Across the Pond (Prince Harry #2)

Chapter Thirteen

On her way back from class, Meredith watched the paparazzi. They waited patiently. Standing beside them, she watched. A few clicks from cameras broke the silence. Meredith listened. The cameras stopped clicking.

"How was your day?" she asked the paparazzi. "Did you enjoy yourselves with the warm weather?"

The paparazzi said nothing.

Meredith moved on.

"Ma'am?"

She turned back and looked at the paparazzi. "Yes?

The paparazzi pulled out his phone and opened something else. A video came up, and Meredith stepped forward to see it. The video showed Harry today, laughing and playing with children. All of it referred back to an event he had today.

Harry looked so happy and calm. He always felt at home with children, and it was because he was a child at heart. He made some dorky comment and then made a weird face. Either way, the child enjoyed it. Harry moved around and talked to more people, lighting the room with his warming presence. He was so comfortable in this area. Harry once admitted that he had a problem speaking with adults, where children were easy. Meredith had the opposite effect. Harry was so happy, making Meredith happy.

Meredith watched the video, smiling with her cheeks turning a bit red. A few clicks of cameras sounded off, and Meredith pulled herself away.

"Any comments?" the paparazzi asked, but Meredith was already walking away. She waved.

Finally getting to her room, Meredith entered and stopped. Her mind eventually had left the note and focused on other things. The note sat on her desk, staring at her. Walking over to it, it was still real. Meredith turned her back to the note and paced. She had to tell Harry, she knew, but there was a chance it was all a big joke. But then again, there was Jack....

But if she called Harry, he would know what she said to the paparazzi today. She expected most people to know about this morning. Meredith didn't regret the choice. She only regretted that she didn't say more or at least say it better. If Harry asked about it, she would defend it to her death. Though with the note she looked at, her death wasn't too far out.

Meredith sat down on her bed and texted Harry. We need to talk.

Harry responded after a second, Is it urgent?

Meredith knew he would be angry if she said no, but she wasn't dying now. No, she wrote.

Harry texted back, I'm at an event. Can I call later?

Yep. Talk to you then. Meredith didn't put down her phone. There were a few other people that she needed to talk with.

Meredith's boss waited in her office and a Campus Safety officer was there too. Meredith sat down. The door was locked behind her. Meredith handed the note off to the Campus Safety officer, who offered the idea of locking her door. Meredith kept her mouth shut, fearing a rude retort might come out. The officer also offered that this might be a joke, so an eye would need to kept on the situation but she shouldn't worry. Meredith tried to keep her gaze even, but she was so ready to yell at him. The officer than offered up the best knowledge that he could: this was all because she dated Prince Harry.

"Really," Meredith burst out in sarcasm. "People didn't exactly want me dead before."

The Campus Safety officer gave no more advice but left after that.

Her boss faced her. "Meredith, Prince Harry, really?"

Meredith stood up. "He's a dude." She left.

Back in her room, Meredith waited Harry to call her. She tried to sit down and do homework, but she only imagined how Harry would take the recent events, and it wasn't well. When Harry called, Meredith was right. "Mere!"

"Yes, Harry?"

He closed his mouth, swallowing whatever he was about to say. "And the police?"

"Campus Safety said I should lock my door every time I leave the room."

Harry almost burst again. "Mere!"

"Yes, Harry?" Meredith knew this bothered him, but she couldn't stop herself. "I'm not going to speak to you until you calm down."

Harry rolled back his shoulders and cracked his neck. "I'm calm. I'm calm." He wasn't, but it was the best she was going to get. "Aren't you scared, Mere? Someone said they were going to kill you because of me."

"Someone threatened to kill me on a note, so it's just a threat, and not even a good threat at that. And someone has already tried to kill me because of you, so," Meredith shrugged. "I've stayed with you anyway."

"Mere, don't you care for your life at all?"

"If I did, I probably wouldn't be dating you," she argued. "Harry, it's Halloween. It's probably all one big joke."

"And if it isn't?"

"Harry, you know so don't lie to me. There have been death threats online. People have done that since the day everyone found out we're dating, and people will continue to do it. Online, death is easy. I know what they say about me. Some people have threatened to rape me and leave me to starve. They're gross." Meredith knew, but she never spoke about it with him. "I have ignored it, but I won't ignore it any longer."

"Neither will I," he vowed.

Meredith smirked. "Those people are trolls online, but I'm not scared of them. Jack tried to kill me-- someone actually tried to kill me, so those people saying whatever they say don't bother me. They're just cowards hiding behind their computers. Unless they got a gun and are shooting me, I think we'll be fine."

"Is that the only thing that scares you?"

"It's a pretty American thing to say, but yes."

"Mere, this is an actual person who slipped a note under a door."

"A coward is someone who doesn't say it to my face." Meredith leaned back on her bed. "And how was your day? I saw you, and you looked pretty happy."

"I was thinking of you the whole time."

She scoffed.

"I was."

"You were surrounded by children, so I am a child?"

Harry froze, looking as if he was a deer caught in the headlights. "That's not what I meant."

Meredith rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked.

"Well, it's Halloween so children are coming in and we're giving candy to them, and a tour. Let's hope no one is smoking weed tonight. Wait." Meredith looked at the time. "Shit. I have to go." She needed to be at work in a minute. "And you need to be asleep."

"Sleep is for the dead," Harry said offhandedly.

Meredith arched an eyebrow.

"Sorry."

"It is Halloween. If anyone is dying tonight, it's me." Meredith smiled as she hung up. Putting on shoes, Meredith left her room and locked the door, running downstairs. Everyone waited in front hallway, as children began to line up outside.

"Meredith, where's your Halloween costume?"

"The greatest thing about being famous is that I can be myself for Halloween," Meredith offered.

Her boss walked into the entryway. "Meredith, where's your Halloween costume?"

Meredith reached behind the desk and pulled out a tiara. She put it on her head. "There."

"Aren't you dating Prince Harry?" asked a coworker. "So that doesn't count."

Meredith looked at him. "You seem to think that I care, and I don't." She walked past him and went toward the children. The children didn't care, and Meredith didn't either.