And inside my head?
My thoughts about Nik lingered with me still. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to see his face again and hear his voice and tell him that things were okay now, that I truly, finally understood it. But there was basically no way of doing that, considering he was constantly busy and I couldn’t just call up the palace and ask them to put him on. I tried to think, I needed some other channel of communication. I was going to have to get incredibly creative with it.
And then I remembered.
I ripped out paper and pen so quick that I very nearly knocked everything on my desk right over.
Dear Sonia…
I really wasn’t sure how to start this. Sonia had been our carrier pigeon once and completely bristled at the whole thing (I couldn’t blame her). This was different though, I needed her help. This was about plans.
Hey, so, this is a long story but I’m going to keep it super short. I had a weird epiphany. And—yeah okay, I’ll admit alcohol was involved and those are never really good realizations to chase but hear me out on this because I’m 100% sober now (trust me, the hangover is proof) and still think the same things. I know it might be kind of icky talking about feelings and relationships that have to do with your brother but I’m kind of desperate here. Some stuff happened before the coronation and I said we should just be friends and he was bummed but he gave me the space I wanted and I realized last night I don’t want space any more.
So, is there any way you could help me with a totally nuts and probably super illogical plan? I want to come out to Heledia for Christmas break but I want to surprise Nik. I have no way of getting in contact with him real time and I can’t exactly just tell my parents I’m casually going out there so I was wondering if you could invite me? I know this sounds super awful but I really want to get things right with your brother so I’m willing to come across as a little bit awful.
What do you think? Please get back to me asap, even if you want to tell me no.
--Isabel
I sealed the letter up fast and ripped the final stamp on my sheet and slapped it on the envelope. I meticulously wrote out the address and my own, not wanting to risk any chance of it being undeliverable. I wasn’t going to let the mailman screw up my chance at some future happily ever after.
I tried to get downstairs as quickly and gracefully as possible. Somehow I’d forgotten all about the inconveniences of the hangover and my feet managed not to fail me as I took several steps at a time. My parents looked up from their morning coffee but didn’t say a word as I rushed out to shove the letter in the mailbox and flip up the flag only minutes before the mail truck would be making its rounds. Once it was safely tucked into the mailbox, I let myself take a breath and enjoy the crisp, fall air.
Something about all this felt right, like it was going to work. Everything felt different than it had this time the day before. It was like New Years’ had come in the middle of the fall and it came only for me. This was a resolution and fulfilling a goal all in one. I couldn’t even think about the possibility of it not working because I was so convinced everything was going to go right. It all just felt that way as the sun was rising and cutting gold rays between houses.
I walked back into the house feeling more calm, and with a huge smile on my face.
“Exciting morning?” my father asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Just had to get something mailed out in time,” I shrugged and avoided my mom’s gaze which I could feel lingering on me as I poured myself cereal.
I sat there and dug into what was left of the Count Chocula while my dad complained about some political something. The entire time, my mom was trying to catch my eye and I avoided her like the plague with a smirk on my face I told her what she needed without bringing it up.
That was probably the best hangover morning anyone had ever had in the history of drinking. Not too bad for my first go at it.
Chapter 9
Sometimes in life, you have some crazy, weird, totally unbelievable plans. They seem great at the time and then end up being a total waste of energy when life and reality actually come back to hit you in the face and you realize everything you were dreaming of was kind of meant to remain a dream.
Turns out, this wasn’t one of those times.
I cringed a lot after sending that letter to Sonia. It looked like I was using her and, honestly, I kind of was, a little bit. But it was for a good cause all around. And somehow she recognized that because she got back to me quickly with a glowing response and a plan of her own.
“Sonia invited me to the palace at Heledia for the holidays,” I said, carefully, to my parents. Swinging my first holiday away from home, right before leaving the nest for college, maybe wasn’t the best timing but there was no backing down now. “She feels kind of lonely with her father gone and all…”
May the Lord forgive us for using Alexandru’s memory but somehow I didn’t think he’d mind. Besides, it was true. Sonia was very nervous about their first Christmas without her father. She said someone else there might distract everyone, and help everyone feel a little more natural, and little less sad. This was turning into a win-win, really.
“I know it’s a lot to ask,” I said. “With me about to leave for college in less than a year, but I think it would be really fun and really good for them and they asked me really, really nicely and I don’t want to say no.”
For extra points, I brought in the puppy dog eyes. My mom was pretty immune to them, but my dad was still the biggest sucker for it though, so it was worth the try.
They shared a look with each other. They did this a lot. They had a way of having full conversations with just gazes and eyebrow raises. It was actually pretty impressive and I could only hope my future spouse and I mastered that level of communication. When they were done their silent discussion they both turned back to look at me.
“We’ve got some conditions,” my father said and I tried not to squeal or give away I knew I was getting my way. “You call, every night, no matter what time it is here. I need check-ins.”
“Yes, sir.”
“No drinking, no matter what anyone says. And don’t think I won’t find out.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Okay.”
“You get all your homework done. That’s on you to finish, vacation or no vacation.”
“Okay…anything else?”
He thought for a minute before turning back, this time with a smile, and shook his head. That’s when I finally let the excitement out as I rushed forward to hug them both.
“Christmas day I expect a phone call,” my mom said. “And you still need to call your grandmother.”
“I will, I promise.”
When I told Jess and Jennifer they seemed to think I was a little bit insane. They said as much, quite plainly. But, ultimately, they didn’t think it was the worst idea, especially if it meant a free trip to the Mediterranean for Christmas. I told them it just meant they had to get me my Christmas presents early. Jess snorted and said it actually meant I had to get them kick-ass presents from Heledia.
Pete, for his part, didn’t understand the importance of any of it and for that I was actually kind of grateful. He was a boy which meant he would naturally just shut down the second feelings became involved. He was a good friend, for sure, but I told him I was visiting some childhood friends for the holiday and promised to get him a fancy postcard or a magnet or something. He shrugged and went back to chugging his chocolate milk.
The plane ride was longer than I ever remembered the trip being. They said it was only nine hours but it felt more like 15. Or just an entire, whole eternity of time between getting on the plane and finally getting close enough that the pilot started to lower the plane to the runway.
Sonia said she’d meet me at the airport with a driver and Nik had no idea any of it was happening. He’d been super grumpy lately. I didn’t stop sending him letters, because stopping completely would be suspicious and as tempting as it was to cause hi
m some last minute distress, I really couldn’t do that to him. Not now, anyway.
Sonia was there, with a black limo, and hugged me on sight.
“I know this is probably an elaborate plan to get in my brother’s pants—“
“Lovely.”
“But I am glad you’re here. This place would have been positively bleak without you. No one has been in a good mood.”
I rolled my eyes and shrugged and the driver picked up my bags and carried them to the trunk where he placed them before opening the door for us.
“Are you nervous at all?” Sonia asked.
“I wasn’t until you brought it up.”
“Happy holidays.”
We talked about school on the drive over. She was excited about me getting into NYU but still made one last push for some local schools around there. I stuck my tongue out and told her I’d think about it.
What I was really thinking about, the entire ride, was seeing Nik’s face again, hearing his voice, and not being consumed with anger and jealousy. We could finally get past everything and maybe find what we’d had in those seconds before the world went crazy and his father died. The boy I knew from childhood was the king, not the one who had tumbled out of nightclubs.
So I took a breath as we neared the palace and hoped this was the beginning of forever.
* * *
In movies, there will be two people who have crazy weird chemistry. When they haven’t seen each other in months, and then they see each other for the first time, it’s like there’s music playing. I always thought that stuff was just pure crap and the product of some weird Hollywood romanticism or whatever. Or Disney.
Well turns out, it actually can happen and you can be as internally embarrassed about it as you can imagine.
I knew somewhere Jess’s “make fun of Isabel” senses must be going off because I felt like a twelve-year-old school girl when I saw Nik standing in the dining room. His normal outfit of a Polo button-up was now matured a little with a dark, expensive looking sports coat. When he turned to face me, I swear to God, I heard a Taylor Swift song playing in my head. Which of course made me want to throw up, but that might have been because of something else too.
“Surprise?” I squeaked out and tried not to turn incredibly tomato red at how ridiculous I must look.
In my defense though, Nik was just kind of standing there with his mouth opening and closing like a fish. His bronze skin prevented blushes from really showing as bad as mine, but I was pretty sure he was blushing too.
“Hey,” I said, and gave a tiny little wave where my elbow was still attached to my hip.
Somewhere Sonia moved away from me and was ushering whoever else was in the room with us out. Honestly, it could be Stalin himself standing in that room, and the room could be on fire, and I wouldn’t have noticed a damn thing. The only thing in my sight was Nik with his wide eyes and gaping mouth, and I remembered everything about him that made him charming to me in the first place.
“Isabel?” he finally said, with a crack in his voice.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said. “I realize the whole surprise thing may not have been like the greatest idea? But, to be fair, you deserve it for that one time you showed up in DC unannounced. I’m spending the holidays with you, if that’s okay with you guys. Your sister seemed to think it was okay but I—“
At some point during this rambling he must have crossed the room and I didn’t even notice because suddenly he was right in front of me. His large, warm hands were gently cupping either side of my jaw and pulling in slightly, just enough to encourage me to move forward on my own. I saw all sorts of hesitation in his eyes and knew that if this was going to happen, I was going to have to be the one who sealed the deal.
So when I felt his hands stop pulling gently on my face, I pushed forward to lean in the rest of the way. Our lips met somewhere in the middle and everything was as soft as I remembered from that first, brief kiss. This one was a little more…involved. To be fair I’d never actually kissed anyone before. Except Nik, the once. Sure, I’d done the pucker up thing in middle school when everyone thought the most scandalous thing in the world was playing spin the bottle at a party. That was just literally pressing my lips onto Chase Atkins’ mouth for a few seconds and then pulling back.
This had like…movement. This kiss was like a thousand fireworks, and butterflies erupted in my stomach floating around so much I thought I might actually float away. This was everything those dumb movies and romance novels said it would be, and here I had thought they were totally full of crap.
I was the first to pull away when I remembered we were standing in the dining room of his family’s home, and I wasn’t sure I could exactly control my tongue for much longer if we kept it up. There was still the idea of propriety. Even if the paparazzi was nowhere near us, I still didn’t exactly want to have a full-on make out session with Nik in his dining room.
“So, we should talk,” I said, clearing my throat. His face suddenly paled and his eyes went wide again. “No, not like that. A good talk. I mean, I’m here, right? I kissed you? This is a good talk, I promise. Well…if you want it to be?”
His face softened and he started smiling in that familiar teasing way. I shoved his arm and he laughed, pulling me into a tight hug and I could smell his expensive cologne from Germany.
“I’ll talk about whatever you want,” he mumbled into my shoulder. “But, unfortunately, you caught me in the middle of a workday.”
I got sheepish and he only smiled more and gently pushed a strand of stray hair behind my ear.
“Believe me, I’m not complaining,” he said. “But our talk will have to wait until tonight, if that’s all right with you?”
“Yeah. Sure. Anything. Do what you gotta,” I stammered, and then wanted to smack myself clear in the face. I vowed I would, the next chance I got in private.
“Make yourself comfortable in whatever guest room my sister promised you. I’ll see you at dinner,” he said, leaning in and placing a soft kiss on my forehead before turning and walking away.
I don’t think I’d ever smiled so widely in my life. I was glad I was suddenly in a room by myself because I must have looked like an idiot and I may or may not have done a little happy dance. I’ll never tell Jess that, though. Eventually someone cleared their throat behind me and I did my best not to make eye contact with the valet carrying my bags up to my room.
* * *
I spent the day napping off the plane ride and entertaining myself with reading we were assigned over the holidays (because Mrs. Cochrane is the devil). It was both incredibly easy and totally impossible to distract myself. I buried my head in books or my pillow but it only lasted for ten minutes or so before I was smiling too much to concentrate or fall asleep.
This was exactly the type of girl I did not want to become. But at the same time, I couldn’t quite care. I was here, in Heledia. Nik had kissed me, and everything felt right in the world. And it was Christmas. What a win for team average girl from Washington, DC, huh?
Sometime late into the afternoon I’d fallen asleep again. I only knew it because suddenly I was waking up to the sound of someone knocking on my door, and I opened my eyes to the sun hovering just over the treetop horizon, threatening to set for the day. I was a little more tired than I had realized.
I yawned, stretched, and sat up. I stopped for two seconds to gauge my bed-ruffled hair in the mirror before opening the door. When I saw who it was, I immediately wished I had taken more time to fix said bedhead because Nik was standing right there, as clean, well dressed, and good smelling as ever.
He looked at me as though I was dressed for a five star restaurant, however. He beamed at me like he was straight out of a Lifetime movie. I was so screwed, but I could hardly care.
I was waiting for him to rush forward and lock me in some bruising, impassioned kiss that would make me see stars. Instead, he offered out a hand.
“I uh—I had dinner prepared. For us. Just for us,”
he said, clearing his throat between words a little too many times for his nervousness not to be adorable.
“Dinner, huh?”
“Yeah. Is that okay? I had them make that pasta dish you liked last time you were here, but I can ask them to make something else if you—“
I decided to cut him off with a kiss. It was pretty clear it was going to take a while for him to kiss me without an invitation. It was cute and gentlemanly and incredibly royal but I was also a teenage girl and had some occasional urges, kissing my childhood friend who had become hot and amazing as an adult was one of them.
He accepted it with a smile and a laugh though, which, unfortunately, broke the kiss but when we pulled back he was still gently holding my arms. I’d never had a boyfriend before now, and I couldn’t help but hope and pray that this was what it was like.
Did you call a king your boyfriend? Does a king have, like…girlfriends? What do they call it then? Paramour? Gross.
“Dinner then?”
“Shouldn’t I make myself, um, presentable?”
“You’re lovely.”
“Don’t flatter. I’m going to put on clothes that haven’t been through the last 18 hours with me. Just give me a second or two.”
“I’ll be here.”
By “get changed” I really meant “manage some kind of instant makeover in a matter of five minutes.” I put on some much nicer clothes (which Jennifer had let me borrow) and very carefully slapped on as much make up as I could, as fast as I could without poking my eye out with the mascara brush or smudging everything into a bigger mess.
When I opened the door he just smiled as if nothing had changed. Okay, he was good.
He offered up the crook of his elbow and I took it without question. We walked quietly down to dinner together and, like so many things in all this, it felt like a movie. Except it was ten times better than a movie ever could be. This was exactly what I was hoping for all those nights when I had wished he’d stop acting like a boy. This was what I imagined and who I imagined it with.
Letters from a Prince: The Royals of Heledia (Book 1) Page 14
