The Prince (Harry Styles)

Chapter 6

Harry and me reached our seats and stood in front of them as Princess Gemma was announced into the throne room. She had a bright smile on her face as she walked down the aisle to her own seat. 

"Ready for two hours of boredom?" Harry asked leaning over to me.

"I don't know," I chuckled. 

"Be prepared to want to sleep," he smiled. "I am always close to it."

"Well, I guess I'll be keeping you awake then," I laughed. "With my mindless chatter."

"I look forward to it," he grinned.

We were instructed to take a seat by his father. I crossed my legs and placed my hands on the arms of the chair and looked at all the people in the room. I was surprised at how many people were staring at me. A little girl off to the side was pointing at me and talking to her mother excitedly. I didn't think I was that exciting, really.

"How do you think I did this morning? For our lesson?" Harry whispered to me as a woman came up to the podium.

"You did good," I smiled to him.

"Really?"

"I'm not lying," I stated trying to sound convincing. "A,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z," I listed with a smiled on my face. Prince Harry's grin grew on his face and he bit his bottom lip. 

"You learned the alphabet," he smiled to me. "How? Besides me of course."

"No need to be smug," I said waving a finger at him. "Trish helped me study them over."

Harry just smiled at me and sat back against his chair and crossed his leg over the other. I looked at the woman in front of the King and Queen and noticed she looked like she came from my area. I didn't recognize her, but the way her clothes were, it made me think she was a farmer's wife.  Listening to her plea, she was trying to get money to send her only child, a son, off to school so he could better his life. I would give her the money in a heartbeat. Everyone's child deserves the world.

I was distracted because I felt Harry's fingers begin lightly tracing along the surface of my hand. I glanced down at our touching hands and he was drawing an outline to my hand mindlessly. His skin caressing mine felt weird. Not like a gross weird, but a weird like my stomach was in knots from just a simple touch of the skin. My heart rate was accelerating and my mouth had gone dry. I wanted nothing more than to touch him back, but refrained from doing so in front of the many people sat in front of me. 

"You know," Harry whispered. "Most people would hold hands if the other person began tracing lines on their hand."

"I'm not most people," I replied coolly.

"No," he said. "You're not."

I smiled and looked at that little girl from earlier and saw her leaning on the bench in front of her watching me in awe. Her long black hair cascaded in messy ringlets down her back and expanded outward. Her brown eyes watched me as her hands rested underneath her chin. She reminded me of, well, me. She wanted to be a princess and I couldn't help but smile at her. I waved to her and her grin grew and waved back.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked me.

"Waving to a little girl," I smiled looking back at her. "She was looking at me."

"She wants to be you," he said pointedly. "Every girl does."

"I know," I nodded. "I'm lucky to be here."

The throne room session went on quite slowly, as H had promised, and I couldn't wait to eat dinner. My stomach was grumbling despite having been fed adequately these past few days. Harry gave me a hand to stand and I took it.