Authors: Tara Brown

White Girl Problems (27 page)

Jess gave me a look. “I feel like Harry Potter his first day at Hogwarts.”

I nodded. “I don’t remember that movie very well, but I know what you mean. Half of me wants go home and the other half is stoked.”

Linna looked out the window. “All of me wants to screw the hell out of that guy walking across the grass right there. Let’s get this shit put away and go find a pub.”

We separated for the purpose of putting away our things. I didn’t do that though. I walked to the last room on the left and tried desperately to get a single scent of his deodorant or cologne, but there was nothing. The air was clean. He had been cleaned out of the room completely. I sat on the bed and wondered how I would get through the year without him there, when Isaac came to the door and knocked lightly. I looked up and smiled at him and Tracy right behind him. They smiled back. “Miss Finley, how are you?”

I laughed. “Good, sucky, stressed. You know?”

Isaac nodded. “Of course. We are here as your personal detail. We will wait at the first door for you. We just wanted to deliver these.” He held out a few envelopes.

I jumped up and grabbed them. “Thank you. You guys can chill in here if you want. I don’t care.”

Both their faces went completely red. “Thank you, but no. We will wait at our post.” They left, more like fled.

I shrugged and sat back on the bed. The envelopes all had an F on them, written in his amazing penmanship. I almost imagined he had a scribe who did them for him. They also had a small note telling me when I could open them.

I sniffed the envelopes, savoring the smell and the way he was suddenly in the air I was breathing.

When I opened the first one, my heart fluttered at seeing the words:

Open when you arrive in the room.

My beloved Finley,

I am watching you sleep right now and racking my exhausted brain for the places you must see. I won’t be coming to see you nearly as often as I would have liked so I have made up three adventures for you to go on.

It’s almost like
A Christmas Carol
. You will be visited by three guides who will take you on three trips to see the top things I believe you cannot miss in Saint Andrews.

As always, my heart is with you and my love for you grows fonder in our absence.

Yours,

It made me smile. Like
A Christmas Carol
, he was theatrical. But I loved it. I loved that he sat up, knowing he was leaving, and made up these letters so my first day at college would still have him in it.

The next envelopes had the note for the day I was to open them for the adventure. The last envelope read:

Open when you miss me the most.

I tore it open.

Finley

You were supposed to wait to open this, not the moment you got it. Naughty girl.

I have enclosed an invitation for you. Please don’t be scared of it. I now know that today is the day that our relationship has to change, but remember it is only changing for you. For me this has always been the outcome for us. From the moment I saw you, this was always the future I saw, perhaps minus the death of my brother or sickness of my father. But with you at my side, I know I can conquer those obstacles and be the man my country needs me to be.

There is very little romance in the world I live in, so you must know my intentions as they are planned for me and now you.

I love you and look forward to your first visit.

Love, with all my heart,

I almost heaved but managed to keep it back. I slipped the invitation from the back of the note. It was for his coronation. He would be a king in month. My heart raced and my mouth went dry, but my father’s words rang throughout my head.

Don’t be like me!

I walked out to the hallway, clutching the invitation and the note. I gave Isaac a look. “I need you to take me to Andorra now.”

He frowned but nodded. “Yes, Miss.”

I walked into Linna’s room. “I have to go see him. Will you be okay here?”

She smeared gloss across her lips and smiled wide. “I will keep a seat warm for you at the pub. That’s a long way for a booty call, dude.”

My stomach was a mess and my throat was dry, but I smiled anyway. “A girl’s gotta do, ya know.”

“Oh, I do.”

I went into Jess’s room. She was on the phone. I waved. “I’m going to Andorra right now. Tell him not to tell Aiden.”

She shook her head. “They’re in England at the hospital. Their dad was brought to the hospital there.”

“Okay, I’m going there now.”

She smiled and spoke into the phone. “I’ll be there in a couple hours so you can tell me all that to my face. Don’t tell Aiden we’re coming. She wants to surprise him.”

She hung up and we raced down the stairs and across the grounds to the car. Isaac and Tracy drove us to the airport, a small airport. Johan had chartered a jet for us.

In the air, Jess gave me a weird look. “You okay?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so, but I will be.”

Her face drew in. “Are you going to break up with him?”

I swallowed hard. “Not exactly.” I looked back out the window and fiddled with the ring he had given me. I twisted it to the right and flicked it, but it didn’t open like the whore’s ring.

When we landed, I could taste my croissant in my throat. I was shaking, visibly, and ready to pass out, but I pushed myself past my inner demons. Isaac drove to the hospital. Johan was waiting for us at the door with another guard. Jess leapt at him. I’d never seen her like that with anyone. Johan spun her around, kissing her neck and whispering things.

He nodded at me. “He’s upstairs. Dad’s doing great. He’s out of surgery and totally fine. He’s just got to learn to adjust to the whole thing.”

The guard left them and escorted me into the hospital. In the elevator, I was certain I would barf. My hands and feet were coated in sweat. I gripped the wrinkled letter and invitation. When the door opened, Aiden was standing with his arms folded and his eyebrow cocked. I smiled instantly. Everything felt smaller.

His eyes went to the letter. I could see him panic, assuming the worst. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the elevator. The guard tried to get back in, but I hit the top number and the door closed too quickly.

“What are you doing?”

I pressed stop on the elevator. “I needed to hear you say it, out loud.”

“You flew all this way to hear me say it out loud?”

I nodded.

His face relaxed. He smiled. “Oh, thank God. I thought you were coming to end it. I knew the letter would scare you. I was too chicken to tell you face to face. I couldn’t bear you ending it so I assumed you would text me an American breakup and that would be that. I would die inside and you would party in Scotland.”

I shoved him. “You thought that?”

He nodded. I could see him swallowing the lump in his throat. He took my hands in his and dropped to his knee, pulling the ring off of my right hand. He did something to it and flipped it open. He lifted it so I could see the message.

In the gold, it said, Marry me!

My lower lip started to tremble. The ring hadn’t left my hand since he’d given it back to me. He had to have to put that there ages ago.

His eyes shone and his words crackled. “I knew when I met you. It was just like Jack had said. I saw you and I couldn’t stop staring no matter how ungentlemanly it was. I know we’re young and I know you’re scared of that. But I also know I will love you until I die and even then. I am scared of every other thing in my life aside from marrying you. You are the one thing I am certain of.” He held the ring near my left hand. “Marry me?”

I nodded, barely able to breathe though the tears rolling down my cheeks. He slid the ring on and kissed my hand. I could feel the passion in his hands as they shook. He stood and cupped my face like it was the most delicate thing he had ever held. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pressed his lips against mine, but it wasn’t the public kiss. It was more. Everything had become more. I didn’t know how we would get it past his mother, stop my stepmother from ruining it, or even finish college. To be honest, I didn’t care. Everything else in the world was nothing compared to the kiss and the ring and the love.

Was it crazy to get my happily ever after at the age of eighteen? Yes. But crazy had become my new norm, and my life had never been better. I knew then that no matter what happened, we were meant to be. It truly was a fairytale ending and I would have the crown to prove it, whether I wanted it or not.

I kissed my prince and thanked God for the scar on my wrist. Had everything not fallen apart, it never would have been put back together so perfectly.

The End

Table of Contents

Other Books by Tara Brown

Chapter One Plumper

Chapter Two German Porn

Chapter Three Internet Pedos

Chapter Four Thot’s a Lotta Old Booty

Chapter Five Peggy on the Cove

Chapter Six It’s Real to Him so It’s Real to Me

Chapter Seven Secondhand

Chapter Eight Et tu, Linna?

Chapter Nine Catfight and a Broken Heart