Royal (A Selection Fan Fiction) (Book One in my Selection Series)

Chapter 32

We danced— or whatever you would call it— for minutes after that. I couldn't see his face.

"Charlie." He says loosening his arms around my waist and pushing me back so he could look at me. "I think I may be breaking the rules now, but I think I'm falling for you."

I wasn't really taken by surprise after what just happened but I wondered, what was I really feeling? I looked up at him. Even on his feet I wasn't as tall as him. Or close.

"You know." I say and lean my head up barely far enough to reach his lips. He leaned down and pressed his lips farther into mine making me lean back a little. I pull away looking at him for a minute. I barely noticed he had freckles. They were just vague speckles under his eyes and across his nose. "I think I'm falling for you too."

Alex chuckles and pulls me back up straight hugging me against him again. I feel him fiddling with the ends of my hair as I trace little shapes with the tip of my finger, lightly, into neck.

Alex uses one of his hands to pull my wavy hair around to one of my shoulders and leaves it there. Replacing it, though just for a minute, were his lips that pressed into my neck then he pulled back again.

"I hope you know you are beautiful." He says softly. "the difference between you and Catastrophe is she uses her beauty as a weapon, though with you? I'm not sure you know it."

"I'm not pretty, Alex." I say. "I'm plain."

"Don't tell yourself that, it might just get stuck in your head." He smiles. "But the thing is your my beautiful girl."

"But the thing is." I quote him. "You have twelve other beautiful girls." I say honestly.

"In the end I have one bride, Charlie. In the end it'll just be me and her in the palace. One beautiful girl that will be all mine. I might not be all yours right now, but maybe one day I could be." Alex says for a minute. Through all of our little conversations he doesn't stop moving his feet.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask in a small quiet voice.

"Know what you want, Char. If you don't want this life you need to tell me. Okay?"

"I will.." my voice drifts off. The sky suddenly turned a bright orange without hesitation. I turn and see the sun dipping below the horizon.

"Let's sit down." He grabs my hand so I don't fall stepping away from his feet as we walk back to the blanket that we'd slowly drifted away from.

"Have you watched the sun set before?" Alex asks me.

"Not this way. I can see the sky change colors from my room,but not actually the sun." I shrug. "But it's beautiful. I love it."

"You know the princess sweet has a window right over the edge of the roof right there." Alex nods to the edge of the roof in front of us that would indeed have a beautiful view of the sun.

"Why do you say that?" I make it out in a small squeak.

"I want you to know the things you can win here. I don't want you to think there is nothing here that you can make a home out of." Alex whispers. "The other girls don't look at palace life like you."

"I have the most to adapt to... it's harder. You might not get that, but it's still hard being in the public eye. It's hard thinking maybe I won't go back to a normal life again." I shrug. "Just give me time Alex. If you can't do that, I can't do this."

"Okay." He doesn't look at me, but he wraps one of his arms around my shoulder. I feel his lips find their way to my head just on my hairline. "You've got your time."

Then we sit there watching the sun. Could you just stop it? Could you just freeze time right now in this moment? I didn't know what had come over me but I think this was what it felt like to love someone.

I lean my head on his shoulder and let the sun fall over the horizon.