Finding My Prince Charming (8 page)

“But come on. I want to. What would you like?”

“I think I’ll have a Guinness.”

He looked at me in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“I didn’t know girls liked Guinness. I thought you all preferred the fruity drinks.”

“The fruity drinks? Really?” I smiled at him, hiding my annoyance well. What was with these guys in Europe?

“You know, Sex on the Beach, Cosmopolitans, Long Island Teas or whatever they’re called.”

“I think that I’m going to ignore that you said that.” I laughed.

“I put my foot in my mouth, didn’t I?” He looked mad at himself. “I know that I have the propensity to be an ass because my brother is the king of jackasses.” And then he smiled to himself.

“Oh?”

“Well, he’s a prince, but yes, he’s a jackass.”

“He’s a prince of jackasses or he’s a prince?” I asked, confused.

“Well, he—”

“Lola, there you are.” Anna came running up to me. “Jason just asked me out on a date. Oh, my God, can you believe it? I have a date already. A real date!”

“Anna, I’m talking.” I was astounded by how rude she was being tonight.

“I’m sorry.” She looked at Sebastian and smiled at me. “He’s cute.”

“Anna!”

“Sorry, but I didn’t want you to miss out.” She made a face. “Not after that ass from last night.”

“Anna, I think we should leave now.” I grabbed her arm and squeezed hard.

“No. We just got here.”

“You’re acting crazy,” I hissed.

“But I need to get to know Jason better.”

“I thought he already asked you out on a date?”

“Well, not really. He asked me if I wanted to go and smoke pot with him.” She paused and made a face. “Okay, maybe he really asked me if I had any pot to smoke with him.”

“Oh God, that is not a date.”

“I know,” she whined.

Sebastian interrupted us. “I know where to get some if you need some.”

I froze in embarrassment. I had completely forgotten he was there.

“Oh, no. We don’t smoke.” I turned back to him and gave him a small smile. “We’ve both got enough problems without adding drugs to the mix.”

“Weed is not drugs,” Anna stated, but I decided to ignore her. I was pretty sure she was only saying that because she had a crush on a guy who wanted to go and get high with her. Sometimes she became a real idiot when she had a crush on a guy.

“Is my Guinness almost here?” I smiled at Sebastian, and he grinned back at me in delight. I felt my stomach flip at the eagerness in his eyes. I hoped I wasn’t giving him the wrong impression. I mean, he was definitely cute, but I was still feeling pretty horrible about my encounter with Xavier, King of Assholes.

“What’s so funny?” Sebastian’s eyes twinkled at me and then he gave Anna a wide smile. “Would you like something to drink?”

“I’ll have a White Russian, please.” She smiled back at him and I gave her a look. “Hey, when in Rome.” She shrugged and looked back at the table. I was pretty sure she was checking to see if Jason was checking her out, which he wasn’t. She looked disappointed as she turned back to me.

“Your ‘no alcohol policy’ lasted for how long?” I shook my head.

She grinned at me and then looked back at Jason. “I don’t think I’m going to settle for Jason just yet.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, he’s hot, but what’s hot at the end of the day?”

I smiled to myself at her words. How quickly she had turned on and then off. She was like a guy like that, always wanting something or someone badly and then letting some small thing distract or annoy her and forgetting about it. I wasn’t sure how she was able to move on so quickly. I had the opposite problem; I tended to dwell on things for far too long.

“Maybe we should have stayed home and watched
EastEnders
.”

“Anna, we’ve watched that show once.” I laughed, thinking about the English soap opera that had enraptured us a few nights before. “We don’t even know who anyone is.”

“I just feel bad that I dragged you out.” She made a face, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes. This wasn’t about me, this was about her and the fact that Jason didn’t seem to be as interested as she had hoped.

“Excuse me please, Sebastian.” I gave him a small smile as he looked at us both in concern. “We’ll be back inside in a moment.”

“Take your time, ladies. I will have the drinks ready and waiting for you.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed Anna’s hand and dragged her outside with me. “Okay, you need to relax.”

“What?” She looked at me with a blank expression and red cheeks.

“Relax. We just got here. We’re just meeting this people. We have six months to get to know everyone. If Jason is the one, you’ll end up with him. Don’t stress out.”

“I really like him,” Anna sighed. “I just feel like a fool.”

“You were excited only five minutes ago. Literally five minutes ago, you said he asked you on a date.”

“Well, we both know that was a bit of an exaggeration.” Anna giggled and placed her arm through mine. “You know how I can get.” She sighed and then smiled at me widely. “I’m glad we decided to do this together, Lola. I’m not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t come too.”

“That’s what best friends are for.” I smiled back at her. “Now let’s go back inside and meet everyone else. Then we can leave early and go and pig out on ice cream.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

We walked back inside arm in arm, and I was glad that I had been able to calm her down before she’d gone crazy. I loved Anna like a sister, but she had one of those manic personalities when it came to guys. She just lost her mind and acted like a total psycho—many times after only one date. She was so obsessed with falling in love that she fell for every guy she thought was cute, and if he didn’t seem interested right away, she either fooled herself into believing he was or she fell into a deep funk. I was always having to talk her off of the edge. Which was fine, because I was the boring one.

I was almost the opposite of Anna. I had a hard time with relationships because it was hard for me to let my guard down. That was why last night had been so completely exhilarating and out of the ordinary for me. I’d never just met a guy and gone home with him. I tended to overanalyze too much. But I guessed the alcohol had lowered my inhibitions, and the fact that I’d wanted to just go crazy hadn’t helped. For just once in my life.

And it had felt magical. Even the sparring with Xavier had elevated everything in my body. I had felt like I was soaring, and the sex had been amazing. I felt like a masochist because a part of me wished that I could have one more night with him—even though he had been a jackass.

“Here are your drinks, girls.” Sebastian walked over to us with a huge grin. “I was scared that you weren’t going to come back in.”

“We’re here.” Anna grabbed her drink and took a huge gulp. She shrugged at me as she saw my look. The ‘no alcohol policy’ was definitely out for her today!

“Thanks, Sebastian.” I gave him a grateful smile, and he nodded his head briefly.

His odd little mannerisms were so noticeable that I wanted to ask him about them, but I figured that maybe that was how Europeans were brought up. He was a lot more polite than any guys I knew back home in the States. Shit, he could give lessons on how to treat a lady—lessons Xavier needed to sign up for.

“So do you?” Sebastian interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at him guiltily, annoyed that I was still thinking of the asshole.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you.” I made a face and looked around the restaurant lounge we were in. “It’s so noisy in here.”

“No apologies needed.” He bowed his head again and nodded towards the group table. “Shall we make our way back? I think Henrietta wants to make some announcements.”

“Oh, we can’t miss those.” Anna grinned and winked at me.

We walked back over to the table and sat down. I sat next to a girl I hadn’t met yet, Sebastian sat next to me, and Anna sat next to Sebastian. I heard him whisper something to her and she laughed. I smiled to myself as I noticed Jason staring at the two of them. Typical man! Always desiring a woman he thinks someone else likes.

“Okay, great. I think we have everyone here now,” Henrietta said loudly from her position at the end of the table. “Can everyone hear me?”

“No!” a bunch of drunk girls and Jason screamed out, and Henrietta smiled.

“Okay, let’s get started. Welcome to what is going to be the best six months of your life.” Henrietta looked around the table and made eye contact with all of us. “I want everyone at this table to get to know each other tonight. Many of you will be in classes together. Some of you may even sleep together.”

“What?” Anna gasped and looked at me with a shocked expression.

“Ignore her.” Sebastian laughed. “The English can be very blunt in their humor.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Where are you from then, Sebastian?” I asked him curiously, but Henrietta gave us a look before he could answer.

“Now, I want us to go around the table and introduce ourselves.”

“Boring!” Jason cried out and the girls next to him nodded in agreement.

It seemed as if Jason was going to be the big man of the group. I wasn’t sure why all the girls were flocking to him. Granted, he was blond and had the surfer look going on. But he also seemed like a big doofus, unlike Sebastian, who was handsome and polite. I couldn’t understand why more girls weren’t trying to flirt with him. I would be all over him if I weren’t still thinking about Xavier.

“Fine, fine. But I want to let everyone know we have a very special member in the group this year. In fact, I think you should all know that...”

“Hey, Henrietta. Why don’t we all just eat and drink and be merry?” Sebastian spoke up this time, and I looked at him in surprise. His voice sounded calm, but there was a hint of aggression there as well.

“But Sebastian, your brother will—”

“Henrietta.” He said her name firmly, and she shrugged before looking around the table with a tight smile.

“Well, that’s it for tonight, folks. Don’t forget, classes start bright and early on Monday morning. Your professors will not be impressed if you are late.”

“I can’t believe that classes are starting already,” Anna groaned and then froze as she saw Jason walking towards us. I gave her a bright smile as if to say, “I told you not to freak out already.”

“Hey, Lola.” He stopped in front of me and flashed his brilliant white teeth. “I was thinking we should be study partners.”

“Huh?” My jaw fell open in shock at his words. I also felt my skin burning up as I felt at least four girls, including Anna, staring at me in jealousy.

“You seem like a bright girl, and I’m going to need someone to go to museums with.” He leaned in closer to me. “Plus, you’re the only one who hasn’t mentioned my Australian accent tonight. I don’t want this year to revolve around my being from Oz. It’s not that exciting. I’m just—”

“Fine, fine, fine.” I nodded and stood up. “Sounds good. I’m sure Anna would love to join us.”

“I don’t know.” She made a face, and I could tell she was upset.

“The more the merrier, right?” Jason shrugged and grinned at Anna. “Maybe we can smoke out while we study.”

“Yeah, that would be cool.” She grinned up at him, and I felt my stomach settle down. Thank God. The last thing I needed was for Anna’s crush to have a crush on me.

***

His View

T
he rest of the weekend seemed to drag on. All I could think about was Lola and the distraught look on her face as she’d fled the hotel room. I felt uncomfortable inside. It wasn’t a feeling I appreciated. I went home and started preparing for the next week by looking at the applications I’d received for my assistant position. My mood changed as I read the applications again. Lola’s name stood out bright and shining. It had to be my Lola.  I had another chance with her. I needed to have one more night with her. And the next time I was going to get her out of my system. I smiled to myself as I thought about having her in my bed again. Maybe I’d give her a couple of days to rock my world this time.

“C
atch you for lunch?” Anna made a face as we paused outside the door to my class. “I better go or I’ll be late.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled. “Have a great day.”

“You too.” I watched her hurry off and breathed a sigh of relief.

We were finally back on the right track. I knew as soon as Jason had come up to me at the restaurant that we were going to have trouble. Even though Anna and I were best friends, she was still ridiculously insecure and slightly envious of me. I understood why, but it still hurt me whenever she started ignoring me because guys paid more attention to me than her. And it wasn’t that I was so much more gorgeous than she was. In fact, I thought that Anna was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever known, with her long black hair and intelligent hazel eyes. I felt very boring with my light brown hair and brown eyes. I was of average height and build, and I knew that Anna was slightly self-conscious because she had recently lost a lot of weight.

I slowly walked into the classroom, wanting to take in my surroundings. Everything was so different in London. The building itself was supposedly an old residence of some Lord and everything seemed so grand.

“Lola,” a voice called out to me, and I looked up and saw Sebastian grinning at me.

I walked over to him slowly but quite happily. He looked even more handsome than I had remembered. His green eyes shone at me like emeralds, and he was wearing a plaid shirt that seemed to emphasize the slight twinkles of brown.

“How are you?” He stood up as I reached his seat and pointed to the seat next to him. “Please.”

“Thanks.” I sat down and unbuttoned my jacket. “I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m tired.” He yawned slightly. “Excuse me. I was up all night going through the textbook.”

“Not the entire textbook?” I looked at him in amazement. He didn’t look like he was a nerd.

“My brother will expect no less of me,” he sighed. “And some of these paintings I should know already.”

“Oh, have you taken the class already?”

“No, we own some of them. Well, I don’t own any of them, but my family does.”