A/N: The picture on the side is similar to what I imagine the ones that were on Perez's site to be. Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting!
When I came to, I was laying on a couch in the living room and Alex was shooing both Maggie and what I assumed was one of his bodyguards out the front door, with promises to Maggie that I would call her later. As he closed the door, I sat up and put my head in my hands, still trying to absorb everything I had just learned.
"This is not happening, I cannot believe I just lost my virginity to the King of England," I muttered, although, due to my distress, not particularly quietly.
"I'm not the King yet and given my family's longevity, I won't be for quite a -- wait, what did you say? You lost WHAT?" Alex yelled at me.
I stood so I would be on more even ground with him. "Yes, that was my first time, I should have told you, I'm sorry...hold up, why am I apologizing, you didn't tell me you're a prince!! I think that's a significantly bigger thing to not tell someone!"
Alex sat down on the couch where I'd just been, clearly trying to calm himself down. He patted the cushion beside him, looking up at me, but I shook him off. I couldn't sit still and talk this through. "Let's not make this into a competition. But yes, we should deal with my...," he seemed to be struggling to find a word to describe what he had done.
"I believe 'lie' is the word you're looking for," I said bitingly as I paced back and forth in front of him.
"Charlotte, I never lied to you. I told you I was a student, that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do once I graduated, that's all true. Omission was the word I was looking for."
"But omission seems like not telling me you speed sometimes or once cheated on a test in fifth grade. This is much bigger than that!! Let's say I just 'omitted' telling you I have herpes, that would feel a lot like a lie, right?!?" I shouted.
"Are you honestly comparing being a member of the British royal family to having a sexually transmitted disease?!" he asked incredulously. He looked angry for a moment, then burst into laughter.
The ridiculousness of what I had just said hit me and I cracked up as well. I collapsed onto the couch next to him, tensing up when he pulled me onto his lap. I quickly relaxed though as it felt so comforting to be held by him again, regardless of how I was feeling about everything else that was going on at that moment. He rested his chin on my head, still softly chuckling.
"It's actually not an unreasonable comparison in some ways, I feel diseased at times, like an outcast or an outsider -- it really can be a huge burden. And there certainly doesn't seem to be any cure for it."
"But with less burning when you pee, right?" I teased, never one to miss an obvious joke, regardless of what else was going on.
"Well, yes," he laughed. He hesitated, then continued, "I am really sorry for not telling you, Charlie. This doesn't forgive what I did, not for a moment, but I suppose I was just enjoying having a somewhat normal relationship for once in my life. You have no idea how brilliant it felt to have someone like you for just being yourself -- especially someone as amazing as you -- and not because of your title. Although think how much more you would have liked me if you knew I was a prince, that's way better than a duke, isn't it?"
"Gah, I'll never live that down," I replied, hitting him on the arm. "And I understand why you did what you did, honestly I do. But I never, never imagined that my picture would be in a tabloid so I'm having a seriously hard time with finding out like that. What was your game plan, were you ever going to tell me who you were? Or were you just hoping for some vacation sex that you could laugh about with your buddies back home, about this clueless girl who had no idea who you were?"
"Charlie, I'd never do that. Despite you not knowing who my family is, I think you know me well enough to know that's not the kind of person I am in the slightest," when I started to interrupt him, he cut me off. "And you do know me, all the important things anyway. Don't allow this to make you doubt that."
I want to believe him but couldn't let him off the hook so easily. "Was the whole point of this trip for you to get laid, was this some sort of 'sowing your wild oats' thing?"
"No, that's absurd," he answered, his voice clipped. When I started to bristle at his abrupt dismissal of my concern and began to move away from him, he pulled me close again and continued, "I apologize, what I meant to say was that is quite the opposite of what this trip was supposed to be. I wanted a few weeks of total solitude, a break from the world, specifically the bloody paps. I thought since no one in the family has been here since the 80's and with the island's seclusion, I would be safe. Obviously that was an extreme miscalculation, to say the least."
"You still didn't answer my first question -- when were you going to tell me that you're a prince?" I asked again, hoping that if I kept saying it -- that he was a prince -- that it would sink in.
"I'm not sure -- I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I think I was purposely trying not to think about it because I worried it would ruin everything. But I had intended to tell you, I mean that quite sincerely." Maybe I was a sucker, but I did believe him. I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder, suddenly exhausted by this whole situation.
So many things started to make sense to me, why he was reluctant to do anything that would mean being around other people, why he'd pulled back so many times when we were getting affectionate outdoors. If only he'd been a little better about that, if we'd been a little more discreet, none of this would have happened. I doubt anyone would have bought pictures of us just laying by each other on the beach -- it was the kissing that made it something people would care about.
In hindsight, I felt bad about my part in that -- I had definitely been the aggressor at many points in our relationship, which was completely unlike my normal behavior, but he'd brought that out in me. It made sense that public displays of affection weren't something he was comfortable with -- I'm sure he'd never been in a position where he could do such things freely, without the watchful eyes of the world on his every move.
"So how does this typically go, will the press be able to figure out who I am or will they even care?"
"First, don't call them press, that makes them sound much more legitimate than they are. Those people are paparazzi, plain and simple. They were somewhere miles away on boats with long-range lenses, there's no professionalism in something like that. But I don't know the answer to your question. Whether you believe me or not, I've never been in a situation like this before. I've dated, of course, but always people that were already known by my family or that I went to school with, which means they were known by the press as well."
"I'm your first American, hm?" That made me feel somewhat pleased, for some bizarre reason.
"Yes, you are," he said, hugging me to me. "Not to change the subject, but speaking of firsts..."
I blushed, having momentarily forgotten that we'd have to talk about my inadvertent confession. "I don't suppose we can forget I ever said that?"
Alex shook his head and waited for me to go on.
"Well, there's really not too much to say. I was a virgin and now I'm not. I wasn't saving myself for marriage or for true love, nor am I super religious. I realize a 24 year old virgin is kind of an oddity, but I had a bad almost-sexual experience my freshman year of college and by the time I got over it, I wasn't really interested in casual sex. That's not to say I was a total angel or anything, my friends jokingly called me the Makeout Bandit when I was an upperclassman. But... yeah, I never slept with anyone. Until now."
Sensing his next question, I continued, "Don't read too much into that, though. I didn't consciously 'choose' you, really, everything just felt good and right and easy. Which is all I really ever wanted. Although I think the whole easy thing went out the window when I found out that the cute guy I hooked up with on vacation was pretty much the most famous bachelor in the world. No big. Oh, and there's a hundred pictures of me sucking face with said bachelor all over the Internet."
"God, Charlie, I'm so sorry. In hindsight, I was really naive to think that anything I do could remain private."
"No one is ever going to believe I didn't recognize you. I don't even believe it -- it's not like I'm a shut-in or something. I used to pay attention to the royals -- I'm sorry to refer to your family like you're not here but that's what you were to me -- but not for years, not since high school, really. And you've changed a lot in those seven years."
"I should hope so, I was all ears and teeth at 17."
"That's not true at all, you were adorable. But you were young, so I never really thought about you 'that way.'"
"What? You're all of a year older than me!"
"Almost two years and two grades apart, likely, but regardless, when you're in high school, a year is major, plus, a younger man? It would have been scandalous at my school. Guys dated younger girls all the time but I don't really remember anyone ever dating a younger guy."
"I would have gladly faced that scandal for you. I would have been a hero to all those younger guys lusting after the senior girls, a real trailblazer. Plus I bet you were super hot in high school."
"'Super hot?' You're so cute when you use American slang," I said.
He gave me a quick kiss. "Not to pry -- and you can tell me to sod off if you'd rather not talk about it -- but what happened your freshman year?"
I gave him the condensed version of the story. He looked angry when I told him about the guy shoving me onto the bed and I could easily imagine him as a protective older brother to his sister, which was a really attractive quality.
In an effort to completely change the subject, I said, "I just had an idea. Would you want to have dinner together with Maggie and Jack tonight? I'd like for you to get to know Maggie better and I'd like to get to know Jack better and it might be fun..." I was somewhat regretting asking him. He was used to having dinners with foreign dignitaries and heads of state, maybe dinner with a bunch of typical Americans would be boring or tedious for him.
"That sounds like it would be a lot of fun. It would be good for Maggie to have some idea of who I am, besides the bastard that concealed who he was from you and stole your innocence."
"That's right, you are a bastard! But Maggie doesn't know I'm a virgin, or was a virgin, I guess I should say now, so don't bring that up," I said, then shook my head, laughing. "Sorry, like you would ever say anything to anyone about that, I can't even imagine how that conversation would go. Back to dinner, do you want to just have them over here for dinner? Or go out?"
"Why don't we do it at my place?" he offered. "I should probably go back to check in with everyone and I'd like for you to meet my protection officers and see my villa. The chef there is amazing and I'm sure it won't be a problem for him to cook for a few more people, as long as we give him notice. If you don't mind, I'll go ahead and give a call over so they know we're coming?"
Meeting his protection officers? Sure, it wasn't quite meeting the parents, but still, it was something.