June
Being Alexander Claremont-Diaz's older sister is a big deal. From the moment he was born, he was an attention-seeking shit and people paid him attention. Which was fine because we were both in a world where the names Claremont and Diaz were synonymous with politics. Having the luck (audacity) of being both a Claremont and a Diaz, was far worse. People were either expecting big things from you based on solely who are parents were. Or worse, they expected us to fail because of who our parents are.
Alex's larger than life personality was ok by me and the fact that I was ok, letting him take the spotlight, should have been a red flag. But he loved the spotlight as much as it loved him. It allowed me to blend in a bit more and not stand out so much. That was perfectly fine by me. There's this saying that says "Why blend in, when you were born to stand out?" It could have been written with Alex in mind. He is goodness, personified. Not that I would ever tell him that. Everything good that has ever happened to me, has happened because of Alex. He is my best friend and the crazy thing is, I know I am his too. Nora likes to think she is, but really, it's me.
When Alex was six, and I was eight, our parents were working (as per the normal), and I was left in charge. Alex and I were riding bikes in our street, and he fell off in front of Doc Collins house and scratched himself up fairly bad. Doc Collins and his son Evan came out to help and he patched Alex up. Free of charge. Because of Alex, I got to have 12 years of Evan Collins in my life. First as my friend and then as more. He was my first love, my first kiss, my first everything - including my first heartbreak. But it was ok. It ended amicably and we still keep in touch.
When he was twelve and I was fourteen, he came to me for advice about girls and I got to witness my brother navigate his first crush with Camilla, a fiery girl in his class, whose family were from Cuba. I also got to help him through his first heartbreak. Unfortunately, they both happened in the same week.
When Alex was sixteen and Nora was seventeen, Alex kissed Nora and they started dating. Granted it didn't last long and it fizzled out, but not before they took each other's virginities. But that brought Nora into my life and awakened something in me I thought was well buried. My very own sexual awakening. Nora.
When I went off to college, I chose UT Austin, so that I could be nearby. Just in case Alex needed me, and it turned out that the one time he did, it was major. Our parents were around less and less and Alex was more often than not, all alone. When he was seventeen, I was home from school, doing laundry. Dad had already left long time before that. Mom was in Washington DC, on the campaign trail. Luckily, I had stopped home. Coach Wilkins was calling, Alex had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. He had taken a lacrosse ball to the head and immediately lost consciousness. Of course, when I called both of them, neither one of them answered. Not even Zahra, mom's campaign manager. He was ok and I got to take him home, two days later. But what had pissed me off, was that it took 24 hours for someone to call me back.
Let me explain something. Being biracial in America is tough. Being a brown half Texan, half Mexican, it's tougher. Then add that both of our parents are politicians. Democrats at that, in a state that has been notoriously a Republican state since the 70's. Well that was before mom came along and blew that right out of the water. Oh, did I mention from there she went on to become the Speaker of the House, Presidential democrat nominated candidate and eventually won the presidency. She must have done an ok job too, because two months ago she got re-elected for a second term.
Of course, Dad's a senator for California and in that state, the they treat him like royalty there. They call him the patron saint of gender neutral bathrooms, and all. He is a big deal. I remember when he and mom first started fighting. I'd cocoon Alex up in a blanket forte, in my room. We'd eat junk food, watch movies and have sleepovers. When the divorce came, it wasn't a surprise to me. Alex on the other hand, he was surprised. Perhaps I had shielded him from the fighting too well. He was angry, and it wasn't until recently that I understood why. It was the only ever point that Alex and I ever disagreed. Our Parent's divorce. Alex stepped up and was made the 'man of the house' by mom, which he took seriously. Whereas, I understood dad and respected his decision to leave. It wasn't working and he could see that staying was making things worse for the two of us.
Dad had promised he would drive out to Alex's summer camp and talk to him. Tell him about the divorce. I always thought Dad did, and Alex was angry at him anyway. It used to piss me off and I had fought Alex so much on it. It's now something I regret. Turns out, Dad chickened out and didn't go. He spent the night in his office. But he didn't lie. He never said he went, but he sure as hell implied it. So when Alex came home from summer camp, at eleven years old and found that Dad had packed up his stuff and not only moved out, but moved interstate and started a brand new life. It had hurt him. He felt abandoned. It hadn't been until Henry had let the cat out of the bag last month that we all learnt the truth.
I can't apologise enough to Alex for that. Or for kissing Nora. Which I did last year and I immediately regretted. I should have talked to Alex about it first. She was his ex. Even if they were just friends now. But I didn't and when Alex found out, I saw the look of hurt on his face. He denied it, but I knew it was there. Now he gives us grief, but it's all in good nature. Nora is blunt and direct. She doesn't realise her words cut him deep and I have to rein her in. But she tries.
Fast forward to the last campaign cycle. the one to get our mom reelected to the White House. Not that the election was a walk in the park. My brother, the man who I like to tease and call lil bit, or baby bro, just to irk him, he had it the toughest. He fell in love with the love of his life. A man. Someone he hadn't expected to, had a whole sexuality crisis about it and started a relationship with him. The man was none other than Henry, or to be exact - His Royal Highness, Prince Henry George Edward James Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, prince of Wales and the third in line to the throne.
They'd always shared an animosity and fed off each other in a way that meant they did nothing but push one another. But that just meant that Henry could handle the fire that was always lit under Alex's ass. The two of them falling into the wedding cake was perhaps the best thing that could have ever happened to them. A staged PR friendship, coordinated by Zahra and her (now husband) Shaan, Henry's equerry. I honestly think that if Zahra knew how it was going to end up between the boys, she would have just cut her losses. But a staged friendship turned into a real one and on New Years Eve, Henry kissed Alex in a drunken haze, ran away and ghosted him.
Somehow that attention-seeking idiot of a brother of mine, managed to break down the carefully constructed walls of a closeted prince ( and England's most sought after bachelor). Walls that I am told other men had tried to tear down, and failed. He worked out his sexuality and when Henry came back a month later, for the prime minister's dinner, Alex kissed Henry. After that, I chose to remain in a state of ignorant bliss.
That is, until I figured out what Alex and Prince Henry were doing and confronted him about it. Here's the thing; Alex was jetsetting everywhere, meetings, conferences, charity events, appearances. All the kind of things we had both previously worked so hard to avoid. My biggest fear is that Alex would become our parents, and I would lose him to politics too. Turned out he and Henry had been meeting up, under the guise of these events and doing something I really didn't want or need to know about behind closed doors. They were using these appearances as an excuse to hook up.
I am ashamed to admit, it took me longer than I'd liked to work it out. But it wasn't until Alex returned from a 36 hour trip to Berlin with a hickey on the side of his neck that looked too fresh to be from before he left. In fact, it looked like the one Nora had given me the night before. So I was suspicious. When I called him out on it, I was hurt. I found out that for once in his life, he went to Nora for help instead of me. Sure, I was busy with a deadline, but I had always made time for him.
It didn't matter, by Alex and Henry getting together, we met Pez and once more; Alex changed my life. Then we met Bea. The beautiful, bright Beatrice and Henry's sister. My counterpart in our brothers' weird infatuation with another. God forbid, they admit they're actually boyfriends.
Zahra forcing Alex to come out to mom wasn't cool. I even told her, not that she cared what either of us thought. Then mom fired Alex from the campaign job and that was worse. Alex and boredom was not a good combo. She knew that. But she was afraid of a scandal and her re-election campaign was all that mattered to her. That's when I had the great idea of getting dad to have us all at the Lake House in Texas.
Photos leaking of a drunk Alex leaning on Henry in the corridor of the Beekman hotel in Brooklyn crushed Alex in a way I had never seen before. Alex was still pissed at mom, but I was willing to take one in the media for him. Even though I hate the attention. We didn't do anything too dangerous. No statements or anything, we let Henry imply he was there to see me. Henry hadn't had to say much, but I had the feeling that beside Bea, his family weren't supportive of him or his sexuality. It worked, a little too well. It killed Alex. It killed Henry. To be that close to Alex, and not even allowed to see him. Sneaking Alex out, just so they could have a few minutes had been risky.
When Henry left Alex at the Lake House, his heart wasn't just broken, it was shattered to smithereens and I wasn't sure Alex would ever be whole again. The fact that Henry ghosted him again, broke my heart too. Nora and I spent too many nights in Alex's bed, him nestled between us, holding him while he cried. My little brother who perhaps has only cried three times in his life, was crying over his shattered heart and the prince of England. I had never wanted to kill anyone more than I wanted to kill Henry in that moment. Bea was the reason I didn't. But it was close.
When that romantic little shit grabbed Cash and hopped a flight to London, I prayed for Alex to find his happiness. It's always been a closely guarded secret how the next fifty-six hours went. Alex refused to say anything except that Henry and he had reconciled. I had even gone as far as to grill Cash, but the only thing he added was he didn't lay eyes on Alex the whole time they were there. Oh, and that Alex was smiling on the flight home, as he played with his necklace. That didn't give me any clues either. Alex was always toying with it, it was like a nervous tick. It wasn't until I saw the smile on my brother's face that I saw his smile. he was happy.
That happiness was short lived when Alex and Henry's private emails were leaked to the media. By Richards, mom's opponent. Raf claimed he never knew what Richards was going to do. I have always suspected he might have known and was powerless to stop it. He ended up being the unlikely hero. Getting the evidence to convict Richards. But at the expense of Henry and Alex. Alex confessed that he had foolishly confided in Raf about his feelings for Henry. Unfortunately, it was the photos of their risky meet and greet after the Beekman scandal that had been their undoing. Alex and Henry had kissed and some sicko paparazzi with a telephoto lens had snapped photo and sold it to Richards.
I mean it all worked out in the end. Zahra and Shaan schemed to get them a meeting with the Queen. Bea talked some sense into their mom and Henry and Alex got to be together.
Here we are, three months into mom's second term. Henry flew in yesterday, for mom's inauguration. He can't participate in anything, but he is Alex's boyfriend and a part of the family. I guess the First family and the Royal Family aren't that different. Appearances do matter. So, Henry is here for the press, as well as for Alex.
What the press doesn't know is when the prince leaves DC on his royal jet; London isn't his destination. He will be going home to Brooklyn, and with that, taking Alex with him. Because no one but their immediate families, and Pez knows yet; this is their Happy Ever After.