Her Royal Charming

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

"My name is A-"

The watch on Derric's wrist beeps. "Sorry, it's just my stupid watch." Derric apologizes.

"What time is it?"

"Midnight." Reality sinks in and I inwardly curse. Shit! I had half an hour to get home before Kenny's shift ends. If I don't make it back in time, he'll know I wasn't home and even worse, my step-sisters would know I wasn't home.

Then my cover would be blown and everything would go into a downward spiral.

I need to leave, the sooner the better and I would still be cutting it close.

"Are you ok?" Derric asks concerned, resting his palm against the side of my cheek. As much as I wanted to curl into his touch I knew I couldn't.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." I freak out apologizing one more time. I pull away and realize I had still had his jacket around my shoulders. I hastily shrug it off, the collar getting stuck something behind me. I thought it was the dress zipper.

I must have looked like a crazy person and I worried what Derric would think of me. I tugged a little harder and the jacket slipped off of my shoulders. I handed it back to him, practically thrusting him it into his hands.

"What's wrong?" He seemed to be at a loss for words and I don't blame him. At the sound of his watch, a switch flickered and the impending doom of reality sunk in. Midnight struck and I realized my magical night was over.

It was time to go back to the hellish nightmare that is my normal life.

"I need to go!" I say in full freakout mode. My hands were practically shaking and my heartbeat thudding against my chest. My anxiety spiked as I wondered if I was going to make it back in time.

Every extra second I spent with Derric increased the risk of getting caught.

"What happened?" He was persistent, I'll give him that.

"Something came up." My eyes darted over my shoulder. "Look, it's not you it's me." I dropped that cliche bomb on him.

"I can take you wherever you need to go." He said in a last-ditch effort. I take a precious second to thank him. The gesture was kind, but I couldn't accept.

"Thank you." I surprise both of us by leaning forward and kissing his cheek. I pull away just as quickly, most likely with flushed cheeks. Derric stood there, almost in shock and I took that as my cue to leave.

I slipped my mask back on whilst bunching my dress and running in the opposite direction. For someone who was a novice on heels, I suddenly became a pro.

Although I felt something fall, I had no time to even see what it was, probably something unimportant. I heard him snap out of his trance and call after me. It took every ounce of willpower in me to keep going.

It killed me to leave him like this when we were so close. I wanted to reveal that part of my identity to him. I was finally ready to tell him who I am and forget about the damn consequences for once! Of course, then my step-family had to ruin it.

I apologized one more time over my shoulder, almost tripping over myself and the dress. I then realized I had no way of getting home on my own. With no car or mode of transportation, I call Ava.

"How soon can you make it?" I say desperately as soon as she picks up on the second ring. The clock seeming to tick faster now that I'm in a hurry. Now would be a perfect time to discover time-stopping powers.

"About 40 minutes Sweetie, traffic is bumper to bumper getting into the other side of town." There goes that option.I hung up and scrambled to come up with an acceptable solution.

My last resort was to seek out Edmon. It was a long shot, and my only hope. I wandered back into the main room and wondered how I was going to differentiate him in the dim blue light. In my rush everything seemed to blur and I had trouble making out faces.

I also learned quickly that running in heels was a lot harder than walking in them.

I walk past groups of people, trying to pick out one familiar face. I found him at the concession table reaching for a drink. I pushed through the crowd and made my way over to him, snatching his elbow and pulling him aside just as he was about to take a sip.

I'll make up for that later.

He was caught off guard as I dragged him into the corner of the room. It was more secluded and less of a chance we would be overheard.

"Adira?" He whispered squinting at me.

I nodded hurriedly. "I know we are arguing and in a bit of a runt right now, but I need your help. It's a lot to ask of you I know that, but I need your help."

"What do you need?"

--------

Edmon puts aside his ego and out problems and whisked me out of the country club into his car. With 20 minutes to drive a half an hour distance, he was going 30 miles above the speed limit.

Thankfully the roads were quieter now as we raced down the streets. I caught Edmon up to speed as soon as we entered his car.

The car ride was silent and frankly I preferred it. I was in no mood for arguing, or excuses until the more pressing matters were resolved.

"Thanks for the ride." I say when we pull up into the empty driveway. We got there 5 minutes before Kenny came home.

"Anytime Adira." He gives me a small smile. I open the car door and was about to leave when he called my name again.

"Can we talk tomorrow?" He sounded hopeful, and I didn't want to crush him. I'm not a monster, despite what my step-sisters believe.

"I'll text you the details." I tell him, perhaps it was time to sort this out.

"Good night." I wave to him and quickly rush off to the door. I pulled the spare key out from under the mat, making a mental note to hide it someplace less inconspicuous.

The first thing I do is slip my shoes off and run towards my room barefoot. I threw them into my closet and quickly changed into a pair of ratty pajamas just as I heard Kenny's car pulling up to the driveway.

I sprinted to the kitchen, making sure to mess up my hair and pull random dishes out from the cabinets to look like I was washing it. My plan was to make it seem like I was doing chores the whole night. Meanwhile, all the evidence I was at the party was safely tucked away into my closet.

Kenny walked in grumbling less than a minute later. He walked past me and into his room slamming the door behind him. I let out a sigh of relief.

For now I was safe.