Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Despite the lack of sleep, Jen was walking on air as she headed to her Sunday morning breakfast shift, due to the fresh memory of the night before. She knew no-one at work would believe her if she told them her tale. After all, when she’d first woken up this morning, she hadn’t believed it herself. Maybe Rick had made it all up, maybe that was what he told all the girls. But he’d been so lovely, so kind, and so gentlemanly. She felt that he had to have been genuine. Maybe she should Google the Crown Prince of Cordonia and prove it to herself. Yes, she’d do that. Straight after her shift.

She was just about to head through the front door of the bar to start work, when she heard a voice she recognised from somewhere calling out her name.

“JEN! WAIT!”

She turned, and to her surprise she saw Rick’s friend, Maxwell, running in her direction, from further along the sidewalk.

She walked towards him. “Maxwell? Did you guys leave something here last night?”

“No, no..” he said, as he reached her, placing a hand on her shoulder briefly to halt his momentum. “But I’m so glad I caught you, Jen. We’re heading back to Cordonia so Rick can find someone to marry, and all that jazz…”

She looked blankly back at him.

“He said he told you..”

“Yeah, he did. Why are you here, Maxwell?”

He looked a little nervous, and stepped backwards. “Jen, before I go, I wanted to officially extend to you..” A confident smile appeared on his face. “An invitation to join us for the festivities in Cordonia.”

“Huh?” This had to be a wind-up. His delivery sounded rehearsed.

“You wouldn’t usually be allowed to join.. But I want to sponsor you!”

“Sponsor me?” This didn’t make any sense. She glared at Maxwell in confusion.

“Listen, Jen, I’m from a noble house, but I don’t have any sisters, so we don’t have anyone in contention to marry the Prince. Instead, we can sponsor any girl we choose. And..” He put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re my pick!”

Jen tried to process all this. Maxwell wanted her to go back with them, so that he could put her forward as a potential bride for Rick? But why? “You want to sponsor me? What’s in it for you?”

He looked seriously at her. “If you accept, you’ll owe me three boons, each favour more fraught with peril than the last..”

“What? Really?”

He still looked serious, but she was already getting the measure of him. She laughed, and he smiled sweetly back at her. “Nah, I’m just messing with you. I’m trying to help you out, Jen.” He looked at his watch. “We’re kinda crunched for time, though. Our plane leaves within the hour..”

“Whoa. You’re moving a little fast, don’t you think?”

“No time to waste. The opening masquerade is tonight! It’s the start of the.. uh, I guess you could say, it’s the start of the competition.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a whole horde of gorgeous, rich, noble women vying to become Cordonia’s next queen. By the end of June, one of them will be successful. If you accept my invitation, you’ll be one of them. And I don’t see any reason why the successful one couldn’t be you. But it’s not just about winning the Prince’s heart. You’ve also got to prove to the council that you can rule Cordonia with him. But I think you’ve got what it takes…” He looked at the floor. “You’re witty.. and charming.”

She blushed, not used to such compliments. “Uh.. thanks…  So, a fancy masquerade? What else am I getting myself into?”

Maxwell brightened up again. “Fun stuff, I promise! You’ll get to go yachting in the Mediterranean, skiing in the mountains, dancing in the Royal Palace..”

Jen’s eyes glazed over at the thought of the places she’d always wanted to see. This situation all sounded slightly ridiculous, but if it could give her the opportunity to travel that seemed impossible in the real world, it might be worth it. And, what did she have to stay here for? Most of her friends weren’t her friends anymore. She wasn’t getting on so well with her new flatmate, and was quickly losing touch with her old flatmate Amy (who had promised to meet up with her every week, but hadn’t seen her for over a month now). She was happy here, but you didn’t get many breaks like this in a lifetime. And after all, Rick was really hot. Heck, even Maxwell was cute.

“Or, y’know, you can stay here... and go back to your waitressing gig with your crappy boss. That’s probably about as good.”

Jen slowly started to smile. “I’m in.”

“Yesss!” shouted Maxwell, putting his arms around her and jumping up and down in excitement. “Now, quick! Go pack your bags. You do have a passport, don’t you?”

“Shit. No. No I don’t. It expired a few months ago, and I….” She sighed. “I never thought to renew it, because I didn’t really see myself going anywhere.”

“Aww…” The disappointment on his face was crushing. “Can you fast track one? I mean, I wanted to surprise Rick but I’m sure if I tell him now, I reckon he could sort an emergency one for you…”

She sighed. This whole situation was ridiculous. She knew deep down she couldn’t go with him, as appealing as his offer was. Someone with her background could never be a queen anyway. “No, Maxwell. I guess this means it’s just not meant to be. I’m sorry. I mean, I wouldn’t fit in with all your posh important friends. I’m just a waitress from New York. And, let’s face it, that’s all I’m ever gonna be.”

He looked back at her defiantly. “Come on, I’m not having that! You can be anything you want to be. And I just have this amazing feeling that you would make a perfect Cordonian princess. Are you sure I can’t see if I can sort something out for you? Or, maybe you could join us in a few weeks when you’ve got one? Jump on a flight? It might not be too late… and just imagine how happy Rick would be to see you again…”

She laughed. “How much do flights to your country from here cost, exactly?”

“No idea. I mean, the flights for this trip were all on Rick…” He checked his watch again. “And, I guess if I’m not careful, I’m gonna miss my plane back, and then I’ll be able to tell you the answer to your question. But, my brother would kill me. I mean, he’s gonna kill me anyway for not finding a suitor. But, after he killed me, he’d probably find a way to kill me again if my inability to secure a suitor costs us an extra transatlantic plane fare.”

She giggled. “I better let you go then. But, listen, thank you so much for the opportunity. And I’m really sorry if I got your hopes up there. But, I don’t think it would work, passport or no passport.”

“Last chance to change your mind?”  

That optimistic smile nearly changed it, but she shook her head stubbornly. “I’m going to be late for work, and you’re gonna miss your plane.”

The smile faded from his lips., and his eyes looked sad. “Okay. Oh, well. Mission definitely not accomplished.”

“I’m sorry, Maxwell. But, it was lovely to see you again.”

“Yeah. Same.”

She turned to go.

“Wait! Can I.. get your number? Just in case you change your mind?”

She sighed, and nodded. “Okay.”

He got out his phone, and passed it to her for her to tap in her number. She obliged.

“Thanks, Jen. Oh, and hey, shall we get a quick selfie?”

She laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah. Just so that if I do ever tell Rick about this particular screw-up of a mission, I actually have evidence that it happened.”

She felt bad for him. “Hey, you didn’t screw it up. That was me and my stupid passport..”

“True, true. Hey, say Cordonian Ruby….” He thrust the phone in front of her and pulled her ridiculously close. She went with it, their faces touching as he snapped a few pics of the two of them. She couldn’t help but notice how fresh and sweet he smelt.

“Perfect! Thanks, Jen. Right, I better run.”

He saluted and headed off down the street at pace. She giggled, and carried on towards the bar entrance. Just before she went inside she looked back. She could just about still see him, and he too looked back, and shot her a little wave, which she returned.

She headed into the bar, and put her bag in her locker. As she did so, her phone vibrated. She took a quick peek to see a picture message. It was the selfie they’d just taken.

As she put her phone back in her bag and into her locker, she thought to herself that she was glad he’d sent it through. She pondered for a moment how much fun going with him could have been.

“Jen, you are two minutes late getting out there already,” she heard Kieran snap from behind her. “I’m docking it from your pay!”

She sighed. Back to reality.

Chapter Text

“Maxwell, where the hell have you been?”

Despite his words, he knew Drake was happy to see him really, as he stood in the departure lounge with both of their cases, waiting to board their plane back to Cordonia.

“Aw, thanks, buddy! You brought my luggage like I asked!”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” Drake sighed. “But come on.”

They headed through the gate, flashing their passports at the airport staff. Maxwell sighed in frustration as he looked at his passport before he put it away. Maybe that was a sign that things hadn’t been meant to be. But, Jen could have been with them right now, and how exciting would that have been?

Instead, he was stuck with a tired and grumpy Drake. They’d come to New York a few days before Rick had arrived on his private plane, allowing them to celebrate Maxwell’s birthday as well as Rick’s bachelor party. Rick had booked them both return tickets as Maxwell’s birthday gift; it wasn’t much more expensive and he was keen to build up his airmiles points. This little detail was all of a sudden convenient as they hadn’t both had to get up at the crack of dawn to board the royal plane, although a few more hours would have been appreciated after a mainly sleepless night and a failed early morning mission. 

It wasn’t long before passengers Walker and Beaumont had heeded their final call over the tannoy (fame!) and were finding their seats. The first plane was New York to Amsterdam, and from Amsterdam they’d catch a smaller plane to Cordonia.

“Dibs on the window seat,” he called.

“Whatever,” huffed Drake.

The irony wasn’t lost on Maxwell that the third seat next to them was available, and he sighed.

Drake switched off his mobile phone, prompting Maxwell to do the same. “Right. Now you can tell me what you’re up to, so that I can then sleep in peace for the rest of the flight once we get up there.”

“What, really? You’re not looking forward to seven hours and forty-eight minutes of my scintillating conversation?”

Drake produced a pair of earplugs from his shirt pocket. “Nope.”

The plane started to taxi, and Maxwell buckled up. “Well. You saw my note.”

“Yes, Maxwell. Did I understand it? No.”

“You understood the bit about meeting me at the airport with the cases…”

“Just get to the point, Maxwell.”

“Last night, at about 4am, I had what I thought was the best idea I’d ever had in my life.”

“Not difficult,” Drake pointed out.

“Hey! Well, I couldn’t sleep, and I was thinking about what happened last night, and… I was thinking about Jen, actually.”

“Get in line. I think we all must’ve dreamt about her last night.” A creepy smile appeared on Drake’s face.

“No! Not like that! I mean, I was thinking about how well she got on with Rick, and how much he liked her, and what chemistry they had… don’t you think?”

It was a bit of a fib, to be honest, as he’d been far too pumped to sleep and had laid awake for hours thinking non-stop about that beautiful, amazing girl that he had just met and that he’d seen again this morning. Her smile, her laugh, her black curls that framed her pretty face.

Naturally, she’d been far too preoccupied with Rick last night to have much in the way of conversation with the rest of the group, but he had managed to chat to her a few wonderful times during the course of the night, and found her to be friendly, funny and charming. As well as stunning. In fact, Jen was nothing short of perfect. And Rick had clearly shared his opinion.

And as he’d lain awake last night he’d thought about how obvious it was that Rick and Jen were super-attracted to each other at first sight, and how sad it was that they’d never meet again, and that Jen would now have to go back to her waitressing job and carry on her life as if she’d never met this foreign prince who’d swept her off her feet (along with his handsome sidekick and his amazing dance moves, naturally) and Rick would have to get back on his plane with the Royal Guard in the morning to fly back to Cordonia in time to prepare to meet the lines of prospective brides from each of the Cordonian noble houses. Well, most of the Cordonian noble houses anyway.

And with that his thoughts had turned to Bertrand, and how Bertrand had assigned him to find a suitable young lady that House Beaumont could sponsor as part of the process, and how important it was that he found someone extraordinary... and how he’d put it off and put it off, and now, with less than forty-eight hours to go.. he really had no hope, so, once again, he was going to be nothing but a disappointment to the name of House Beaumont...

“Chemistry, pah. He told her he was a Crown Prince, and from that moment on the rest of us got dropped like a stone. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”

Ooh, Drake was touchy today.  They both braced the seats in front of them as the plane took off.

Once they were airborne, Drake continued. “Anyway, what has all this got to do with where you went off to this morning?”

“Because, Agent Breakdance went on a top-secret mission.” He winked at Drake.

“Maxwell, what the hell did you do…”

“I found her! I went and stood near the bar, and she turned up for her shift.. and I spoke to her!”

“You did what? Why on earth would you do that?”

“I told you, I had this amazing idea! What if she was our suitor for House Beaumont?”

Drake’s eyes looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then laughed. “I’m guessing she told you to go to hell.”

“No, she was up for it! It’s just she didn’t have a passport.” He sighed. “Just think about it, Drake. It would have been so much fun! Rick would have been so happy, he could have had someone like that in the running, someone fresh and exciting who he actually found attractive…”

“To say nothing of the fact that you wouldn’t be about to face the wrath of Bertrand because you spent the last week partying in New York instead of finding a suitable suitor in Cordonia, like he told you to…”

Maxwell ran his hand through his hair. “Well, there is that…”

“Maxwell, it would have been a disaster. For three reasons. One, she would not have a clue about how to act at court. Whatever Rick thought of her, the other ladies would have eaten her alive before the end of the first event and she’d be running off home. I mean, can you even imagine what Olivia would do with her?”

“I’d rather not…”

“Two, in your little head, dragging home a suitor you met on your New York party week seems like a good idea. Now imagine you’re Bertrand. You think you’d get him off your case? He would have been furious with you. Probably more furious than he will be when you finally admit to him that you haven’t found anyone to sponsor.”

“Uh…” Drake had a good point. Bertrand was very set in his ways, and he hadn’t had the chance to chat and talk to Jen, so he wouldn’t understand how amazing she was on first introduction, which would no doubt have to be the ta-da! here’s our suitor! conversation.

“And thirdly,” said Drake, with an evil grin. “She would’ve soon realised that she actually wanted me instead of Rick, and that would’ve caused all manner of problems.”

“Drake… you wouldn’t do that to Rick though, right?”

“Nah, of course I wouldn’t. But it’s a feasible theory.” He sighed. “I thought we were getting on really well at one point, till he whisked her off.”

Maxwell thought back an hour or so to his conversation with Jen. Despite her decision, it had felt like they’d got on really well too. He toyed with his phone, thinking about the selfie, thinking about the number that his phone memory now held.

“Do you think I should tell Rick?”

Drake was getting his earplugs out of their pod. “Tell him what?”

“That I spoke to her? That she wanted to come, but didn’t have a passport? I mean, I did offer to tell him to see if we could sort something out quickly for her…”

“Definitely not, Maxwell. What’s the point? Don’t you think it’s just rubbing salt into the wounds? Oh hey Rick, that hot girl from last night that really liked you, I thought about bringing her over as a suitor, but she couldn’t come, hey never mind?”

“Yeah, but he might want to get in touch with her for himself, don’t you think?”

“What part of bad idea don’t you understand? He’s got to find a wife, Maxwell, not a long-distance relationship. It wasn’t meant to be, and you just need to let it go. Right. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Alright. I’ll just check out the movies, I guess…”

Drake shut his eyes and reclined his seat a little. Maxwell sighed and gazed sadly out of the window at tiny America, quickly disappearing below him.

***

After a lengthy gap between flights at Amsterdam, there was very little time once they’d touched down in Cordonia to do anything. Now that the social season was starting, Maxwell was going to temporarily relocate to the palace anyway, it was one of his little friend-of-royalty perks that he was really hoping wouldn’t be revoked once Rick was all settled down and married.

He just about had time to crash for half an hour, unpack his luggage and get most of it in the palace laundry system, and make himself presentable for the Masquerade. Normally he’d have got a mask (last year’s peacock mask had gone down really well) but he just didn’t have the time, so now he was mentally kicking himself for not bringing a suitable mask home from NYC, just like he hadn’t brought a suitable suitor.

He grabbed his phone and opened his messages thread, looking one more time at the selfie he’d taken with Jen. She’d seen it – pretty much as soon as he’d sent it - but hadn’t sent a message back. But then, why would she? After all, she’d been just about to start work. He pocketed his phone, and headed down to the party.

“Lord Maxwell Beaumont of Ramsford,” announced the herald as he made his way into the ballroom. He made finger guns at the herald, and then generally at the people in the room, but no-one was looking. Oh well.

He slunk into the room, trying to give the allusion of cool. Hey, it was no illusion. He was cool. He scanned the people milling about, trying to identify who the suitors were. There was Olivia Nevrakis – let’s face it, she was always going to be here tonight. Kiara Theron was over there, and that probably meant that Penelope Ebrim was here too somewhere… yep, she was all dolled up too, now this was a good thing, he was getting really tired of her pointlessly flirting with him at events, sometimes he felt like writing  “not interested” on a post-it note and sticking it on his forehead to see if she got the hint. But, he wasn’t that kind of guy.

And then there was a fourth girl, of Asian appearance, standing on her own a little way from the others, seemingly a little lost. She looked familiar for some reason. He decided to go and talk to her. She looked as if she could do with someone to talk to.

“Hey,” he said. “You okay? You look a little… solitary.”

 She smiled, and curtsied. “I am very well thank you. It’s lovely to see you again, Lord Maxwell.”

Confusion reigned in his head for a moment. “Uh, do I know you?”

The girl looked a little put out for a moment, but then a gentle smile returned to her face. “I’m Lady Hana Lee, the daughter of Lorelai of House Liu.”

“Oh. Have we.. uh.. met?”

Hana nodded. “Yes, about ten years ago I had the honour of being introduced to yourself and your brother – who, if I recall correctly, had just been appointed the Duke of Ramsford due to your father’s ill health?”

“Ah… yes!” It was all coming back to Maxwell now, a rather awkward soiree that had been engineered between the two houses. As he remembered it, House Liu had been scoping out whether either of the Beaumont brothers would be a suitable match for their polite little princess. As they’d never heard from House Liu again since, they’d drawn the conclusion that they hadn’t impressed too much. Not that they’d been too bothered about this result at the time, of course. “Please forgive my uselessness, Lady Hana! Ten years on, you look very different.”

“I can’t say the same about you,” she pointed out. “You haven’t changed at all. Are you joining us for the social season?”

“I sure am. I’m a close friend of Rick’s. He needs me and Drake about to keep him sane.” He leant in closer. “So, I assume you’re a suitor, am I right?”

“You are,” she said nervously. “I’ve never actually met Prince Rick. I’m really nervous.”

“Aw, no need to be. He’s awesome. Hey, I’ll introduce you if you like.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I don’t want to trouble you. I assume that House Beaumont is putting forward its own suitor, and I wouldn’t want to divert your attentions away from her…”

“Heh, well actually Hana, it’s a funny story…”

At that, he spotted someone he really could do without seeing tonight marching into the ballroom. “Hey. Hold that thought. I’ll catch you later, yeah?”

“Okay…”

“And nice to meet you! I mean… again!” He dashed off, as far away from the sweater-vest clad newcomer as he could physically get himself, finding a champagne bar. He grabbed a glass, downed it, and scanned for the exits. This was where a mask would have really come in handy.

***

There was a loud knock on Maxwell’s door about an hour later. He knew who it was, and reluctantly got up from the bed, where he’d been sprawled, to answer it. He couldn’t hide forever.

“Hey, brother!”

He was met by a scowl. “Did I not make it clear that you were to represent our House this evening? I arrive to find that you’re hiding in your room like a scolded teenager!”

"Good to see you too Bertrand! And yes, I had a great birthday, and a safe journey home, how are you?”

The disdain in his expression was tangible. “Maxwell, I can only assume from the radio silence from you that you have failed in your efforts to secure us a suitor?”

“Well, the funny thing is, I got so close… I mean, I found one… but she didn’t have a passport, so…”

“I really hope you’re not trying to tell me that you were going to drag over your latest floozy from your New York adventures as a contender to become Cordonia’s next queen…”

“Erm, no, she was a waitress, actually… but Rick really liked her! Just, don’t tell him! I don’t want to upset him…”

Bertrand shuddered. “I rather think you have done him a huge favour in not bringing a waitress to court. However, am I to assume that this desperate scheme is due to your inability to locate a single suitable suitor across the whole of Cordonia and its surrounding countries?”

“Um…”

He was in full Duke of Ramsford angry mode now. “You knew how important it was that we found someone. A chance to gain leverage, prestige, and hopefully replenish some of the money that you’ve frittered away recently back into our coffers..”

 “Hey, I didn’t fritter it all away, and you know that…”

“After all, it’s not exactly a hard sell, convincing a noble lady to compete to become a queen, Maxwell, for heaven’s sake…”

"Hey, I tried… it’s just…”

“And that’s the problem. You try.” Bertrand sighed, and marched away, slamming the door behind him.

Oh well. With that out of the way, Maxwell could go and enjoy the rest of the party, without the threat of public humiliation hanging over him. He picked up his phone, and noticed he had a message.

It was from Jen!

He almost dropped his phone in shock, but caught it, and read her reply.

Chapter Text

Jen had worked a full day following her night out with Rick and his friends, had arrived back home completely exhausted, and had gone to bed almost immediately, having eaten enough in the way of rejected orders at work to get her through.

The next day, she had another breakfast shift, followed by an evening shift, which meant she had a bit of a break in-between to get some lunch, and think about the craziness of that night, and indeed the craziness of the morning after. She found herself daydreaming about the handsome prince on her walk home; how pathetic. Despite Maxwell’s little invitation, Rick still could have been anyone, after all. She still hadn’t googled him.

On arriving back at her apartment, she headed into the kitchen and considered her lunch options. The fridge was pretty empty, and the cupboards bare. Anita was supposed to have gone shopping yesterday. Obviously she hadn’t. She groaned, and threw herself down on the sofa.

Her laptop was on the coffee table, and sitting up again, she grabbed it and powered it up. Once she was into her browser, she typed “Prince Rick Cordonia” into the search engine.

Ohmygosh.. there he is!

Picture after picture of Rick appeared on her screen. She scrolled through them in awe. Pictures of him at events, pictures of him on the balcony of his palace. Pictures of him with a gorgeous redhead on his arm, who was that? A picture of him with another gorgeous blonde guy, was that the brother he’d mentioned? It had to be.

Oh, hey, there was Maxwell in the background of one of the pictures. Seemingly minding his own business, oblivious to his Google-fame.

She smiled, and thought about searching for Maxwell. But she realised she couldn’t remember what he’d said his surname was.

One way to find out.

She grabbed her phone, and looked again at the selfie he’d sent her. At least she’d smiled, she hadn’t really been in the mood for having her photograph taken. But, he’d somehow managed to charm her into it.

She tapped out a reply.

THANKS FOR THIS. BTW, WHAT’S YOUR SURNAME? JUST GOOGLING YOU

Okay, maybe that came across a bit creepy. But was it creepier than inviting someone you’d only just met to your country to compete for the opportunity to marry your friend? Probably not.

The apartment door opened again, and Anita came in. “Hey Jen.”

“Hey,” she sighed. “Guessing you forgot to go shopping yesterday…”

“I’m so sorry, Jen. Things got a little hectic yesterday.”

“Huh, was a little hectic at the bar too…”

“Hey, I’m going this afternoon, I swear.”

“But I’m hungry now, and I’ve got work again at five…”

Anita sighed. “Hey. Tell you what. Let’s go out for lunch. My treat. What d’you fancy?”

“Aw, really Neet? That sounds amazing. Hey, I can tell you all about my date with this guy…” She showed Anita the laptop screen.

“Whoa, Jen, who the hell is that cutie?”

Jen raised her eyebrows. “Only the Crown Prince of Cordonia.”

“And you had a date with him? When? How come?”

“Night before last, actually. And it’s an interesting story. I’ve not seen you to tell you.”

Anita scrolled through the pictures. “Wow. Jen. Now we are definitely going out for lunch and you are definitely telling me everything.”

***

“So, run this by me one more time,” Anita said, in-between bites of her cronut. “The morning after your hot date with a sexy European Prince who you really fancied and who was the most amazing perfect gentleman you’d ever met in your life, you had a visit from his friend, who wanted you to go back with him, so you could compete to win a chance to marry this Prince… and you said no?”

“Come on, Neet. It all sounds completely crazy. My passport ran out a few weeks ago and I haven’t got around to renewing it… I mean, Maxwell did say that he might be able to sort something, but…”

"Is it too late for you to change your mind, you idiot?”

“I think so,” she said, glancing at her phone on the table. Maxwell hadn’t replied yet. She wasn’t exactly sure what time it would be over in Cordonia. Probably late evening. He was probably at the fancy ball where all the fancy suitors got introduced to the Prince right now.  

"Can I go instead?”

Jen laughed. “Not sure that would work, Neet. But I award you full marks for effort.”

“Did you get Rick’s number?”

“I have Maxwell’s number. That’s all.”

“Yeah, but if you sweet-talk this Maxwell a little bit, I bet you could get him to cave and give you Rick’s number, am I right?”

"Maybe,” Jen pondered. To be honest, it would be great to bypass Maxwell and contact Rick directly, just to tell him what a lovely night she’d had and see where things went from there. But, having said that, what was the point?

“I reckon you could get this Maxwell eating out of the palm of your hand in five minutes, so that he’ll literally throw Rick’s phone number, address and Facebook alias at you if you ask for it. No man alive can resist the Jen Jones charm, and you know it. I mean, this is all assuming he’s not gay, of course.”

“Hmm, he could be, I guess,” Jen pondered. She hadn’t really thought about that.

"Well, it could be fun finding out!” Anita said. “And if he is, maybe you could see if you could turn him…”

"Aw, come on Neet, you know that’s not how it works. And he seems a nice guy. I don’t want to mess him about…”

"Yeah, but putting your seduction skills to one side, it wouldn’t hurt to keep in touch, see if you can get back in touch with Rick at some point.”

"Maxwell did say that maybe I could fly out and join them once I get my passport sorted…”

"Oh. Yes. You definitely need to keep in touch with him then! You know what you need to do? Go and get your passport renewed, stat.”

Jen nodded, as Anita got up to pay the bill. Her phone went ping, and she took a quick look to see who it was.

THE NAME’S BEAUMONT. MAXWELL BEAUMONT. *emojis*

She laughed out loud, and was still smiling when Anita got back.

“Hey, what’s got you smiling like that?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said, putting her phone away. “Guess I best get back so I can get ready for work again.”

“Your life is mad,” Anita pointed out. “It’s work, work, work, work, date with hot Prince, work, work, work…”

Jen giggled, but said nothing else. Her conversation with Anita had given her food for thought, it probably would be worth keeping in touch with Maxwell, just in case it led to an opportunity to see Rick again.

***

Jen had done a quick google search on Maxwell once she’d finished work (there were only a few pictures of him on there compared to Rick, and nothing interesting content wise) and then had sent him a reply to express her disappointment. She’d woken up the next morning to a link to his Pictagram page, a Facebook friend request, several links to various “who’s who of Cordonia” websites, and, rather inexplicably, a link to a website about squids.

SO, HOW DID THE FANCY BALL GO? she’d eventually asked him, after trawling through his Pictagram history whilst lounging in bed that morning, her next shift not until this evening. He certainly seemed to live a fun life, and there were a good few pictures of Rick on there too which had interested her. And she now got that he had some sort of weird interest in squids.

PRETTY GOOD! RICK HAS FOUR LOVELY LADIES TO CHOOSE FROM. SHAME YOU’RE NOT NUMBER FIVE!

Shame indeed. TELL ME MORE. I WANT TO KNOW WHO MY COMPETITION WOULD HAVE BEEN.

WELL, FIRST OF ALL WE HAVE DUCHESS OLIVIA NEVRAKIS OF LYTHIKOS. THE BOOKMAKERS’ FAVOURITE, AND RICK’S EX.

Ugh. That didn’t sound promising. She threw the name into a search engine and, as she’d half expected, up popped the image of the stunning redhead she’d seen on Rick’s arm in some of the photos she’d found.

NEXT WE HAVE LADY PENELOPE “PENELOPOODLE” EBRIM OF PORTAVIRA, THEN WE HAVE LADY KIARA THERON OF CASTELSSARIAN. AND FINALLY, THE OUTSIDE CHANCE THAT IS LADY HANA LEE. Y’KNOW, WE COULD HAVE HAD A LADY JEN…

She laughed. I’M NO LADY.

YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN! IF WE’D SPONSORED YOU, YOU’D BE A LADY OF HOUSE BEAUMONT. WHAT’S YOUR SURNAME?   JONES.

AW, YOU COULD HAVE GIVEN ME SOMETHING BETTER TO WORK WITH… LADY JEN JONES OF HOUSE BEAUMONT. HAS A NICE RING TO IT.

She had to agree.  HOW DID YOUR BROTHER TAKE THE NEWS THAT YOU DIDN’T HAVE A SUITOR?

PUT IT THIS WAY, I’M STILL LYING LOW.

She giggled, feeling sorry for him. YOU GET ANY BOTHER FROM HIM, GIVE ME A CALL. I’LL TELL HIM OFF FOR YOU.

OH, JEN. IF ONLY YOU KNEW WHO YOU WERE DEALING WITH. ONE DOES NOT TELL OFF THE DUKE OF RAMSFORD. ONE ONLY PRE-EMPTS ONES OWN INEVITABLE DOOM.

She laughed again. This guy was so funny. 

STILL. I’VE NOW GOT TO THE AGE OF TWENTY EIGHT AND SURVIVED HIS PERPETUAL WRATH SO FAR. A MIRACLE, REALLY.

She decided to test the water. WHO DO YOU THINK RICK WILL CHOOSE?

IT’S EARLY DAYS, BUT MY MONEY’S ON OLIVIA. SHE WANTS IT MORE THAN THE OTHERS, AND SHE USUALLY GETS WHAT SHE WANTS. WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF YOU WERE HERE THOUGH.

This was getting annoying. YOU’RE GONNA HAVE TO FACE UP TO THE FACT THAT I’M NOT.

YOU RENEWED YOUR PASSPORT YET?

No. THAT WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR MY NEXT PAYCHECK. Unless you want to wire me some money across, of course, she thought to herself.

OH OKAY. JUST THINKING OUT LOUD. WELL, NOT OUT LOUD. BUT, YOU KNOW.

So he was still thinking of inviting her over. WON’T IT BE TOO LATE IF I COME OVER LATER?

I DON’ T KNOW. I’LL HAVE TO CHECK THE PROTOCOL. I KNOW RICK WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU THOUGH.

She wasn’t too averse to the idea of seeing Rick again either. HAVE YOU TOLD HIM YOU’VE GOT MY NUMBER YET?

NO, AND I’M NOT GOING TO.

WHAT? WHY??

I JUST THINK IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. I DON’T WANT TO MAKE HIM SAD ABOUT WHAT COULD’VE BEEN.

 She could see his point. GUESSING YOU’RE NOT GONNA GIVE ME HIS NUMBER THEN?I

I’M NOT ALLOWED TO ANYWAY, NOT TO ANYONE. NOT EVEN YOU.

EVEN ME? ARE YOU IMPLYING I’M SPECIAL?

TO RICK? YEAH. I THINK YOU ARE.

OKAY. WELL, WE’LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP IN TOUCH. SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

CAN DO! I CAN SEND YOU REGULAR UPDATES ON ALL THE EVENTS IF YOU LIKE…

She wasn’t sure what she thought of that. She liked the idea, but she didn’t want him constantly spamming her. MAYBE JUST KEEP IT TO A DAILY ROUND-UP?

SURE THING! WHAT TIME WOULD YOU LIKE? MORNING? AFTERNOON? EVENING?

She laughed. LET’S GO FOR MORNING. AS IN MY MORNING. NOT YOUR MORNING. I’LL BE ASLEEP THEN.

CONSIDER IT DONE *emojis*

She laughed again, and put her phone down, thinking about getting up. Life here was pretty boring, so what harm could it do just to keep in touch with her connection with the mysterious world she’d almost had a brush with?

***

It was late that night when she finished her shift at the bar, and she was exhausted. She’d been on shift with Daniel, but it had been so busy that they hadn’t had the opportunity to chat. As she was getting ready to leave, he joined her in the locker room.

“Hey, Jen.”

“Hey, Daniel. I never asked you how your date went on Saturday?” Ironically, she’d been a little put out on realising he had a date, as she’d been contemplating asking him out for quite a while. It had taken a long time, but she liked Daniel, and she was beginning to feel ready for getting back into the dating game. Of course, she’d been unexpectedly thrown into it on Saturday anyway.

“Oh, yeah, not great, to be fair… I don’t think I’ll be seeing her again. Better luck next time, I guess. Thanks for helping me out though… did that bachelor party quieten down any?”

“Huh, not really,” she said, deciding it was probably best not to say too much about how her evening had ended.

“I’m still finding peas in random places around the bar you know,” he huffed.

Jen laughed, knowing full well who was to blame for that. “Yeah, they were a lively bunch, alright.”

“Listen, Jen, I was wondering. I’m on an early shift this Saturday, and I see from the rota that you are too. Did you… maybe we could hang out after work? Only if you’re free, of course…”

She threw him a look of challenge. “Is this a date? Or a hanging-out-after-work? Just to clarify.”

“Well, my last date was a disaster. So why don’t we make it a hanging-out-after-work, and hopefully nothing can go wrong.”

She smiled at him. It would be a bit different to her last date, but.. “Why not.”

***

Jen woke to a ping at 7am the next morning. She groaned, and grabbed her phone.

RISE AND SHINE! HERE IS YOUR DAILY CORDONIAN DIGEST!

Ugh… really? She watched the phone for a little while.

YESTERDAY WAS THE ROYAL DERBY, AND ALL THE SUITORS WERE GRILLED BY THE CORDONIAN PRESS! YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT, SOME OF THEM REALLY MESSED UP..

Jen cackled, hoping Olivia was one of the some.

THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY A LAWN PICNIC WHERE THEY ALL MET THE QUEEN, AND A SHOCK LATE ENTRY INTO THE CONTENTION FOR PRINCE RICK’S HAND!

 She waited, but he was obviously keeping her in suspense. ANOTHER ONE?

YEP – AND IT’S ONLY HIS BROTHER’S EX-FIANCEE, COUNTESS MADELEINE AMARANTH OF FYDELIA…

EW, REALLY? SOUNDS A LITTLE INCESTUOUS..

YEP. CAUSED UPROAR WITH THE OTHERS. YOU’D HAVE LOVED IT.

DO YOU THINK SHE’S GOT A CHANCE?

NOPE. ONLY QUEEN SHE’LL EVER BE IS AN ICE ONE. AND THAT’S WHEN COMPARING HER TO OLIVIA.

Jen tried to picture these ladies, but couldn’t be bothered to google them all. GOT ANY PICS OR LINKS YOU CAN SEND?

Almost immediately she was presented with links to Cordonian press articles about the suitors. She looked through them all in turn. She’d seen Olivia’s picture before, she was a real beauty, but she could see what Maxwell meant about Madeleine being an ice queen. She had a resting bitch face to die for, platinum blonde hair a la Taylor Swift, and an aura of style and composure.

She had a look at the others. Lady Hana was obviously of oriental origin, she was just as beautiful as the first two. She went on to look at Lady Kiara and Lady Penelope, they were far plainer. But then, it might not all be about looks. Maybe they would make better queens. Maybe Rick would fall for one of them, like he might have fallen for her.

She sighed, and tapped out a reply. WOW. HE’S SPOILT FOR CHOICE.

YEAH.

She was curious. WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE? LOOKS WISE I MEAN.

UM.. GOOD QUESTION..

WAITING FOR YOUR GOOD ANSWER.

ALRIGHT, KEEP YOUR APRON ON.

She waited. Maybe Anita had been onto something.

I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU TELL HER, YOU WILL DIE A PAINFUL DEATH… BUT OLIVIA.

She laughed. FIRSTLY, HOW AM I GONNA TELL HER? AND SECONDLY, YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD KILL ME FROM ALL THE WAY OVER THERE?

I NEVER SAID I WOULD DO THE KILLING. OLIVIA WOULD FIND YOU AND KILL YOU FOR INFLICTING THE EMBARRASSMENT OF KNOWING I HAVE THE HOTS FOR HER. SO, THERE YOU GO.

Jen couldn’t help but crease up with laughter. Poor Maxwell.

There was a tap on her door. “What’s so hilarious at ten past seven in the morning, Jen?”

“Oh, sorry Neet…” she called out.

 “It’s okay, I’ll stick your breakfast on.”

She tapped out a quick reply. I AM DEAD.

I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL HER... I WARNED YOU, JEN!

Laughing again, she tapped out one last message. FOR THE RECORD, I’D CHOOSE HER TOO. Then she put her phone down, and pulled on her robe, heading to the shower to start her day with a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

Chapter Text

Lythikos was reassuringly cold, just like the heart of their hostess. Although, she was uncharacteristically warm today, especially where Rick was concerned. The activity for this morning was skating, and that was something that Maxwell was not afraid of getting involved in. What was skating if it wasn’t dancing on ice, after all?

The trouble was, nobody really wanted to dance with him. Olivia and Rick were mainly wrapped up in each other; they seemed to have reconnected over the last week. Drake had made himself scarce, he was more into his skiing and was probably practicing while the slopes were quiet. He had managed to entertain Lady Hana for a little while, he was finding her to be a bit of a kindred spirit at these events, similarly out on a limb like he was, but unfortunately he was completely bested by her skating ability. Not much fun.

This afternoon’s event was skiing, normally he’d have been down for that, but there was no mobile signal on the slopes, and he had an important appointment at two. With that in mind, he decided to skip this activity, hoping like mad that nobody noticed his absence. He made his way up to his guest room, and sent the first text.

GOOD MORNING, AND WELCOME TO YOUR CORDONIAN DAILY DIGEST! I TRUST YOU SLEPT WELL?

There wasn’t much of a pause before her reply. YOU KNOW, YOU’RE WEIRDLY FRIENDLY FOR A NEWS REPORT. AND GOOD MORNING TO YOU.

POINT TAKEN. AND THANK YOU. TODAY, I AM IN LYTHIKOS. THE COLD, NORTHERN EDGE OF OUR BOUNTIFUL COUNTRY, WHERE THE ROYAL COURT IS ATTENDING WINTER SPORTS, AND TOMORROW NIGHT THERE WILL BE A BALL IN PRINCE RICK’S HONOUR!

WINTER SPORTS? YOU ANY GOOD AT SKIING?

I AM, ACTUALLY, BUT I AM REFRAINING FROM SAID ACTIVITY IN ORDER TO PROVIDE YOU WITH YOUR DAILY UPDATE!

MAXWELL, YOU GOOF, YOU DON’T HAVE TO MISS OUT BECAUSE OF ME!

He contemplated his answer. He’d have felt like he was missing out if he had gone skiing? Maybe not. I TAKE MY DELIVERY OF THE CORDONIAN DAILY DIGEST VERY SERIOUSLY.

SO I’VE NOTICED.

Ooh, getting snarky were we? Hello, this one had spirit that was apparent even over texts.

THIS PLEASES ME NO END. SO, I HAVE BEEN ICE SKATING THIS MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO PICTAGRAM FOR A VISUAL UPDATE.

There was a slight delay, he chuckled to himself. He’d put a few pictures up of the skaters, but there were quite a few selfies on there too of him in his new squid bobble hat.

WOW. THEY LOOK COSY.

I THINK YOU MEAN I LOOK COSY, IN MY NEW HAT? *squid emoji* Although he knew exactly what she meant.

YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHAT I MEANT.

He sighed. YEAH. THEY DO. SO THIS AFTERNOON’S ACTIVITY IS SKIING, AND I THINK IT’S JUST A QUIET NIGHT IN TONIGHT. TOMORROW, I AM REPRESENTING HOUSE BEAUMONT AT THE BALL, THEREFORE I HAVE TO BE ON MY BEST BEHAVIOUR…

HAVING SEEN WHAT I HOPE IS YOUR WORST BEHAVIOUR, I’M NOT FULL OF OPTIMISM FOR YOUR BEST. DANIEL’S STILL FINDING RANDOM PEAS IN THE BAR, BTW

Oh, man! He’d completely forgotten about that. He’d spent most of that meal in the inebriated belief that the way to a girl’s heart was by flicking peas at her. Apparently, it was not.

IS THAT ALL MY NEWS FOR TODAY?

He sighed. IT IS. WILL REPORT BACK TOMORROW WITH A FURTHER LYTHIKOS NEWSFLASH. HAVE A NICE DAY!

LOOK FORWARD TO IT, AND YOU TOO x

He’d never really understood the logic of girls and how they used kisses in texts, but he didn’t read too much into it.

***

That evening, a few of them were chilling out over glasses of Lythikos Nog (such a niiice drink, take a picture, get it on the ‘gram).

“Maxwell, are you trying to take a selfie of yourself drinking nog?”

He looked past his phone to see Drake staring down at him.

“Drake! The answer is, yes I was, but now… you’re going to take a picture of me drinking nog!”

Drake obliged. “If only I knew why I was taking this picture, I could die happy.”

“I can grant your request. It’s for my Pictagram.”

“You’re obsessed with your Pictagram at the moment… wait, let me rephrase that. You’re more obsessed with your Pictagram at the moment. Trying to drum up new followers?”

“More trying to ensure sufficient interesting content for my valued existing followers.”

“Mmhmm.” Drake pulled out his own phone, while Maxwell posted up his nog photo. Hashtag Lythikos Life.

“Wait…” he heard Drake say. “Who’s this JenJones89 that keeps commenting on your posts?”

“Shhh…” He looked around to make sure Rick wasn’t in the vicinity. “We kept in touch, okay? She wanted to know how things were going.”

“Does this have anything to do with the fact that you skipped the skiing this afternoon?”

“Well, yeah, I usually text her an update at two.”

Drake glared at him. “Maxwell…”

“Hey, it wasn’t my idea, we just kinda fell into this pattern. I still wonder if I should tell Rick, y’know…”

“Maxwell, what you need to do is stop all the texting and just let it go. She’s not going to come over here, it’s too late for her to be a suitor now, so what’s the point? If Rick finds out you’ve been texting her every day for what, a week, he might not be very impressed…”

“It’s all for his benefit, Drake.”

“For his benefit, just stop, Maxwell.”

Hana breezed into the room, a hot chocolate in her hand. “Hello Maxwell. Hello Drake. Mind if I join you?”

“No, not at all,” Drake said.

“Didn’t fancy the nog, Hana?”

“Oh, I’ve never tried it,” she explained as she sat down. “I prefer a hot chocolate at the end of the day. I have my own recipe. I’ll have to make some for you two some time.”

“Sounds lovely!” Maxwell enthused, glad for the distraction from Drake’s ire. “So, did you have fun today, Hana?”

“Today was great,” Hana said. “We had fun on the slopes, didn’t we Drake?”

“We did,” Drake said with a nod and a glare.

“And now we have hot chocolate with little heart shaped marshmallows!”  Hana enthused.

“Just.. adorable,” snarked Drake.

Maxwell spotted Olivia over Drake’s shoulder. “Watch yourself, we’ve got incoming…” he muttered.

“Well hello my dear guests,” Olivia declared. “I hope you’re enjoying my spectacular hosting.”

Maxwell smiled awkwardly at her. “I always enjoy my time here with you, Olivia..”

“It’s something,” moaned Drake.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at Drake, her smile thin. “Did you see that we have eclairs, Drake? They always remind me of dear darling little Savannah. She’d gobble them down like a sow at the trough.”

Drake’s expression changed in an instant. “Don’t talk about my sister.”

“Whyever not?” Olivia went on.  “She was such a fixture at court, and then she just up and disappeared. You never told us what happened, and usually gossip is quick to spread..”

Drake threw Olivia a thunderous look. “She left because of people like you.”

“She always was the sensitive sort,” Olivia snorted. “Ladies like that don’t last long here.”

Maxwell watched as Drake’s jaw clenched, but then he suddenly glanced at his watch and relaxed. “You know what, I just remembered. I’ve got somewhere I need to be. If you’ll excuse me.” He stood up, bowed curtly, then turned and strode off.

“Wait, Drake, dear! Come back! I wasn’t finished with you!”

Hana looked at Olivia. “I didn’t realise Drake had a sister.”

Olivia sat down where Drake had previously been. “Savannah. She thought she could fit in with the nobility, and she was wrong. I guess she figured that out faster than some, and took her leave.”

She continued talking, but looked in Maxwell’s direction. “Though by all accounts, it was rather sudden. Overnight, she packed up her things and disappeared without a word. Now, as charming as this has been, I’ve got to get back to Prince Rick. I’ve promised him a private tour of the Lythikos castle. Bye bye darlings.” With a wink she flounced out of the room.

Maxwell gulped. She knew something. What did she know?

“I can’t believe the things Olivia says,” Hana sighed.

“Yeah,” he said, trying to think about how to answer her inevitable question.

“So, do you have any idea what happened to Drake’s sister?

“Not really,” he said, looking at his feet. “It’s like Olivia said. Savannah used to hang out with us, but one day she left. I’m not sure why. The last time I saw her she was her usual friendly self.. Anyway, Drake clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t pry.”

“Poor Drake,” Hana sighed.

“Yeah, he doesn’t usually let Olivia get under his skin like that.”

“Well, I hope Drake’s all right,” Hana went on. “I saw him go outside, but it’s not a good idea to be out there right now. I’ve heard there’s a storm brewing tonight.”

 “You’d have to be crazy to go out there without some serious gear,” Maxwell agreed, downing the last of his nog. “Anyway, it’s getting late. I’m off to bed.”

“Okay. I’ll go and see if I can find Kiara and Penelope. Good night, Maxwell.”

“Night, Hana.”

He crept upstairs, feeling sick inside. What did Olivia know, and how did she know? He generally tried to avoid making conversation with her these days, because being shot down in flames was not his favourite pastime, but perhaps he was going to have to face this head on.

Maybe he’d sleep on it.

***

Sleeping on it hadn’t helped, but there’d been no opportunities to talk to Olivia today. She and Rick had been together somewhere most of the day, he could only guess what they’d been getting up to. He didn’t know what was going on, he felt a bit out of the loop with Rick at the moment, but he guessed that things were very much back on with them, as he watched them from his end of the top table. Which was fine. It just confirmed to him that it was probably a good job Jen hadn’t come over after all.

He’d not had a lot to tell Jen in his daily update earlier today, and she’d not really responded much. He wondered how long this would go on for. She was bound to get fed up of it eventually. Still, he’d have more to tell her tomorrow. In theory. But this ball wasn’t exactly happening.

Bertrand had been on to him all day. What to say, what not to say. What to do, what not to do. Like he didn’t know. He’d ended up not saying or doing a lot at all so far. Party Maxwell was not coming out tonight. His thoughts kept drifting over the Atlantic. Tonight could have been so much more fun with a suitor to share it with.

Olivia and Rick had just headed to the dancefloor to commence the Cordonian Waltz. Aw, man, this was probably where he was going to get manhandled by Penelope.. or worse, Adelaide. He scanned the room in a hurry, and had a brainwave. He got up, and wandered towards Hana.

“Lady Hana, may I have the honour of this waltz?”

She smiled widely. “It is I who would be honoured, Lord Maxwell.”

He bowed to her.  “My lady. Shall we?”

Together the two of them became part of the loose circle forming on the dance floor. Maxwell put one hand on Hana’s waist, and raised her hand in a classic ballroom pose. Obviously, she knew exactly what she was doing, which made things a little easier. They both moved in auto-pilot across the ballroom floor. From the spin, and into to the twirl and hold, Hana knew exactly what to expect.

“Looks like you’re in line to dance with Rick next,” he pointed out as he pushed her forwards to switch partners.

She nodded. “Thank you. And good luck with Olivia.”

“Thanks, I think I’m gonna need it.”

Several beats later, and Maxwell found himself dancing with the evening’s hostess.

“Great ball, Olivia. How are things going with Rick?”

“That is none of your business,” she hissed.

“Okay… hey, so I was wondering, yesterday when we were talking about Savannah.. what was that all about?”

She glared at him. “Let’s just say, I can generally sniff out a guilty conscience at ten paces. And in your case, twenty paces.”

He gulped as he led her into the twirl. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I don’t know what, but you’re hiding something, Beaumont. And I don’t like it.”

This was probably the most awkward Cordonian Waltz ever, he thought to himself as he forced himself to pull Olivia close. He was only too relieved when it came to the time to push her away and back to Rick.

Hana was back. “Hello again, my Lord. How was Duchess Olivia?”

“As terrifying as ever,” he commented. “That was a little awkward, to be fair.”

 “The Cordonian Waltz is a romantic dance,” Hana said.

“Yes, in the old days, it used to be that this waltz was the only way couples could flirt..” He waggled his eyebrows playfully at Hana.

“It’s engaging to be recreating such a nostalgic dance,” Hana commented, as he span her again.

“Did you enjoy dancing with Prince Rick?”

“Yeah.. but I don’t think his heart was in it.”

Maxwell peered across in the direction of Rick and Olivia, and was startled by what he saw – the two of them kissing deeply on the dance floor. He continued to watch quietly as Olivia wrapped her arms around Rick, who took his time to gently pull away.

“Olivia, let’s talk, perhaps outside?” he could just about hear Rick say.

As they left the dance floor, Hana looked at Maxwell. “Well. That was unprecedented.”

“Yeah,” he said.

“I feel like I’m just going through the motions, being here. It’s a one-horse race.”

“Hana, you’ve still got a chance.”

“You flatter me, Maxwell. I know I haven’t. I think I’m going to call it a night.” She walked away, her head hung low, and he didn’t really know what to do about it.

***

So then there were drinks, and then there were more drinks, this stupid party had to be livened up somehow. Then there was Penelope, and then there was Adelaide… and then there was being rescued by Drake and escorted upstairs and thrown unceremoniously into his guest room.

And then there was the moment that he looked at his phone as it sat next to him on the bed and thought, what the hell.

He dialled. And heard the dial tone. She won’t answer. She won’t answer.

She answered.

“Hey.”

“Ohmygod, you answered!” He hadn’t realised he’d been so nervous until he realised how relieved he was that she had.

“Well, that tends to be what I do when someone rings me. Unless I’m at work. Or I hate them. Don’t sound so surprised.”

“Well, I’m honoured. Day off?”

“Split shift. I go back in an hour or so. Must be late there?”

“Yeah….”

“How was the ball?”

“Yeah….”

“Maxwell, are you drunk?”

“Yeah….”

She giggled. “Are you on your own?”

“Yeah….”

More giggles. “Are you naked?”

Whoa. “What? Of course not… why d’you wanna know? It can be arranged.”

“No, no, no! That won’t be necessary. I just wanted to hear you say something other than yeah.”

“Ooh, you are evil, Jen Jones.”

“I know. So, why are you calling? You don’t call me. Oh, wait. You’re drunk.”

“I… have updates.”

“That couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Yeah….”

“Okay, I’m listening. I’ve even turned off my Netflix so you have my full attention.”

“Oh, there’s more drama than Netflix, Jen. But I have to say, it’s mainly about Rick and Olivia.”

She sighed. “They’re still getting on well then?”

“Saw ‘em kissing on the dance floor earlier. Breaking protocol. It’s not like him. I wish you were here, Jen. You’d have given Olivia a run for her money.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Got your passport sorted?”

“Not yet, but I got my paycheck. So, I will. Promise. Even though I think it would be a bit too little, too late…”

"Tonight was awful,” he sighed. “If you’d have been there, it would’ve been fun.”

“I don’t know why you think that,” she sighed.

“Well, firstly, I could’ve taught you how to dance the Cordonian Waltz.” He closed his eyes and imagined how cool that would’ve been, how much fun they would have had in the process. He tried to imagine drawing her close to his chest. He opened his eyes again.

“I’d have been rubbish,” she was saying. “I can guarantee I’d have stepped on your toe at least once. So. Who did you dance with?”

“I’ve sort of made friends with this girl called Hana. She’s like the outsider in the Rick Race.”

Laughter. “The Rick Race? I love it.”

“Yeah. So I danced with her. But she’s all sad and lonely. And, I guess I am too. Hence ringing you.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute. You come across to me as having loads of friends, you little socialite you.”

“Acquaintances, maybe.”

She sighed. “Then you should make friends with this Hana. Sounds like you could help each other out, don’t you think?”

“I suppose.” He pondered her idea for a minute. “Yeah. I like that idea.”

“Just friends, though,” she warned. “I’ve seen how pretty she is, remember?”

“Huh? Why?” What was it to her? This was intriguing.

“Because Rick might pick her and I don’t want you to get hurt?”

“Oh yeah, right. Hey. I think we all know he’s gonna pick Olivia. That… bitch….”

“Whoa, Maxwell, what’s she done to you?”

“Hey, you’ve not met her yet. She is a bitch. She knows something.”

“Knows something? Knows something about what? About me?”

“No, not about you. About Sa…” Shut up Maxwell. “About something else.”

“Something else being….”

“Nope. Not gonna tell you.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t not tell me what it is now. It’s not like I know any of these people and can tell them…”

“But one day you might.”

“I’m not so sure. I think that’s just a little pipe dream now.”

“No, Jen. Envision the best case scenario. If you were here, it would really mix things up!”

“I’m not, though, remember? I’m getting a bit bored with this topic of conversation.”

“Oh, don’t hang up…”

“I won’t, I’m just gonna change the subject.  How’s my buddy Drake?”

“Ugh. Still hassling me to stop speaking to you. He saw your comments on my Pictagram.”

“Rick still doesn’t know you’re talking to me?”

“Nope. And I’m not gonna tell him. And Drake says then why do I keep talking to you?”

“I want you to keep talking to me. It makes my boring life far more exciting. I mean, here am I, watching Netflix to kill the boredom between my two shifts… and you’re at a winter resort at a glamorous royal ball…”

“Yeah, but it’s all relative. And, may I remind you, you could’ve been here too….”

“Bored, Maxwell, remember….”

"You could always go back to your Netflix. What are you watching?”

“Some high school drama. It’s a bit soul destroying, to be honest.”

“Huh, a bit like this ball has been.”

“Oh, come on. You seem to me like the sort of person who normally finds the best in everything.  Why didn’t you tonight?”

He sighed. “It’s just like I said. I love dancing, but I hated it tonight.”

“Is it all the waltzy sort of stuff? I saw you dancing at Kismet, I don’t imagine that sort of dancing cuts it at a ball.”

“You’d be surprised, there’s a time and a place for it. But yeah. It was all the waltzy stuff.”

“Hey, I’ve got it! You should teach me to waltz!”

“How the flip do I do that from five thousand miles away?”

“Aw, you actually know how many miles away I am?”

Slightly stalkerish, but yeah. “Approximately, I mean.”

“Well, we could video call I guess?”

Oh, amazing call. “Yeah, but you need someone to dance with. I’d have to teach you both. I couldn’t be there, could I?”

“We’ll have to think about it. But I’d love to learn.”

“Maybe I can get Drake to video me and Hana dancing or something, and send it to you. Or put it on Pictagram or something. Then you can watch.”

“Ooh, maybe. That also helps you with the whole befriending Hana thing!”

“Why d’you want to learn, anyway?”

“Well, if I ever do get over there with you, I want to be able to dance.”

He closed his eyes again, picturing it one more time, feeling all warm and fuzzy.

“I mean, Rick’s gonna want to dance with me, I imagine? I’m certainly liking the idea of dancing with him, and if I can’t dance… that doesn’t look good.”

Oh. “Right. Yeah. Good idea.” Why was he expecting anything else?

“Send me a video. Right, I really have to get ready for work now. But, I hope you’re feeling better than you were.”

“Ugh, ask me in the morning, I fear the answer is yes for now, but it will be no later.”

“What’s your favourite hangover cure?”

“Glugging champagne, usually… Hair of the dog.”

"No, don’t do that! Have a glass of milk before you sleep. Trust me.”

“Think this minibar’s all out of milk…”

“Get some. You’ll thank me tomorrow.”

“I will anyway, Jen. Thanks for… being there?”

“Thanks for the update,” she reciprocated. “I look forward to tomorrow’s update. I’ll be interested to see if you remember to include the fact that you called me.”

“Hey, I’m not that drunk…”

“Milk. I’m going now. Bye.”

And with that, she hung up.

Where was he going to find milk? Ooh, wait a minute, tea and coffee making facilities over here with little pots of milk… yessss. He deposited two or three of those in his mouth, and then passed out back on the bed, her giggles echoing around his head as he drifted into sleep.

Chapter Text

It had been really good to talk to Maxwell yesterday. There was always something a little surreal about talking to someone who had been drinking when you were stone cold sober, but somehow she’d still managed to connect with him.

She wasn’t exactly impressed with the developments he’d relayed to her, but she knew she only had herself to blame. And yes, she got where Drake was coming from with his comments that their friendship could have run its course now. Some of Maxwell’s chirpy morning updates had got on her nerves this week. This morning’s had been amusingly brief, at least he seemed to have remembered most of their telephone conversation (although she wished he’d found a proper glass of milk rather than a few drops of that UHT rubbish that he’d found in his room). But he was livening up her otherwise boring existence, and that was just fine. She thought she’d play along for a bit longer.

Her shift was almost over, and it was the evening that she was going out for post work drinks, definitely not a date, with Daniel. She wasn’t really thinking too much about it, she was thinking back instead. It was hard to believe that two whole weeks had now passed since her date with the Crown Prince of Cordonia, and finding a new friend as a result.

Her eyes fluttered in the direction of the table she’d been sat in. She could still picture them clearly; well, Rick and Maxwell, anyway, as she’d seen pictures of them to reinforce the images in her head. Right now, there was a family sitting there, two bored teenagers and two middle aged parents. Bit of a contrast. And it illustrated the contrast between her way of life and theirs.

***

“Well, this is nice,” Jen said to Daniel as they sat in another bar, pretty much like the one they worked in, just not the one they worked in. Nowhere special, really.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to get food or not?” Daniel said to her. “I thought if we went somewhere like this, then we can if we want to, but it’s not weird if we don’t.”

“A wise plan. But to be honest, I figured we might get food, so I didn’t eat at work. Let’s eat!” She banged the table. “Steaks!”

“Uh, Jen, what?”

“Never mind,” she sighed. “Let’s look at the menu, like normal people.”

“Are you still going on about that bachelor party?” Daniel sighed. “They really made an impression on you.”

“Yeah, they did,” she said. “Oh, listen. I’m gonna tell you something. I kinda went on a date with one of the guys afterwards…”

“I knew it,” he said. “You were too happy the next day.”

“We all went to a club, and… you’re not gonna believe this, but… one of them was a Prince.”

“Prince? Of where?”

“Cordonia. It’s in Europe. Near Greece.”

“A likely story..”

“No. It’s true. I googled him afterwards. And I took him to the Statue of Liberty. It was… quite romantic, actually.”

“Huh, guessing you’ll never see this Prince of Cordonia again?” Daniel pulled out his phone. “Is it… oh yeah, I recognise him!”

He held out his phone to show a picture of Rick.

“No, I don’t think I will,” she sighed. She decided not to tell Daniel about the fact that she’d been chatting on a daily basis with one of the Prince’s friends. That might scare him off.

“Wow. Did you… I mean…”

“Oh, nothing like that,” she explained. “A kiss on the cheek.”

“Still..”

She gazed into the distance.

“Wait…” Daniel was still looking. “It says here on his Wikipedia that he’s currently in the process of selecting a bride.”

“Hah, yeah. It was his bachelor party. Forgot to tell you that bit. He just didn’t have a fiancée yet.”

Daniel looked at her. “Wonder he didn’t abandon his plans when he met you.”

Whoa. That was a bit of a compliment. “Um, thanks Daniel, but I’m sure the other ladies are far more alluring and appropriate.”

“Yeah, well. Depends what you’re looking for.”

He shot her an awkward smile, and his eyes turned to the menu. Jen’s did the same.

                                                                                       ***

“Well, that was a fun night,” Jen said, as Daniel walked her home. “Thanks for walking me back. You didn’t have to. I mean it wasn’t a date.” Although, it had felt very much like one, and to be honest, she now wished that it was.

Daniel looked back at her. “Still, it’s the right thing to do.”

“You live far?”

“Nah. Just another five minutes back that way.”

 "Well, we’re nearly at me now. I won’t ask you to come up. You can get back.”

"Okay, let me get you to the door first.”

"So, tonight, better or worse than two weeks ago?”

"Oh, much better. That really didn’t go well. She got all cross that I hadn’t taken her somewhere more upmarket, and still expected me to pay the bill.”

"Oh right, so you took her to that same bar?”

"Yeah. I like it there. Creature of habit, I am.”

"I see.” There was nothing wrong with that, but she liked her men a little less predictable. But then, she’d never had any reason to think that Daniel was anything but predictable. Maybe that was what she needed right now. Someone dependable and safe. And kind.

“Okay, so yeah. This is me. Thanks, Daniel. I’ll see you Monday.”

He hovered for a moment. “Yeah. See you Monday, Jen.”

He went to go. What the heck. She pulled him back, and kissed him on the cheek.

His eyes lit up afterwards. “Oh. Thank you. I mean, I’m not a Prince.”

“I’m not so sure it’s a Prince I want,” she said to him, as she sashayed into her apartment building with a little wave.

***

GOOD MORNING! HERE IS YOUR DAILY UPDATE FROM YOUR FAVOURITE LORD.

Ugh, go away Maxwell. She still reached for her phone and tapped out a response. HOW MANY LORDS DO YOU THINK I KNOW?

IT DOESN’T MATTER. I HAVE RETURNED TO MY HUMBLE ABODE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS, BEFORE RETURNING TO THE CAPITAL FOR THE ROYAL REGATTA, AND THE BEACH PAAAARTYYYY!

She stretched out. I’M NOT CONVINCED YOUR ABODE IS ALL THAT HUMBLE. SEND PICS.

YOU’RE NOT GETTING ANY PICS OF THE INSIDE OF MY BEDROOM, NO MATTER HOW NICELY YOU ASK. BUT I’LL GET SOME OUTSIDE PICS FOR YOU LATER.

OKAY. IS THAT ALL FOR TODAY?

NOT QUITE - I AM WORKING ON A PROJECT, AND WILL UPDATE YOU ONCE IT IS COMPLETE!

OOH, LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. I HAVE NEWS. I WENT ON A DATE LAST NIGHT!

OH! YOU KEPT THAT QUIET! DOES THIS MEAN YOU’VE GIVEN UP ON YOUR DREAM OF DANCING WITH YOUR PRINCE?             

OH, DON’T BE SO DRAMATIC. IT WAS ONLY A DATE. WENT OK. WE’RE NOT EXACTLY ENGAGED OR ANYTHING.

SEEING HIM/HER AGAIN?

I SEE HIM EVERY DAY, I WORK WITH HIM. BUT, YEAH. PROBABLY.

OH NO, IT’S NOT THAT AWFUL BOSS OF YOURS IS IT?

GIVE ME SOME CREDIT! NO. IT ISN’T.

JUST CHECKING. BECAUSE YOU ARE WAY TOO GOOD FOR HIM. YOU NEED TO BE AIMING AT, I DUNNO, SOMEONE NICE.

IS NICE BORING?

DEPENDS. WOULD YOU SAY RICK IS NICE? I WOULD.

YEAH. I GUESS.

He didn’t reply for a while, so she sent him another text. WELL, I WILL LET YOU GET ON WITH YOUR PROJECT. AND DON’T FORGET. HOUSE PICS.

I WON’T FORGET *emojis*

He’d gone quiet, but then he was bound to be a little disappointed at her reveal that she’d been on a date. Especially if he was still keen on the idea of setting her up with Rick. But to do that, he really had to put her in touch with him directly. Otherwise, there was very little point to these conversations other than starting her day with a smile.

But that wasn’t such a bad thing.

***

She was on different shifts to Daniel today, so she wasn’t due to see him, and she had the afternoon and evening off. Anita was away visiting her family this weekend, so she had the place to herself. She decided to take a few pictures of the apartment. The view from her window. The living room, the entrance to the apartment, and the kitchen. She wasn’t sure why.

Her phone pinged as she sunk onto the sofa, and she saw she’d been sent some photos from Maxwell. Well, he never disappointed, she’d give him that.

Whoa, what was this, a mansion or something? It looked absolutely gorgeous. There was a limo parked outside, and the next picture just showed miles and miles of country around it, and the last picture, wow, a moonlit view over an idyllic porch showing miles of what looked like vineyards. Heaven.

WOW. GET YOU, LORD OF THE MANOR?

TECHNICALLY, YES I AM!

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVE. HERE, THIS IS MY PALACE. She sent him the pictures of her apartment.

WELL, THAT VIEW IS SOMETHING ELSE.

I QUITE LIKE YOUR VIEW. IS THAT A VINEYARD?

YEAH. I MEAN, IT’S NOT REALLY OPERATIONAL AT THE MOMENT. BUT IT IS. WE USED TO MAKE SPARKLING WINE HERE.

AND YOU DON’T ANYMORE? This seemed sad.

CAN’T GET THE STAFF.

PAY THEM MORE!

LIKE I SAID, CAN’T GET THE STAFF.

She pondered on this. Everything she knew about Maxwell seemed to indicate he’d had a privileged life, but he’d never once offered to cover the cost of her passport application, or her flights.

ANYWAY, I’M JUST FINISHING OFF THIS PROJECT. PREPARE TO BE DAZZLED AND AMAZED *emojis*

She laughed, looking dreamily at the pictures he’d sent. She really liked her little text chats with Maxwell. It was getting easier to disconnect the reason that they were friends from their friendship now. She snuck onto his Pictagram for a while, looking back at some of his selfies. He was kinda cute looking, actually. More so than she remembered.

She chastised herself. Real world friends had to come first.

She sent a message to Daniel. I HAD A NICE TIME LAST NIGHT. Bit of a cliché, yeah. But, she had.

She sent a message to Amy. HEY, ME AGAIN. GOT LOTS TO TELL YOU. FANCY A CHAT?

She put her phone on the table, and sat and looked at it for a little while.

She must have dosed off, but eventually she was rewarded by a ping. She picked her phone up.

It was just Maxwell again. WHAT’S YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS?

She sent it to him, and seconds later, she had something in her inbox. It was a link to a Youtube video. She opened it up, and couldn’t help but smile. There he was, all dressed up in a smart suit, and sporting a goofy grin.

“Hi. I’m Maxwell Beaumont, and welcome to part one of my Cordonian Waltz Masterclass.”

Chapter Text

Being back at court was amazing, because it was much easier to escape Bertrand’s disappointment. And today was a busy day. First there was the Royal Regatta in the morning, then this evening there was the beach party. He was going to make it his mission to find Hana and try and help her out a little bit, hopefully she’d then lend him a little assistance with the second of his masterclass videos, as Bertrand had been a rather reluctant dance partner for the first one. Who on earth would ever want to watch this nonsense, Maxwell? Any noble who doesn’t know the Cordonian Waltz should be ashamed. Still, anyone watching this particular instructional video should be frightfully ashamed.

He’d ambled up to the waterfront, just a little bit too late to get a good position, but just in time to hear the sound of a herald trumpeting. Time for the King’s opening remarks.

Rick’s dad, King Constantine spoke. “Ladies and gentlemen of Cordonia, I welcome you all. Today is a momentous day. As you know, I have a soft spot for the Royal Regatta, and it remains one of my favourite events of the social season. Because this event has always held historical significance and personal importance, I have chosen today to make my announcement. That as of the end of this social season, I’ll be stepping down as your reigning monarch.. and in a few weeks’ time, Prince Rick will be your new King.”

Whoa…

Maxwell craned his neck to see if he could make Rick out anywhere. He was standing with Olivia, who looked incredibly smug. But Rick looked… ashen, almost as if this was a shock?

Several reporters directed questions at the King, but he silenced them by raising his hand. “I expect you all have questions. I promise you in due time that I’ll release an official statement. For today, allow an old man time to enjoy the festivities. Let the Regatta begin!”

As he stepped down, Maxwell fought his way through the crowd, to try and find his friend. He soon found him, locked in conversation with Olivia. “Hey Rick.. did you know?”

Rick turned to him, and took a few steps away from a glaring Olivia. “No, I didn’t, actually.”

“You okay?”

“Well, I mean.. I knew I’d be King.. just not so soon. To realise that I’m going to become King in a matter of weeks.. Well. That’s a lot.”

“Yep. Especially when you’ve gotta choose a wife at the same time.”

He nodded, a puzzled expression on his face. “It means that my future bride will be thrown directly into the role of Queen.”

“Seems to me that it’s a one-horse race at the moment, though.”

Olivia slunk up to them. “Come on, Rick. You’re needed.” She pulled him away.

Maxwell nodded and watched as they left. Olivia was really doing her best to cut Rick off from his friends. For example, where was Drake today? Normally he’d be about, but no sign of him. Hopefully he’d be at the beach later.

***

Bertrand had issued strict instructions that Maxwell was to attend Olivia Nevrakis’s boat party after the race. This instruction didn’t pump him full of excitement, however. It was going to be such a snooze-fest. Olivia would no doubt apply her usual hostess style; trotting around self-importantly and belittling all those around her. Of course, he’d be a prime candidate for the belittling this year. Like he was every year, to be honest.

But as he ambled along the waterfront, he bumped into Hana, who was waiting nervously next to a small yacht.

“Hey, Hana! How’s you?”

“Oh, hello Lord Maxwell. I’m very well, thank you.”

“This your yacht?” He inspected it. “Whoo. Nice.”

“My parents have hired it out for the day,” she admitted. “They’ve organised a yacht party for me. But it seems that most of the nobles have a prior commitment to attend Olivia’s.”

Maxwell looked sympathetically at her, then thought of what Jen had told him and his plan to get Hana onboard for his next video. “Shame you didn’t invite me. I’d have come.”

“Oh, I did.”

“Crap, really? Bertrand only told me I’d been invited to Olivia’s…” He grinned. “So, anyone else coming?”

“Just me so far,” she sighed.

“Well then, yacht party for two, coming up!” He punched her in the arm and headed towards the boat. “There better be champagne, though…”

“Oh, there’s plenty,” he heard Hana giggle from behind him.

***

 “Arrr! The pirate boat be the winner,” Maxwell exclaimed, just before downing the rest of his fifth? sixth? who cared? glass of champagne, and reaching for the next from the nearby server’s tray. “Told you, Hana.”

They watched as the royal family greeted the winners and presented each one with a medal and a wreath.

“How awesome must that feel? If I was more of a boat person, I’d have a go, you know. Our House have a seafaring history. If I had the chance, I’d revive that in a heartbeat. Go off sailing somewhere, win the medal at the regatta…”

“Yeah,” Hana sighed, sadly.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“They look so happy. It’s just…” She looked at him despondently. “My whole life, I’ve done nothing but lose.”

“I can’t believe that for a minute, Hana. You give the impression of being amazing at everything.”

“Nothing that counts,” she admitted. She looked thoughtful, as if there was more she wanted to say, but she’d decided not to, as they watched the winners jumping around and popping open some champagne.

“What is it about being a winner that you think you’re missing out on anyway? Because, you don’t have to be a winner to celebrate like that.” He looked over at where a magnum of champagne bottles was placed. With a sly grin, he grabbed a bottle. “Hey. Got any ceremonial weapons on board?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Thought not. Oh well, never mind. I’ll just have to do this the conventional way.” He began to shake the champagne bottle.

“Maxwell, what are you..”

He popped the bottle open, and foaming champagne sprayed out, covering both of them. He laughed out loud at Hana’s expression.

“Ahh!” She jumped away from the spray, laughing. “That was a sneaky attack!”

“Your point?”

Hana grabbed her own bottle, shook it, and returned fire. “Gotcha!”

The two of them ran around for a few minutes, continuing their battle to a soundtrack of his whoops and Hana’s squeals. Eventually, the ammunition was depleted.

“Oh my goodness, Maxwell… that was so much fun… you’re drenched!”

“I guess that means you win the champagne war!” he commented. “And you said you never won anything!”

“Oh. Well, I guess I did. Thanks, Maxwell. I’m glad you joined me today.”

“Yeah. It’s been fun. Listen, I need to ask you a favour, before we get back to shore.” He grabbed his phone, and called up the picture of Jen. “I’ve got a friend in America. Her name’s Jen.”

Hana looked at the photograph. “She’s very pretty.”

“Uh, yeah. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? Anyway. She wants to learn the Cordonian Waltz.”

“Oh, okay…” Hana looked a bit lost.

“Wait. I missed a bit. We were all in New York a few weeks ago, just before the social season started. We all hit it off, and I was going to bring her over as House Beaumont’s suitor, but she couldn’t come. I haven’t told Rick, by the way, so not a word to him.”

Hana nodded. “Did they hit it off?”

“Yep. Sparks flew. Surprised you didn’t see them from China. Anyway, we agreed to keep in touch. Just in case she can come over later in the competition. Just think how amazed he would be… I mean, I’m sorry to be putting more competition in your path…”

“Oh, don’t be, Maxwell. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m not going to win Rick’s affections. We’ve barely spoken, and he’s constantly at Olivia’s side. It might be nice to have another suitor involved who I could be friends with.”

“Well, she did encourage me to make friends with you when I told her about you. Not that I didn’t want to, of course, she just.. just saying.” Oh, too much champagne, not enough tact.

“I like her already,” Hana said.

“So, just on the off chance she does make it over here eventually, she wants to be able to dance with Rick like a pro. So, I’m putting together a tutorial on how to do the Cordonian Waltz. I did part one last week at Ramsford with Bertrand. But he wasn’t really into it.”

Hana giggled. “I’m sure.”

“Which brings me on to, I was wondering if you could help? When we get a suitable gap in the timetable? Me and you and maybe Drake or someone could just find a ballroom and do some dancing and some filming?”

Hana nodded. “I’d love to help. Maxwell. Thank you for thinking of me.” She glanced at the shore as it approached. “We’re almost back now. Are you coming to the beach party later?”

“Oh hell yes. That’s one of my highlights of the season. I love that beach.”

“I’m looking forward to going for a swim,” Hana commented. “Will you join me for that?”

Err… “After all that champagne? I’m not sure that’s wise. I’d probably drown.”

Hana looked at him curiously. “If you’d really had all that champagne, I would have thought your inhibitions would have been lessened.”

“Oh, you got me. It’s an excuse. I’m not allowed to. And even after all that champagne, I still know that. Wait.” He caught sight of his watch. “It’s two!”

“It is. Just after.”

“It’s Jen o’clock,” he exclaimed. “I’ve gotta message her. That okay?”

Hana nodded. “You message her at the same time every day? That’s really sweet.”

“Yeah. It’s our little thing.” He started to tap out a message. DAILY DIGEST – YACHT PARTY EDITION.

Hana wandered into the cabin, and he leant against the side of it. It wasn’t long before a reply came.

I HATE YOU.

He giggled. YOU COULD’VE BEEN ON THIS YACHT WITH ME!

SO, HOW’S THE PARTY?

BLUE SKY, LOTS OF CHAMPAGNE, GOOD COMPANY….

IS RICK WITH YOU?

NOPE. HE’S BUSY DOING PRINCELY THINGS. OH, CRAP! I HAVE NEWS!

UM, I THOUGHT YOUR NEWS WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS CONVERSATION.

SO RICK’S DAD HAS ANNOUNCED HE’S STANDING DOWN AT THE END OF THE SOCIAL SEASON. RICK’S GONNA BE KING IN A FEW WEEKS!

There was a bit of a wait for the next message, and he was beginning to regret not leaving another bottle of champagne so he could continue his daytime drinking.

WOW. HOW DOES HE FEEL ABOUT THAT?

BIT SHOCKED. HE DIDN’T KNOW UNTIL TODAY EITHER. SO, THE SELECTION BALL IS NOW DOUBLING UP AS A CORONATION BALL! WE NEED YOU THERE!

THIS JUST SEEMS MORE AND MORE POINTLESS, MAXWELL. I WASN’T FIT TO BE HIS PRINCESS, LET ALONE HIS QUEEN, AND YOU KNOW IT.

Oh no, she was sad. NOOO JEN, DON’T BE SAD….

She didn’t reply, and he threw his head in the air in frustration. What could he say to cheer her up?

With that, Hana reappeared. “Did you message her?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “She’s freaking out that Rick’s gonna be king soon. Maybe she won’t come over after all.”

“I don’t think you’re the sort to give up on a dream that easily,” Hana commented. “We’ll get working on that video, and maybe we can convince her.”

“Maybe.” He winked at Hana. “Thanks.”

“No, thank you Maxwell. I don’t know what I’d have done without you today. A party for one just doesn’t bear thinking about. Anyway, we’re just about to dock. I guess I’ll see you at the beach party.”

Out came the finger guns, “Oh, you shall. You shall.”

***

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to enjoy the water,” Drake stated.

Even though he’d now sobered up nicely after all that barbecued food, Maxwell couldn’t join in with that activity, for other reasons. “I’m ready to stretch out like a beached whale.”

“Suit yourself.  You coming with me, Hana?” Drake asked.

“Hang on, we need to put on sunscreen before we go,” Hana said, and the two of them started fussing about with sunscreen. Maxwell stayed where he was, settling down by some rocks, and observed as they headed towards the water. Hana had already removed her dress to reveal a bikini, Drake was self-consciously removing his shirt. He then applied sunscreen to Hana’s back, and Hana returned the favour. It made for an interesting watch. They’d make a cute couple.

They were splashing around in the water now, and after a few minutes they were fully in the sea, swimming. He lay flat on his back now, closing his eyes, chilling out and wondering how cool it would have been if Jen had been with them today.

There was a ping.

He sat up and grabbed his phone.

I’LL TRY NOT TO BE. YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO CHEER ME UP.

That, he could do. CHECK MY PICTA. YACHT PARTY PICS A-GO-GO.

ALREADY SEEN THEM. HANA’S VERY PRETTY. REMEMBER WHAT I SAID.

I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN. DO YOU WANT SOME BEACH PARTY PICS?

YEAH. HOW ABOUT A SELFIE?

Ooh, this was different. I CAN DO THAT. ONE SEC. He got a good angle, and posed as coolly as he could, then snapped. Yeah, that looked good. He sent it through.

YOU SEEM A LITTLE OVERDRESSED FOR THE BEACH.

Oh, here we go. IT’S NOT THAT HOT HERE TODAY.

I’VE JUST CHECKED THE TEMPERATURE IN CORDONIA, AND IT’S 90. DON’T YOU WANT TO TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT?

 Okay. This was getting weird. NO CAN DO. CAN’T RISK BURNING UP. NO SPF IN THE WORLD IS STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT ME *burnt emojis*

WELL, SUN SAFETY IS IMPORTANT.

Ah, what harm would it do to enlighten her?  MORE LIKE, BERTRAND WON’T LET ME GO SHIRTLESS IN POLITE COMPANY.

DOES BERTRAND RUIN EVERYTHING FOR YOU?

JUST MOST THINGS.

WHY WON’T HE LET YOU GO SHIRTLESS? THAT JUST SEEMS STRANGE. YOU GOT THREE NIPPLES OR SOMETHING?

He laughed. OKAY. I’LL SHOW YOU.

OH MY GOD, YOU HAVE GOT THREE NIPPLES!

Chuckling to himself, he made his way across the beach, through the crowds, and in the direction of a small structure where the toilets and showers were. He positioned himself just round the back of the block, where he was pretty confident nobody could see him.

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt buttons and pulled off his sleeves, folding his black shirt carefully and hanging it on a nearby fence post. It wouldn’t do to crease it. He then had to think about how he was going to approach this. Should he just send her a close up of the tattoo? Or a full upper body picture? Was that a bit presumptuous? Well, she had asked him if he’d wanted to take off his shirt.

He decided on the latter, and stretched out an arm to get a suitable angle. Did this warrant a smile, or a pout… or a stupid face? He stuck his tongue out for the first one, then laughed, taking another one afterwards. What the hell, he’d send them both.

He sent them through, and put his shirt back on (although it was lovely to have got some cool air on himself, he knew he ought to cover up in case anyone found him, thank goodness for that moisture wicking fabric). Once he’d done this, there was a ping.

THAT IS MUCH CUTER THAN A THIRD NIPPLE.

He couldn’t help but grin as he tapped out a reply. NOW I WISH I’D SHOWN IT TO YOU SOONER.

TIME AND A PLACE, MAXWELL. MIGHT HAVE BEEN CREEPY IF YOU’D STRIPPED OFF FOR ME OUTSIDE THE BAR.

WELL, YOU WERE THE ONE DEMANDING I REMOVED MY SHIRT. I SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO FEELS VIOLATED REALLY.

TOUCHE. SO, WHERE’S PRINCE RICK AT? CAN YOU GET ME A SEXY PIC OF HIM?

Wait, was she saying his picture was sexy? No, stop it, Maxwell. NOT RIGHT NOW. HE’S ENTERTAINING GUESTS. I CAN GET YOU ONE OF DRAKE IF YOU LIKE. HE’S ONLY ENTERTAINING HANA.

I’LL PASS ON THAT. SO WHY DOES BERTRAND MAKE YOU HIDE THIS LITTLE GUY AWAY FROM THE WORLD?

HE WAS SO ANGRY WHEN I GOT IT DONE. HE BANNED ME FROM LETTING ANYONE AT COURT SEE IT. BUT, YOU’RE NOT AT COURT. SO…. *emojis*

WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE? I’M GUESSING THERE’S A STORY BEHIND IT? OR YOU JUST REALLY LOVE HIPPOS?

He sighed. YEAH. IT’S TO DO WITH MY MOM. SHE USED TO CALL ME HER LITTLE HIPPO.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T POSSIBLY CHEER ME UP ANY MORE.

He shook his head. HEY. THIS IS DEEP STUFF.  WHEN I WAS LITTLE I WAS, UH, ON THE CHUNKY SIDE. MY DAD USED TO GIVE ME A HARD TIME ABOUT IT. BUT MY MOM WAS GREAT. SHE SAID I WAS LIKE A HIPPO AND THAT HIPPOS WERE FUN AND TOUGH AND LOVING AND COULD MAKE ANYBODY SMILE AND THAT WASN’T SUCH A BAD THING.

There was a long pause before Jen’s next response. SHE HAD YOU SUMMED UP QUITE WELL.

WELL. SHE WAS MY MOM.         

Another pause. I’M SENSING PAST TENSE HERE.

YUP. SHE DIED WHEN I WAS EIGHT.

The phone rang almost immediately.

“Hey Jen,” he answered.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know.”

“Hey, why would you? It’s not like it’s ever come up in conversation before.”

“If you ever need to talk about it, I’m here.” She sounded quite upset. “You see, I lost my mom too. And my dad.”

“Oh, Jen. I didn’t mean to upset you… I’m really sorry.”

“Thanks. I was thirteen. They were in a car accident. They were on their way to pick me up from a friend’s party.”

“Oh, that’s horrible, Jen. I don’t know what to say.”

"You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to say, I’m here for you. I know how it feels.”

“Thanks, Jen.” He sighed, deciding it wasn’t quite the right time to tell her about his dad.

"So, when did you get the tattoo?”

"Oh, when I was at college. I had my friends over one holiday. One of my friends wanted to get a tattoo, and I was going through a bit of a wild phase, so I thought I’d get one as well.”

She giggled. “You had a wild phase? I need evidence.”

“There is none, thankfully. Anyway, I told Bertrand I was going to get something done to commemorate our mom. I think he thought I was getting some artwork commissioned. Which, I guess I was. Just, body artwork.”

“Oh, I bet he was mad. I’ve not even met the guy in person yet, but I’m getting the measure of him.”

“He hates it. Said if he ever saw me shirtless in public, he’d throw me out. And.. I’m not convinced he was joking.”

He could hear her laughter on the other end of the line, and it made him feel warm inside.

“Honestly. What’s not to love? You shouldn’t listen to Bertrand, you know. He ruins everything for you. Is he even there today?”

“No, but he has his ways of finding out what I’ve been up to. Especially if I’m having too much fun.”

“Are you having fun now?”

He nodded. “More fun than I was. How about you?”

“Well, put it this way, you’ve distracted me from ironing my fortnightly work uniform pile. So, yeah. Much more fun than I was too.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t fishing for you to call me just then.”

“How could I not? There’s certain things that a text can’t say. Anyway, I like talking to you.”

He felt his heart flutter. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I still appreciate your daily text updates. But, I kinda like hearing your voice, Maxwell.”

“Well,” he said, trying not to sound as flustered as he felt, “I kinda like hearing yours too.”

“I’d better let you go though. You don’t want to spend the whole beach party on the phone to someone in cold rainy New York. Go have some fun. Get a cocktail or something, or go for a paddle.”

“Yeah, noted.”

“Or maybe you could spy on Rick and get that photo for me.” She giggled.

“Hey, I’m not promising anything, but I’ll do my best.”

“You are amazing. Speak to you soon.”

“Enjoy your ironing.” He hung up before she could protest, and sighed. He wondered how she would have been getting on if she were here. As he walked across to the rest of the party, he saw Rick from a distance, chatting to Olivia and Madeleine. He wondered if Jen would have been in amongst them, holding Rick’s attention, charming him and making him smile. That seemed a more likely outcome of events than her being stuck over here chatting to him, like she just had over the phone.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that she wasn’t here, after all.  

Chapter Text

Jen lay in bed at 6.59 the following morning, looking through her photo gallery. Maxwell had done his best to deliver on the photo party front as his evening had progressed yesterday. Before her afternoon shift had begun, she’d been sent selfies of him with Drake and Hana (who’d seemingly just been for a swim) and him with Rick (who was at that time fully clothed). Later on, when she’d clocked off her shift at the end of the day, there’d been a topless picture of Rick, albeit from some distance away, looking as if he was just emerging from the sea after a swim. He was as toned as she’d expected him to be. Very easy on the eye. Very strong and manly.

And yet, despite the presence of this picture in her gallery, it was the first two pictures she’d been sent that she kept going back to. Maxwell might not have been as muscular as his friends (yes, she was comparing him to Drake too) but there was something about him that was more to her taste, aesthetically speaking, anyway. And that tattoo was strangely allurin

She was distracted from the picture by a ping that could only mean one thing.

GOOD MORNING, LITTLE BLOSSOM!

She smiled. GOOD MORNING TO YOU TOO – WHAT’S WITH THE BLOSSOM RELATED GREETING?

TODAY IS DAY ONE OF THE APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL! A TWO DAY CELEBRATION OF THE GREATEST FRUIT EVER TO BE GROWN ON THIS EARTH.

She sighed. What was with this apple thing? SO WHAT APPLE THEMED ACTIVITIES DO YOU HAVE PLANNED?

WELL, THE SUITORS HAVE JUST TASTED THE FIRST CROP OF THIS YEAR’S CORDONIAN RUBY HARVEST. RATHER THEM THAN ME, THAT FIRST BATCH NEVER TASTES GREAT… TOMORROW MORNING IS THE APPLE PIE BAKING COMPETITION, FOLLOWED BY THE CROWNING OF THE APPLE QUEEN!

She giggled. OH MAN. I CAN’T BAKE TO SAVE MY LIFE. YOU DODGED A BULLET THERE. SO DOES THE WINNER GET TO BE APPLE QUEEN?

NOT QUITE. IT’S A TEAM EVENT SO THE SUITORS WILL TEAM UP. TWO AGAINST THREE, I GUESS. SHAME THERE’S NOT AN EVEN NUMBER… WAIT… DO YOU HAVE A PASSPORT UPDATE FOR ME YET? PLEEEEEASE SAY YOU DO…

She sighed. She’d been putting off having this conversation with him. I NOW HAVE A VALID PASSPORT. BUT...

She knew she was going to get a string of excited emojis her way at this point, and she was not disappointed.

I SAID, BUT…

WHEN ARE YOU COMING? IF YOU HURRY, YOU COULD MAKE THE APPLE QUEEN COMPETITION…

She sighed. MAXWELL, I CHECKED THE PRICE OF FLIGHTS. IT’S GONNA BE ANOTHER COUPLE OF PAYCHECKS AT LEAST. AND, I HAVE TO GET LEAVE FROM WORK.

There was a long pause, he didn’t reply.

She got up and started to get ready for her morning shower, hoping against hope he’d offer to cover the cost. She really should have gone with him in the first place. She went to get her shower, and on her return, there was still no reply.

HEY. I’M SORRY TO ASK, BUT.. IF YOU COULD HELP ME OUT WITH THE COST, EVEN JUST BY WAY OF A LOAN OR SOMETHING, THEN I CAN COME. OTHERWISE… IT’S NOT LOOKING LIKELY.

There was still no response, so she decided not to push it anymore. She still had this feeling that money was a problem for him. She wasn’t sure why. She began to get ready for work.

***

After her shift, she noticed a number of Pictagram updates on Maxwell’s account, mainly selfies of him with Drake and Rick on what appeared to be a night out. Looked like they were having a good time. There was one of Drake on a bucking bronco, with the caption #BIRTHDAYBOY. There were a number of Rick, she wondered if they’d be removed before long, so she had a good look through. But her eyes lingered longest on the pictures of Maxwell on the dance floor that one of the others must have taken.   

Oh, man, she thought to herself. This was not the plan. I’m not supposed to be crushing on you, Maxwell.

She turned her attention back to her message inbox. Nothing further. Well, he’d been on a night out. Probably far too busy getting the attention of all the ladies in the club to worry about her, and that was the way it should be.

She sighed, and put her phone back into her bag.

“Oh, hey Jen.” Daniel popped into the locker room. “You done for today?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You?”

“Nah. Got another couple of hours. Hey, what are you doing Sunday evening? I wondered if you wanted to catch up again, after work or something?”

She raised her eyebrows. “I’m actually off all day Sunday. So yeah, that would be nice.”

“Great! I mean.. we could do bowling or the movies or something like that?”

“The movies sound good,” she said. “Been a while since I went to the movies.”

“Okay! Well, shall I come get you after I finish work?”

“Yeah. Why not.”

She smiled at him, and he returned the smile awkwardly, heading back into the kitchen.

She sighed. This was a good plan. She had to keep this real world. No more dreaming of princes and definitely no more lusting after lords.

***

“Now, box step for four…. One, two, three, four….”

Jen had got YouTube open on their smart TV, and was eagerly rewatching the dance instruction video, a bowl of popcorn by her side.

“No stepping on your partner’s toes,” Maxwell was giggling in his commentary. She watched in amusement as Bertrand looked as if he was complaining about something as he box-stepped with his own brother. The music and Maxwell’s commentary had been dubbed over the visuals. It was quite slickly done.

“Be delicate on your feet. Imagine that the floor is covered in eggs, and you don’t want to break any.”

For two grown men, they really were dancing gratefully.

“Be aware of your frame. Keep your arms and chest out. This keeps your frame firm, so your partner can appropriately react to your movements. And remember to relax, and have fun!”

The camera zoomed in on Bertrand, who was not looking relaxed or as if he was having fun. She laughed out loud, not for the first time.

“Alright. Now practice this, and next time I’m gonna show you the little things that make this waltz super-magical. The spin, and the twirl.”

Anita came in. “What the fuck is this?”

She giggled. “Maxwell’s putting together some dance instruction videos for me. So I can learn to dance, so that if I ever get over there I can dance with the Prince.”

“Ohmygod. That is too cute.” She watched the screen. “Who’s that? His boyfriend?”

“His brother,” laughed Jen. “The only person he could rope in at the time, I think.”

“Oh, that’s precious,” Anita laughed. “So who are you gonna practice with?”

Jen looked at her. “I was hoping you’d volunteer, Neet.”

“Oh no. No no no no no. I have two left feet. You need to get Daniel on it. Go out with him again.”

Jen raised her eyebrows. “Well, he did ask me out again today. But I’m not sure how much waltzing we can do at the movies.”

Anita squealed. “Oooh! This is big news! What are you gonna wear? You’re keen on him, aren’t you!”

“Well, I have a few days to make up my mind, I suppose. We’re not going out until Sunday.”

“Answer the question Jen, you really like him, don’t you! I’ve seen the sparkle in your eyes these last few days. You’ve been reliving date number one!”

Jen just smiled. It was going to be easier to let her think that than try to explain who’d really been making her sparkle.

Chapter Text

Ugh. Everything hurt. Last night had been... well, he wasn’t sure actually. It had started well. But how had it ended? And how had he got back to the palace?

Crap. What time was it anyway? Was it two yet? He checked his phone. It was twelve. Okay. That’s fine. He was due to meet Hana for the Apple Queen ceremony at one, so hopefully he’d be able to make that…

Ugh. Legs felt wobbly. He gave up on the getting up bit.

Had he done anything stupid? He checked his texts. Phew. Didn’t look like he’d been messaging Jen, or calling her, so that was probably a good thing.

Pictagram. He’d put some pictures on there. Crap, he’d put some pictures of Rick on there. He’d probably get told to remove those.

There was a knock on his door. He made himself stand up and swaggered over. Don’t be Bertrand. Don’t be Bertrand. Don’t be..

“Whoa. Rick. Hey.”

“Good afternoon,” Rick said, his formal speech befitting his formal outfit. “Before today’s events commence, are you in any fit state to talk?”

“Talk… about what?”

“You do remember what you told me last night, I trust? I know you had a lot to drink, but I didn’t think you’d had enough to forget that conversation.”

“Oh…. Yeah. I remember.”

***

He’d been sitting at the bar, easily on his eighth pineapple cocktail. He’d just not felt like dancing tonight. He’d started off in the normal fashion, but as the night went on it started to feel weird and unnatural as Drake and Rick started to hang back to let him do his thing. He just didn’t really feel like doing his thing.

He’d taken some pictures and put them on the gram, he wondered if she’d see them after work. The alcohol wasn’t loosening him up tonight, it was stressing him out. He was thinking about her far too much. He was tempted to call her, but he knew he shouldn’t. She would be at work, anyway.

"What gives with you tonight?”

Drake had come up to him, seemingly waiting for his order of whiskey.

“I’m fine. Fine and dandy.”

“Nah. Normally at this stage of the evening you’re on the dance floor trying to pull anything in a skirt. Not at the bar with a pineapple punch and a long face.”

He’d laughed. “Drake, my good man, I am reformed.” He’d heard the slur in his own voice. “I thought it was time to take on board my brother’s many life lessons. I am approaching my thirties, after all…”

“Bullshit, Maxwell. This has got something to do with Jen.”

“No! It’s got nothing to do with Jen!”

And suddenly, Rick had been there. “Did you just… were you two talking about Jen? As in… Jen from New York?”

And it had all come tumbling out. Well. Most of it. Not the fact that he couldn’t get her out of his head right now.

***

“I want to speak to her. Could I have her number?”

Maxwell sighed. “Is that a good idea at this stage?”  Part of him wanted Rick to talk to her, offer to fly her over, so she could compete. But part of him didn’t. Was that the selfish part of him? Probably.

“What, me talking to her?”

“I mean, her coming over.”

“I don’t know, Maxwell. I mean, it would have been different if it wasn’t for the fact that things are going so well between myself and Olivia. Olivia would be furious if anyone entered the competition now.” He sighed. “But, talking to her wouldn’t hurt.”

“I guess. Here.” He grabbed his phone and scribbled down Jen’s number on a notepad. “Just remember the time difference. It’s 5am in New York right now, so don’t call her yet.”

“Right.” He folded up the paper and put it carefully in his top suit pocket. “It will have to wait until after the Apple Queen festivities.”

Maxwell nodded. That would give him time to warn her.

“I have to say, I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me straight away.”

“You’ve got Drake to thank for that one. He talked me out of it.”

Rick smiled. “Ah. That makes a lot of sense. I think he was a little envious at how well Jen and I connected that evening.”

Drake hadn’t been the only one, but Maxwell was pretty stoked with the connection he and Jen had now. He really hoped this development wouldn’t be the end of it. “Yeah. I got that impression.”

“And Maxwell? Thank you.” Rick’s face was like a kid at Christmas. “The thought of being able to see her again… well. However the two of us decide to proceed, at least we have that opportunity now.”

He nodded. “You’re a good guy, Rick. You deserve a break. I could see how much you two were into each other.” He thought for a moment about telling him about the YouTube dance videos, but decided against it. That could be a surprise.

***

Hana’s team had wiped the floor with Olivia’s team in the Apple Queen baking competition. Despite his shouts for Hana, however, it was Madeleine who had taken the crown, choosing Kiara as her cupbearer and Olivia as her jester. That had been funny.

It was now approaching two, and he found a tree to lean against, while sipping lemonade. This hangover was a bitch. But it was time for the daily digest.

GOOD MORNING, LITTLE BLOSSOM.

MORNING. HOW’S YOUR HEAD?

HEY, I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN.

I SAW YOUR PICTAGRAM. BIG NIGHT? SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTED I DIDN’T GET A LATE NIGHT CALL.

Disappointed? She was being snarky. UH, WELL, NOT GONNA LIE, MY HEAD HURTS. YES, GOOD NIGHT. WAS DRAKE’S BIRTHDAY. WE DID SHOTS, AND I HAD A FEW TOO MANY COCKTAILS.

THERE’S A RECURRING THEME HERE, YOU DRINKING TOO MUCH. THAT’S THREE TIMES NOW! YOU NEED SOMEONE TO KEEP YOU ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW.

 She was right, of course. MAYBE I DO. SO. WHAT’S NEW, I HEAR YOU ASK? WELL, THE APPLE PIE BAKING COMPETITION TOOK PLACE THIS MORNING, ADMITTEDLY WHILE I WAS SLEEPING OFF MY BIG NIGHT, AND LADY HANA’S TEAM WERE VICTORIOUS OVER DUCHESS OLIVIA’S TEAM.

GOOD.

DESPITE THIS, COUNTESS MADELEINE WAS ELECTED QUEEN OF THE APPLE COURT. SHE CHOSE LADY KIARA AS HER CUPBEARER, AND DUCHESS OLIVIA AS HER COURT JESTER.

AGAIN, GOOD. I’D HAVE CHOSEN YOU, THOUGH.

AS CUPBEARER?

DON’T BE SILLY.

HEH, THANKS. I LIKE TO THINK I’D MAKE A GOOD COURT JESTER.

I LIKE TO THINK YOU ARE A GOOD COURT JESTER.

OUCH. WELL. THIS IS ALL NEWS FIT FOR REPORTING TO YOU, BUT IT’S NOT THE BIG NEWS.

WHAT’S THE BIG NEWS?

OKAY. SO. YOU STILL WANT RICK’S NUMBER?

There was a pause. He’d expected her to come straight back with a yes, so he was a little confused.

He sent a follow up. ???

WHY THE CHANGE OF HEART?

UM, I KIND OF TOLD HIM I WAS STILL IN TOUCH WITH YOU WHEN I WAS DRUNK LAST NIGHT.

HE HAD TO FIND OUT SOMETIME.

YEAH. WELL HE’S GOT YOUR NUMBER NOW, SO IF YOU GET A CALL FROM A WITHHELD NUMBER IN THE NEXT DAY OR SO, ANSWER IT, YEAH?

BUT WHAT IF I’M FALLING FOR SOMEONE ELSE?

Not good. Not good. How did he respond to that? His brain wasn’t working well enough to process this right now. He put his phone away for a while, continuing to lean against the tree while pondering. The whole aim of their friendship had been to keep Jen and Rick in touch, hadn’t it? What did it mean if she didn’t want to speak to him? Still, she had every right to be moving on with her life.

JUST MESSING WITH YOU! I’M DEFINITELY STILL INTO HIM! THANK YOU, MAXWELL! I WANT TO HUG DRUNKEN YOU RIGHT NOW.

Phew. BUT NOT HUNGOVER ME?

NAH. YOU MIGHT THROW UP ON ME IF I DO THAT.

VERY TRUE. ON THAT NOTE, I’M GOING TO GET SOME MORE LEMONADE TO SIP, BEFORE I CRAWL UNDER A STONE AND DIE.

***

A couple of days had passed, and Maxwell wasn’t sure if Rick had called Jen yet. She hadn’t mentioned it to him in their daily text conversations, and he hadn’t liked to ask. He was hoping to get the chance to catch up with Rick today when they stopped for their meal during the Royal Hunt. Right now, he was riding on his horse, praying that his horse wasn’t going to throw him off, and thinking too much about Jen and Rick and the situation that they now found themselves in.

It would be weird for Rick to bring her over now, given the stage of the process they were at. Besides, Olivia would never forgive either of them. But what if Maxwell invited Jen over here anyway, just as a surprise? Maybe for the Beaumont Bash? That was a great idea. Well done, Maxwell!

He’d been the back marker of the line for a while, but found that Bertrand was slowing to draw level with him. “Maxwell? A word.”

Brilliant. An opportunity to ask Bertrand if he could implement his plan. “Of course, brother.”   

Bertrand didn’t look at him. “I’ve noticed you have become somewhat distant recently.”

“Oh? I’m right next to you, to be fair.”

“Mentally, Maxwell. I mean mentally. And I think I know why.” He frowned across at him. “You’ve been undertaking a long-distance relationship with that waitress, haven’t you?”

“Um, define relationship?”

He sighed. “I knew it. You need to put a stop to it immediately, Maxwell. She only wants your acquaintance because of your friendship with the future King. Sound familiar?”

“Sounds like the story of my life,” sighed Maxwell, even though he knew that Jen was different. “But, I was thinking. I know it’s too late for her to enter the competition for Rick’s hand formally. But what if she came over to the Beaumont Bash, just as a friend?”

“I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a preposterous scheme,” Bertrand sighed. “What on earth would that achieve?”

“Well, Rick would get to see her again.. and he might make it possible for her to compete… I know he still cares about her. He’s only just found out I’ve been in touch with her, and he was so excited…”

“Prince Rick would be a fool to allow a new contender at this stage of the competition,” Bertrand groaned. “He would be ridiculed by the other nobles and foreign royals were he to do that. Especially given her status.”

“Well, it would be nice for him to at least see her, don’t you think? I checked the price of flights yesterday. We can get one for nine hundred euros, I’m sure we could afford that….”

“Absolutely not. The House Beaumont account has been haemorrhaging money left right and centre recently. I have withdrawn your access to it for good reason.”

“Bertrand, please.. it would mean a lot to Rick..”

“It would mean a lot to you, you mean.” Bertrand said, menacingly. “But, you need to know this. There is no way she would look at you, if she even has the slightest chance of reconnecting with Prince Rick. And as you keep telling me, they have such a special connection..”

“They do!” protested Maxwell.

Bertrand nodded. “Well, in that case, you need to cease the constant messaging and the pathetic brooding. Nothing good will come of it, for you, for her, for anyone. Keep your ridiculous fantasies to yourself. Because that is all they are. Ridiculous.”

Maxwell was used to Bertrand’s cruel words, but this stung.

“Do I make myself clear?” hissed Bertrand.

“Yeah,” he said, sadly.

***

After they had stopped for their meal part way through the horse ride, Rick had decided that it might be good fun for the three of them to sneak off to the nearby ancient ruins. Seemingly, he’d needed a break from Olivia and Madeleine’s constant one-upping themselves over him. It was getting embarrassing, even to the spectator.

Drake was tying up the horses, and it gave Maxwell a chance to talk to Rick. He hadn’t wanted to do it in front of Drake, for obvious reasons.

“So have you called her?”

Rick nodded. “Yes. I have.”

“And what did you talk about?”

Rick looked wistfully into the distance. “That’s between Jen and I, Maxwell.”

Maxwell nodded. “Right. Right. Course it is. I just wondered. That’s all.”

Rick sighed. “If you must know, she isn’t going to come and compete. But, she does want to keep in touch.”

Maxwell felt his heart sink and leap at the same time. “That’s… good.”

“I offered to put her on a plane and fly her over. She declined. She doesn’t want to complicate things between me and Olivia. She did say she’s actually seeing someone, anyway.”

“Oh?” This was news. I mean, she’d told him she’d been on a date, but…

“Yes. But depending on how things go, and how things go with the rest of this process.. it might be worth us catching up again one day, I suppose.”

“I hope so. And, I’m sorry Rick. I should’ve told you sooner. I shouldn’t have let Drake talk me out of it.”

Rick sighed. “When I spoke to Drake earlier, he made some very good points. She would have struggled. The other ladies would have made her life a misery. And she didn’t even know how to dance.”

“I would’ve taught her,” Maxwell said. “I could’ve protected her from them all.”

“It’s a lovely thought,” he said to Maxwell as Drake returned to join them both. “Horses all secured?”

“Yup. You two had that chat?”

“We have,” Rick said with a nod. “I just want to say, I know that you both had very different ideas about this situation. But I know that you both had my best interests at heart. And for that, I just want to thank you both. You are both dear friends to me.”

Maxwell hung back as Drake and Rick walked ahead. He sighed. Rick might not think that anymore if he could get inside his head and see how he was really feeling.

Bertrand had pretty much called him out. No use denying it. Bertrand knew him too well.

Maybe he should stop with the daily updates now that Rick and Jen were in touch again.

Chapter Text

The phone rang early on Sunday morning, waking Jen from a confusing dream. In it she’d been dancing with Rick on a rooftop somewhere, knowing every step to the Cordonian Waltz. And although she was very impressed with herself for mastering every step, something wasn’t feeling right.

She was a little confused as to why Maxwell was ringing her instead of texting her, but she didn’t think too much of it. “Morning, your Lordship,” she answered, sarcastically.

“I’m sorry? What was that? Is that Jen?”

“Ugh… who is this?”

“It’s Kieran. Can you come in this morning? James has just rung in sick.”

“Oh. Sure.” She looked at the clock. It was eight. “What time do you want me?”

“Soon as you can. I need you till about five.”

She sighed. “I get double pay, yeah?”

“Time and a half plus a share of the tips. That’s the best I can do.”

She debated trying to negotiate higher, but she needed this job. “Okay. I’ll be in shortly.”

She hung up, chuckling to herself at having called her boss “your Lordship.” But then she thought about it some more. No daily digest? No 7am wake up call?

Was Maxwell okay?

She sent him a quick message before she headed off for her shower.

HEY

Her head was full of thoughts. Maybe now that Rick had contacted her directly, he’d decided he didn’t need to keep in touch with her anymore? Or maybe Rick had asked him to stop spamming her?

Whatever, she didn’t like it.

The conversation she’d had with Rick had been, on the whole, surreal. He’d sounded like a different person to the one she’d met that night. He sounded responsible, measured, formal. He’d given her a full briefing on what his life comprised of right now, and asked her how she would feel about arriving in the midst of all this. There was only one answer to that question. If she was to come to Cordonia, she’d need a friend by her side. And, she had one. She knew he had her back.

Rick had decided that it probably wasn’t the right time for Jen to come over, but had insisted that she was very welcome to if she wanted to. He’d made it very clear that had she come with Maxwell on day one, things would have been very different. He’d even told her that it was Drake who had talked Maxwell out of telling him about his idea to enter her into the competition. Things she already knew, but to hear them from Rick was just a little bizarre.

The strangest thing was the way they had left the conversation though. “I very much want to get to know you better, Jen. Whatever my marital status may be.” Was he suggesting that he wanted her to be his bit on the side? Because that was something she wasn’t willing to be.  Not for him, not for anyone. That was why she had dropped in the nugget that she was in a relationship. It wasn’t technically true, but he didn’t know any different.

She arrived back in her room and saw that she had a reply.

HEY. MY BAD LITTLE BLOSSOM, SORRY I MISSED YOUR WAKE-UP CALL. I’M WITH RICK RIGHT NOW. SO A BIT AWKWARD.

WHY AWKWARD?

JUST HE KNOWS IT’S YOU I’M TEXTING. I’LL TEXT YOU LATER. TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE HUNT.

KAY.

He was being different with her. And, that was probably to be expected. Rick had probably told him about the “relationship”.  She’d put him straight when she could.

Or maybe he’d been freaked out at her text from yesterday, the one about falling for someone else. No, he had been freaked out about it, because he hadn’t responded. She just wished she knew why. She didn’t even know why she’d sent it.

***

It was late afternoon, and the bar was quiet. Jen was cleaning tables, minding her own business, thinking about her date with Daniel later. They’d agreed on the film now, and they were going to eat lots of popcorn and snacks, and then go for a quick drink afterwards. She was on a late tomorrow, so she didn’t mind it being a late one.

She heard someone come into the bar, and turned to greet them.

"Jennifer?”

Her heart began to pound and her world began to spin.

“I thought I saw you come in here yesterday.”

“Brad.” She looked around, backing up slightly. “You shouldn’t be here.”

He put his hands up. “I’m a paying customer.”

“Brad, I mean you shouldn’t be here because I don’t want you here. You have to go.”

But Brad, being Brad, sat down. He was going nowhere.

She wasn’t sure how to handle this. Should she see if anyone else could come out and serve him? Or should she be strong?

She would be strong. She was strong now. She wasn’t his Jennifer anymore. She was Jen. And she had to show him that.

"Very well. What are you having?”

“I’m having a chat with my Jennifer.”

“Nope. I’m getting you a drink. I’m not here to chat with you.”

He glared at her. “You thought I wouldn’t find you, right? You were wrong. This city’s not big enough for you to hide from me forever, Jennifer. I need you to say sorry for what you did.”

“I’m not sorry for finally getting away from you, Brad. In fact, it was the best thing I ever did.”

He laughed. “Of course. That’s why you’re living in a tiny bedroom of a shared apartment with someone you barely know. And you’ve got nobody.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She headed into the kitchen, passing a seemingly preoccupied Daniel who was cleaning. She thought about alerting him to what was going on, but no, she didn’t need anyone’s help with this. She could fight her own battle.

She took her phone out of her locker, and headed back out onto the floor of the bar. Brad was still sitting where she’d left him, a callous smirk on his face.

“Look.” She didn’t know why she did it, but she pulled up the picture of her and Maxwell. “This is me and my new boyfriend. He’s a Lord, you know.”

“Don’t give me that…”

“He is. And he’s sweet, and special. And he loves me. And he doesn’t try to control me like you did. And I suggest if you don’t want a drink, you should go, before I call him.”

He glared at her for a moment, then pushed his chair back. “This isn’t over, Jennifer. He won’t love you like I did.”

“No, he won’t. Because he’s one of the good guys.”

Brad kicked out at the wall. “I’ll be back, Jennifer.”

“No, you won’t.” She was defiant.

He left, and she was left wondering how she’d just done that.

***

“I enjoyed the film,” Daniel said, as he sat down opposite her a few hours later. “It was probably better than the last one.”

“Don’t think I ever saw the last one,” Jen admitted. As soon as she’d sat down in the movie theatre, her thoughts had been preoccupied with Brad and whether he would come back and how he had found her in the first place.

Daniel lent over to her. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

"What was with that guy in the bar this afternoon?”

She glared across at him. “I’m sorry?”

“I was.. I couldn’t help but notice. You were telling him you were going out with some guy, who isn’t me.”

This was ridiculous. “Oh, that’s what you took from the whole scene? How much did you catch of our conversation, exactly?”

“All of it? I mean, I didn’t want to get involved.”

“Oh, so you saw me, uncomfortable and scared, and just decided you’d stay out of it?”

“I mean, he was a mean looking guy. Anyway, you could have asked me to step in…”

“And how would that have looked? Daniel, you could have helped me out. You should have helped me out. I was trying to show him I was strong… but I could’ve done with the support afterwards..”

“Maybe you should have called your made-up boyfriend. I mean, did you think he wouldn’t buy the story about the Prince?”

“Oh, I’ve had enough of this, Daniel.” She stood up, and grabbed her coat. “You saw I was in a difficult position, and instead of asking me if I was okay afterwards, you brood over the fact that I’ve hurt your feelings? That’s just not good enough.”

"Jen… don’t go…”

But she’d gone, into the night. And the sad thing was, she didn’t think he was going to bother following her.

***

Half an hour later, she was still walking. Passing people, oblivious to her dilemmas. Couples, groups of girls, scary looking groups of young men. All just going about their own lives, just like she wasn’t there. She might as well not be there.

She’d been crying. She felt truly lost. The shock of Brad’s appearance today had taken a while to resonate though her. And she’d thought she’d handled it well. But Daniel’s whole attitude to it was pathetic. He didn’t deserve her.

It was late. It was raining. It was dark. She wasn’t even sure where she was.

She wasn’t even sure where she belonged anymore.

She pulled out her phone, to try and get her bearings. She had a text.

HEY. SORRY ABOUT EARLIER. WANT AN UPDATE NOW? OR SHALL I WAIT TILL TOMORROW?

It must have come through when she was in the cinema earlier. She debated the time difference. Or maybe she hadn’t checked her phone earlier?

Whatever, she hit the dial button.

It rang a few times. Please pick up. Please pick up.

“Uh… hey Jen.”

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I needed to speak to someone, and I didn’t know who else to call.”

Chapter Text

The ringing phone jolted him out of sleep and he grabbed it, his eyes refusing to open at first. Once they were open, he saw three blurry letters flashing at him. He pressed the green button and crashed back onto his pillow, the phone to his ear.

“Uh… hey Jen.”

“I’m sorry,” he heard her say, desperation in her voice. “I needed to speak to someone, and I didn’t know who else to call.”

He gulped and sat up. “What’s the matter? Where are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s happened?”

He could hear traffic around her and what sounded like her sobs.

“Jen… hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but you rang to speak to me, so speak to me. I’m listening.”

“I don’t know where to start..”

“Start by telling me where you are.”

There was a pause. “I’ve kind of gone out of my comfort zone a bit. I just had to get away.”

“Right. Can you hail a taxi to get you home?”

She sighed. “Okay. I’ll give it a go. Actually, I think I see a taxi rank up ahead.”

“Do that. Get home. I don’t like to think of you wandering around New York on your own when you’re upset.”

There was a pause before she responded. “I’m not on my own now. You’re with me. In a manner of speaking.”

“True. Glad I could be of service. Suddenly being woken up at four thirty am doesn’t seem so irritating.”

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry Maxwell…”

“S’okay. You found a taxi yet?”

“Yep. Just getting in one now.” He heard her give the driver her address. Was it wrong that he made a mental note of it? “Okay. I’m on route back to my apartment.”

“Good. So, what happened?”

“It’s a long story. I’ve had a really bad day.”

“Want to tell me about it?”

“I was just on a date, and it ended badly.”

Not good. He felt heat rising in his chest. “What did he do to you?”

“Oh, nothing like that. It’s just, something happened today that was bad, and it’s more about what he didn’t do than what he did, to be honest.”

Cryptic. “So, what didn’t he do?”

“I’m gonna have to start from the beginning. But I don’t want to tell you now, while I’m in a taxi. Can I tell you some other time?”

He stretched in his bed and yawned. “How long will it take you to get home?”

“Five minutes, maybe? But you need to get back to sleep..”

“At this point I’m awake, Jen. It’s getting light outside. I’d be waking up in about an hour or so anyway. So I’d rather know you’re okay. Keep talking. And then you can tell me when you get home, yeah?”

There was a pause. “Okay.”

“So, what are we gonna talk about?”

“I have no idea.”

“You been practicing your dancing?”

“Need someone to practice with, really. Anita’s having none of it. And obviously…” She trailed off. “There doesn’t seem so much point now.”

“Why? You could still come here. It’s not too late. Rick was so pleased after he spoke to you.”

She sighed. “I have something to say to you.”

“Shoot.”

“I’m sorry I asked you about the plane ticket. I shouldn’t have asked you to help out. I guess from your lack of response it wasn’t something you felt you could do.”

“It’s a moot point now anyway, from what I understand,” he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “I gather Rick offered to cover it. And, you decided you weren’t coming.”

"That’s not quite how it went,” she sighed. “We had a long chat, actually. And we both decided it wasn’t the right thing for me to come over right now. I’d say it was more his decision than mine.”

This went against what Rick had said to him. “Oh, really?”

“He still wants to stay in touch with me though,” she said softly. “I wasn’t sure what to make of that, so I told him I was seeing someone.”

Maxwell put the phone on speaker, laid it on the pillow next to him, and looked towards it as he spoke. “Which is kind of true, I thought?”

“Not anymore.” She sounded angry now, which was definitely a step in the right direction from desperately lost.

“Are you nearly home now?”

“Yeah. Just hang on a minute. I’m just gonna pay the driver and head in.”

“Sure.”

He took a minute to try and work out whether it was Rick or Jen that was telling him the truth.  Rick said Jen didn’t want to come to Cordonia, Jen said Rick didn’t want her to. Why would either of them lie to him?

Jen would have more of a reason to lie. She probably didn’t want to admit to him that she wasn’t up for this anymore.

But then, he’d like to think she wouldn’t lie to him.

“Alright,” she finally said. “I’m home, and safely in my room. You can stop worrying now.”

“I’m not gonna stop worrying until you tell me what’s worrying you.”

“Huh. Persistent, aren’t you?”

“It’s just that you said you needed someone to talk to. And you haven’t done much talking yet.”

“I’ve been talking to you since before I got in the taxi!”

“I mean, about what’s upset you. Come on, I want to hear about this really bad day.”

She sighed. “What would you have done?”

“Try me.”

"Okay. So. I haven’t told you any of this before. I used to be engaged to this guy called Brad. We were together a long time.”

"Okay, right…”

“I don’t want to burden you with all the details, but I left him. He wasn’t good for me, and eventually I realised that and realised I needed to get away.”

Maxwell felt his heart break into little pieces for her. Sounded like she’d been treated badly. “So you did, I guess?”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t easy. I moved in with my friend Amy. I changed jobs. Then I moved to Anita’s. I always worried he might find me one day. New York’s a big place, but it’s not big enough to hide forever. Today was that day.”

“Oh god, Jen. What happened?”

“He walked into the bar and started getting lippy. Demanded I served him. Demanded I spoke to him. I told him to go, but he wouldn’t. And…” He heard her exhale sharply. “So the guy I went on the date with, my co-worker Daniel, was there. And he heard all this going on. But, he didn’t come to help. I mean, not that I asked him to. But I kinda thought he might just show his face or something.”

“And this is why your date went bad?”

“Yeah. Daniel confronted me about it. I didn’t even realise he’d noticed. And when I knew he’d noticed, I asked him why he didn’t come to help. He said he didn’t want to get involved.”

“Were you expecting him to ride in on a white horse and knock Brad’s block off for you?”

She giggled. “Maybe. I dunno. What would you have done? If, y’know, you were Daniel. And you’d overheard the confrontation between me and Brad.”

The honest answer being of course that if he were Daniel, he would have been walking on air at the thought of having a date with her later.

“Maxwell?”

“Hey, I’m thinking. Well, I wouldn’t have gone charging into something I didn’t fully understand. But I would have probably put my head round the door to see if everything was okay, so you had the chance to ask for backup if you’d needed it.” He smiled. “I bet you were amazing, though. I bet you saw him off without any help.”

“I did actually. Know what I did?”

“Nope, because remember, I wasn’t actually Daniel in this scenario.”

“I called up the picture of the two of us together on my phone, and I showed it to him and told him that you were my boyfriend.”

Ohmygod, ohmygod, what? Don’t read anything into it, Maxwell.

“I told him that you were a Lord and that you were so much better than him and that I’d moved on.”

He laughed, not really knowing what to say. “Awkward!!”

"Really?” She sounded a touch disappointed. “I mean, if I’d had a picture of me and Rick, I’d have used that.. you don’t mind do you?”

And there it was. “No, I don’t mind! Great idea! That got rid of him then?”

“I think it helped. And I was just strong. I think in a strange way you helped me be strong and stand up to him. I’m not sure if that makes any sense?”

“It doesn’t have to make sense, Jen. As long as it worked, and you’re okay. What happens if he comes back?”

“Then I’ll just tell him to go again, I guess.”

“That’s the spirit! See, you didn’t need help. Just encouragement.”

“Yeah. And I didn’t get any from Daniel. He was just pissed that I’d told him that you were my boyfriend.”

Now he had to laugh. “Aha! Green eyed monster! We could have some fun with this if you like?”

"Maybe. Anyway, he’s history now. I’m staying single. It’s much easier.”

"Amen to that. Single and ready to mingle. That’s my mantra for life.”

He heard her giggle. “I may have to borrow that.”

“Please do, but do ensure you send me the royalties.”

She laughed again. “How do you always manage to cheer me up?”

“It’s obviously the reason I was put on this earth.”

She sighed, and he sighed too. “I feel so much better now. Thanks, Maxwell.”

"Anyway, now that I’ve served my purpose, I better go. Let you get your beauty sleep, little blossom.”

“No, don’t go yet,” she said. “I mean, I’m all tucked up in bed now, so when I stop talking you can assume I’m asleep and then you can go.”

Oof. She was in bed. No, stop it Maxwell.

“Alright. So tell me more about your chat with Rick.”

He heard another sigh. “It’s like I said. We both chatted. It’s obvious he still likes me, and I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing him again either. But he doesn’t think it’s the right time for me to come over. I think he’d been talking to Drake.”

“But if he asked you to, you would?”

“Know what? Yeah. I would.”

He closed his eyes. “Listen, I spoke to Bertrand. I asked him if I could fly you over for the Beaumont Bash.”

"Beaumont Bash? What the hell is that? Do I even want to know?”

"Hey! It’s our annual party that we have at our place, in a few days’ time. And, I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, but it’s the best party of the social season. You would have an amazing time.”

“So what are we waiting for? I can probably just about afford a posh frock with what I’ve saved so far towards my plane fare..”

He sighed. “Thing is, Jen, Bertrand said no. That we can’t afford your plane fare either.”

“Oh.. can’t you just put it on your credit card?”

“Maxed. All three of them.”

“Oh, Maxwell, why?”

"Hey, have you got a credit card? Could you get one?”

"Yes I have, and I’m up to my limit too, and I can’t get any more. I tried that. Anyway, you changed the subject. I thought you and Bertrand were wealthy?”

“We are… I mean, we own half of Ramsford..”

“Asset rich, cash poor?”

“Yeah. Things are tricky financially speaking these days. And, I’ve just been busted for drawing a load more money out of the account. Now, he’s withdrawn my access.”

“Have you got a problem? Because this works both ways you know. I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

What the hell. “I guess I do.”

"Alcohol? Gambling? I don’t think it’s drugs…”

"It’s none of those, Jen. I guess it’s more someone else’s problem than mine. You see….” He wrestled with himself for a few more moments, then decided to tell her. “I’m helping out a friend who’s in a tricky position.”

“Oh? Who..”

“It’s Savannah. Drake’s sister. I know where she is. And that’s not everything.”

***

It was still only six thirty in the morning, and Maxwell lay awake and wide eyed in bed, feeling all warm and fuzzy. Jen had finally given in to tiredness on the other side of the Atlantic, obviously so bored by the last scraps of their conversation that she’d fallen asleep.

He was really touched by the fact she’d turned to him when she needed someone. He was downright moved by the fact that she felt their friendship had given her the confidence to stand up to her bully of an ex-boyfriend (reading between the lines, Maxwell got the feeling that Jen had been trapped in a toxic relationship with Brad, which made his heart hurt so much). And certain parts of him were moved by the fact that she’d pretended they were an item to get rid of the ex and make her current drip of a boyfriend (now another ex-boyfriend!) jealous.

Other than the obvious positive that he’d helped her to feel better, he took three positives from their conversation. Firstly, he felt like a massive weight was off his shoulders. He’d told someone about Savannah and Bartie. Someone who didn’t fly off the rails, someone who’d listened. Someone who’d offered their independent thought on the matter. Admittedly she had told him that he should tell Drake immediately and that he should think about how he was going to tell Bertrand. Maxwell still wasn’t sure he could betray Savannah’s trust like that, though. Jen had said if that was the case he should really talk to Savannah to encourage her to tell Drake and Bertrand. He didn’t think Savannah was going to go with that approach, but he’d said he’d bear it in mind.

Second, Jen still wanted to come to Cordonia! It wasn’t as dire as Rick had portrayed after all. That meant that he could carry on with the YouTube videos, as he had big plans for those today. They just had to figure out how to get her here now. Seemingly, Rick wasn’t the answer. It was clearer in Maxwell’s head now as to who had been telling him the white lie – Rick being Rick had diplomatically said to Jen that it was too late in the day for her to be a suitor, and had wanted to let Maxwell think that it was Jen’s decision so he couldn’t challenge it. Rick had perhaps underestimated the strength of Maxwell and Jen’s friendship here by assuming they wouldn’t compare stories. Well, hopefully, Rick would still be pleased to see Jen if they managed to pull something off.

And finally, he was super proud of himself for resisting the massive temptation to whisper some sweet nothings into the phone when it was clear that she had finally fallen asleep. Instead, he’d just said a simple goodnight and hung up.

***

“I have been assured this beautiful Beaumont ballroom is unoccupied all day, as are we,” he declared as Hana and Drake tentatively stepped into said ballroom. “So, we have everything we need to make part 2 of my Cordonian Waltz tutorial! And you two will be the stars!”

“I’m doing the filming, right?” Drake said, his face bewildered.

“Absolutely not. I was the star of the last instructional video, so we need different perspectives. Plus, I need to do the expert camerawork and commentary!”

 “Oh, no. No, no. I didn’t agree to this.”

“Come on, Drake,” Hana said encouragingly. “It’ll be fun.”

“But I can’t dance!”

“All the more reason for you to be the dancer then,” Hana went on. “It looks good and more convincing if someone is actually learning on there.”

Maxwell looked hopefully at Drake. Hana had a point. And, if Hana hadn’t been in the room, he’d have had a string of expletives thrown at him by now.

Drake sighed. “You owe me a lot of whisky, Beaumont…”

“Done!”

“The things I do for you people.”

“Yessss!” He held his hand up towards Hana and they exchanged a high-five. “Well, we can film the intro and all that later, let’s get on with the main bit while we have the ballroom. First we need you two to recap on the first video, which is the simple box step and the reverse.”

“Of course,” Hana said. “We can do that, can’t we Drake?”

 Drake sighed. “Who’s gonna see this, anyway?”

“I mean technically it’s going on YouTube, but I’ve only got fifty followers on there, so it’s not exactly gonna go viral, Drake. The most important thing is, Jen’s gonna see it.” He knew Drake was still intrigued by Jen, and he was going to play on this. “Maybe, she’ll see this and she’ll decide she’d rather jump on a plane to dance with you?” No chance, but he wasn’t to know that.

“Ha, ha, ha. Good one, Beaumont. That’s never gonna happen.” He turned to Hana. “Okay. We can do this.”

The next hour or so passed in an amusing blur; Hana was a very capable dancer and she was soon bringing Drake up to speed with the basic steps, and they were moving into the spin and the twirl quite easily. It certainly didn’t look as if Drake had no prior knowledge. He was even smiling by the end of it. Although, Maxwell didn’t think that had anything to do with his new found dancing ability.

Standing back and getting the right angles to illustrate the dance steps, he could see something quite clearly; these two had a chemistry. Yes, Hana was here to charm the Prince, but his commoner best friend was obviously the best diversion. Whatever would her parents say? As Hana drew herself tightly towards him for the hold, he’d known just what to do without being told. Both of them had smiling eyes as they’d twirled.

Afterwards, they’d all retreated into the manor’s drawing room. Maxwell began to look back at the footage they’d taken, while Drake had found some whisky from the study.

“You two are the best,” he said. “So, did you bring your cases? Are you going to take up my invitation to stay until the Beaumont Bash?”

“I thought I might as well, if you can accommodate me,” Hana said. “It will be a shame to miss the Applewood country jamboree, but I doubt the Prince will notice I’m not there.”

“Huh, I might as well too, make good on all that whisky you owe me,” Drake commented. “The jamboree would have been so boring anyway, Hana.”

“What’s left in the cellar is yours,” Maxwell assured him, knowing it wasn’t a lot.

“That’s great! Dream team! Bertrand will be back tomorrow, and he’s hired a load of people to get the party set up, so we shouldn’t have much to do… you two can just chill, while I edit this footage!”

“Thank you,” said Hana. “I might take a short walk around the grounds. Your home is as beautiful as I remember, Maxwell.”

“Knock yourself out,” he said.

Hana looked at him curiously.

“He means that’s fine, Hana,” Drake translated.

“That’s right.. please don’t actually knock yourself out, Hana…”

Hana smiled at Drake and headed out of the room.

Drake turned his glare to Maxwell. “She’s been here before? When?”

“Chill, Drake. It was years ago. I think her mom was trying to set her up with Bertrand.”

Drake’s glare evaporated. “No way…”

“Yes way. We never saw them again afterwards though. Guessing Lady Lee wasn’t impressed!”

Maxwell continued to scroll through the footage, and Drake looked over his shoulder at it. “This really all to help Jen dance with Rick?”

“Yup. That’s her aim. She really wants to get over here and dance with him, even if that’s all it’s gonna be. And she wants to knock his socks off. Who better to help her with that than me?”

“So why d’you want to help her with that? Obviously she’s not now gonna enter the selection, so there’s nothing in it for you any more.”

“Because friends help their friends out.”

Drake scoffed. “If they feel like it.”

Maxwell turned to Drake. “Hey, what did I do? I did say thank you for today, right?”

“I’m not talking about you.”

Maxwell had noticed that Drake had been spending less and less time with Rick recently. He was rather surprised that he’d managed to convince him away from court for a couple of days.

When Drake spoke, all the venom came spilling out. “I’m just sick to the back teeth of it all. He’s always with Olivia, and whenever he gets a chance to get away from her, she’s there, putting me in my place, and he never says anything to her, he just apologises and goes with it. Take yesterday for instance. You were there at the meal, you might have seen it. We were just catching up at one of the side bars and she comes up to him. Come on darling, don’t lower yourself to Walker’s standards. You’re going to be King soon you know. I told her what I thought, and all he says is, Olivia’s right, I do have to get back.” He slammed his whisky tumbler down on the table. “I can’t stand it, y’know. Why d’you think I volunteered for this stupid little project of yours? I was doing myself a favour more than you.”

“Oh, well tell it like it is, Drake. I’m sorry. I can’t help but thinking it would’ve been different if Jen had been here..”

“Stop kidding yourself, Maxwell. It would’ve been no different, except there’d have been four of us moping around instead of three.” He raised his eyebrows. “Actually, it might just have been you and Hana. I like to think Jen and I would have got on well.” He stood up and walked out of the toom,

“Dream on, Drake. She only has eyes for Rick.”

Drake flipped him the bird as he left the room.

Maxwell laughed, and picked up his phone. It was two pm. He figured she might need a lie in today, but all the same, he didn’t want to disappoint.

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM! JUST ABOUT FORGIVEN YOU FOR FALLING ASLEEP ON ME..

No response yet, he figured he’d let her have her beauty sleep. And even though he hadn’t been there with her in person when she’d fallen asleep last night of course, he somehow felt as if he could see her there, snoozing serenely, curled up with a slight smile on her lips.

Chapter Text

Jen went into the next few days with a spring in her step. Despite that Sunday having been the worst day she could remember for a long time, the way it had ended had cancelled out all the negativity. She’d decided she didn’t need romance in her life right now, be that with the pathetic Daniel or the charismatic Rick. Just knowing she had the kind of friend who was always there at the other end of the phone with a reminder that she was awesome and she had got this was the best feeling right now.

She soon took delivery of the second YouTube video and although she watched it and awwwd at how cute Hana and Drake were together, she decided not to stress about any practical learning at this point. After all, given Maxwell’s confession that he was as broke as she was, it was evidently going to take the two of them a while to save up for that ticket.

She still felt a little uncomfortable with Rick’s take on things. That he still wanted to get to know her better, but not as a potential bride. Especially when he and his red-headed siren were joined at the hip and happy. But then, if she kept in touch with Rick, how would it be any different to her keeping in touch with Maxwell? Because, that was completely platonic, right? Well, from his side, anyway. So, maybe this could be too.

Daniel was sheepish the next time she encountered him at work, no more was said about  their disaster of a second date, although the fact that she hadn’t received any texts or calls from him while she’d been on the call to Maxwell said all that Jen needed to know. She was civil to him though, what was the point of making a scene?

She’d mentioned what had happened with Brad and Daniel to Anita, who had been sympathetic but a little bemused at how well she had dealt with it all. She didn’t want to mention the reason why, because she had a feeling Anita would never let her hear the end of it. She’d get the wrong idea for sure.

She’d also managed to get through to her friend Amy for a chat, which was pretty much impossible these days. Amy had been instrumental in helping her escape from her life with Brad, and she figured it was only fair to offer her an update. Amy had been sympathetic and quite impressed; they’d arranged to meet for a long overdue catchup on Saturday afternoon, Jen thought she might tell Amy about her new friend, she would understand.

The next few daily updates were brief but reassuring. Maxwell had company at his place in the shape of Drake and Hana, and she was pleased for him. He didn’t have too much to update her on other than the fact that Drake had now officially drunk all the whisky in the duchy’s wine cellar and Hana was trying to convince her parents who kept calling that she was still at the palace but had just been managing to avoid the press cameras at the various functions. Jen had reminded Maxwell that he was supposed to be figuring out how to tell Drake the massive secret about his sister and the nephew they shared – but that seemed to fall on deaf ears. Or, unseeing eyes, anyway. Still, he seemed chirpy and she was chirpy back.

But Tuesday’s update made her sit upright with a bolt.

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM AND HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!!

HELP? WHAT’S HAPPENED?

WE’RE IN PANIC MODE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH

MAXWELL, WHAT’S UP?

THE PEOPLE WE BOOKED TO SET UP THE PARTY HAVEN’T TURNED UP DUE TO A MIX UP! THE CLEANERS AND THE CATERERS AND THE PEOPLE WHO GET THE TABLES LOOKING PRETTY AND….. THE PARTY IS TOMORROW NIGHT!

MAXWELL, BREATHE. YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO SORT THIS.

I’M JUST TERRIFIED THAT I’M GOING TO GET THE BLAME…..

WHY WOULD YOU?

WELL, BERTRAND BLAMES ME FOR EVERYTHING!

THEN HERE IS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO PROVE YOUR WORTH! GET YOUR FRIENDS TO HELP YOU. YOU CAN DO THIS! BETWEEN YOU ALL YOU CAN CLEAN AND SET TABLES AND GET THE FOOD AND DRINKS SORTED, I KNOW YOU CAN! I ONLY WISH I COULD COME AND HELP YOU. IRONICALLY I’M OFF TODAY..

AWWW…. I WISH YOU COULD TOO *sad emojis*

She smiled. She hadn’t got anything better to do today. BUT I CAN BE THERE WITH YOU IN SPIRIT! JUST GIVE ME A CALL IF YOU GET STUCK! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO FIRST?

ERRRRRR…

YOU WANT ONE ON CLEANING, ONE ON FLOWERS AND TABLE FURNISHINGS, AND MAYBE TWO IN THE KITCHEN. PRESUMABLY ALL THE FOOD IS ALREADY THERE?

YEAH… THINK SO….

JUST GET DRAKE AND HANA, TALK TO BERTRAND. YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU WORK TOGETHER!!!! TEAM WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!

HOUSE BEAUMONT 4EVA!!!! *emojis*

HOUSE BEAUMONT 4EVA!!!! *same emojis back*

THANK YOU JEN. YOU ARE A LEGEND *emojis*

I KNOW. NOW GO AND GET ON WITH IT!

She sighed, wishing she could do more to help. Still, it sounded like he had enough backup to make a go of this. Typical of him to think Bertrand would place the blame on his shoulders. She was all for calling and giving Bertrand a piece of her mind if he did.

***

As the morning went on she’d offered advice on a number of things from what to call Maxwell’s improvised caviar creations (‘Charade of the Season’) to flower arranging. But, at about eleven her time, the phone rang. It was Maxwell.

“Hey, how’s it going? You all set?”

“It’s not going too good, Jen,” he sighed. “You know what I was worried about, well, it’s all kicked off this evening, and…”

“Is this about Bertrand?”

“Partly…”

“Look, you shouldn’t take the blame for everything, Maxwell. Bertrand is at least as much to blame, if not more so, than you.”

“See, he knows that,” Maxwell said, nervously. “He’s even harder on himself than he is on me.”

“That’s not an excuse for him to berate you like he does. Stand up to him!”

"It’s not that simple..”

“Well, let me speak to him. I’ll give him a piece of my mind..”

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea..”

“Why do you let him talk to you like that? You do so much for him. He should be a little more appreciative.”

There was a long pause.

Eventually he spoke again. “Bertrand’s criticism isn’t wrong. I haven’t done anything to save House Beaumont.”

"I’m sure you have. Anyway, what has he done?”

“Oh, you know. Arrange our finances, strike deals for our funding, work sixteen-hour days to keep the whole thing from falling apart.. even then, it’s not enough. But like I said, he’s harder on himself than he is on me… and Jen, he’s got a point this time. It is my fault.”

“Why? Why is this your fault?”

"Because I took the money that he put aside for the caterers. I just assumed there would be more in the account to cover it…”

"You what? Maxwell!! What did you.. please tell me this wasn’t to pay for my flight?”

Even though part of her was hoping that it was.

"No,” he sighed. “It was to send to Savannah and Bartie. But.. it gets worse. Drake found the money where I’d stashed it in the study before I had the chance to post it off to Savannah. He gave it back to Bertrand.. and now they’ve both seen the address on the envelope…”

"Oh no, what did they say? Did it say her name on there?”

“No, thankfully, just the address. I said it was just a reused envelope that I’d used to put the money in. I said I found the money and I was going to give it back to Bertrand… neither of them believed me and I’ve just gone upstairs to my room to hide now..”

“So now you tell them! Maxwell, this is your perfect opportunity!”

"No, I can’t. I need to speak to her first.”

“Maxwell, listen. You can’t go on like this. You need to speak to her and tell her that you are telling them. Just think how you’d feel if it were your sister who had disappeared without trace, or if you had a son that you didn’t even know existed, and one of them didn’t tell you because she didn’t want them to?”

"I would get that they were doing the right thing. It’s not my secret to tell, Jen..”

She sighed. “Oh, Maxwell.” She just wanted to give him a hug. “What can I do?”

“I dunno, Jen. I just figured I might feel better if I heard your voice.”

She smiled. “And, do you?”

“Marginally?”

“Then that’s good, I guess.”

“Yeah. I guess it is. Wait. There’s someone knocking on my door. One sec.”

Jen waited, poised to give Bertrand a piece of her mind if necessary.

He came back onto the line. “Jen?  It was Hana, just come to see if I was okay,”

“And are you?”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Shall I ring you back later?”

“Only if you want to. You’ve got a lot of work to do, remember?”

"Yeah. Anyway, I should go. Wanna say hi to Hana?”

"Why not.”

A polite, precise voice came over the phone line. “Hello Jen, this is Hana.”

“Hana! Hey! So lovely to talk to you!”

“I understand that had things been different we could have been in competition with each other?”

“Yeah. But from what I’ve heard from Maxwell, I reckon we would’ve been good friends anyway.”

“I’d like to think so,” Hana said. “Anyway, I’d love to talk for longer, but we need to get back to preparing the dining room for tomorrow night’s party.”

“Thanks, Hana,” Jen said. “I’m glad Maxwell’s got you there to help.”

“What are friends for?” Hana asked. “I hope we get to meet some day, Jen.”

“Yeah, I hope so too, Hana. In the meantime, look after him for me, will you?”

“I’ll do my best. Take care, Jen.”

Maxwell took the phone back. “You two sound like BFFs already!”

“Nah,” Jen said teasingly. “Hana sounds lovely, but nobody’s knocking my current BFF into the number two position.”

“Oh? Who would that be?”

"You, you goof,” she giggled. “Now go. Text me later.”

“Me? Aw, Jen, you’re my BFF too, yeah?”

“I should think so. Go on. Text later.”

"Okay, laters!”

He hung up and she giggled. She did hope he’d take her advice on board. But even if he didn’t, she was glad he had someone to talk to about it.

***

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM, IT’S YOUR BFF MAXWELL HERE WITH YOUR CORDONIAN DAILY DIGEST, BEAUMONT BASH EDITION!

GOOD MORNING! ARE YOU ALL SET?

YUP! EVERYTHING IS READY, WE USED THE MONEY TO FIND SOME LAST-MINUTE CATERERS, THE MANOR IS CLEAN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, AND I’M JUST PERUSING MY WARDROBE FOR DANCE-FLOOR ATTIRE!

GREAT. SEE, I TOLD YOU, TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!

OOH, THAT COULD BE OUR NEW HOUSE MOTTO!

WHAT’S YOUR HOUSE MOTTO RIGHT NOW?

I THINK SOMETHING ABOUT VENDETTAS AND GIANT SQUID?

THIS EXPLAINS A LOT..

WE USED TO BE SEA-FARING PEOPLE. ARRR!

WELL FIND OUT WHAT IT IS, I NEED TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION STAT.

I’LL SEE IF BERTRAND KNOWS, MY NEXT JOB IS TO PERUSE THE WALL OF WEAPONS FOR TONIGHT’S BOTTLE OPENER!

EXPLAIN PLEASE..

 Five minutes later, after she’d showered, she came back to a picture of.. a wall of weapons.

THESE ARE A SELECTION FROM OUR ARMORY, VERY IMPORTANT TO HOUSE BEAUMONT’S AND CORDONIA’S HISTORY… AND THE BEST THING ABOUT THEM IS THAT THEY ACT AS A VARIETY OF EXCITING BOTTLE OPENERS!

THAT’S… TOTALLY NORMAL. WHY SETTLE FOR A PEDESTRIAN BOTTLE OPENER WHEN YOU CAN USE A DOUBLE-BLADED SWORD?

YOU GET IT!!! *excited emojis* THERE’S NOTHING MORE THRILLING THAN LOPPING THE TOP OFF A PRICELESS BOTTLE OF WINE WITH A MEDIEVAL WEAPON!

WHAT EXACTLY’S GOING TO HAPPEN AT THIS PARTY? I’M SUDDENLY GLAD I’M NOT GOING TO BE THERE IF BLOOD’S GOING TO BE SPILLED…

RELAX, JEN. NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR SAFETY HERE AT HOUSE BEAUMONT.

REALLY?

WELL… MAYBE HAVING FUN IS FIRST. SECOND IS KEEPING BERTRAND FROM GETTING MAD. THEN PROBABLY SOMETHING ABOUT DANCING. BUT RIGHT AFTER THAT? SAFETY.

STILL GLAD I’M SAFELY HERE IN NYC. ANYWAY, I HAVE AN EARLY SHIFT, SO I NEED TO GO SOON. ENJOY YOUR NIGHT, I HOPE IT ALL GOES REALLY WELL. HOUSE BEAUMONT 4EVA!

HOUSE BEAUMONT 4EVA!

DON’T GET TOO DRUNK AND RING ME NOW.

COME ON, JEN! BEAUMONT BASH RULES APPLY. YOU HAVE TO GET DRUNK!

VERY WELL. I GUESS I’LL SPEAK TO DRUNK MAXWELL LATER THEN.

I MIGHT BE HAVING TOO MUCH FUN. I AM THE HOST YOU KNOW.

She was having complete FOMO here, and she knew she couldn’t say anything, because she could have been there, hosting this party alongside him. WELL IF THAT’S THE CASE, I WON’T WAIT UP. HAVE A GREAT NIGHT. I’LL BE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON YOUR PICTAGRAM.

*emojis*

She sighed, and began to get ready for work. A boring Wednesday day shift, or hosting a glamorous party with royalty in attendance? She knew which she’d rather be doing.

***

When she got off her shift, she checked his Pictagram straight away. He looked adorable in a black and white suit, posing in pictures with a variety of people she recognised and people she didn’t, and just generally posing. There were pictures of him opening a champagne bottle with an axe, and pictures of him strutting his stuff on the dance floor.

She imagined the party would still be going strong, so she didn’t send any messages through. But by the time she got home, her phone started to ping.

JEN! *emojis*  U FINSHED WRK?

YES, U FINSHED PRTY?

KINDA…. PLAYING TRUTH OR DARE WITH HANA AND DRAKE…..

She giggled nervously. MAKE SURE YOU DARE ONE OF THEM TO KISS THE OTHER ONE!

I CAN’T DO THAT! JEN JONES!!!!

WHY NOT?

She thought she’d leave him to it as she got her dinner ready and plonked in front of the television.

About an hour later, another text came. What time was it there now? It had to be the small hours by now.

YOUR TURN, JEN JONES… TRUTH OR DARE?

Oh, boy. She pondered on which was the safer option. DARE!

I DARE YOU TO SEND A SEXY SELFIE TO RICK *suggestive emojis*

Oh, that was so not happening. I DON’T THINK SO MISTER.

YOU ARE BOUND BY TRUTH OR DARE!

I DON’T REMEMBER SIGNING THAT CONTRACT.

HEY, I’VE BEEN SWINGING ON CHANDELIERS FOR MY DARE. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS POSE AND SNAP AND SEND.

She giggled at the thought, wishing she’d been there to see it. PICTURES OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.

C’MON JEN, IT’LL BE SO FUNNY! IMAGINE HIS FACE! IMAGINE OLIVIA’S FACE!

Then an enticing idea popped into her head.

WELL, HOW’S ABOUT I SEND IT TO YOU FIRST TO CHECK IT’S SEXY ENOUGH?

I COULD LIVE WITH THAT…

Result.

She decided to retreat into her bedroom, as this would not look good if Anita arrived home suddenly. She sat on her bed, and laughed, not really knowing where to start.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD DO?

She tried to imagine his reaction. Obviously he’d had a few drinks, he was always pretty spontaneous but might be even more so now.

BE SUBTLE. KEEP HIM WANTING MORE.

Good plan.

She put her legs up onto her bed, and removed her jeans. She was just wearing her favourite black vest top, and she let one of the straps fall down over her shoulder. She lifted a knee and pouted as best she could, winding a finger around a strand of her black curly hair. With the phone as far away from her as she could, she snapped a selfie. She had a look. Yeah… that was kind of what she thought he was going for.

Closing her eyes, she pressed send. There was an uncomfortably long wait before he responded.

PERFECT.

Her whole body tingled, as she began to type. YOUR TURN, TRUTH OR DARE?

NORMALLY I WOULD SAY DARE AS A RULE, BUT I’M GONNA SAY TRUTH. COS IF I SAY DARE, I THINK I KNOW WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN HERE.

Damn, she’d been hoping for a picture of her own. Never mind, she had a truth in mind. OKAY. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO KISS ME?

There was no reply.

HEY. YOU ARE BOUND BY TRUTH OR DARE!

Still no reply. She wasn’t having this.

She pressed the call button.

Straight to voicemail. “You’ve reached Maxwell ‘The Wizard of Dance’ Beaumont. I’m obviously on a dancefloor, so leave your message and I’ll get back to you when the sweet beat breaks. Go.”

This was new. “Maxwell, just answer the question!”

She hung up, laughing, and put her jeans back on.

***

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM AND WELCOME TO YOUR CORDONIAN DAILY DIGEST. BEFORE WE START THIS MORNING’S UPDATE – YES. YES I HAVE. AND NOW, ON TO YOUR EXCLUSIVE ACCOUNT OF ALL THE EVENING’S DEBAUCHERY…..

***

It was Saturday. The day of the Coronation ball.

Jen was working a split shift today, working the early shift, breaking in the middle of the day and then returning to work in the evening.

The ironic thing was, her break would probably coincide beautifully with the Coronation Ball, the events of which Maxwell had promised to keep her updated on. If she’d been there, she’d of course have been there as a suitor, but she couldn’t help but daydream about how it would feel to arrive on his arm, on top of the world.

However, her break was also coinciding with her plans to meet Amy. And to tell her all about the world she’d nearly become a part of, and the guy who’d come into her life as a result.

She sat in the restaurant, waiting for Amy to show.

A text came through.

HAVE JUST ARRIVED! BUZZING HERE. HANA NERVOUS. OLIVIA LOOKING AMAZING. WILL TRY TO RESIST THE FREE CHAMPAGNE… BUT NOT PROMISING ANYTHING.

DON’T GET DRUNK. I NEED YOU TO KEEP ME INFORMED OF WHAT HAPPENS!

MESSAGE RECEIVED *emojis*

Another message came through. This one was from Amy.  JEN, I’M SO SORRY. SOMETHING CAME UP. CAN WE DO NEXT SATURDAY INSTEAD?

She sighed. SURE. SPEAK SOON.

She left the restaurant and walked back to her apartment to get a ready meal instead of a pizza, disappointed that Amy couldn’t make it. She’d been so looking forward to telling her about everything.

When she arrived at the apartment complex, she noticed something in her mailbox. She picked it out, and took it upstairs and into the apartment with her. It looked like a card, but it wasn’t her birthday. Maybe it was an invitation.

She sat on the sofa, and opened it up.  It was a greeting card, with little cartoon stars on it, and a cartoon boy and a cartoon girl looking up at the stars. The caption read, Friends are like stars. You can’t always see them, but they’re always there.

She opened the card to see a printed message. TO MY LITTLE BLOSSOM, THANK YOU FOR BEING THE MOST AMAZING BFF EVER 😊

She held it to her chest, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. She wondered how he’d got her address, but she was glad he had. The greeting might have been pre-printed, so it hadn’t actually come all the way from Cordonia, but she knew that the words were his.

And, then, it all made sense to her. All of a sudden.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d thought about Rick, but she’d thought about Maxwell every single day, a lot of the time. She looked forward to going to sleep at night, because she knew his messages would wake her up. She’d got such a buzz out of sending him that picture. She really wanted to believe the story she’d told Brad. She just wished she was on his arm this evening.

It was crazy. She’d barely spoken to him in person. But she had fallen for him. In a big way.

Admitting it to herself made her feel empowered, delighted, even relieved.

Maybe she should tell him how she felt?

Chapter Text

He put his phone away and took in a little more of what was going on around him. Rick was dancing with Madeleine, a very serious expression on both of their faces. It was so frustrating to watch. Dancing was supposed to be fun. Maybe he’d show them how it was done a bit later on. When Bertrand wasn’t glaring disapprovingly over at him, anyway.

He was definitely in the double bad-books with Bertrand right now. The fact that they had no suitor for selection tonight was a reminder of his incompetence a few months ago, while the fact that he’d attempted to embezzle an envelope of cash to send Savannah’s way had also incurred his brother’s wrath. Jen had been right though, it would have been the perfect time to tell him. But, he had to talk to Savannah first. And he would do. Soon.

He found Drake, skulking around the buffet, moping.

“Hey buddy.”

“I’m not your buddy.”

“No, I guess not, I mean, Rick’s your best buddy.”

"Huh.” Drake glanced over at Rick and Madeleine. “I don’t even know why I bothered coming to this damned ball, y’know.”

“Because your best buddy’s getting crowned tonight and you want to be here to support him. Obviously.” He reached for an appetiser. “Think these’ll stack up to the appetisers we made the other day?”

Hana wandered over to them. “Oh, the shrimp. Excellent choice,”

Drake took a bite. “Okay, it’s delicious..”

“But nothing compared to our caviar and paprika creation!” he said, with a wink in Hana’s direction.

“Practically a Michelin starred restaurant,” Drake said with an eye-roll in Hana’s direction.

"House Beaumont personally ensures quality,” he said with a nod. “You know how thankful I am to you two for everything you did to help.”

“What are friends for?” Hana asked, looking at Drake. “I’m going to miss you two.”

“Miss us?”

She nodded. “Tonight’s my last night at court. My parents have officially called me home. I must depart tomorrow morning – assuming I don’t get selected, of course.”

“That sucks!” Maxwell said, giving Hana a hug.

“I’m really sorry to see you go, Hana,” Drake agreed.

“Thanks Drake,” Hana said from behind Maxwell’s shoulder. 

“But hey,” Maxwell said, as he released her. “If this is your last night here, then you’ve got nothing left to lose..”

“Except my dignity,” laughed Hana.

“Dignity is overrated,” Maxwell urged.

“Maxwell..”

“I’m just saying, you know how people are always saying ‘party like there’s no tomorrow..’ well, for you, there really is no tomorrow! So we should really party!”

“I don’t know,” Hana sighed, looking at Drake.

“Come on. There must be a few things that you’ve been dying to do, or say, since you came here,”

Hana pulled a face. “Well, there are a few things I never checked off my list, but I don’t know.”

“Come on Hana… it’ll be fun for all of us!”

“Well, okay!” Hana said with a giggle. “What should we do first?”

“Tonight should be about what you want to do,” Maxwell told her. “Let’s make some memories!”

“It’d be nice to have a special moment with both of you,” Hana admitted. She turned to Drake first. “Drake, my special moment with you should definitely involve whisky.”

“I like where this is going,” Drake said, raising an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

“I want to have a shot of whisky with you.”

“I’m sold.”

“But not the bar’s whisky. Your whisky.”

Maxwell grinned at Drake’s shocked reaction. “You heard her.”

“You want me to share my break in case of emergency whisky? I’m not sure you can handle it..”

“Come on,” Maxwell pleaded. “It’s her last day!”

Drake huffed. “You’re going to play that card all night, aren’t you…”

“Yep,” said Maxwell, prodding Drake in the ribs.

“Okay, okay…” Drake produced a flask from his blazer, and poured out two glasses.

Maxwell looked hurt. “What about me?”

Drake sighed. “This is why I never wanted friends.” He poured out another glass. “Here. To you, Hana.”

Together, the three of them downed their whisky shots. Oooch, quite a kick!

“That’s strong,” coughed Hana.

“Of course, it’s my personal stash. You think I’d get the weak stuff?”

Hana coughed again. “You know Drake, you’re far nicer than you let on. I’m going to miss you.”

“Hell, I’ll miss you too,” Drake admitted. “You’re nothing like the other nobles.”

“Thanks, Drake. That means a lot…”

He hadn’t wanted to spoil this beautiful moment, but Hana now turned to Maxwell.

“Maxwell. Your turn. I have a request..”

“Just name it..”

She looked him up and down. “We’ve never had a chance to have a dance-off..”

“A.. dance off? You? Me? Dancing in a competitive fashion?”

“Yes,” said Hana. “I believe those are all the required components..”

Maxwell looked from Drake to Hana in confusion, and Drake also eyed Hana curiously. “I mean, I know that, but how do you know that?”

“The television in my room had a number of movies on demand, many of which featured dance battles. I’ve been making a study of it..”

“Of course..”

“Anyway. I want to challenge you! So.. do you accept?”

Did he ever? “You have no idea how happy I am right now!”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Hana, why do you encourage him?”

Maxwell ran to clear some space on the dance floor. “This will be our battlefield! We’re gonna show everyone here what dancing really is! Alright, Drake, announce me in.”

“How do I do that?”

“Oh, never mind. Let’s just do this.”

With that, he broke into a series of spins on his hands, as Hana clapped along to the beat, laughing. Rotating his body with perfect control, he threw his body into a slide, ending at Hana’s feet.

“The floor is yours.”

“Very well, your Lordship.”

With that, Hana pirouetted into a perfect arabesque, then performed a ballet sequence interspliced with a myriad of modified dance styles.

“Whoa…” Maxwell was spellbound. “I’ve never seen that done before..”

Hana finished her sequence and wandered back to Maxwell and a speechless Drake. “After watching you, I thought I could mix up what I can do into my own set.”

Maxwell gave Hana a high-five. “That was great, but there can only be one winner…. Drake?”

“I think I’m gonna have to give that one to Hana,” Drake said, his mouth still hanging open.

"Awwww….” But looking at those two, he knew he was never in the running for this competition.

"I have to go and join the other suitors, tell them I’m leaving,” she sighed. “But, I’ll catch you two later, right?”

"Yeah! We’ll work in some celebratory dancing,” Maxwell said with a careful look in Drake’s direction.

As Hana walked away, he nudged Drake. “Tell her, tell her!”

"Tell her what?”

“That you’re going to miss her and you want to stay in touch?”

“Maxwell, get over yourself. Just because you’re nailing this long-distance relationship thing doesn’t mean we all want to live our lives like that.”

“Wait, what?”

Drake glared at him. “You heard.” With that, he wandered off.

Drake had got the wrong end of the stick, of course. And he was only jealous.

Maxwell wandered out of the room, and up to the grand staircase. He sat on the stairs, and looked through his phone. He looked at the photograph of him and Jen together, then the photograph she’d sent him a few nights ago. The one that he’d looked at so many times, it was neatly imprinted on his brain, but he just couldn’t help but look at again, and again, and again.

It was for Rick, of course. Hopefully, he’d appreciated it just as much.

A message came through. It was from his favourite person. HOW’S IT GOING?

OH, WE HAD SOME DRAMA JUST NOW. POOR HANA’S GOT TO GO BACK TO CHINA TOMORROW, IF SHE DOESN’T GET PICKED.

OH NO. WHY?

HER PARENTS SAID SO.

UGH. THAT’S RUBBISH.

YEAH. TONIGHT ALL OVER.

He paused for thought a moment, and began to type again. HANA EVEN WON THE DANCE OFF. I MEAN, I SHOULDN’T HAVE ASKED DRAKE TO JUDGE REALLY, BUT…

But before he could press send, his display flashed up, indicating an incoming video call.

He answered, bemused. “Jen?”

“Hey.” And there she was.

“What’s with the facetime?”

“I wanted to see you all dapper in your suit,” she said with a massive smile. “And may I say, I am not disappointed.”

Don’t blush, Maxwell, don’t blush. “Well, I could say the same, look at you! Hey, your hair’s longer than I remember..”

"Hey, I’m just in jeans and a vest top. I’m not dressed for a ball with royalty like you are.”

“And yet, you look great.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere. Tonight still rubbish?”

"It’s.. improving.”

“Good. Now I won’t keep you but I’ve got a few minutes before I have to get ready for work. I just wanted to take in some of the Coronation Ball atmosphere.. if you’re not too busy socialising of  course..."

“No, no, that’s absolutely fine!” He knew his ear to ear grin would make his feelings known.

Wait, what feelings?

Those hopeless ones he was still pretending he didn’t have because nothing would come of them. But, he did.

She interrupted his internal epiphany. “So, are you gonna give me a tour?”

“I guess I could give it a go…”

He ran with his phone to the ballroom door, and scanned it around so she could see.

“Wow,” he heard her say. “Everything’s so…. regal!”

“Well, this is a palace, y’know Jen.”

He heard her giggle. “Duh.”

"And see over there, if you really want regal..” He pointed the phone in the direction of the throne, all ready for Rick’s coronation ceremony later. On a platform in front of the throne was a crown, all polished and shiny.

"Wow."

“That’s where the magic will happen,” he said, gently.

She sighed, as he turned the phone back towards him, and headed back to the staircase. “And to think I could have been there now, with you, potentially about to be selected as Cordonia’s future queen.”

He was intrigued by this comment. She didn’t normally want to discuss what could have been if she’d got on that plane. She usually changed the subject. “Do you wish you were?”

There was a pause. “Do I wish I was about to be selected? I don’t know. I don’t think I have what it takes, anyway.”

“I do,” he said, quite truthfully. “I would have believed in you every step of the way. You gotta believe in the person you’re sponsoring.”

She looked out from her phone, a smile on her lips. “I’m glad someone believes in me.”

“You know I do,” he said lightly, sitting back down on the staircase. “I think about this a lot. I know you always try and change the subject, say it’s boring, but we could have had so much fun, Jen. All the shopping for dresses, all the jetting around Cordonia, all the setting you up with opportunities to charm Rick…” He sighed. “And, Bertrand would have been so happy if you and Rick had hit it off. He’d have little Euro signs in his eyes.”

She laughed, but then looked sad. “Will you two be okay?”

“Yeah. We’ll survive. Even if I have to sell my peacocks.”

Her face lit up like Christmas. “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod Maxwell. When were you going to tell me you keep peacocks?”

“You didn’t see the pictures of them on my Pictagram? Jen, I’m saddened.”

“I was too busy looking at the pictures of.. other things, obviously.”

“To be fair, I probably haven’t posted any pictures of them for a while. I’ve barely spent any time at Ramsford since I met you.”

“So what happens to you after the Coronation? Do you go home then?”

“For a little while. Then there’ll be an engagement tour of some description. The court will go around Cordonia, maybe abroad, I’m not sure, so King Rick can meet important people and introduce his future bride to them.”

“King Rick,” she sighed. “It’s really happening, isn’t it? I’m gonna have a King in my contacts.”

“Yup.”

“So, I guess tonight he’s going to propose to Olivia, and if I do ever see him again, it’ll just be as a friend.”

“I guess,” Maxwell sighed. “But, for the record, I still think you two would have been amazing together.”

“Who knows? I hardly know him.” She looked searchingly through the screen. “Not like I know you.”

“See, this is where it paid me to be persistent,” he told himself as much as her. “You may not have gained a kingdom, but you still got a BFF out of all this.”

“I did,” she said with a sweet smile. “Friends are like stars…”

 “Oh.. you got it?”

“I did. I love it. Thank you. It made my day. Well, until now.”

“I hope you like it. Did you wonder how I got your address?”

“Is it bad if I say yes?”

“I’d be worried if you didn’t think it was a little creepy. I heard you tell the taxi driver where to go last week.”

“Oh…  You were there with me in that taxi.”

“Kinda. And I’m glad I was.” He looked away from the screen. “You’re my best friend, Jen. Despite the distance, you’ve done so much for me these last few months.”

She sighed, looking at him intensely. “Oh, Maxwell..”

He felt all funny, and gulped. “Anyway, what I mean, is, you might not have a future with Rick anymore, but I still have a place for you in my life.”

 She looked a little disappointed for a moment, but then smiled. “Well, I thought there’d have been more drama at this ball.”

“Oh, you should have seen me and Hana getting down earlier! We had a dance off.”

“Really? Who won?”

“Drake was the judge.”

“Oh, commiserations. Next time facetime me, I’ll judge it virtually. And I promise you’ll be my dancing King.”

He caught sight of his image on the screen, how giddy was that smile? Ugh. Look serious Maxwell. Better. Be cool.

“So, any more shenanigans planned for the evening? Opening champagne bottles? Riding around on horses?”

“I’m a bit more limited to what I can get away with here,” he sighed. “But…” He stood up. “These railings happen to look perfect for sliding down..”

“Do it!” she exclaimed, to his delight. “Prop your phone up somewhere so I can watch! Pleeeease?”

“Oh man, where would I need to put it?”

Together they worked it out, and once the phone was placed in a strategic position, he ran to the top of the staircase.

 “On three!” he shouted down to the phone. “One.. two.. three!”

He slid down the railings, whooping in joy, and jumped off at the bottom, striking a pose. He heard her carefree laughter erupting from the phone.

“You are sooo badass,” she said, as he picked up his phone.

“This room doesn’t know what hit them..”

“If only you had sunglasses, that palace wouldn’t have been able to take how awesome you are.”

He smiled at her, and then sighed again. There was no point in suppressing it. “Life’s more fun with you around, Jen.”

“Hard same, Maxwell. Come here.”

He studied her carefully, as her face grew larger on the display – until it was just her lips. “Mwah. A social smooch.”

He felt his face redden and his heart beat faster, and couldn’t help from smiling. “Caught me off guard.”

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” she said very quietly.

“Ask me anything,” he said, looking her right in the eyes.

“Am I ever going to see you again? I mean, for real?”

“Of course you are,” he said defiantly. “We’ll work something out, I know it.”

“I hope we can work something out soon,” she said. “There’s things I want to say to you that would be better said in person.”

Intriguing. “Well, best you remember what they are, just in case we have a long wait.”

She nodded. “I need to go and get ready for my next shift in a minute. I could chat with you like this all night.”

It was amazing to hear her say these words, but he knew he couldn’t act upon them. “Nah. I’ll miss the coronation if we chat like this all night, and you’ll be late for work and your crappy boss will probably fire you.”

“Maybe you’re worth it,” she purred.

He could feel the frustration gnawing away inside him, but had to keep this conversation light. She was only having a bit of fun with him. She couldn’t know how he felt. “You’ve always been so nice to me. I know I can be as annoying as hell sometimes.”

“Not to me.”

“Maxwell? There you are! What are you doing?”

He turned at the sound of his friend’s unmistakable and authoritative voice. “Rick! Hey! I was just.. uh..”

Jen had obviously worked out what was going on. “Let me talk to him for a minute, would you?”

“Oh, sure! Rick, look who it is!”

Rick peered into the phone. “Jen. How delightful to see your face again.”

Jen’s eyes widened. “Your Highness. You look quite the King there.”

“Indeed,” he said. “My coronation Is but minutes away now. I had just come to speak with Maxwell actually, to see who he thinks I should select as my bride.”

“I can answer that one for him,” Jen said. “He thinks you should choose Olivia. He can see how you feel about her, and I’m pretty sure he’s got the hots for her himself.”

Gulp. Rick glared at him.

“That’s just, uh, Jen’s opinion. She doesn’t know me very well.”

Rick looked into the distance. “Well, the truth of it is that I won’t be selecting Olivia. She has withdrawn from the competition this evening.”

“Wait, what?” Maxwell gasped.

Rick sighed. “I don’t understand why. It’s shaken me up, to be quite honest with you.”

Jen looked sympathetic. “I’m so sorry, Rick. Is there any way you can delay your decision, rather than make a rash one tonight?”

“Unfortunately not,” he said.

“I’d go with Penelope,” Maxwell said. “You know how much you love poodles really.”

Rick raised his eyebrows. “Thank you for your thoughts, Maxwell.” He looked at Jen. “It’s too bad you didn’t come here when Maxwell originally invited you. On the balance of probabilities, I could have been about to make you a queen.”

Jen didn’t flinch or act surprised at all. “Things happen for a reason, Rick.”

“Indeed,” he sighed. “Well, I must go. It’s been enchanting to see you again, Jen. I will be in touch when things settle down. I would very much like to see you again.”

She nodded. “I really hope that will happen. And congratulations on tonight. I hope you manage to enjoy it despite your setback.”

He nodded, and handed the phone back to Maxwell, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be too long. It’s almost time.”

Maxwell sighed, and looked back at Jen. “Wow. What he just said about making you a queen.”

She looked at him, her green eyes wide. “How would you feel about that?”

The truth? He’d feel broken. He’d been careless, perhaps the distance between them had made him feel he was immune, but he’d got in way too deep here. But that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

“I would be on top of the world! You would be amazing, and you’d get to live in Cordonia so we could see lots of each other, and Bertrand would be so happy with me because of the money and the prestige for House Beaumont.. and you’ve got to admit, Jen, your life would be made.”

“Yeah,” she said, her expression unsmiling. “I guess it would. But, I stayed here. And, like I said, I better go and get ready for work. Enjoy the rest of the evening. I expect a very exciting wake-up call tomorrow.”

“You know it,” he said.

“Bye then,” she said, with a shy smile.

“Bye bye little blossom. Speak soon.”

As she ended the call, he couldn’t help but think that her chat with Rick had thrown her a little bit. She’d seemed different afterwards. Maybe it was the fact that Rick had said he’d like to see her again. Or maybe it was just because she was stressing about being late for work. Oh well. It didn’t stop him from feeling like he was on cloud nine right now.

He pocketed his phone and moonwalked into the grand hall, his night having been made.

Chapter Text

GOOD MORNING, LITTLE BLOSSOM, AND HAVE I GOT A DAILY DIGEST FOR YOU… I’M SURE YOU’VE BEEN UNABLE TO SLEEP, NOT KNOWING THE RESULT OF LAST NIGHT’S EVENTS….

She sighed, glaring at his message. Yes, she had been unable to sleep. No, it wasn’t because she cared a fig about who Rick had chosen. She’d googled it anyway. It had been pretty obvious that he would choose Madeleine after Olivia had dropped out of the running.

She was just relieved that she hadn’t made a total idiot of herself. She’d dropped so many hints during her conversation with Maxwell that had fallen completely flat, and then the final blow had been his hypothetical excitement at the prospect of her success. Was that all their friendship was about? Was he still hanging on to her in the hope that he could somehow get her hooked up with Rick?

In her heart, she didn’t think that was true. But her heart hurt right now.

She tapped out a reply. I GOOGLED IT. LUCKY MADELEINE, HUH?

COULDN’T WAIT TILL MORNING?

Normally, that was the case. But she was going to have to give up on this little crush. It was unrequited and it was pathetic.

JUST CURIOUS. BUT I KNOW THE SCORE NOW. ANYWAY, GOT TO START WORK EARLIER THIS MORNING SO CAN’T CHAT.

KAY. LAST NIGHT WAS FUN. WE SHOULD DO IT AGAIN! *emojis*

YEAH. WE SHOULD.

Later, as she walked to work, she felt bad for being short with him. It wasn’t his fault if he didn’t feel that way about her. Why should that matter? He was still the most amazing friend she had, and she needed to remember that.

Although, then she thought some more and remembered that he had always had an ulterior motive for that friendship. She was basically some sort of ticket to success and recognition.

She shook her head and headed into the bar. Time to come down from the clouds.

***

The next weekend she had a Saturday off, and she and Neet decided to spend the day together, shopping and going for drinks afterwards. It had been Jen’s idea and she was pleased that Neet had gone for it. Jen had decided it was time for a bit of a wardrobe revamp; it wasn’t likely that she would get to Cordonia now, but just in case, it would be good to have some hot looks to take with her.

“So, I take it that things fizzled out with the guy from work?” Neet asked her as they sat at barstools later, their shopping bags littered around them.

Jen nodded. “He wasn’t right.”

“He might not have been right, but could he have done for right now? While you’re waiting for this Prince to come back and sweep you off your feet?”

Jen sighed. “Not going to happen. Besides, he’s a King now. And engaged to a Countess.”

“Lord. You really should’ve got on that plane, Jen, and you know it.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Maybe I should.”

“You still in with his friend? What was his name? Max?”

“Maxwell,” Jen said, closing her eyes. “Yes, we’re still in touch.”

“Get him to invite you over. Every King needs a mistress, right?”

Jen shook her head. “We did try to arrange something, but we couldn’t make it work.”

“Still sending you dance tutorials?”

 Jen giggled. “I’ve had volume two, yeah. You can watch it later with me when you get back. Maybe we can have a go.”

Anita howled with laughter. “Hard pass.”

“Well, you can still watch it. Maxwell’s friends do the dancing on this one. And I reckon Drake’s your type.”

“Is he a Prince or a Duke or an Earl?”

“Nope, none of the above. But….” She pulled out her phone and went to Maxwell’s Pictagram. She stalled when she saw the new image. “Awwww…”

His feed was full of images of beautiful blue and green birds.

Anita leant over. “He’s a peacock?”

“No, no…” Jen scrolled further down the feed. “This is Drake.” She showed Anita a picture of Drake and Maxwell.

“Ooh. Yeah. I see what you mean.”

Jen went back to the peacock pictures. He’d obviously posted these for her benefit, following their conversation last weekend. “They’re so beautiful.” Noticing Anita’s perplexed expression, she snapped her phone shut. “Maxwell keeps pet peacocks.”

“Oh gosh, how the other half live. I bet he plays croquet too.”

“Probably,” giggled Jen. “I’ll ask him.”

She tapped out a cheeky message. DO YOU PLAY CROQUET?

The reply came quickly. NO!!!???!!!

“Apparently not,” she said to Anita, a slight blush to her cheeks.

Anita looked at her with interest. “Wait a minute.”

Oh, shit. “What am I waiting for?”

“I could ask you the same question. Never mind this King. You’re getting cosy with his friend, aren’t you?”

Jen didn’t know what to say. “I would suggest it’s difficult to get cosy with someone five thousand miles away…”

“See! You even know how many miles apart you are…”

Jen sighed, and put her head on the bar. “I. Am. So. Lame.”

Anita let out a raucous laugh. “No you’re not. He’s cute. And what is he, a Duke or something?”

“He’s a Lord, and he doesn’t think of me like that.”

Anita frowned. “So he is gay then?”

“No, no, he is into girls, just obviously not this one.”

“Pah. I didn’t think any heterosexual or bisexual male could resist the allure of Jen Jones…”

“Clearly, you were mistaken,” Jen sighed.

“Aw…” Anita put her arm around Jen. “His loss.”

“Well, I just have to get my head around the fact that I’ve been totally friend-zoned. It could be worse. He’s an awesome friend.”

“Ah.” Anita nodded. “So that’s who the card’s for, yeah?” She nodded in the direction of one of Jen’s shopping bags.

Jen smiled. “You saw it?”

“Peeked in your bag when you went to the bathroom. It’s so sugary sweet.. I knew it couldn’t be for me.”

Jen took out the card and looked at it again. Friendship isn’t about who’s been in your life the longest. It’s about who walked into your life, said I’m here for you, and proved it.

“How’s he proved it then? Dying to know..”

"He’s just always there when I need to talk to someone. He always cheers me up when I’m feeling low. He knows all the right things to say, and he just makes life fun.”

"And, he’s friends with royalty.”

"Yeah, doesn’t go against him.” Jen put the card back in her bag. “I don’t know whether to send it or not now.”

“You still want to be friends though, right?”

Jen nodded animatedly. “For definite.”

“Then send it. Write it now. You got his address?”

“No, but I think I can probably work it out, there can’t be too many manor houses in Ramsford, Cordonia…”

Anita whooped. “Aw, I get the disappointment now. Nothing happening with the King, or the Lord of the Manor, so who’s next on the social hierarchy?”

Jen shook her head. “You are unbelievable.”

A text came through. I HAVE PLAYED POLO THOUGH. CAUSE THAT’S YOUR NEXT QUESTION, RIGHT? WHEN IT COMES TO SPORTS, I’M MORE OF A BREAKDANCING KINDA GUY.

She couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

***

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM, AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY IT IS HERE IN CORDONIA. I HAVE BIG NEWS!

She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. This was different. She’d had what felt like weeks of very non-newsworthy updates from him, but she could remember them all.

Yeah, she might have been a little cool on him for the first few days after the Coronation ball. But she didn’t think he’d noticed, and every day he’d brought a bit of sparkle back to their friendship, every day he’d made her laugh out loud, every day she’d cursed herself for still being a little bit in love with him. She was cool with it now. Being best friends with the best person you’d ever met was exhilarating.

There was the day his text had informed her about beating his personal best on his regular run around the estate. There was the morning he’d been looking up his family history and regaled tales of seafaring quests, bashful squires and mighty warriors via text message. There was the time he’d given her a written review of his favourite movie series Stab Spectre, she’d reluctantly promised to watch all 6 films in sequence with him one day. There was the time he’d called her to play some of his favourite tracks down the phone to her, and she’d of course danced along with him.

The day he’d got her card had been so sweet. By some miracle her guessed address had proved adequate in finding the card’s intended recipient, and he’d taken a picture of it sitting on some sort of grand mantelpiece. He seemed pleased with it, and she was just happy to imagine the smile on his face.

Her favourite moment though had been the afternoon that they’d ended up chatting on the phone and had just talked, and talked, and talked. It was evening there, he’d told her he was sitting in the vineyard, looking up at the stars, and although there weren’t any stars right then in New York, she’d promised to look up at them later.

He’d told her a bit more about his life, growing up at court, how much fun it had been. He’d told her some great stories about Bertrand that had changed her impression of the older Beaumont brother significantly. He’d then confided in her about their father, who’d been comatose for fifteen years and was not expected to recover. Jen got the impression that Maxwell’s relationship with his father had been complex.

He’d then told her a little bit about his college days. He’d spent them in London, and he’d obviously had the time of his life back then. He’d hoped to stay on there after graduation, but his plan was curtailed when the House Beaumont money situation began to deteriorate. There was something of a sadness in the way he’d ended that part of the conversation. She had the feeling he had more of a tale to tell there.

She’d mentioned that she’d visited London when she’d gone travelling when she was nineteen, and they both had an inkling that they might have been there at the same time. She’d told him a little bit more about her travels. He’d then asked her about her life, her family, and she’d told him a lot of it. He now knew she’d spent her late teens in care; he now understood why she didn’t think she’d have passed the suitable suitor test. He knew she didn’t have much going on in her life, he’d quipped that it was a good job she had him now.

He didn’t know how right he was.

She tapped her response. WHAT’S THE BIG NEWS?

GUESS.

YOUR PEACOCK LAID AN EGG?

NOPE.

YOU GOT A SQUID TATTOO?

NO… GOOD IDEA THOUGH…. PARK THAT AND ASK ME AGAIN SOMETIME!

BERTRAND SAID YOU CAN GET A KITTEN?

AW, I’M KINDA SAD NOW THAT ISN’T THE BIG NEWS… NOPE!

CANDY CORN NOW BEING EXPORTED TO CORDONIA? She giggled as she looked across the room at the little pile of bags that she was accumulating to send across to him.

AWWWW, I’M EVEN SADDER NOW…. NOT THAT EITHER.

I DON’T WANT TO MAKE YOU SAD ANY MORE… JUST TELL ME!

I’M COMING TO SEE YOU!

Her heart shot into her mouth. WHAT???????????

I JUST FOUND OUT WHERE THE ENGAGEMENT TOUR IS GOING. AND IT’S MILAN, PARIS, SHANGHAI AND….. THE BIIIIIG APPLE!!!!

She felt all kinds of funny inside, and shrieked with excitement. NO WAY!!!!!

YES WAY!!! I’LL GET STRAIGHT TO WORK ON VIDEO THREE… YOU’RE GONNA GET YOUR CHANCE TO DANCE!! *emojis*

She beamed. Yes, yes she was.

Chapter Text

It was the first night of the engagement tour and Maxwell was trying to think of a good couple hashtag for Rick and Madeleine. So far he was thinking #Rideleine was the front runner but #Rickeleine might work better. Then of course there was #Madelick, although maybe that sounded a little bit suggestive in all the wrong ways. He was going to consult Jen of course to see what her thoughts were in her next daily digest.

It was something to do anyway as he and Bertrand sat alone, bored out of their skulls, on a table in the corner of the room. As if he hadn’t spent enough time with Bertrand over the last few weeks. Hana was gone now, obviously, he was going to miss Hana round here, and there was no sign of Drake. He wondered if Rick and Drake were getting on better now that Olivia was out of the picture. He hoped so.

Unfortunately, Adelaide was here, obviously as this was her home, and her husband did not appear to be anywhere to be seen. She’d already been up to him once tonight, and now she kept throwing glances in his direction. Oh no no no. There was safety in numbers over here with Bertrand. The music was all waltzy-schmaltzy stuff anyway, so he didn’t really feel the call to get up and on his feet.

Bertrand had just got up to talk to someone, leaving Maxwell alone at their table.  He was just scrolling through his phone at conversations he’d had with Jen recently when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Oh oh.

He turned and was relieved at who he saw. “Rick, hey!”

“Maxwell. Good to see you.” His hand was still on his shoulder. “How have you been?”

“Oh, y’know, just chilling at home, very much looking forward to this exciting engagement tour..”

Rick sat down next to him. “Have you heard anything from our mutual friend recently?”

Hah. On a daily basis, actually. “Yeah, she’s been in touch once or twice.”

“Have you told her the tour itinerary? What did she say?” There was a strange hope on his face.

“She.. was delighted,” Maxwell admitted. “She’s obviously looking forward to seeing you again. Although.. how’s it gonna work now?” He was worried about Rick’s intentions towards Jen. It was clear that Jen was still fond of Rick and he didn’t want to see her getting hurt.

“A very good question, and one I’m afraid I have no simple answer to,” sighed Rick, fidgeting with his cufflinks absentmindedly. “I will admit, I can’t stop thinking about her. I deliberately arranged for the tour to head to New York, in case there was any hope that she’d agree to see me again.”

Whoa, this was big. “O…kay. Well, I’m pretty sure she will, but…”

He looked up at Maxwell, his eyes large and sad. “Things were going so well with Olivia, and I still don’t know why she left when she did.”

“I’m sorry, Rick. If I see her at any of these events, I’ll see what I can find out. Although, generally she’d rather talk to her cutlery than me, but…”

There was a half smile on Rick’s lips. “She’s softer than she appears. I’d appreciate it if you would, Maxwell.”

“Huh, I’ll try. But…”

“Madeleine and I share no romantic connection. She has told me she is quite happy for me to seek out a mistress as long as I am discreet. I know Olivia would never accept such a proposition.”

Maxwell’s guard was up. “What makes you think Jen would?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. But, I need to speak to her and see how things go.”

Bertrand returned to the table. “Ah. Your Majesty.” He bowed politely before sitting. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Many thanks, Bertrand,” Rick said, standing up. “I should go, but I would appreciate your support in those two matters, Maxwell.”

Maxwell nodded. “You know me. Happy to help.”

Rick nodded, and headed back to the main table.

“What was that about?”

Maxwell decided not to tell Bertrand about Rick’s plans for Jen. He figured the less people who knew about that, the better. “Duchess Olivia. He wants me to talk to her if I see her about. He’s trying to work out why she pulled out of the running. I guess she’d have been his first choice.”

Bertrand nodded. “I hope you can see now that your waitress had no chance.”

Maxwell just laughed, and looked back across the room to where Rick and Madeleine were mingling, Madeleine with a plastered on and diplomatic smile, Rick’s eyes looking empty.

***

The next morning, Maxwell got the shock of his life when he headed back to his guest room after breakfast.

“Hana!!!!”

“Maxwell!” She threw her arms around him in the corridor. “Surprise!”

“Uh, yeah! What are you doing back here?”

“You have my parents to thank for that,” she sighed. “I’ve spent the last three weeks being lectured at what a disappointment it was that I didn’t manage to secure the King’s proposal. However, I may have convinced them that this was the best place for me to find another suitable suitor. My mother made a few phone calls to Madeleine’s mother, and here I am!”

“So you’re what, Madeleine’s little minion or something?”

“Of sorts. But there are strings attached. There is an expectation that I will find a noble suitor, or I won’t be allowed to stay on here after the engagement tour.”

“Okay, well, is that what you want to do?”

She sighed. “I want to stay, but…”

"Well, I see an obvious solution to this problem if you run out of time. I’ll be your suitor.”

Hana looked awkward. “Umm.. yeah. There was a caveat placed on the definition of noble suitor.”

"Ouch, burn. You mean the anyone but that Beaumont joker who is still not good enough for you caveat?”

She laughed, and nodded. “I’m sorry, Maxwell.”

“Did you not convince them how mature and interesting I am now?”

She sighed. “I think it’s more of a financial thing, to be honest, Maxwell.” She looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. “They’ve heard on the grapevine that your house is struggling. They’re looking for me to marry into a wealthy house.”

“Of course they are. Hey, never mind. We’ll figure something out. It’s great to have you back, Hana.”

She smiled. “Have you seen Drake?”

And there it was. The real reason she’d come back. “No. But I’m sure he’ll slither out from under his rock when he finds out the dream team can come back together!”

She giggled. “I hope so.”

***

The next few days were fun. The dream team did come back together, and it was great to have some fresh fodder for Pictagram and some news for Jen’s daily updates. They’d put together video three in the series of Cordonian Waltz tutorials, after all it was looking more likely that Jen was going to need to perfect her moves in that department. They’d participated in the barn-raising event (he gave up eventually trying to explain the concept of this to Jen) and had a spa afternoon with Rick afterwards. Hana had been introduced to Mr Hippo and warned not to tell Bertrand about her forbidden knowledge.

Today was their last day before they departed for Italy. There was a big garden party in the grounds of Applewood Manor, and poor Hana was being paraded around by Madeleine all afternoon meeting potential suitors. Maxwell stood with Drake under a tree drinking lemonade and frowning. Yes, he was becoming Draky. And he didn’t like it.

"What’s that face for,” Drake huffed.

“I could ask you the same question.”

“Nah. Normally you’re the one with the goofy grin.”

Maybe the reason for the frown had more to do with the fact that he’d not had a reply from Jen yet today. Yeah, sometimes she overslept, but it had been a couple of hours now.

“She finally got bored of your daily spamming?”

"It isn’t daily spamming.”

Drake nodded. “Yep. I was right.”

“If you must know, I’m more sad about Hana,” he said, looking over in Hana’s direction. “She doesn’t want to date any of those Earls or Dukes over there. She just wants to be here with her friends.”

Drake said nothing for a long time, swirling his lemonade. “Could do with some whisky in this.”

"So where’s your emergency stash?”

“Oh, I already drank that when I saw Hana talking to Neville.”

Maxwell almost spat out his lemonade. He knew how much Drake hated Neville Vancoeur. “Ack. Does she know what a douchebag he is?”

"Well, I’m guessing she will now she’s spoken to him,” Drake commented. “Right. Whisky time. Be right back.”

He roamed off and Maxwell was left gazing at his phone display. What harm would it do to send another quick message?

HEY, YOU OKAY? NOT LIKE YOU NOT TO REPLY. JUST TXT AN EMOJI OR SOMETHING SO I KNOW HOW YOU ARE *selects variety of mood related emojis*

Of course, she could be at work by now, but he still waited for her response eagerly, and when he saw the crying emoji come through, he knew he had to hit the dial button.

Chapter Text

“Can you stay another half hour, Jen?” Kieran demanded as she headed into the staffroom to collect her things.

“Uh, really?” She rolled her eyes. She was tired, and emotional, and just wanted to get home.

“Yes, really. There’s three tables still need clearing out there and two families waiting for orders, and I have no idea where Jade is.”

“Jade’s out there flirting with the customers,” Jen said with a scowl. Jade was the reason why they weren’t on top of things.

“Maybe if you spent more time flirting with the customers you’d get more tips,” Kieran said, hands on his hips. “Jade’s pretty good at bringing them in. Unlike you. Which is why I’d wager you need that extra half hour’s pay. Go on, get back out there.”

Jen sighed, defeated. “Alright.” She couldn’t wait for the day that she could walk out of this place. She cursed her recent life choices, and headed back out into the bar. She wondered what Maxwell was doing now. He was probably at some fun party. Oh well, no doubt she’d find out tomorrow morning.

***

The next morning, she lay in bed alone. Today was always a difficult day. She was working later on, preferring to keep herself occupied, but she wasn’t likely to see anyone between her shift starting and then. Anita would already have left for work by now.

She’d seen Maxwell’s string of excited text updates, but hadn’t really felt like replying to them. Yes he was at a fancy garden party in the sun with his two new besties, and she was alone in her New York apartment on a rainy morning. It was after nine now, and she hadn’t even bothered to get out of bed.

There was another ping. She glanced at it.

HEY, YOU OKAY? NOT LIKE YOU NOT TO REPLY. JUST TXT AN EMOJI OR SOMETHING SO I KNOW HOW YOU ARE *number of mood related emojis*

Well if he really wanted her current mood, he was getting it. She sent him a crying emoji.

The phone rang seconds later.

 “I don’t want to know, Maxwell,” she told him. “You’re out there having fun in the sun and.. I’m not.”

“Aw, hey, what’s the matter? This isn’t like you.”

“Huh. That shows how well you know me. This is like me every 29^th of July, actually.”

“Hey… what… is it your birthday?”

“No.” She rolled over in her bed, gazing out at the rain. “That’s November 9^th.”

“Aw, so I have plenty of time to think of the perfect birthday present for you!”

“Knock yourself out,” she said, trying to play it cool.

“So what’s the problem with today? Oh…” His voice faltered. “Maybe it’s like my January the 7^th.”

“What happened on January 7^th?”

“My mom died.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Yeah it is like that.”

“Do you find it gets a bit easier every year, though?”

Well, last year it hadn’t been very easy at all. She’d not long left Brad, and Amy was making plans to move away in September. But then, at least she’d had Amy with her last year. “Depends who I’m with. I’m on my own today, well, until I start work.”

“No, you are not on your own. You are here with me, your sweet little voice is ringing out loud and clear at this garden party. Hey, if I put you on speaker you could go and talk to Drake if you like? Someone needs to cheer him up, his arch nemesis started coming onto Hana earlier.”

She smiled. “I’ll pass on that.”

"I could facetime you?”

“Not right now. You don’t want to see my morning face.”

“I would accept the sight of it if it made you feel better.”

“It’s fine, Maxwell. We’re good over the phone.”

“So how do you get through it best? Are you better distracted? Or talking about them?”

She looked at the photograph of the three of them on her bedside. “Nobody in my life remembers them, so I don’t tend to have anyone to talk about them with.”

“Tell me about them. I’m interested.”

“Okay.” This was nice. “Well, my mom was called Nancy. She was a nurse. My dad was a driver. He used to deliver to her hospital, that was how they met.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. What was he called?”

“Paul. Tell you what, I’ll send you a picture so you can see what they looked like when we’re done talking.”

“Awesome,” he said. “They must have been a good-looking couple.”

“Why?”

There was a pause. “Looks skip a generation, so I’m told.”

“Hey!” She knew he was joking, playing with her maybe. “In that case, your parents must have been stunning.”

“Mom was,” he said sadly. “What I remember, anyway. I wasn’t very old when she died. And I seem to think my dad was more of a hit with the ladies in his youth than me or Bertrand ever were.”

Bertrand, okay, but she didn’t get why Maxwell wasn’t surrounded by admirers. “Explains a lot. Did you look more like your mom or your dad?”

“Oh definitely my mom,” he said. “I got her blue eyes and her smile. Dad’s nose.”

“Same here,” Jen said. “Although they said I got my dad’s smile. My nan used to say I was the perfect blend of the two of them, actually.”

“I’ll study that picture carefully and give you my verdict.”

“Don’t study the picture of the thirteen year old me too much. I might black it out, actually.”

There was laughter. “Oh, this phone call is the gift that keeps on giving.”

She laughed too. “Glad I can be of some use in my melancholy state.”

"You sound happier now,” he said. “I was worried. I just want you to remember you’re never on your own.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I needed that reminder today, I guess.”

“Aaaand, only three weeks or so till I get to see you again!”

She nodded, cautiously. As lovely as seeing him was going to be, she was anxious. Anxious as to how they’d get on in person. And anxious as to Rick’s expectations. “Yeah. I can’t wait.”

"Have you booked the time off work?”

“Yeah. You’ll have my full attention, I promise.” That was inevitable.

“Amazing! I’m so excited to come back to New York. Are you gonna show me the sights?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Where d’you want to go?”

“Ooh, Coney Island. Definitely Coney Island.”

Cheesy. “You have all of New York and you choose Coney Island?”

"Yup. I love a ferris wheel, me.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” she giggled. “So, where else are you going before you get to New York?”

“We’re flying off to Milan tomorrow. Then the next week it’s Paris. Think we’re there for a while. Then a few days in Shanghai… then New York. But don’t worry, I will keep you fully up to date with all the drama, as will my Pictagram.”

“Maxwell, seeing as you’re going to Paris…”

There was a pause. “I can’t talk about that now.” Presumably Drake was in the vicinity.

“Maybe not, but I can. You need to go and see her and tell her that she needs to speak to them. Both of them. You can’t go on hiding her from them like this. It’ll end in tears.”

"Right. Well, obviously, I was going to go there anyway, but I’ll bear it in mind.”

“I always wanted to go to Paris,” she sighed. “I never quite made it there on my travels. I’d love to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower one day.”

“Yeah, I’ve never done that.”

“You should check it out while you’re there.”

“I’m not sure I’ll have time. But if I do, I’ll send you a selfie! Anyway, if you’re okay now, I should go. Drake is pacing around ominously with a scowl on his face.”

She giggled. “I can picture the scene. Okay, I’ll send you the pic I promised. And thanks, Maxwell. You’re the best.” She imagined the feeling of giving him a massive hug.

“Ooh, am I? Really? Better than cookie dough ice cream?”

“Nah. But I’ve got a date with a tub of that later, so day made.”

“Glad to hear it. Speak soon, yeah?”

"Yeah. Bye, Maxwell.”

She hung up, feeling so much better than she had. She switched to camera mode on her phone, and took a picture of the photograph on the side of her bed, pinging it in his direction.

Then she went into the Amazon store and began to browse for squid related items.

***

When she finished off work the following day, she had several missed calls from Maxwell and a message. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THIS MESSAGE *horrified emoji*

He was in Italy, so presumably it wouldn’t be quite so late over there now as usual? Whatever, she did as instructed.

He answered immediately. “Jen.”

“Hey. What’s up? How’s Italy?”

“Well, uh, it’s been quite intense really…”

“Why? What happened?”

“Listen, this is complicated.” He took a deep breath. “So the night we met, I took some photos of the bachelor party. Nothing too bad, just there were a few of you and Rick together, and you were looking like you were getting on really well.”

“Okaay..”

“So, Olivia turned up in Italy. She turned on me, because she’d worked out they were my photos. Somehow, the press had got hold of these photos of you and Rick. They were going to publish them – but Bastien – that’s Rick’s head of security -  had found out about it and bought them back. He’d told Drake about it, but Drake hadn’t said anything – until Olivia turned up, baying for my blood..”

“Stop there, Maxwell. Two things. Firstly, why was Olivia so mad? Just because the pictures showed me and Rick together?”

“Well that’s a story in itself. She told us she was being blackmailed. She thought whoever sold these photos to the press might have been the blackmailer.”

“Okay… so that brings me on to my second point…” She really didn’t want to ask this question. “How did the press get your photos, Maxwell?”

“Because Bertrand found them on my phone. And he saw an opportunity to make some money.”

Jen wasn’t expecting that. “Oh. Okay.”

“So Olivia went off, satisfied that this didn’t have anything to do with her being blackmailed. But.. I just wanted you to know, Jen. It could have been a lot worse. If that had made the papers… it really could have dented Rick’s reputation. It would have been my fault, and you’d have got hurt.”

“Look, you can’t blame yourself for what your brother did. And look on the bright side, nothing happened. This Bastien intercepted it. He’s obviously very loyal to Rick.”

“Yeah.. but..”

"No buts, Maxwell. Thanks for telling me, but this isn’t your fault. And it’s all good. Yep?”

“Yep,” he said. “And I now have something to tell Rick. He’s been trying to work out why Olivia ran away on the night of the Coronation Ball. I know now that she was being blackmailed.”

“Where are you?” she asked him. 

“Oh, I’m in my train carriage now.” He yawned. “It’s been a long day, lots of travelling and stress…”

“You’ll feel better tomorrow,” she promised him. “Hey, were you ever gonna show me those photos you took of me and Rick?”

“Promise not to sell them to the Cordonian press?” he said. She could just imagine the smirk on his lips.

“I promise,” she sighed. “So, is Italy nice?”

"It’s amazing. You ever been?”

"No. Never got that far. Always wanted to go. How long are you there for?”

“Another few days. Madeleine’s got her engagement party here. Me and Drake are gonna check out the sights tomorrow.”

“I look forward to your Pictagram updates,” she said. “Italy always seems like such a romantic place.”

“Huh, yeah. I guess it is.”

“You and Drake have fun now,” she teased. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”

“Okay. I’ll update you tomorrow. Night.”

“Night, Maxwell. Sleep tight.”

“Thanks, Jen. You too.”

He hung up, and within a few seconds she heard a ping of photos being sent across. She looked at them. They told an interesting story. She and Rick were very much the focus of them, but from a distance. It was as if he’d decided he wanted to take photographs of her, without her knowing. But then, that could be coincidental, after all, he’d had a lot to drink that night.

Then there was one, and she thought she could remember it being taken, of just her. Looking at the camera, not smiling, not frowning. Just, trying to weigh up the intriguing man on the other side of the phone.

It was one of the best photos she’d seen of herself in a long time.

Giggling, she set it as her Facebook profile picture.

***

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM – OHMYGOD SOMETHING BOTH AMAZINGLY EXCTING AND DEVASTATING JUST HAPPENED…

NICE. MEANWHILE, I’VE JUST BEEN ASLEEP.

I WENT FOR A WALK TO STRETCH THE OLE DANCING MUSCLES, AND I FOUND A LITTLE CORGI FRIEND!

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. DID YOU GET A PIC?

Did he. About seven pictures of a cute little corgi came through. One of which was a selfie of Maxwell with said corgi. She shook her head, giggling.

GUESSING THE OWNER DIDN’T MIND YOU PAPPING THEIR POOCH?

THAT’S THE THING. THERE WAS NO OWNER! HE WAS ROAMING THE STREETS, ALL ON HIS LITTLE OWNSOME… AND HE KEPT LOOKING AT ME AND SAYING PLEASE, MAXWELL, TAKE ME HOME WITH YOU SO WE CAN BE BFFS AND HAVE LOTS OF FUN TOGETHER…

WAIT, WAIT MAXWELL. FIRSTLY, I’M YOUR BFF AND DON’T YOU EVER FORGET IT.

MAN’S BEST FRIEND, JEN.. *emojis*

SECONDLY, THEY DO JUST LET THEIR DOGGOS ROAM IN ITALY. HE PROBABLY HAS A PERFECTLY LOVING HOME…

 WELL THAT’S A MOOT POINT. BERTRAND WOULDN’T LET ME KEEP HIM.

Another selfie followed of Maxwell and said corgi both looking sad. The corgi had its ears back and everything. This was precious.

AWWW. I’M SORRY YOU DIDN’T GET THE CHANCE.

JUST ANOTHER EPISODE IN THE BERTRAND RUINS MAXWELL’S FUN SAGA. VOLUME THREE CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

ONE DAY YOU WON’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO BERTRAND.

YEAH. IT’S LIKE A FORBIDDEN DREAM. OR A MEMORY OF PAST FREEDOM.

YOU TALKING ABOUT COLLEGE?

YUP. DIDN’T HAVE ANY PETS THERE THOUGH. TOO BUSY DOING OTHER THINGS TO LOOK AFTER PETS.

DRINKING, SMOKING, PARTYING?

NEVER SMOKED! BUT YES AND YES TO THE OTHERS. AND ONE OTHER THING TOO I DID A LOT OF *emojis*

STUDYING!

*suggestive emojis*

Jen wasn’t sure quite how to react to this oversharing. But she was curious. OH. OKAY.

There was a bit of a pause. To be honest, she could imagine him being a bit of a player, if given the opportunity. And she’d not been to college, but she could only imagine the pull of a European Lord amongst your fellow freshmen.

MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BIT OF A NAUGHTY BOY. BUT BEFORE I LEFT I HAD BECOME THE REFORMED CHARACTER YOU NOW SEE BEFORE YOU.

She decided not to pursue this further right now. She had work soon. WELL, I SEE YOUR WORDS BEFORE ME. NOT YOU.

THE TIME IS COMING!

I KNOW… I CAN’T WAIT! I HAVE TO GET UP AND GET READY FOR WORK NOW, BUT I EXPECT AN UPDATE WHEN YOU GET TO PARIS!

OH YOU WILL! WE TRAVEL OVERNIGHT SO AS SOON AS THE GIRLS GET BACK FROM THEIR PARTY WE’RE SETTING OFF. I WILL FALL ASLEEP IN ITALY AND WAKE UP IN PAREEEEE!

SOUNDS FUN. I WILL JUST FALL ASLEEP HERE AND WAKE UP HERE. BUT HEY, DON’T SAY IT…

I WON’T SAY IT!

ENJOY YOUR LAST DAY IN MILAN X

OH I WILL *emojis*

She put the phone to one side and smiled to herself. She then pondered his comments, thinking back to their conversation a few weeks ago before his return to court. He’d spoken animatedly about his college days then (although no mention of any sexual exploits) but there’d been a sadness in his tone when he’d described the end of it. Something had happened to make him change. Or, perhaps someone. She was curious now.

Chapter Text

The fashion show wasn’t really Maxwell’s afternoon activity of choice on arriving in Paris, but it had given him something interesting to put in his daily update to Jen, which he’d tacitly tapped out while the models strutted up and down. He’d told her all about the fashlanthropic purpose of the activity and had allowed Jen to congratulate him on somehow convincing Madeleine that Bertrand had dealt with House Beaumont’s donation (which he hadn’t).

He’d also told her about the argument Hana and Madeleine had had last night at Madeleine’s bachelorette party. Something to do with chocolate? Whatever, Hana was really upset. Jen had not been very impressed and had decided Madeleine needed to be brought down a peg or two. Maxwell  wasn’t volunteering for that particular job, but he said he’d bear it in mind. After all, if things went as planned in New York, Jen was definitely going to be putting Madeleine’s nose out of joint.

Finally, he’d told her where he’d been planning to go tonight; where he was now. As usual, he’d got the reminder that he needed to convince Savannah to tell her brother and Bertrand where she was. For the sake of the little chunky monkey that now fiiiiinally lay asleep in his cot, following a combination of uncle cuddles and songs of the sea.  It was now time to activate this plan.

 “Aaaaaaand, that little baby is finally asleep.” He crept back stealthily into the living room of the small Parisian apartment, and threw himself triumphantly onto the sofa next to the tired looking brunette, whose face lit up with relief at his words.

“Oh, that’s brilliant. Thank you! You’re a baby-whisperer.”

“Yeah well, obviously I haven’t had as much practice as you.. and he’s changed so much since I was last here… Think he remembered me?”

She smiled warmly. “Yeah, I think he did. Well. I really appreciated having a night off. I’ve cooked myself a meal, caught up with all the housework, it’s been brilliant!”

“And now for the best part,” he said, producing a bottle of wine from the carrier bag he’d brought in with him, which had also been packed with toys and treats for baby Bartie. “You get to chill out with yours truly and a glass of wine!” He held it up with a victorious flourish.

“Aw, Maxwell. You’re the best. I don’t know what to say…”

“Just say that again…”

“Seriously though,” she sighed, as he got up and went to get two glasses and a corkscrew from the kitchen. “You are. Everything you’ve done for us… all the money you’ve sent over… I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

“Where do you keep the corkscrew?” he called out to her.

“Oh.. I’ll come get it.”

She joined him in the kitchen, and passed him the corkscrew. She stood watching as he poured the wine into two glasses. “Bottle of Ramsford’s finest. I pinched it from the cellar at Beaumont Manor. Don’t tell Bertrand.”

She laughed. “I’m not likely to.”

He took a sip, and she did the same, as they stood together in the kitchen. He put his glass down on the side, and smiled at her. “Well. This is nice.”

The next thing he knew, she drew really close.. so close that their lips were touching.

Instinct forced him to draw away, and step a couple of steps back. “Wait.. what was that?”

She looked at him with devastation in her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, Maxwell. I’m so, so sorry. I just thought….”

“Hey…” Nooo, this was bad. She’d burst into tears. “C’mere, Savannah. C’mere.” He walked back over to her and held her in his arms while she wept. “S’okay. Doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, it does. I’ve made such an idiot of myself..”

“Hey. You’re talking to Maxwell Beaumont here. I make an idiot out of myself on a daily basis. It’s no skin off my nose.”

She looked up at him. “I just… Oh, it doesn’t matter.”

“Hey. Let’s go sit back down. I’ll bring your wine.”

She led him back over to the small sofa in the living room.

“I…. I just thought, I suppose. You’ve been so kind, and you’ve provided for us so well.. I just wanted to show how thankful I was.. I thought….”

He sighed, wondering how to put this without making her feel any worse. “If you thought I was doing all this for you because I wanted to get my leg over, then you really haven’t had a good experience of the world, Savannah.”

“Maybe I haven’t,” she said, her head in her hands, wiping the last tears away.

“Listen. Everything I’ve done has been for Bartie. And you. And, kinda indirectly, for Bertrand.” He put his arm around her. “Bartie’s my nephew. I adore him. And I just want to help you however I can. But.. maybe not like that.”

“I’m sorry. I was stupid.”

“I don’t expect anything in return for the money. Hey, it’s Bertrand’s money too, remember. Bizarrely, he continues to allow me some access to our finances.”

“He’ll find out what you’ve done for us one day,” Savannah sighed.

“And you should tell him before that day,” Maxwell said, the guilt returning to his chest.

“I can’t tell him, Maxwell. We’ve been through this so many times. It’s pathetic. He doesn’t want to be in his son’s life, so what’s the point?”

Maxwell drummed his fingers against her arm. “I still can’t help thinking that you two might have misunderstood each other that day. Just talk to each other.”

She shook her head. “Nope. Me and Bartie are fine.” She looked at him again, inquisitively. “So, that was a bit of a recoil back there. Guess I’m not at my most attractive, these days, huh?”

“Oh, Savannah. It’s not that at all.” Funnily enough, he’d had a bit of a crush on her a few years ago. “D’you know what, not so long ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But… things are different now.”

“How?”

“I couldn’t do it to Bertrand,” he sighed. “Just imagine the fallout.”

“What if he never had to find out?” She wasn’t giving up.

“Nah. I couldn’t live with myself. And I’m not so sure you could either.” He sighed, looking over at the wall.

“I think you’re right,” she said eventually. “You’re one of the good guys, aren’t you Maxwell?”

“I like to think so,” he said. “Where my brother is concerned, definitely. He acts all aloof, but deep down, he’s as vulnerable as any of us. And I couldn’t, Savannah. Even though you and Bertrand aren’t together. It just wouldn’t be right.”

“I… oh, this is pathetic. I mean, not quite as pathetic as me throwing myself at you just then… but… I guess I still love him, Maxwell.”

“It’s not pathetic,” he assured her. “And I’m not surprised. You guys have a lot of history.”

She sighed, fidgeting with her long brown hair. “I’ve been besotted with him ever since I could remember. Even when I was a teenager, I had a huge crush on him. Now we’re older.. I really thought we could make a go of things. I just found it so difficult, he kept putting these barriers up, and then… it was only that one night, but… it was the most perfect night. And what happened afterwards..”

Maxwell removed his arm from her shoulder, and flexed both of his arms in front of him anxiously. “I know my brother better than anyone else does, I guess. And I think he feels the same way for you as you do for him. I really do. I wish you two could talk it out. Now I would never tell him where you are, or what I’ve been doing for you, without your permission. But I wish you would let me, Savannah. I really do. I think it would be a good thing.”

“I’m not so sure. I’m not good enough for House Beaumont. He said it himself. He has to marry a noble lady.”

“Well he’s certainly not working on that right now. Although, you never know, he might meet someone on this tour. But, I can’t see it.” He pulled a face. “Y’know, Drake’s with us here in Paris.”

Savannah’s expression changed to one of guilt. “How is he?”

"He misses you so much. He blames himself for you going away. I did my best to keep my distance from him for a while, because I hated not being able to tell him as well. But I’ve seen more of him recently and…” He sighed. “Listen. You know I told you about my friend Jen?”

"You might have mentioned her once or twice…”

“Well, I had to talk to someone about this. It’s been eating me up. So I told her. She’s not gonna tell anyone. But, she thinks you should tell Bertrand, and Drake, where you are. Especially with us all being here in Paris for a few days. I mean, I know it’s none of her business, but…”

Savannah sighed. “She’s probably right, isn’t she?”

"She’s right about most things.”

“I wish I could meet this Jen,” Savannah said with a smirk.

“I wish you could too,” he sighed, wishing he could see her again himself.

“You two seem to make a good team,” she added.

“Thanks! Yeah, we do. Good cop, bad cop. Y’know.”

“Which one are you?”

“I think I’m good cop,” he pondered.  “Not sure really.”

He was brought back to reality by Savannah’s laughter.

“What’s funny?”

“You know what you said earlier about things being different? I think I get it now. You’re different. And the way you were talking before, and over the last few weeks whenever we’ve facetimed, I know. Well, I suspected.” She was making him nervous now. “No wonder you didn’t want to kiss me just then. You and Jen have got a long-distance thing going on, haven’t you.”

He felt his face flush. “No! I mean, how would you.. why would you even..”

She smiled. “There. I knew it.”

"Definitely not. Jen’s only got eyes for Rick. I’ve got a feeling they’re really gonna hit it off when we go to New York. He’s got it really bad for her..”

"And so have you.”

He looked at her, defeated. Perhaps he’d been a little too fond when he’d told Savannah about how much of a support Jen had been to him recently, a little over-animated when describing how he was teaching her to dance, a little too specific when he’d described what he found so amazing about his new best friend. “Let’s pretend I do, just for arguments sake..”

“That won’t be difficult for you.” She crossed her legs with a satisfied smirk.

He laughed. “Okay. You got me. But this has to stay in this room.”

She nodded. “On one condition, so does the stupid thing I just did in the kitchen.”

“Deal,” he said, extending an arm. She took it, and they shook hands.

“So have you told her how you feel?”

He shook his head. “There’s no way I can do that.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Because she doesn’t see me the way I see her. I see this beautiful, remarkable, kind woman who makes me want to be a better person and sees the.. I don’t know, the good in me? The potential? No-one else sees me like that. But she sees that in everyone. I know she sees it in Rick. And she’d have made the best Queen, Savannah. She’s got what it takes. And, like I said. Rick really likes her. And even if she can’t unseat Madeleine, he still wants some sort of relationship with her. So it doesn’t matter what I think.”

“I don’t agree..”

“So I’m just doing my best to think of Jen as my best friend. Which is easy really, because she is my best friend. The best friend I’ve ever had.” He put his head in his hands for a moment, and looked back at her. “Trouble is, I’ve never really felt like I needed to talk to my friends every single second I had the chance, never felt warmth like I do in the oddest places when looking at pictures of them, or felt like I wanted to actually be with them in person so badly that it turned me inside out. That’s all new.”

Her expression was sympathetic. “You should tell her, Maxwell.”

“You’re a fine one to talk, Savannah Walker.” He winked at her, and she shook her head, laughing again, as he pointed both hands at her.

“Yeah, I know. We’re both as bad as each other. But, you know why I can’t tell Bertrand. It would be pathetic.”

“And it would be pathetic if I told Jen.”

“We really are both in a mess, aren’t we?”

“That’s a polite way of saying it,” he agreed. “Yeah. We are. More wine?”

She raised her eyebrows. “More wine!”

He looked sceptically at her. “As long as you promise not to try and jump me again..”

She beamed back at him. “You have my solemn word.”

***

"I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” he promised her as he left. “We’ve got a free day, and I think I can sneak away without anyone being too suspicious.” Although he was already wondering how he was going to explain his absence to Drake. Probably best just to go and hope he didn’t notice. “So, don’t go anywhere!”

“Thanks, Maxwell,” she said. “I’ll be here. And that’d be brilliant. I can get an uninterrupted shower. Been a while since I could do that!”

“Sure you don’t want me to bring Drake with me?”

“No,” she said. “I’m not quite ready for that.”

“Okay. Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow..” He turned to go.

“Wait, Maxwell. Just.. earlier. I just want to apologise again. I don’t know what came over me.”

“No need.” He smiled fondly at her. “I’m actually quite flattered. I mean.. you’re definitely out of my league.”

She shook her head. “I wish you wouldn’t see yourself like that. I’m not, you know. And neither is she.”

He laughed, looking at his feet, knowing exactly who she was referring to.

“You’re a catch, Maxwell. Anyone would be lucky to have you in their life.”

"Aaand on that note, before my head grows so large I can’t get out the door..”

She smiled softly, and kissed him on the cheek. “Go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Beyond her the baby monitor crackled to life, and Savannah turned to face it. “Oh. That time already?”

               “I’ll leave you two to it. Night.”

               “Night.”

               She closed the door and he wandered down the corridor and down the stairs, feeling bittersweet about the whole situation. He was quite pleased with how he’d handled that delicate situation; once upon a time he’d have probably gone with it, but there wasn’t room in his head for any more complications. He already hated keeping this huge secret from Bertrand, and from Drake. But he had no choice. She didn’t want them to know, and he got why. He just wasn’t looking forward to the day they found out. And he knew he’d get more flack from Jen over this too.

               Besides, even if there had been room in his head, there wouldn’t have been room in his heart. There was only one woman he could think about right now. And while distracting himself from her with another might have been effective in the short term, Savannah was right. He was one of the good guys. Whatever that was worth.

***

               The next morning, as arranged, he’d popped back over to give Savannah another break. Savannah hadn’t been out of the shower too long when there’d been a loud knock on the door. He’d been with Bartie at the time, so Savannah had gone to answer it, but he had felt a massive sinking feeling when he’d heard her shout her brother’s name. Oh no.

               He’d had two choices here, go and hide in a bedroom or something or go out and face Drake like a man. He’d contemplated calling Jen for advice; but it would’ve been the middle of the night over there, and he’d not wanted to disturb her beauty sleep. Instead he’d tried to think about what she’d tell him to do. Yeah. It was always going to be option two. So out he’d gone, he’d faced Drake, he’d listened nervously as Savannah told him the whole sorry story, and all the time Drake’s glare had got more and more intense whenever they made eye contact.

               This was bad.

               Afterwards, Drake had stormed off back to the train, not wanting to listen to his explanations, and to be honest, he got that. If he’d tried to force the issue, he’d thought he might have ended up with a fist to the face. And he valued his devilishly good looks.

 He’d taken off too, and was just roaming around Paris, trying to clear his head. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. He was just on the Champs Elysees when he heard a ping on his phone. It was about a quarter past one.

YOU FORGOT THE TIME DIFFERENCE AGAIN, DIDN’T YOU.

He smiled, cherishing her message. She was, of course, right. CAN I RING YOU?

SURE.

He called her. “You got me.”

“Only six hours between New York and Paris,” she chastised him. “I need my routine more than you do.”

“Routine? I have no idea what that is, other than texting you once a day.”

“So? How did last night go? With Savannah? Did you manage to convince her?”

Very slowly, he began to laugh, in a combination of delirium and defeat.

“Maxwell? What’s funny? What happened?”

“Wait, let me find somewhere to sit.” He perched on a wall just off one of the side streets. “Let’s just say, a lot has happened since I last texted you.”

“Start talking..”

“Yeah, so… last night, Savannah tried to kiss me…”

“WHAT?” He had to pull the phone away from his ear such was her shriek. “No, no, please say you didn’t…” She did not sound impressed at all. But then, why would she? This was his brother’s girl.

“Of course I didn’t kiss her back! What sort of mess would that have got me into?”

He heard her exhale. “Did she explain herself?”

“Huh, yeah, I think she thought I was expecting some kind of compensation for my kindness.”

“Ugh, really?” Jen was not impressed. “She obviously doesn’t know you that well, does she?”

He pondered on Jen’s words for a moment. “I told her that if she thought I was just doing all this to get her into bed then she didn’t really have a very good experience of the world.”

“Ooh, I never knew you could be so diplomatic. I’d have been far blunter.”

“Hey, give her the benefit of the doubt. She’s had it hard.”

“Only because she’s chosen to seal herself off from her son’s father, Maxwell! She’s not your responsibility! I hate what she’s putting you through. I really think you should tell Bertrand and Drake…”

He didn’t answer, running his hand through his hair in exasperation at the memory of earlier this morning.

“Maxwell? What else happened?”

“So I went back there this morning to help out with Bartie. And Drake turned up.”

“What? Did he follow you or something?”

“He’d still got the address from when he’d found the envelope I told you about. With the money in. He knew I was up to something.”

“Gosh. How’d that go?”

“It was awkward. Between them, I mean. I tried to talk to him, but… he stormed off. Didn’t want to hear me out.”

“Okay. Don’t panic. Where are you now?”

“Oh, y’know, just wandering around Paris..”

“Go back to the train and talk to Drake. Just keep well back in case he tries to knock you out. Maybe you should get Hana on board.”

               “I’m not so sure that’s a good..”

               “Maxwell, do it. You can’t hide forever. Go on, start walking towards the train now.”

               He stood up, hovering. “But..”

               “No buts. Face him like a man!”

               He laughed. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

***

               As he approached Drake, who was sitting alone in one of the communal train compartments, he saw his frown increase exponentially.

               “So, you came crawling back eventually,”

               He hovered nervously in the aisle. “Hey, you’re the one who wouldn’t hear me out..”

               Drake stood up and shouted right in Maxwell’s face. “You knew where she was this whole time! You knew how worried I was about her! You could’ve said something.. at least dropped a hint, that she was okay!”

And, of course, he was right. “Yeah, you’re right. I just didn’t know what to do. I’m really, really sorry Drake. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t my secret to tell. We’re still friends, right?”

Drake just continued to scowl at Maxwell.

Maxwell raised his eyebrows. “You think about that for a while, and we’ll come back to it.”

               “Don’t make light of this, Beaumont. It won’t wash with me.”

               “You won’t tell Bertrand, will you?”

               “Not if I kill him first,” Drake assured him, punching his fist into his other hand while looking intensely at Maxwell the whole time.

               “Okay, I’d rather you told him, but… please don’t. Think about your sister. Give her time to get her head around the fact that you know about Bartie.”

               “Think about my sister, huh? That’s rich.”

               Maxwell sighed, and skulked away to their sleeper carriage. The one he was sharing with Drake. Excellent.

He thought Jen might be at work by now, so he texted her.

               THAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL. HE HATES ME.

               HE’LL GET OVER IT. AND I DON’T HATE YOU X

               Heart flutter moment. Stop it, Maxwell. GLAD TO HEAR IT. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

               I GOTTA GO TO WORK. BUT TALK TO HANA IF SHE’S ABOUT. I’M SURE SHE CAN MEDIATE. MAYBE GET HIM A PEACE OFFERING. I’LL TEXT YOU LATER.

               OKAY LATERZZ

               He lay down on his bunk and made some frustrated noises. Therapeutic. Then he scrolled back in his phone and looked at his favourite picture of Jen. Eight sleeps and counting.

***

               GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM, FROM GAY PAREEEEE!

               GOOD MORNING SQUID BOY. YOU SEEM BRIGHTER TODAY.

               Squid boy? That was new. She hadn’t texted him last night after work in the end, but he’d probably have been asleep anyway. He’d found Hana and they’d gone out to get something to eat and he’d told Hana everything. Hana had been very helpful, very neutral. She clearly saw things from Drake’s point of view, as well as Savannah’s. She’d then spoken to Drake for him. And, Drake had appeared to be tolerating him this morning. Which was a good thing seeing as they were train roomies.

               YEP. THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE YESTERDAY! I’VE JUST BEEN OUT AND BOUGHT DRAKE A SUIT FOR RICK’S BACHELOR PARTY LATER *winking emoji*

               WAIT, RICK’S HAD HIS BACHELOR PARTY.

               THIS IS THE OFFICIAL ONE. WHICH I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO ORGANISE. IT’S GONNA BE DULLER THAN DULLSVILLE.

               AW, I’M SURE YOU CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY OF BRIGHTENING IT UP. AFTER ALL, YOU LIGHT UP ANY ROOM.

               Gulp, what? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN A ROOM WITH ME? Oh wait, maybe that wasn’t the best thing to say…

               THAT CLUB WAS LIT BECAUSE YOU WERE IN IT AND YOU KNOW IT.

               He knew she was telling him what he wanted to hear. AND THAT’S WHY YOU AND RICK LEFT IT SO EARLY, YEAH?

               OUR LOSS. SO TELL ME ABOUT THIS SUIT. HAS HE SEEN IT YET?

               HE’S TRYING IT ON NOW. HEY WAIT..

               Drake came striding casually towards him from the direction of their carriage. “So what’dya think.”

               Maxwell stood up, gushing. “Ohmygod. You look ready to break a load of hearts tonight!”

               “Maxwell, it’s a bachelor party.”

               “So? Hey, let me snap a quick pic for Jen.” He’d taken one before Drake could object, and sent the photo through.

               TA-DA!! LOOK UPON MY MASTERPIECE! PRETTY GOOD HUH?

               I’M IMPRESSED. TELL DRAKE NICE SUIT. YOU TWO ALL GOOD NOW?

               “Jen says nice suit.”

               Drake scowled, and headed back to where he had come from.

               ISH. YOUR OTHER NEWS FOR TODAY IS THAT OLIVIA TURNED UP AGAIN LAST NIGHT. SHE GOT A LEAD THAT HER BLACKMAIL NOTE WENT THROUGH BASTIEN.

               OOH, HOW’D SHE FIND THAT OUT?

               SHE WON’T TELL US. BUT SHE WANTS DRAKE TO TALK TO HIM TONIGHT.

               DO YOU KNOW WHAT BASTIEN HAS ON HER?

               OF COURSE NOT. SHE’S TELLING US NOTHING. BUT IT MUST BE BAD IF IT MADE HER LEAVE THE COMPETITION. SHE LOVES RICK, IT’S PRETTY OBVIOUS. AND HE WAS… WELL YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR ALL THAT. ANYWAY, IT DOESN’T MATTER. OLIVIA’S JUST OUT FOR VENGEANCE. SAYS MADELEINE’S WELCOME TO HIM NOW.

               OOOH DRAMA… IT’S ALL GOING ON IN PARIS ISN’T IT?

               YOU ARE SO RIGHT!

               SO WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR TONIGHT? DAZZLE AND DISTRACT EVERYONE WITH DRAKE’S NEW SUIT?

               ACTUALLY I’M GOING TO CREATE A DISTRACTION WHILE DRAKE CONTRONTS BASTIEN.

               OKAY, SO.. HOW ARE YOU GONNA DO THAT?

               I’LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT. DISTRACTION IS MY MIDDLE NAME!

               MAXWELL DISTRACTION BEAUMONT. NICE.

               Better than the real one. AKA AGENT BREAKDANCE. ON A MISSION TO BREAK HEARTS, AND DANCE.

               YOU NEED TO WORK ON THAT STRAPLINE. TELL YOU WHAT, I’LL THINK ABOUT IT WHILE I’M AT WORK.

               OOH, YOU CREATIVE GENIUS YOU!

               NOT PROMISING ANYTHING. WELL, CALL ME IF YOU NEED ME. I’M ON A SPLIT SO I’LL BE FREE 7-11 YOUR TIME.

               THAT’S AWESOME TO KNOW, JEN, THANKS. BUT I’M SURE IT’LL BE FINE. WHAT’S THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN?

               SHHHHHHH. I’LL CHECK IN WITH YOU LATER, OKAY?

               OKAY. YOU NEED AN AGENT NAME!

               I’LL GET THINKING OF THAT TOO. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR MISSION, AGENT BREAKDANCE X

               He needed all the luck he could get, but somehow he felt like he could take on the world right now.

***

               They’d now been at the boring bachelor party for about half an hour, and Maxwell had managed to eat a rather exquisite steak in that time and consume most of a large glass of some very expensive whisky. When Drake gave him the signal, he hurried to the centre of the room with his drink, and cleared his throat.

“Gentlemen, please lend me your ears! I would like to propose a toast to our wonderful King!”

 “That’s kind of you, Lord Maxwell,” Rick said, amusement on his face.

“I am nothing if not kind, except dashingly handsome,” Maxwell agreed. “Let’s all take the time out of our celebrations to honour those who also made these exquisite festivities possible, starting with the janitorial staff. I’d also like to thank my tailor for creating the most comfortable pair of underwear, which I am giving you this speech in. And lastly, let us enjoy our manly things, in harmony, or fisticuffs. To steaks and whisky!”

“Steaks and whisky!” agreed Rick, laughter in his eyes. It was great to see him looking happy for a change.

“To King Rick,” Bertrand suggested, holding up his glass. Dang, why was he always here, judging and undermining him?

The nobles completed their toasts and Rick approached him. “What was that all about?”

“Am I not allowed to big up one of my BFFs once in a while?”

Rick nodded. “Of course you are. I just can’t help but think that you’re causing some sort of…” He turned his head and looked across the room, to see Drake conversing with Bastien, their expressions tense. Now Bertrand was going to investigate. Oh no.

“I just… I better…” Maxwell patted Rick on the arm and tentatively walked towards the three men. He stopped when he got close enough to overhear the conversation. This was not good. He was pretty much a dead man walking.

He grabbed his phone, finger poised to dial Jen to see what she thought he should do, but before he could, Drake laughed sarcastically. “Not everyone. Maxwell knew exactly where she went. Didn’t you, Maxwell?”

“He.. what?”

Maxwell gulped. Here lies Maxwell Beaumont. Cause of death, ten thousand tongue lashings from his own brother.

               He contemplated slinking off towards an empty booth, but Bertrand was on him, eyebrows ingited with ire.

               He gulped. “I… uhhh….”

               “Maxwell Percival Beaumont. Tell me this man is lying…”

                “Errrr.. well..”

               “Maxwell actually had the heart to support her, which is more than you ever did,” Drake growled.

               “How?” asked an incredulous Bertrand.

               Maxwell looked at Bertrand. It was time to start telling the truth. “You know my excessive spending habits? Well, I sent most of it to her.”

               “I knew it! You didn’t really purchase a dozen peacocks!”

               Maxwell glanced at Drake. “Well, the peacocks really did happen, but that was a one-time thing.” He turned back to Bertrand. “Everything else was made up. The jet skis, the expensive wine.. I’d hide the cash in our study until it was time to send it off.”

               “Now you know where that extra money was going,” Drake pointed out.

Bertrand turned back to Drake.  “I didn’t know she was in distress. What happened?”

               Drake’s expression was furious. “I don’t know, maybe she needed help raising your kid!!”

               Ohhhhhhhh shoot. Make that twenty thousand tongue lashings.

               Bertrand looked back at Drake, torment in his expression. “A.. a child?? When did.. Savannah was.. pregnant? I didn’t know. You have to believe me. I didn’t know.”

               Drake nodded, furious. “She told me you gave a nice long speech about how you two could never be together.”

               “You don’t understand.. the last time I saw her.. what I said.. she must have misunderstood..”

               Drake grabbed Bertrand by the collar. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”

               Maxwell just watched, frozen to the spot.

               “Unhand me!” Bertrand cried, but Drake wouldn’t let him go.

               “You broke my sister’s heart! You nobles think you can just play with us commoners and throw us away when you’re done. Well, this time, you’re going to have to answer for it!” His hand clenched in white knuckled fury, and he cocked his fist.

                  “Stop!” Maxwell shouted, jumping in front of Bertrand.

                  “Out of the way!” Drake warned.

                  “Listen, violence never… GAAHHH!”

                  Aaand Drake had punched him right in the moneymaker. He stumbled and almost hit a wall; he put his hand to his face and blood was smearing on his fingers. Bertrand didn’t seem to care, he was too busy frowning.

                  “Enough. You three. Out.”

                  Bertrand turned to Bastien. “What? I’ve done nothing wrong! It’s these two reprobates who are brawling..”

                  Bastien spoke under his breath to Bertrand. “This incident has already caused enough of a disturbance. Do you really need to embarrass yourself further in front of half the court?”

                  Bertrand’s face was a picture. “I… No. Come, Maxwell, we’re leaving.” He grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him out of the speakeasy.

                  He was unceremoniously marched over to where their rented limo was parked up, wincing as he went. Man, that Walker could really throw a punch when he wanted to.

                  “Jeez, bro, how about a ‘thank you Maxwell for throwing yourself in harms way for me’?”

                  Bertrand threw open the door of the limo and pointed inside. “Get. In.”

                  He obeyed, with a sigh, and wiped his bloody nose with the sleeve of his Gucci shirt. A travesty, but he didn’t want to incur further wrath by getting blood on the limo seats.

                  Bertrand got in after him. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

***

                  Maxwell lay in his bed in their train compartment, tears in his eyes, staring at his phone screen. So, Bertrand now knew everything. His reaction had not disappointed. But, obviously, Maxwell had. Biggest disappointment to House Beaumont in at least four centuries. Probably, ever.

                  Bertrand had taken it upon himself to sleep in Drake’s bed tonight. Drake was still AWOL anyway. He’d said it was because he considered it unwise for Maxwell and Drake to be in the same room after the fracas earlier, but Maxwell knew it was part of his fraternal punishment. But the worst had been yet to come.

                  As they’d closed and locked the door for the night, Bertrand had shot him a menacing look, and their conversation was still ringing in his ears.

                  “And you can put your phone away, Maxwell. I don’t want to hear you crying into it in an attempt to win sympathy from your transatlantic tart.”

                  He’d taken it all on the chin so far, but this was where it had to stop. “Whoa right there. Say all you like about me, Bertrand, god knows you already have. But leave Jen out of this. She has been the most amazing friend to me over the last few months.”

                  “Pff. I would suggest your experience of friendship is limited, if that’s your opinion.”

                  “She has, Bertrand. In fact, she knew all about Savannah and Bartie. I told her because I had to tell someone..”

                  “When the person you should have told was your own brother! That’s nothing to be proud of, Maxwell.”

                  “Listen! Jen told me I should tell you! She kept on and on at me about it saying that this would happen – but I couldn’t go against Savannah’s wishes, for all the reasons I’ve already said…”

                  “Well maybe you should have paid more attention to your ‘most amazing friend’. Besides, you must know she’s using you.”

                  “That’s not true…”

                  “That girl would drop you like a stone if she wasn’t living under some delusion that she still has a chance to become Rick’s queen. Which I imagine you keep encouraging in the vain hope that you can keep her in your pathetic little life.”

                  “ENOUGH, BERTRAND!”

                  Although it was dark, he wondered if Bertrand had seen the tears in his eyes, or perhaps he’d heard the emotion in his voice. But, he’d stopped. And, had seemingly gone to sleep eventually. But, of course, Maxwell hadn’t. And now he lay awake, staring at his screen, looking at the text that Jen had sent earlier.

                  AGENT PERFECT CHECKING IN WITH AGENT BREAKDANCE. ASSUMING NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS?

                  He would tell her what had happened tomorrow, of course he would. But he just needed a little space to think. Maybe Bertrand was right. Maybe he was just setting himself up for a fall here. Already, he couldn’t imagine his life without her friendship in it. And that was healthy in some ways. But, not in others.

***

                  They were on their way to a stupid tea party when 1pm arrived. Bertrand was in the limo with him, there had been a lot of awkward silences this morning. Once they got there, Maxwell was going to have to build bridges with Drake and converse with Olivia, neither of which he was particularly looking forward to, but the prospect of escaping from his brother’s company was sweet bliss.

                  He sent a brief text.

                  GOOD MORNING, LITTLE BLOSSOM. SO, A LOT HAS HAPPENED. EASIER TO TELL YOU THAN TEXT YOU. BUT CAN’T TALK NOW. CAN I CALL YOU LATER?

                  SURE. I’M FREE THIS EVENING, WILL YOU STILL BE UP ABOUT ELEVEN-THIRTY PARIS TIME?

                  FOR YOU? OF COURSE.

                  IS EVERYTHING OKAY?

1. BUT I’LL SURVIVE. I’LL SPEAK TO YOU THEN, YEAH?

                  YEAH. LET’S FACETIME.

                  Great. She was going to see his messed up face and laugh, he knew it. KAY.

***

                  He was all tucked up in his sleeping bag when the ringtone sounded, but he sat up to answer the call. “Hey!”

                  “Hey!” She smiled widely at first, but soon looked puzzled. “Maxwell, are you in a tent?”

                  “Yep! Drake had this crazy idea that we should go camping! Get away from court… get away from Bertrand… it was a win-win!”

                  She giggled. “And, of course, it being a crazy idea, you thought it was a great one.” She paused again, seemingly with concern in her eyes. “Oh god, what happened to your face?”

                  “Tis but a scratch,” he said bravely. “A surface wound.”

                  “Maxwell, did someone hit you?” She looked strangely fierce, almost protective. Damn. This did things to him. Deep breaths.

                  “Chill, Jen, I’m fine. I may have stumbled into Drake’s fist by accident. S’all good now.”

                  “Tell me everything. You’ve been too quiet over the last few days. I know you well enough to know that means you’ve got so much to tell me, you don’t know where to start.”

                  Oh, she was so right.

                  “Don’t look at me like that, Maxwell, you know I’m right.”

                  He sighed. “Okay. So. Drake confronted Bastien as planned at the speakeasy last night…”

                  “While wearing his fabulous new suit..”

                  “Yes while wearing his fabulous new suit, but he didn’t get very far. Although, I didn’t get to find this out until this morning. Because, Bertrand entered stage right just when Drake was riled up, and…”

                  “Let me guess. Drake told him about Savannah.”

                  “Yup. Told him where she was, that I’d known all along, and told him about Bartie.”

                  “Oh, no.”

                  “Oh, yes!”

                  She looked uncharacteristically sad. “How did he react?”

                  “I endured the torrents of linguistic torture that followed…”

                  She was laughing now. That was better. It was one of the loveliest sounds to him. Maybe the loveliest.

                  “Hey, not gonna lie, Drake’s punch to the face was painful, but I think I preferred that bit.”

                  “How come he..”

                  “Oh he just got all riled up, he was going for Bertrand, I got in the way. Took one for the team.”

                  “And was Bertrand grateful?”

                  “What do you reckon?”

                  She sighed. “Aww. I’m sorry, Maxwell. Why didn’t you call yesterday?”

                  “Oh, I was stuck in a room with Bertrand.”

                  “And how are things with Drake? I assume if you’ve gone camping together things must be a little better?”

                  He nodded. “Yeah. He’s talking to me again. I mean, Rick and Hana are with us too. It was Drake’s idea, but he wasn’t keen on the idea of me coming along, Hana managed to talk him into it. We all had to talk about the whole Bastien thing. Drake managed to get him to admit to blackmailing Olivia. But he was following orders from someone and he won’t tell us who.” He sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. “We all just needed to get away from it all.”

                  “I bet. Do you feel better for it?”

                  He did now she was in the tent with him. “Yeah.”

                  “Good. So, how’d you leave it with Bertrand?”

                  “Oh, we’ve not spoken much today. But I think he might have been thinking about going to see Savannah this evening. I don’t know if he did. Drake tipped her off to warn her. To give him his dues, he took the blame for letting it slip to Bertrand.”

                  “That was decent of him.” She was seemingly sitting on a sofa, and pulled a cushion into her with her free hand. “You look awfully cosy in there, by the way.”

                  “Really?”

                  “Yeah. I’m kinda wishing I was snuggled up in there with you too.”

                  You and me both. Play it cool. Play it cool.

                  “Huh, yeah. Well, it’s almost midnight, so I might need to hide back in my sleeping bag soon. That’s when the ghosts come out.”

                  “Okay. So the ghosts come out after the hippo comes out.”

                  Oh crap. He looked around for his shirt, not having given this a thought.

                  She giggled. “Relax Maxwell, I’ve seen it all before, remember?”

He smiled back at her. “Have you though? How do I know you’re not a spookily similar Jen impersonator calling from Jen’s phone?”

“Okay, you know I love your brand of weird, but… this is weird plus one.”

“Go with it?”

She smiled. “I’ll try. Well, I know you love dance offs..”

“Everyone knows that!” he said. “I’m sure that’s the first thing not-Jen would know about me.”

“You eat candy corn all year long..”

“That could be true of anyone,” he argued.

She shook her head. “It’s not.”

“I’m still not convinced, phony Jen.”

“Okay, how about this.. you care more about Bertrand’s opinion of you than you’d like to admit.”

She knew him too well. “Wow, that got real pretty fast. But I’m still not sure I believe you.”

“Well, I guess I can’t prove I’m me all the way from over the Atlantic. But if I was there with you right now, I’d tackle you into a massive bearhug so you could feel I was real. How about that?”

Oh god yes. “Huh, I’m sure that would convince me.”

“And it might help warm you up too. I can see the bumps on your arms.”

 “It’s cold out here in these haunted woods,” he said.

“Well, why don’t you snuggle into that sleeping bag. I think I’ll still be able to see you.”

He did as she suggested, her face watching carefully as he repositioned himself.

“Good idea,” he said, dreamily. “This is nice.”

“Told ya,” she chirped.

“Alright, you’ve finally convinced me. You’re the real Jen Jones,” he said, as content as he could ever remember being.

               “So. After everything that’s happened, you’re okay?”

                “I’m okay..” More than okay, actually.

               “Good. Don’t let Bertrand get you down. And don’t keep beating yourself up. I think what you did was amazing.”

               “Really?”

               “Yeah. You’re such a good friend, Maxwell.”

               He nodded, not sure why he would have expected her to say anything more.

               “You look beat. I’ll let you get some sleep. Oh, talking of sleeps, six sleeps until I see you again!”

               He closed his eyes. “Five soon.”

               “Yeah. Night, Maxwell. Sweet dreams.”

               With a little wave, she hung up, and he sighed in frustration. In some ways, he couldn’t wait to see her. But in other ways, it made him feel quite sad. Because all of the little daydreams and fantasies that had got him through this tour so far weren’t going to happen when he got to New York. Yeah, he was an optimist. He knew how to dream big. It was one way to get through life. But this? This was a dream too far.

Still, he did his best to imagine she was still with him. As in, really here with him. In the flesh. She’d be lying on her side next to him, with one arm really gently layered over him, and her head would be gently resting against him so that her black curly locks were tickling his chest.

Ohhh man. This dream was sweet. Where would the other arm be?

Huh. Yeah. Just about there.

Chapter Text

Jen lay on the sofa, staring into space, for a little while. There was no other word for what she was feeling right now but yearning. She’d almost felt like she was in that tent just then, and now she wished she was still there, curled up in that sleeping bag with her best friend in the world. But when she’d confessed that to him, he hadn’t reacted quite the way she’d hoped.

But did it really matter if he didn’t feel the same way? He still made her feel like she mattered, more than anyone else ever had since her parents had passed away. One way or another, next week, they would get to spend some time together in person. And that was a really good thing.

Of course, a week was a long time. A daydream flashed through her head in which she contemplated how long it would take her to get to Paris. She’d march into whatever posh party they were all at tomorrow, give Bertrand a piece of her mind, then she’d head round Savannah’s and do the same to her. But then she remembered that she didn’t know whereabouts in Paris they all were, and she didn’t know where Savannah lived, and if she was honest, she was a little bit nervous about seeing Maxwell again.

They were so close now it was as if they’d known each other forever, but their friendship had been forged entirely over the medium of their mobile phones. She didn’t even know if they’d click with each other in real life. She very much wanted the opportunity to find out, but she was frightened of how she would feel if it didn’t. Plus there was the whole Rick complication.

I don’t want to be a King’s mistress.

Trouble is, what do I want?

***

BONJOUR MA PETITE BLOSSOM! BIENVENUE TO THE FINAL JOUR OF LE DAILY DIGEST!

What sort of Franglais was that, she pondered, smiling fondly. YOUR LAST DAY IN PARIS THEN?

YUP. FLYING TO SHANGHAI IN THE MORNING! AND YOU KNOW WHERE NEXT!!!

Oh, did she. SO ARE YOU BACK FROM YOUR CAMPING TRIP?

YUP. ALL SHOWERED NOW AND READY FOR TODAY’S EVENT!

DID YOU SLEEP OKAY IN THE TENT?

There was a pause.

She couldn’t resist. DID YOU DREAM ABOUT ME?

NO..

Oh, fair enough. JUST TEASING. THOUGHT YOU MIGHT SEEING AS YOU PRETTY MUCH FELL ASLEEP WITH MY FACE IN YOUR FACE.

Was she digging herself a hole here?

AAAANYWAY. SHORTLY, WE ARE HEADING TO THE OPERA HOUSE! TO SEE AN OPERA, I GUESS.

She chortled. GOSH, YOUR POWERS OF DEDUCTION ARE ON POINT TODAY.

NOT REALLY MY GENRE OF CHOICE, BUT HEY, IT’S FREE CULTURE! YOU WORKING TODAY?

NOT TILL THIS EVENING. AND YES YOU MAY TEXT ME DURING THE PERFORMANCE IF YOU GET BORED.

YOU ARE THE BEST!

I MAY NOT REPLY. I’M OFF OUT SHOPPING TODAY. I HAVE AN EXCITING WEEKEND TO PREPARE FOR!

DIDN’T I HEAR THAT YOU HAD A VERY IMPORTANT VISITOR COMING TO SEE YOU?

YES. HE’S A KING ACTUALLY.

She deliberately waited a second or two. Okay, she was awful. But he deserved it.

BUT I ALSO HAVE A VERY VERY IMPORTANT VISITOR COMING TOO. MY BFF, THE ONE AND ONLY SQUID BOY!

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT! WELL, I BEST GET READY, I’M TRYING TO PACK FOR SHANGHAI TOO.. IT’S NOT GOING TO SCHEDULE.

I’LL LET YOU GET ON. TEXT ME LATER x

I’LL SEE IF I CAN FIND A GAP IN MY SCHEDULE *emojis*

She shook her head. Maybe, just maybe, when she saw him this weekend, she might be able to start figuring out what was going on in that head of his.

***

There had been a couple of random texts later on (something about an idea that he’d had for a hip-hop opera) but Jen had been so busy going from shop to shop trying on so many dresses, she’d missed them. She wanted to look great this weekend. She had a picture in her mind of the sort of thing she wanted; elegant, ladylike, alluring. But nothing she found in the shops really looked right. It all just looked tarty and desperate and that really wasn’t the impression she wanted to portray to anyone.

Eventually, on the bus on the way home, empty handed and a little deflated, she responded to him. SO, THIS HIP-HOPERA? TELL ME MORE.

JEN, I’M FEELING SO INSPIRED. I’M GOING TO WRITE A BREAKDANCE OPERA. IT’LL BE MY MAGNUM OPUS.

WELL, IF ANYONE CAN SUCCESSFULLY COMPOSE AND CHOREOGRAPH A BREAKDANCE OPERA, IT’S MAXWELL BEAUMONT!

THANKS! I WAS TALKING TO OLIVIA EARLIER ABOUT IT, AND SHE GAVE ME SOME GREAT IDEAS! THERE’S GONNA BE A BEHEADING, AND A BIG BREAKDANCE BATTLE FINALE IN A FIGHTING PIT…

BACKUP - YOU WERE TALKING TO OLIVIA?

OOOH, JEALOUS?

CURIOUS. HAS SHE FOUND OUT WHO WAS BLACKMAILING HER YET?

NOPE. SHE THOUGHT IT WAS RICK’S STEPMOTHER. SHE NEVER LIKED HER. BUT SHE INTERROGATED HER EARLIER. SHE DOESN’T THINK IT’S HER ANYMORE. SHE NOW THINKS IT’S RICK’S DAD.

WHOA. HAS SHE TOLD RICK HER THEORY?

DON’T THINK SO, NOT YET. SHE CAN’T GET ANYWHERE NEAR HIM GENERALLY BECAUSE OF MADELEINE.

UGH. I KNOW YOU SAID RICK WANTS TO SEE ME, BUT MAYBE I’LL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM?

YEAH WELL, I THINK HE’LL SORT SOMETHING FOR YOU. OOH, THAT REMINDS ME, HAVE YOU WATCHED THE YOUTUBE VIDEOS AGAIN?

I HAVE…

HAVE YOU PRACTICED?

Anita had reluctantly agreed to act as her dance partner a few evenings ago so she could go over everything another time. YUP. OH, AND I NOW OWE MY ROOMMATE A FAVOUR. SHE WANTS A PLUS ONE TO THE FANCY PARTY.

I’M SURE THAT CAN BE ARRANGED! WILL BE GOOD TO MEET HER!

YEAH. I STILL HAVEN’T WORKED OUT WHAT I’M WEARING THOUGH. BEEN UP AND DOWN 5^TH AVENUE AND JUST CAN’T FIND THE RIGHT THING.

ON 5^TH AVENUE? OH, JEN. YOU’RE LOOKING IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES. LISTEN, WHY DON’T I HELP YOU FIND SOMETHING TO WEAR FOR THE PARTY? WE’RE ARRIVING SATURDAY MORNING, SO I’LL HAVE A FEW HOURS TO KILL BEFOREHAND…

This idea she liked very much, but she wasn’t going to let him know that. YOU? PICK OUT A DRESS FOR ME? I DON’T THINK SO.

WELL IF YOU’D GOT ON THAT PLANE LIKE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO, I’M SURE YOU’D HAVE MORE FAITH IN MY FASHION SENSE THAN YOU DO NOW. I’VE GOT IT, YOU KNOW.

IT?

THAT JE NE SAIS QUOI. AN EYE FOR FASHION. FASHION’S MY PASSION. WELL IT’S NOT. DANCING’S MY REAL PASSION. THEN MAYBE SQUIDS. BUT THEN? DEFINITELY FASHION. I LIKE TO THINK I COULD COMBINE SOME OF THEM. SEA CREATURE COUTURE? I DIG THAT.

MAXWELL YOU ARE NOT PUTTING ME IN A SQUID DRESS. BUT OKAY. I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER.

*EMOJIS*

***

The next day she was back at work. She knew she wouldn’t be getting a daily update as he’d be flying at 7am her time, but one day wasn’t going to kill her. However, at 7pm on the dot that evening, a text came in.

GOOD MORNING LITTLE BLOSSOM, FROM SHANGHAI!!!

ER… GOOD EVENING CONFUSED LITTLE SQUID BOY. IT’S 7 IN THE EVENING HERE.

OOPS.

She’d not been able to stop laughing for a while; eventually she heard her phone ring and she picked it up, still laughing.

“Okay, okay, so I can’t work out the time difference, I’m wide awake when I’m supposed to still be asleep, and I just want to be running around somewhere, okay?”

“Only you, Maxwell,” she said as she sat down on the sofa. “So, how’s Shanghai?”

“It’s amaaaazing. So pretty. So many buildings! So many gardens! And you’ll never guess what we’re doing later…”

“Eating Chinese food?”

“Ooh yes, but that wasn’t where I was going. Pandas, Jen. We’re going to see Real. Life. Baby. Pandas.”

She squealed with excitement. “Get ‘em on the gram asap! I’m so excited for you!”

“Oh I will, don’t you worry! I’ll send you your own special panda pic if you like? For your eyes only. I won’t put it on Picta.”

“Yes please. So how come you’re doing that?”

“Something to do with Hana’s dad, he sponsors the sanctuary. Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yeah. It is. I wish I was there with you.”

“Ah, but if you wish upon a star tonight, the stars might align to bring us together this weekend.”

“I think that’ll have more to do with a plane than the stars,” she giggled, feeling a shiver down her spine. “I really can’t wait.”

“Where am I going to meet you?”

That was her little secret. “Just call me when you get into JFK and we’ll sort out where to meet. We can go and do brunch, and then go shopping like you promised..”

She thought she could hear a sigh of contentment from his direction. “Only two more sleeps!”

“Three for me,” she pointed out.

“Well, I’m gonna have to dash, I think we’re heading off to see the pandas quite early and I’m still sitting here with my hippo bared to the world.”

“The pandas would love to meet your hippo,” she giggled. She was quite looking forward to meeting it too.

“Huh, when I said you were getting your own special panda pic, I wasn’t promising anything that exotic.”

Oh, you tease Maxwell Beaumont. “Very well. I’ll be happy with whatever I get, if it comes from you.”

“Glad to hear it. Right, shower time. How’s about this, I’ll text you at 7pm my time with another daily digest?”

“Only if it’s the panda edition,” she said to him.

“Oh it will be. Chow for now.”

He hung up, and she felt all giddy at the thought of him calling her while he was half naked. She grabbed a cushion and hugged it happily.

“What was all that about?” Anita came out of the kitchen, Jen hadn’t even realised she’d been in there. “Happy with whatever I get if it comes from you? My god, Jen Jones. You’ve got it bad.”

“Neet, were you listening to my conversation?” Oh no.

“I so was. And I knew it from the start. You sure he’s coming over here on a scheduled visit? I’m getting the feeling he’s coming just to see you.”

“No, he’s due to come over with the court… with King Rick…” She sighed. There was no point in hiding it now Anita was onto her. “Rick’s the one who wants to meet with me. He’s diverted the whole tour to New York especially. But.. he’s not the one I want to see.”

Anita grinned. “Yes. You finally admit it! After all these months of constant texts and late night phone calls and dance tutorials and… stockpiling Haribos and octopuses…” She gestured in the direction of Jen’s bedroom.

“That’s candy corn and squid, actually..”

“Whatever. I knew it from the start. You knew it from the start. I knew you hadn’t accepted you two were just going to be friends, no matter how many times you told me. Time to stop with the messing and claim your man, Jen.”

She sighed. “It’s not that easy. He doesn’t pick up on my hints. And he’s still really keen to see me and Rick work something out.”

“Oh, he’s one of those? Then you stop hinting and start being direct. And let’s face it. Your King is engaged to a Countess or whatever. He’s not gonna dump her for you. He probably just wants a bit on the side.”

“I think you’re right, Neet,” Jen said.

“But Maxwell? Jen, I’ve never even spoken to him. But I’ve seen how your eyes sparkle when you get a text from him. And I’ve heard you giggling down the phone to him. Sounds like you two could be something special. We’ll be calling you Lady Jen before we know it…”

“Shut up,” Jen said, trying to hide her blushing face. “Anyway, Maxwell said earlier you were good for a plus one. You got something to wear?”

“I can find something. You?”

“Not yet, but…” She grinned. “He’s taking me dress shopping.”

“Who is? No, I don’t have to ask to know it’s Maxwell. Make sure you buy the most expensive thing in the shop. I reckon he’d buy it for you. And then remove it for you at the end of the night…”

“NEET!” Jen couldn’t hide her glowing face now, and threw the cushion she was holding directly at her roommate’s head.

***

RISE AND SHINE LITTLE BLOSSOM! I GOT IT RIGHT THIS TIME, YEAH?

YES, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!

I WAS THINKING, ONE MORE DAILY DIGEST AFTER THIS ONE AND THEN NO TIME DIFFERENCE FOR A WEEK!

IS THAT THE BEST THING ABOUT YOU COMING TO NEW YORK?   

IT’S IN THE TOP FIVE BEST THINGS. ANYWAY, HERE IS THE NEWS. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, I WAS IN PANDALAND!

EEEEKK! I ALMOST FORGOT!

He sent through the cutest pictures of some baby pandas, and a picture of him with two baby pandas, and awwwwwww.

THERE’S MORE ON PICTAGRAM!

NATURALLY. I LIKE THESE THOUGH. SO CUUUUUTE!

ME OR THE PANDAS?

He was getting brave. THE PANDAS ARE CUTE….

I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING CUTER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! IN FACT MY LIFE HAS BEEN FOREVER CHANGED!

SO HOW WERE HANA’S PARENTS?

PRETTY INTENSE. I MEAN, I THINK HANA’S DAD LIKED ME. BUT HER MOM, NOPE. AND SHE JUST SEEMED SO TENSE AROUND THEM AS WELL.

OH! AND THEN IT ALL KICKED OFF AFTERWARDS! APPARENTLY OLIVIA AND RICK’S DAD HAD AN ALTERCATION AT THE DINNER. SHE JUST GOT BACK TO THE HOTEL, SHE SEEMS REALLY PISSED.

IS DRAKE WITH YOU?

YUP. STILL NOT TALKING TO ME THOUGH.

OH, MAXWELL. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING WITH THE REST OF YOUR EVENING?

NOT A LOT.

YOU NEED TO GET EVERYONE TOGETHER. CHEER THEM ALL UP. SOUNDS LIKE HANA AND OLIVIA HAVE HAD A TOUGH DAY, AND YOU CAN TRY AND MAKE YOUR PEACE WITH DRAKE. GO AND DO SOMETHING TOGETHER.

WELL, I AM STILL HUNGRY.. THAT DINNER WAS A BIT MORE LIKE ART THAN FOOD..

THEN GO AND GET SOMETHING TO EAT THE FOUR OF YOU. GO ON. DON’T WASTE ANY MORE TIME TEXTING ME.

There was a pause, and she thought he’d done as instructed, but a further message came through.

IT’S NOT A WASTE OF TIME. IT’S MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE DAY ACTUALLY. RIGHT I’M OFF, BYE!

She felt her heart jump a little. Because it was hers too. Always.

Chapter Text

This. Was. It. Finally, the day was here. It was time to go back to New. York. Cityyyyy! He was sure that Drake and Hana must have been able to feel him physically vibrating with excitement as he sat between them on the plane (that hadn’t been intentional, honestly – Hana had been keen to get the window seat and Drake didn’t want to feel claustrophobic). Right now they had about an hour left of their journey and the last drinks round was coming down the aisle.

“Shall we get another drink?” Hana suggested.

“CWA-FEE!” he shouted. “When in New York..”

Drake sighed very loudly. “Maxwell, you do not need the caffeine. You might actually explode.”

“I demand my cwa-fee. I need to stay awake all day!”

“Unlike us normal people who are planning to have a sleep before this stupid party,” Drake moaned, glancing at Hana.

Maxwell ordered his coffee along with a hot chocolate for Hana, and glared at Drake afterwards. “No Drake, you and Hana go and sleep all you like. I have plans!”

“You will be okay for the UN party though? I heard Bertrand telling you how important it was that you made a good impression…” That looked like genuine concern on Hana’s face.              

“Huh, Hana, since when did Maxwell care about what anyone thought of him? Except a certain waitress who he’s hooking up with today..”

“I am not hooking up with her, we are BFFs, and we are going for brunch, and then we are going shopping, and then she is finally going to get the chance to dance with her Prince! I mean, yes he’s a King now, but y’know..”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Maxwell.”

Hana turned to him. “Well I hope you two have a great day. I am going to need to get some rest though, I’m not really feeling all that great, actually. I might not even make the party.”

Maxwell looked at her sympathetically. She’d had an argument with her parents yesterday over her inability to find a suitor at court. He wasn’t sure what else was going on with Hana, but the tension between her and Drake had been excruciating afterwards. Hang on.. maybe that was why she was so keen to sit by the window… and why Drake was so… ohhh.

Now he felt awkward. “So, what are you both looking forward to doing and seeing in the Big Apple?”

“I’m looking forward to finding another dive bar and just staying in it,” Drake grunted.

“I’d quite like to see some of the sights,” Hana said. “The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State, Wall Street, Broadway, the Metropolitan Museum of Art…”

“Coney Island? Fancy going there?”

Hana looked at him. “I’m not sure I know what that is?”

“You’d hate it, Hana,” Drake stated. “It’s tacky and full of tourists.”

Hana smiled softly. “Well, Maxwell, how about this, if you can’t find anyone else to go there with, I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks, Hana,” Maxwell said, staring ahead. He was pretty confident that he could convince Jen to head there with him. It wouldn’t be as fun without her.

“You look nervous,” Hana pointed out.

“Me? Nervous? Nope! I’m cool as a cucumber, and twice as crispy.”

“He’s nervous,” Drake grunted.

“It’ll be fine,” Hana said. “You two get on so well, I bet seeing each other in real life won’t feel any different.”

He didn’t really know what to say to that, because he was leaping from euphoria to dread every five minutes right now. This weekend was going to go one of two ways. It could be phenomenal, if he and Jen got on in real life as well as they always did. But if they didn’t, it could be horrifying.

***

As they headed through the airport, and got through security, he reckoned he was feeling far more ill than Hana was. He kept getting his phone out but it hadn’t connected yet; hopefully it would when they got into arrivals. He guessed that they’d probably arrange to meet up once he got to the hotel, that would be the easiest thing.

He, Hana and Drake were walking with Rick and Madeleine, they would soon be crossing into the public arrivals hall but the consensus was that as long as they had adequate security they would be fine so long as they made their way quickly out of the airport and to the cars waiting outside. Rick wasn’t exactly a famous face in the US after all, as beautifully demonstrated the last time they were in this fine city.

They turned the corner and were met with the usual crowds of drivers holding names up on signs… But wait?

How come there was a massive sign with his name on it? All brightly coloured and decorated with squids?

He looked up from the sign.

And there she was.

She giggled, and waved one of her hands best she could while holding a 3-foot sign.

He couldn’t suppress his own grin as he casually (hopefully!) made his way over to her.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

She dropped the sign and threw her arms around him in a massive bear-hug. He squeezed her back just as tightly, hoping she couldn’t feel how fast his heart was beating right now because wham it was practically escaping from his chest.

Just as he was beginning to think he never wanted to pull away, she released him. “You’re really here!”

“Yup! I am! In the flesh.”

Her smile began to fade, and he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Maxwell, you didn’t say Jen was meeting you here.” Rick wasn’t looking at him as he spoke to him.

“That’s because I didn’t know!”

“Surprise!” she said with a sweet smile.

“That’s very thoughtful, Jen. I know he’s been looking forward to seeing you again. As have I.”

She nodded, tactfully. “Well I’m gonna steal him away from court for a bit today if that’s okay.”

“You have my blessing. We’re all headed to our hotel to rest now, but I will be in touch regarding this evening’s arrangements.”

Maxwell looked from Rick to Jen, trying to figure out what was going through their minds. He then heard a little cough from behind them.

“Darling,” said Madeleine. “We should go.”

“Yes, of course,” Rick said sheepishly. “This is Jen. That friend of Maxwell’s I was telling you about.”

Madeleine eyed Jen snootily, but did not speak to her, instead pulling Rick away. He was looking wistfully back in Jen’s direction though.

“Hey,” Hana replaced Rick and Madeleine. “I’m Hana. It’s lovely to meet you.” She held out a hand.

“Likewise,” Jen said, shaking Hana’s hand happily.

“Maxwell, are you going with Jen now? Would you like us to take your case to the hotel?”

“Aw Hana, that would be amazing – but don’t strain yourself…”

Hana looked back to where Drake was approaching. “Drake will take it for you, won’t you Drake.”

Drake rolled his eyes, sighed, and picked up the case. “The things I do for you people.” He threw a glance at Jen. “Good to see you again, Jones.”

She looked a bit confused, but nodded. “The day you said would never happen.”

“Huh. Glad it has though. Anyway. See you later.”

“Have a great time,” Hana agreed. “See you at the party.”

They headed off too, leaving Jen and Maxwell alone.

Maxwell looked at her, hearing all the airport sounds around them, the clattering of feet and trolleys, the bings of tannoys, the soaring of the taking off planes from the runways. But only seeing her. She was just that beautiful.

“So. Brunch?”

“Brunch!”

***

And with the topic of food entered into, the ice was broken. They’d headed away from the airport and into the city, and were sitting together in a small booth at a busy eaterie. Maxwell had ordered a bit of everything and was trying to work out how to physically eat everything that was left on his various plates, but oh, bagels and pasta and eggs and fruit and pancakes and bacon and waffles and….. Jen had been far more prudent with her order and was now reaping the rewards of her self-control by picking at his leftovers.

“Again. This is food heaven.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And you’ll be going to heaven sooner rather than later if you don’t stop eating!”

“I’m sure at some point, physically, it won’t fit in there anymore, and then I will stop, but look, Jen, I can’t leave a whole rasher of bacon…”

She picked said rasher up and bit into it teasingly. “There. It’s not a whole rasher now. You can leave it.”

“A pig died for that!”

“Who’s the pig now?”

“You’re even more snarky in person, know that?”

“Yeah. I don’t have chance to apply my filter before pressing send.” She licked her lips and ooof. “You done?”

“I am done. Sure you don’t want any more of that waffle?”

“I’m sure. I have to fit into this amazing dress you’re gonna buy me, right?”

“Huh, yep!” How was he going to tell her how limited his budget was? He might just about be able to afford a necklace or something. “You’re gonna be the belle of the ball. I mean, it’s not a ball. It’s a party. A soiree, if you will. But I’m gonna make sure there’s time for dancing at the end. I take my responsibilities on the Royal Entertainment Committee very seriously.”

“Does Rick even know he has a Royal Entertainment Committee?”

“Snarky. But, no.”

“Called it,” she giggled, drinking the last of her coffee. “Another coffee?”

“Another cwa-fee. Caffeine is going to have to keep me alive today. I have to somehow make it through until the end of the night. But I will. These lightweights that just can’t cut it, ha!”

She stood up, ruffled his hair as she walked past him, and headed up for the counter. Maxwell sat back in his chair and smiled, watching her place the order in utter contentment. All of his worries had been misplaced. After the initial nervousness they had pretty much picked up exactly where they’d left their last text conversation.

He’d told her about the Hana and Drake situation and how he’d found himself sitting between them on the plane (which she’d found hilarious), and he’d explained that Bertrand had flown on a charter plane so he could call in on Savannah on the way to New York so would be getting in later this evening (which she’d been unimpressed about, how come it was okay for Bertrand to squander the house funds that way? Except, it wasn’t really squandering them was it? It was good that he and Savannah were building bridges.)

There was a beep and he excitedly pulled out his phone, and then laughed at himself because the whole reason he got excited was that Jen might be texting him, when she was actually walking towards him with cwa-fee. He looked at the screen. Ah. Right.

“What’s up?” she asked, putting his coffee down next to his phone.

“It’s Rick,” he said. “A message for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So the party starts at 7.30. He wants to see you at 7, at the party venue.”

“Right…”

“Yup.” He didn’t read the next bit of the message to Jen. He’d told Rick that they were going dress shopping for this evening, and Rick’s next message was that he was transferring some money into Maxwell’s account towards it. He checked his bank. Whoa. Payday!

“What are you smiling at?”

“Me? Nothing..”

“Maxwell. You’re forgetting something. We may not have spent much time together in person, but I know you better than anyone. What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighed. “Rick’s kinda paying for your dress.” He showed her the transaction on his bank statement.

“Oh and you were gonna take the credit?”

“Would it have been unforgiveable if I had?” He looked at her with wide eyes.

Her pout rolled up into a smile. “Let’s go and spend all his money!”

***

He liked to think he had an eye for fashion, and he’d been helping Hana pick out a few outfits recently, but obviously this was a very important outfit for a very important occasion, no pressure Maxwell, no pressure.. (he heard Bertrand’s voice internally chastising him, yes, infinite amounts of pressure! No doubt he would be on his flight to NYC by now ready to judge his outfit selection later).

They’d been in three or four boutiques, Jen had been wide eyed in each one. There was nothing without a four figure pricetag in dollars, but they had plenty to play with thanks to the Crown. She’d tried one dress on in each of them, but nothing seemed right.

“What about that one?” she asked him as they walked back down the lane where all the high-end boutiques were. “We didn’t go in there, did we?”

“No, but lead the way!”

“Yes m’Lord,” she said obediently, as she sashayed playfully into the shop, trailing a hand behind her for him to take. He did so, and felt all funny inside as their fingers connected.

Together they perused the rails.

“What about this one?”

“Red’s not really my colour. Ooh, what do you think about this one?”

“It’s too similar to the sort of thing Madeleine will be wearing. Wait…”

He held up a cream gown with intricate lace details.

“Oh. Wow. What size is that?” She checked the label. While she was doing that, he wandered over to the accessories stand. He looked at the dress, at Jen (it was hard not to look at her), and then picked up a delicate double stranded necklace.

He wandered back to her. “Right size?”

“I think so.”

“Here. If Rick’s paying for your dress, I’m getting you this.”

“Wow. You sure know how to accessorise for an occasion,” she said, looking at the necklace.

“I like to call it success-orising,” he said with a wink.

“Ugh, I can’t unhear that now. But, thank you. I’ll go try it on then.”

“Try the dress too,” he quipped.

She shot him an impish look as she disappeared into the changing room.

He sat down on the chairs just to one side, and the shop attendant came across, probably to weigh them up to make sure they weren’t about to do a runner in a $4000 dress. It would be okay, she would hopefully spot he was clad in designer stuff himself and leave him alone.

“Treating your special someone?” she said quietly.

He grinned and nodded.

“You two look so perfect together. I saw the way you looked at each other as you came in.”

“Uh… thanks?”

“She must be special, that’s the most expensive gown we stock.”

He didn’t say anything, worried in case Jen could hear; but nodded in agreement.

Thankfully the attendant wandered off just before Jen emerged. His heart skipped as he saw how hot she looked in the dress he’d picked out.

 “Maxwell, I knew you were a master of style, but you’ve outdone yourself,” she said with a massive beam.

“I do what I can,” he admitted. “And you are going to slaaaay at the UN party tonight!”

She looked as if she was blushing slightly. “Do you think?”

“Oh for definite,” he said to her, heart rate just about returning to normal. “You got shoes that will work? Do you want to look for those here? We’ve got some change.. just about.”

“I’ll head to a high street shop to get some gold shoes I think,” she said, toying with the necklace, her beautiful skin tone visible through the lace arms of the dress. “And this is perfect. Thank you.”

You’re perfect. “No problem. I’ll go pay, you go change. Then we hit the shoe shops!”

“Think we can sneak in time for a quick drink too before we have to go get ready?”

“I would wager. Oh… do you live far? Are you going home to get ready?”

“Yeah. I have to go collect Anita anyway. So shoes, drink, then I’ll go home and I’ll meet you at the party after my little meeting with Rick, I guess?”

“I guess,” he said, feeling sick. When Rick saw her in this dress, his jaw was going to drop. Everything might change.

She went into the changing room, continuing to talk to him. “What happens tomorrow?”

“Rick’s got his engagement party.”

“Okay. Is that an evening thing?”

“I think it might be afternoon. Why?”

“Just wondered when I get to take you out on the town?”

“Oh, we can definitely arrange that…” His emotions were going haywire at this point.

“We could go back to Kismet? This time I’ll come and dance with you, I promise!”

“You’ve got a more important dance tonight, remember?” He’d had to pull a few strings to get a slow dance section incorporated into the party itinerary, but he wasn’t letting his girl down.

She didn’t reply, he heard lots of rustling of fabric. Maybe she hadn’t heard his question. She’d not said a lot on the subject of Rick today. The answer would come in how their little meeting went at 7.

She emerged, back in her black strappy vest and jeans. “You never paid, did you?”

“Not yet…”

She held the dress up. “I just saw the pricetag…”

“It’s fine. Rick’s going to love it.”

She looked forlornly at him. “Okay. If you’re sure he’ll be impressed…”

“No doubt about that,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You’d shine going in there just as you are. But in that… who couldn’t fall in love with you on the spot?”

There was a small smile on her lips. “Let’s hope you’re right, Maxwell.”

Chapter Text

Anita swore dramatically when she caught sight of Jen in her dress, which made Jen giggle.

“You look like a princess,” she went on to say. “How much did that dress cost?”

“Wanna see the price tag?” Jen said, raising an eyebrow.

Anita nodded, and Jen went back to her room to get it. She sighed as she looked out over the skyline lights. Today had been so much fun. She hadn’t wanted it to end. Yes, she was seeing Maxwell again this evening, but there would be so many people about. Just the two of them hanging out had been amazing. She’d laughed a lot, she’d felt just right in his company, and she’d definitely confirmed to herself that he was as gorgeous in real life as she’d expected, in every sense of the word.

But, he was still really pushing the meeting Rick thing. So, she had to go meet Rick.

“Here you go,” she said to Anita as she returned.

Anita took one look at the number of digits. “Fuck!”

“It’s okay. The King of Cordonia paid for it.”

“Oh yeah? The same King you’re now going for a private audience with?”

“Yeah. I have to meet him at 7. We best get going.”

“What do I do for half an hour?”

“Wait in the foyer, I’ll text Maxwell and get him to look out for you when you arrive.”

She picked up her phone.

HEY. I’M ALL READY.

HEY LITTLE BLOSSOM. NEARLY READY.

WHAT TIME YOU ARRIVING? CAN YOU LOOK OUT FOR MY ROOMMATE WHEN YOU GET THERE? WE’RE GOING TOGETHER SO SHE’LL BE HERE AT 7 TOO.

WON’T BE 7…. CAN MAKE IT 7.20 AT A PUSH??

YOU’RE AMAZING. THANK YOU. YOU DRESSING UP?

I PUT A FRESH SHIRT AND PAIR OF JEANS ON…

She giggled. In all the pictures she’d seen of Maxwell (well apart from the sexy beach picture, obviously) he was always wearing a black shirt and jeans. She’d therefore been unsurprised when he’d rocked up in a black shirt and jeans today. She had an inkling she knew what colour his fresh shirt would be.

OKAY. WELL LOOK OUT FOR ANITA. SHE’S SEEN A PIC SO SHE KNOWS WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE. TOLD HER TO WAIT IN FOYER FOR YOU. SHE’S GOT SHORT BROWN HAIR AND A BLACK DRESS ON. JUST THINKING IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR HER TO MEET UP WITH SOMEONE IN CASE ME AND RICK ARE A LITTLE WHILE.

CONSIDER IT DONE! AND.. I HOPE YOU GET ON OKAY, JEN.

I’LL COME FIND YOU AFTER, YEAH?

THAT WOULD BE AMAZING. SEE YOU SOON!

SEE YOU LATER X

“He’s going to meet you at 7.20,” she relayed to Anita. “Look after him, yeah?”

“You forget, I’m on the lookout for a rich boyfriend tonight,” Anita teased.

 Jen glared at her, and Anita laughed. Jen knew she wouldn’t go there.

***

They arrived at the hotel, and Jen was immediately escorted to a meeting room on the first floor, where she sat nervously on her own for a moment. She thought about sending a quick message to Maxwell, but decided against it.

There was a knock on the door, and then Rick walked in. Wow. He looked… important. Although she recognised his face, he did not seem like not the guy she remembered from that fun March night at all. It was as if he could have been that guy’s identical twin. He was all regally dressed and his face was stoic.

She stood up, and realised she wasn’t sure how to curtsey.

“Jen. Please, no need.”

He approached her and took her hand, kissing it.

Impressed, she smiled at him. “Well then, Your Majesty. We meet again.”

“Indeed we do. Please. Sit down.”

She did as instructed, taking care not to let her dress crease.

He sat across the small table from her. “You look… astounding. Did you choose that dress yourself?”

“No,” she admitted. “I had expert help.”

“I wondered,” Rick said. “Maxwell may have many flaws, but he has an eye for fashion.”

That annoyed her, but she said nothing.

“Still. I’m glad to have played my part too.”

“Of course, my apologies Your Majesty..”             

“Please. When we met, I was Rick. I’m still Rick.”

She eyed him curiously. “Rick. Sorry I should have thanked you for the generous gift.”

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Nothing compared to what I could offer you, Jen.”

She nodded. “Perhaps, if things had been different, and I’d had a passport the day we met.”

“I’d like to think it’s not too late for us to get to know each other,” he said. “I know we had a chat over the phone, but I wanted to see you in person. See if that connection we shared is still there.”

Jen smiled, knowing it wasn’t.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, Jen. When I found out you and Maxwell had kept in touch, it was like all my Christmases had arrived at once. I couldn’t say too much then because Olivia and I were very close at that point, but Olivia left court and…” He sighed. “Since then, Madeleine and I have been discussing our ground rules. And..” He stood up and wandered across to where she was sitting. “I just wondered if you’d be willing to get to know me a little better.” He reached out to brush a strand of her hair away. “Because I would very much like to get to know you a lot better.”

She jiggled her chair back slightly, and stood up. “Whoa. You can stop right there, Rick. You’re an engaged man.”

“But Madeleine and I have discussed this. She and I are not lovers. She wants to be my Queen, to serve her country with honour and dignity. She will be my public wife, we will present our relationship as loving to the outside world. Eventually she will bear my children, but we haven’t discussed the logistics for that yet. “

“So what you’re saying is…”

“I told her that if I were to find love elsewhere, I would take it, privately, and she was in approval with this. We have spoken about you at length. She told me that so long as she has the crown, you could have my heart, and any other part of me that you want.”

Jen did not want either of those parts. “That’s rather presumptive of you both, don’t you think?”

He looked sadly at her. “I can see now that it might be.”

“Listen, I get that you’re a King, and you’d shower me with presents and jewellery and treat me like a queen on a daily basis… but if you’d really wanted to see how things went between us, you should have been the one to leave me your number.” She wrangled with herself as to how much she should reveal. “Time has gone on. My life has changed since then. So has yours. We can’t just pick up from where we left off.”

“You said there was someone else in your life. He doesn’t have to know about us.”

She laughed, but knew she couldn’t tell him who the someone else was, and that they’d find out straightaway. “That’s not the point, Rick. The point is, you’re not happy in your engagement, are you?”

He sighed, and went to sit down again, where he remained in contemplative silence for a while.

“Rick?”

“Jen, I don’t know what you must think of me. So arrogant, so entitled. I got carried away. It’s just, everything seemed so positive, from what Maxwell was saying..”

She softened at the mention of Maxwell’s name. “Listen, I know he wanted the best for you. He really wanted to help you, and that was how this all started. But, as I said, things are different now. And I’m quite happy with the way things are in my life. You’re not. Let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about Olivia. Maxwell told me how close you two were, before the Coronation Ball.”

He nodded. “Olivia and I… she was special to me. She left because she was blackmailed. She’s still trying to get to the root of it all.”

“I know. Maxwell keeps me updated on developments.” She smiled. “On an annoyingly regular basis.”

He laughed. “Sounds like Maxwell.”

“You know, you could stand with Olivia. If she’s that important to you. You don’t have to stick with Madeleine. You’re the King, right? You’re in charge!”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Then why not ask Olivia to be your mistress?”

He laughed again, this time with humour. “If I asked her to do that, she would explode, and rightfully so. There is no way she would put herself in that position.”

“Yeah. She has self respect, that’s why. So do I. If you think you’re going to make an arrangement like that work while you’re married to Madeleine, you’re in for a lonely life. You need to think again, Rick. I like you. I enjoyed your company last time we met. So, I want to give you some friendly advice. It might not be me, it might not be Olivia. But someone out there is going to love you unconditionally. And while you and Madeleine are engaged, you’ll never find her.”

She stood up and walked past him, giving his hand a squeeze where it sat dejectedly on the table. “Don’t be that guy. If you want love in your life, you need to put that love first.”

With that, she went to the door. “I suppose I’ll see you later on at the party.”

“You will,” he said, as she opened the door. “And Jen? Thank you. You have given me a lot to think about.”

She nodded, and left the room.

***

Anita had still been sitting in the foyer when she’d come back down.

“Hey,” she’d said.

“Hey. His Lordship hasn’t turned up yet.”

“Oh.” Jen looked at her watch. “It is only twenty past now.”

“So? How’d it go?”

Jen bit her lip. “It was a bit awkward. He asked me if I’d be his mistress.”

“WHOA. And you said yes, naturally? Think of the jewels and the fancy meals and the…”

“I said no.”

Anita looked around. “Is he still looking for one? Cause I’m game.”

“Hey! Jen!”

She was so relieved to see him bounding over towards them. She couldn’t help but step towards him and before she knew it she’d kissed him on the cheek.

“What was that for?” He was definitely blushing.

“Real life social smooch,” she said, as Anita arrived behind her. “Maxwell, Anita, Anita, Maxwell!”

“So this is the guy that keeps you up all night texting?” Anita said with a suggestive wink. “Good to meet the man who’s put a smile on Jen’s face, your Lordship.”

“Er… good to meet Jen’s roommate! Wait, what has she told you about me..”

“Only the good things,” Jen said reassuringly, nudging him.

“Did you speak to Rick already?” Maxwell asked her, urgency in his wide blue eyes.

“I did,” she said, desperate to fill him in on what had been said. 

“Listen, I’ve been collared by Bertrand into greeting some of the dignitaries, but.. maybe we could have a quick chat in a little while, say about nine?” He glanced into the function room beyond them. “Where’d you meet Rick?”

“It was like a little meeting room.”

“Oh, I reckon we can do better than that,” he said with a grin, looking at the signage on the wall. “See that? Rooftop Lounge, top floor?”

She giggled. “Sounds lovely!”

“It’s a date. See you there. 9. Be there or be square. You too, Anita, if you want?”

Before Anita could answer he saluted and headed into the function room, leaving Jen and Anita in the foyer.

“Well, you better get me set up with some eligible bachelor by nine, cause I’ve got a feeling you’re not going to want me third wheeling up on the roof with you,” Anita stated.

Jen blushed. “Your feeling isn’t entirely misplaced.”

***

The party was an experience. They’d chatted with a number of people. Drake was there, and the three of them had made awkward conversation. Anita was clearly attracted to Drake, but he wasn’t picking up on any of her pickup lines. Jen had managed to find out from Drake that Hana wasn’t feeling too good so had stayed at the hotel. A shame, she’d been looking forward to getting to know Hana better. Which was more than could be said for Drake.

Occasionally, Maxwell would dash past her with a little grin or a wink or an innocent touch, those were the highlights of her evening. He was busy, and clearly out of his depth; she’d noticed what looked like a few awkward interactions with important looking delegates.

The main event was when Rick and Madeleine had arrived at the party. She wondered if Madeleine had been brought up to speed after their little meeting, she suspected not from the glares she was getting. Rick had spoken to her briefly, complemented her on her dress again, and thanked her for coming. He’d obviously had more important people to speak to.

Nine o clock came, and at that point they were in conversation with a couple of pretentious men, one of whom had reeled off a long list of titles, one of whom had just introduced himself as Rashad. Anita was now sweet on Rashad, so she figured she was good to go. She tapped her watch. “Anita, it’s nine.”

Anita’s face lit up. “Rooting for you! Go knock him off his feet!”

Jen beamed back. “Well, we’ll see what happens.”

Rashad looked interested. “What’s happening?”

“Oh, Jen has a date up at the rooftop lounge,” Anita said, having imbibed rather more champagne than a nervous Jen had considered it wise to. “She might not be single when she comes back down…”

Jen shook her head. “And you’ve had too much champagne. I’m just going to meet my best friend.”

“For now.”

“For ever,” she challenged. “Anyway, I have to go.” She glanced around the party, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Maybe he’d already gone.

She headed out into the foyer and called an elevator. Once inside, she checked her appearance, reapplied her perfume, and tidied her hair. Her heart was pounding.

***

“Hey, little blossom!” He was waiting for her in front of the opening elevator doors.

“Hey.” She stepped out and towards him. “You find this rooftop lounge?”

“I think it’s just up those steps. But before we head up there, how did it go with Rick?” 

She smiled. “Well, I’m hoping he’s going to break off his engagement with Madeleine…”

“What?” Maxwell stepped back. He looked troubled. Yes! That was the reaction she wanted! “Well, that’s great, I mean… but…”

“Relax, Maxwell,” she said, ruffling his hair. “If he does, it’s not on my account. I just tried to convince him that there’s someone out there who’ll love him for the amazing person he is, and he’ll never find her if he’s married to Madeleine.”

“Oh. Okay. So… he didn’t...”

“I didn’t say that. But I’m not prepared to be anyone’s second best.”

His face lit up. “You shouldn’t have to be. I mean, if..” He looked as if he was debating with himself a little. “Hey, thanks for telling me, anyway. Shall we head on up?”

She nodded. “Lead the way!”

They went up a small staircase which led to an open door out onto the roof. There wasn’t a bar or anything, and nobody else was up here, but there were chairs and tables, plants, lights… and the most amazing view of New York she’d ever seen.

“Wow…” Maxwell said, heading to the railing and leaning against it, gazing across the skyline.

“That view is unbelievable,” she said as she joined him.

“We’re on top of the world!!” He really looked as if he was as he turned to face her, pure joy on his face. It was infectious.

She looked at him for maybe a second too long, then moved her glance upwards. “Whoa, look at the stars!” It was a really clear night, and being up here just brought every star closer and clearer. It was quite something. Together, they gazed upwards.

“Best friends are like stars,” she reminded him.

“Ah, but I can see you tonight,” he said, glancing back at her and making finger guns. “And you’re as bright as any star up in the sky.”

“Be careful. Your cheese rating is soaring.”

“I thought you liked cheese.”

“I never said I didn’t.”

 He looked up at the stars again. “Ooh, do you see an elephant smoking a pipe too?”

“Huh?” This was random but made far too much sense coming from Maxwell. He pointed up at a constellation of stars, and they studied it together for a few moments. “Oh! Yeah! I see the elephant! There’s its face. Wait, is that the trunk or the pipe?”

“Both? Do you think it uses its trunk to hold the pipe in its mouth, or just smokes right through the trunk?”

God, I love you. “Always asking the important questions,” she giggled.

He laughed, and they continued to stargaze.

She knew she’d never get a better chance to talk to him about how she felt, and took a deep breath. “You know, looking up at the stars is so romantic.”            

“Yeah, I guess it kind of is,” he said.

“And I’m.. I’m glad I’m sharing it with you,” she said, reaching out to touch his arm.

“Oh..” he said, looking across at her cautiously. “Me too.”

“You know, I’m not sure I’ve properly thanked you for the opportunity you offered me last time you were here,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, if I’d come with you, I could have been at court with you, I could have travelled around the world…”

He looked confused. “Well, really, it was Rick, right? I mean, you would’ve come to Cordonia for him.”

She shook her head, and sighed. She turned around to face away from the railing they both leant on. “It wouldn’t have been about him, I don’t think. It would’ve been about a guy standing outside my work, offering me the adventure of a lifetime.”

“Maybe it was for the best that you couldn’t make it,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Where had all that positivity gone? That concerned her.

“I mean, if I’d brought you home with me as a suitor, you might have got yourself caught up in some bad stuff like what happened to Olivia, or worse…”

She tapped the bottom of his chin, and his blue eyes met her gaze. “I don’t think you’d have let that happen to me. And even if it had, I reckon you’d have been the one to fix it.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It’s obvious. You’ve always been there for me, through everything, since the day we met. I can always count on you to be the bad cop to my good cop.”

“Yeah,” he said, livening up at last. “Partners in crime! Or, I guess, in the opposite of crime. Partners in vigilante law enforcement! Wait, vigilantism is crime.. Partners in stuff!”

“We could’ve been dance partners," she said, feeling warm and fuzzy at the thought of it.

“Wait!” He jumped in realisation. “That was what I wanted to talk to you about! I’ve arranged for some waltz music to play at 10! And, I miiiight have tipped Rick off that you might be down there waiting for someone to ask you to dance…”

She sighed internally. Did he still not get it? But she had an idea. “Oh okay, well in that case, we need a quick rehearsal.”

“You did my videos, right?”

“I did, but… I kinda thought a quick personal tutorial from the dance master would be nice?”

“Oh.. okay… I am down for that… but there’s no music up here.”

She pulled out her phone and put on Youtube, pressing play on the third video he sent. They both looked at each other with a coy smile as they heard his tinny voice ring out. “Hi I’m Maxwell Beaumont and welcome to the third video in my Cordonian Waltz masterclass series.”

He shook his head, defeated. “Come on then, my lady.”

Laughing, she took his hand, and together the two of them stepped onto a clear space in the middle of the rooftop lounge. Maxwell put one hand on her waist, and raised her hand in a classic ballroom pose.

As the music picked up, she moved forward, but he stepped forward too, his foot stepping onto hers as they collided.

“Whoops, sorry… obviously I wasn’t paying attention to video number one..”

“Too busy laughing at Bertrand?”

“Spot on,” she said, and they both collapsed into giggles, eventually continuing their dance a little more gracefully.

“Well, good job this is just the final run through,” he said when the laughter had subsided. A twinkle formed in his eye. “Hope you’re ready for this…”

Oh, was she ready.

He grasped both of her hands and began to spin her around. As he continued to swing her around in time to the waltz, she relaxed, forgetting about the world around them, in that moment the only two people who existed were her and Maxwell. She laughed again, quite comfortable with him, feeling happy and alive.

He caught her eye. “Now here we go.. last move..”

He twirled her so that she was facing out, her back to his, and he drew her surprisingly close. At the feel of his arms around her, her whole body tingled, and her knees felt weak.

“You okay?” he asked her softly.

“Hell yeah,” she gasped. She was so much more than okay.

He laughed anxiously. “You’re all set to dance with Rick now. I’ve already messed up enough tonight. If I go challenge Madeleine to a dance-off or throw some bruschetta at her or something to get her out of the way, my Bertrand score is still gonna be zero….”

After that, she wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. She shook her head, and whispered in his ear. “Maxwell, there’s no-one else I’d rather be dancing with right now.”

Chapter Text

He adored that laugh; it was definitely his favourite sound in the whole world. It was the sort of beautiful music he could probably dance to on its own, without the need of any poor quality phone audio, but he’d roll with it.

She took his hand, and they headed out to what he considered a decent enough dancefloor, no chairs or tables, no other people. Ever so carefully, he put one hand on her waist, and raised the hand he was holding, ready to start the dance. Obviously, she was familiar with this; but he sensed a little instability in her. He’d make sure he gave her all the right cues.

As the music picked up, he stepped forward, expecting her to step back, but she’d already stepped forward and one of her delicate little toes just got crunched by one of his size elevens. He looked at her in horror, but she was smiling.

“Whoops, sorry… obviously I wasn’t paying attention to video number one..”

“Too busy laughing at Bertrand?”

“Spot on,” she said, and she giggled again; he couldn’t not laugh with her. Eventually he managed to get the rhythm between them into a consistent pattern ready for the big moves.

“Well, good job this is just the final run through,” he said, as the anticipation built in his chest for what was next. “Hope you’re ready for this…” He was telling himself really.

He took both of her hands in his and carefully began to spin her around. This was met with more laughter, and he picked up speed and began to relax a little himself. For a formal dance, this was almost as freeing as freestyling.

He looked at her, willing her to look back at him. Eventually she did.

“Now here we go.. last move..”

And he twirled her, then pulled her close, so close she had to be able to feel his heartbeat, and, ohoh, perhaps something else.. so maybe not that close, Maxwell!

She seemed a little wobbly as he held her tightly in his arms. “You okay?” he asked her, concerned.

“Hell yeah,” was her response.

He laughed to hide his nerves. “You’re all set to dance with Rick now. I’ve already messed up enough tonight. If I go challenge Madeleine to a dance-off or throw some bruschetta at her or something to get her out of the way, my Bertrand score is still gonna be zero….”

She shook her head, and whispered in his ear, giving him spine tingles. “Maxwell, there’s no-one else I’d rather be dancing with right now.”

“Aw, yeah, me too. Nothing better than dancing with your best friend.”

As he looked at her, he noticed her expression change. She drew back, swallowed, and took a deep breath. “Maxwell.. you’re more than a friend to me.”

“I’m.. Wait, what?” His stomach flipped. What was she saying?

“Well, it makes sense. Even though you’ve been so far away, you’ve always been by my side. You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.. and not just because you’re basically my alarm clock. I guess.. I’ve always had a bit of a crush on you.”

His heart was going crazy. “You have?”

“Even that first day we met, you were so sweet and funny, and it was clear how much you cared about Rick. I didn’t think much of it at first, but it’s been growing ever since, and.. well.. I can’t ignore it anymore.”

He just stood there, mouth agog, in shock, for a minute. He didn’t dare look at her. But he saw her many times in his head as his brain whirred furiously, through things that he should have picked up on, and little clues he’d just not thought anything of at the time..

But what if I’m falling for someone else?

I told him that you were my boyfriend…

There’s things I want to say to you that would be better said in person.

I’m kinda wishing I was snuggled up in there too with you.

He finally plucked up the courage to look at her, to see her beautiful face gazing at him, as his heart beat like never before in his chest. His head was full of so many thoughts, like how much in love with her he was even though he’d been trying to convince himself he wasn’t, because she was obviously so out of his league and would never even look at him like that, and how he couldn’t actually believe this was happening, and was she actually playing a joke on him?

No, because she wouldn’t joke about this.

“Maxwell? You can’t leave me hanging…”

He tore his gaze away, and thought very carefully about every word. “I guess.. if I think about it… I’ve felt the same way.. for a while…”

She let out a little gasp. “You have?”

He looked back at her again. “I mean.. yeah.. you’re.. You’re amazing, Jen.”

The resultant beam was like a lottery win.

He pulled himself together, and went on. “I figured it was like an extra strong friendship, where you also want to kiss your friend sometimes? I can’t believe.. I never imagined you would feel the same way. This is.. I guess I’d say it’s unbelievable.”

“Well, let yourself believe it. Because it’s true. You’ve been all the stars in my sky ever since you snapped that first selfie of us. And now you’re here.. and I can do this…” She reached out to touch his face, which was tingletastic. “It’s like a dream come true.”

You’re telling me.

He stared at her for a long moment, still convinced that he was about to say or do the wrong thing and she was going to back off. But she didn’t back off. She took a step forward, all the while meeting his gaze, as if asking permission to get close enough.

Obviously the resulting giddy grin he couldn’t contain was answer to her question enough; she gently used her hands to guide his face towards hers and his arms just knew what to do. He closed his eyes as their lips met; she was so soft and special and sweet – before long her lips had parted enough for a tentative exploration, and this was officially the best thing that had ever happened to him.

It didn’t go on for too long – they seemed to be in sync as they pulled apart, and when he opened his eyes to look at her again, her pupils were dilated, her eyes full of wonder and hope.

Say something romantic, you idiot.

 “I didn’t even know I wanted to do that… but I definitely wanted to do that.”

Crap, not that.

“Thanks?” she said, playfully.

He hated himself. “Was that not the right thing to say?”

She beamed at him. “It was perfectly Maxwell.”

“All’s well that Maxwell,” he grinned.

She shook her head and groaned. “I’ve never heard that one before..”

“I’ve only just thought of it,” he admitted.

“Anyway, wanna do it again?”

“There is only one answer to that question.”

“Well I really hope it’s not no.”

"Only one way to find out…”

Her lips were on his again and it was like cinnamon and fireworks and that feeling of everything just being right.

***

The next few days went by in a blissful haze. They’d waltzed together at the party, he’d walked her home (along with Anita, who’d tactfully excused herself with a nudge and a wink when they’d got to their apartment) and pretty much danced all the way back to his hotel. Not even the ire of a returned Bertrand could curtail his joy that evening. The next day he’d skipped Rick’s engagement party and the two of them had gone sightseeing, walking around the zoo hand in hand, Maxwell really not knowing where to look when it came to the cuuute animals or Jen. Most of the time Jen won out, but she didn’t seem to mind if he snuck a glance at the animals from time to time.

He’d then introduced her to Bertrand, and surprisingly the two had tolerated each other extremely well. He could tell from Jen’s face that she was trying hard to bite her tongue at times; he could tell from how furrowed Bertrand’s brow was that he was trying equally hard to put his preconceptions to one side. He had a feeling that Bertrand might have concluded that all the unkind things he had said about Jen were unfair; he hoped so anyway. Besides, Jen knew exactly how to flatter him, without him having to give her any hints at all. So that was a bonus.

Last night, they’d returned to Kismet, and this time there was only one lady in the club who he wanted to attract the attention of.  Although, if he’d been quite honest, that had been true last time. Still, this time she was on the dancefloor with him, and they’d disco danced and jived and freestyled and then maybe a little later on there’d been a bit of up close and personal going on and that had definitely not been a problem. He’d always loved dancing, but it had never been as hot as this. Like jalapeno hot.

This morning he’d called in at her apartment and she’d presented him with a huge box full of candy corn and various little squid trinkets she’d found on the internet. It had literally reduced him to mush. Today they’d gone to Coney Island and so far it was amazing. She’d actually taken him shopping for a new “New York Chic” outfit with a squid necklace. They’d had their fortunes told and he’d won her a big cuddly toy and they’d eaten all the candy floss and now they were on the ferris wheel, watching the sunset.

“Again, I’m on top of the world!” he shouted out, standing up as they reached the top.

“Get back down here,” she ordered, pulling him in for a quick kiss which was definitely not a problem.

Afterwards, he took her hand and squeezed it. Looking out across New York City at dusk, his heart was already hurting with the thought that he had to go home in a couple of days. How was he going to go back to text conversations and facetiming? How could that be enough? He couldn’t bear the thought of it. No, whatever Bertrand had to say about it, he wasn’t going anywhere. But then, would that freak her out?

“Hey, what’s up? You don’t look on top of the world now?”

He looked at her, so many thoughts rattling around his head.

“Maxwell. What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t want to go home without you. Can I stay here? In New York? I mean, I’ll get a hotel and find somewhere to stay, I’ll get a job and everything, I won’t weigh you down and if things don’t work out I’d not cramp your style… I mean we’d still be friends anyway, right?”

Her beautiful green eyes were wide and curious. “You’d give your whole life in Cordonia up for me?”

“In a heartbeat. I never thought someone like you could feel this way about me. I just want to put 10,001% into this, but I also want to do it your way, how you want it. So, I just want to fit in around you.  See how things turn out. But only if you’re good with that…”

She squeezed his hand, and smiled coyly. “I mean, I was kinda hoping that I could come back to Cordonia with you..”

“Wait, what?”

“If you’ll have me…”

He kissed her urgently by way of an answer; so there was no shadow of a doubt that this was all of his dreams come true. She reciprocated keenly, her free hand toying with the hair on the back of his neck, a little content sigh echoing through her and a smile forming on her lips to match his as their kiss concluded.

“Besides,” she said, “We can’t leave all those poor fools you call friends and family to sort their own problems out. We need to matchmake Drake and Hana, we need to reunite Rick and Olivia, and we somehow need to sort your brother’s problems out too…”

The ferris wheel car had reached the bottom, and he jumped out, holding a hand out to help her. “My lady.”

“My lord,” she giggled.

As they walked hand in hand along the promenade, Maxwell thought of something hilarious. “Oh! If you do come back with me, Bertrand can’t call you my transatlantic tart anymore!”

Her eyes were fire. “He calls me what?”

“Oops, did I just say that out loud?”

“Yes you did, and I’m definitely having words with your brother on the flight to Cordonia.”

He shook his head. “So much for sorting Bertrand’s problems.”

“Hey, I’m sorting your problems first and foremost, before anyone else’s.” She booped him on the nose. “Just name them.”

“Okay, so problem one, no date for the Homecoming ball…”

“Solved. Next?”

“Problem two, House Beaumont is broke and we need to make some money. Bertrand won’t be too keen on the idea of putting you up.”

“Then we’ll sit and think about how we solve that. Three heads are better than two!”

“Oh. Problem three, I’ve not been laid for a while..” He winked at her seductively, but he was internally terrified at the thought of messing things up. The resulting look on her face made him panic. “I said that out loud as well, didn’t I?”

“You did,” She grinned at him and stopped briefly to place her hands on his chest, letting her fingers explore it through his new casualwear. “Then you won’t mind waiting a little while longer, I’m guessing? Like the gentleman I know you are?”

Yessss. “Jen Jones, you are the perfect woman and I have no idea what I have done to deserve you.”

“That’s the next problem we have to solve,” she said as they continued their stroll. “Convincing you that you deserve everything.”

He threw an arm around her. “What do you think would have happened if you had got on that plane with me first time around?”

“Something like this?” she suggested, stopping him again for another sweet kiss.

“Well in that case, it’s a good job you didn’t. Bertrand would’ve killed me for taking advantage of our suitor, and then Rick would’ve probably had me executed for stealing his girl.”

She giggled. “How would he have you executed if you were already dead?”

“It’s a good job we’ll never have to find out.”