In her head the Prince was everything anyone could desire. He was altogether a picture of everything she thought a person could be. He had the most beautiful face and the way he walked was just as handsome. She found herself spending so much of her admiration on the Prince and felt the pangs of guilt, but before she could fully turn away they approached her suddenly.
"Hello." The Prince spoke to her.
"Hello." She replied, a bit startled.
She thought of him. What would he say if he were here with her and the Prince at this very moment? And she heard a faint whisper, too distant that she second guessed having actually heard it: find me everyday.
"We noticed you didn't have an umbrella and its expected to rain soon. Here."
The Prince handed her a black umbrella by the J-shaped handle secured with the band tied around it and fastened with a small silver clasp.
She reached out to take the offer, but midway realized her manners and pulled her hand back.
"Oh, thank you, but I'm okay. I don't mind the rain." She felt dumb for saying she didn't mind the rain, as if she were some water creature belittling the idea of her two acquaintances. Inside she frowned at her rudeness.
"Please," the Prince insisted, "take it." The Prince remained with his offer toward her.
His friend stood there, almost as handsome as the Prince, in a friendly quiet manner.
"Thank you." She acquiesced, and grabbed the the umbrella by the body to avoid awkwardly touching the royal Prince's hand. She did need it. She was carrying her laptop in her bag, but more than that she wanted to spend more time at the gravesite to clear her head, and getting wet would disrupt that. He smiled at the maneuver, but his face changed as he said, "I know what it's like to lose a parent."
The Prince looked bothered, but his tone was empathetic. She took this to mean she was clearly taking up more of the Prince's time than she should, but before she could thank the Prince and say ado he spoke again.
"What's your name?"
The question surprised her.
She answered it and waited for what would happen next.
There was a small second of awkward silence, but this time the Prince's friend chimed in.
"I'm Alex." He reached to shake her hand.
It was a firm grip and she found herself blinking more than usual at how wildly unexpected this all was.
"Alex is my coordinator who keeps me organized and on time." The Prince and Alex looked like a friendly but professional pair.
"It's nice to meet both of you," she stammered trying to sound confident.
"Thank you for the umbrella, I suppose it will be timely to have it when it starts pouring on my laptop." Alex gave her a cheeky grin.
"It was Alex's idea when we saw you from over there," the Prince said. "Alex is hardly ever unprepared."
She felt the warmth in her cheeks and fumbled to find the right words. Inside she felt singled out and special. It was an odd feeling, unlike the way she had felt when she met him. This was more like an instant rush whereas meeting her true love had felt very skeptical at first. She quickly responded back, "I'm lucky to have been within sight then. I am hardly ever prepared for anything." She immediately felt a panic inside at her strange admittance.
The Prince and Alex both laughed, and relief washed over her. They seemed to take a liking to her, and she had no idea what to make of this. It felt good, but in a fleeting way. She wanted to enjoy this random occurrence even if she would only walk away with a good story. It felt harmless enough, but the whisper came back and she didn't know what was making her feel so uncomfortable about it.
"Hey," the Prince began, again intercepting the whisper, "Alex and I have throughly enjoyed meeting you, but unfortunately we have to get going. We are preparing a fundraiser at an art school next week." She nodded, and realized the Prince was actually referring to her school.
"Oh yeah, that's my school!" She blurted, again embarrassed by her lack of eloquence. She quickly added, "I mean, we were told that our school would be visited by the Prince and asked to create something small to show in your honor." She felt flushed again, thinking she was talking too much and being a bother.
"You're kidding!" The Prince looked enthusiastic. "Alex, did you hear that? She is an art student. She'd be perfect!" As soon as the words left the Prince's mouth she felt her heart beat faster.
"Perfect for what?" She inquired nervously.
"Well," the Prince motioned to his friend.
Alex tilted his head in curiosity and gave a boyish grin. "You're right Prince, she does appear to be just what you were looking for."
She was now forgetting how to breathe and realized she was holding her breath as she waited for one of them to acknowledge her question.
The Prince looked at her with a mischievous half grin polished by his handsome confidence, "Alex was just telling me that I will need an escort for the engagement at your art school for better photos, since me on my own can look a little sad. I was trying to convince him otherwise, but since you're an actual student it would help boost the campaign's goal to get more creatives on board."
They both looked at her with expectant faces, and she was trying to process what was happening.
"You want me to be your escort to your honorary visit to my school?" She managed to say as poised as she could.
"The visitation is about the cause, and I would be the one honored if you would be my escort. I want for more bright students like yourself, to venture into what they can do for the world, for themselves. What do you say?"
The offer was held out toward her in the same manner that the umbrella had been. And just then it began to rain.
The three of them stood there with heightened urgency to keep dry, and she bent down with fumbling hands to open the umbrella that belonged to the Prince.
She finally unlatched the clasp and almost automatically the sleek black sleeves gently bloomed open into a circular covering. She saw Alex do the same with one he was holding and hold it above him and the Prince's half dampened locks.
She took in a breath of hesitation, but it was all happening so fast. "Okay," she said louder than usual to speak over the rain as it began to pour harder. "I mean, I don't know what I would wear, but, I mean, I know the grounds well," she added finding it difficult to resist the Prince at such close proximity.
"Great!" Alex said, "don't worry about what to wear we will have it arranged for you and everything will be set," Alex gave her quick reassuring wink.
"I look forward to it," the Prince said with a solid nod, "now excuse me to go fetch the car." With that the Prince escaped from under the umbrella and hurried toward the end of the lawn toward the parking lot.
"He always does that," said Alex. "He forgets that I'm supposed to fetch the car, but only when it's about maintaining the campaign."
The rain continued to pour as Alex and she exchanged contact information. When that was settled Alex walked her to her car and reached out to shake her hand before she got in. The Prince was waiting in the car behind them as it rained heavily, and she firmly shook Alex's hand as she looked at the Prince in the distance of about 15 feet.
The drive home was completely dazed, and she drove on auto pilot, turning left and right toward her house.
When she got home she realized she still had the Prince's umbrella, which made her feel more compelled that she would have to follow through to being his escort.
She turned the car off and listened to the rain hit her car in a chorus of knocks. She suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes because it occurred to her that she had just agreed to escort the rival of her invisible love.
She waited. There was no whisper, only the muffled sound of rain. And the tears turned into sobs until she was too tired to continue.
That night she crawled into bed without much to keep her awake, and quickly fell into sleep.
The next morning she awoke to a soft glow in her room, it was a Sunday. She rubbed a bit of hardened sleep from her eyes and felt the swollen softness of her eyelids. She lay in bed for another hour trying not to think of what had happened. It all seemed so overwhelming for her. A mixture of excitement and guilt, the way it felt to eat a slice of her favorite decadent cheesecake at the corner cafe, except this time the enjoyment seemed harder to reach.
But she would try. She wanted the excitement because the guilt felt unbearable. She wanted to be happy in order to cope with the pain, and things were beginning to look possible.
Perhaps the Prince's campaign is for liberty too, she mused inwardly. But somewhere deep inside she knew it wasn't, it couldn't be, because he went invisible to prove it to her.
Everything felt too steep for her. She got out of bed and made herself coffee. After a wrestle with fear, she resolved to search for a kinsmen for help. She would find him today, somehow because she had to.
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