One Winter's Day

Chapter 6

I grabbed onto Sara's arm. She whipped her head back and looked at me in alarm. 

"Did you hear what that reporter just said?" I hissed into her ear. Her eyes widened.

"No! What did they say?" She asked excitedly. 

"That the Prince of Sweden is here. And I heard a bunch of other reporters talking about how he was seen talking to a bunch of girls and that he walked a girl back to her cabin last night!" Sara's eyes widened even more. If she opened them any more, I was sure they would pop out of her head. 

"Holy crap, Elle! That's us! They were talking about us!" She yelled. A few paparazzi looked over at the sudden outburst. Sara blushed and waved them off, and I saw them return to their business. 

"Exactly. Sara, I went on a date with the Prince of Sweden last night. Like, what the hell!" I whisper-shouted. Sara looked around as if she lost someone.

"What are you looking for?" I asked. She replied,

"I'm looking for Mia. I know she's our best friend, but you know her. If she finds out about this, well, the results would be disastrous. She would try to get into the spotlight. Mia would do anything for fame and money." I nodded, agreeing sadly.

"Yeah, you're right, Sare. Good idea. How would we keep this from her, though? I mean, she isn't exactly deaf, so she would find out about this sooner or later," I said. 

"I mean, there's no real way to avoid this, so I guess we have to let her find out on her own and play it off like we had no clue about this whole thing in the first place. That's the only way to try and avoid as much conflict and corruption as possible," she said. 

"I agree, Sare. That's the only way," I said sadly, then remembered something.

"How about we just forget that Mikkel is the Prince? I mean, I can call him and we can go skiing together. I'll call Mia. She'd probably have finished her coffee by now," I explained. Sara nodded.

"Good idea! You call Mikkel and tell him to meet us at the cabin in, say, an hour to go skiing. We'll get ready and finally conquer the black diamond!" I smiled as she pumped her fist into the air. 

"Good plan," I exclaimed and high fived her. "I'll call Mikkel now." Sara nodded and dialed Mia. I pressed on Mikkel's name from my recent list and waited for a second while he got to the phone. He picked up after about three rings.

"Hello, my knight, how are you?"

"I am well, sweet thing," he replied. I took a deep breath and started to talk.

"So, I'm at the cafe right now and it's crawling with reporters and paparazzi," I said and heard him inhale sharply. I continued,

"And I was wondering, like any normal human being would wonder, hey, why are there a ton of people with cameras and mics here? So I tried to listen more closely and I heard that the Prince of Sweden happens to be here. I also heard that yesterday, a source said that he was seen talking to a group of girls and then later in the day seen walking one of them back to her cabin, and I thought, that's no coincidence. So I finally put the pieces together and realized that the prince was you!" I was out of breath when I finally finished speaking. Mikkel let out his breath and asked,

"So, you're not angry about keeping that from you?" He asked. I could hear the worry emulating from his voice. I was shocked that he would be concerned about my well-being when he was the one that was going to have to run his own country someday. 

"No, of course, I'm not mad at you! Why would I be mad at you? I just had one of the best dates, if not the best date of my life last night. Although you being a prince is shocking, anyone who just had a first date for the first time in a long time would be surprised to find out that their date is a prince!" I was breathing heavily now, having rambled on for over a minute now without having given Mikkel any time to speak. 

"Thank you, sweet thing. The date last night was the best I've ever been on as well." I blushed, grateful he couldn't see me through the phone right now. I probably looked like a hot mess.

"So, prince thing aside, would you like to join me and my friends on a black diamond trail today? Could you meet me at our cabin in an hour?" He chuckled. 

"Of course, Elle. I will see your beautiful face in an hour," He replied warmly. I giggled.

"Bye, Mikkel."

"Good-bye, sweet thing." 

I hung up and smiled.

My date is a prince. 

Ho-le-y shit.