'How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?'
Prince Philip, To a driving instructor in Scotland
Chapter Nine
Post 264:
Don't fall for British guys. They'll take you paint-balling, make you fall for them, before breaking your heart by keeping big secrets. But if you do, make sure you shot that ass-hole in the balls — great anger management strategy.
Nora ran into the toilets before leaning on the wall next to the door and slowly sliding down it, choking back tears. She unzipped the overall she was dressed in and pushed it off her body before pulling her legs up the her chest and holding them close. She felt like she was 13 all over again. She felt as if was back in the hospital, watching the doctor tell her mother that her father barely had days left to live. Nora hadn't needed the doctor to tell her, she had seen that he was dying from his eyes, the emerald green colour matching hers fading quickly. But her mother hadn't care less. The only care on her mother's mind had aways been about when she could get her next shot of whisky, her next smoke, the next time she could get high.
A single tear feel down Nora's face, as she tried to push down the memories which were so clear, it could have happened yesterday. She could still remember the smokey smell of her mother, the sickly yellow of the hospital walls, the look on the doctors face. She pushed them away, not wanting to remember her childhood and though back to Milo, anger still making it's way round her body.
Why didn't he tell her earlier? Why did he leave it up to her to recognise him?
'Being a prince isn't something you hide from people — especially those you're dating! It's one of those things you have to tell the other person on the first date! I'm married; I have children; I'm gay; I'm the future king of great Britain. You don't keep it a secret!' Nora thought to herself, cursing Milo over and over.
There was a light knock at the door, and Nora held her breath, not wanting who ever was out there to know she was inside. "Nora, if you're in there, I'm sorry, I was going to tell you - I was telling you tonight, where I could explain why, how would affect you and how I could have wished to not be prince so we could just have a normal-ish relationship — the ish coming from Skye," Milo said, praying inside his head that Nora was hearing this and not some other woman. "Nora, if you are in there, please come out, please," He begged, his voice breaking a little.
Silent tears began to roll down Nora's cheeks, as she fought the urge to run out of the bathroom and kiss him until her lips turned black and blue. She could hear the sincerity in his voice, the sadness, and that alone made her heart break into a million pieces.
Milo pressed his head against the door, praying at he would hear some movement inside to toilets. He though for a seconds he heard somebody moving inside the toilets, but decided that it was just his mind making things up. He slowly turned and walked away, every step was laced with pain from all the shooting. Milo had decided that he had deserved every single shot — the shot in the balls may have been a little unnecessary and Milo would have rathered that it would have been anywhere else, but he knew he deserved it.
"Wait," a light voice croaked from behind him, and Milo spun around to see Nora standing in the doorframe of the toilets. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, making Milo want to wrap his arms around her hold her tight, while begging her to forgive him. Her lips didn't form the usual smile, but instead a slight frown, which made Milo want to kiss her until as she could do was smile. He walked closer to her, but resisted the urge to wrap his arms around her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she questioned, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
"I-I guess at first, I didn't know how, everyone I had met had always recognised me, they always knew who I was. I never had to tell anyone who I was," He admitted, his voice barely louder than Nora's was. "But then when I should have told you, I guess I was too selfish to tell you, for once, I felt like everybody else. I didn't have the future of running a country or spending the rest of my life trapped in a place, doing what everybody else told me to do. I was just running round London, with a girl who didn't recognise me, treated me like everybody else and who was dressed up as an elephant, having the best time of my life!" Milo finished, looking up from the floor, his blue eyes meeting Nora's. Her eyes were welling up, and this time he couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry," He apologised, pulling her closer to him.
"I'm sorry for getting mad! I'm sorry for shooting you in the balls! I should have let you explain! I should have just listened to you," Nora cried, wrapping her arms around Milo and burying her head into his shoulder, letting tears run down her face.
"It's okay, It's okay," He replied, his voice calm. "I really did deserve the shot in the balls,"
"I know, but it must have hurt!" Nora replied, laughing a little, She lifted her head up from his shoulders to look at him. There was hardly any space between their faces, Milo edged his faces closer to Nora's, closing the gap between her lips. The kiss was soft and sweet, like the first one they had shared. Milo pulled back a little, to catch his breath, before kissing her again, this time with both their mouths open and sparks flying between them. The kiss deepened and both Nora and Milo quickly lost the ability to control themselves.
"Em - excuse me?" a guy said, interrupting their kiss. Milo pulled away and turned to the guy. He recognised him as the pain-ball attendant who had helped him off the ground after Nora stormed off. "But there's a mob outside,"
"Pardon?" Milo questioned, his arms dropping from Nora and instead just holding her hand as he turned to face the guy, who now had his full attention.
"Well, I wouldn't say mob, but there's a crowd of photographers outside waiting for - I guessing — you," the attendant replied. "We've locked the door so they can't get in but I just thought I should warn you,"
"Shit, somebody must have recognised me," Milo swore, turning to look at Nora. Just even looking at her would instantly calm him down, letting him get lost in the curls of her brown hair and the brightness of her green eyes. "Okay, I need to call somebody," Milo decided, pulling his phone out of his pocket before calling a number and waiting for the other person to pick up.
Nora looked over from Milo, and looked to the attendant. "Sorry about shoving the gun in your arms earlier - I wasn't in the best of moods," She apologised, smiling slightly at the attendant.
"I guessed from the fact that you were shooting your boyfriend! You've got a killer shot by the way," the attendant laughed.
"Thanks, I used to play religiously every weekend," she smiled back.
Memories flooded Nora of her dad passing her a gun when she was seven. They were standing in one of the fields behind their house, the fresh smell of the country vivid in Nora's mind, Her dad had loaded in up for her, and had set up targets for her to practice on. She was the only child of seven to show any interest in shooting, and her dad had taken this as a god send and almost immediately set up a target range for her.
"Just point and shoot, like I showed you, don't forget the kick back of the gun," He instructed, before Nora held the gun, just as her father had done minutes before, pointed it at the targets, pulling the trigger ever so slightly, shooting the bullet and missing the bulls eye by millimetres.
"Did I hit it, daddy?" Nora asked her dad, a smile on her lips, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
“You did, Nora, you hit it,” He smiled down at her, overwhelmed with pride for his youngest daughter.
The memory faded into darkness as Nora floated back to reality.
"Nora, are you okay?" Milo questioned, his blue eyes wide with worry.
"Huh - yea, yea, I'm fine," she replied, a little puzzled at first before catching on, a sad smile on her lips.
"You're crying," Milo stated, reaching a hand out to her cheek and wiping away a tear, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing - I promise!" She smiled up at him, not wanting to start a discussion about her childhood. "What's the plan?"
"Em, I called, Jeeves, my driver and body guard that I've made a habit of running away from recently, and he's going to get back up and get up out of here," Milo explained.
"Oh, okay," Nora replied, "You know, you really shouldn't do that,"
"Do what?" Milo questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Runaway,"
"Oh... but then I wouldn't have met you!" Milo pointed out.
"Yeah - I suppose," Nora replied, she opened her mouth to speak again but this time she was interrupted by another voice.
"Prince Markus?" A voice questioned, from behind the couple, and they both turned round to come face to face with a 6ft guy, who resembled a wall more than a human. This was the first time somebody had called Milo 'Prince Markus' in front of Nora, and just the sound of it made her stomach churn. It was like he was somebody else. The Milo she knew was not a prince, he was just another guy she was falling head over heels for.
"Yes?" Milo questioned, not letting his hand drop from Nora's.
"I'm Todd Barker, I'm here to get you out of here," the guy replied, introducing himself and putting his hand out for Milo to shake. Milo slowly dropped Nora's hand to quickly shake Todd's hand before returning it to Nora's, giving it a reassuring squeeze as he took her hand once again.
"Nice to meet you Todd. What's the plan?" Milo asked, pulling Nora closer to him, needing her closer to calm him down.
"Well, we've got two cars, one's going out the front, and the other is going out the back. Sir, you're going out the back and Nora's going out the front-" Todd explained, but Milo cut him off.
"No, she's going out the back, I'm going out the front," Milo cut him off sharply.
"But sir, the press is after you!" Todd replied calmly, not really realising that the press had been told that the prince and his girlfriend were on a date, and what the press was really after was a picture of his girlfriend, AKA Nora.
"I don't care, Nora is going out the back and I'm going out the front. I'll take the attention off of Nora, while she sneaks out the back," Milo explained, making it clear with his voice that his decision was final.
"Is that smart? I mean come on Milo! You're the bloody prince!" Nora replied, questioning Milo's decision. Milo turned around from Todd to look at Nora, concern for her filling his eyes.
"Nora, they are here for you, to get a picture of you. I'll go out the front and distract them, you go out the back," He explained calmly, his blue eyes not leaving her brown eyes.
"Are you sure?" Nora questioned.
"Sir, if we are going to move, we have to move now," Todd interrupted. Milo looked up at Todd, before squeezing Nora's hand.
"Okay, Nora stay with Todd," Milo said, looking down at Nora. "Todd, don't you dare lose her!" He added, looking up at Todd, a serious look on his face.
"I won't, sir," Todd replied. Two guys appeared behind Todd, and Milo smiled down at Nora.
"Stay with him and you'll be fine!" He smiled, before leaning down and kissing her softly on the lips. "I'll see you soon," He let go of her hand and walked away, not wanting to leave Nora.
"Miss, this way please," Todd said, pulling Nora out of her little day dream of watching Milo as he walked away. She didn't say anything, instead looked up at Todd in question, confused to what he said. "This way please miss," He repeated.
"Oh right," She replied, before walking down the corridor.
Two minutes later, and both Milo and Nora were shoved into separate cars. Milo hounded by the British press, Nora slipping away without anybody noticing her. The two cars driving away in opposite directions, but both with the same destination.
"Where are we heading?" Nora questioned, only now realising that they wouldn't know where she lived.
"The palace, miss, we cannot drop you off at your house, the press may be following and they would find out where you live," Todd replied simply. Nora nodded in reply, before turning her head to the left to look outside at the passing London streets.
She was going to the palace.
She was going to meet Milo's parents — the king and queen of the UK.
She was having a panic attack.
Oh my god, I am so tired! Seriously I walked around so much today, not to mention the fact that I'm hardly sleeping anymore!! I saw the 'The Lady in Black' today! Was shaking after! I seriously cannot watch scary movies!!
Anyhoo, sorry for this message being crappy and this chapter being more serious than anything - I promise the next one will be awesome! Pinky swear! The song on the side is 'The Girl' by City and Colour. It's one of my favourite songs right now so I hope you like it!
Pretty please vote and let me know what you think of the story so far or Unicorns will come after you and stab you with no horns. Don't believe me? That's what the last guy did - he read and didn't comment... RIP dear reader, rest in piece(s)....