Benson frowned. “But I thought we were done in Central Park.”
“We are,” the princess said. “We’re going to help him at a castle.”
“What?” Benson asked, looking shocked.
The princess, beaming, took Benson’s hand. “It’s going to be amazing, Benson. Come, sit down. Ned’s going to tell us all about it!”
As they all sat, the princess saw Ned watching her. They shared a smile. As excited as she was about another day working on the movie, she was even more excited about spending more time with Ned. She had her own plan to find a way to make their near miss kiss actually happen.
Even before the sun came up the next morning, the princess was out of bed, in her fluffy white bathrobe, checking her reflection in her bathroom mirror. She pinched her cheeks and frowned. She was pale and looked tired. She’d tossed and turned all night thinking about her argument with Benson after Ned left.
Benson was adamant that they shouldn’t go to the castle. He was already uncomfortable about spending their time on the movie set without the king and queen knowing. This forced her to do something she rarely did. She pulled rank and told Benson she was going to the castle. If he didn’t like it, he didn’t have to come. It was his choice, but she was going. Period. End of discussion.
When Benson had silently walked out of the room, she could feel his disapproval and disappointment. She had almost run after him to try and make him understand how important this was to her, but she knew from experience it was best to give him a few hours alone.
She knew Benson’s problem had nothing to do with being worried about keeping their schedule of activities in New York City, because she had set up the next few days herself as free days, so she could experience the city. She also knew Benson wasn’t afraid for her safety. He was afraid for her heart.
He had told her he was worried she was falling for Ned. She could have denied it, but Benson had known her since she was a child. So, she’d told him the truth. She wasn’t falling for Ned. She had already fallen for him. But just like her beloved Romeo and Juliet, she knew there was no future for them. She and Ned were from two different worlds. She was realistic. She knew there was no future with Ned. She just wanted to enjoy this time while she could. She didn’t see how it could hurt anyone.
But Benson disagreed and said he was going to have to call the king and queen in the morning. That was the ace Benson always had up his sleeve, her parents. She knew he ultimately worked for them and appreciated how loyal he was. She also knew everything he did came from a place of wanting to protect her, and she loved him for that, even when they disagreed.
So, while she knew she might have won the battle with Benson, she had not won the war, far from it. She had spent hours putting together a pros and cons list of her working on the movie to present to her father, who always loved lists. She was nervous, but her pro list far outweighed any cons, and she was as ready as she’d ever be to tackle her parents.
After her argument with Benson, she texted Ned and told him all about it. They’d talked for hours. She smiled thinking how patient Ned had been about letting her vent her frustrations about how she should be able to make her own choices in life. After she’d calmed down, they’d talked about what they wanted for their futures. They even shared stories about people they’d dated in the past, why it worked or didn’t work, and what they were looking for in a future partner.
The princess was surprised to learn that even though they were worlds apart, they had a lot in common when it came to what they wanted and needed to make them happy. They both wanted someone to love and trust and share their life with. Another thing they had in common was their passion for traveling and exploring new places and meeting new people and giving back to the less fortunate. She loved that they could talk about anything openly and honestly. They had even talked about their near-miss kiss.
Ned had apologized, saying he never meant to be inappropriate. The princess had quickly responded that the only thing she regretted was that the kiss never happened. She’d told him they were two consenting adults, and she wanted to kiss him as much as he’d wanted to kiss her. He had laughed and said he had never met anyone like her in his entire life. She told him she felt the same way about him.
When Ned brought up that it probably wasn’t smart to start anything because she was going home in a few days and their lives were so different, she’d disagreed. She’d told him tomorrow was never promised. She wanted to live in the moment. She didn’t want to filter her feelings and play it safe. She’d spent her entire life following all the royal rules. Even if they only had one more day together, she wanted to enjoy it and follow her heart, and right now her heart wanted another shot at that kiss.
Her daydreaming was interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door. “Come in,” she called out, knowing it had to be Benson.
As soon as Benson opened the door, she could see something was terribly wrong. She rushed over to him. “What is it?”
When Benson held up several newspapers, she saw her picture in all of them. She clutched the edge of her dresser in shock. The room started to spin as she focused on one picture of herself waving Ned’s baseball hat with a headline that read Princess Isabella Gives an American Movie the Royal Treatment!
***
A few minutes later, Benson struggled to keep up with the princess as she raced across Central Park.
“Princess, stop, please,” Benson urged.
But the princess didn’t slow down. She couldn’t. She was still reeling after seeing all the newspaper articles and stories about her online. “I’m not stopping until I talk to Ned!”
“What’s there to say?” Benson called after her. “He lied to you, to us. You read the quotes. He was just using you to get press for his movie. The king and queen are furious…”
“I’m well aware, Benson, I talked to them,” she snapped. She instantly regretted taking out her frustration on him. She stopped and waited for Benson to catch up. “I’m sorry, Benson. I just need to talk to Ned…”
“He has called you and texted you a dozen times. You haven’t picked up,” Benson said.
She started walking again. “Because I need to see him face to face when he tells me why he did this to me,” the princess said as she started walking again.
Benson looked around nervously. “You heard your parents. We need to leave New York immediately before the press finds out where you are. It will be easier to do damage control once we’re back home. We can’t risk the media getting any more photos of you and making this worse. It doesn’t matter how this happened, it happened, and now we must go home, now.”
The princess abruptly stopped and turned to face Benson. Pleading, she looked into his eyes. “But how this happened matters to me, Benson. It matters a lot.”
She couldn’t believe Ned would do this to her. She had been raised to always be guarded. In her royal role, she knew many people only wanted something from her and couldn’t be trusted. But it had felt different with Ned. She had trusted him. Now all she felt was defeated and crushed. She also felt foolish for letting herself believe there had really been something between her and Ned when now it looked like he was just using her to promote his movie.