Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Not Our Parents

"Megan's a complete pain in my ass, she thinks she so clever and can argue like there's no tomorrow," Nick started thinking of his younger sister. 

She was three years his junior but already seemed to know what she wanted out of life, she planned to become a lawyer as was expected of him as the eldest.

"Next is George. He is at that age where sports is all that matters, I think he tried out for every team sport at school this year," Nick continued, he might have only been eleven but there was no denying that George was going to be a handful in a few years' time. 

He was the one that seemed to cause most of the problems for their parents, he did not understand why Nick was always being left in charge of them. 

"Then there's Richard. He's really into his art and could probably be the next Picasso or something," Nick laughed before laughing into a story of how his nine-year-old brother had redecorated his entire bedroom because he wanted it to look like the night sky. 

The smile on his face while he told the story made Adeline smile, she had never seen him like this and a part of her wished that he would smile more; she made a silent promise to herself to find more reasons for him to smile. 

"I just wish my parents could see that. we're all at boarding school most of the time and when we're not they're at the hospital with my dad," Nick mumbled shaking his head. 

It did not seem fair that his father was ill, he had never smoked in his life nor was he much of a drinker; yet he was ill and spent most of his time in bed, wasting away as the life was slowly drained out of him. 

"You must follow the family legacy, Nicolas," Nick mimicked the voice of his mother, sitting straight in his chair and rolling his eyes; he did not want to be a lawyer nor did he think that he would be particularly good at it. 

Nodding her head, Adeline understood where he was coming from; she had a lot of pressure on her back and almost everything in her life had already been decided for her. 

"Sometimes I think they forget we're not them. We should be free to make our own mistakes, not live the lives that they set out for us," Adeline whispered recalling the slight bit of freedom that she'd had while her mother was alive. 

It was not much by any standard but to be able to do normal things like other children had been an experience that only she and her brothers had; her father had never been given such a chance nor had her aunt, uncles and grandparents. 

To be a member of the royal family meant that things were quite often set in stone and that Adeline would follow in their footsteps one day; she would be a senior royal member.

"What would you do?" Nick asked her, he leant forward to rest his arms on the desk and looked at her; a small smile on his face feeling that he did not have to hide anything from her and that she understood him. 

They might have been from two entirely different worlds but they both knew what it was like to have their lives dictated to them and expectations rested at their feet that they did not feel like they could live up to. 

"A teacher. Maybe working with underprivileged children," Adeline replied smiling, she loved to read and the idea of giving back to the community in some way; she still liked the idea of helping others learn. 

Nick grinned and nodded his head, he could see her doing that and she had really helped him out with his studies; she was even helping him in classes that she was not in. 

The two of them were silent for a moment, thinking about what might have been if they were different people; they both knew that the future would not be kind to either of them. 

"Maybe we could out sometime?" Nick asked nervously, the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop them; his face turned bright red as he realised what he had just asked her doubting that she would agree. 

In his mind, he could already hear his friends laughing at him for even daring to ask Adeline out; she was so out of his league and was probably going to marry a prince or something. 

"I'd like that," Adeline said saving Nick from his thoughts, a smile on her face as she agreed unable to stop smiling at the fact that he had asked her out. 

A few boys had tried before but Adeline always got the sense that they were more interested in being able to say that they had asked out Princess Adeline of Wales than just her. 

It sucked that, that was all some people saw her as and Adeline always felt like she had to be wary about who she spoke with and who she counted as her friends; she had almost dreaded the idea of dating for this reason. 

"Great... we could catch a movie or something," Nick replied trying to stop smile and act cool, the blush remained on his face and he cleared his throat. 

This had turned out better than he had expected and he could not believe that he had just asked Adeline out like that.