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     The car was dead quiet on the way back to Prince's home in Chanhassen. I kept my gaze out of the window, nervously fumbling my fingers while Prince's eyes remain trained to the road. I didn't know what to say or if I should've apologized for my actions that I pulled at the lake, but ultimately decided against it.

I wasn't apologetic for my actions. I wanted to kiss Prince and so I went through and did it, even though I didn't get the exact reaction I hoped for. I bit my lip to hide the anxiousness inside me at the silence before reaching out a hand to turn on the radio.

        "Don't." Prince pointedly ordered as I eyed him in confusion short after. He seemed to be thinking and from what I guessed, it only had to do what with what had occurred only twenty minutes earlier.

       I sighed, "Why?" Prince remained silent as an answer to my question leaving me to slouch back into my seat in irritation. The silence lingered on, poking me in annoyance as I tried to block it out and focus on something else in my mind.

Approaching Darren and Brenda came to my mind in an instance and through figuring out how to bring up the topic of discussion, it began to grow difficult to think about. I wasn't sure how I would word it but I thought about settling on the simplest solution. Ignoring the situation until I came up with a reliable conclusion.

      The sky was growing dark and I hadn't realized how much time I had exactly spent with Prince until the street lights began to flicker on. It was then that my stomach decided to call out in complaint. I blinked my eyes shut as I could feel Prince's eyes fall over examine the side of my face. I could nearly make out the hint of a grin on his lips.

"Is that you're way of telling me to drive faster?" He questions, turning the wheel onto another road with a single hand on the wheel and one calmly rested on his knee.

I lick my lips, "Im hungry, I haven't eaten all day." I explain but refuse to meet his eye. Even though I know I can't ignore his gaze for long, I tell myself that I can at lease try.

Prince remains quiet for a few more minutes until the car suddenly is pulling into the parking space of a Chinese takeout place. He parks efficiently before unbuckling his seatbelt.

     "Are you gonna tell me what you want or do I have to guess?" Prince asks, pulling the key out of the ignition and hooking the open ring around his index finger.

    I furrow my brows, "You can't go in there alone."

    "And why is that?" Prince raises a brow.

     I scoff, "You're Prince, you aren't scared of getting hounded?" I know it is worry that laces through my tone, but successfully I play it off as blatant curiosity.

"Princes still have to eat." Is all he says before jumping out of the car and slamming the door closed. I want to call out to him and tell him that it is a bad idea to go in there unprotected. But when I finally get up the nerve to do so, he is already inside of the restaurant.

I sigh before falling back against my seat. The car lights begin to dim until I'm surrounded with darkness, causing the bored within me to enhance as I waited. His aroma still lingered in the air making me groan and run a frustrated hand through my hair.

    How was it possible that earlier he was the one kissing me, searching my lips for something I didn't want to admit to, only for the tables to turn and for him to end up rejecting me? Did he want to make it seem like I was the one desperate for him, instead of vice versa?

   I had no idea how Prince's mind worked, but since he was leaving me to only think what I wanted instead of correcting me, I decided to perceive that as the only way his mind functioned.

   He wanted women to beg for his attention, for his touches and kisses because if he did it, the chance of rejection being thrown in his face would be a possibility and he'd be embarrassed.

   And he just couldn't deal with the thought of being embarrassed.

    Minutes later once my mind drifted back onto earth, the door to the driver's side swung open and in slid Prince with two plastic bags of Chinese food.

   He smiles, breathlessly. "You didn't tell me what you wanted so they just gave me one of everything." I widened my eyes at him as he set the bags in my lap without asking if he could.

    I felt the warm bag press tightly against my thighs as I struggled to hold all of it, "No one bothered you?" I asked suspiciously.

    Prince shook his head, panting softly while poking out his bottom lip as he started the car and threw an arm behind my headrest. Judging by the pink lipstick on his cheek and his somewhat tugged on clothing, I knew he was lying before he could get his words out.

    "No, we're they suppose to?" He chuckles, nervously before putting the car in reverse and backing out of the parking space.

He seemed in a pretty quick hurry to get the hell out of the parking lot.

     I decide to lead him to believe that he was fooling me "No but—"

      He cuts me off, "Look, people are capable of containing themselves if they see someone famous. That's why I like Minneapolis, plus it's cold so no one wants to come in." He explains and pulls out of the space before going onto the open road.

Since I don't have a response for his words, I remain quiet for the rest of the ride. Prince seems to grow uncomfortable with the wiry silence by the way he shuffles in his seat, tapping against his knee. It's annoying and I no longer have the patience.

"Prince just turn on the radio, the silence is bothering." I complain once and for all, to which he smirks and looks out his own window.

   His attempt at ignoring me is a success because I grow more agitated, evidently showing through my actions of folding my arms across my chest.

Prince speaks once we turn onto another road, "Fill it."

I wonder for a brief moment if he is directing his demands towards me or to the random voice in his head, but I'm sure it is me once he looks over. "What?" I dumbly mumble.

Prince shrugs, "Fill the silence with something — talk, sing."

"The radio does that." I say, confused.

Prince scoffs with a laugh, "Do we have to depend on technology to make every situation uncomfortable? Soon enough were going to be hiding behind devices just to avoid the awkward silence." He does have a point. But I don't bother to commend him on it.

"I don't know what to say.." I trail off in a lie. There's plenty I want to say but very little I choose to reveal.

Prince licks his lips, "Say anything that comes to mind."

   Since he gave permission and free willingness, I do just that.

"Why do you have so many women?"

He whips his head towards me, confusion etched on his face. "What?" He stifles a laugh I can tell is forced.

The question is simple and direct so I don't see why he seems to have an apparent problem with it.

Nonetheless, I repeat myself. "Why do you have so many women—"

"Who told you that I do?" Prince asks, completely disregarding the question to ask one of his one. It makes me roll my eyes.

I sigh, "Why does it matter?"

"It just does, okay?" He asks in irritation, eyeing me from the side of his to which I only lean against. "That shit is personal and no one should be spreading that around."

His defensiveness sprouts intrigue within me.

"So it's true that you do?"

Prince clenches his jaw and stares down into the road before pressing harder on the gas. The beat of my heart increases once he does so and speeds through the red lights at an uncontrollable rate.

"Prince..." I say with caution, clutching the leather seats underneath me before sparring him a worrisome glance.

    His calmness scares me and leads me to believe that driving at over 100 miles per hour is considered normal to him.

My breathing gets heavier, "Prince, please stop." I grow dizzy and blink a few times to get my sight back on track. Once I do, I see through the windshield that he is pulling into a gas station.

I am so grateful that we are now at normal speeds that I am oblivious to Prince's thin arm reaching over my body to push open the passenger door.

"Get out."

I part my lips in surprise, but chuckle because it's not the first time I've heard those words pass his lips. But my laughs falter when his jaw remains clenched and his face holds complete seriousness.

"You're kidding me, right?" My voice raises before I can control it but Prince doesn't seem to care as he humorlessly smiles.

"Hell no." He pauses to glare at me, "Get the fuck out the car Vanity." It's the first time he calls me by my so called alter ego and I'm still not use to it.

"You're that pissed over one question?" I ask, incredulously. I am fully convinced that he isn't thinking straight and that his rage is irrationally doing it for him. It's the only explanation I can think of to explain why he's kicking me out.

Prince refuses to answer my question and continues to stare in front of him. For a few moments I glare at the side of his face; the small mole on his upper cheek, his swollen pink lips, his defined mustache and suddenly I am exactly the way he wants me to be —embarrassed.

With a disappointed shake to my head, I slide out of the vehicle and onto the rough payment. The heels I am wearing have been on for hours so naturally, soreness begins to kick in at the worst possible time.

    The swooping leather neckline designed on my top makes for an awful shield to the Minneapolis coldness. But the bitter temperatures don't compare to the look Prince serves me with.

I almost want to cry. I am confused and don't understand his anger, but then remind myself that I can't understand him to begin with.

It's only after I barely close the car door before Prince speeds off into the night that I come to terms with a harsh reality, I am utterly alone.