Wouldn't It Be Lovely?
Chapter Two: A Night You Can't Forget Part Two
Within twenty minutes, the pair reached a private beach. Fran removed a set of keys from her pocket and used one to open a set of iron wrought gates. "Xander's parents own this property," she explained conversationally. "They bought it to feel less homesick. They're from Australia, lived near the beach there apparently. They're actually away on vacation and obviously Xander is still at work so we have this whole place to ourselves."
"Awesome," RJ breathed as he looked around. He took in the sky, glittering with stars, hardly touched by light pollution. The moon gleamed, shining down on the dark ocean waves.
Fran slipped off her boots and socks, motioning for RJ to do the same. He did so and marveled at how soft the sand was beneath his bare feet.
"Mr. and Mrs. Bly carefully maintain this beach," Fran explained as she noted RJ's awed expression. "I think all the shells and rocks are in the ocean."
Without ceremony, RJ plopped onto the sand before throwing himself onto his back. He sighed in contentment.
"Going to make a sand angel?" Fran teased as she sat down with a bit more grace than her companion had.
"Nah, I'll stick to snow for that," RJ replied as he continued to lay there, feeling the tension bleed from his muscles.
After several moments of comfortable silence, he spoke. "It's silly, isn't it?"
"What is?" Fran asked as she moved her gaze from the sparkling water to him.
"I'm the freaking crown prince of Cordonia and I'm whining about not being able to go to a bloody beach."
Fran was about to make a quip but sensed that there were more to his words and chose to remain silent, allowing RJ to get everything off his chest.
"I just...I just thought that when I'd get married, I would be in love with my wife. Maybe not fairytale love, but something." He let out a loud groan. "Ugh, if only Nick hadn't chosen to abdicate."
"Nick?"
"My older brother," RJ answered. "Well, my older half-brother. He gave up his claim to the throne about three years ago. I knew this was coming, I've been preparing for it practically all my life but..."
"But it still feels too soon?" Fran ventured gently.
"Yeah," RJ rasped.
"You don't have to keep it all bottled up, RJ. You should probably let it out."
"But the neighbors..." he protested weakly.
"Meh," Fran shrugged. "They'll probably think it's a bunch of drunken teenagers or Chip's terrible singing."
RJ laughed with little humor before standing up and wandering closer to the water. He was silent for a few heartbeats before throwing back his head and all but howling at the moon as he screamed.
He yelled pure noise until he became hoarse. He would have fallen to his knees had Fran not gone to his side and caught him in her grasp, gently lowering them both to the sand.
"Feel any better?" She asked.
"A little," RJ admitted. "All my life, everything has been dictated for me. Any freedom in any little thing rarely happened. I feel more like a puppet on strings than a person sometimes."
"But you are a person, RJ," Fran said. "You're human. You're allowed to feel, you're allowed to be vulnerable."
"But the people... the press..." RJ murmured.
"They don't matter in this instant RJ," Fran insisted. "You do. Right here, right now, you're not Prince Robert James. You're RJ. For tonight, you're just RJ."
"I'm just RJ," he whispered before looking at her with a warm sort of softness. "How do you know what to say? Why are you bothering with me?"
"Well you needed someone to show you around," Fran pointed out. "And you did take the time to be kind to the waitress who handled your bachelor party. You think just anyone would do that?"
"I mean...I was taught to be sincere, not just charming."
Fran giggled at the reference and gave into the impulse to pull him into a hug. She tried not to sink into him with relief when she felt him hug her back.
Despite the warmth of his embrace, she shivered, having forgotten her jacket at Fireheart. "Cold?" RJ inquired as he quickly released her in order to remove his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders.
Fran flushed in embarrassment. "You don't have to..."
"Too late," RJ sang as he tugged her into another hug. She gave good hugs, warm and soft yet still just tight enough. He had no intention of letting her go just yet. Eventually, Fran murmured, "It's pretty late."
RJ sighed but kept his head on Fran's shoulder. "I don't really wanna go back to Cordonia. I know it's my duty but I think I'd rather stay here."
"Well I mean you could," Fran began. "But think of the tabloids. 'Nerdy college student keeps Prince Charming locked in her dorm. More of the salacious details of this scandal at eleven.'"
RJ burst out laughing. "You see, this is why I want to stay. You're genuine, Fran. And you know how to make me laugh. Really make me laugh."
"Casey and Dominic don't make you laugh?"
"Well yeah, they do, but..."
'They don't get into my head like the way you do.'
Fran smiled sadly. "I suppose this would typically be the part where we'd exchange numbers but..."
RJ stared out at the moonlit water, biting his lip in thought. "We could... exchange email addresses?"
She leaned away, blinking in surprise. "We can?"
"Why can't we?"
Fran gestured between the two of them. "Prince looking for his princess, college student looking to survive summer...?"
RJ snorted. "And? That shouldn't stop us from being friends at the very least."
Firmly pushing aside his words that have way to a desire of wanting something more, Fran fished her phone out of her pocket, tapped a few buttons on her screen and held it out to RJ. "Go ahead."
Smiling, RJ took her phone while holding out his own.
They wrote out their email addresses in silence, Fran unsure if she would actually commit to keeping up a correspondence with a crown prince, of all people. She pressed her returned phone over her mouth in a poor attempt to hide a yawn.
RJ's eyes softened. "Should we get you home before you turn into a pumpkin?"
"The sleepiest pumpkin," Fran agreed with a slow nod. "Though it's well past midnight," she added after a glance at her phone.
"Well," RJ began as he offered her his arm, ever the gentleman. "As you said, it's not a school night."
Fran snorted as she threaded her arm through his, lightly batting him with her phone. "That I did."
'Stars above, I'm going to miss him.'
Fran was rudely awakened at the ungodly hour of nine in the morning the next day by the sound of knocking on her door.
"I am going to kill whoever is on the other side of this door," she growled to herself. "I don't care who they are."
Storming to the door, she threw it open, her mouth open to berate her visitor when her jaw dropped as she was greeted by the cheerful faces of Dominic, Vida and Maddie.
"What in the world are you three doing here? And together?"
"They became my new friends last night!" Dominic explained brightly before becoming somewhat serious. "Actually I have a proposal for you."
Fran arched a brow at that. "Oh?"
"So you know how by now RJ's been whisked away back to Cordonia for the social season?"
She leaned against her doorframe and tried to not let herself be affected by his words. "I do."
"I'd like to sponsor you as one of his suitors!" Dominic enthused.
Fran stared at him for a long moment. "Come again?" She asked him intelligently.
"As a house with no heiresses, as in, I don't have any sisters, I have the right to choose a woman to sponser in her stead! So I decided to pick you!" He reached out and booped her nose.
"Right..." Fran drawled. "What's in it for you?"
"Seeing my best friend be happy," Dominic replied simply.
"And you think I can make him happy?"
"I was only paying attention for a few minutes," Dom admitted. "But I know you made RJ feel something stronger than he's ever felt before."
Fran bit her lip as she thought over Dom's words. It would be nice to see RJ again, but to throw herself at him as a potential wife? Not to mention a future queen of a foreign land when she was a mere commoner?
Was she even ready for marriage?
As if reading her mind, Madison spoke up. "You deserve happiness too, Fran."
"I am happy."
"Maybe you're content with the life you have, Fran," Vida said. "But you've also been pretty bored."
Fran opened her mouth to protest but the elder sister cut in. "Trust me Frannie, I haven't seen a spark in your eyes like that in a long time. I may have been DJing for most of the night, but I was paying attention."
"I'm still a college student," Fran pointed out half-heartedly.
"Take a leave of absence," Vida suggested.
"Or at least take your laptop with you," Maddie added.
When Fran continued to hesitate, Dom stepped slightly closer to her. "Look, whatever you decide, it does have to be soon. The flight leaves in two hours. For what it's worth, I know RJ would be happy to see you."
As Dom's words sank in, Fran took a deep breath, centering herself. She looked up, face set in determination. "All right... for better or for worse, no pun intended, I'm going to Cordonia."
Dom whooped while Vida and Maddie let themselves into her apartment. "Let's get you packed!" V cheered. She then paused, glancing slyly at her sister. "Actually, can Maddie go too? She's still single after all."
"V!" Maddie yelped. Her face flushed and she began to shove her twin toward Fran's room, the latter all but cackling as she followed behind them.
"I'm sorry, Fran, but what is this?"
Fran paused in her packing, slowly adding a few t-shirts to her luggage. She hesitated in meeting Vida's gaze, not when she could clearly hear the Chesire Cat's smile in her friend's voice. She waited a minute before looking up and to her embarrassment and slight horror, saw V holding out a familiar black blazer still slightly encrusted in sand. She had tried giving RJ back his jacket that night, but he had insisted on her keeping it despite the fact that she would most likely never see him again. He'd said she wore it better than she did; which she truly doubted, but still, the gesture was sweet.
The fact that the prince's cologne still clung to it most certain did not send Fran into any type of crush-filled tizzy.
No way. Absolutely not.
Nope.
"It's...it's a jacket," Fran stammered. "So what?"
"It's a man's jacket," Vida emphasized. "I'm pretty sure it's one that neither Chip nor Xander own and considering that it's still slightly damp..."
Really, Vida's smile was far too sly for Fran's own good.
"V..." Madison warned, leveling a glare at her twin.
Pouting, Fran snatched the jacket out of Vida's hand and began to carefully remove the sand from the jacket's back and sleeves. "There's nothing to it, Vida," Fran said quietly. "RJ just let me wear it out of courtesy because I was cold and had forgotten my own jacket at the club. Still not sure why he let me keep it, but..." She shrugged, a half-depreciative smile on her face as she carefully packed it in her suitcase.
"At least you can give it back if he lets you," Maddie pointed out gently.
Fran nodded and forced her smile to be a little brighter. "That's true." She absently traced the embroidered swirls of the James family crest on the pocket just under the lapel. She was startled out of her thoughts when Vida broke the solemn moment by holding up an accessory and asked, "How about this?"
"Uh, V, pretty sure I don't need to pack a mask of all things for this trip."
"Please," Vida snorted as she placed a Venetian styled half mask-a lucky find for Fran during a trip to a flea market-on top of a gorgeous gold-threaded embroidered deep purple dress. "The rich and famous definitely hold masquerades at some point."
"You'll probably need a swimsuit too," Maddie suggested as she packed a black one piece with a halter strap and decorated with silver flowers.
"For the bikini part of the pageant?" Fran quipped as she added a sturdy pair of heels and a pair of sneakers.
"Definitely," Vida affirmed. "Right before the talent round."
"Pretty sure I don't have one of those to pack," Fran mused as she began to zip up her suitcase.
"You're a heck of a cook," Maddie said.
"Your singing is pretty and you're a quick study," Vida added.
"Maybe I should go out for American Idol or Jeopardy then," Fran laughed as she got to her feet and swung her backpack over her shoulder, pulling her rolling luggage behind her.
"All set?" Dominic asked as he pulled his attention from a book he was otherwise thoroughly invested in.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Fran replied.
"Good luck, Fran," Vida said as she pulled her into a hug.
"Go show Cordonia how amazing you are," Maddie encouraged as she hugged Fran as well.
"We'll explain everything to Chip later," Vida added and Fran did her best not to squeak in concern at that. Cousin he may be, Chip could be as protective as some of the fiercest older brothers.
"Don't worry," V laughed. "Eventually he'll probably see this as some big LARPing adventure."
"Probably," Fran agreed with a small grin of her own.
She followed Dom out to the taxi that would take them to the airport, her grip on her luggage tight.
'Here I go,' she thought resolutely. 'No turning back.'
A/N: And our girl is off to Cordonia! Let's see how she handles the pressures and challenges of court life while navigating her own feelings when it comes to matters of the heart.