The Royal Trip

Twenty-One

Ainsley walked towards the piano room. She could hear the music coming from the room. Ainsley leaned against the doorway watching Richard sitting there focused. Ainsley smiled to herself as she watched him. Richard looked up noticing Ainsley and stopped playing. "Spying on me?" Richard asked and Ainsley chuckled walking over to him.

"It's only spying if you hadn't sent me a text to meet you in here." Ainsley stated sitting down on the bench next to him.

"You know how to play?"

Ainsley shook her head. "Of course not." Ainsley scoffed.

"Come here, I'll teach you a little something." Richard took Ainsley's hand and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her closer.

Ainsley listened to the notes he had her playing and she recognized the song. Ainsley chuckled looking over at Richard. "Little bo peep?"

"You have to start somewhere." Richard stated, pressing his lips against hers.

Richard pulled back smiling over at her. "The month is almost over." Ainsley stated and Richard sighed.

"I know. I'm not ready for it to be over, but I am ready to be king."

"You seem more confident about your ability to lead than before." Ainsley noted and Richard slightly nodded.

"I'm only supposed to do the best I can." Ainsley smiled at the repeat of her words from before.

Later in the day when Richard had work to do, Ainsley made her way through the halls when she noticed Kyle leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. He was watching her and Ainsley debated on just ignoring him or not. "You turned me down." Kyle stated, shaking his head making Ainsley stop.

Ainsley looked at him confused. "What?"

Kyle pushed off the wall walking over to her. "You turned me down, but then again, I don't have a crown."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Ainsley said lightly, shaking her head.

"Secrets out. Everyone in the castle knows." Kyle said, putting his hands in his pockets. "He's playing you. He's playing you like he has everyone else. I thought you would have been smarter than everyone else."

"Why do you hate him so much?" Ainsley asked, crossing her arms. "Why do you hate them so much?"

"Because they think they can have whatever they want and they even get it. They think they can take whatever they want and they do it." Kyle said in a tone filled with hate.

"They say the same thing about you." Ainsley stated before moving on. "I'm guessing there's a girl involved in this whole situation."

"She's beautiful. Her name is Caroline Morise. Ask Richard about her. See how he reacts." Ainsley rolled her eyes walking away from him. She knew what he was doing, but that wasn't stopping anything.

Ainsley tried to ignore it. She tried to push it in the back of her mind. Why would she believe anything Kyle said to her. But no matter how hard she tried, it wasn't working. So she walked with Katie through the castle grounds explaining everything Kyle had to say. "I shouldn't bring it up." Ainsley said, shaking her head.

"No, you shouldn't bring it up!" Katie yelled at her.

"Why not?" Ainsley asked and Katie stopped standing in front of her.

"Because Kyle is just trying to cause problems."

"There shouldn't be a problem. I should be able to bring it up without there being a problem." Ainsley said, trying to justify bringing it up.

Katie crossed her arms. "You wanna tell Richard about Zach?"

"Of course not!" Ainsley said, crossing her arms.

"Then I doubt Richard is going to want to talk about his problem ex."

"What if it's not his problem ex?" Ainsley lightly shook her head. "What if he has an ex worse than that? Don't you think I should know that?"

Katie shook her head. "No, you don't need to know."

"Okay, fine." Ainsley sighed.

Katie sighed putting her hands on Ainsley's arms. "Ainsley, you have a good thing going. Do. Not. Ruin. It."

Ainsley nodded. "Okay, I won't bring it up." Katie nodded pausing for a moment.

"Good." Katie said as they continued to walk away.

~~~

'I won't bring it up.' 'I won't bring it up.' 'I won't bring it up.' 'I won't bring it up.' 'I won't bring it up.' Ainsley repeated those words over and over again as she laid in bed staring at the ceiling. She felt herself breaking and before she could stop herself she found her knocking on Richard's bedroom door. Richard opened the door looking concerned at Ainsley. "Is everything okay?" Richard asked.

Ainsley sighed. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Come on in." Richard moved over letting her in and shutting the door behind her. "What's wrong?"

"Who's Caroline Morise?" Ainsley asked and instant shock came over his face.

"What?" Richard asked, shocked. "Who told you about Caroline?"

"Kyle."

Richard sighed. "What a surprise." Richard walked over sitting down on the chair in his bedroom around the coffee table.

"Who is she?" Ainsley asked walking over to sit on the couch across from him.

"My ex-girlfriend." Richard said looking up at her.

Ainsley nodded. "Go on."

"I didn't know we were in the dating history of our relationship." Richard said and Ainsley let out a deep breath.

"Please."

Richard sighed. "I loved her, but she loved herself more than anything or anyone else. I realized that if I was no one, she wouldn't give me the time of day." Ainsley looked down at her hands as she listened to him. "Ainsley, Kyle only brought it up because he wanted to cause a problem with us. Caroline has no effect on me anymore."

Ainsley looked up at him. "Did something happen between Kyle and her?"

"I asked her. She said no and I thought it was just a crush, but I have no idea."

Ainsley nodded. "Okay, thank you for telling me." Ainsley stood up from the couch.

"Wait," Richard said standing up. Ainsley stopped looking back at him. "Don't go."

Richard walked over standing close in front of her. "I can't stay here." Ainsley said and Richard put a hand on his cheek.

"Why not?" His thumb lightly rubbed against her cheek.

"I think people will notice if I walk through the castle in my pajamas in the morning." Ainsley leaned into his touch smiling up at him.

"Text Katie and have her bring you clothes in the morning." Richard rested his forehead against Ainsley's. "Please?"

"You are so lucky you're cute." Ainsley said, pressing her lips against his. Richard leaned down, lifting her up off the ground.