I uploaded pretty quick this time...I'm a little proud of myself ^-^

Okay, that's done with. First of all there are some THANKS in order. Since I can't dedicate to multiple people, I really want to thank these amazing readers for voting :)

futbruin JACKSTEE cjones96 starrynite Sarasmith2

you guys are amazing, and I can't thank you enough!

This is also dedicated to Jenna because I wasn't able to see her on her birthday 'cause of stupid surgery... I love you hun, Happy belated 20th!

Also, look at the cute pic at the side ------------------------------------------------->

facebook page in external link :)

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Chapter 19

My day with Ian didn’t go amazingly well, to say the least. I found myself that night, sitting on Ian’s bed, holding an icepack to his jaw and playing with his hair as we watched a movie on my laptop.

After my vague phone conversation with Logan (where I somehow convinced him that we needed to postpone our date until the following night) Ian and I had a small lunch on the terrace where we spoke at length together, for the first time, completely alone.

“So, Chad told me that you like classical music. I didn’t know that. To be honest Ian, I don’t know most personal things about you and your personality.” I admitted, sheepishly.

“Well, what exactly do you want to know?” He asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Um, who’s your favorite composer?” I asked, my elbows on the table, chin in my hands. He chuckled and my interest and sat back lazily.

“I suppose that depended on what I was really in the mood for. Though, I can never get enough of Beethoven, I do have a soft spot for Bloch.”

“Really? I love Bloch’s work. I used to want to play his work all the time, though as a violinist I’m selfishly partial to Rimsky-Korsakov.”

“That is such a violinist thing to say. You only like him because he writes violin solos in almost all of his pieces.” Ian teased and I shoved him playfully.

“Not my fault that he realizes how amazing we are.” Ian took my hand in his and stroked it softly.

“Most people realize how amazing you are.” He whispered and my breath caught in my throat for a moment as he leaned forward. I closed my eyes for the kiss and jumped when I heard the door open and a loud yell.

“LANNIE!” My eyes widened and I looked over to see Alex running to me. He jumped in my lap and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe.

“Alex…” I gasped. “I missed you.” I returned the hug and he jumped off my lap.

“What are you and Ian doing out here?” He looked suspicious and I cleared my throat.

“Oh, just having lunch Alex. Discussing some things. When did you get back?” I changed the subject quickly.

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to come back until next week but I’m sick so Mummy wanted me to come home.” Now that I listened I could hear the stuffiness in his nose and his pallid complexion. I suppose everyone was getting sick. Luckily I had forced cough medicine down Ian’s throat and I was on the road to recovery as the worst had passed.

“Then you should be getting some sleep!” I patted his butt, shooing him back into the house. ‘I’ll be back.’ I mouthed to Ian and he stood.

“I’m going to go check on Chad anyway.” He whispered and I froze for a moment.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I hissed back and he shrugged.

“I can’t avoid him, Lana. I have to make sure he’s okay.”

I raised my eyebrows in disbelief but shrugged and didn’t say anything more. I ushered Alex to his room. “Where’s Regina?” I asked him and he let out a long sigh as he went into his closet to change into a nightshirt.

“She’s sick too, so she’s in her room sleeping.” I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered if Regina just let Alex run free when she felt tired, which seemed like the majority of the time. However, Alex seemed to be doing just fine and he was one of the most adorable kids I knew. He trudged out of the closet as I closed the curtains and darkened the room for him to get some rest. I tucked him into his bed and he let out a groan.

“I’m going to go and tell someone to bring you some water, okay? Did anyone give you medicine yet?” Alex nodded.

“Mummy said she’d come check on me when she was finished with her meeting.” I smiled and pushed the hair from his face.

“Get some sleep, and you’ll feel better.” I patted the bed before heading to the door.

“I love you Lannie.” I froze and looked back to Alex who was almost asleep.

“Love you too, Alex.” I whispered, before closing the door behind me. I headed out the door and down the hall, halting in front of Chad’s door when I heard raised voices.

“You knew how I felt about her Ian! I told you everything! And you just threw that back in my face!”

“Boys, come on. Let’s calm down…” I heard Christine’s voice.

“I told you I was sorry! What more do you want from me?”

“What more do I want from you? You’re sorry? You think sorry makes everything better all of a sudden? As if there’s a magic button you press that makes all the bad feelings go away?”

“It’s not my fault that Lana chose me!” Ian yelled in a fury. I gasped at those words, and I heard Christine echo it. I went to open the door. This had gone far enough. “I’m so sorry…I didn’t mean…” Ian started and his words were stopped with the sound of a fist hitting flesh and Christine shrieking. I winced and opened the door slowly to see Ian leaning back on the dresser holding his jaw and Christine pulling Chad back. Everyone turned to look at me and there was an icy silence that took over the room.

“I’m sorry.” Chad finally said quietly.

“Feel better now, mate?” Ian joked, cocking an eyebrow. He and Chad shared a glance and all of a sudden, all was well and Chad nodded.

“Yeah.” He replied, letting out a breath. Christine and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“Oh my god. Really?” Christine managed in between her giggles.

“What the bloody hell’s so funny?” Ian snapped and I braced myself against the door, still laughing.

“You…two….are…so…stupid.” I gasped as I slid down the door to the ground.

“It’s not that funny…” Chad commented, still looking irritated and I took control of my laughter.

“Sorry…I’m sorry.” I stood and gave Chad a thoughtful look.

“I know.” He replied and pulled me into a hug.

“I wish I could solve all of my problems that easily.” I snorted, pulling back.

“You think that was easy? Ian’s jaw is solid.” Chad shook his hand and Ian rolled his eyes.

“It was no tea party for my either.” He grunted and I walked over to Ian, lightly cradling his jaw while examining the damage.

“You’ll be fine. We’ll just ice it.” I gave him a soft kiss on the jaw and a teasing poke in the stomach to which he yelped.

“You said you needed to speak to me about something?” Christine interrupted, flopping down on Chad’s bed. “Once you don’t mind speaking in front of Chad.” She added, looking up at me worriedly.

“I suppose it’s better if you all know, so that you aren’t suspicious of anything.” I sighed in a defeated voice, leaning back against the dresser, feeling Ian take my hand. I noticed Chad eye it with a strained expression, but it vanished as quickly as I saw it. He plopped down next to Christine and they both looked at me expectantly. “Well, at the banquet, Ian and I shared a moment in the gardens.” I avoided Chad’s eyes, taking the coward’s way out. “We were caught by Logan.” Christine gave me a confused look, the opposite of the irate expression that suddenly formed on Chad’s face.

“That bastard.” Chad growled and then gave me a look to continue.

“He took some pictures, and he threatened to expose them. It’s quite obvious when and where they were taken so we’re in a bit of a jam. Until we can figure out how to properly deal with the situation, Logan said that if I started to date him then he wouldn’t release the photos.”

There was a moment of silence. “But, who’s Logan?” Christine asked.

“I’ll tell you everything about that later, love.” I said, exhaustedly.

“So, you’re just going to go along with it?” Chad asked.

“I don’t have much of a choice. I mean, Ian is still technically with Amelia…” I gave Ian a glare and he looked away from me quickly. “And he was at the time. If those pictures are released, well, the obvious problem is that he looks like a jerk to the press.”

“That’s putting it lightly.” Christine mumbled.

“The other, less obvious problem is that I would have failed at my job, yet again. I might not live through this mistake.” I groaned. “I mean, I don’t care how much you beg your parents. This is something I don’t think they’ll just overlook.”

“You should tell Aunt Cassie.” Chad said.

“I will, once I figure out what to do.”

“Ask Patricia.” Christine supplied.

“That makes me incompetent. It will make this seem like I’m not fit for my position, like I can’t handle these issues on my own.” I argued.

“But you can’t handle the issue on your own! It takes a truly strong person to know when to ask for help.” Chad countered. I was quiet. He was right. “Talk to her about it. The worse thing to do will be to just let go on without doing anything.”

“Chad’s right. When are you supposed to go out with him?” Christine asked.

“Tomorrow night. He has some surprise planned, or something like that.” I grumbled.

“Well, you might have no choice but to go to that one, just be careful, and then we’ll have to figure something out for the future.” Ian said, stroking my hand comfortingly.

“Can I be honest?” They nodded. “I’m terrified of asking my aunt for help.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Ian asked, and I shook my head.

“No, I have to do this. I’m all grown up.” I flicked his nose and he flicked me back. This led to a poke fight and we jumped when Chad cleared his throat.

“All right, I can’t take much more of the flirting. Get out of my room.” Chad snapped and we looked back at him guiltily.

“Sorry…” we both muttered, shamefaced as we shuffled out of his room.

Aunt Patty had already gone home for the night, and it wasn’t a conversation I really wanted to have over the phone. So after having dinner up in Ian’s room, we ended up cuddled up in his bed with my laptop, me cradling his head in my lap with an icepack to his sore jaw.

“What do you think he has planned?” Ian asked.

“Nothing I will enjoy I’m sure.”

“Can I ask what exactly happened with him? It seems like it was pretty painful.”

“Well, they’re not exactly happy memories. But I don’t want to talk about them right now. I want to at least end the night in high spirits.” I paused for a moment. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” He replied, absentmindedly.

“Why did you stay with Amelia for so long, if you didn’t think you would really like her?” Ian seemed to consider my question for a moment.

“Um, I suppose it’s similar to what you went through with Chad, with a few variations. Amelia was chosen for me by my mother because of her status. She is what you would call a ‘good match’.” He started, using air quotes. “Anyway, I suppose I didn’t see anything happening with you because I just didn’t think it would work. I thought you didn’t really feel that way and that it wouldn’t have happened. So I decided that it was a good idea to try to like her. I mean, you’re the one that’s been teaching me to start taking responsibility for who I am and what I should be doing. I thought maybe, that if I didn’t like Amelia now, I would grow to…like my parents did. I knew that marrying Amelia was supposed to be the right choice. So in turn, I forced myself to stick to it and try my hardest to be the best boyfriend she could hope for.”

“I think I get it.” I said quietly. So he was trying to be Prince Ian, next in line for the throne, and do what was expected of him instead of what was right. “That was very, mature of you.” I added.

“You sound so surprised.” He chuckled.

“Well, I know you. I am surprised.” I got a pinch on my leg for that comment and then he sat up and looked me in the eye.

“We’re going to get hell for this, you know.”

“Most likely.” I whispered. Ian leaned in and kissed me gently on the lips and pushed me gently back onto the pillows.

“But you’re worth it.” He whispered against my lips. I closed my eyes and reveled in the moment while I could. Who knew how long this bliss really could last?

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First of all everyone....um stop telling me to set up Christine with Chad. They’re related, yes distantly, but still related. I’m not going down that path. I love ya…but no. So stop suggesting it.

Secondly, PLEASE VOTE and COMMENT cause I love them