Royally Screwed

10

I couldn't stoop the caged feeling as I flew across the ocean. I stood, shaking slightly because the boat wobbled and flew in the air before crashing back on the waves in a rush. I let out a little giggle as I swayed, Philip holding me from behind. The royal crest on the boat a shining symbol.

It was a little bit more luxurious than the other speedboats I've been on, but it was still a speedboat. 

I wobbled again, resting my back against Philip as his grip tightened. The wind blew my braids away behind me. I was styled by the stylists, today I wore a light blue blouse paired off with light brown shorts that looked far more pricier than the things I owned. Philip on the other hand was wearing a light green shirt and brown shorts. They decided to make sure our outfits didn't match as obviously as they did on our first date. 

They also provided us with swim wear which the two of us would change into when we reached our location. To further demonstrate how little we were in control of our own lives, our publicist designed us as a playful couple, too young and too in love to care that he was a prince and I was a pauper. 

I laughed again at the irony of everything but mostly at the salty wind that kissed my cheeks. 

I turned a little, catching Philip smiling. My heart jumped a little.

"Do you always go on a speedboat?" I dared ask; interrupting the pleasant silence that had settled between us.

"Yeah, when I was younger, my family tried to shield me from the press, going far out to private locations helped." He played with the ends of my blouse. "Never really liked them."

"They can be quite scary."

"You've no idea what they've done," his eyes darkened a little. So I touched his arm, feeling him tense up more. "They break everything beautiful," he continued softly, "everything innocent, they corrupt, everything unfavourable they destroy." He shook his head, "I thought about it last night, there was no way they would have liked you at the start, they need consistency to like you."

"Consistency?"

"At least a month of seeing us together would have helped," he clarified, "you're not Greek as well which really doesn't make it any easier." 

We both stumbled and nearly fell, but Philip regained his balance, a laugh falling from his lips as our eyes met, "I'm sorry -" he said looking so familiar but we were interrupted. 

"The press is here," my guard warned.

I looked to my left and I saw a boat coming as close as they could to ours but it was a good 100 meters away. When I glanced back to him, he was hard and rigid, the part of him I liked a lot, gone.

 "I'm not sure how to do this," I told Philip, feeling butterflies in my stomach. "I've never been in love," I confessed.

Philip softened, his blue eyes warmed and he looked incredibly gentle, his hand brushed my hair, "Maybe we'll get there, maybe we'll be the best of friends. We'll go slow, we'll do this for the child."

I nodded, still hesitant. He pulled me to him, hugging me then we moved to change into our swim wear. I took longer than he, because when I was out, he was already shirtless in his swimming trunks as he spoke with the brunnette guard. When I came close, the conversation ended, Philip looking almost sharply at me. 

The sharpness softened a bit and he kissed me lightly on the forehead, "Ready for a swim?"

I could tell he wanted to be here; but the truth was, he wasn't.

The next day, I didn't meet the Queen but a messenger with straight dark hair told me that she was pleased with Philip and I.

What she didn't know was that Philip and I played her script perfectly right down to the amount of kisses, the brief fleeting kind. She didn't know that we both lost ourselves in the sea because we were both drowning and I knew that Philip wasn't going to save me.