Author's Note: Hi All!!! I hope you enjoy, please remember to vote and comment - I would love to know what you think about the story so far! Is Prince Alexander mysterious?
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The Prince of Luxembourg stands in front of me. His posture is impeccable. I feel slouched, just looking at him. He towers over me, suddenly I realize how tall and built he was. I felt small next to him — his shoulders pulled back, prim and proper as I would expect from a Prince.
In the sunlight, he is absolutely captivating, there is a touch of green in his eyes I've never noticed until the light kisses them perfectly. "Prince Alexander" it's the only thing that leaves my lips.
"I thought I told you already, it's Alex."
"Why are you here?"
"Well, since you clearly didn't know how to get here, I highly doubt you'd know how to get back home. I'm just playing my part as a good samaritan" there's that obnoxious grin again.
"There's Google Maps for a reason," I say between my gritted teeth as I walk past him. But with each step I took, I hear the sole of his shoes grazing the cement ground.
A snicker escapes him, "you say that like it did you a favor before the interview."
A heavy sigh leaves me, I turn to face him — "seriously, don't you have some dragon slaying, princess saving thing to do?"
He presses his lips together, "hm, Honey. I don't know if you're aware, but we're living in the 21st century where women can fend for themselves, and dragons don't exist."
I'm only realizing now that we were in public and this man was just walking around nonchalant without a care for the world, my eyes shifted around. The last thing I want to be involved with is the tabloids. I can already imagine it;
Prince Alexander was seen with a commoner!
I can't help but wonder what Jessica's reaction would be. Even Henry's, he hates the whole idea of the Monarchy. I'd be a trader to both.
"Someone is going to see you," I warned.
"Relax, Honey, no one is here... you choose to work in a cafe that's hidden in the middle of nowhere, which, to be honest, I don't know if it's the brightest idea."
What was that supposed to mean?
"Given the fact that there can be murderers or rapists in these little alleyways, God knows you love to chase them down."
My blood boils, I can feel my face heat up again, "Seriously? Your Royal Highness, when are you going to let that go? It was just a stupid mistake."
"When you stop acting like it was nothing, because Honey, that was the most absurd thing I've seen someone do. And it's Alex," he reminded me for the third time, it seemed to genuinely bother him when I used such formalities.
"Ellie, I prefer Ellie" if he was going to make demands about how I should address him, I thought it was fair he calls me by my name, not some demonic animal that bites the testicles of their prey.
"Well, Ellie. Get in the car," he demanded. I'll give him a piece of my mind, just because he rules this country doesn't mean I have to follow his orders. My eyebrows are stitched together, he doesn't give me a chance to respond.
His tone is serious, and his expression soft. "This is your chance, Ellie. You want to be heard, I'm listening..." His lips are pursed together, his gaze doesn't leave me. His words stick to me, he wasn't teasing or fooling around. The words that were said to him the first time we met were from the heart. Someone needed to listen, change was needed. My voice may be inconsequential to many, but if someone as influential as Prince Alexander is listening, then there may be a chance. How does one pass up a chance to be heard?
"Whatever you say will stay here... no judgment or treason," he breaks the silence, teasing me. My clammy, fidgeting hands must have made it obvious to him. We were sitting in the unmoving car for over 10 minutes, it was starting to get uncomfortable. His eyes were piercing into what felt like my soul.
I find myself hesitating to find the right words, I didn't want to sound offensive. As much as I hated to admit it, he has helped me in many different ways, I almost feel bad bringing all of it up to him.
"Seriously, it's fine. I'm asking you to tell me what you feel. No filters... just act as if I'm a stranger. You're just trying to express your views that day," he doesn't smile, but he does give me a sincere look, waiting for me to speak up.
"Figureheads should be voted and earned, not born into it..." I finally say. He doesn't flinch from my words. Prince Alexander nods, encouraging me to continue with his cleanly shaven chin resting on his hand.
"The Monarchy is an oppressed and backward view of society. It's such an antiquated concept that boggles my mind" I pause a moment to wait for his reaction, but his gaze doesn't leave me as I complain essentially about him. He was composed, it was impossible to know what he was thinking. It makes me wonder if he goes through specific training on how to put on his best poker face in public.
"I can understand admiration for a celebrity more than the royal family. They have talent, they've worked hard to earn their place to be loved. But when there is admiration for someone for just existing?" I shake my head in disappointment.
"The media eats up the royal family like candy. It's like a diversion to all the real issues of this world. Seriously, you know there's a fire in Alaska, right? Next to an iceberg. Yes, it happens — but not at the rate that it's been in just this year alone." I emphasize.
"No one is talking about the people on the streets, the suffering youths, and the average family that are struggling." My voice breaks, exhausted from this world.
My body inches closer, my head tilts up to meet his gaze. "Instead, they concentrate on whose face The Prince of Luxembourg is sucking off last night" it was those words that I could have sworn caused a flicker in his eyes, but he remains still; passive.
"I know it's unfair for me to say, but I think that if you're born into power, then the least you can do is educate the world. Use that authority to spread the word." A heavy breath leaves my body as if I've lifted a weight off my shoulders.
"It infuriates me to no end, that we can be producing lab-grown meat to consume, yet we must bow and kneel to a man who bleeds the same way I do. A knife goes through you the same way it would through me. So why do we kneel before you like a man-made of steel?" I ask an empty question, one I wouldn't expect an answer to.
"Tax exemption for people who are already privileged, to only drive those already on the brink of poverty into it." I find myself laughing softly at the atrocity that is the society we live in. Prince Alexander is somber and quiet, it makes me nervous. Maybe I shouldn't have listened to him and just kept these words to myself. It's a heavy burden for one person. After all, he didn't seem like the villain I thought he'd be.
"Thank you," I breathe out.
"For listening... for everything that night... and today," even without looking at him, my heart races at the thought of his expressionless face.
"I don't want you to think that I'm Miss Justice here, I'm just a regular girl who is just ranting. Honestly, I am probably a bit hypocritical. It's not like I've done anything to make changes. All I've done to help this world is recycled. I'm just telling you my thoughts, that's it—" my anxiety and social awkwardness make me ramble. I only stopped when his lips curved into a smile, pleased to witness the disaster that is me.
The car finally moved when he asked me where I lived. Hesitantly, I told him. Telling a stranger where you lived sounded stupid, but I'm starting to wonder if he was even a stranger to me anymore. Prince Alexander seems more like an acquaintance.
"I should start talking to people who loathe me," he says between a low chuckle.
"I don't loathe you. That's a strong word."
"It's not a bad thing, Ellie. You're the first person to speak to me as a human being, not some fucking God" it was in that moment that I can emphasize with him, he must have been suffering in his own ways. Prince Alexander always has a robust hard expression shadowing his features, but there's been a vulnerable side I've seen slivers of. A man who needed a friend, as much as I did this past week.
"It's refreshing, you know?" He looks at me with those smoldering eyes, and I can't help but just nod silently.
"I know you don't feel like you're making a difference, but I can assure you that whatever you said that day, and whatever you've said now is already more than what 95% of people would do. You got me to listen." He leans in closer to me, his eyes penetrating mine. I could feel his body heat next to me when his thighs were slightly touching mine. There is an intoxicating scent that he gives off, a woodsy aromatic sweetness that I couldn't pinpoint.
His teeth are perfectly aligned and pearly white when he smiles. His gaze dropped from me to my hands, fidgeting on the hem of my shirt. He clears his throat. I assumed he took notice of my distress and moved back.
"How are you holding up?" He asks, changing the subject, my one eyebrow raised not understanding his question, "you were pretty traumatized that night. Rightfully so, of course."
"Ah," it clicked into what he was talking about. To be honest, I was happy to hear someone ask me about that night. It was a reminder that it wasn't just all in my head, that ordeal was very much real. I couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh of relief. I can accept what had happened that night, I didn't have to shove it somewhere and leave it there. Because deep down, it was still harrowing.
Prince Alexander is patient with me, he allows me to stay quiet and gather up all my words to answer him. Allowing me to reflect my true feelings, how I'm handling everything that happened that night. For a good ten minutes, I'm speechless, focusing on my twiddling thumbs. He doesn't mind.
"Better than I thought," I finally answered, honest about my feelings.
He doesn't look at me; his focus was on the moving trucks and cars as we blend into traffic from the secluded road we were once in, amidst and lost between tall standing luxurious black and grey buildings. There is a mix of modern and timeworn architecture within the same view - it was breathtaking, always leaving me awestruck; how different one city can be from another.
"You're lucky I spotted you. You do have an idea of how preposterous it is for you to do what you did, right?" He doesn't look at me when he asks a rhetorical question.
"Yes, and I've thanked you."
He rolls his eyes, an exasperated sigh leaves him, annoyed, "I'm not bringing this up to get a pat on the back, Ellie." He leans closer to me once again, "something awful could've happened. I just think the world can't afford to lose more people like you,"
I'm finding it hard to breathe, unable to move. It was embarrassing how hypnotized I can be from the way he looks at me. My heart races and my face is heated when I find myself unable to look away from his bewitching features that I once believed were humanly impossible.
"Seriously, Honey badgers are on the brink of extinction" he nudges me, but I'm still shell shocked by how close he is that I cannot gather myself to speak up. I manage to roll my eyes, hoping he doesn't realize how affected I am by him. The Prince doesn't need a bigger Ego than he already has.
"I had nightmares for a while, I hated the dark and stopped drinking alcohol" I confessed, it felt good to say it out loud.
"I kept thinking about what could've happened. Every time I thought about it, it made me sick," my voice was low, weaker than I wanted, it kept breaking when I relived that night. I tried my best to get over it to move on. But for the longest time, I was in a very dark place. I didn't know if I would ever make it out. Even when those nightmares infrequently occurred, in the back of my mind, it kept replaying the 'what if's.'
"I..." my lips are trembling, "Thank you... I don't know what would be left of me if you weren't there that night. I'm sorry Your Royal Highness, it's just—,"
"For fucks' sakes, Ellie. It's Alex," for the fourth time, he reminds me, exhausted. I didn't know whether it was from the fact that I kept ignoring his request to call him informally or because he's listening to my rambling, but his hand runs through his black hair, bothered.
Heartwarming — if that's the right term, it was a treat to see a man who's supposed to not show any sort of emotion go through a multitude from the first day I met him.
From anger, irritation, amusement, and annoyance. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel slightly honored to have witnessed the fragments of emotions.
Everything around us stood still, the busy scene from our windows was now silent, not a car or pedestrian around. The chauffeur stopped at the end of the street from the apartment, tucked away, almost to avoid being noticed. It was a good idea, considering a Rolls Royce driving around this area would attract attention. The chauffeur knew how to get the Prince around unrecognized when needed.
The realization that we had arrived at my apartment seemed to disappoint Alex more than me. Even without him saying it, the way his eyes cast on me under his thick lashes made me pity him. He looks at me silently; it reminds me of a lost puppy who needs saving from being homeless. In Alex's case, solitary confinement.
"Did you want to come in?" It sounded odd when the words left my lips, asking the Prince to visit my flat; that's probably the size of his shower, but the light in his eyes made it all worthwhile.
I can't grasp anything that happened these past few months. It doesn't feel real, but here I was inviting Alex over.
Perhaps he wasn't just an acquaintance, maybe this was the start of a unique friendship between two lonesome strangers looking for companionship.
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