"You have got to be the biggest b*tch that ever walked the face of the earth!" Nick stormed into Alexa's room, late that night, his eyes on fire, his face flushed.
Alexa smirked, her book in front of her face, as she laid on her bed, leaning against the headboard. She wiped the look off her face and put her book down, looking up at Nick innocently. "What's wrong? What did I do?"
Nick glared down at her, now standing at the side of her bed, his hands on his hips and his head shaking back and forth, "Don't start with me, Alexa. Just because you're the princess doesn't mean that you can just treat people like sh*t-"
"Why? You do it all the time... You seem to think that because you're the prince you can cop an attitude with everybody and their mother--including yours--so why can't I, huh?"
He looked down at her angrily, "I've been so busy, being forced to plan this f*cked up wedding, that I haven't had a chance to meet anyone and I am in some major need of at least SOMETHING... and you took advantage of that! You could have just showed up where you said you would, you know? Coulda just done a li'l something with me, and it woulda been over, and you coulda gone back to hating me..."
Alexa stood from her bed, looking at him in disgust, "You are repulsive, Nickolas! My gosh! I'm not your little call-girl, okay??"
"But you're my fiance!"
"So f*cking what!! Gosh, haven't you ever heard of abstinence?"
Nick started cracking up, "Don't even try and tell me you're a virgin, you slut."
"Leave my room, Nick... I didn't invite you here."
"No, but you invited yourself to MINE, and you didn't SHOW UP."
She rolled her eyes, and trying to ignore him sat back down on her bed, picking her book up again. "Just get out, you prick."
It took everything in Nick not to just push her on the bed and do naughty things to her... for some reason, the more he hated her, the more she appealed to him. The bigger of a jerk that she was, the more she was cute. He didn't want to marry this girl. In frustration, he threw his hands into the air and stormed from her bedroom, leaving her laughing.
~ * ~
Raphaella's eyes skimmed across the crowded ballroom. The throng of people were either dancing or standing around talking, in their elegant dresses, every now and then picking a piece of fruit up from the table, but never eating it... after all, even fruit was too fattening to their fragile bodies. And then she saw him. Prince Nickolas IV had just made his appearance, Princess Alexa of Brimburg--his fiance--on his arm. She cringed at the beauty of the princess that night. She was looking stunning in her evening gown; her long, beautiful black hair pulled up into an elegant up-do. As soon as the party began to go back to normal, after everyone had bowed to the prince of Hoxburg, and the princess of Brimburg, Raphaella excused herself from the conversation that she had been paying little attention to. Raphaella, the princess of Cunningham, headed off in Nickolas and Alexa's direction.
~ * ~
"Alexa, honey, why don't you go get a drink? You must be terribly thirsty," Nick kissed his fiance's forehead, releasing her hand from his. To the public, and even to Princess Raphaella--who was still making her way through the crowd, towards him--it looked extremely genuine. But really... it wasn't.
Alexa plastered on her fake 'I love you so much' smile, before kissing his cheek in return, and heading off in the direction of the champagne table.
As soon as she was gone, Raphaella made her presence known to the prince. "Prince Nickolas! You and Princess Alexa are looking stunning tonight! It's so nice to see you again!" she smiled up at him, giving a small curtsy. Her stomach did flip-flops as Nickolas kissed her hand... standard procedures.
"And same to you, Princess Raphaella," Nick bowed his head, after kissing her hand. In all actuality, he couldn't stand the girl. She was a conniving wench, and Nick hated being around her... but he had to make nice, right? After all, he was a prince... she was a princess... and they were in public. "How are things going in Cunningham, princess?"
Raphaella smiled proudly, "Things are going beautifully! And, here, in Hoxburg?" she asked in return.
Nick smiled, though he knew it wasn't real, "Wonderful."
At that point in time, Princess Alexa came back to Nick's side, handing him a champagne glass as she was sipping her own. She knew she wasn't allowed to stay very far from him, for any long amount of time, that night. They had to look madly in love, and as her father had said: When you're in love, you don't want to be separated for an instant! Nickolas' mother, Queen Amelia, had made him promise to keep close tabs on his fiance' throughout the night, too.
"Thanks, honey," Nickolas smiled down at her for a moment, his eyes relaying to her that he really wished this night wasn't happening at all.
Alexa returned his gaze, before turning to their company, "Princess Raphaella! How are you this lovely evening?" She hated the girl, but there was only so much she could do. Play nice, right?
Princess Raphaella feigned her own smile, before embracing Princess Alexa in an icy hug, "Princess Alexa," she smiled again, though it was anything but genuine. She was jealous as hell of the Princess of Brimburg. She had Prince Nickolas... the only man she'd ever wanted before. "How are you doing? Things busy with the wedding?"
Alexa merely nodded, not wanting to talk about the wedding. She still couldn't stand the thought of marrying the man that was standing to her left, "Things are wonderful. So how is Cunningham?"
The same pleased expression that had been on Raphaella's face, when Nickolas had asked her that same question, returned, "Things are excellent, Princess Alexa. I don't mean to brag, but I feel my father is leading Cunningham greater than any other ruler in the world. Oh!" she pretended to be apologetic, "Nothing against your father, of course."
Alexa stared at the woman in utter shock at her poor manners. She knew that had been a direct attack towards her father, and it made her livid. Nickolas, seeing the familiar look of anger crossing his fiance's face, quickly ended the conversation.
"That's great, Raphaella. I mean, the success of your father," he smiled at the princess, grabbing his own princess' hand in a gesture of saying that he wasn't going to let this go any farther. "It was very nice talking to you, but Alexa and I had a few people that we needed to do some business with. I hope you enjoy the event. Goodnight."
Raphaella watched in jealousy as Nickolas guided Alexa off, without another word.
~ * ~
"How could that b*tch say something such as that?!" Alexa fumed, as she paced one of the offices upstairs, while Nick sat in the chair behind the desk. "I mean, yeah I understand that she's jealous of me--of us--of whoever, but that doesn't give her the right to insult me, and in public at that! She has horrible manners, she's horribly immature!"
Nick sat with his arms folded in front of his chest, watching with raised eyebrows, as Alexa continued to wear a hole in the floor. He swore that any moment she could just fall through the ground, right back into the ballroom where the party was still going on. Finally, getting dizzy from watching her bear-like pacing, Nick stood from the desk and walked around it, stopping her by placing his hands firmly on her shoulders, "A'right, calm down, Kujo."
Alexa looked up at him, frustrated, her lip slowly beginning to tremble as tears of anger formed in her eyes, "I hate that girl, Nick. I don't care if she doesn't like me, I could give a rat's ass if she wants you, but she can't insult my family."
"I know," Nick sighed, looking down at her, and for once feeling sympathetic towards the woman he was going to marry. "People say things about my mother, too. But, y'know, that's just something we have to get used to. I know that it's hard to hear people talk bad about those that we love, but that's what happens when you're in the position that we're in."
Alexa's face softened as she stared up at him, never having known him to be so... considerate and wise, "Wow," was all that managed to escape her lips.
"What?"
"You actually said something that was... I dunno."
Nick smiled down at her, "C'mmon, princess, we should get back to the party," he linked arms with her as he walked with her to the door of the office. "I'm sure they're expecting us to dance or something."
Alexa sighed. Back to the routine of things.
