It's only been like a month since I updated but this chapter is basically the length of two, so get some snacks, we're gonna be here awhile! Despite how much I struggled with parts of it, this is one of my favorite ones so far. Review shout outs to Virtue01, Epiccupcake28, mnbvcxz-xx, Guest, delovlies, and Doctor Kay Sorceress Supreme (X2!).

Out of curiosity, let me know who your favorite Selected are and who you want to see more of. I'm planning something a few chapters from now, so I would be interested to know! Also, which part of this chapter was your favorite, I'm excited to see! And I totally missed Christmas and the holidays and the New Year, so happy everything and all that good stuff.

-shades

…

"Wow, this is great," Wesley scrolled through the article on Christine's phone with a growing sense of dread. "I'm literally going to move into the hills and live in a cave the rest of my life."

He handed Christine her phone back and surveyed the faces of some of his quickly assembled Selection coordinators in the sitting room they had taken over. Of course, aside from Christine, Nicole was there, along with Nat and Gracie, all on their phones searching for news. Elvira and Adele were both absent, but they usually took a backseat to the planning. Thankfully, his mother wasn't here yet either. He didn't exactly want to face her in the wake of this latest news outbreak.

"I was nothing but nice to her!" Wesley said, flopping down on the couch. "If I wasn't a prince, I would call her a bitch."

Nat flopped down next to him. "I'll do it for you. She's a bitch."

It had only been a few hours since he had eliminated the three girls, cutting the Selection down to fifteen, which he had spent most of organizing his date proposal to Fallon, her picking his outfit, and then planning the actual date. He needed to go get ready for said date, but all this had blown up.

"It gets worse," Christine chimed in, handing him her phone again. "She's already gone to the press."
"Oh, great," Wesley muttered.

Once the remaining Selected had been informed of the three girl's departure, Lady Callista had gone to Christine asking to be eliminated as well. She had somehow left the palace before Wesley could even be informed of her question, and the event was making headlines across Illea.

"What's she saying?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"Several outlets are quoting her as saying you are a 'spoiled brat' who pays no attention to his duties and is more concerned with partying with girls who aren't part of the Selection. Also, that the rest of us don't even see our children and are horrible parents?" Nicole read, looking at the others with a confused expression. "What?"

"Oh shit she's also saying that you're probably gay," Gracie read from her phone. "And that you personally told her that."

"I didn't! I'm not!"

"And that you are rarely even in the palace." Nat chimed in. "And you never talked to her. Plus, all that usual stuff about how you're an alcoholic and don't care about your servants and that you shouldn't even be having a Selection if you aren't interested in getting married. But everyone's been saying that for a while now."

"Gee, thanks for reminding me. Guys…how are you guys not freaking out right now? I'm freaking out, guys."

"I think we've established that we're guys," Nat told him. "And yes, this sucks. But its temporary."

"At least you didn't end up marrying her," Gracie offered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So, what's the plan then?" Wesley looked around the girls. "Because I have a date to get to."

"I think the only thing to do is to get the press to focus on something else," Christine said.

"So, speaking of dates…?" Nicole hinted. "Who's it with?"

"I finally got Fallon to agree to go on a date with me for dinner, with cameras and stuff. But do you think that will be enough?"

"Schedule several dates each for the next two days, with all the coverage you can get," Nicole said.

"Good Press Vibes. Trademark that," Wesley said, nodding.

"Whoever you want to pick. We can help you pick out the activities. Start with dinner with Fallon tonight."

"She's going to hate me, but what if I take her downtown to a restaurant? I mean last time I was there with Iris a month ago I got plenty of free media and this time I won't make a total ass of myself because I'm an adult."

"Were you not an adult last month?" Gracie asked seriously.

"That is a good idea, everyone loves Fallon," Nat told him.

"She's my Atlin babe," Gracie said.

Wesley nodded and pushed away the reminder that Fallon would probably hate being out in public with all those people. Oh well.

"You will have to release a statement about Callista leaving, but we can take care of that," Christine said. "You have a date."

Fallon didn't look overly happy as he greeted her in the Main Hall by the front doors, flanked by the camera crew, but she did look beautiful in a delicate blue-gray gown with long sheer sleeves and neckline. Her blonde-streaked dark hair fell in loose curls around her face, parted in the middle.

He took her hand and kissed it lightly to the snapping of photos from the cameramen. "You look stunning," he said, knowing the mic pack he wore would pick it up.

"I thought we were staying here," Fallon pursed her lips.

"Change of plans," Wesley said, opening the doors and leading her outside and into the waiting limo. "I'm taking you downtown to this great restaurant. If you thought the food here was good wait until you try theirs."

"I didn't think the food here was good," Fallon said decidedly. They spent the rest of the ride in silence, despite his attempts to get her to talk. It didn't really matter because there were no cameras in the limo with them except his phone. But she also refused to take selfies with him.

Due to the heavy security presence and the elaborate camera crew already in place when they pulled up, not to mention their limo and red-carpet worthy outfits, all eyes were on them as Wesley helped Fallon out. She wore a practiced smile as she waved to the photographers and filmers, not to mention the crowd recording on their phones. The restaurant was on the rooftop of a building, and the night was warm, and the skyline was glowing with millions of lights from cars and the surrounding buildings. Fallon still didn't look happy, even after they were seated and the camera crew retreated to a safe distance and Wesley took his mic off. She browsed the menu with a frown.

"Hey, at least I wore what you picked out for me," he tried.

Fallon made a little hum in response and did not look up. Wesley ordered them wine, but Fallon didn't touch hers as Wesley took a gulp of his.

"I really don't like wine," he said.

"Then why did you order it?"

"Ah, she speaks!" he joked. Fallon blinked at him. "It looks good. I can pretend I'm classy."

Fallon picked up her napkin and folded it delicate on her lap. "Because thanks to Callista, everyone thinks you're not, so now you have to look fantastic for the cameras," She said under her breath, but giving him a pointed look. "Right?"

"…Right," Wesley admitted.

"Well, here," Fallon signaled to the cameras in some secret model language Wesley was beyond comprehending, and then held up her wine glass for a toast. They toasted, and the cameras snapped. Her lips formed a warm smile, but her eyes remained hard. The waiter brought them their food, and they began to eat without any conversation.

"Hey, I really appreciate you helping me out," Wesley said quietly when he could bear the silence no longer. "It means a lot to me."

Fallon glanced at him for a moment before looking down again. "I really don't care about your problems."

Wesley tried not to roll his eyes at her. "Oh, well, still. Thanks."

"Whatever," Fallon said, staring out at the city skyline. "I get it. It's all a show."

"A show?" Wesley bristled. "This is my life we're talking about."

She pressed her lips together, not making eye contact. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a really short temper?"

"What?"

"And in case you haven't realized," Fallon continued, leaning back in her chair, "yours is not the only life that matters here."

Wesley glanced over at the cameras, still trained on them.

"You're right. Sorry," He offered a smile.

Fallon shrugged and went back to eating. He ended up drinking both wines. But at least it looked good on camera.

…

Date #2 was a go ahead.

While he had been at dinner with Fallon, his coordinators had planned a whole date, apparently. The whole camera crew was already set up, along with the implements of the date. And the date.

Nicole had only told him to go to one of the drawing rooms on the first floor, so he was a little shocked to find a nice roaring fire in the fireplace, a table full of drinks and snacks, a game of Monopoly set up, and Piper.

She looked up quickly as he entered the room and stopped short to find it all ready.

"Just ignore us," one of the camera dudes said.

"Um, okay. Hi, Piper," Wesley said.

She smiled shyly, and looked down at her lap, hiding her face behind a curtain of long blonde hair. "Hi."

"Oh, hi guys!" Wesley exclaimed as two more guests got up from the floor to see him. Finn and Jack, the palace dogs that were technically Andrew's had also been added to the date scene to make things more…domestic? He petted them and got dog hair all over his suit and few licks to the face before he stood up. He tried to act casual and slipped out of his suit jacket. He felt startlingly overdressed in his suit with Piper only dressed in a pair of jeans and a pink sweater. Piper was sitting on the sofa, her legs curled up close to her. He draped his coat over the back of the chair next to the sofa and sat down.

"How's it going?" he asked. He knew from experience that Piper was a girl of very few words.

"It's good. They told me to meet you here. I just got here myself," she said, touching her hair nervously.

"Man, I told you on our first date I was going to take you horseback riding next so you could watch me fall off."

Piper laughed slightly. "It's okay."

Wesley surveyed some of the snacks left out on the side table and grabbed a handful of Skittles. He was slightly buzzed from dinner, but there were only a few cans of soda to drink. He popped open a root beer. "Want anything?"

Piper shook her head.

"Aw, come on, you have to want something. Cookies? Chips?" he picked up one plate of Oreos and bowl of potato chips in each hand and held them out to her. She smiled a little and took some of each, and one of the sodas. They munched for a few minutes in quiet sitting in front of the fire. Wesley told her some trivial story about how Finn and Jack had been when they first came to the palace to keep it from being silent. Piper giggled a little but didn't say anything. She kept glancing at the camera crew, so against his better judgment, Wesley sent them away. At least they had got a little bit of footage that wasn't too bad.

"Wanna play?" he gestured to the game of Monopoly. Maybe it would get her to talk a little more.

"Sure," she said, her voice soft. They both sat on the floor on a side of the coffee table in front of the fire and began. Piper was quiet at first, laughing at his enthusiasm and jokes that were pretty over the top. He got her to talk a little about her life in Clermont as they played, which was cool. Aside from her job as an exercise rider, she enjoyed photography and gymnastics in her free time.

"What about your family? You've met most of mine and lived to tell about it," he said as she rolled the dice.

She waited to move her piece before replying, something he was starting to realize she did a lot, thinking about her answer carefully before she said it.

"I'm adopted," she said, barely audible.

"Oh," Wesley said. She nudged the dice over his way, and he picked them up. "I've never met anyone who's adopted," he offered and winced at his own answer.

Piper shrugged and didn't talk hardly at all after that. Wesley intentionally found himself making bad business deals until she bankrupted him. He was getting really jittery with Piper's lack of talking. She was really sweet, that was for sure, but he kept trying to overcompensate for her silence. He just wished the sodas had been a lot stronger.

Unfortunately, the camera crew was waiting outside the drawing room for them as they left. The first thing that his lizard brain told him to do was to hug her, which was actually a terrible idea. She barely reciprocated, only putting her hands on his back limply. He let go quickly, and she was bright red from embarrassment.

"Sorry," he murmured. She just shook her head and gave him an embarrassed smile. She practically ran away from him.

"Make sure you cut that last part out," Wesley snapped to the camera crew.

Good Press Vibes ™ was not going well.

…

Day Two of Good Press Vibes ™ and Wesley was about to embark on Date #3. He had decided to continue on the task of going on dates with some of the more challenging personalities of his Selected, who also happened to have good political influence, so for his first date today he had asked Georgia.

It was ten in the morning, and the day had promised to be cooler now that summer was fully behind them. But the sun was out and shining gloriously. Wesley stood in front of the palace on the main drive, leaning up against the white convertible that looked really cool but unfortunately his car-ignorant ass didn't know anything about. The ever-present camera crew was taking some shots of him as he waited for Georgia to make her appearance. His Selection coordinators had decided that this date should be more formal, to contrast with the other ones that were planned for today, so he was stuck in a white dress shirt and a tan blazer, but they had consented on jeans.

He heard murmurings from the photographers and looked up to see Georgia exiting the palace with one of the guards. She was wearing a strapless yellow lace dress and luckily her heels weren't the monstrosities she usually wore to make herself taller than him. With a look over at the camera crew, she gave one of her not-quite smiles that reflected the rebellion posters she had been all over. Georgia was unpredictable to him, so he had decided on no mic for this date. Everyone would just have to speculate on what they were saying.

"Hi," he greeted her. "You look nice."

"Thanks," Georgia replied, tossing back her blonde curls. Wesley winced. The convertible would do a number on those. He offered his hand as he opened the passenger door for her and she gave him a slight eye roll as he helped her in before jogging around to the other side and jumping in the driver's seat.

He started up the car, hoping he would screw this up somehow. It had been a while since he had driven a manual car.

"Don't you want to put on your seatbelt?" Georgia reminded him as she checked her lipstick in the side mirror.

Wesley laughed. "Aw, don't you trust me?" he joked. She looked pointedly at him and waited for him to stop laughing at his own joke.

Wesley cleared his throat. "Sorry."

He put on his seatbelt and waited to make sure the camera crew was ready in their car to get all the Report worthy shots of this date. He pulled out of the driveway after them, driving slowly out of the palace complex.

"So, I'm assuming all of this is for the drama that Lady Callista caused by her…exit?" Georgia said, watching the palace grounds go by, her arm on the top of the door. They were still going very slow, so it was easy to hear her.

"Was it obvious?" Wesley asked.

Georgia shrugged her shoulders just slightly. "You never used to do all the camera stuff before."

Wesley checked his mirrors as they pulled out of the palace drive and onto the main road. He smiled. "You been keeping an eye on all my dates? Are you following me?"

"Can we stop with the jokes already? And no."

"Baby, I am jokes. We've been over this, remember?" Wesley snickered. Georgia visibly cringed and then gave him one of her Looks.

"Sorry," Wesley coughed. "I'll never call you baby again."

"Please do not."

The drive was silent as they drove into town, and luckily Wesley managed not to kill anyone. Traffic was fairly heavy, which was great because along with their added security presence, everyone was trying to see who was being filmed, which led to even more filming on cell phones!

"You ever been here before?" Wesley tested the waters.

Georgia didn't take her eyes off the road and shook her head. "Nope."

Two ice queens in less than twenty-four hours might just do him in.

"Well, I'm taking you to Griffith Park Observatory. It's super cool. I haven't been there since I was a kid."

"Sounds nice," Georgia commented.

Admittedly, it was nice. The weather was perfect as they strolled along the grounds, flanked of course by security personnel and the crew, with everyone already there taking pictures of them, and even more people arriving, hoping to get a glimpse of a prince and the Selection in action. They went on a private tour of the actual observatory, and even though it was daytime, the white marble building was still impressive. They were walking around the grounds for some Report shots afterward and from up here, they could see the city spread out before them.

"It's so…big," Wesley said. Georgia nodded.

"I'm glad it's all back in one piece. One country," she said, continuing to walk.

He reached for her hand to hold but gave up when she did her I'm-Going-To-Murder-You-With-My-Eyebrows Look.

"Sorry," he said. Again.

"It's cool. You're just trying too hard."

"Oh."

They walked several more paces in relative quiet. Wesley's guard reminded him that they should be getting back so they started heading back to the car. He mulled her words around in his head and before he lost his courage, he decided to ask her what she meant by that.

"Wait, what do you mean by trying too hard?"

Georgia gestured to the camera crew trailing them. "All this? It's…tacky and insincere and fake."

"Ouch. Okay, point taken."

Georgia continued on her rampage. "I'm going to be honest because I think you need to hear it. I actually thought you were pretty cool for a while before all this. You seemed real, you had issues. You were terrible at trying to hide it, but you accepted that they were apart of you. On that group date where we played sardines and at the Victory Ball and the other night after the Report, you seemed like a real person."

"But…this isn't me being a real person?"

Cue the Eyebrow Thing again. "Seriously?" Georgia said, "Of course not. All this makes you look perfect and everyone eats it up, but that's not going to make it perfect in reality."

Wesley had no actual idea what that meant. "Um, well what can I do to fix it?"

Georgia sighed. "I can't tell you how to fix it. That's something you have to figure out for yourself."

Great.

…

With only enough time to change, it was time for Date #4. The break hadn't given him any fantastic inclinations about what Georgia meant, so Wesley had decided to stick to the original plan. Nat had given him the idea to attend a carnival that was visiting a town about a half hour away, and Wesley had decided to invite Lady Alyex for an afternoon of fun. Due to security reasons unbeknownst to him, he had to travel separately and arrived much earlier than his date, which gave him some time to scope the place out. It was cool, if a little corny, but he had the feeling Alyex would love it. The only thing he had changed after his talk with Georgia is to make it less of a show. The guards were dressed down and had orders to be discreet. The camera crew was also supposed to blend into the crowd, filming with hidden cameras and their phones instead of all the fancy equipment they usually did. The goal was to stay hidden from the people at the carnival.

And to be real.

"Hi!" she grinned widely at him when they met up, of course, with guards and the camera crew third-wheeling, but at least they weren't quite so obvious to the public. "This is so cool!"

Wesley laughed. "I had a feeling you would say that," he said, stepping forward with arms outstretched to hug her hello.

"Oh!" she exclaimed softly as she realized his intention. They hugged, and she pulled away blushing bright red. She was pretty tall for a girl and he only had an inch or two on her, so Wesley was glad she was wearing sneakers, along with black jeans and a white lace top.

"Cute hat," he said motioning to the black bowler hat that she wore.

Alyex grinned again. "Thank you! I like yours too!"

Wesley laughed. "It's my disguise hat. You'd be surprised how effective sunglasses and baseball cap can be."

"Oooh, so we're incognito for today?"
"We're gonna try," Wesley said. He had also worn gray jeans and a black t-shirt to blend in more effectively. First things first, he was going to try really hard not to try too hard. Or whatever.

"So what do you want to do?" Alyex asked.

Wesley looked around. "Get food?"

"Let's go!"

They explored every food stall and ended up eating way too much junk food. The nachos, in Wesley's opinion, were truly the stuff of legend and he was convinced he would never find their equal anywhere else on this earth. The funnel cakes were also heavenly, and they ate three between them. They bought kettle corn and cotton candy, but after the caramel apples and ice cream, they decided just to save those for later. Alyex was uncomplicated and Wesley quickly found that he didn't have to try too hard with her, and before he knew it he had forgotten about Georgia's advice.

"I'm surprised the disguise cap is working," Alyex said quietly as they waited in line to ride the ferris wheel. "Your dates with Georgia and Fallon are all over social media."

"Yeah, well I thought I would try something different here. A carnival wouldn't work very well with everyone staring at us."

Alyex laughed. "I wouldn't know. This is the first one I've ever been to."

"Me too, girl. And I feel like I've missed out on years and years of amazing nachos and funnel cakes."

"Well, I'm glad we both got to go together to one. I was actually terrified about all the people who would be taking pictures and everything."

"Yeah, well that's why we have guards to yell at them," Wesley joked.

They finally got to the front of the line and sat down in one of the chairs, with film people and guards in front and behind them of course.

"It's only slightly awkward to have like five people third-wheeling," Wesley commented as they pulled the restraining bar down. "So how are you with heights?" he asked as the ride started to move up.

Alyex yelped and grabbed his arm. She quickly let go, her face red again. "Sorry!" she cried. "It just surprised me."

"You didn't answer me," Wesley teased.

Alyex playfully rolled her eyes. "I was a little distracted. But to be honest, heights are pretty up there on my list of fears."

Wesley draped his arm around her and Alyex giggled and blushed some more. "Well you have me to hang onto," he said. "What else is on that list?"

"Probably…going on dates!" she admitted, wrinkling up her nose. "And to be more honest, aside from the group date, this is my first actual date."

"Well you also have me to hang onto for that," Wesley said, and they both laughed.

As the ferris wheel got closer and closer to the top, they could see more and more of the fair.

"We should go on that one next," Alyex said, pointing to a wildly spinning ride under a brightly colored pavilion thing. "That looks fun."
"Are you scared yet?" Wesley asked.

"I'm trying to distract myself, thank you very much," Alyex gave him a playful glare.

Wesley started rocking back and forth, keeping his arm around her to add to the momentum so their chair moved along with them.

"No no no no," Alyex shrieked, convulsing into giggles, "you're going to make us fall!"

Wesley laughed and kept rocking them as Alyex gripped the sides with a death grip. "I'm trying to help you get over your fear," he taunted.

"It's not working bruh," she scooted closer to him and then with a smooth movement reached over and knocked his hat off his head.

"Hey!" Wesley watched his cap plummet to the earth far below them. "What was that for?"

"For scaring me, you goof! Let's just hope we don't get stuck or something," she poked him in the ribs which then started a tickle war and some dumb selfies and before they knew it, they were back on solid ground.

After retrieving Wesley's hat, they set off to the spinny ride. Alyex didn't pull away as he held her hand.

"I haven't done something this fun in a really long time," she said.

"Now that you mention it, me too. Thanks," Wesley said.

"Thanks for being so nice to me," Alyex blushed again, but by now Wesley had decided it was really cute. "I…I've never really had a friend to do fun things together like this before."

She didn't look at him as they walked, only brushed her hair behind her ears nervously. Wesley watched her. Maybe this was what Georgia meant about being real.

"I guess now that you mention it, I haven't either," he admitted. "Being a prince and all, with two older brothers and an older sister, they never really had much time for me. And I never had normal friends."

Alyex smiled at him. "I'm glad we're friends, then," she said. "Or whatever the Selection makes us, I guess." He laughed at her silliness and swung their hands wildly between them.

They took more dumb selfies in the line for the ride as they waited, and then climbed in. The sun was setting so it was kind of weird to still be wearing sunglasses, so Wesley just had to hope no one looked too closely at him. He was sad that his date with Alyex was coming to end, but he had still had two more dates tonight that he had scheduled.

In the end, he was glad that their date was over because the combination of all the nachos and funnel cakes with the spinning ride made him puke into the closest receptacle as soon as they got off, which happened to be Alyex's hat.

But still, all around good times.

…

If the last three dates were any indication of the fact that things were getting better, Wesley was hopeful for Date #4 with Veyra. His original plan was to close down an entire ice rink that was constructed in downtown Angeles (not that it was slightly not summer anymore) in a glass pavilion to have a private but highly visible ice-skating date with her. He took a hint from his date with Alyex and decided to go incognito again. Also, because there wasn't exactly time for him and the camera crew to change back to the original plan. Oops.

They met up at a close by a coffee shop, something Wesley knew Veyra would appreciate. He found the former secret agent attired in all black sipping an iced coffee as she stood at the windowed front wall, watching people pass.

"Why do I feel like this is your aesthetic?" he asked, trying to surprise her by coming up behind her.

She wasn't fazed, turning around calmly. She smirked. "I knew you were there, Shreve. You're lucky I did. And why do I feel like this is entirely not yours?"

He grimaced. "I'm pretending to be normal." The cap was still on, along with a hoodie now that the sun had gone down, and they were going to be on the ice, but without the sunglasses, it was a bit more obvious who he was.

"You're being waaaayy to inconspicuous," Veyra told him. "Just relax." She handed him the second iced coffee she had. "One of your awesome security guards bought these for us. You've been on like six dates today, so drink up because I'm really excited about ice skating."

"I've been on three," he corrected her. Last time they had spoken had been at the Victory Ball and she had opened up to him and he had tried to reciprocate but had failed. He was glad the awkwardness wasn't there anymore.

"Well, seems like six. It's all over the news and social media. Some of the girls won't stop following it all and making all these conspiracy theories," Veyra said, picking up her coat from the back of her chair and slipping it on.

Wesley grimaced as he followed her out of the coffee shop and onto the square that held the ice-skating rink the middle. "You make it sound dangerous."

"Well of course it is. Now you're down to fourteen of us and that means four of them are going to have to be eliminated before the Elite. You have five dates planned in the last two days, so they figure if they don't get asked soon, they're going home."

"Wow, you guys really put a lot of time into analyzing me," he joked. "I hadn't even analyzed it that much."

"They do," Veyra corrected him. "I figure whatever you decide will happen regardless, so I'm not going to waste time obsessing over it."

"Yeah, me neither," he said. They both laughed and continued to walk towards the rink, once again trying to ignore the subtle presence of Wesley's entourage. It wasn't exactly ice-skating weather, but it was cool enough to forget about summer for a couple of months. They made small talk as they picked up their rental gear and then sat down on a bench outside the glass-enclosed rink to put their skates on.

"You want me to tie those for you?" he asked Veyra.

She raised her eyebrows at him and smirked. "Uh, no. I'm perfectly capable."

"Right, you damsels don't do distress anymore."

"You're such an idiot," Veyra shook her head, but her voice held a hint of affection, and besides, he was learning that this girl was usually operated in a state of sarcasm.

"I'm trying to be cute," he said, noting to the presence of the camera crew trying to look natural on the bleachers outside. One dude was already on the ice along with a security officer.

Veyra stood up, wobbly in her skates as stood on the mats that gave them a little bit of traction until they got to the ice. "For me or for them?" she gestured over her shoulder and held his eye contact but didn't wait for an answer as she stepped onto the ice.

Wesley hesitated for a moment and then finished putting on his skates and followed her. She was already gliding around the edge rather cautiously, her black hair rippling around her. He was about to try to catch up with her, but as soon as he tried to balance on the ice, he ended up flat on his face, blocking the entrance to the rink. Quite a spectacle for a prince.

He muttered a few choice words and tried unsuccessfully to scramble to his feet, which only ensued in more slipping. He caught sight of one of his security guards getting up from the surrounding benches, but he waved him away. No need to draw even more attention.

He grabbed at the wall surrounding the rink and managed to pull himself up and out of the way, right as Veyra glided over to him.

"I forgot to mention this is my first-time ice skating," he said, not letting go of the wall.

His date smirked. "I forgot to ask." She held out her hand to him. "C'mon, it's not that hard."

"Wait, just to be clear, are you mad about the cameras? Because if you are I can have them leave."

Veyra's smirk turned into a cheeky grin. "Only now that you've fallen you want to send them away?"

"Something like that," he wrinkled his nose. "You catch on pretty quickly to everything, don't you?"

"I'm a secret agent, Shreve. And no offense, but you are not that hard to read at all." She stopped waiting for him to take her hand and took his instead. "But now we're ice skating. Let's go, let's go no more wasting time!" She tugged on his arm and he reluctantly let go of the wall and once again landed face first on the ice.

"Shit!" He yelled, louder than he probably should have with all the children present. "Sorry," he apologized to no one.

Veyra was trying really hard not to laugh but not succeeding. "Are you okay?" she asked. Wesley laid still on the ice.

"I wanna die."

"No, you don't dumbass," she said, grabbing his arms and pulling him to a sitting position. "I'll help you."

It took several more tries and bruises and laughing but finally, with Veyra skating backward and holding onto his arms they managed to make a lap around the rink. He learned that the Calgary-native was only so good at skating because she played hockey in high school.

"Unfair," he commented.

"You're the one who came up with the idea, my dude."

After a while, Wesley could skate somewhat decently by himself, even though he knew he would brutally sore tomorrow from the number of times he had fallen. Veyra was doing little pirouettes and skating in circles around him literally as they talked. He decided to steer away from the Selection, and they talked about her high school days, her hobbies playing piano and saxophone, and other trivial things. She told him about a few of her missions that weren't overly classified, despite his claims that he was a prince, so he probably had a higher security clearance than her. A few people acted like they may have recognized them, and a group of teenage girls was brave enough to come up and ask for a few selfies, but surprisingly, Wesley didn't find himself fazed. They watched another couple doing some crazy tricks for a while.

"Ayyy, we can do that," Wesley said, pointed them out as the guy swung the girl around and around in a dizzying whirl.

Veyra laughed. "You want to do that?" She laughed some more.

"What?"

"Bruh, like an hour and a half ago, you were squirming around on the entrance."

"I wasn't squirming," Wesley protested. "And besides, I've had a very good teacher."

Veyra thought about for a moment. "Okay, let's try it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not? Start with lifting me up,"

"Aw, hell yeah. Let's do this."

He skated towards her and put his hands on her waist. He lifted her up but forgot about the unexpected wait he now had to balance. The next thing he knew they were both lying on the ice. Veyra was laughing so hard for a second, he thought she was crying.

"Somehow I knew that was going to happen," she said around giggles.

Wesley blinked a couple times to clear his head and slowly sat up, holding his arm where he had landed. "Well, that was fun."

Veyra tried to stand but slipped back down again. "Except for the fact that I think I sprained my ankle."

"Oh no. Are you serious?" Wesley panicked. "I am so so so sorry."

"Relax, Shreve," Veyra chuckled. "I'm not going to die. You okay?"

Wesley tried to stand up, but when he used his hands to push up off the ice, a spasm of pain through his wrist stopped him.

"Uh, maybe not. Veyra, why did you let me do this? This was a terrible idea."

"Shreve, you dropped me! And it was your idea!"

At the same time, they both saw one of the camera guys filming their spill and burst out laughing.

In the end, they both had to take their skates off to get off the ice in one piece. Wesley went ahead and sent the camera crew back to the palace. He called Nicole while security drove both of them both to an urgent care office that he was going to be late back tonight and that he was going to miss their Good Press Vibes ™ meeting.

They both got checked out, with Wesley ending up in a sling for a few days, having sprained his wrist from landing wrong and Veyra having a sprained ankle and crutches for a week from him dropping her. Wesley apologized over and over again but Veyra wasn't mad. In fact, somehow, she found the whole situation hilarious. Neither of the sprains was that bad so he guessed that helped. It was nine o'clock before they got back to the palace. They missed dinner, but Wesley had convinced his security detail to take them through a fast-food drive-through.

"My mom's going to kill when she finds out about this," Wesley said, helping Veyra hop up the front steps with his good arm. "But this is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"That's just because you got twenty-piece chicken nuggets," Veyra said, poking him the ribs as one of the guards unlocked the doors from them. "Before that, you wouldn't stop bitching about your wrist."

"Be quiet," he whispered as they stepped quietly inside. Wesley handed Veyra her crutches back as she leaned against him. "If anyone catches me, I'm dead.

"They'll all find out soon enough. Those guys recorded it, plus crutches and a sling aren't that easy to hide."

"Ugh, why are you always right."

"I just am. Now since this is your fault can you help me up the stairs?"

"It's not—okay, okay, it might have been my fault."

With much giggling and hopping and dropping the crutches over and over again, the two managed to get up the second floor.

"So, I probably owe you coffee every day for the rest of your life," Wesley said as they walked down the long hallway.

"It would be a start for almost killing me."

"Have I mentioned that I'm sorry?"

"Only about a million times," Veyra said, stopping next to one of the doors. "But it's totally okay. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much."

Wesley hesitated. "You don't think I was trying too hard, do you? Because I promise you, I wasn't. It was just you and me getting third wheeled."

Veyra brushed her hair out of her eyes and slowly looked up to meet his eyes. "I think that there's a lot more to you than just the guy who always makes jokes and is a walking comedy sketch. But that's also a big part of you, and I really enjoyed hanging out with him."

She didn't look away. And then she did, right at his lips.

Oh. Oh no.

Immediately his palms started to sweat and his heart was pounding in his chest.

It was the perfect moment to kiss her. But that would mean the first kiss of the Selection and commitment and in the back of his mind, something stopped him. Or someone.

"Haha, I did too, he's pretty cool," Wesley joked, his voice coming out way louder than expected.

Veyra blinked and then quickly pasted on her smirk. "You're such a dumbass, Shreve."

"Right, well I'm going to go pass out in a haze of the painkillers they gave us," he said. "But I'll see you around, yeah?"

Wesley spun around to make a hasty retreat, but Veyra stopped him.

"Hey wait,"

He turned around, and the next thing he knew Veyra dropped both of her crutches and grabbed his hand and with a move that was probably an unfair secret agent one, pulled him towards her to close the distance. She put her other hand on his neck, stood on tiptoe on her good foot, and pressed her lips against his.

As quickly as she had done it, she pulled back, leaving him slightly uncertain that it had happened at all.

"That was for dropping me," she said, smirking.

She did that a lot. And she called him Shreve which was endearing and made him want to kiss her every time she said it. And she was so beautiful, standing there with her black hair a mess around her shoulders, her dark eyes sparkling. She was sweet and hilarious and adorable—

Oh no. Oh no. This was not good.

"Um, I have to go," he blurted out and practically ran back to his room.