Hot Water

Ch 1: Por Mea Culpa

Regardless of all his manipulative tendencies, Jasper Frost was very good at his job. He never left Eleanor out of his sight for any longer than he had to, ever. This made the task at hand very difficult. It took Eleanor a good 20 minutes to find the one passage he couldn't possibly know about. It had been some time since she'd used it, nor did she make a habit of sneaking into her mother's room, hence the difficulty.

\Not half an hour had gone by since she left the palace when Jasper's texts and calls blew up her phone. Leaving without her body guard wasn't the brightest of ideas so she opted to meet up with Ophelia about a block away from her destination.

"Hey sorry I'm late, it took forever to get out of there"

"Its fine, I figured we shouldn't waste time or he might track your phone so I got this for you." The brunette said as she handed over the paper bag. "Shall we?"

"Phi!" Eleanor's eyes went wide as she took the white paper bag from her.

"What if someone had seen you?"

At this point, Eleanor adjusted her hat and sunglasses nervously. What looked like a drop off could have gotten them both in more trouble than if it had anything to do with drugs. Why today, out of all days, had she decided to wear something rather skimpy? Where was a trench coat with a 100 pockets when she needed one?

"Better me than you. We can use the bathroom in the coffee shop. Let's just go."

Ophelia linked arms with her and they walked about half a block down to said establishment, keeping an eye out for anyone with a camera. The paps were the last thing they needed to deal with when they had more pressing matters to attend to.

~*~*~*~*~*~~

The princess didn't know what was more nerve wrecking; the sounds her phone made to notify her of calls, missed calls, voice mails and texts from Jasper or the pregnancy test facing down on the sink. She couldn't look at it. This plastic stick would change everything regardless of its result. If it was negative, she would have to talk to him about being more careful, admiring she had a scare and kept it from him. A positive...

She didn't want to think about it. Shaking her head she ran her hands through her hair, tugging at it as she waited for Ophelia to come back to the bathroom with her chai-whatever. What the hell was taking her so long?!

The universe answered her question with a knock at the door and her partner in crime's voice muffled by the door, asking her to let her in.

"I think we went well over the two minutes, do you think the test will still work?"

Ophelia set her drink down and did her best not to roll her eyes. In her mind, if the test was positive, Eleanor would need support with whatever she chose to do about it. It put her in a compromising position since she would be the only other person who would know but not much that could be done about that now. If it was negative, she would give her friend a talk about using protection. Not that it was her place to do so but any good friend would do the same.

"I guess we're about to find out."

Eleanor turned away as Ophelia reached for the stick and turned it over with a napkin.

"Len.. I'm so sorry" She said, for lack of anything better to say. There were no words for Eleanor's expression ether.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The car ride back to the palace was quiet. Too quiet. Ophelia stared out one window and Eleanor out the other while sharing the backseat.

When Jasper found them, they had already been like this. Eleanor was specially unresponsive. She had looked right though him and just gotten in the car when asked to. No snarky replies, not even a smirk. Just eyes forward. Something must have happened while they were in the city... Maybe the Princess finally cracked and told Ted's daughter about their relationship?

Eying her through the rear view mirror as he waited for the palace gates to open, he made a mental note to get to the bottom of what had almost cost him his job today.

———Notes———

Thanks for all your support with my other story!

So, story number two has finally posted its first chapter and will continue to post on Fridays. This chapter took place the morning of the ball and before their trip to Monaco.

Thanks for the retweets, the likes, and that follows on Twitter! See y'all on Wednesday when I post for The House Always Wins!