Third In Line

Chapter Forty Four - Fangirls

By the time their shopping trip was done, they were carrying more than enough bags to hide behind. But even though their loot hid their identities, it wasn't exactly hiding their wealth. She could feel the staring eyes on them. They know. Ellie's only relief was that they were in the shopper and tourists paradise, where people carrying back breaking loads of shopping wasn't exactly new or rare to see.

"Oh! Try these ones on next!" Emma handed her a pair of gaudy purple jeans as the three of them stood in the latest changing room.

"I've tried on six pairs of jeans already. My legs feel like sausages!" Ellie complained.

"And those ones are by far the worst." Alex added.

"The worst ones were the skinny pink ones." Ellie corrected her.

"Alright, onto the next one then."

Quick as a bat, her sister swooped in and started pulling off her top. Their aunt may have planned their shopping trip, but Alex had taken on the role of personal shopper and Ellie didn't have the heart to take that away. Despite how rough her sister could be when removing her clothes.

"Is everything all right in there? Can I be of any help?" A soft stranger's voice called from beyond the curtain.

"No, nope. We're fine thank you. Everything's great." Emma answered.

The unexpected intrusion had each of them frozen, hoping that the changing room attendant wasn't one of those employees that would poke her head through the curtains in the eagerness to help out. Especially when Ellie had her arms up in the air and a t-shirt covering her face instead of her chest.

"It's caught on your bra straps." Alex whispered to her irritably.

"Are you sure? Would you like me to get some more sizes? Perhaps some shoes?"

"Nope!" Ellie shouted as politely as she could, her top getting stuck in her mouth as she spoke.

"No it's alright. I think we are done here thank you." Emma answered, much more dignified.

"Of course, only the best for your royal highnesses."

Silence descended. Like a bomb had been dropped and they were waiting for it to hit the ground and shatter everything. She knew they had been recognised ages ago, but this was the first time someone had openly referred to them by their title. This was the moment where they crossed back over the line that they had left behind once they boarded that bus, and were royals outside the palace once more.

The attendant lingered outside the curtain before leaving, her high heels stabbing at the floor as well as the bubble of comfort that Ellie had built for herself. When the clicking heels vanished, the whispering from the other changing rooms started and her bubble finally popped.

Stop it. You're being dramatic.

"Okay, I think it's time we got going." Emma decided as she approached her and pulled the top off her. "Get dressed, gather your bags and we'll go."

After one person had talked to them, it wasn't long before others did the same. The sales girl that spent quite a bit of time folding and packing all of their purchases went on about they were never expected to shop there. It sounded more like they were never expected to shop anywhere, and only made Ellie feel like she didn't belong there.

Emma insisted that today they were just an aunt and her nieces going out shopping and politely implied that they should be treated as such, but nobody really believed that.

Their invisibility was beginning to fade as she started seeing more people that were watching them, more teenage girls that had their hands over their mouths in disbelief and more phones subtly taking pictures. Yet for a reason she never understood they were showing a level of constraint, far from the ravenous hordes that followed the boybands and singers, the A-list actors and celebrities.