the moral of the story

chapter twenty-three: second chances

things with james were great. amazing even. we had managed to keep us a secret from both his family and the media for quite awhile. and i did often forget that he was, well, royalty, and a pretty important person in the world. none of that mattered to me. all that mattered was that he was an important person to me.

of course, his friends were still an issue. paige was almost always around, and she hated me with a fiery passion. which was so strange for me, because i had never met anyone who didn't like me before. i mean, not that i was an outstanding citizen to society or anything, but i figured i was nice enough. what reason would people have to hate me? chris seemed to have taken paige's side, the two of them being best friends and all. whenever paige would make a crude jab at me, chris would always make sure to laugh loudly.

i figured the price of james's company was enduring the presence of his friends, which i was fine with. of course, james never said anything, but i never expected him to. would it have been nice for my boyfriend to stand up for me when his friends got mean? yeah, it would have. but i guess it was my own fault for not fitting into his life. if i were to marry james someday like he promised, i would simply just have to try harder to be what he wanted.

julian, however, was a little harder to read. i mean, he had those royal genes and was absolutely gorgeous, but that was about all i knew about the guy. whoever all of us were together, he would just sulk in a corner with some classic novel that i knew hipsters read with a pair of large glasses. sometimes i would ask james what julian's deal was, but james would just say that he was a loner and to just let it be. so i did.

but hallie seemed to mesh well with our little group. she and james had really hit it off at paige's birthday party, and i guess she was an official member of his squad or whatever. she really got on well with paige and chris as well, which made me a little uncomfortable. she was able to be seen in public with them, because hallie's parents were wealthy and pretty well-known. i couldn't help but get the sinking feeling that paige could turn one of my only real friends against me, and that would've seriously sucked. but when i confided in hallie, she told me that my thoughts were insane, and that i was the only bitch she trusted in that whole group, which really reassured me.

one day we were sitting in the garden that james had taken me through a few weeks earlier. by now, i had been in london for a full two months, and i could never quite forget the fact that i would be leaving for home in just four short weeks. i would've stayed in london for the rest of my life if it meant that james and i could be together. who cared about school anyway? if i married james i wouldn't need to graduate. i would be a future queen.

"it's such a lovely day, isn't it florence?" james asked me. i was perched on his lap, wearing a pair of loose-fitted denim shorts and a tight white top that came down to my midriff. on my feet were a pair of grey birkenstocks that i was pretty sure belonged to my sister a few years earlier. james's hand tickled my thigh, sending goosebumps down my back despite the temperature.

"if by lovely you mean hot as balls, then yeah, lovely as hell." i muttered, wiping away some sweat from my forehead.

i felt james laugh from underneath me, pulling me closer to him. his body warmth should've repelled me in that temperature, but it did just the opposite. if anything, i was far more comfortable being near him. he didn't even seem to mind that the back of my legs were sweating right on him. that was love, i guess.

"it doesn't get this warm in mississippi, does it?" paige's voice broke james and i's moment. god, i'd forgotten she was there.

"i'm from massachusetts, actually." i corrected her, pulling my gaze away from james to her. she was wearing a spaghetti strap yellow sundress with white polka dots on it. she wore ballet flats with a pair of sunglasses i could only assume were designer. basically, the whole outfit alone probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. "mississippi's down south, i'm pretty sure. i live in the northeast."