here is the next chapter. :D the song in chapter 5 was Breath by Breaking Benjamin
Yeah here we go for the hundred time
Hand grenade pins in every line
Throw 'em up and let something shine
Going out of my fucking mind
Filthy mouth, no excuse
Find a new place to hang this noose
String me up from atop these roofs
Knot it tight so I won't get loose
Truth is you can stop and stare
Run myself out and no one cares
Dug a trench out, laid down there
With a shovel up out of reach somewhere
Yeah someone pour it in
Make it a dirt dance floor again
Say your prayers and stomp it out
When they bring that chorus in
This was the most nerve wrecking thing I had ever done in my entire life. I had done some scary things before; like the time I met up with Elli, or the moment I set myself up to practically die.
I still thank Sam for showing up from time to time.
Point is, this press conference was horrifying me. We had gotten my hair cut, but this time, it wasn't cut into awesome, sharp layers or anything. It was styled to look fashionable, proper. And the natural curls even made that more realistic.
Jessie had picked out my dress too. She did her best to pick something at least a little like what I would normally wear, and she did pretty good, surprisingly enough.
It came about an inch above my knee, and it was white. The strapless, cute, sweetheart cut that covered everything it needed to was fine. But, the flowers that started on the right side of the chest and curled down through the middle and underneath the chest part, curling to the back? No.
It was "fashionable," though. That was certain.
I was also, unfortunately, forced to wear stilettos. It was gonna be interesting, but I was pretty sure I would be able to manage.
Seth almost died when I got to his room. "Wow, Ari. That dress is, um...yeah. It looks good on you, but it's just...not you."
"No," I agreed brightly. "And neither are these heels, but, you know what? That's okay. We should go, though. Jessie said we should be early."
He nodded. "Yeah. I know. That's Jessie for you."
I smiled. "So, how'd it got with your grandfather?"
"Ugh," he groaned quietly as one of his arms wrapped around me to pull me closer to him. "It was extremely uncomfortable. Just the two of us. He tried talking about what happened, and I just...it wasn't fun. He then asked me what you thought about all of it, how you reacted. Stuff like that. I told him I didn't wanna talk about that, but...he persisted. Apparently the reactions weren't good enough? You were supportive, not politically correct. This is exactly why I didn't wanna come here."
"Seth, we can still go home," I reminded him. "Just call it off and head home. Sure, people will know, but you know what? So what? I say the two of us go to Vegas, get hitched, then instead go to Paris for our honeymoon. Sam and Alex can take over the wedding festivities here."
He chuckled softly and kissed my forehead. "Sorry, love, but I don't think it works that way. In a perfect world, that would work, but it's not. This is reality. We'll just suffer through. Only nine more days. We can handle it together. I mean, we won't see each other much, but we'll manage, and then we'll never have to leave each other again."
"This is true."
We got down to the conference room, where all kinds of people were already set up with their cameras ready to snap pictures. At this point, my arm was locked in Seth's in the "proper" way to walk as a couple. When I saw Roxy sitting in the back of the room, I struggled greatly to put on my happy face and pretend I didn't even know who she was.
I sure as hell was not about to pretend to like her.
We sat down beside Jessie and their grandfather, who didn't look very pleased to see me anymore. But, I really didn't care right now.
Right now, the bright, blinding flashes made it really hard to focus on much. At this point, everything was getting really blurry and crazy. It was like I was looking around, seeing blurs of people and blurs of the room, but I couldn't focus on anything. People were shouting, talking, asking me questions...but I just couldn't understand.
And my head was throbbing, my heart pounding slowly in my chest. Breathing was becoming a struggle—a painful struggle.
Seth's hand encouragingly squeezed mine under the table, and as I looked up at him, I found his face to be the only thing my eyes would let me focus on, the only thing that left me able to breathe and stay alive, it seemed.
Wow.
Jessie cleared her throat. "Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming out today. We will begin your questions now."
Hearing everyone shout mine and Seth's name, all at once, brought me back to that terrifying state, but I forced myself out of it and back to reality as Jessie picked the first reporter, the one talking to Seth.
"Prince Seth," she said gently, giving him a kind smile. "Where have you been these past four years?"
"Um, I've been living in the United States," he answered bluntly, something they all knew. "I've been living as just a normal kid in Montana, playing football, suffering through high school…not really much more to say than that."
"Why did you keep your family a secret?" another reporter spoke up.
"Like I said, I just wanted to be a normal guy when I got to the U.S.," he said truthfully. "I didn't want friends because of who my family is, for false reasons. I just wanted to fit in unnoticed."
She wasn't pleased with that answer, so she continued on. "Why did you leave England to begin with?"
"Personal reasons," he firmly decided, after putting up a guard around his true emotions. I could see through it, though, and I knew he would definitely need me afterwards. "I, uh, I was just tired of living in a world where there were no problems. I mean, I sound selfish to say this, but I was getting bored here. Things happened, and I just decided to move on and put this behind me."
"Why come back now?" a man asked curiously.
"Well, I thought long and hard about this," he informed all of them. "A part of me honestly didn't want to do this. But, well, I met this girl sitting here beside me, and I just...fell in love, honestly. We got engaged, and I realized that I had a past that I couldn't just ignore. It had to be brought up sometime, so we decided that now was better than later."
Although now…we were both regretting that.
"Miss Lawrence," the first woman spoke to me, for the first time. "How did you react when Prince Seth told you of his past?"
I smiled softly as I let out a small, nervous laugh. "Well, to be honest, I really didn't react the way normal people would. I mean, it didn't change anything. I still love him for who he is, not what he is. I just kinda nodded and said, 'Okay, so you're my Prince Charming in more than one way. Awesome.' I didn't freak out or make a big deal about it. Just accepted it and continued on."
Wow. No nervous stuttering? Public speaking has never been my thing, but I can do it now? Okay!
"A lot of people have questions about your past," a completely new man spoke up, a man with big glasses and almost no hair. Big belly too. "Where did you originate from?"
"I was born in Birmingham, Alabama," I answered truthfully. My past was a very scary thing to talk about, because of all the moving and stuff...people might...
Oh no.
I began to panic suddenly as it hit me, finally, something none of us stopped to think about. My past was gonna be resurfaced. People were gonna know that I'm not normal. They were gonna find out about me and my family.
And I would be the one to blame when stuff happened with my family.
I began to breathe heavily as I froze there, unable to continue on with further explanation. I knew he wanted more, but I answered the question, so he couldn't get upset or anything.
"How long have you two known each other?" another woman asked curiously.
Seth looked down to me for a second with a careful glance. "You okay?"
I shook my head, but looked over to the woman anyway. I wasn't sure how to answer, because on paper, we looked really stupid. Without full explanation and truly getting to know us, we seemed stupid.
We met in August. It's the beginning of December. I don't know about you, but that seems pretty irresponsible to me.
"Um, well, we actually met in August," Seth answered honestly, which actually did surprise me. "It sounds completely ridiculous that we're getting married so quickly, possibly even looks bad? I don't know. But, when you meet the right person, you just know. You just bond with them so quickly that it really doesn't seem so sudden. It's just right sometimes, and I really can't just explain to you in words why we decided to do this other than it's right."
I let out a sigh of relief as more questions popped up.
"Is she pregnant?"
I decided to be very careful how quickly or slowly I answered, because too quickly would sound like we're covering it up. Too slowly would sound like I wasn't certain. So, after a brief second, I shook my head. "No, ma'am."
"That isn't even a possibility," Seth assured everyone. "I was raised better. Not only because that would look bad on my family, but also because waiting is the right thing to do. That's something you're only supposed to share with your spouse. Trust me. I am very adamant on that belief."
"My question is for Princess Jessica," a woman spoke up.
After that, I tuned her out and looked up at Seth. "There's something urgent we didn't think about, Seth."
"What's that?" he asked quickly. "Do we need to get out of here?"
"It's too late, I think," I murmured. "But, Seth, my past...they're gonna find out about my family secret. It's not...I'm just worried, and so mad at myself for not thinking about this earlier. After this is all over, our location will be compromised, and it'll be all my fault. My family's now in danger. Because of me."
"Ari, baby, they knew where you guys were already," he reminded me gently. "And we'll prepare for that, okay? It had to happen anyways. Like Sam said, we have to avenge Elli. But first, I have to become one of you guys and get ready. As soon as this is over, we'll start training me, and we'll take them down. Together."
I smiled brightly at him and only faintly heard a woman ask me, "Miss Lawrence, what kind of home did you grow up in?"
I turned to face her with a smile. "Well, my family never struggled for money. I've had a very fortunate, happy life. We didn't struggle, and we were a loving, happy family. It sounds crazy and unrealistic, but it's how things were. I'm very, very blessed."
"What did your parents think when they met Prince Seth?"
I laughed a little. "Well, Daddy didn't like his little girl growing up, but they loved him. Still do. All of my family does, really."
"This is just a mere question," a woman whose appearance only stood out to me because of her red hair and facial features almost exactly like Roxy's. "There are some very, um, in a word, questionable pictures of you online. Can you explain how these pictures make you, say, fit for this kind of...responsibility?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."
"There are pictures of you dressed in a really risqué fairy costume, it appears," she further explained.
Now, it was everyone's turn to lock up and freak out. As she said this, more cameras went off, and more questions were being shouted in the air.
Jessie, thankfully, saved the day by giggling. "Oh my. Homecoming week. That was...interesting. You see, she was homecoming queen, but at that point, she was only nominated, so she had to dress up for costume day the way the student body decided. Well, after they decided, I got to dress her up. It was very hard to meet the specifications, actually, but that was all me. I will take full responsibility for that one."
"Well, how do you explain the topless pictures then, in front of the entire student body, it seems?"
Now, I didn't know how to respond. Right now, I couldn't even breathe. All I could think about was murdering Lindsey and murdering this woman. Everything that Lindsey had done that was really bad to me, she was exploiting and taking way out of context.
"I...I..."
"I can explain those," Seth said angrily, now looking right at the woman. "That was an angry ex-girlfriend doing anything she could to ruin her life. If you look carefully at the picture, she's covered in ice cream, chocolate syrup, and sprinkles. That was in no way her fault."
"Why was she in the bathing suit at school to begin with?" she continued to demand.
"Homecoming," Seth said simply. "We have to do whatever it is the cheerleaders plan. Okay, next question please. Yeah, you, ma'am."
"I've seen those pictures too, at least the one in the fairy costume," she informed us. "Those wings...they look so real! No one at my company believed me; called me crazy. But, I have to ask. Are they?"
I didn't know how to react. The reaction I expected this whole thing to be like was occurring as I began to panic, but Jessie, of course, probably prepared herself for something like this.
So, she began laughing. "Wings? On a person? That's...that would be incredible! I don't think you're crazy! I just think you're a dreamer! One day, that will be amazing."
"That would be absolutely ridiculous," their grandfather spoke, for the first time ever. "Wings on a human...it's not natural."
I wanted to argue so badly, but how do you argue with the king?
Seth nervously laughed. "Uh, well, Grandfather, I don't know if you heard, but back when Mom and Dad were kids, there were these teenagers with wings on the loose, saving the world. They were doing a lot of good."
"I think that's a bunch of media hoax," he said firmly. "The United States has a sense of humor."
I can assure you it's not just "media hoax," I thought bitterly towards him, although I knew he didn't hear it.
Oh shit. Yes he did...because I can shove thoughts in people's head as a part of controlling their mind...and that's what happens when I think thoughts towards them.
Seth...I just remembered I can do this...but I just did this to your grandfather...and I am so screwed now, because look at his expression.
Seth heard me, and I knew he did, because he glanced over at his grandfather with a skeptical look. When he saw the anger and rage on his grandfather's expression, he grimaced.
"Guess we knew this was coming..."
"Thank you, we are done here," his grandfather dismissed firmly. "If you three would join me for tea in the dining room?"
Jessie's eyebrows furrowed, but she gestured for us to follow her anyways.
And all I could do was cling to Seth's arm in absolute terror. This man hated me now. That much was completely obvious.
I have possibly just ruined this relationship between the two. Wonderful. And here I was trying to fix it.
I can't do anything right.
