Running With Lions

Caroline was wheeling her suitcase down the long hollow hallways of JFK airport to her terminal. Out the window she could see the faint silhouette of the city skyline and she felt a deep longing erupt in her heart.

She wanted to be back in her hotel room. She wished she would be going out with her new friends tonight. And Central Park at this time of year had quickly become her favorite. There were always so many people around and always something going on at night.

London seemed to pale in comparison to New York City.

If there wasn't anything tying her to London she would walk right out of this place and find a flat in Soho or Manhattan.

She slowed as she passed a magazine stand. Caroline wanted to grab the latest edition of Vogue to read on her long flight home. Her eyes scanned over Women's Health who had an unidentifiable American actress on the cover and then over magazines that were plagued with images of Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers.

Her fingers wrapped around the glossy cover of Vogue when she found it. Carey Mulligan was staring up at Caroline taunting her with her perfect eyebrows and flawless face.

Caroline tore her eyes away from Carey's judgmental gaze and found Ryan Gosling's beautiful face on W magazine. Then something else grabbed her attention.

Harry's ginger head.

It was plastered on every gossip magazine. And he wasn't alone either...Lavin was with him in every single bloody photo.

People's cover was of Harry holding Lavin's hand as they left a pub. The title read "A ROYAL REUNION".

Panic gripped her chest as she flipped through the pages until she landed on a three page spread of pictures and words about Harry and Lavin.

She was staring at a photo of Harry and Lavin laughing over a giant platter of sushi. Caroline continued on:

In true Prince Harry fashion, he seemed to be enjoying himself and on what better night than on his 26th birthday?
Harry began the night with dinner at a low-key sushi restaurant with old flame and best bud Princess Lavinia of Denmark -- known to her friends and family simply as Lavin.
Were they were rekindling the flame of their romance that stemmed from 2002 to early 2006? If you can recall they broke up right after Harry's decision to enlist and before Lavin's final year at Cambridge. Back in 2006 Lavin was quoted saying "The decision was mutual. We're still close; our lives are just taking us in two different directions right now."
Many thought the two would get back together once Harry came back 2007 but he found a new interest in model Caroline DeLarge, who he has been with for the last 3 years.
There are questions that need answering. Is girlfriend Caroline out of the picture? And if not, how does she feel about this?
Sources say that Caroline has been in NYC for the past two weeks for a modeling gig and they're sure she'll be spitting mad when she hears of this.
After a cozy dinner, the royal pair met up with friends -- Lavin's younger brother Ben, his friend Andrew, and Harry's old friend Louis -- at a London pub.
An eyewitness reveals that Harry and Lavin were inseparable for nearly two hours as they danced, drank, and laughed the night away.
But the princess managed to sneak away from the prince, dancing with Andrew and later seen flirting with Louis. Another anonymous source who said they spoke directly with Harry said he couldn't take his eyes off Lavin. There was also evidence of a secret exchange between the two that prompted their quick departure from the pub hand-in-hand and grins on their faces.
Is their romance back on after all these years? I'm sure the people of England and Denmark are hoping for it.

Caroline grabbed the OK! magazine next and flipped through it. The stories were similar, the pictures were nearly identical. But OK! had used an entire two pages to compare Lavin and herself.

On the left side of the page was Lavin with a super imposed crown hovering above her head. The photo the editors had chosen was gorgeous. Lavin's long blond hair was coiled in its wonderful waves that Caroline so wished she had. Her makeup was done in such a way that made her looked wide-eyed and youthful with flushed cheeks and a neutral lip.

She had on a pair of tailored brown shorts with a cuffed hem with tights that matched. Lavin wore a nude-colored parachute sweater that reminded Caroline of the modern-day hippies that were always running around in the streets of London. And her feet were tucked into a pair of nude flats.

Lavin looked every bit like a modern princess. Polished, beautiful, and classy.

But the magazine had chosen a picture of Caroline from a night that she hadn't remembered. The photo was one of her coming out of a club, wasted and haggard-looking.

The magazine described her micro mini dress as whore-like. Her brown hair was matted from sweat and split alcohol; her makeup smudged around her eyes.

The media clearly liked Lavin more than they did Caroline; and everybody knows that what is read in magazines is usually believed by the mass public.

Caroline threw the magazines onto the rack, slapped a twenty onto the counter and rushed passed the rack with her suitcase and two fashion magazines in her hands.

Her terminal was only a few feet away but she bolted into the bathroom. Thankfully, it was empty.

Looking into the mirror, she saw that her entire face was flushed and her eyes welling up with tears. Caroline never thought it was possible for her to be angry and sad at the same time.

Her head was a mess. Her thoughts were racing.

She kept getting flashbulb visions of Harry and Lavin together. There was no stopping them. In his bed, in the back of one of the royal town cars, in the shower.

Caroline was reviewing every minute interaction between them. If there were any signs she should have noticed. One she remembered most was when Harry and Lavin were flirting with each other at his polo match.

Harry had called Lavin 'his lucky charm'. He never once referred to Caroline as anything so endearing as that.

In the quiet of the bathroom Caroline could only hear her blood pumping. It was deafening in her ears as she pulled her phone out.

She was furiously texting to Harry. Typing every obscenity she could think of as she let him know that she saw the pictures of his night with Lavin.

Her finger was hovering over the send button and then realized this message would never reach Harry. At least not until her phone was in the United Kingdom.

Without realizing, Caroline had let the phone fly out of her hand. It hit the mirror and dropped into the sink. The run turned on from the movement and soaked her phone.

Now Harry would never get that text message.

She let out an agonizing scream as she grabbed her phone out of the sink. It blinked sporadically several times before it shut off entirely.

She thrust it hard into her pocket. She was furious at herself that she had been angry enough to throw her phone into an automatic sink.

Tears welled up in her eyes and her throat started to hurt. That giant ball of anger, sadness and betrayal were all nearly choking her. Caroline moved into a stall and collapsed onto the toilet, her face buried into her hands that wouldn't stop shaking.

In fact, her entire body was shaking from head to toe.

Her tears had finally begun to fall.

She felt stupid for allowing herself to trust Lavin after she had spent so many years hating her; and felt even dumber for believing Harry didn't still have feelings for Lavin. But never in a million years did she think Harry would cheat on her; despite what the tabloids have said in the past he's nothing like what they make him out to be.

Caroline had no idea what she was going to do when she arrived in London.

"NOW BOARDING FLIGHT 256 TO LONDON!"