International Relation(ship)s

Chapter 6

Clay awoke rather early the next day, earlier than he was required to, at least. The sun was newly risen, the sky still sporting remnants of its blush, and the palace was, quite like the night before, eerily quiet. He wondered for a second if it did ever get louder, but the ephemeral thought was corrected by the soft pattering of distant footsteps he could hear if he listened closely, and he imagined that as more of the palace awoke it would only get noisier. He roughly rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms until the geometric hypnosis that was phosphenes merged and disappeared into dark nothingness, then brushing his teeth, showering, putting in contacts and changing into his outfit for today; a somewhat informal suit, not quite imposing and businesslike but still smart enough to make televised and photographed appearances alongside the most loved man in the UK. He dawdled the next few hours on his phone before the alarm he had set to wake himself up finally rang and was then ushered around to breakfast, then to a car again as they made their way to their first scheduled event; a TV interview.

It was relatively uneventful, which was slightly surprising. Through some sort of unspoken clarity, pretty much everyone who was aware of the plan was anticipating a mistake. Just one word misspoken, one overly awkward interaction, and international humiliation could be brought upon both the Royal Family and the President yet again; the stakes were higher than the public would ever know for a seemingly basic TV appearance.

The interviewer was a generic, well-spoken Londoner in a crease-less red dress matching the shade of the BBC logo plastered around the building. She kept a somewhat serious demeanour, occasionally throwing in a (pretty obviously) pre-written joke, but neither of them minded. These sorts of interviews were much easier to navigate than the more lighthearted sort. They were simple to answer, no hidden nuances to trip them up, and the lack of invasiveness that came with the more solemn air was certainly something they both were glad about. Clay didn't know whether to be disgusted or thankful that it was starting to become easier to pretend to be the Prince's, or, from what they had discussed the night before, Just George's, friend, but there was no time to dwell on it whilst ensuring that he was saying exactly the right thing at the right time, as is the nature of national live television - there is very little you can take back.

They were asked straightforward questions; how long they had been friends, an answer which had been well-rehearsed on both parts, what happened at the wedding, which again had been ingrained in their minds by Darryl and Zac ("We were just joking around, having some fun, enjoying the wonderful wedding when Clay slipped and fell into George."), what they liked the most about each other, which was easy enough to make up, just tell the public what they already think.

He was surprised that George let him lead the interview, he had his suspicions from their midnight encounter, but he was begrudgingly sure that he had mistaken in thinking this was all fun and games for the Prince when he saw him discreetly fidgeting with his hands, which lay in his lap, during the appearance. That fairytale-ready smile didn't drop once despite the fact he was picking at the cuticles around his thumb so hard that scarlet droplets were forming, and though they were hastily wiped away against the dark fabric of his trousers, Clay still noticed.

Clay didn't mind piloting the interview, however; he had always been a rather extroverted character, naturally speaking with eloquence and charm, his smile being, in his humble opinion at least, just as dazzling as the prince's (if not more). On the plus side, it did make it seem more like they were friends, with Clay answering each question with ease and George occasionally chipping in with fun little quips and stories despite the fact that, in reality, Clay was like this with everyone. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that they had successfully fooled the general public thus far, and with that, their reputations would remain relatively unscathed.