Princess Charming: A Sweet Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  I wheeled around on him. He was walking up with a cocky grin on his face. “I can’t believe it! That hot piece you were with is royalty? What the hell is she doing with you?”

  I seethed. Apparently meeting him in the arcade yesterday wasn’t enough to get him off my back. Other people were gathering around and I could see them giggling as the news spread. Pretty soon everybody was going to have their faces buried in their phones looking at pictures of me making out with royalty.

  And more than anything I was mad. How dare they? This was my love life and they were acting like it was juicy gossip. I was sick of it. It’d been like this ever since I dumped Colin. As though me coming out was only important in the context of me dumping his ass.

  “Colin, go fuck yourself,” I said.

  “Hey, that’s not very nice. After all, when this girl dumps you you’ll want to come crying back to me…”

  That was it. I couldn’t take it any longer. I was tired of his bullshit, and I figured this was going to be my last chance to do something about it. I took a step forward and pressed my finger against his chest, sending him stumbling back a couple of steps. His eyes went wide and then narrowed.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing you bitch?” he shouted.

  “You’ve been trying your best to make me miserable ever since I broke up with you,” I said in a voice that was maybe loud enough that it carried just a bit, but I didn’t care. “I broke up with you because I realized I don’t like guys and I wanted to be fair, but you’ve been nothing but a jerk to me ever since! I do you a favor and this is how you repay me?”

  “But I…”

  “Yeah, whatever. I’m sure you’re going to try and lord it up next year. Big man on campus with all the underclassmen band girls who think you’re a god or something, right?”

  His mouth worked but he didn’t say anything. The look of irritation that flashed on his face was enough to tell me that’s exactly what he was thinking about.

  “Well I’d sure like to see how many of them want to get with you when they hear you insisted I pay for myself on every date, or that you kisses feel like a wet vacuum cleaner attachment, and let’s not forget how much you’re obviously compensating for your shortcomings down there. I was never really into that, but that might be a problem with your next girlfriend if she’s actually into guys.”

  I stopped and the anger faded somewhat. I couldn’t believe I’d actually said all that. Colin looked more pissed off than ever. Girls around us were giggling, no doubt about the shortcomings comment. It had been totally true, even if it was a harsh truth. Colin took a step forward, and then Fredericks was there between us.

  “What is going on here? You are not living up to the reputation of this school!”

  “Sorry Mr. Fredericks,” I said.

  “Colin was being a dick again,” Sarah said. “Doing his usual stuff. He can’t come to terms with the fact that she dumped him.”

  I was thankful Sarah didn’t mention the whole making out with a princess thing. I had enough to deal with what with Colin acting like an ass without adding the complications from Amelia into the mix.

  Mr. Fredericks looked between the two of us for a moment. Then to my surprise he winked at me. What the heck? He turned back to Colin.

  “Well, Colin. I’m afraid that since she’s graduated and we’re done with the parade there isn’t much I can do to Dani. Never mind that it sounds like she was completely justified.”

  Fredericks reached out and put a hand on Colin’s shoulder. Colin actually buckled just a little. I wondered how hard Fredericks was gripping him.

  “You, on the other hand, are going to come with me and we’ll spend the afternoon talking about the value of showing proper respect. To everyone.”

  He turned and nodded to me before dragging Colin off.

  “Damn,” Sarah said.

  “I know. I didn’t think Fredericks would do that.”

  “What? I’m talking about you making out with a princess! It’s everywhere! I’m your best friend! Why am I learning about this from the Internet?”

  “You’re finding out from the Internet because I knew this is how you’d react,” I said.

  “What are you talking about? I’m not overreacting or anything!”

  I sighed and rolled my eyes.

  “Go make out with Devon on the Princess Cruise. It’s as fun as it looks like in those pictures,” I said. “Actually, I think I might join you on the walk over there if you don’t mind.”

  “No problem. Do we get to meet your princess?”

  “Not a chance,” I said with a grin to try and remove some of the sting from my words.

  I pulled up my messages and dashed off a quick message to Amelia telling her to meet me in front of the Princess Cruise. That was where the magic had happened, after all. It seemed like as good a place as any to meet and hash all the craziness that had happened in the past couple of days.

  I just hoped she could sneak away long enough. She’d been surrounded by a lot of people when she was up there on that stand. She’d even had an actress portraying Princess Reina sitting next to her! I was jealous. I’d have to wait in line for hours to get a chance to meet one of the princesses like that and she got to sit next to one for an entire parade. Talk about lucky.

  We reached the Princess Cruise about ten minutes later and I looked around with my body tingling all over. I was about to see Amelia. The real Amelia. No more secrets between the two of us. It seemed crazy that there would be any secrets to begin with considering what we’d shared, but now we were completely open.

  I couldn’t wait to hear her side of everything that had happened in the past couple of days. I’m sure it was wild.

  “Dani?”

  I froze in place. Sarah grinned and then pulled Devon a short ways away from me. That was her. I didn’t know how to react. This was Amelia, but it was princess Amelia. Would things be different between us now that she knew that I knew who she was? Would she treat me differently?

  I turned and it was the same Amelia, though there was an older woman who was obviously security standing behind her which was a change from the past few days. She stood there in shorts and a T-shirt and she had that same beaming smile on her face that I’d fallen in love with over the past two days. Though she seemed uncertain as well. Maybe she thought I’d react differently now that I knew who she was?

  There wasn’t a chance of that happening. This was Amelia. That’s all that mattered. She could be an alien from another world and I’d still feel the way I did.

  I walked over and wrapped her in a huge hug. Then I pulled away and gave her a kiss. When I pulled back she smiled, but she was searching my eyes.

  “I was worried you might react differently,” she said.

  “Why would I do that? You’re the same person I fell for yesterday, right? The same person I made out with at the Princess Cruise?”

  Amelia blushed. “Well yeah, but people tend to overreact when they hear about the whole princess thing.”

  I leaned in and kissed her again. “You don’t have to worry about any of that with me. You’re Amelia. That’s all I care about. I can’t stop thinking about you, and this doesn’t change a thing.”

  I giggled and I was about to lean in for another kiss when a commanding voice boomed out.

  “Step away from the princess!”

  I turned and stared. And took a step away from the princess when I saw what was waiting for me. It went against every instinct I had to step away from Amelia like that, but there was something compelling about a command that came from a group of suited sunglasses wearing security types who were all holding out guns and pointing them at me. Not a pleasant experience at all.

  Things fell apart pretty rapidly after that. Instinctively I put my hands in the air.

  “I’m back! I’m back! Don’t shoot!”

  People around us were filming. I was sure this was going to be all over the Internet by the end of the day. Great. My first vi
ral video and it was going to be a shot of me being held up by some sort of international security types trying to protect me from the princess of Allora. My parents were going to have kittens when they found out. Mr. Fredericks was going to throw a fit. He might kill me before the guards got a chance to if the school and band name leaked out with the video.

  “Felix? What are you doing?” Amelia screeched.

  The man with the booming voice stepped forward towards me, but he spoke to Amelia as he did. “Protecting you, your highness, and doing what your father would want.”

  He reached me and held out handcuffs. “If you would please turn around?”

  I stared up at him and felt a bit of the fire I did earlier when I was with Colin. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m head of security for the princess’s protective detail and…”

  “And you will not cuff that girl,” another voice said. It was the woman who’d been standing behind Amelia. This was turning into a royal clusterfuck. “How dare you, Felix!”

  “Men, take her into custody. You’ve assisted the princess in escaping twice now.”

  “And I did it under authority from the king! You can’t arrest me and you know it. You aren’t law enforcement here in the United States!”

  The guy pushed his handcuffs out towards me again. All around us people were still filming. And it suddenly occurred to me that maybe my best chance of getting out of this would be to ham it up for the cameras.

  “Yeah! You can’t arrest me! I’m a U.S. citizen!”

  Normally people who made those sorts of “am I being detained officer?” videos were annoying, but I figured it would be my quickest way out of this. Not that it stopped him from slapping cuffs on me even as Royal Realms security showed up and the obvious head of their unit started arguing with Amelia’s bodyguards.

  Not that any of that mattered to me. I was bundled into the back of a golf cart that tore off into the park. Damn it. So much for resisting an unlawful arrest. I really hoped Amelia could come up with some way to get me out of this, because things were not looking good.

  24: Amelia

  “I can’t believe you would do this Felix! You can’t do this to me!”

  We were rolling through the park on a golf cart. I could see Dani and Renata on a cart behind us being carried along as well. Flashing yellow lights and an annoying siren helped us to get through the crowds. Probably a good thing, too. Felix had done a bit of a smash and grab back there, and it seemed park security wasn’t very happy with him for doing it.

  “Your father is back at the resort, and I can assure you once he knows everything he’ll be more than happy with what I’ve done. I can’t believe you, getting up to the same thing here that you were doing back home. The same thing that got you in trouble in the first place!”

  “I couldn’t help it! That photographer snuck in. He snuck through your security! You’re the one at fault here, not me! I can’t help it assholes like that want to document every waking hour of my life and use it to sell advertising!”

  “Please, princess. My security people never fail,” he said with an unpleasant smile.

  “Well they sure as hell failed that night. I mean the guy was in there snapping pictures… of…”

  Suddenly the meaning behind that smile hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “You let him in, didn’t you? Why?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, princess,” he said. “All I know is that your father wants to continue keeping a tight rein on you after that incident, and I intend to do just that.”

  “Is that what this is about? Job security? What, I’m a grown woman and now you’re out of a job? You prick!”

  “I’m just doing my job, highness,” he said, still sounding as weaselly as ever.

  “Doing your job? You just had your men point their guns at a foreigner in her own country, ignored local law enforcement, took her prisoner against her will, and it was all caught on tape! I think they call that threatening assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping over here, though admittedly my knowledge of the U.S. legal system mostly comes from Hollywood.”

  “And that’s why you should sit back and let the adults do the worrying, highness,” he said. “I can assure you that your father would approve of what I’ve done here. You’ve assured that by acting so out of control over the years.”

  He might sound confident, but for a moment he looked uncomfortable. Yeah, Felix might have finally bit off a little more than he could chew, and he may have very well sparked one hell of a public and viral international incident in the process. Now instead of headlines about my visit to tour the park it would be headlines about a crazy security guy pulling his gun on an American citizen and arresting her without the authority to do so. I’m sure that would go over really well with the Yanks.

  It seemed like the conversation was over for the moment. I crossed my arms and stayed quiet for the trip back to the front. As I was bundled onto an SUV like I was some package. As we pulled up to the resort and I was led back to my room.

  I had time to do some thinking during that trip. Felix was right, in a way. I’d been good about pushing father’s buttons over the years, though usually it was in reaction to what Felix was doing rather than what father was doing. Yet father always took Felix’s side. It was endlessly frustrating. It was enough to make me want to scream.

  I’d tried turning over a new leaf, though, and it had worked. Sort of. At least father had listened to me, which was a lot more than he’d done in the past. Maybe I needed to try that again.

  We stepped into my room and there he was, though thankfully mother was nowhere in sight. Father smiled and moved across the suite. He wrapped me in a huge bear hug and set me down. Okay. Not the sort of reaction I expected from a man who was annoyed with me.

  “Amelia, so good to see you,” he said.

  “I wish I could say the same, father,” I said, though I kept my voice neutral. Level. I didn’t want to sound like a petulant child. I was an adult here, talking to him as an adult.

  He frowned and looked to Felix.

  “What are you talking about? Felix said he’d bring you to me as soon as I arrived at the park. Is something wrong?”

  “I’m afraid there is, highness,” Felix said, stepping forward and making a small bow. It wasn’t strictly necessary, we weren’t big on bowing in Allora, but it seemed perfectly in character for this slime. “I’m afraid that your daughter snuck away. Again. To see a girl in the park. I knew you’d want me to put an end to that sort of unseemly behavior.”

  I turned and stared at Felix, my mouth hanging open. “Is that what this is all about? That it’s a girl?”

  Felix looked at me and his eyes flashed. I snapped my mouth shut. I was talking without thinking. That was the sort of thing that got me in trouble, and the last thing I needed right now was to shoot my mouth off and get in trouble.

  “I’m sorry father. What I mean to say is Felix isn’t being entirely truthful about what happened in the park today,” I said.

  “Amelia, what are you talking about? Where is Renata? Felix, bring me Renata.”

  “You know Renata?” I asked.

  Father looked down at me and smiled. “Of course I do. I hired her personally and she’s been on my security detail for about a year now, mostly when I’m on official business so you wouldn’t see her. I asked her to come along on this trip as a personal favor for me. To look into a few things.”

  He pointedly looked at Felix as he said that, and Felix looked nervous once more. Meanwhile I was, once more, stuck with the feeling that I was very out of the loop here. Renata worked for him? I recalled a couple of times when she acted like Felix wouldn’t be an issue. A comment about having friends in high places. That made sense if her friend in a high place was none other than the king. She’d been working directly for father this entire time?

  “Renata is occupied,” Felix said. “I’m sure I can…”

  “But I’m sure you can’t
,” father said. “Where is Renata? You knew she was here under my orders.”

  “He had her arrested,” I said.

  Father looked confused for a moment. “Arrested? By the Americans? Where did they take her? I need to go to get this sorted out. What did she do?”

  “She tried to stop Felix when he went after Amelia,” a voice said from the entrance. Felix turned and rolled his eyes. Renata stepped into the room, still in handcuffs. I wasn’t sure if she did that on purpose, but I had to give it to her. That certainly made for a dramatic entrance.

  “Renata? Why are you in handcuffs?” father asked.

  “Because Felix arrested her today. He also had a bunch of his security people draw their guns on a girl I’ve been seeing. Said he was arresting her too and carted her off while Royal Realms security screamed at us.”

  Father balled his hand into a fist and turned to Felix. “Is this true?”

  “Turn on the television,” Renata said. “It’s probably all over the news at this point. You know how much the Americans love their cable news.”

  Father didn’t say anything, but the look on his face communicated volumes. He walked over to pick up the remote. Flipped the television on and went past all the channels dedicated to telling people about how wonderful Royal Realms was. He continued flipping until he hit a news channel, and sure enough there was shaky footage of Dani being “arrested” while Renata and I screamed at Felix along with several news tickers along the bottom talking about an Alloran invasion.

  Father flipped to several other channels and the story was the same on all of them. All of them were talking about foreigners kidnapping Americans in the biggest amusement park in the country. None of them seemed particularly happy about it, with some of the more crazy channels saying this was tantamount to terrorism and an all out declaration of war and the more levelheaded channels going on about how this was going to be damaging to relations between the two countries on the verge of what was supposed to be a friendly state visit from the royal family.