"That's my Mum."
"Oh, okay then..."
"Mum!" he greeted cheerfully as he opened the door.
"Oh Dah-Ling!" she said throwing her arms around her son dramatically. I saw Mr. Bloom behind her. He looked normal. "Who is that?" she demanded. "Joshie, I tell you not to be bringing these....ladies of ill repute home. You are bound to get some disease-"
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Bloom. I am Mia."
She stared hard at me. "Aren't you....no, you couldn't be..."
"American, yeah, I am," I replied before she could say anything about me being a princess.
"What are you doing in my son's flat?"
"She was on the trip with me," Joshua said coming into the conversation. "She's on her way home and wanted to see London from a native."
"How is it you are on your way home when Joshua just came from the west?"

Fine. I'd level with the twit. "I am going to Genovia to see my grandmother and my father."
She inspected my face again.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Mia," Mr. Bloom said, extending his hand.
"You too, Mr. Bloom. I think I am going to make myself something in the kitchen, did you want anything?"
"Are you Amelia Renaldo?" his mother asked finally.
"Well, technically. It depends on which biography you look at though. Juice Joshua?"
He nodded and grinned.
I saw her stare at Joshua who was smiling in a funny way. "Is she the princess of Genovia?" she hissed.
"Yeah," he replied, whispering. He's such a bad whisperer.
"And you bring her here?" she snapped. "You could have brought her to a place a little...nicer, cleaner."
He shrugged, "Mum, she just spent two months in South America. I highly doubt my flat is as bad as that."
"Go get your own juice! You can't be having a princess getting you your drinks."

I came in with his cranberry juice. "I mean, if you are going to insist on sleeping with her then-"she started before she realized I was there.
"I'm so jet lagged. I'm gonna try to get some rest. Nice meeting you guys," I said with a wave.
He took me around London the next day. No one recognized me, which was totally cool. We did silly poses in front of Buckingham Palace. We tried to make the guards flinch. Of course, pictures were taken. But he looked weird, almost paranoid.
 "I don't think I've ever done something so touristy!" he said laughing as we walked away from the palace.
"Well, I think that Grandmere would flip if she knew I was that close to the palace and I didn't pop in for a visit with the Queen."
"That has got to be the weirdest thing I have ever heard. No one I have ever known could ever just 'pop in' to see the Queen."
"Well, no one has ever been quite like me," I explained.
"You got that right," he said softly. Awkward moment.
"Hey, what about that museum? The wax one?"
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Hey, I have to see the wax model of my grandmother. They don't have her in New York anymore."
"Why not?"

I smiled. "Because me and that guy Michael egged it when they put it outside on display for the tourists."
He smirked knowingly. "I totally didn't make that connection. Come on, let's go!" he said taking my hand and rushing off to a bus.
Those were the funnest days of my life, until that point that is. I had never been so close to a guy before. Especially one so...
Well, back when I was younger I would have been so afraid of his good looks that I would never have bothered to try to get to know him. I would assume that he wouldn't want anything to do with me.
And he seemed to get better looking as the weeks had gone by. All the hard work he did back in South America made him get more muscles.
He brought me over one of his friends' apartments that night, "Hey man!" he greeted heartily. "Don't forget rugby...tomorrow night...who's this?" the guy asked. He was saying all this while we were still walking in.

"This is Mia, a friend I met while I was on that last trip."

"That's cool. You want a drink?"

"Guiness," Joshua said, while high fiving another guy.
"Mia?" the original guy asked.
"Um, do you have water?"
He kind of laughed. "Sure thing darling."
I looked around at all the guys in the room. I would have expected Joshua's friends to be just as slim and muscular as him, but they were all the opposite. They were all...well, kind of the opposite. They all had the bellies that overhang their belt loops. None of them even looked like they had showered all week.
I tried to hide my surprise. "Did you hear that we are slated to be the team to beat this season?" a guy on the couch asked Joshua.
"No kidding," he said, keeping his eyes on the television. "This video of last nights match?"
"We're breaking it down," the guy replied.
Water boy came back to me, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," I said extending my hand.
"Probably because that arse didn't introduce me. I'm Billy. And that's Fitzy over there on the couch. And over on the arm chair is Fish. We don't usually bring women over on re-hash night."

I nodded, "I could go...I mean, I know there's some stores I could go to if you guys wanted privacy-"
"No, no, it's fine. Tell me about the trip," he said leading me into the living room with all of the others.
"It was great. I had never been on a missionary trip before," I explained. I could tell that he was already half gone by my fourth word.
He started blabbering on, telling me about the rules of rugby. He couldn't believe that I didn't know anything. He started talking about how ignorant Americans were. Joshua winked at me.
"At least most Americans I know aren't drunk by eight o'clock," I teased.
He looked at me funny. "Ha! Haha," he started laughing.

I had a few drinks that night. Not enough to be drunk though.
"I didn't succeed," Joshua said with a sigh when we left, a little after midnight.
"Huh?"
"You are defiantly not drunk."
"But I got to hang out with a bunch of guys who have British accents."
"I bet you wanted to jump their bones huh?" he asked with a smirk.
"You know me. I sleep around with any guy who has a British accent!"
A bum on the street screamed, "I have a British accent!"
We looked at him then started running away, laughing.

I left the next afternoon. He and I both were going to be starting our own things. He was going to Oxford. I was going off to do some work in the offices of Green Peace in Monaco. I stopped by to see my father before I started working in Monaco.
"Oh, you look lovely! So tan!" he exclaimed. I met him in his garden.

He looked so much happier in Genovia than he did in America. He looked...younger somehow. "Hey Dad!" I said giving him a big hug. Over the years we had gotten rather close. Close enough to hug like a normal father and daughter.
He kissed my cheek, "So? How was it? Was it all that you expected?"
He motioned for his man to bring me some tea. I hated tea usually, but not when I had it with Dad. I don't know why, but it tastes different.
"It was so sad, Dad. I mean, the literacy rate is so low. I want to do something else, but I have no idea what I could do. Here," I said, pulling some pictures out of my purse for him to see. "That's Rachel, she is eight. I taught her how to read this summer."
He smiled, flipping through the different photos. "Who is this blonde guy?" he asked, showing me a picture of me and Joshua dipping our toes in a river.
"Oh, that's just Joshua," I said, smiling at the memory.
"'Just' Joshua? Who is he?"
"A friend I made when I was over there. Dad, these are people I could seriously be friends with for life."
"What about Lilly?" he asked, handing me all my pictures back.
"Oh, of course I'll be friends with her. But this is a once in a lifetime experience. I shared it with them..."
"That's wonderful sweetheart."
"How was your summer?"
He smiled, "Eventful."
I raised an eyebrow, "I don't need another illegitimate sibling. What happened?" I know he can't have anymore kids so I was clearly being sarcastic.

He laughed heartedly, "Nothing like that Mia," he said shaking his head. "No, I got some great deals made with Cabonia and Spain."
"That's great, Dad. Really. Nothing on the romance front?" I asked carefully.
"Lord no. I need a break from those sorts of things," he said, sipping his tea.
"Good," I said with a smile. "I don't want to be seeing strangers around the palace when I come to visit."
His assistant came up to him, "Your highness, you are meeting with Portugal about the embargo?"
My father looked at his watch. "Oh right. I'm sorry Mia. When are you leaving?"
"This afternoon. I'll be back in a few weeks to visit though," I promised.
We hugged and he kissed my cheek, "Behave yourself," he warned.
"I won't act like you," I said with a wink.
"Better not," he called back to me as he walked away.