Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

40) Talking Things Over

Before I can confess my fleeting indiscretion and complete lack of decorum with Gus last night, Torin begins by saying, "I've been looking for you, Eliot. Since you left. All over town."

My prince came to find me. He really does care about me. It is not my imagination or an unreciprocated desire for him, he really does care about me. I bet he was worried about me.

"I was worried about you. When you left. You didn't say good bye."

"You seemed kind of...". I want to say busy, too busy for me, but that seems childish and selfish, so I don't finish my sentence.

"Busy, I've been busy," he confesses.

We really are in sync because we are finishing each other's thoughts.

He continues his tale of seeking out the love of his life:

"When I heard you had gone, I snuck away from Jack. He is an excellent tracker, so I went a different direction than you did."

"Yeah, I saw Cindy. She told me."

"Yes, I saw them too, her and Christopher and Lindy. I got them back to camp and then borrowed the golfing cart. I drove all night to catch you, but somehow I missed you on the road."

So, I really did hear a golf cart that night in my dream. It was my prince desperately seeking me.

"How are they? How's Steven?"

"I am sure it is broken. His foot. I left our Lindy with Clay and Tommy, and there is a new doctor who has just joined us. I left him in good hands, but I did not wait around."

He had to get to me. He had to. Torin continues his story of desperation to find his girl:

"I looked for you in town. I caught a glimpse of you, but by then the golf cart was dying, and you were too fast on that bike. I surmised you were probably headed home. I went there."

Uh, oh. Oh no. No. No. No.

"You were there of course. I peeked in the window. You were with someone having a whale of a time. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Let me explain," I say though I don't know if I really can.

"No need. No need for an explanation. I understand. You deserve a good time, Eliot. The world has gone to hell, and teenagers have certainly lost a lot of normalcy and reverie. If they want to have a good time and a celebration with their young friends, well I am not so much older that I don't remember what it is like to be a teenager."

Did he just call me a teenager twice, like I am an immature baby who just wants to party all the time?

"You're not much older than me," I say. "And he is not my teenage friend. He is your age."

Well, that didn't sound right. Not at all what I mean.

"Ah, but he was definitely a friend because you were quite friendly."

"As a matter of fact, he is an old friend of yours. Lancaster. Gus Lancaster from England. He went to school with you."

"I don't know this Gus Lancaster at all. I got a pretty good look at him too,"

"So, are you spying on me now?"

"Well, I must confess. I was briefly, but since you didn't look to be in any danger, I left promptly. No need for me to intrude on your night of gaiety and caution to the wind."

I'd like to respond and say it was not that much fun, but I would be lying. So I say, "Well, you know us teenagers, we like a night of unbridled debauchery. We lack inhibitions, you know, so sometimes we just go crazy."

Torin just looks at me and nods knowingly and says, "How did your friend say he knew me?"

"He's from England. Sent here to get you by your mama," I say. I put the emphasis on the word "mama" so he'll know that at least my mama is not sending someone to get me. I can stay up as late as I want.

"What?"

"She sent him to get you. Him and his dad, Reginald."

"Reginald Lancaster?"

"Yeah, his dad already found Jack, or wait, maybe he already found the prince."

"What do you mean found him?"

"He is going back to England with Reginald. Gus is looking for you."

"Jack would never desert me, ever."

"Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but he did, that is Jack or whoever he is, is on his way back home."

"I know Reginald Lancaster of the Secret Service, and he has a son named Gus, but Gus is a student in America. He doesn't work with his dad."

"Well, Gus knows a lot about you and Jack. He said you guys are scoundrels. You lie all the time to the ladies."

"What are you talking about Eliot. Lie to the ladies, about what?"

"Switch places, lie to the ladies. Lie to me and Carli. Are you really Prince Torin? Or is Jack the real prince?"

He seems shocked and a little embarrassed. "We look a lot alike, Elie. And I am humiliated to say, that we did switch a lot, when we were younger. Mostly to fool the teachers and the staff, but sometimes to fool others."

Is this a confession? I ask, "So did you lie to me?"

"You think I lied to you?"

"I don't know what to think."

He pauses and thinks before he looks me directly in the eye and says, "Who did I tell you I was, when we first met?"

I think about when we first met and the tell-tell scar. He told me and Steven that he was Jack Taylor.

"You told us you were Jack Taylor."

"And who insisted I was the prince?"

I hesitate because I know who insisted. "We did," I say. "We did."

My head is hurting again. He did lie to me, but it was me and Steven's fault. We insisted on what we thought was the truth.

"So," he says "Did I lie to you? And if I did, does it matter?"

I don't know what to say because my heart is hurting now too, as bad as my head, and it doesn't know how to answer. I don't care if he is a prince or not, but I do care if this man can lie to me so easily. I think I am going to cry, but I don't because he says:

"I am sorry for teasing you, Eliot. I am Prince Torin Henry James Albert of Wales. I would never lie to you, my lady. I was affronted by your accusation, though I am certain my past trickery and indiscretions deserve the questioning of my integrity."

My lady, my prince just called me his lady. Even though I acted like a stupid, irresponsible teenager last night, and he knows I did. He called me his lady, and he came to find me.

"I'm sorry about last night, Tori. I was so sad. I just didn't want to be sad anymore."

"I know," he says. He is holding my hand now and he kisses it. He kisses my other hand too and then looks longingly into my eyes, or at least that's what it looks and feels like to me. Then, Torin speaks and ends my delusion:

"Teenagers are quite emotional and unpredictable, even before the world ended. Especially girl teenagers. They can be quite flighty and fickle at times. It's not your fault at all. You are a victim of the physiology of your underdeveloped brain and, of course, being a girl."

Broken. The spell is broken.