if i can't have you || rini au

04. journey

"excuse me-pardon me, sorry-"

nina made her way through the crowd wearing her hair in double braids and a white bucket hat on her head, a jean jacket with a green floral dress under it as she made her way through the crowded airport excitedly

she arrived at the security gateway, turning around before sighing when seeing benjamin uncomfortably make his way through around the people with a sweater vest and holding his backpack and suitcase.

"your age is showing benji," the girl smirked, the man giving her a glare in return that made her giggle

"firstly; i am not that old. second; i'm not comfortable with...human contact." he shuddered

nina snorted a laugh and shook her head "come on! the flight is boarding in an hour and i have to get a look at every single space in this airport." she squealed

"do you need help with your bags-"

"benjamin, we've been over this," nina sighed as she pushed her heavy suitcase with a huff "i am going-to be a normal-girl. no-" she leaned forward and lowered her voice "no princess talk, no treating me like royalty, but like i'm a normal seventeen year old girl."

benjamin took a deep breath "as you wish-"

"i do wish," she nodded "and now i wish you would stop being so slow so we can get through security!" she exclaimed, benjamin exhaling deeply as he rushed to keep up with her.

after a very long day of benjamin convincing and giving good arguments to the queen, daniella finally gave in to letting nina go to salt lake city to live with erica - who was just as excited as nina.

daniella had a long list of rules though; not to stay out late, not to get in any trouble, be aware of strangers and not to fraternize with the wrong group of people and, even though no one knew who she was, to still act like how she raised to be; polite and 'princess-like'.

of course, nina was only going to follow about 10% of those rules, seeing as in all of her life, she's never once actually listened or followed a rule that was set out for her.

benjamin was coming with the princess to assure her arrival, then leave back to autonia a day later.

once passed the security and spending a long hour of nina looking around the airport and buying things from the duty free, they were boarding the plane to salt lake city.

nina took out a packet of sour patch kids and excitedly opened it, examining the unfamiliar candy as she looked at benjamin "what color do you want?"

"oh no...i don't eat that." he said firmly, shaking his head as he took out his book

nina rolled her eyes "you brought a book on a plane? there's a tv!"

"yes, i know that," he said, keeping his eyes on the pages

"it's not even a good book, the ending sucks." nina told him with a grin, putting a piece of sour patch kid in her mouth before grimacing "agh-thats sour..."

benjamin shook his head with a chuckle before the flight attendant arrived for drinks

"hello, fancy any drinks?" he asked kindly

nina gasped "what do you have?"

"apple and orange juice, pepsi, sprite, fanta, sparkling water, water and lemonade."

nina thought for a moment "...what's a pepsi?"

the man raised his eyebrows in surprise, seeing a seventeen year old girl not knowing a fizzy drink that almost everyone drinks nowadays.

"she'll have a sprite," benjamin answered "and i'll have a sparkling water please."

the man nodded slowly as he prepared the cup and handed the drinks to the two before continuing on

"what is this?" she asked, analyzing the can "okay-wait don't tell me, i wanna try it."

she tried the drink and nodded in approval "okay, yep. i like this."

benjamin shook his head with a grin before sighing and returning to his book

nina excitedly looked out the window as she watched the plane start to move a little to get in place for take off in the next couple of minutes.

she took a deep breath and looked in front of her, deciding to try and watch a few of the harry potter movies; she always loved the books so she wondered how the movies were too, never really having the chance to watch them.

"ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard flight 707 from the royal kingdom of autonia to salt lake city, utah. it'll take approximately eight hours to arrive. we hope you have a good journey and thank you for choosing to join us for the flight." the captain said through the speakers

nina smiled to herself; this was real. she was going to salt lake city and have a life of her own for the few months she had before becoming queen. and she was going to make every second of it count.