Running With Lions

Lavin walked through the door of her flat, riding boots in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. She had stopped off at a store after she dropped Harry off at Clarence House fearing that the wine might not be enough tonight.

"You're home already?" Gen called from the kitchen.

The air was permeated with the smell of garlic and tomatoes.

Lavin new that smell: spaghetti. She couldn't think of a better food to go with the wine. She could hear the bottle calling her name from the fridge. It was screaming.

"Yeah," Lavin answered when she passed through the doorway to their kitchen. A modest affair that her ancestors would have turned up their noses to.

Gen was standing in front of the stove, a large pot on the burner filled with bubbling water and noodles. To Gen's left sat an opened jar of sauce from her family's cook back in Paris.

"What are you doing back already?" Gen asked, her left hand on her hip as she stirred the noodles.

"I told Harry I had dinner plans with you."

Gen turned to look at Lavin, looking surprised. "Lying to a fellow royal gets you sent to the deepest layer of hell, you know."

"Be quiet, Gen."

"Something happened, didn't it?"

Lavin nodded and went to the fridge, exchanging the vodka for the cold red wine. When she turned around Gen already had two large wine glasses on the kitchen table.

The cork took only seconds to fish out. Lavin filled her glass to the rim while Gen only took half. Once they both took seats at the table Lavin explained how Harry showed her the ring and told her how he was going to ask for Caroline's hand.

"WHAT!?" Gen exploded, pushing her chair back and standing. "Is he mental? He must be mental. I always knew that one was a bit demented."

Lavin nodded into her wine, drinking greatly. The bittersweet taste washed over her tongue and coated the back of her throat. She was pleased that Gen was expressing out loud what Lavin was keeping inside.

She wanted to shout obscenities at the top of her lungs on the flat's balcony over High Street. She wanted to break something and couldn't stop an image of her arm slamming into Caroline's face from replaying in her head. Lavin smiled devilishly at the happy thought.

Lavin watched Gen as she slammed two bowls onto the counters and forcefully spooned heaps of noodles into them. She set the first bowl in front of Lavin with a loud bang and then took her seat across from her.

"This is insanity. There's no way Elizabeth will allow this. Did he say if he asked her yet?" Gen asked, twirling a fork in her noodles.

Lavin shook her head. "He didn't really go into detail. I think he could tell how awkward it was when he showed me the ring."

As they ate Lavin listened to Gen as she continued to vent at how revolting a person Caroline was and with every sip of wine Gen’s insults would become more horrible but even more appealing to Lavin’s ears.

Fifteen minutes later they were three glasses in with the sauce-stained bowls pushed away from them. They were silent as both woman guzzled down the delicious red liquid.

"Do you...do you want to know what I think?" Gen said, woozily. She had slid down in her chair with her one arm crossed over her body and the other clutching onto the wine glass.

Lavin nodded vehemently.

"I think-" Gen took a sip. "-that, our dear Harry is feeling pressured into settling down due to Will's impending engagement."

"No, no, no, no, no." Lavin shook her head. "Harry has never been one to follow anyone, especially his brother."

Gen shrugged. "Who knows, maybe he's changed. People change, you know," she said this as if she were the first person to come to this conclusion.

Lavin shook her head. Harry was as consistent as the sky was blue. For as long as Lavin had known Harry he hadn't once changed his habits, his behavior, or his personality.

Gen reached for the nearly emptied wine bottle and as she poured she looked at Lavin very curiously.

"What?" Lavin said, narrowing her eyes at her cousin.

Gen's eyebrow peaked and one side of her lip tugged to the side as she shook her head minutely. "It's just that I've done all the ranting and you've said nothing about what you think about all this."

Lavin mashed her lips together, they were soaked with wine.

"Come on, Lavin. Don't be shy."

Lavin inhaled deeply. She opened her mouth a few times but couldn't find the right way to begin. Lavin placed her glass between her legs and started tracing the rim with her finger.

"While we're young, please."

"All right!" Lavin exclaimed. "I don't like this one bit. I don't like Caroline one bit. She's like every girl that tries to get in with people like us. They're only in it for the money and the fame that comes with being a prince's girlfriend.

"She's twisted that one, manipulative. She knows how to charm the pants of people and she's done a very good job on Harry."

Gen interjected: "Will and Kate haven't been so easily deceived."

"No, I don't expect them to be."

"They should say something to him," Gen said.

"We both know that Will wouldn't do that to his brother."

Lavin stood from the table, her legs feelings light and airy. She grabbed the bowls off the table and placed them in them in the sink. "I just wish that we were able to behead people like they did in the days of our ancestors."

Gen laughed. "Would you be saying this if you didn't still have feelings for him?"

Lavin turned sharply and glared at her cousin. "That was a long time ago, Gen."

"I don't consider 2006 to be a long time ago. It was clear that you guys loved each other."

"Do not use that word," Lavin warned.

"It's true. Anyone that looked at the two of you could tell. It's just a shame that he decided to go into the military," Gen said.

"And I was finishing university. Our lives went down separate paths that year."

"Pity."

There was silence. Lavin had leaned against the counter for support, her legs feeling like warm taffy underneath her. Gen drained the last dregs of wine in her glass.

Lavin didn't want to have to think about what had been in 2006. Over the years she had come to accept that Harry and her had their time and, thankfully, remained friends once he returned home from Afghanistan.

She had thought that she stopped loving him, convinced herself, that their relationship was simply platonic but she couldn't help notice how jealous she was of Caroline. How angry she was about the prospect of Harry sharing his life with that demon--

No, she told herself sharply. I will not think of this any longer.

Lavin took a look at the empty wine bottle. "Shall we start on the vodka?"

Gen nodded. "We shall."