Chapter Eleven

The summer weather in Angeles was really suffocating. But it was better to be oustide in the sun then inside, where it was hard to have fresh air. There was a slight hot wind blowing in the trees, so it felt good to be outside. All the girls were enjoying the sun on deck chairs in the grass. There were only 20 of us felt, 5 had been eliminated during the past three weeks. Two for misconduct – although no one really knows what they did –, Evelyn Turner left, because she was so homesick, and Mariel Harris and Perry Martin were sent away after their second dates. Who knows what happened...

I was with Grace and Charlotte in the gardens enjoying some girl talk, talking about boys, dresses and shoes. Who doesn't like that, now? We all had large sun hats and sunglasses on, and we really looked glamour in our summer outfits.

"Hello, Ladies!" Prince Tristan was standing there, his red hair messy and blown by the wind, holding his hands behind his back.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness." We started to stand to curtsy.

"Oh, please stay seated! I just wanted to borrow Miss Abigael for a few minutes, if that's all right with you?"

"Of course you can!" piped in Charlotte.

He held out is hand for me and helped me out of my chair. I put my shoes back on – thankful I had chosen my flats and not some pair of stilts – and he led me away from my friends.

"So, Lady Abigael."

"Just call me Aby, it's easier." I say with a laugh.

"All right, I will! So, tell me Aby: How are you enjoying your stay?"

"I just love it! I think I could get used to all this luxury." I say, holding out my hand towards the yellow Palace and laughing.

"I'm very happy to hear that. You see, I have a feeling you are going to stay here a very long time..."

"What do you mean? I'm going to be eliminated one day like everyone else..."

He laughs a little before saying: "Oh, I don't think you will."

I stop walking, looking at him causiously. "Tristan, what are you trying to say?"

"Do you love my brother?"

"What?! Wait... Did he send you to ask this question?"

He lifts his hands in surrender and laughs quietly. "No, he didn't... I just wanted to warn you about him. And I know that when he has something in mind, he will go to any lenght to do it. So, I'm asking again: Do you love him?"

"I like him very much, yes."

"Liking is not loving."

"Tristan, how can I possibly love somebody I don't know? I've known him only for three weeks! This is insane..." I pass a hand over my face.

"I know it is... But do you think there is a chance that you might maybe fall in love with him?"

I think about our kiss in the kitchen and how I felt about it. Yes, I tell myself, there's a chance. But I can't just blurt it out like that to his brother!

"Well?"

"I need to know him more. I need to know who he really is, when the whole country is not looking at him. But he already knows that, I told him so."

"All right. And don't worry, I'll keep all what you said to myself."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Excuse me, please." And he juste leaves me there, standing alone in the middle of the garden.

What on earth just happened? I know I am this close to falling in love with him, but there is still the fact that I don't know him at all. And who am I? My parents come from former families of Sevens. And we are still looked upon by the richer ones. I'm a nobody, and I don't want the crown. I wouldn't even be fit for the crown! Who am I fooling?

But those eyes.

It's funny how everytime I try to tell myself I don't want to love him, I think of his ocean eyes. I think I would never tire of them. He might be stiff and proud and snob when the cameras are watching, but deep down, I know he's gentle and kind and loving. I felt it in his hands, in his touch, in his kiss, and in his gaze. I just need a few more weeks to get to know him better, and I know there is going to be a moment when all my walls are going to tumble down, and I will love him madly. But I'm not ready for that. Just yet.

I head back to the girls and lie down on my chair, kicking my shoes off.

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to know how I was enjoying my stay." Half truth...

"Oh... Why?" Grace lifts one of her eyebrows and that makes me laugh. We all laugh at that.

"I don't know." Full lie...

I just lay my head back on the cushion, close my eyes, and let the sun tan my legs and arms. I wish I was back home, on the beach, getting my full body tanned, letting the sound of crashing waves lull me to sleep.

And I do fall asleep. I dream of the ocean, the turquoise colour engulfing me in it's currents, drowning me more and more. I see Adam's eyes and feel something touching me – you know how it feels when something touches you in the water (eww!) – and I wake with a start, Adam sitting on the side of my chair, his hand in mine.

"I didn't want to wake you, I'm sorry, Aby." He wispers.

My heart is hammering in my chest. "No, no, it's a good thing you did... I was drowning in the ocean and I-..."

"Shh. It's all right, you were just having a bad dream." He caresses my forehead, pushing the wild strands of hair away. I relax a bit under his touch.

The ocean in my dream, although it was trying to kill me, sent a homesickness wave through me. I try to blink away the tears I feel coming all too fast. But they still overflow and I find myself crying in my chair. Adam pulls me upright and holds me tight against him.

Oh my, it feels good to be held. And I realise something weird while I let the tears flow: I fit just right in his arms against him. That makes me laugh a little, and I'm half crying, half laughing. But he still holds me close, brushing his fingers in my long hair flowing down my back.

After a few minutes, I calm down. He holds me away from him, just far enough to look at me. He takes my head in his hands and wipe my tears from my wet cheeks with his thumbs. And then, as if we're all alone in the kitchen again, he leans in, brushes my lips with his and starts kissing me ever so gently. Like if he's not careful enough, I might brake in a million pieces.

I love his way of making me understand I'm precious to him. I kiss him back, too, and at that moment, I trully feel like a Lady. I know that anything can come against me, because he will always be here to protect me. Even from overlflowing killer waves from my dreams.

A little bit of my wall has tumbled down. But not all of it yet.

"It's time to get ready for dinner." He grabs my shoes I kicked off earlier and slips then gently on my feet. He helps me up and puts his arm around my waist, afraid I might fall. He escorts me back to my room.

"I'll see you later, Aby." He takes my hands and kisses the back of it, returning to his stiff manners. He winks at me, I smile and he leaves.