Last song

Nine

- Simon?
- There will be this meal in our palace
- And besides Lia who brings a friend of hers, I should bring someone else with me with whom we both get along well
- But Felice doesn't have time
- Do you wanna come?

~ Me?

- Yes, you

~ What do your parents say about this?

- I was able to convince them with the help of Lia

~ Well then
~ When is this exactly?

- The day after tomorrow evening

~ Okay, I can set it up
~Thank you

- Same to you

And now here I am, two days later, in the palace, in some room where I'm getting. I am standing in front of a mirror and looking at myself in it. Why am I actually doing this? Am I doing it because I still like him? Or am I doing it to prove to his mother that I'm not as stupid and annoying as she thinks?

"Simon" Lia comes towards me from behind. "Come on, we have to go" and before I know it, she's pulling me by one arm behind her, a friend of hers and Wille. After a few meters we walk together through a large door.

The final things about procedure and behavior and such are clarified and shortly afterwards the first people enter the hall. I knead my fingers nervously.

"Take a deep breath, change your personality and just wait until the whole thing is over" Wille whispers in my ear. "Really do it like that, it helps" Lia whispers in my ear from the other side. Great. Again, why am I willingly doing this to myself?

The whole dinner is just dinner. Uncomfortable questions are asked that you have to avoid elegantly if you don't want to say the wrong thing.

I keep watching Wille because I don't want something to happen and I don't notice it. It's getting towards the end when I notice how strange Wille suddenly is. I hesitate for a moment, but then whisper in his ear: "Come on, let's go outside for a moment." He nods, we get up, apologize and go out. After walking down the hallway a bit, we stop.

Pov Wilhelm
"What's up?" Simon looks at me questioningly. "I don't know. I think it just got to loud in there" I say quietly. "Come" he hugs me.

This hug feels good.
Too good.

I return the hug and we stand there, silent, for minutes. At some point he puts his head on my shoulder. "Thank you" I break the silence, whispering. "For you always" I can't see it, but I know for a fact that he's smiling. That sweet Simon smile.

"Simon?" "Hm?" I let go of him slowly because I want to look into his eyes. "Why didn’t we made it then?" I look at him questioningly. "Too much has happened" he says, after a moment's thought. "Yes, unfortunately" I smile briefly.

"I... uh... I still like you... a lot. I just want you to know that" I stutter.

"Wille... look... I still like you too, but I don't know if I could do it all again" "I know" I pull him into the hug again. "Me neither." I whisper, as quietly as I can.

After a while I look at my watch. "I think we should go back inside" I slowly let go of him again. "Are you feeling better?" I nod.

"What was going on?" Lia looks at me questioningly. "It was a bit too loud for me here" "Oh, okay" she takes my hand. "But now it’s better again?" "Yes, definitely" we walk to our table holding hands.

"Tell me, you and Simon, your looks. Don't you think you should try again?" Lia whispers in my ear. "You know Lia, sometimes I really don't know how you come up with ideas like this" I say, shaking my head.

"We broke up ten days ago or so, and it's not even official yet, so we're just pretending to be the dream couple here and you have nothing better to do than set Simon and me up?!" I grin. "You're lucky I'm not jealous. Besides, that's the most interesting thing tonight. So?"

"We both like each other a lot, but a relationship is out of the question at the moment, okay?" she nods. "It's a bit of a shame, but okay"

It is now very late and all the guests have already left. Lia, Tirza, Simon and I were all up in the apartment for a moment until Lia and Tirza went home.

Now it's just Simon and me here. Alone.

We sit next to each other on the couch and are both on our phones. "Wille?" "Yes?" he turns his phone so that I can look at it. My eyes wander from one headline to the next. They're all about me and Lia and this time it's not breakup stuff, it's more like pictures of us from tonight, with titles like:

'Crown Prince Wilhelm and his girlfriend looked so happy today'

"I don’t have to plan my funeral, how nice" I grin. "You're so stupid" Simon punches me lightly in the arm. "Don't open your mouth too much. You'd probably be one of the saddest people if mom killed me" I put an arm around him. "Unfortunately you're wrong" I look at him confused.

"I wouldn't be sad. I would be on my way to the palace to kill your mother too" he grins. "I would be careful with your death threats, you are currently talking to the Crown Prince of Sweden" "Chill, your highness" and suddenly our faces are very close to each other.

I feel his breathing. It's warm and smells like peppermint, how he managed to still smell like that coming out of his mouth is a mystery to me.

"I... um..." he stutters to himself. He looks deep into my eyes. He is so beautiful. Despite everything, I'm somehow afraid that he... whatever. You fight for love, right? I wanna do that. I want to fight for us, no matter what.