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Little was said between Harry and I after our exchange of names, but then again only a few minutes had passed and I wasn't feeling too talkative. I didn't exactly know what to say next. I mean what do you say to someone when you feel slightly guilty for yelling at them and then you're also hiding a large secret from them? All I know is that I don't want our names to be the last thing we say to each other, so I have to come up with something and quick.
I had just met this man, but already it felt different; different in a way that I had never felt like this with another person of the opposite sex.
There had been bachelors I met with during balls, dinners, and events, in the past but never did they stick around after our initial meeting, nor did I have the desire for them to stay. I have absolutely no interest in a man that's only pursuing me for my money, status, or looks. I want a real connection with someone, not just a relationship that looks good on the surface. I want someone who can make me laugh until my sides hurt, cry until I have no tears left, and smile until I can't feel my face. I want to experience the ups and downs with someone who will stick through it all. I want a happily ever after. After all what's a fairytale without a princess?
My parents have respected my opinion of marriage and relationships, thus not forcing me to mingle with too many eligible bachelors, of royal status or not. There is a significant pressure for me to marry, but not as much as there would be if I was required to be married to ascend to the throne. Although I do hope to be married by the time I rule; no one wants to be alone forever.
But I shouldn't be thinking too far ahead when I've only just met the man sitting at my side. I tend to do this: set my mind on something and then let the idea spiral out of control until I'm sneaking out of palaces and past guards.
"What station are you meeting your boyfriend at?"
"Piccadil- boyfriend?" Harry nods, an unreadable look on his face.
"Yeah, the blonde banging about on the windows earlier." A loud laugh erupts from deep within my gut as I think about Niall and I being together. Whilst there was that moment in the past where I had wished it were to come true, that's surely not the case now. We're nothing more than platonic friends and that's the way it shall stay.
"He's not my boyfriend." I can't help but detect a hint of relief in Harry's face as I admit that Niall and I are nothing but general acquaintances, but it's barely there. "We're just friends. He's actually supposed to be showing me around as I've never been to the city before." I've actually been to London quite a few times, but he doesn't need to know the boring details of those outings.
"Really? I couldn't tell." He jests, making me laugh again.
Should I be finding everything he says funny?
"I don't get out much, unfortunately; trying to change that."
"Well, welcome to London." His arms raise to motion around the train car. I look around the baren car, nodding my head and mimicking an impressed look as I take in the plastic seats, poster covered walls, and concrete surroundings whooshing by at a fast pace.
If I'm being honest, I was picturing the tube to be dirtier than it is. It's definitely not clean, that's for sure, but it's not covered in filth and odd people as I had thought it would be. Gwen's been on the tube before, but only once, and she described it as a truly horrific experience. She still has nightmares about it, but that's just Gwen being dramatic.
"It's nice."
"If you think this is nice, wait until you're above ground." His smile is contagious and I find myself matching my grin with his. I notice the two small dimples that poke out on his slightly stubbled cheeks and they make my smile even brighter. There's nothing better than a man with dimples. "Where're we going?" Harry asks, looking across the tube to the map of the various lines and stations.
I hum for a second, catching the fact that he said we rather than you. I can't say I'm disappointed he's willing to escort me to my intended location, shocked is more the word I'm looking for. I open my mouth to tell him where I want to go, but stop mid-answer, again.
Am I completely incapable of handling myself that I need a babysitter to hold my hand the entire time I'm out of the palace?
I can either get off at Piccadilly Circus with Harry, join Niall, and get scolded for running off, or I can live out the great adventure that I had initially intended to find myself and explore the city. I want to do things I've never before done, and joining a stranger for a late-night adventure is definitely something I've never done before.
"How about you choose? That is if you don't have any other previous engagements." I make the bold decision to ditch Niall and stick with the practical stranger. What's the worst that could happen?
"What about your friend?"
I pull my phone from my lap and open Niall's contact, texting him that I want him to go home and to not worry about me. I know that he can track my phone so if something does go wrong it's not like he can't find me. He thinks I don't know about it, but I do and have for a long time.
"He can fend for himself for a while."
"Alright."
There's a smirk that lines his pink lips and he quickly stands to his feet, reaching towards me with an outstretched hand. I'm hesitant to take it at first, almost second guessing my decision to go with this man. But with a deep breath of reassurance I place my hand in his and stand. Before I can even settle on my feet, Harry pulls me towards the doors of the tube, which open only seconds later. And with a gentle tug we're off.
We snake through the Piccadilly Circus station, Harry leading us quickly through the maze of the station as if he's got the place memorized. We take a few sharp turns before ending up at a new platform with a few people waiting by. Rather than taking notice of the sights around me, my eyes are glued to my hand, which is still clutched in Harry's.
Call me a giddy school girl, but it's been ages since anyone has held my hand so I can't help the ecstatic thoughts racing through my mind and my heart beating wildly as if it will pop out of my chest cavity. It's as if I'm up on a cloud and nothing can bring me down... aside from the intercom reminding us to mind the gap.
"Ready?"
"I suppose so." I tell him. "You're not going to drag me off and kill me, are you?" My tone comes off joking, but there is a part of me that is aware tonight could end up in my kidnapping and ultimately my untimely death. Rather than dwell on the negative outcomes of tonight, I try and focus my energy on the positivity, which is easier said than done.
"Now why would I ever reveal my master plan to you, Miss Mary?"
"You have heard the expression sharing is caring, right? I was merely hoping that you'd abide by said expression." Harry smirks down at me, his eyes briefly casting down towards me before shooting upwards to meet the incoming tube.
"Have you ever heard of the exclamation surprise or the expression knocking your socks off?" He wonders aloud. I merely nod as he tugs on my hand and draws me towards the tube. "Well, Mary, that is what I intend on doing, surprising you and consequently knocking your socks off. Do you have any objections to that?"
I think for a moment, putting on my best thinking look, before shaking my head and laughing. Harry tugs me towards one of the vacant benches on the tube and we both sit. Harry and I sit in comfortable silence for a bit before he extends a comment my way. A comment that rattles me to my core and I'm fumbling to find a proper answer.
"Tell me more about yourself." Such a simple question and an person in their right mind should be able to answer something relatively quick, but for me I was a fish out of water.
"Well, I, um, actually, I'm, oh..." My mouth opens and closes trying to find something to say, but no proper words find their escape. What am I to say? Called me prepared, but I had planned a brief backstory on my identity prior to leaving the palace in the event that something like Harry's question was thrown my way. I thought I was prepared, but now that I'm being presented with the opportunity to share I'm shy and at a loss for words.
"You alright there?" He seems very amused by my inability to answer, completely not understanding that I'm racking my brain for a semi-normal answer. I laugh my first attempt at a lie off and fake a few coughs, like a proper idiot.
"Yeah, sorry, just had a tickle in my throat." I blame my stuttering on the so called tickle before straightening myself out and turning towards Harry to share.
All should go smoothly as long as I keep the background short, sweet, and easy to remember.
"Well, I'm from Weybridge, which I suppose you already know. I live with," don't say with your parents, don't you dare, "my sister. Yeah, I have a sister, her name is..." I can't very well say her name is Gwen, because if his IQ is average or higher than he can start to put the dots together after a while. My brain reels for a name that's not too close to Gwen's as my eyes dart around the tube for any inspiration, "Talia." I settle on, my eyes finding an advert with the caption meet Talia at the bottom of the poster. I just pray Harry doesn't turn around and read the same advert I am. "Yes, she and I are very close."
"And what do you do?" What do I do? I lie and I handle foreign affairs.
"I actually work at a law firm."
Really? You work at a law firm, Mary? You don't know the first thing about law. You couldn't have said you work in international business or international affairs?
"You're a solicitor?" I find myself subconsciously nodding even though I'm deeply cringing on the inside. Why couldn't I have chosen a career that I actually know a thing or two about? Or shook my head and aluded to the fact that I was a measly receptionist or assistant. "That's very cool. What kind of law do you practice? My father is actually a barrister, small world." Of course he is.
"This is a small world. Well as a solicitor I legally advise clients on a range of things, whether they're just a single person or a big organization, but I don't practice in court, that would be something for your father to handle." Please don't ask me anything other than that, because honestly I don't know anything else. Change the bloody subject..."But enough boring law talk, what do you do?"
"I work in finance, nothing any more glamorous. I do financial planning for individuals at a firm in Central London. It's a small company that I work for, but I enjoy it. I'm not too keen on being surrounded by too many people. Crowds are actually kind of off-putting for me."
"I can relate to that; crowds are not my forte."
You'd think with my demeanor as seen in the media that I'm a very outgoing, charasmatic, extrovert of a person, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Growing up around a lot of people has put me in the permanent mindset of wanting to be utterly on my own; I'm an introvert, through and through. I'd rather sit on my own with a cuppa and do a puzzle or watch some Netflix than mingle with a room full of know-it-all men and women.
"Any hobbies?"
"Don't laugh." I start, gaining a weary expression from the man at my right. The expression is quickly erased though, a smile replacing the look almost immediately after he had jokingly casted it.
"I won't, I promise."
"Puzzles."
"Puzzles?"
"Yeah, puzzles."
"And why is that?"
"I don't know really. I suppose there's just something so calming about sitting in a quiet room, fitting individual pieces together to create a bigger image. It's like life, in a way. You and I make up the smaller pieces and when all of humanity comes together, we create one big image." I confess, feeling my cheeks burn a crimson heat as the words just topple out of my mouth. Not many adults go around bragging that they're into puzzles and I don't want Harry to think I'm a big nerd. "That may not make any sense, sorry." Harry shakes his head.
"No, that actually makes perfect sense. And I wouldn't laugh at you for having a hobby that your passionate about. When I'm not out working or with friends I'm usually at home, on my own, reading a book. It's relaxing. As for puzzles, in addition to all the symbology that you just spat, they're good for your brain, lowering stress, and they're fun."
How in world did I stumble upon this fine specimen of a man? Not only is he incredibly attractive, but he's smart, he's kind, he's pretty funny, and he's an introvert; he basically me in the male form. What are the odds that him and I would find each other?
"You think puzzles are fun?"
"Yes; and I'm not just saying that to impress you. I have quite the puzzle collection at home too."
There's a part of me, deep within, that, upon hearing that confession, wants to leap on him and start snogging the man. I want to jump him, here and now, confession my deepest attraction towards this man, and then order him to take me to his place... so we can do puzzles until the sun rises.
There's also the very logical side of me that knows that everything I've just fantasized about is utter nonsense. I would never, ever, act on any random impulse to snog a stranger and then take him home, no matter how much I would like to. So instead of crawling onto his lap and molding my lips to his, I bite my lip and push the thoughts to the back of my mind... deep in my mind.
"Perhaps if you don't kill me tonight we can check your puzzle collection out." I boldly say, hoping that the innuendo of going to his place isn't taken the wrong way. Harry smirks over at me before shrugging and leaning back in his seat. His dark pink lips purse together and eyes squint, looking deep in thought all whilst staring at me.
"We'll see."
"I can beg if you want. I'm actually pretty persuasive."
There's a look that falls across his features, but it's gone before I can really explore it. If I was more experienced on the matter of men, maybe I'd detect it as lust. Instead the look could pass for anything: shock, disgust, maybe even gas.
"I'm sure you are."
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