Hey, son, saw you umm… how should I say it … umm … ‘perform’ in the car just now.” “Wait wha-”, Chuck turned away. “Haha, take it easy man, looks like you’ve become one of them “women hunters” eh?”, Chuck’s father said with a laugh. “Naw pops, it’s just … yeah sure, whatever you call it.”

“So who was that fine girl in the car?” “Cecilia Lancelot,” Chuck answered “her name sou-” Chuck’s father dropped the book, “Wait, you don’t mean …” “You know her pops?” “Y-Y-You don’t mean the Cecilia Lancelot! The Princess Cecilia Lancelot!”

Chuck was out of words, “Wait, so it was her?! And she chose me out of all people?!” Chuck’s dad gripped Chuck tightly on the shoulders, “Son, I don’t know what voodoo magic you did but you scored the jackpot! You should be celebrating your a** off right now! I’m gonna tell your mama right now! Alice!”

Chuck’s father ran out but Chuck was still sitting up, petrified, “Cecilia Lancelot! Princess Cecilia Lancelot! No wonder her name sounded so familiar!  And I’m her boyfriend! What the hell’s going on?” Chuck danced like a madman but he didn’t care, he was Princess Cecilia Lancelot’s boyfriend. After he calmed down, Chuck took a few deep breaths and said, “I guess for every action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction. Life’s gonna be a whole lot different now.”