Having Simon over at my place felt like a small victory. I hoped that if my parents got to know Simon they would understand what I saw in him. That they would understand that a life without him was not living, but just existing to me. I knew I was royal and that I had a responsibility for the family. But I could still take that responsibility while being in a relationship. And if I could not, I was not sure I wanted to be a prince at all. I had always wanted to be normal. Royal life was not made for me. But I had to live it. It was my life.
"What are you thinking about, Wille?" Simon asked me. He was laying with his head in my lap. I had his hand in mine.
"About how cute you are," I said. It was not a lie. He was gorgeous. But the thoughts spinning around in my head at that moment was about how I could keep him in my life. I needed him so fucking bad. And I wanted him. All I desired was being with him. And I wanted the people who were closest to me to accept him. To accept that I had chosen him. That he had chosen me.
"Well I have quite a cute boyfriend myself," Simon said with a flirty voice. He pulled my hand towards his lips and kissed it. I caressed his cheek and smiled big at him.
"Will you still want to be with me if I don't give up my prince title?" I asked him. "Like after we graduate high school and stuff." Simon looked at me with big eyes. Then he giggled.
"Wilhelm, are you asking for real?" Simon asked me. I nodded. "Have I asked you to give up your prince title?" I shook my head. He had not.
"I love you, Wilhelm. I don't care if you are a prince or not. That is not what matters. What matters is that you are you, baby," he continued. "And if you want to be a prince, you will be my prince." I fought tears that threatened to fall down my cheeks.
"What if I don't want to be a prince?" I asked him.
"Then that is cool too," he said. "Wait, do you want to give up your prince title?" I did not know what I wanted. I knew I wanted Simon, but that was all. And I wanted a normal life. I did not want the attention I automatically got when I walked into a room. But I did not want to disappoint my parents. I knew I had a responsibility for our image. If I left, there might be questions about why.
"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know," I replied. Simon sat up and climbed to sit in my lap instead. He wrapped his arms around my neck.
"That is your decision. I can't tell you what to do. It is your life, Wille," Simon said. "But I will stay with you whether you like it or not whatever you decide to do." Our faces were centimetres apart and then we breathed each other in. His soft lips were so kissable. I could not get enough of him. I wanted to kiss all of him. My hands felt for the skin under his shirt. We only stopped to kiss each other to get our shirts off. Then our lips were once again glued to each other. I touched his body with my hands. His smooth skin felt like a warm blanket, embracing me.
**********
The new school semester had begun and everyone came back well rested. Well at least until they had a party. No one would be well rested after that. Simon and I were at said party together. We sat on some sofas with some of our classmates.
"So did you sneak out of Wilhelm's bedroom window at New years?" Felice asked Simon. Simon and I giggled and shook our heads.
"Wilhelm was a bit too clingy and did not want me to leave, so I actually stayed," Simon said jokingly.
"Hey. You wanted to stay with me too though," I replied and pulled him closer. The girls looked at each other as if they were watching a really cute romance movie where we were the leading roles.
"So did you meet your parents, Wilhelm?" Fredrika asked. We nodded. We had.
"Well how did it go?" Maddie asked. Simon and I looked at each other.
"Well they at least were not rude to me. But Queen Kristina had her eyes on me the entire time when we had lunch and dinner together," Simon said. My mom had looked at him as if he was some bad boy who was going not only to break my heart in pieces, but also get me into trouble. A lot had changed about how she perceived Simon since that time when they met each other for the first time in my dorm. After that she had thought that he seemed like a pleasant young man, as she had said herself. That changed as soon as she understood the depth of our relationship. "So I did not dare to even hold Wilhelm's hand in front of them."
"They will come around," Stella said. "Give it some time. Is Simon your first romantic relationship, Wille?" I nodded.
"Yeah. I have never been in love before," I said.
"I think they are afraid of losing you, actually. I don't think they dislike you as a person, Simon. I think they dislike that they are no longer the most important people in your life, Wille," Maddie said. "And they might have had a presumption about how your first romantic relationship would be and then it did not become reality. I don't think they had in mind that you could fall in love with cute boys too. And then they feel like they are out of control. And then they are punishing you by being distant towards Simon."