Living Royal
Chapter Two
A few days passed without Bella crosing paths with the Prince. She was definitely relieved. He probably already forgot he had ever met her. She'd heard through the grape vine that he'd been seen more than once with Rosalie Hale. That pretty much settled all doubts in Bella's mind that he might remember her. After all, who could spare a thought for poor Bella after spending time with the gorgeous Rosalie Hale?
Bella wasn't lacking in self-confidence at all, she just liked to admit the truth instead of lying to herself and then getting disappointed afterwards. This way was much easier.
"I just don't understand why you didn't introduce me to him." Alice whined for the tenth time in the last hour. They were both sitting in Bella's dorm room doing some research work for one of their classes, as Alice was also an Art History major.
Bella sighed, "Alice, I told you. You were standing there gaping at him; your jaw practically reached the floor. You would've just embarrassed yourself, so I saved you the trouble."
"Hey! I was not gaping! Well, maybe just a little, but can you blame me? He's so dreamy."
"No, he isn't." He's beautiful, Bella thought, and then she shook her head to dispel that awful thought. He can't be beautiful. She cannot allow herself to think like that, because if she did then she'd be imitating all those pathetic teenage girls who would go insane whenever the royal family made an appearance. She liked to think that she was more level-headed than that.
"Yes, he is. You're just too wrapped up in Jacob to notice."
"And you're not wrapped up in Jasper?"
"Of course, I am. But Jasper doesn't mind my crush on Prince Edward. He actually thinks it's cute."
Bella snorted, "I highly doubt that. He probably just tolerates it because he does not want to incur your royal wrath. Um, no pun intended."
"Wow, Bella your sense of humor is...well, non-existent," Alice teased. Bella replied by throwing a pillow her way. Alice caught it right before it hit her face and they both dissolved in giggles.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Bella called out.
Jasper walked in with his usual swagger.
"Hello, ladies. What are you both doing this fine morning?"
"School work," They both said at once.
"Great you're not busy then, let's go out," He said.
"We're busy, Jasper. We have to get this work done before Thursday," Bella said.
"Oh, come on, Bella. Can't we finish this later?" Alice begged.
Alice would do anything to spend time with Jasper, but who could blame her. Those two had known each other since high school and were practically inseparable. Jacob and Bella had known each other since they were children but even they didn't have the sort of bond Jasper and Alice had.
Still, Jacob was the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. He was supportive, loving, kind. Besides, they’ve been together for so long that she couldn't imagine herself with anyone else.
"Bella, pay attention, will you?" Alice shook Bella out of her reverie.
"Alice, I'm not going to ditch school work on my first week and that's final," Bella stated.
"Ugh, you're such a bore. Why can’t you loosen up for once? We've still got the rest of the year to study; can't we just have some fun?"
"You guys can go; I don’t really feel like it."
''Are you sure?" Alice hesitated.
"Yes, Alice, go have fun. I'll be fine, I promise." Bella assured her.
Alice got up to leave with her boyfriend, and just before they walked out the door Jasper, he turned around and said something that Bella had never expected to hear.
"Oh, right. Bella, do you mind telling me why Prince Edward was walking around Campus today asking about you?"
Bella's head snapped up from her books, "What?"
Jasper grinned at Bella's reaction, this ought to be good.
"Yeah, he was asking some of the guys if they knew you. He was pretty adamant about finding out where your dorm room was, so I told him."
"You did what?" Bella was infuriated.
When Jasper noticed Bella's angry expression his grin fell off, "Uh, I didn't do anything wrong, right? I mean, I thought all you girls were crazy about the Prince."
"Not this girl." Bella snapped.
"Well, sorry, then. I really thought I was doing you a favor."
"You were Jazz; she just hasn’t realized it, yet." Alice cut in, confidently.
"Want to know what I do realize? I realize that he's an arrogant prig who just can’t stand the idea that a girl actually blew him off."
"But, Bella, I met the guy a couple of times and he actually seemed quite decent." Jasper objected.
"I still think he's an asshole. Besides, I already have a boyfriend."
"No one's suggesting that you date him, Bella. He probably wants to just be friends with you, I mean, he would never date a commoner, anyway." Jasper said.
Although Bella knew that Jasper meant to assure her with that statement, it still stung. It sounded like she wasn't good enough for the Prince. Bella was sure that that's how a lot of people saw it, but it still didn't make it hurt any less.
"Alright fine. Next time I see him, I'll try to talk to him without snapping. I make no promises, though." She finally gave in.
"Yes! You can finally introduce me." Alice squealed. Yes, apparently eighteen year old girls are allowed to squeal as well.
Bella rolled her eyes good-naturedly at her best friend.
Alice and Jasper left to go out clubbing and Bella was left to do some school work. She spent an hour trying to concentrate without being distracted by thoughts of vibrant green eyes and bronze hair.
A while later her phone rang. It was Jacob.
"Hey, babe," She answered.
"Hey, what are you up to?" He asked.
"Just going over some school work,"
"What, they already got you started? Wow, Art History must be tougher than I thought, then."
That was one thing about Jacob that annoyed the hell out of her, he always trivialized the fact that she wanted to study art history. Sure, to someone majoring in Political Science, like Jacob was, it might seem more…undemanding, but it wouldn't kill him to keep his damn thoughts to himself.
Jacob had always been supportive, but he was a very traditional guy. Someone who believed that a woman should attend university so she could be able to attend to her children's education in the future. Yup, people like that really do exist in the twenty first century. Bella had hoped that Jacob would get rid of those out dated ideas with time, but lately it seemed to be getting worse.
"Yeah, they already got us started on some research work. What are you up to?" She asked, diverting his attention before she said something she would regret.
"I'm at a pub with a few of the guys, just hanging out." He answered.
"Oh, and you didn't think to ask me to come?"
"Bella, I'm hanging out with the guys, why would I ask you to come with us?"
Wow, that stung.
"Um, maybe because I'm your girlfriend? The girlfriend you haven't seen or talked to since we started school?"
"Listen, Bella, I have to go, okay? I'll make it up to you, I promise." And then he hung up.
One other thing that Bella hated about Jacob was that he avoided confrontations at all costs, which sometimes made her seem like a whiny girlfriend just looking for a fight.
Bella huffed in annoyance and threw herself back on the bed. She spent the next several minutes staring at her bedroom ceiling, trying to suppress an insane urge to go out, find Jacob and slap him senseless.
That probably wouldn't be a mature thing to do, but it didn't stop her from considering it.
Suddenly a firm knock sounded at her door.
"Coming," Bella sighed, Alice had probably come back and she forgot her key.
"Alice, did you forget your key again? This is the second time this….week." Bella stuttered at the end when she saw who it was.
"Hello, again," Prince Edward smiled in greeting.
"Uh-h-hi," Damn it! One syllable, Bella, just one damn syllable!
"What are you doing here?" She asked as she regained her ability to speak.
"Looking for you, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were intentionally avoiding me." He replied.
"Observant, are we? Now, what do you want?" She asked again, reclaiming her usual charming personality.
"We never got to finish our conversation last time. I'd like to get to know you."
"And getting to know me couldn't wait until tomorrow?"
"Nope, this is the only place on campus where I can guarantee to be able to talk to you since we can't really talk during class. You seem like the kind of person who shushes other students so they can hear the teacher better."
What was that supposed to mean?
"Are you calling me a geek?"
"No," He grinned, "I just think you care about your studies."
"Hmm," Bella muttered. She wasn't sure what to make of him anymore.
"So, are you going to invite me in, or will you keep me standing here all night?" He joked.
Bella chuckled, "Let it not be known that Bella Swan kept royalty waiting." And she pulled the door open wider to let him in.
He walked in and immediately starting looking around. He walked over to her desk and glanced at the map that was hung on the wall above it.
"The red pins are where I've been and the green ones are where I want to go," She explained the funny looking map.
"So, you love to travel?" He asked.
"Yeah, it's one of the reasons I applied to St Andrews. I wanted to go somewhere I'd never been before."
"Lucky me, you decided to come here of all places then."
And he was back to the flirting again.
"Uh, Prince Edward…" She began, but he cut her off.
"Just Edward, please," He said.
"Is that even allowed?" Bella wondered.
He laughed, "It is if I've given you my royal permission."
Wow, he actually has a sense of humor? Bella was surprised. She'd always thought of the royal family as very stiff necked and formal, but Edward was changing that very quickly.
"Alright, Edward," His name sounded strange coming from her. Bella suddenly realized that she could be treading very treacherous grounds. She hoped that she wasn't making a huge mistake.