A/N: This (final!) chapter is dedicated to @SangeethaGowda -- thank you so much for all your support! You should all check out her fab story, When Mr. Popular Meets Abby Hart!!
A couple of weeks later, Maggie yelled at me from the living room when I was making dinner and asked me to come out when I had a minute. I finished up and left the food on the stove to cool.
When I got into the living room, she waved at me to sit down and bit her lip before she began to speak, “I’m sorry to be springing this on you, but I didn’t know how to bring it up before. Alex is doing an interview tonight, they’ve been advertising it like crazy. It’s on BBC, I think, and they’re broadcasting it simultaneously on BBC America. Would you want to watch it with me?
I stood there silently for a moment, thinking it through. Should I just avoid it, so as to not torture myself? But the pull of seeing him, almost in person, was too much for me to resist. “It seems like a bad idea, but yeah, I do want to watch. I’m surprised he’s doing one, he kind of hates the media. Must be something pretty important that his family is making him do.”
“It starts in 15 minutes or so, do you want to eat first?”
“No, you go ahead. I know it’s stupid, but my stomach’s too tied in knots to be hungry any more. Plus, per usual, I may have been snacking as I was cooking.”
“I’m going to go grab a plate, be right back.”
Maggie came back in with a plate of the pasta I had made, waving it under my nose to tempt me. I scrunched my nose and shook my head at her, nervously sitting on my hands and rocking slightly back and forth.
In no time at all, the show was starting. On the screen was a female reporter introducing her interview with Alex, she was British but not someone I recognized, not that that was surprising. And before I could fully brace myself, or really listen to what she was saying, there he was on the screen, looking as gorgeous as ever. I longed for the day when I no longer felt a squeeze around my heart when I saw him.
“Hello, Prince Alexander, welcome,” she began.
“Thanks for having me.”
“As I was telling our viewers at the start of the program, this was a first for me -- an unsolicited interview request from a member of the royal family, regarding an unspecified topic,” the reporter laughed.
“Sorry for the mystery, I just didn’t want the subject of our interview to get out before I was ready for it to.” If Alex was attempting to pique the world’s curiosity, it was certainly working, on me at least. I looked over at Maggie but her eyes were glued to the screen.
“Well, we’re here now. Can you tell me what you’d like to talk about?”
“It’s not a what, it’s a who. Charlotte Maxwell.” I gasped.
“I thought that might be it. And what do you want to talk about in regards to Ms. Maxwell?” she asked, clearly curious.
“I just felt the need to set the record straight on a number of unkind things I’ve been reading about her in the press, particularly the British press, things that could really damage her personal and professional life. I think an important thing for everyone to remember about Charlie is that she’s a normal person, not a celebrity that knew what she was getting when she chose the career path she did. All Charlie ever did wrong was hang about the wrong chap that she met on holiday.”
“And by ‘wrong chap,’ you’re referring to yourself?”
“Yes I am. I realize that most of the harsh things people are saying about her are really more about me. By following this story, I know a lot of our citizens are offended that I would fall in love with an American, that by doing so I’m saying that no one in the whole of the United Kingdom is good enough for me. But I think everyone that’s ever been in love before,” my heart skipped a beat, I couldn’t believe he was acknowledging to the entire world that he loved me, and I felt Maggie’s hand slip into mine for support, “knows that isn’t how it works -- you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with, certainly not by nationality. Would it have been more convenient to fall in love with an English girl? Perhaps. But I didn’t. I fell in love with Charlie, who happens to be an American. Did it make it easier that she didn’t know every single thing about me -- that she hadn’t watched me take my first steps on tv, even if only in reruns of old video like most women my age did, or know what my nickname in primary school was, or in which classes I sat for A levels in? Well, yes it probably did. It’s difficult to find things to talk about when someone knows your entire life story story before you open your mouth. Frankly, I‘m not all that interesting so if you take away all that stuff, I really don’t have much to say.”
The reporter chuckled, “I’m sure that’s not true. But I have to say, you’re asking yourself all the questions, I’m beginning to feel a bit unnecessary here!”
“I apologize, I warned you that I’m crap at this sort of thing,” Alex said with a sheepish grin.
“I do have one question that you didn’t already ask yourself: You used the terms fall/fell in love so I have to wonder: is this a past tense thing or are you still, today, in love with Charlotte Maxwell?”
“I am currently, and likely will always be, in love with her. I’m a bit new at this love business so I’m not entirely certain how this all works.” I squeezed Maggie’s hand so hard that I thought I heard a quiet yelp from her, but I was so focused on Alex on the screen that I wasn’t sure.
The reporter continued, “I was under the impression, and I believe most people were, that things were over between you; the rumor is that you went to her to try to win her back, to have her move back to the U.K with you, and she turned you down.”
“Unlike most rumors about me, that one is fairly close to the truth. As you know, Charlie is not only gorgeous, she’s incredibly smart and driven as well. She should be finding out any day now that she passed the bar -- which is the test that lawyers must take in America in order to be able to practice law -- I know she’s worried she didn’t as it’s an extremely difficult exam, but knowing her, I’m certain she did. When I asked her to move to England, I wasn’t thinking about her career or what she would do with her life here, instead I was only thinking about myself and how much I, selfishly, would like her here, and not surprisingly, she turned me down. As any smart, driven woman would do. After she did I was quite rude to her. I basically acted like a spoiled child that didn’t get his way, I’m ashamed to say.”
“Is this interview nothing but an elaborate attempt to get her back, by humiliating yourself on a public stage?”
“I wouldn’t have used the word ‘humiliating,’ I was going more for humbling myself, but I’ll take your word for it that I am, in fact, doing so. But yes, my plan is that this is the first of many steps I will be taking to win her back.”
“I feel so used,” she joked.
“I am sorry about that, but a man in love will use any tool at his disposal.”
“So what’s the rest of your plan? Anything else we can help with?”
“Why don’t we see if it works first before I answer that?” he smiled, all charm.
“How does your family, in particular the Queen, feel about all this? I know how private she is, as is your entire family.”
“Well, they were all fed up with me moping about the last few months so I think they’re happy I’m finally doing something about it. As for my grandmother, who do you think had the idea for this interview? As you know, I’m certainly not media savvy enough to have thought it up on my own. Grandmother said that when in doubt, always go all out. She said that women love a grand gesture.”
“Speaking of the last few months, we saw you this summer in the company of Nicola Weakly-Smithe this summer and thought you were rekindling that relationship, but clearly that’s not the case.”
“No, Nicola’s an old and trusted friend and she knew where my heart was. I greatly appreciated her support in that difficult time, though, particularly as there weren’t many brave enough to be in my company at that time, given my mood.”
“Is there anything else you’d like to say? In general, or directly to Charlie?”
“I think everything else would be better said in person but thank you.”
I sat in stunned silence, staring at the tv mutely. I was dimly aware of Maggie texting away beside me, but I figured she was probably answering a text from Jack, asking if we’d watched the interview. Then the doorbell rang.
I looked over at Maggie, still completely out of it, hoping she’d answer it for me as I didn’t feel at all equipped to deal with whatever kid peddling stuff that was likely at the door. But she was still busy on her phone and without looking up, asked, “Would you mind getting that? I’m right in the middle of this…”
I shook my head as I walked to our front hallway, trying to process everything I’d heard Alex say, wondering if it could really all be true. I was still lost in thought as I opened the door.
It was Alex, holding a bouquet of tulips, my favorite flower. I looked at him, then looked back towards the living room, then back at Alex, still completely fuzzy and confused.
“It was taped, I filmed the interview a few days ago,” he explained, understanding at least part of my confusion. “Can I come in?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” I stepped back, holding the door open for him.
It was completely surreal to have him here in our apartment.
“This is really nice,” Alex said, looking around.
I mentally shook myself. “Here, come in to the living room, we can sit down.” I wondered if Maggie had heard his voice and guessed what was going on. If not, I’d hoped she’d get the hint and give us a bit of space to talk.
The living room was empty, which was strange as Maggie couldn’t have gone up to her bedroom without walking by the front door.
I saw a note sitting on the leather ottoman that served as our coffee table. Picking it up, I read, “Snuck out the back, going to stay with my parents tonight as thought you two could use some privacy. Call when you get a chance -- you know I’ve got your back no matter what you decide. Love you, Maggie.”
Clearly Maggie had known Alex was coming. I belatedly realized that must have been who she was texting after the interview was over, which explained Alex’s perfectly timed arrival.
Alex and I sat awkwardly on the couch, with an entire cushion’s worth of space separating us. As touched as I was by what he had said in his interview and that he was here, in person, I wasn’t just going to fall into his arms again. I’d done that the last time, hoping that things could work out, and all I had to show for it was more heartache and pain. His cruel words during our last argument still haunted me and one sweet interview couldn’t undo everything that had happened.
After a weighted silence, Alex began to speak, “After I went home, and got over being angry with you, I realized that you were right -- I was asking you to do everything, with no attempt on my part at meeting you halfway. I was so stuck on thinking that I had no options as I was tied to my familial responsibilities that I couldn’t think beyond that. But even after I realized that, it still took me some time to figure out what I might be able to do to convince you to give me -- to give us -- a chance.”
“So, don’t leave me in suspense! Were you able to come up with anything?” My heart was soaring at his words, as obviously everyone loves a ‘you’re right and I was wrong’ speech but I didn’t even care about that -- being the one that was right in our previous disagreement had left me nothing but alone.
“Yes but I don’t know if it’s enough,” he said, looking concerned. “What I’m proposing is that I move here with you for a couple of months --”
“Can you even do that?” I interrupted.
“I’ve talked to my family, they know this is something I want, something I need, and they’re fine with it. Has it been done before? No, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. As I was saying, I come here for a few months while you research and figure out if there are any job opportunities for you in England -- London ideally, but you can look more broadly than that as well. My family has residences throughout the country that we could live at, if necessary. A number of highly impressive non-profit organizations are headquartered in England -- I have a list of ones I thought would be worth looking into for you, given your areas of interest.”
“They must hate me, your family, I mean,” I said, interrupting him again, still focusing on the first part of what he’d said as I wasn’t able to process what he’d said about how “we” could live any number of places.
“No, of course not. They all know how much I love you and they were all firmly on your side in our last disagreement, although each of them were different levels of reluctant to tell me that. Except my brother George. George,” he said, shaking his head, “George was happy to tell me immediately what a fool I was.”
“So to continue, after you hopefully come up some job options, we could travel to England together for you to interview and figure out exactly where would be the best fit for you. I’d be happy to help you as much as I can with that, as would my family, but only if you want us to. I recognize that everyone you interview with will undoubtedly know who you are, to me, and I know that’s not how you want to get a job, but please know that regardless of why they hire you initially, in no time at all, you will prove to them what an excellent decision they made in taking a chance on you. I know… why are you laughing?”
“What you just said was almost word for word what Maggie told me about getting a job in D.C., once I realized that everyone already knew who I was. She was sure I could find someone to hire me because they wanted the publicity that would come with it, but that I’d earn my keep and impress them with my work ethic, etcetera. Are you sure she didn’t share her speech with you?”
“I assure you she did not. Although clearly she is brilliant if we’re saying the same things.”
“I’m sorry, that will be my last interruption, please continue,” I said.
“Once you get the whole job situation sorted, we would find a place where we could both live, together. That way we’d be together as much as possible, and only have to be apart for each of our duties -- you with your work and me with my royal requirements. You could attend, as my date, as many of these obligations as you would like, or none at all if you’d prefer. Again, this is something my parents and grandmother have agreed to.”
I couldn’t believe how well he’d thought through everything and how considerate he was being of me and my career. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of us living together as I’d assumed that such a thing would be forbidden by his family, as obviously a decent percentage of the population was against living together before a couple were married. But I tried to think about everything objectively -- was what he was offering enough, would I be happy with a job I would no doubt get because I was the prince’s girlfriend? At this point, even getting a job at all with all the negative name recognition I was getting here in the U.S. sounded pretty good, so I removed that piece from consideration for the moment. Could I do it, could I be Alex’s real girlfriend and deal with everything that came with it? Could I move halfway across the world without knowing anyone but Alex and be happy?
As I ran through everything in my mind, I remembered that there was something I wanted to say to him as well, but never thought I’d get the chance.
“You know, I was wrong too -- I kept acting like you’ve had it so easy and that you have no idea how real life works. But that wasn’t fair, I was really oversimplifying things; your real life is incredibly hard. I can’t imagine growing up and living under the kind of scrutiny you’re under every day of your life. I don’t know how you did it and came out as normal and well-adjusted as you are.”
“‘Normal’ might be a stretch, but thank you. Credit for that goes directly to my parents, who always made sure my siblings and I had our heads screwed on straight. Thank you as well for your apology. I don’t think you would have lashed out at me the way you did if I’d came to you with a more reasonable offer, but I do appreciate your recognition of the difficulty of my position. Particularly because, if you agree to be with me, you’ll be living under that same degree of, if not worse, scrutiny. If we take this to the next level, all those things you were worried about getting out earlier -- those pub pictures, even you playing Cinderella in primary school -- will probably be discovered and splashed across all the magazines and newspapers.”
I tried to imagine it, but it was so far beyond my actual realm of experience that I couldn’t really even contemplate it. I’d had press following me for a few weeks and I’d hated it, but this would be so much more than that, this would be living all day, every day under a microscope, for potentially the rest of my life if things with Alex worked out.
“I know what you’re saying is true. And I have no idea how I will bear up under all that pressure, I don’t think a person can truly know until they’re in that situation. I could be a wreck. God knows, I’m a pretty private person and value my alone time very much. But all that is just details. What really matters is this: I love you. I want to be with you. And you love me and want to be with me enough to have responded to all of my concerns with reasonable, well-thought out solutions. So if we can figure out a way that we can be together and both remain who we are as individuals, then I’m all in. So yes, my answer to your question, to all of your questions, is yes.”
Alex grinned so largely that I was somewhat concerned it might hurt his face, but I’m sure my own smile was of a similar size. Before he could move to embrace me, I held up a finger. “I do have one change to your proposal though, if that’s all right?”
“Of course, what part didn’t you like?”
“Let’s not live here while I do my job search -- as much as it means to me that you would do that for me, it’s kind of silly to try to find a job from thousands of miles away when we could be right there. Let’s take a few weeks and visit my family so they can meet you and you can see where I grew up, go see Maggie and Jack’s place in Chicago, then head to London to start our new life together. The sooner I get searching, the sooner I’ll find a job -- I’m really excited to start working and get some experience. How does that sound?”
“Perfect, it sounds absolutely perfect. I love you, Charlie, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”
“I imagine it’s pretty similar to how I’m feeling right now, like my heart is going to explode?” He nodded. We both sat smiling at each other, then we both moved at the same time and we were kissing: short, fast kisses all over each other’s faces and then, when our mouths finally met again, deeper and slower kisses, kisses that held the promise of things to come. I crawled up onto his lap and put my knees on either side of his waist, wanting nothing more than to be close to him.
I finally got up and held out my hand to him, pulling him up in front of me. “Wanna see my bedroom?” I said, waggling my eyebrows suggestively.
“If that’s your chat up line, you might need some new material,” Alex said, loosely paraphrasing one of the very first things I’d ever said to him, that day we met on the beach.
“Actually, I’m hoping to never need another pick up line ever again,” I said with a smile.
“Me either.”