Forced Royal

A Dip In The Pool

"Well, KC adjust her hair and then I will get a servant to drive Charles and Arizona." Chelsea says as if I am not in front of them. Then she picks out a matching cover-up and tosses it at me.

***

We meet up with Charlie in the garden where a flying car is parked, and we get in together. I can't help but curiously look to see if Emerald is driving, but she isn't. I find Robin, one of the assistants that helped me when I was trying to do self-defense.

"Hello, royal lovebirds! Prepare for some serious flying, Royals!" He calls back to us. His chosen words 'serious flying' weren't very reassuring. Besides, last time I did this was my birthday and I was pretty much in shock my whole ride to the castle.

Before I know it, we are being lifted above the ground at a high speed. My face is pretty much glued it to the window as the huge castle becomes smaller and smaller. Cars are the size of little bugs, and people are the size of tiny dots. When you see every individual person walking down the street at this height above the surface of the earth, it makes you realize how small we really are. Even though there is so many people on the face of this earth, every person is important. No matter if they are a garbageman, a celebrity, or a Royal. Every person matters and now that I can see so many dots that are people, it shows me that I am not the only person struggling. I am not the only person that matters. Arizona Alexandria Touris is just another person that lives on planet earth. Ari is just another person that breathes in oxygen.

My eyes float back to glance at Charlie, who is just staring blankly at the floorboard. We take a sharp turn, making me run into Charlie. Those emerald green eyes meet mine just for a split second while he steadies me and I move back into my seat.

Once we land, which was a very wild experience, Charlie puts on his mask of happiness to hide his sadness. He exits the car and helps me out, and I place a smile on my face. The cameras are aimed at us and are capturing our entrance to the pool. It is a scorching hot day like it is summer, but it is only Spring. Perfect for swimming or tanning. I have to admit, I tan very well, so I never place a single ounce of sunscreen on my skin. The pool is a shiny, clear blue and white lay-out chairs surround the pool. In the deep-end side is a slide and a diving board.

"Do you want to swim or just lay out, darling?" Charlie asks me, making sure he looks cheerful.

"Well, I am going to lay out, but if you would like, I will watch you swim." I state, while I stand by a chair that has a fluffy towel laid over it. Thing that stinks is I am wearing a tankini so I can't tan my belly, but oh well, it still is more relaxing than swimming.

"Are you sure it is okay?" He asks, politely.

"Of course," I slip my coverup off and lay on the chair.

"Yay!" Charlie yells like he is a little kid, again. Before I know it, I hear a loud 'splash' and water droplets sprinkle on me. My body tenses up at the cool water. Charles's head pops up from the surface and looks at himself, finally noticing that he jumped in with his shirt. "It would've helped if I remembered to take my shirt off... its all soggy." A giggle escapes from me, and a real one at that. A wet, or as Charlie would say 'soggy', shirt flies through the air and lands on me.

Automatically, I sit up, throwing the shirt on the chair beside me, "Now, you are just trying to get me to swim with you, aren't you?!" I ask sternly, but teasingly. All Charlie respond to me with is a mischievous grin and then he slowly goes under the water. A real laugh comes out of my mouth.

I roll my eyes and get up from my chair as Charlie pulls himself out and walks toward me. "Hey, you look hot, maybe you need to get in the water to, ya know, cool off," Charlie suggests as he comes closer to me.

"Oh, no, ya don't! You are not pushing me in, Charles!"

"Okay," he quickly scoops me up in his arms, holding me bridal-style, "I will just toss you."

My squirms and playful screams are no use because Charlie tosses me into the deep-end. I allow my body to sink under the weight of the water. Bubbles float around me as they dance to the surface. The sunlight shining it's way through the crystal water. Suddenly, a pounding sound echoes through the water and more bubble dance to the surface as Charlie swims down to me. The water makes my eyesight blurry, but he takes my hand, guiding me to the top of the water for oxygen.

I slap him on his well-toned bicep, "How could you!"

He chuckles, "What?"

"You threw me in!"

"What is the fun in sitting around? I could do that at the castle any day!" he chuckles.

We both step out and I lay on my belly on the warm concrete at the edge of the pool while Charlie scurries to the diving board that is about ten feet higher than the water, "Arizona, watch my diving skills!"

"Okay, hyperactive lil' boy." I say and that is exactly how he is acting. To be honest, it is kind of funny watching him look like fascinated youngster.

When he climbs his way to the top, he shouts over to me, "Ready?"

"Yep, jump!"

He takes a high jump off and does a perfect dive into the pool. His body as straight as a needle at the perfect angle. Charlie glides into the water, and I see a blurry silhouette swimming towards me. His head pops up right by mine, "How'd I do from a scale of one to ten. One is the worst, ten the best."

I smirk, "Hundred." I see an opportunity to wow the cameras and the audience that will see their footage, so I plant a quick kiss on his lips.

"Man, I must've done pretty good!" Charlie jokes, making me roll my eyes. "You go jump, Arizona."

I shrug while I get to my feet, "Okay, but I'm just going to jump. No dives. No cannonballs. None of that."

He nods and my feet begin to make my way up the ladder. Thanks to Charlie the steps are slippery, so my hands grip the rails on both of my sides. My clumsiness could kick in at any moment. My feet plant onto the solid white board and I stand on the edge. As I stand, a slight wind rushing past me, the water sparkling beneath me, my mind drifts off to when I was on the rock beside the waterfall. The queen whining and Charles interested in what I was going to do. Queen Chelsea's words ring in my ear, "Oh my! Oh, dear! Arizona, get down from there right now!"

"Jump!" Charles calls up to me.

Remembering my reaction to Queen Chelsea, I shrug at him and say my golden line, "Okay."

Suddenly, I am back in the water, swimming back to Charles. Sadly, the sense of freedom I had does not remain this time, but Charles's same interested facial expression does. "Nice!"

"Thank you," I say with a big smile.

We exchange 'lovable' gazes at each other and he plays with my wet, or soggy, hair, rubbing it between his fingers, "I love you."

"I love you, too." I say.

If only we meant it...

A\N: Sorry for a slow update. To me, it feels like forever since I updated, but it hasn't. I know this is a filler, but I gave you more interaction between Charlie and Arizona, more Bethany and Arizona, and showed an actual nice side to Queen Chelsea. After my last update, Forced Royal hit #4 in Fantasy and I am literally on Cloud 9! Keep it up. You guys are absolutely amazing! (Sorry, I did not proofread this, so I apologize for any misspelling, grammar issues, etc.) I have another question for you guys: What is your favorite quote (so far) in this book? (Example: Want a sugar cube?~Finnick Odair) One of my favorites is: "No chocolate? That's like taking away someone's dignity!"~Ari

I am a curious person, so I want to know what my fans like! LOVE YOU GUYS!