Natalie Vs. Prince

“I guess so,” I tell her, smiling. I still haven’t managed to stop smiling since Connor and I decided to be together. And I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing it.

“Guess? Now that’s some modesty right there,” Alicia teases me, bumping me with her elbow. “I mean, look at you! Soon enough I’ll have to start calling you Princess, uh? Princess Natalie D’Avington… That has a ring to it,” she continues, laughing merrily.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” I start telling them, but I don’t really believe what I’m saying. I just don’t want to jinx myself, you know? But I know that Connor has been playing with the idea; I can see it in the way he looks at me late at night, both of us exhausted after ravishing each other. Still, I don’t want to think about it now. Let it happen when it happens, you know? What matters is that we’re together.

“So,” Alicia turns her attention toward Christine, “you better keep up, girl. When are you going to get yourself a man?” She teases her, but I know there’s no malice to her words.

Life has really taken us by surprise these last few months. We were just young silly girls out of college not so long ago, and now look at us… Alicia is the youngest Vice-President in a financial behemoth, and I’m living in a palace. As I look at Christine, something tells me that the she won’t break the trend; there’s something very special in store for her.

“Oh, I’m just focusing on work right now, you know?” Christine starts, faithful to her old “work hard play hard” mantra. “I’m waiting for the right guy to come along.”

“He will,” Alicia and I say at the same moment, and we all share a laugh, the sound of our voices carried by the window and into the city below.

It’s funny how life works, isn’t it? One moment you’re living in a tiny bedroom apartment in the Upper East Side, the next you’re being whisked away by a European prince and living in a palace. Christine’s right; I’m a lucky girl. No, let me say that again: I’m the luckiest girl on Earth. And it’s not because Connor’s a prince, or because he’s rich or anything… It has nothing to do with it. I’d love him all the same even if he was broke.

You see, while the whole world saw in Connor nothing more than a spoiled rich asshole, I saw past that. Under all his cursing, tattoos, and devil-may-care attitude, there’s a man capable of… love. And, though his love isn’t cheap or comes easy, it’s worth the effort. The moment those words came out of his mouth (I love you, Natalie), I knew he’d love me forever and that he’d do right by me.

And that’s all a girl can ask for.