《Royal Jester》27. Anastasia
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"So- wait a second-," Ana sighed as Lili once again interrupted her. "Mason knows?"
She slumped against the man in question, who gave her a questioning look as her head hit his shoulder. "That's what I said," she responded.
"Like he knows everything? Your real name, your real family, and your real title?" She sounded completely shocked, "How did he find out; did you tell him?"
She sighed again, which prompted Mason to start rubbing her back. She smiled sleepily at him; it was way too late to be having this conversation and she was definitely starting to feel it now. "Apparently his teacher gave our kingdom to him to research, obviously it's kind of hard to not see me when you google our family."
"Really? I would've assumed he just discovered it on his own."
"Please," Ana scoffed. "He's not that smart." She suddenly felt herself being lifted before she was dropped roughly onto her bed. "Mason," she exclaimed with surprise and sputtered as a few pieces of hair entered her mouth.
He rested his hands on either side of her and she inhaled sharply when he leaned down so that they were only centimeters apart. He was so close and he smelt so good and her body suddenly felt warmer than usual.
"Why are you so mean to me," he pouted. "Just because I'm an asshole doesn't mean you should be you know." He winked down at her.
At the sound of her sister's dramatic gasp, Ana remembered she was still on the call and quickly looked away from his mischievous expression. "Are you guys making out again?"
"We never made out in the first place, Lili." She rolled her eyes before completely freezing when she felt Mason collapse on top of her.
If she thought he was close before, then this was an entirely different level of proximity.
Mason laughed softly against her cheek and Ana shivered as she felt his breath caress her neck. "Never made out huh? That's hardly fucking believable; I mean look at us."
He had a point but, "I meant while on the phone."
"No way you guys have seriously made out," Ana tried to refocus on the younger princess's voice.
"Well we're dating and shit, aren't we?" Ana wondered why she even bothered holding the phone up to her ear, Mason could clearly hear everything anyway.
She shot him a glare only to realize that he was already staring at her, his eyes roaming over her face with intensity. "Ew," her sister groaned. "That's so gross. Why did you tell me that?" Ana heard the sound of exaggerated gagging and resisted the urge to laugh.
"You asked didn't you?" She couldn't hold back the laughter this time and giggled when Lili started stuttering.
"Well- you- I- whatever! You should be asleep right now for the flight tomorrow anyways."
Ana yawned at the mention of sleep, causing Mason to yawn into her skin almost directly after. "You're right," she agreed. "I'm really tired," and yawned again.
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"So no making out! Got it?" Ana snorted at her sister's terrible attempt of being stern.
"Aye aye captain," Mason lifted one arm to jokingly salute the phone.
Ana felt her eyes flutter closed for a brief second before she forced them to reopen. "Goodnight, Lili."
"Good night, I'll see you tomorrow." Ana hummed in response before ending the call and tossing aside her phone somewhere on the bed.
She almost fell asleep right then, so comfortable under Mason's weight before she remembered that it was Mason's weight. "Hey get up," she halfheartedly shoved him. He didn't move an inch. "You need to go to bed."
"Actually, my bed is still on the dumbass ceiling so that might be a bit difficult." He snuggled deeper into her, jostling her slightly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
It had been two days since she pranked him and she was fine with Mason staying with her until he was able to get everything down. But just earlier that day he had told her he was going to finish putting everything back. "I thought you fixed that earlier?"
Mason lifted his head to meet her eyes and gave her a grin so sweet it about made her melt. "I was going to, but then I thought why should I do that when I can just sleep with you?"
"Fine." She was too tired to argue, and (if she was being honest) she liked having him with her.
~~~
The next day Mason had driven Ana to the airport (he insisted) despite it being so early in the morning. They had only gotten a few hours of sleep because of it but Ana knew she would be able to easily fall asleep on the plane as she decided she would take her family's private jet instead of a commercial air flight this time.
She never realized there could be so many crying children in one place.
She stepped out of the car before walking around it to meet Mason in the middle. She would be gone for longer this time, and she was going to miss him despite how much she wanted to say she wouldn't.
She had gotten attached; there was no way to deny that.
He immediately pulled her into a hug and Ana felt her eyes burn as she buried her face into his chest. "I'm going to miss you," he whispered. She nodded in agreement, feeling too choked up to say anything. "So you have to call me every day okay?"
She sniffled, feeling the first tear fall and soak into Mason's shirt. "Okay," she muttered in response.
"What's wrong?" He stepped back slightly and she clung to his shirt, desperately trying to get closer to him. She was going to miss him so much. "Hey, no," he said in response to her trying to hide her face. "Don't do that. Why are you crying?"
She tried to hold back the tears as she grinned at him, before the façade completely crumbled when he grabbed her face and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.
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She was practically sobbing now, so hysterically and uncontrollably that she wondered if they could hear her inside the building. "I don't want to leave," she cried out.
His face suddenly softened as he tugged her back into his chest. "I don't want you to either," he admitted in a soft voice. "But I know you miss your family and I'm sure that they miss you too. Besides, you probably have some princess duties to do or some shit right?"
She laughed at that, feeling herself calm slightly as she remembered that this wouldn't be that last time she saw him. It couldn't be.
"Okay," she hiccupped. "Okay," she stated once more, more determined than before.
"It's just till the eighth, remember?" Despite him trying to reassure her, the reminder only made her start crying again. That seemed like such a long time to be away from each other.
"Fuck," Mason cursed when he noticed. "Remember when I emailed you like a dumbass the last time? I can do it this time if you want me to, too. I'll never leave you alone, you'll be so annoyed that you won't even want to miss me, right?"
"That will just make me miss you more," she said between sobs. "I want to be able to hug you whenever I want, not just read your stupid emails and dumb texts."
He sighed. "Fucking hell. How can you be so damn sweet to me?" He had seemingly ignored the other half of the sentence. "I don't deserve you."
"Stop it," she bawled, lightly slapping his shoulder. "You deserve so much!"
He gave her a sad smile and she attempted to glare at him, ultimately failing when she had to wipe her eyes to even see his face without her vision being distorted from the tears. "I have something for you."
"Really?" She hiccupped again as he pulled something out of his back pocket. A piece of paper?
He handed it to her and she looked at the paper with a soft smile when she noticed how crumpled and misshapen it was. It somehow suited him. "What is it," she asked when he didn't say anything more.
He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in front of her. "A list of songs I wrote that I want to hear you play on your violin. I haven't seen you play yet so I thought you could learn one or two of these while you're away so I can hear them when you get back."
She felt herself grin, "You could just look it up, you know? There's probably hundreds of videos of me performing online."
"I know," he deadpanned. "I'm not that much of a dumbass. But I'd rather see it in person okay? Just do it alright?"
"Aye aye captain," she whispered. She raised her head to kiss him on the lips, "I expect you to be sleeping when you get back so don't even think about emailing me."
"Understood," he laughed. "I'll see you later."
She felt her chest warm at his words. That was right; she'd see him later - soon even - it was only a couple of weeks.
She finally managed to walk away then, glancing behind her to see him leaning on the hood of his car. He winked when she turned around and she giggled softly to herself as she entered the building.
She decided she would at least glance at the list before her flight (the curiosity was proving to be too much) so she stopped just inside the door. Usually she would be worried about getting in someone's way but it was only three in the morning now so that seemed highly unlikely.
It took her a few tries to unfold the paper, and she realized that it probably was actually crumpled before he folded it. Upon finally managing to open it, her eyes widened.
The first three songs Mason had written were Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley, Let Me Love You by DJ Snake, and Love Me Now by John Legend.
She didn't bother reading anything else, immediately turning around and practically sprinting back to where Mason was standing. She wasn't even sure if any of the songs he had written could be played with a violin. But what she was sure of was that he supposedly loved her, and she was pretty positive she loved him to.
Mason's eyebrows were furrowed when she stopped in front of him, "What?"
"You love me? And you thought you could just tell me like this and expect me to leave you here?" Ana was offended at just the thought.
His eyes widened with realization, "You're going to miss your flight." He gestured halfheartedly behind her.
"It's a private jet Mason," she sighed and he tensed. "Perks of being royalty, remember?"
"Oh yeah," he laughed awkwardly. "I kind of forgot about that. But - in my defense - you weren't even supposed to read it before you got on the fucking plane."
She laughed slightly, "You know me. Of course I'm going to read it before I board."
"Yeah, should've figured." He shrugged. "I'm a dumbass."
It was silent for a couple seconds, the couple staring at each other wordlessly. "So you love me?"
"Yeah." Why was this so uncomfortable?
"You really really love me?" She could hardly believe it, she never would have thought that the first guy she ever dated would be this wonderful, and that they would fall in love so easily.
He chuckled and she felt her face flush at the warm sound, "Really really really."
She sighed, "What a relief."
He tilted his head, "Why's that? You know I wouldn't lie about something like that right? You mean a whole fucking lot to me, and messing with you like that would be such a dick move. I'd make you break up with me honestly."
"Well it's a relief because," she giggled as she imagined that break up conversation. "It's a relief because," she began again, "I love you too."
~~~
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