The Elite (Where the King is Nice)

Chapter 11

(America's POV)
"I know this is somewhat out of the blue, but you have my full support." The queen says to me. She must've seen my confused look as she said,
"I see the way my son looks at you. I can tell that you're the one for him." I smile and say,
"You really think so?"
"I don't think so. I know so."
It was lovely to have the queen on my side. But what would the king think? Hopefully he approves of me. I walked with the queen through the hallways and eventually we get to the Ladies' Room. When we get there, I see the king and Maxon talking and Silvia speaking to the girls.
"America! Come here!" The king motions for me. I awkwardly come over.
"Err, Your Highness?" I squeak. No matter how much I knew him, I still wasn't comfortable with calling him something informal. He chuckles and says,
"We are going to have a surprise party for the queen!" At the end, he squeals a bit and I look at Maxon. He looks ready to burst out laughing.
"When is this?" I ask.
"Tomorrow, after the report, after 2 girls are eliminated-" Then he pauses for a second before leaning over and whispering in my ear,
"Don't worry. I know you are going to stay. You have my full support." I look at him in shock and he smiles. Maxon looks worried until I give him a smile that says,
I'll tell you later.
He just nods.
"And anyway, I thought that since you did a lovely job on the last project, that you would want to do the most major thing in this party... the food." I think about it for a minute.
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Maxon adds.
"I'll do it. The only thing is that I don't know much about the queen." The king laughs and says,
"Take this as an opportunity as getting to know her better." Then he whispers in my ear again,
"After all, you might end up being her daughter-in-law." A blush creeps up my face.
"Sir!!" The king just laughs and says,
"Whenever the other girls aren't around-" he motions to the other Selected girls,
"-Please, call me Clarkson." I nod and Maxon sits there looking confused. Then, the king- I mean, Clarkson- walks off to talk to Silvia. Maxon leans over and says,
"So what was that about?" I chuckle and say,
"Oh, nothing bad. I'll tell you later. Can we meet in the gardens around, let's say...." I trail off and think about a time. Any time would be good, really. I just want it to be good for Maxon.
"7?" He suggests.
"Perfect!" He kisses my forehead lightly and I walk over to the rest of the girls. Then I blush.
Did he just kiss me in front of all the girls? Even if they didn't see it, they were still here...
I brush away that thought as Silvia motions for me to come over.
"Did the king tell you about our new project?" She asks quietly, so the queen can't hear.
"Yes, he put me in charge of food." She looks momentarily shocked but then collects herself.
"Yes, yes of course..." Then she writes something down on the paper that's on her clipboard.
"Girls, after tomorrow, we will assign jobs." All of the girls look confused for a minute.
"After 2 girls go home." Suddenly, all of the girls tense up except me. I am confident that Maxon will keep me, especially since both of his parents approve of me. Silvia then shoots me a look and everybody scurries out of the room. Even though it's not even close to 7 pm, I go out to the gardens to enjoy myself. When I get there, a light breeze brushes my face. The sky is still bright, so no stars are out yet. I ruffle my dress out and then start to think to myself.
How did I get so lucky? Back in Carolina, I never would've had any of this.
I stare at my dress again. It's a light blue sundress with sparkles that go down the side. The sleeves go out to my shoulder and then stop. The dress itself only goes down to my knees or so. I wonder if Maxon thinks it's pretty.
As I stare out into the sky, my mind wonders and my body slowly gets tired.
I'll just rest a little bit, I think. I lay my head back into something comfortable and fall asleep while staring at the sky.
**********************************
(Several hours later, at the time when Maxon and America are supposed to have their date.)
"America.. America," someone whispers into my ear. I groan.
"5 more minutes.."
"America, you've been sleeping here in the garden for hours!" I bolt upright and stare at Maxon.
"How many hours?" I ask suspiciously. I was supposed to sleep for 1 hour tops.
"Umm... 6, 7 hours?" He approximates.
"WHAT?! Why didn't anybody get me up?!" Seriously? Nobody came to being me to my room? I look behind me and saw that I fell asleep in some tulips. Jeez, that's why it was so comfortable. And dirty most likely, too.
"Cause you looked comfortable!" Maxon says while smiling. Then his smile drops and he says worriedly,
"So why did both my mom and dad talk to you earlier?" Oh yeah. A smile immediately grows on my face.
"Oh ya know... They said that I have their full support." Maxon looks confused for a second but then, slowly, he seems to get it.
"Ah." My smile widens.
"I'm so excited to help you guys plan for the queen's birthday!" I squeal to him. He laughs,
"Yeah, you'll get to know my mom better." Then he leans in super close to me and murmurs,
"You know, there's a very good chance she'll become your mother-in-law." Before I can react, he presses his lips to mine in a swift, graceful movement.
"I love you," he whispers against my lips.
"Do you want to know what I was thinking about earlier?" He asks teasingly.
"I already know. Your future."
"Our future." It takes a minute for me to process all of this but then a huge smile grows on my face.
"Your smile is beautiful," he whispers to me.
"Flattering," I say, just to tease him. He smiles and then starts to laugh.
"Why are you laughing?" I ask.
"Cause- Cause there's dirt and flowers in your h-hair!!" He says and then cracks up even more.
"Yeah... Hilarious..." I say, while my cheeks turn bright red in embarrassment.