Royal 2 (Book two in my Selection series)

Chapter 49

After the plane ride, a car met me at the airport and drove me to a familiar trailer. I thank the driver and step out of the car. Tonight I would go to James's house, but for now I wanted to make sure I had everything together first.

The first thing I do when I walk in, was turn the TV on. I wanted to see what sort of news was on about the palace.

'Government shutdown' was the first caption on the first channel. I change it to the next channel.

'Selection Canceled Because Of Government Shutdown.' I groan as I switch to the next channel in hope of something else happening.

'Royal family abandoning the palace' I turn the power off on the TV and slip on an old hat to cover my face and grab my bag. I step outside the door and keep my head down as I head down the road.

"Autumn Meadows!" I hear a voice that was completely unfamiliar. I look and see a man with a camera propped on his shoulder. I hold my breath and continue walking faster. "What do you know about the government shutdown?"

The man with the camera followed me down the road and stuck close to me as I pull my hat farther over my head. I don't say anything and just continue walking with my hands in my pockets.

"Would you care to tell us about your relationship with the prince? How close do you think he was to an engagement?" The reporter asks again and I inwardly groan and walk faster. When James's house is in view, I notice there were surprisingly not a lot of reports. I take this as my chance and make it to the doorstep without any questions. I knock on the front door with my cold fists.

"Get in." James's voice says quickly as he gets to the door. I slide in to keep from being near the reporter and then it was just James and me in the room. "What happened?"

"Where is everyone else at?" My voice didn't sound like my own voice and instead sounded weak and thin.

"Dad is at work. Mom is taking Colton to daycare because he wanted to go and then she is going to work. I have to leave for work in about twenty minutes. What happened?" He asks again, demanding.

"I don't want to talk about it." I reply and pull my hat off my head and throw it on the couch.

"You can't just leave me like that. You have to tell me what is going on. Why is there a government shutdown? Why are you back here?" He seems genuinely worried and I hated that I couldn't give him any more information.

"I'm not allowed to talk about it. All I want right now is to forget that any of this is happening." I breathe out and sit on the couch. James stands still in front of me.

"Are you mad at him?" James asks and sits down by me. I shake my head. "I'm going to go get ready for work so you can go shower and talk if your ready. But if you want me to stay here, I will. I haven't taken a sick day in months."

"Don't miss work. I probably need time alone. I'm going to go shower." I say and stand up.

"Are you going to be staying here for a while?" James asks and stands.

"If It's alright with you all." I shrug.

"It'll be perfectly fine. You can put all of your stuff in the guest bedroom. I'll see you after work." I could tell he was confused but didn't want to push me anymore.

•••

That night after I'd showered and unpacked my bag I sit in the guest bedroom on my bed. I held onto the silver, shining ring. I slide my finger over the smooth material and try and remember every detail from that night.

I hear voices downstairs and quickly slide the ring back into my bag and slide my bag under the bed. Almost immediately the door to my room is pushed open and I'm met with Kathy's sad eyes.

"Oh Autumn." She breathes but is interrupted by the door being pushed the rest of the way open and Colton ran through.

"You're back!" He screeches excitedly and throws himself onto the bed. Then his face becomes confused. "Why are you back?"

"I'm just going to be here for a while. No need to worry about it." I say and smile at him. Colton disregards his questions and clings onto me. I look at Kathy and I just simply shake my head. I knew they were all worried about me and all had questions, but I just couldn't answer them now.

"Do you think we can talk?" Kathy asks me with patronizing eyes.

"I'll be in the living room in a minute." I tell her trying to stay calm. Right now, everything was so fresh and so painful to think about that I'd rather not thing about it at all.

"Okay." She says unsurely. It only takes me a few minutes to catch up with Colton and he heads off to the shower while I walk hesitantly downstairs to the living room. Davy, of course, wasn't home from work since he always went to work earlier and came home later than everyone.

"Hey." James says as I walk in on muffled whispers. I sit on the couch opposite James and a few seats down from Kathy.

"Honey, we don't want to push you but we really need to know what's going on. Are there other Selected still with the royal family? Was it just that you were sent home or is it all about the government shutdown?" Kathy gets straight to the point and it irritates me a bit.

"Look, there is a lot going on and I don't like talking about it." I say and bring my knees to my chest and put my head in my hand. Why did it still hurt?

"Look, Autumn, this isn't supposed to be rude, but all of a sudden there is a government shutdown after we were all convinced you'd be married and you show up here alone. What do you want us to think? We are worried about you and we don't understand what happened with you and Will when he asked for my blessing." James sighs.

"The Selection was canceled." I answer simply. "And there was a government shutdown."

I was quiet after that and didn't say anything. They both just look at me. I didn't

"Is it ever going to start back again?" Kathy asks.

"I don't know." I say and move my head so I can't see either of them. I feel James sit beside of me and his hand on my knee.

"Let's go upstairs." He tells me and pulls my hand to help me stand. I follow him to the guest room without a word. He sits on the bed beside of me and moves to the TV remote. "Let's get your mind off this with a good movie."