Chapter 12

For the longest amount of time, my best friend's boyfriend would always tease me that I would marry a prince since I was moving to Europe. I never took him seriously and then I met Archie.

Needless to say, the moment we met up that night, he just kept giving me the 'i told you so look'. But he never treated him like a prim, proper prince and neither did my best friend, Peyton. They treated him like they'd treat anyone else.

We had an amazing time clubbing, bar hopping, and showing Archie around the city. The best part was that no news story got out.

I fumbled for my phone and looked at the time 3:35 in the afternoon and I was just waking up. I rolled over and looked at Archie who was still asleep.

It was safe to say that we partied too hard last night, we didn't even make it back to the hotel until 6:45 in the morning.

"Today is the day." he murmured as he stretched.

I nodded my head, "Are you nervous?"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." Archie answered my question, "How do you think they're going to react?"

"I think Aubrey will realize who you are before anyone else." I thought about my sixteen-year-old sister who loved pop culture and royal weddings. "Her reaction will be interesting."

I got out of the bed and opened up the curtains.

"Rise and fucking shine." I faced Archie, "I'm going to go shower and get ready. You should go get some snacks for us."

"Sure thing princess." Archie responded before I walked into the bathroom. Princess had a nice ring to it.

I took a shower, wrapped myself in a robe, and walked out to see Archie eating wings and cheese fries.

"This is a snack?" I asked as I grabbed a wing

"Appetizers, snack, meal, food." Archie spoke, "Took you long enough to get out of the shower."

I looked at the clock, "Thirty minutes isn't even that long. I still have to do my makeup."

"You are beautiful without it." Archie reminded me, "I'm sure you know that already though."

I sat down and started doing my makeup, "Yes, but it's reassuring to hear it from others."

"I'm gonna go shower and try to calm myself the hell down. I'm bloody nervous." Archie jittered

"Don't be, I wouldn't bring you home if I knew they wouldn't like you." I assured him

I turned around in my chair to face him. Archie did look so nervous, I'd never seen him so flustered.

He ran his hands through his hair, "They could like me but they also could not like me."

"The royal aspect?" I questioned him

Archie nodded, "I don't want to think about it right now. They can lay it all on me when we get to that bridge."

"Calm down, it'll all be ok." I turned back around

He sighed loudly, "I'll try."

I did my makeup as he took a shower. My mom was texting me about all of the food she was making and how she was so excited to meet this boy. The more I thought about it, the more I got nervous.

Archie was the first guy I cared about after my four-year-long relationship. I'd been single for a while but this was still a big deal. He was also a big public figure, but there was also this small superficial thing - he was white.

Sure I grew up in a predominantly white area, most of my friends from high school were white or white-passing, then I went to another predominantly white college (luckily I found the BSU and a D9 sorority) yet I still only dated or had flings with black boys.

So to see my parents' reaction when Archie walked through the door was going to be interesting, to say the least.

I decided on wearing a yellow tank top that tied at the shoulders with white skinny jeans. I paired it with minimalistic jewelry, a nude Fucci (fake Gucci from the streets of Chinatown) belt, and nude flatform espadrille sandals.

"Looking good." Archie complimented me. He had on a white t-shirt, black jeans, white airforce ones, and a jean jacket. "It's so weird being in the same room as the prettiest girl in the world."

My heart started racing as he looked at me. He was giving me those eyes and complimenting me. It had my heart beating a mile a minute.

"You drive me crazy" I spoke lowly, "and I wouldn't want it any other way."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and I put my arms around his neck.

"I'm really lucky to have you." Archie looked me in the eyes

I kissed his cheek, "Let's do this."

My parents' house was only about ten minutes from the hotel. I kinda wished it was a little longer, as soon as I pulled up I got so nervous.

I turned off the car, "Whew, ok, let's go."

We walked up to the door and I unlocked it. I smelled an array of food coming from the kitchen, I heard my family talking, and it was nice to see our two Goldendoodles - Sasha and Malia - running around the backyard.

"Amie, is that you?" my Mom's voice called out

I walked into the kitchen to see my Mom taking her apron off, my Dad was laying out the food, Aaron was sitting at the island on his phone, and Aubrey was nowhere to be found.

My Mom was wearing a satin white cami, denim bell-bottoms, and some cute nude wedges.

She put her arms around me, "Amie! I missed my baby girl."

"I missed you too." I smiled her

"He's white?" she whispered into my ear before she pulled away

I gave my Dad a hug and he said the same thing, but they also didn't say 'he's the prince' so I guess that was a good thing.

"Uh, Archie this is my Mom, Athena, my Dad, Simon, and my brother, Aaron. I have no idea where my sister is." I introduced him, "Everyone this is Archie."

I watched as my Mom gave Archie a hug.

"It's so nice to meet you, Amie has told me so much about you." she spoke. I looked over at my brother and Dad who was already looking at me.

"I see you like swirl." my brother mouthed

I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm going to go get Bree from her room." my Mom walked out of the kitchen

"So Archie, did you go to college in the states or across the pond?" my Dad asked him as I grabbed asparagus out of the pan

"I graduated from Oxford with a degree in international relations." Archie answered his question

My Dad nodded, "Oxford, that school has a lot of history. I did my undergrad at Howard University, med school at Johns Hopkins, residency in Texas, and somehow ended up in Beverly Hills at Cedars-Sinai."

"He left out the part when he met and fell in love with Miss USA while he was in med school." my brother commented

I heard my Mom's footsteps, "Did I hear Miss USA?"

"Just reminiscing on the past." my Dad grinned

My tall ass little sisters walked through the archway, "Lissy is back!"

I threw my arms around her and picked her up, "What's up? What else have you been doing other than shopping in my closet?"

She spun around in my cranberry overall dress with an off the shoulder white shirt underneath. Aubrey was the spitting image of my Mom. They were both long and tall, chocolate skin, and thick curly hair.

"Aubrey, this is Archie and Archie this is my not so little sister, Aubrey." I introduced them both

Her eyes got so wide and her jaw dropped, "Shut the front door."

She knew, she definitely knew.

"Aubrey! Where are your manners?" my Dad scolded her. I guess cause they thought she was reacting to him being white, not the prince.

Aubrey looked at me, "He's that Archie?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"What?" my Mom looked puzzled

I looked over at Archie and he gave me a small nod.

"I guess I should formally introduce myself." Archie let out a nervous laugh, "I'm Archie, Prince of England."

It was silent for a few moments.

Aaron put down his phone, "Is this for shits 'cause your British or for real?"

"You have all the information you could ever want at your finger tips." I pointed to his phone. I watched as he picked up the phone and typed.

"Yeah, they're most definitely not joking." he spoke in disbelief. My family crowded around my brother to see.

I looked at Archie and patted his back.

"How about we eat before the food gets cold?" I interjected

We ended up on the patio eating steaks, potatoes, and asparagus. My family asked a bunch of questions about Archie's upbringing, how we met, and how my work was going. Of course, my Mom went on her ramble about her Miss USA/Miss Universe days and how Aubrey was following in her footsteps by being Miss Teen USA.

She showed Archie all of the cringy pictures of me from the time I was born to I was in high school.

"This is from her high school cheer days." my Mom showed a picture of me on the sidelines with some of my teammates, "Oh and then is her crying after she got into Columbia."

I pushed her hands down, "Ok, ok, that's enough."

"It's never enough! I'm sure Archie's Mom embarrasses him too." my mom defended herself

Ouch, sore spot.

"My Mom passed away a couple of years ago from breast cancer, but she definitely did while she was still here." he spoke up

"I'm sorry to hear that." my Mom's face went soft

My Dad cleared his throat, "So when do you guys leave?"

"November 3rd." I answered the question

"You should come over again and we'll heat up the pool and have a barbeque." my Dad suggested

Archie nodded, "Sounds good."

"Archie, what is it like being a prince?" my sister asked him, "Can I come to visit for Christmas break?"

"Slow your roll." my Mom cautioned my sister, "Let's take things one day at a time."

I agree.

We stayed at my parents until about ten o'clock that night before we went back to the hotel. Well, I dropped him off and my siblings and I had a bonding night. It was nice, there was no talk about Archie, just us going to a movie at midnight and catching up with each other.

I didn't even realize how much I missed my family until I was back with them. Living on different sides of the world freakin' sucked.

I busted through the door of the hotel room and started opening up curtains.

"Wake up!" I exclaimed as I jumped onto the hotel bed, "We're doing things today and you need to get ready."

Archie groaned, "You suck."

"Nope, we're going to have fun today." I convinced him

Archie eventually got ready and I took him to the most touristy spot - the Hollywood walk of fame. He was in a dumb disguise but it was fine, this was a fun experience that he needed to have. The same thing went for the Santa Monica Pier.

And then I took him to a Dodgers game because that was locals do.

"I don't even understand baseball that well," Archie said to me

I laugh, "I don't either, I'm more of a football girl."

Things were all fun and games until you saw yourself and the prince of England on the Megatron. Not just to show fans dancing crazy or winning a free t-shirt, but a kiss cam.

My initial reaction was 'nah, let's not do this' and then I looked at Archie. I saw the way he was looking at me but especially my lips.

Archie put his hand on my cheek and then gently kissed me. He was the best damn kisser on the universe and thank God he had on that dumb disguise so no one recognized him.

But most of all, thank God that he kissed me.