The Fairy Tale of Quinn

When I awoke, my back was stiff and I didn’t feel like moving at all. The memories of last night came flooding back to me as I lightly touched my lips.

I don’t know what came over me but when she was talking about barely being kissed, she just sounded so innocent. Its not like I had done anything wrong, she is my fiance. We were bound to kiss at some point. At least she isn’t a raging bitch like I thought she was.

I looked over to see her sleeping quietly. Her hair was a mess, covering her face. Again I couldn’t help it. I scooted off of the couch and crawled across her wood floors over to her. She didn’t even stir. I quickly brushed her dark hair out of the way to see her face.

You know, when she wasn’t screaming, yelling, or crying she was beautiful. Her plump lips were slightly agape and her eyelashes were fluttering on her cheeks as if her body sensed me but her mind didn’t.

I heard my phone buzzing in my jeans pocket on the floor from last night. I walked over and grabbed it out of my pocket checking who it was. Shit. Natalie.I jumped up and practically ran to the bathroom, locking the door before I answered.

“Hey baby.” I said slyly. I had managed to make my slightly out of breath voice appear normal.

“Hey love. Where are you? I’ve been calling for days! When I went to the castle, your servant told me you are on a trip.” She sounded whiny. I rolled my eyes.

“Nat, I’m with my mom visiting an old friend. Remember last week I told you my mom planned a trip to visit King Richard?” I waited a couple seconds before she made an ‘ohhhh’ noise, letting me know she remembered.

“I’m sorry Lex.” I rolled my eyes, annoyed at how she shortened my shortened name. “I just miss you. You were supposed to take me on a day trip in town, remember? I even picked out this lovely gown! I thought we could go to Kalkara, then to Mdina, and then to Valletta! We could see the rest on another trip.” I rolled my eyes as she listed off a bunch of tourist attractions.

“Yeah baby, we’ll do it when I get back. I got to go.” I said. I hung up before she could say goodbye. I instantly felt guilty. Although it wasn’t my choice to be engaged to Quinn, she had lived her entire life saving herself for me. While I on the other hand have been fucking everything with a pulse and D-cups. My mind wandered to Quinns chest.

Sure Quinn tried to hide it best she could, but she was easily C-cups. It didn’t go unnoticed how the fabric in her dress, and in her shirt the other night was strained trying to fit over her chest. A pounding on the door brought me back to reality.

“Hurry up Alex. I need to pee!” Quinn whined. I laughed a bit. When Quinn whined, it was adorable. I flushed the toilet so it seemed like I was going to the bathroom, and walked out. She raised an eyebrow at me, but pointed into the bathroom. “Gross, you didn’t wash your hands.” I would have face palmed if it wouldn’t disgust her.

Even though I didn’t use the bathroom, I washed my hands and left. I went to my suitcase, grabbing a pair of black dress pants and a white button up shirt. I went to a different suitcase, and grabbed a tie, plus everything else I needed.

I thought Quinn was going to be long, but she came out about ten minutes later. Her hair was dripping, and she still looked about 90% asleep. She rolled over the back of the couch and fell into her comforter groaning.

I could honestly say I never thought ankle length skirts looked good until I saw one on her. She was wearing a sheer black skirt, with a solid black skirt underneath that went to her knees. The sheer part had a cut up to her knees, revealing a sliver of her calf.

She wore a long sleeved white shirt, with thin black stripes. She looked casual, but put together. To make the outfit perfect, instead of heels she was wearing a pair of dirty old leather boots.

There was a knock on the door, and then a woman came in carrying what looked to be a dress. She had dark skin, and her greying hair was shaved short. She was wearing a nurse uniform. Although every royal had their personal nurse, most found friendship in their nurse more than anything as they got older.

When she saw me, she politely nodded and gave me a small bow. She shimmied the dress over a manikin. It was hideous. It was a dark blue that was floor length, and had a silver collar that would be up to the base of her neck. The woman placed several pieces of diamond jewelry on the tray next to it, and placed a pair of dark blue toms on the floor. Maybe Quinn just didn’t like heels.

After the woman had set all of Quinns outfit up, she walked over to the bed where Quinn was lying. I’m pretty sure that Quinn fell back asleep. Once the woman noticed, she didn’t look happy.

“Quinn Christine Tudor. You get your ass out of bed this instant.” My eyes widened. If my maid had talked to me like that, there would be hell to pay. I learned my lesson though on scolding her staff. I would only scold her if Quinn didn’t.

“Amara… I don’t want to get up.” Quinn whined. I smiled, as the woman she called Amara just frowned.

“I did not raise a lazy child. Now get up and let me do your hair.” Amara demanded. Quinn groaned, but sat up and walked over to a chair. Thats when she seemed to realize that I was still here.

“Amara, this is my” She paused. “Fiance, Prince Alexander.” She looked over at me. “Prince, this is my nurse and best friend Amara.” Amara turned to me and bowed, but went back to doing Quinns hair.

I know it was creepy to just watch Amara twist and pull and do whatever to Quinns hair, but I had nothing better to do. Amara was fast though. She had braided Quinns hair around her head, until it ended in a fluffy bun on top of her head. When Quinn reached for makeup, Amara stopped her and told her she didn’t need it. So she didn’t wear it.

“You know you didn’t have to wait for me.” She said quietly as she walked back over to me. This time she was fully awake. I bent my arm, as she looped hers through it.

“Nonsense. I wasn’t hungry until now anyways.” I said smiling. She smiled back, but I could tell it was sad. No doubt the fact that she had to marry me was the reason why.

We walked to the kitchen in silence. When we got in, Ben cheered her up immediately. He was about to say something, but chose against it.

“Good morning your highness.” He said bowing. I rolled my eyes.

“I take back my order, call her Quinn or sweetie or whatever. I learned fast I can’t control her anyways” I said lightly. I knew that Ben made Quinn happy. She needed him in her life and we were moving away in two days.

“Ben. I’m thinking bacon and grapes today.” Bacon and grapes? What a weird combination. I shrugged.

“Make that two.” He smiled and nodded. A staff member took over what he was doing as he went to make our breakfast. “Why do you eat in here?” I asked curiously. It was a fair question, royal breakfast was always full of every type of food and tasted amazing. She snorted in disgust.

“Starting the day off with my dad? How about not.” She sounded a bit bitchy, but I’m sure she wasn’t trying to be. Her dad has already shown to me he doesn’t care about Quinn, and if its not his way its no way at all.

Ben pushed a plate of grapes and bacon towards each of us, and a glass of orange juice. She smiled and thanked him, eating a piece of bacon right away. I did the same.

We ate quietly together, and honestly it was a nice, comfortable quiet. Gave me time to think. How was I going to tell Natalie about Quinn? I mean, I only had a few days before the gala in honor of us to announce our relationship. I couldn’t let her find out from the press at the event, right? No, I had to tell her.

“What are your plans for the day?” I asked casually. She popped a grape into her mouth and shrugged.

“Riding with Nathan, probably play guitar or piano. Study a bit, nothing out of the ordinary. You?” I grinned sheepishly.

“Think you could take a break from your busy day and take me into town? I want to get to know some of the people, get my face out there. What I’m coming to realize is that nobody knows who I am, but they know I’m important if I’m with a royal.” Her face lit up.

“I’ll push off my ride with Nathan till tomorrow, we’ll make a day of it! I love going into town.” She answered happily. “I know all the best spots if you want to meet citizens instead of tourists.” I nodded. She continued to talk about certain people she had met, and how amazing the outlying towns were.

She was waving her hands in the air, talking about a woman named Kristin and her three sons Jack, Jacob, and Mark when Ben interrupted.

“Quinn darling, he said he wanted to go into the town, not hear about the town.” A look of surprise crossed her face, like she just realized she had been sitting here talking for twenty minutes. If my chef, or any of my staff had spoken to me with such disrespect I would be boiling. I was starting to get used to the idea though that Quinn liked being treated like any other person.

“I’m sorry Alex! I’ve been just talking! Lets go!” She said happily scooting off of the kitchen chair. She waved to Ben. “I’ll see you for dinner maybe.” He feigned hurt. Maybe? Did she have a date? Maybe she wanted to go riding with Nathan or something. Ben put his hand on his chest.

“Butterfly, are you cheating on me with another chef? I make you grapes and bacon! I bet any other chef would be bawling while making you such an awful meal.” She just laughed.

“Well if we are in town late, we are probably going to eat. Bye Ben.” She singsonged the ‘bye Ben’ and walked out of the kitchen. I got up to follow her, when Ben cut in.

“Prince, I don’t give a shit who you are. You don’t mess with that girls heart.” I pretended I didn’t hear him and chose to leave instead. Although my anger was boiling from how he addressed me.

We walked out front and I was surprised to see there was no car waiting for us. She didn’t seem phased by it. She instead walked straight up to an unlocked car and got in. I followed curiously. I got in next to her, as she pulled out the keys and started up the car.

“Is this your car?” Weird, Royals never had cars. We had drivers instead. She smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, father got it for me when he had to go to America. I do love american cars.” She said happily. She backed out and started driving towards a town.

“What about protection?” I asked. She shrugged.

“You are a strapping young male are you not? You can protect me. Although you don’t have anyone to protect me from. There is a small town about twenty minutes from the palace. Everyone knows everyone, I visit often.” She said like it was no big deal. Sure I visit my own people often, but usually I went to the big cities. Natalie liked it, she liked the press and the crowds of people.

About twenty minutes later, she pulled the car over and parked. I looked around and noticed how many people there were outside. There were probably twenty in the town square, everyone seemed to be busy with something. They didn’t even notice how much Quinn’s car stood out from everything else. Weird.

She hopped out and immediately a small girl ran up to her. She smiled, picking up the girl to swing her around. The girl laughed and squealed, but then she got distracted by me. She was probably about 6 years old.

“Aurora, meet Alex. Alex, this beautiful young woman is Aurora.” Quinn said happily. I leaned over a bit, taking the childs hand and kissing the back of it. I greeted her as if I was greeting a beautiful woman at a ball, and the girl just squealed and blushed.

“Aurora!” A battered woman hurried over, she had a small boy on her hip, he was probably about two and was holding hands with another girl who seemed to be about five. Quinn just smiled.

“Amelia. Its been too long.” Quinn said happily as she made her way over. Quinn wrapped her arms around the woman best as she could, and took the boy out of her arms. I stood there, shifting back and forth awkwardly. I was never this friendly with my people, and I sure didn’t remember names. “Amelia, this is Alex. Alex, this is Amelia, Tommy” She gestured to the boy she was holding. “And Jovana.” The girl who was holding Amelia’s hand just smiled a toothy grin.

“Are you Quinn’s boyfriend?” Amelia’s face lit up.

“Amelia!” Quinn said, her face was getting warm. I was amused.

“I’m sorry about my forwardness. Its just I have known Quinn for some time and I’ve only heard her talk about one boy romantically. It didn’t work between them because-” Quinn cut her off.

“I’m sorry to cut this short but I have to show Alex here around. I’ll come back soon, yes?” Amelia didn’t look annoyed. She almost looked amused. Quinn handed Tommy back to Amelia and went on her way. I followed.

“You know, I’ll never gain respect if you keep having people address me as Alex. They’ll never know I’m a prince.” She scoffed.

“Its not about gaining respect. If anything, they’ll respect you even more for caring about them and thinking of yourself as an equal even though you clearly do not. They can find out you are a prince in a couple days when our faces will be plastered all over the news.” Damn, I must have pushed a button. One minute, she was cheerful and happy-go-lucky about taking me into town, and the next she is whisper yelling at me.

“Sorry.” I muttered. She cracked a smile, I’m sure it was from how pathetic I sounded. She walked up to an old man, his face lit up when he saw her.

“Quinn darling!” He said happily. “Can you help me?” She hurried over and helped the old man down a couple steps.

“James, you need a cane. Or a walked.” She said, concern in her voice. He just smiled.

“I can’t have a walker, it’ll make me look old.” She crossed her arms and tapped her foot like a mother scolding a child. “Alright alright, stop looking at me like that.” He complained. She smiled and looked at me.

“Alex, this is James. James, this is Alex.” His hand extended towards mine and I shook it, surprised by how strong his grip was. He had to be at least 70, he needed help going down steps but he could almost break the bones in my hand from his grip. I didn’t flinch.

“You’re a fine young man, are you going to steal her away from me? Shes wearing down, soon she’ll go on a date with me.” I just smiled. He was cute for an old man. She just shook her head laughing.

“James, I’m way too young for you. But I think Miranda likes you.” James face lit up.

“You really think so?” He said eagerly. She shrugged.

“I know shes not wearing makeup and curling her hair for me.” Was all she said before walking away waving. I matched her pace. When we were out of earshot from James, she spoke. “Miranda called me a couple weeks ago, asked me to teach her how to do her makeup like I did mine so she could impress him.” I smiled.

“Did you help her?” I was curious if she had actually made a trip special to see an old woman. She nodded like it was a given.

“Of course! The town has been waiting for them to get together for about forever now.” She joked. I shrugged.

“So she had your number?” I asked hesitantly. She shrugged and nodded.

“They all do. I mean, I don’t give my number to every person I meet because it would be ringing off the hook with complaints and suggestions but everyone in this town has it. I trust them. If worst comes to worst, I change my number.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. A thought occurred to me.

“You know, we are engaged and I don’t even have your number?” She just smiled.

“I’ll send you a text. I’ve had your number for years.” I raised my eyebrow at her. My number is changing constantly.

“I’m sure you have an old number, security changes my number monthly to avoid people, you know, getting my number.” She just shrugged like what she was about to say was no big deal.

“I know, your security calls me monthly to give me your new number. Honestly it is kind of a pain in the ass but I decided it was good to have in case I needed to tell you for whatever reason.” She said it like it was no big deal! I was outraged. At my mother mostly though, Quinn just did as she was told. Like she always does.

“And you didn’t think to call me and say hey, were getting married.” She shrugged again. It was getting annoying.

“Like I already said, its not like I could just casually slip in the conversation that not only did your mom give me your number but we are getting married. Plus I think she was hoping I would do it so she didn’t have to.” She had a point, I probably wouldn’t have called her. Still, it was annoying to be the last person to find something out. “Plus, were getting married anyways. You got to have a life that you controlled for almost five more years. If I had told you right away, you would have never met Natalie.” I let her words sink in, and then shock took over. How the hell did she know about Natalie!?

“Um you knew about Natalie?” I said quietly. She shrugged.

“You act as though I would do no research on the guy I was going to marry. I have a computer and its not like you two are shy with the press.” She gave me a sad smile and a pang of guilt hit me in the stomach. “What I’m wondering is how long it was going to take for you to tell me. More importantly, her. If you are happy with her, I’m fine with being your girlfriend for the camera and the world, she can be your mistress.” She shrugged like it was no big deal. I stopped walking in shock.

“You are okay with being my fake girlfriend?” I was shocked. She didn’t seem like that kind of girl at all.

“I’m not one to stand in the way of love. Just don’t expect anything to happen here.” She gestured between us and I nodded. Maybe, just maybe, I could still be in control of my life. But she used that pesky word. Love. Could I really love Natalie? No. It took little to no thought. I didn’t love Natalie.

“I don’t love Natalie. I’ll break up with her. I want us to be friends though, this wont work otherwise.” I said. She smiled, but this time I could tell it was smug. Did she know that I couldn’t love Natalie?

“I thought we were already friends.” She just smiled. “Come, we are going to my friend Edna’s bakery. She makes the best pie I have ever tasted, including the pies from several royal thanksgivings.” I smiled, happy to get off of the heavy topics and back to the people.

“Thats just not possible Quinn.” Quinn just smiled.

“Just you wait.”