Falling for Royalty

Chapter Fourteen

**Prince William's POV**

I lie in bed feeling crushed and broken. She turned me down, rejected me and it...hurt. I never thought this would happen but honestly, if it was any of the other girls, I probably wouldn't of cared but this was Evelyn. She mattered to me even though we just met, I feel like we have known each other for years. Because it was Evelyn, I felt like my heart had been dissected and fed to a frog. She really doesn't like me. Why...why couldn't I have just heeded her words and went my separate way, abandoning all hope of her and I being together? This feeling-whatever this feeling was-sucked. I finally find myself drifting off after constantly thinking of how I could've done something differently to maybe have changed how she felt about me.

I awake to Jennifer pushing the curtains to the side of the windows, revealing bright rays of sunlight shining through the flawless, smudge-free glass. I hurriedly jump out of bed and throw on a nicely tailored suit. Walking to the dining area, I find myself passing Evelyn in the hallway.

I clear my throat. "Good morning, Evelyn." I half smile at her.

She pushes her hair back behind her ear in a flustered manner. "Uh...good morning." She ducks her head and scampers off like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs, head hanging as if it were in trouble. I frown unknowingly at her eagerness to get away from me. And to top off her turning me down, now its awkward as well. Just fabulous. I reach the dining area and wave to the girls as I make my way to my cushioned seat-which you would probably consider a throne. Throughout breakfast, Rachel continually smiles at me while twirling hair around her fingertips. I smile back and maybe now that I wasn't so caught up in Evelyn-since I was trying to leave her alone and at least pretend to be interested in the other girls-I realized many of the girls kept glancing at me and smiling. Evelyn kept her head low and I noticed she was not eating a single bite off of her plate. Not once during breakfast did she even look up from her plate and I felt a kind of sadness seeping into my heart, but I ignored the feeling and put a smile on my face. I decided to put the act into play: Rachel and I had a date to plan. I stand swiftly and clear my throat. "Rachel, stay behind after breakfast, if you will."

She smiles and nods. "Sure thing, Prince William."

I glance at Evelyn-surely she would object to me spending time with another girl-but still no sign of the least bit of aggravation or objection.

After all the girls exit the dining area-several eyeing Rachel warily and some giving her a thumbs up-I smile as I hold out a seat for her. "Please, take a seat."

She sits in the chair, crossing one leg properly over the other and setting her hands in her lap. "Yes?"

I sit in front of her, grinning. "Rachel, how would you like to go on a date with me...this afternoon?" Okay, in all honesty, I was making this up as I went along but it was going well from what I could tell.

Her jaw drops dramatically and her eyes widen. "M-me?"

I nod and stand, helping her up as well. "Yes, you silly. But I'll pick you up at 2:30."

She nods eagerly a huge smile spreading across her face, her pearly white, straight teeth showing. "Of-of course! But what do I need to wear?"

I shrug nonchalantly. Where would I take her? Hmm...maybe we would have tea and go to the beach. "A sun dress and bathing suit. Oh, and don't forget sunblock." She hugs me-like super tightly to the point where I can barely breathe-and runs off to her room. This was going well except for the part where I had to pretend I had no interest in Evelyn right now and that we weren't really on good speaking terms.

At 2:15, I shower and put my swimming trunks on which were plain navy blue with vertical, white stripes and at exactly 2:30, I am knocking on Rachel's door. She answers and squeals when she sees me. I was kind of thrown off by her reaction considering Evelyn never acted like this around me but we lock arms and make our way towards the helicopter waiting outside the front of the castle. Rachel was wearing a beautiful sea green sun dress that reached her ankles with a sparkly bodice and flowy skirt. It brought out her thin form and went perfectly with her fair skin tone. She had a pair of brown sunglasses with rhinestones on the side. She looked beautiful but in a different way than Evelyn was beautiful. Evelyn's beauty was a more natural, unknowing beauty that made people fall for her without her knowing she was even doing anything and adding her fierce determination and feisty attitude, it made for a lot of fun on a date and you could just be yourself around her. Rachel, on the other hand, she had that beauty where you-just by a first glance-can tell she's had money all her life and she knows she is beautiful and flaunts it. You have to watch how you act and feel like you have to try your hardest to impress her. But, don't get me wrong, I was kind of excited for this date. It gave me a chance to get to know her better. During the flight, Rachel and I hold hands and chat about normal, everyday things like the weather and how she was enjoying her stay. She compliments my "nice, fit" body and rants about how we are going to have so much fun. I push a loose strand of hair behind her ear and kiss her cheek. She smiles and her cheeks turn rosy red. We finally arrive at Findler's Beach which wad coincidently remote except for our little restricted V.I.P area for my dates. I lead her to white metal table with two stools. The table had a blue floral tablecloth and was set up with a china tea set immaculately placed for two.

She covers her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh! Its so hard to believe I'm on a date with Prince William! And this," she gestures to the table and the beach, "its so remarkable!"

I motion for her to sit down and take the seat across from her, pouring both her and I some green tea. We laugh and chat for several minutes before getting up. The seashore was calling our names with its crystal clear baby blue water; its rolling, crashing waves that reflected the warm sunlight; and flawless white sand that sparkled under the observatory eye of the sun's rays. Rachel removes her dress, stripping to her coral colored bathing suit and begins applying some sun block. I see her struggling to get her back and laugh at the struggle of it. I take the bottle from her, pouring some into the palm of my hand and rubbing it over her back. I feel a slight tingling as my hand rubs over her soft, smoothe skin-similar to that feeling I got when me and Evelyn first made contact. I pull away after applying it and turn her around.

She laughs at herself. "Thank you so much."

"No problem, Rachel. But now, you have to get my back." I hand her the bottle and turn around.

She gently rubs the sun block onto my back and then wraps her arms around me, resting her chin on my shoulder. "Prince William, can I touch your stomach? Because everytime I see it, it looks so muscular and I just want to see what it feels like."

I laugh. "Um sure, I don't mind."

She stands in front of me and steps forward slightly, to get closer. She carefully places her hands on my shoulders and slides them down my abdomen, over my stomach and down to where they're just above my swim trunks waistline.

It gives me way too much memory of Evelyn doing the same thing to me when I was in a towel and I back up a few paces. "So, shall we swim?"

She laughs-a girly, high-pitched laugh very unlike Evelyn's. I grab her and sling her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes and wade into the water about waist high and gently throw her in before running to the shore and laughing. She surfaces and attempts to splash me. "You jerk!" She runs to shore and begins chasing me all the while, laughing. I laugh as well while running away from her. I sprint into the water with the rolling, crashing waves as they hit my legs and disperse in different directions. I splash her and she throws her hands up in front of her face to shield it from the salty droplets of water. She runs to me and jumps on my back like a baby grizzly wrestling with its mother on its back. After an hour or so of swimming, we lie out on a blue blanket and chill as we observe the setting sun. The sun was a deep, tangerine orange and the sky was a mixture of pale pink, lemon yellow, scarlet red, and light oranges as well as a cerulean blue. It was a marvelous sight and I wanted to memorize the scene in front of me. It was almost perfect, the only thing that could've been changed to make it perfect was if Evelyn was here with me instead of Rachel. But this was as close to perfect as it could without Evelyn. Rachel cuddles close to me and I wrap an arm around her to keep her warm as a soft breeze begins to blow. I had to admit, I had a lot of fun today. Rachel wasn't too bad but she didn't come close to Evelyn, that's for sure.