The Prince's American Girl | Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

3 | Returning to the Craze

Three days after her encounter with Harry, Meghan found her phone ringing with his name lighting up her phone. She was sure that he got the hint that she wasn't interested in pursing any further engaging interactions. Meghan had even noticed Harry waiting around after the event to get a chance to talk to her but she busied herself with a long conversation with Amanda about how the even had gone. She then noticed him walking over to them from the corner of her eye and ran out explaining she has an appointment. She didn't want to come across rude as to not say goodbye to him, but she also hadn't expected someone of such status to take an interest in her. The slight attention she could feel that Harry had for her made her both excited, nervous, and upset. She had come to London to be unnoticed. And Harry certainly wasn't making her feel unnoticed. 

After the ringing from her new UK phone subsided, Meghan took out her planner from the side drawer of her new office. Ben walked past her office with papers in his mouth and a large coffee in his hand, spilling some on his shoes. She gigled, got out of her desk, and helped him clean up. 

"Oh thanks Meghan, you didn't have to do that." Ben mumbled halfway and then took the papers out of his mouth to speak more clearly. 

"Not a problem, I once spilled a smoothie all over my dress and then Amanda lent me an extra change of clothes she had. So this is the least I can do around here. You're all so kind to me." She explained. Dabbing his shoe one last time and the floor, his shoes reminded her of Harry's shoe that seemed so polished. But unlike Ben, Harry was not clumsy. At least she didn't get that feeling. 

She stood up. "Right, so let's see." Ben tried to shuffle the papers with his one free hand and his arm. 

"Oop let me hold that Ben." She nervously laughed, not wanting Ben to spill any more coffee. Preferably not on the both of them 

Ben handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it and smiled. 

"You're letting me run Friday's even myself?" She asked to make sure she understood Ben before letting herself get too excited.

Ben nodded. "Yes, you've got so many great ideas and we want to make this event great. And we have a lot of other work to do. Amanda and I have discussed that you are ready to plan your own event now. If all goes well, you can start doing your job as the even coordinator freely without too much of our supervision. I trust you can handle this Meghan." Ben smiled and Meghan eagerly nodded. 

"Yes thank you Ben!" Meghan wanted to hug him but braced herself. 

Getting back to her planner she moved some things around to account for her new assigned project. Back in her town in America, she had only ever run 4 events. But these events were much more manageable and all so planned. She knew the people in her town well. The ones that came to the events were from the side of town that her Aunt Lucy likes to call the "dirty underside." She on the other hand found these people had more life in them than anyone else she knew. They had more soul and depth and understanding in them. She loved helping them and connecting with them.  They didn't expect too much from her. But this job was different, it was with people she was not familiar with and with higher expectations. It was with a group of people she was not exposed to in her town.

It was 7:30pm when she finally shut the light off in her office and locked the door to the entire office. 

When Friday morning rolled around she couldn't contain her excitement. She couldn't wait to see the women and see all of her ideas come to life to make for a magical day. The women coming in today all were under 30 and were a part of a small community outside of London. Most of whom were on welfare and were barely getting by due to leaving abusive relationships or families. The event would educate them on how to get a better job, go through resources for getting an education, emotional tools to get out of their old habits caused by their past, and celebrate how far they had come. This was meant to be an empowering event, to give confidence to these women who had endured so much and were seeking out a better future. Meghan would have appreciated this event if she was in their position. 

The Heads Together logo along with the town name the women were coming from were displayed on a large banner in front of the large open room. And inside the different stations that the women would be rotating through were all set up. Podiums, screens, projectors, tables, and gift bags were everywhere. She smiled and held onto her clipboard. Meghan greeted her speakers she had invited. 

Amanda came in to check in with Meghan and ask if she needed any help. But Meghan had planned everything to a T. It was perfect, nothing could go wrong. She took her job seriously and got great joy out of it. The similarities between her last job and this one were just enough to be comfortable with what she was doing while also allowing her to do something new and different. London was such a big city and she would be getting the chance to impact many people. She loved helping other people and giving them the attention they never got to become their full potential.

She reminisced about why she got into this line of work. Despite having the grades to get into honors pre-med at Columbia, she ignored everyones opinions and followed her heart. She enjoyed the defiance she gave out with her decision and was offered a full time job due to her volunteering. She had always felt like the odd man out who could see just a little further beyond the towns gossip. And there was only a small few who could too. All of whom worked at the center she worked at. She was always the talk of the town. "Meghan Markle, always with her head up in the clouds" they would say. On a school project in high school she found great interest in volunteering with the people in her community. She slowly spent more time focussing on other people which helped off set the drama that her friends always threw on her lap. Since she couldn't quite exactly work through her own problems, she enjoyed helping other people work through their own. It was hard leaving the center but she found it hard to live there and focus on her work when the people around her outside of work were constantly trying to focus on creating drama in her life. It distracted her from being happy. It took her mind out of peace.She also had made major progress with the same people who came to the center and wanted to expand her opportunity to impact and connect with new groups of people. 

She felt a tap on her should halfway through the even which was going flawlessly. The women were smiling, writing down notes, enjoying the goodies in their gift bags. Meghan turned and saw Amanda once more. But this time with a gleaming smile on her face. 

"I know this is your event but I just got a call and Prince Harry would like to speak at the end to these women!" She said excitedly. "This is so great that he is interested in more of our events. He must have liked how the last one turned out. You were there remember!" She said. 

Meghan's heart beat quickened. "Oh that's great to hear." 

"This doesn't impact your schedule too much does it? Surely you can add him in at the end right?" Amanda asked and looked around to eye the closing podium station where the chairs were set up around a platform. This was where she had imagined herself talking to the women.

"Yes of course it's not a problem Amanda." Meghan replied. Externally, she was trying to keep her cool. Internally, she was panicking. Hopefully he had no idea that she would be running this event and be here today. And hopefully his speech would be be well suited for this event. Oh gosh she thought, he was going to hear her speak before him. And in the blink of an eye, what was supposed to be a relaxed as-planned closing would now be a craze for her. But she had to focus in again and realize that the women would most likely be ecstatic that he would be here. She had to focus on them and not herself. 

What a surprise for them and herself.  

"Great, he said he'll be here in 5 minutes." 

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I hope this chapter brought some insight into Meghan's background a little more. We will explore further obviously. & Sorry for not posting a new chapter for a while! Life just got really busy for me haha! Love you all and thanks for reading, truly. 

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