I wished the ground would swallow me. How could I say those things last night?
Someone please kill me now.
How could I have asked him to stay? Groaning, I rolled myself into a ball. What if I saw him? What was I supposed to say to him? No, I told myself, I won't see him again. There's no contract anymore. I'm out of danger. Nothing is keeping him here except his pride. Maybe that won't be a factor and I never have to see him again.
'Stop moving around. It's cold.'
I froze. He was here?! He hadn't left yet?! I yanked the comforter off my head and sprung up. The room was illuminated by only a lamp. Everything else was dark but it was enough for me to see a grumpy kitten curled up on one of my pillows and giving me a death glare.
"You-you're not supposed to be here," I stammered out.
The death glare continued. 'You asked me to stay here, don't you remember?'
My face felt hot. Instead of answering, I pulled the comforter over my head and went back into a fetal position.
'What was it that you said again?' he continued.
"Shut up."
I swear he laughed. The bed suddenly dipped with weight. He had turned back into a real boy. Against my better judgement, I pulled the comforter off my head. The Prince had his back propped against the headboard and his feet were crossed at the ankles. He wore a different set of clothing than yesterday. So, he had gone home and changed. Why had he come back?
"Do you trust me?" he suddenly asked.
"No."
He looked down at me. "That was quick."
"Do you trust me?" I shot back.
He opened his mouth then closed it. "You make a valid point," he muttered.
What was he going on about now? I glanced at the clock next to him. I had about thirty minutes before the alarm went off and I had to get up and get ready for school. How was the week not over yet? I also hated waking up before my alarm.
"Go out with me," he suddenly said.
My response came instantly. "No."
He gave me another look. I stared back at him, feeling my body go hot. What was he doing? Asking me out all of a sudden? Was this really the Prince? Had a different vampire replaced him. If this was the real one, it was probably another one of his jokes.
"You refused me so easily."
"Why would I go out with you?" I asked. "You don't like me. I - don't like you. We have nothing in common."
"That is a lie."
My heart lurched. He probably heard it too. The Prince must have known I wouldn't agree to something like that. We didn't like each other. So, why did he ask?
"What are you playing at?" I asked him. "Is this another one of Violet's schemes? Do you need to be seen with humans to boost up your reputation?"
"If I don't stay with you, how else am I supposed to protect you?" He made a good point.
Speechless, I could only stare at him. Wh-what?! Why was he saying weird things again? Since when did he want to protect me?
"You can get kidnapped again," he continued, "I can't have you as a liability."
So, that's what this was about. "I'm sorry if I can't help but get kidnapped by vampires," I retorted.
"That exactly my point. If I stay with you, they can't use you to get to me. You're safe and I get to figure out who's trying to frame me."
He was making sense.
"So, let me get this straight. We're going to be dating out of necessity?"
"Go out with me and I'll turn into a kitten as many times as you want."
I really wished the ground would swallow me. He was never going to let me live that down. Of course, he would say something like that. "I- I don't like cats," I stammered out, "they have too much fur."
"Says the person who nearly hugged me to death last night. Oh, and I also recall someone calling me cute."
"Lies!"
"Keep telling yourself that."
I was beyond mortified. Leave it to him to hold everything over my head. Inwardly, I groaned.
"Be happy in the knowledge that I allowed you to get so close to me. Not everyone gets that honor."
"Honor?" I blurted out. "I'm sure you've slept with a lot of women. Probably even men too."
"Contrary to popular belief, I haven't."
"That's hard to believe."
He shrugged. "I'm not going to defend myself to you."
"Why are you so frustrating?" I grumbled.
"I'm trying to make a deal with you."
"Because the first one worked out so well."
Neither one of us said anything for a long time. It wasn't like I couldn't go out with him. It also wasn't like I was entertaining the thought but having a body guard would help things. I just didn't want it to be him. I also never thought that I would be dating someone I didn't like romantically.
I cleared my throat. "H-how long would this new deal be?" I asked.
A hopeful expression appeared on his face. I shouldn't have asked him that. He looked so weird. So, normal.
"Until I find who's out to get me," he answered, "afterwards, I'll break up with you."
"Why do you have to break up with me? Why can't I break with you?"
"Why would anyone want to break up with me?" he asked.
I was ready to smack him. "Why? Because you're abusive, mean, manipulative. Need I go on?"
"Says who?"
"Says me. You tried to kill me, remember? You literally had your hands on my throat."
The Prince looked away. I sat up.
"Look," I said, "we don't trust each other. I don't even know your name. You want to control the world. You don't respect humans." I shook my head. "I can't date someone like that."
"And yet you agreed to a contract with someone like that."
"You threatened Carlos for defending me. What was I supposed to do? Let your family sue him for striking you. You shouldn't have attacked me to begin with. You take whatever you want and don't deal with the consequences."
"I'm not going to explain myself to you."
"Then what's the point?" I asked. "People are bound to figure out that we aren't dating."
"Then you better be convincing."
Sighing, I looked away. People would know that it was a lie. His fan club would most definitely know it was all pretend and call him out on it.
"That's not how it's supposed to work."
"I told you before," he said, quietly, "I have an image to protect."
It was surprising that the Prince hadn't stormed off in anger. That was an improvement at least. I chewed on my lips. It's not like anybody would know we were dating. Plus that was guaranteed protection there. And yet, there were so many cons outweighing the pros. He had also gone as far as offering to turn into a kitten as many times as I asked him to. That was tempting but I couldn't go out with him just because of that. There had to be some mutual respect, if not affection between us.
If I was right, the Prince probably acted like this to keep his father on the throne. I could respect that. Plus, a voice in my head said, he might change the way he acts now towards you because he doesn't have to pretend anymore. I wasn't sure if that voice belonged to the Prince or myself.
"You don't have to pretend with me," I assured him. I gestured around the room. "I trust you enough to let you sleep in the same room and to protect me. Can't you extend that same trust to me?"
"Why would I let myself be protected by a human?"
"Aren't you supposed to convince me to date you?" I asked. Tiredly, I rubbed my eyes. "Just so you know, you're doing an awful job at it. I mean, do you even like me?"
The Prince didn't answer. It was a simple question. Personally, I didn't dislike the Prince. He just thought he was better than every living being on planet Earth. He needed to be thrown off his high horse.
"So the kitten proposition wasn't enough?" he asked.
This was getting ridiculous. Why couldn't he ever give me a straight answer? Wasn't he the one asking me out? He could at least answer my questions. I crossed my arms and didn't answer him.
"I'm doing this for your protection," he said, "if you object to using the word dating then let's call it an arrangement."
"An arrangement?"
He nodded."I'll protect you and you stay by my side. It is that simple."
"Nothing is very simple when dealing with you," I reminded him.
Why were we still having this conversation? I should just keeping saying 'no' and end the conversation. That would be the smart thing to do. However, having a vampire body guard wasn't that bad. I didn't have worry about getting kidnapped again or attacked. Plus, he wasn't always so bad. There was some good in him too when he wasn't being an a$$.
"Yes or no?"
"No strings attached?" I asked. "You won't claim to be my boyfriend or anything?"
"No one will know."
"Alright," I said, "you can protect me until you figure out who is out to get you. After that, we will no longer talk to one another. Or even see each other, ever again. Agreed?"
The Prince narrowed his eyes at me. "We will discuss the terms some other time," he said, "but I agree to our new proposal, for now."
"Then it's a deal?"
He nodded.
Great, now I had an 'official' boyfriend. It didn't feel as exciting as I thought it would. At least, I didn't have to touch him or anything like that. Plus, no one would know. Well, it could have been worse.
A few moments later, my alarm sound blared too loudly in the room. The Prince turned it off for me. I didn't know if he was going to leave or not. I waited for a few minutes to see if he would leave. Seeing how he wasn't moving, I crawled out of bed and snatched a few clothes from my closet. A quick shower should wake me up completely.
With my clothes stuffed in my arms, I headed towards the door. My parents should be up by now. I wished I could tell my mom but that probably wasn't a good idea. She would ask if I liked the Prince and I wouldn't know what to tell her. I also didn't want to lie to her either.
"You can call me Alexander," the Prince suddenly said behind me.
My arms went limp and my bundle of clothes fell to the ground. I twirled around, shocked. But the Prince was no longer there. He was just gone. My brain wouldn't work properly. Then, little by little, it began to process what I had just heard. The Prince had finally told me his name.