THE PRINCE | eighteen.
B.
"So...you and Justin seem to be close."
"Door?" I whispered looking up at the large door I pressed against. "Is that you?"
"Haha. Nice try, Baby," they say. "Care to explain what you and Justin were doing?"
I slowly turn around and see Clara standing in front me with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She looked down at her freshly manicured hands and sighed. "I'm waiting..."
"Well, you see," I let out a nervous laugh. "Justin and I were simply talking about uh, we were talking about..." My lips were slightly purses as I squinted my eyes. I moved my hands, "Uh, y'know." I clear my throat.
"No, I don't know," she says moving her hands, giving me a face.
"Were you just mocking me? Because if so, I do not look like that."
"How would you know? You didn't just see yourself," she shot back.
"W-Who even knows what you see?" I wave my hands in front of my eyes. "Maybe your eyes are messed up and we don't even know," I put my hands on my hips. "Maybe you should go to sleep and take a break," I say walking over to her. I began to guide her over to the stairs until she stopped me.
"No way. I know what I saw," she says stopping in her tracks. "Are you and Justin...," she looked around. "Dating?" she whispers lowly.
"No, no," I shake my head. "We were just talking. We were totally just talking."
"Baby, I know it may come to you as a shock, but I am not blind. I know what I saw."
"Clara, please don't tell anyone," I beg. "We really aren't dating. We're just... Well, I don't know, but don't tell anyone."
"Relax. I won't tell," she assures me.
"Okay, good," I whisper nodding my head.
"But I have a question."
My face drops. "Goodie," I whisper clasping my hands together. "What's your question?"
"How long have you guys been going on?"
"A little bit after we met at that banquet, but we're not dating," I remind her. "We're simply just friends."
"...With benefits."
"No, just friends," I repeat.
"Wow so...this whole time--"
"--I know, it's weird and--"
"--He chose you over me." She put her hands on her chest as she scrunched up her face. "Over me?" she repeats pointing to herself.
She's so lucky her accent makes everything sound prettier. I'm not even surprised that all she got from this entire conversation.
"How will that even work?" she says. "You live in the bloody states and he's a prince. I so did not see this coming," she shakes her head. She turns to the stairs and begins moving up slowly step by step. "You over me?" she whispers to herself. "Wow."
I roll my eyes as I followed closely behind her. This girl needs to step off her pedestal. But if this is the way she can keep the secret to herself then all is well.
Things are good. Things are okay. Justin and I are still under wraps and there is nothing to worry about.
The next of couple of days were great. Justin and I spent more time alone together, giving us more time to learn more about each other.
I sat behind the desk in the room writing in my diary. Something I haven't done in a while.
Dear Diary,
Please forgive me for not talking to you...in you (?)... in a while. I've been hanging out with Justin so much lately, I haven't had time to catch you up. I've kind of forgot what I needed to document, which beats the sole purpose of bringing a diary with me.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again. There is something about Justin that makes me want to never leave. As time passes, the more and more I realize that my time here is running out. I tend to forget when I'm around Justin which is a good and a bad thing.
I stop writing as I began to feel my hand cramp. I set down the pen before opening and closing my hand repeatedly. There was a soft knock on the door followed by Clara's voice. "Baby," I hear her say softly behind my door.
"Come in," I tell her.
She has been doing this ever since she found out about Justin and me. I thought she'd hate me since she liked Justin in the past, but she has truly moved on. Not to mention her finding out about Justin and I has brought us closer together. It's weird, I know. I'm still trying to process it all.
She opens the door slowly, peeking her head in first. She walks into the room and goes straight to the bed.
I take in her appearance. Strands of her hair were tucked behind her ears, showing off small pearl earrings. Her light blue romper complimented her. Plus it made her look like a much more pleasant person which is always a plus for her.
"So," she ran her hands through her hair. "Tell me the details. You seemed rather chipper when you got home."
"Clara, what part of keeping us a secret don't you understand? I can't tell you everything Justin and I do."
"Not even a little bit?" she pouted. "It's been boring around here." She flips her hair back. "Stefan doesn't come until tonight, so I have nothing better to do until then."
"Is that why you came to me?"
"Well yeah," she says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Unless you have plans with Justin. That wouldn't be much of a shocker," she rolls her eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Everything is starting to make sense. Every time you say you're going to 'explore the city,' that means you were with Justin. Am I right?"
"...Yes."
"Exactly. And do you know how many times you have said that you were going out to 'explore the city'?"
Where was she going with this?
"No," I reply quietly looking down at my hands. I feel like a child being scolded at for eating candy before dinner without permission.
"A lot. That's all you've been doing. Have you even explored the city? I mean think about it, your sole plan of this trip was to explore Monte Carlo. All you've been exploring is Justin's pants."
I practically choked on air by the time she finished her sentence. "N-No, no. Justin and I haven't. No, no," I shake my head.
Her eyes instantly widened as her jaw lowered. "You mean to tell me that you've been seeing the playboy prince for a little bit less than a month and you haven't slept with him?" her eyebrows snapped together.
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's Justin for Christ's sake!" she raises her voice.
"Why are you so loud?" I hiss. "Someone will hear you."
"Are you a virgin?" she whispers in shock.
I fidgeted in my seat, feeling myself increasingly grow uncomfortable. Clara gasps loudly as her eyes widened. She slowly brought up her finger and pointed it at me making me feel exposed. I crossed my arms over my chest as I glared at her.
"Stop looking at me like that." I felt my face grow hot.
"You are!" she awes. "You're pure," she awed.
"That isn't funny and it's not a bad thing. I'm only eighteen."
"Almost nineteen," she points out.
I roll my eyes. "Good observation," I say giving her a straight face.
"Wow," she breathes out. "And you've managed to stay pure around Justin? Huh...That is definitely new," she brought her hand to her chin. "I give you major brownie points for that."
"He hasn't seemed like he was in a rush to do anything or at least I don't think he is..."
"Oh sweetie," she puts her hands on her chest. "So pure."
"What? It's true!"
"I doubt it. It's Justin we are talking about. I mean, come on. You mean to tell me you haven't thought of it once?"
"Well yeah. I just-- The time hasn't really come yet. It has to feel right. It's my first time. I'm not just going to experience that with just anyone."
"Poor Justin," she shook her head chuckling.
"He's fine," I wave her off.
3rd.
"I am dying," Justin groaned loudly. "I have been trying so hard to relax and calm down. I have even been taking slow breaths to calm myself down and all, but the more time I spend time with her, the more I cannot control myself."
He slides down in his chair slowly. He just wanted to give up. This whole staying abstinent was getting to him. Really getting to him.
"Well then sleep with her," Liam shrugs his shoulders. "Problem solved," he clapped his hands together.
"I cannot just sleep with her."
"And why not? You've done it many many times before with other girls. What's so different about Baby?" Liam held his phone in front of him and scrolled through his social media.
"That is the thing. She is different. I have never spoken to a girl for this long without sleeping with her. Not since--" Justin stops himself from finishing that sentence.
"Not since Francia," Liam says completing his thought.
"Yes," Justin sighs. "And we all know how that turned out."
"Let's not talk about Francia. She feeds off others speaking about her," Liam mutters. "When is the next time you see Baby?"
"I don't know. I haven't spoken to her since yesterday."
"Ooh so long," Liam teased. "Just go see her and sleep with her. Trust me, things will be much easier once you do it...or should I say do her?"
"It doesn't work that way with her."
"I still cannot believe you guys have a thing. You have had me fooled. If anything I thought she would have ended up with Colton."
"What makes you say that?" Justin asks sitting back up in his chair.
"You're not the only one falling for the girl. Baby has got you both in the palm of her hands and she doesn't even know."
"Well, clearly she needs to clean one of her hands because she is perfectly fine with just me."
"Somebody is looking a little green," Liam sang. "Don't worry. Baby barely even talks to Colton anymore. Makes sense though. She always seems to be 'out exploring.' Now I realize she's been with you the whole time. You guys are a sneaky bunch."
"Just promise me you won't tell anyone especially not Colton."
"Your secret is safe with me. Now let's go before we are late."
•••
"Hey! You made it," Clara says in excitement. She opened the door wider letting Justin and Liam in. He walks in cautiously, giving her a suspicious look, he slowly took off his glasses. "It's good to see you, Justin...and Liam," she plasters a smile on her face.
"It is good to see you too, Clara," Justin lets out a nervous chuckle. He ran his hands down his hair and asked, "Where is everyone?"
"Out back in the pool."
Liam ignores Clara and pushes right past her towards the backyard. Clara gives Liam a look before turning her attention back to Justin.
"Come on." She smirks at him before walking in front of him and led him through the villa. They walked passed the living room and stopped at the two glass doors. She pushes on open and walks out to the backyard where her friends were.
Scanning the backyard, he looked for her. He searched for her wavy, brunette hair and her eyes that always seemed to captivate him. He adjusted his sunglasses on his face, wandering his eyes around the backyard. Justin hears her voice followed by a splash.
"No! Don't do push me— Ah!" Baby yells before hitting the water. She closed her eyes to block out the chlorine in the water. Swimming back up, she moved her hands from her face to hair smoothing it back. "Help me out," she laughs putting her hand out to Colton.
Justin watched the interaction from afar with a hard look on his face. With his hands clenched by his side, he took a step closer.
"I had to. I saw the opportunity and had to take it," Colton laughs putting his hand out. She grips his hand tightly as he lowered to help her out. Giving him a mischievous smile, she yanked him into the pool.
"They always fall for that," she shakes her head laughing. She places her hands outside the pool and lifts herself up. She looked ahead and saw Justin standing in front of Clara who was making faces behind him.
"Justin's here," Clara calls out.
Violette and Nicole sat up on the pool side tables and greeted Justin before going back in the conversation.
Baby was about to pull herself out before feeling an arm wrap around her waist. "Oh, no you don't," Colton laughs pulling her back into the pool. She squealed before her head hit the water.
"Oh my gosh, stop," she laughs once she rose up from the water. She wipes her face then smoothes her hair back. "Okay, no more," she points at Colton who had a large grin on his face.
"Justin, you're here," she beams as she went over to the steps of the pool.
She walked out quickly feeling goosebumps rise on her skin. She went over to her empty poolside chair and wrapped her towel around her body. He walks slowly over to her with an unreadable look.
"Hey," she smiles stepping back a little making sure there was a space between them. Justin gave her a look of confusion as she stepped back.
"Hey Justin," Colton says behind them. He ran his hands through his wet hair as he moved closer to Baby. "I'm glad you can make it. We weren't sure if you could."
"And why is that?" he asks seriously. Justin clenched his fists by his sides. A line appeared between Baby's eyebrows. She looked between the two guys and saw their small glares towards each other.
"I'm going to go get a drink inside..." her voice wanders off as she leaves to the guys alone. Her eyes dropped to the ground as she thought of how Justin looked at her.
Did I do something wrong?
She dried herself off with the towel as she walked passed both Nicole and Violette were still immersed in their conversation. She wrapped the towel around her body making sure it was tugged tightly around her. She opened one of the glass doors and stepped inside the villa.
Walking over to the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator and helped herself to a glass of ice cold lemonade. She poured the lemonade into the cup as Justin opened the door to the villa. Baby's back was to him as she poured a little bit of lemonade into her glass.
"Hey," he says lowly standing next to her.
"Hi," she replies softly. She grabs the pitcher of lemonade and puts it back in the fridge. She closes the fridge slowly not wanting to speak to Justin at this moment. She turns around and grabs her glass of lemonade. "I should probably go back outside." She gives him a small smile before walking away.
"Wait. Baby," he calls out behind her. He reaches out and holds her forearm gently. "What's wrong?" he asks turning her around.
"Are you mad at me?" she looks up at him, reading his face.
"Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"
"I don't know," she shrugs her shoulders. "You didn't seem very happy when you first saw me. Did I do something wrong?"
He grabs her glass of lemonade from her and set it's down on the kitchen counter. He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She moved her hands on his arms as she avoided his eyes.
"It's not you."
"Then who is it?" she asks looking back at him.
"It is nothing really," he looks down. "I am sorry if I made you feel like I was mad at you." He lowers his head and kisses her forehead gently.
"We probably shouldn't do this right now. Someone may see us."
"And?" He kisses her cheek softly. He smiles down at her putting his hands on the sides of her face.
"I thought we were going to keep things private between us. Isn't that the plan?" she moves her hands on his.
"Yes, but--" he tilts his head to the side.
"--See. This whole 'us' thing is confusing me," she brings her hands to her forehead. "And you probably want something from me that I don't know if I can give you and--"
"Baby," he cuts her off, shaking his head. "What do you think I want from you?"
"You know... Something I can't just give to you."
"I am not following," he replied with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Please don't make me say it." She bit her bottom lip, gnawing on it gently with her cheeks turning into a light pink.
"Do you mean..." he gives her a look.
"Yes," she held his hands, moving them down. "I mean, I want to. That sounds wrong, but I," she closed her eyes taking a deep breath. "I mean I'm--"
"A virgin?" he asks lowering his head.
"Yes, and Clara told me that you have a reputation and I obviously don't," she rambled.
"Baby," he whispers. He couldn't help but chuckle softly at how she was acting. She looked up at him with doe eyes.
"Why are you laughing?" she let outs a small laugh. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything," she covers her face.
"Listen. Whatever Clara told you about my reputation that clearly precedes me, just know that with you it just feels different. I am different when I am with you," he speaks truthfully. He kisses her softly before speaking again. "And as for you being a virgin... I don't care. I will wait as long as you want me to. I want to spend as much time with you until you leave because I am dreading the day that you go."
"Really?" She bites back a smile as she looks at him with adoring eyes.
"Really," he smiles. He moves his hands away from her, already missing her touch. "I should probably go out first," he tells her. He gives her a quick peck on the lips before moving away from the counter.
Baby stood there internally fighting with herself not knowing if she should she speak again. "Wait," she finds herself saying.
Her words shocked not only her but Justin who stopped in his tracks. He turns around and looks over at Baby who played with her hands.
"What if I don't want you to wait any longer?"
•••
Hey guys! I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote and leave a comment telling me your thoughts!
See you guys the next update!
•••