Chapter's song: Dear future husband by Meghan Trainor. (I thought of it while writting this chapter).

ChaPtEr TWENTY-NINE _________________________

Dinner

I woke up in a jolt as light blasted on my room. Someone pulled the curtains away while I tried to cover my eyes with my blanket.

"Did you enjoy bullying my boyfriend?" Ashley blurted out. Her hands were on her hips as she was full-on glaring at me.

I closed my eyes. "Could you comeback in like two hours?"

"Oh no," she pulled my blanket away from me, "you're listening to me right now!"

I rubbed my eyes while yawning. My sister puffed her cheeks and started to rail on me. "I cannot believe you actually threatened him!" she started to pace around my room. I didn't even try to follow her with my eyes. I closed them and snuggled with my pillow. "And don't get me started with that guy you were with! We'd never met him and you were pretty much eating his face half the time!"

"It's called kissing, Ash." My voice was muffled.

"What was up with that? That's so...un-you!"

I sighed. There was no way I was going back to sleep now. Feeling over my night dresser, I found my cellphone.

It was past seven. In the freaking morning. On a Sunday.

"What the hell Ashley? Didn't you get after two like I did?"

Still with her hands on her hips, she rolled her eyes. "I couldn't sleep. I mean, what if you scare Ben away?" her eyes showed worry lines and a desperate look.

I patted the space next to me. She sighed and reluctantly sat by me. "If he bolts then he wasn't worth it to begin with." Her shoulders sagged. "Why are you so afraid, Ash? Is there something you haven't told me?"

She shook her head softly, "I'm just scared...I think I'm in love with him and it's...scary..."

"I know." God...I know. "But you have to give yourself some credit. You're quite the catch and anyone is lucky to having you pinning after him."

Her lips tugged up in a small smile. Her brown eyes watched me carefully, "what's the deal with that Jason guy?"

A wide smile drew on my lips. "Turns out that Jason guy is my boyfriend." She blinked at me. I guessed I needed to explain myself. "He's the guy I was sent to Mexico with and well...things...sort of happened."

"Is that why you've been a wreck for the last week?"

"Yeah...I though he had a girlfriend and it turns out he doesn't." Goofily, I added, "well, he does now."

Ashley looked at me and sagged her shoulders. "Love is a complicated thing."

I laughed at that. "It is. It's like walking on a fine thread really high in the sky. Either you feel like you're flying or you fall and feel like you're whole life is diving down and shattering to pieces when you reach the floor."

She nodded slowly, "yeah...that's exactly how it feels..."

I shrugged, "but it's pretty awesome, huh?" I shoved her playfully with my shoulder. "Don't be scared, Ash. You're not letting yourself enjoy it."

"But what if the fall is so hard that you never want to get up?"

Sighing, I looked through the window. Everything was green and a few flowers adorned our garden. I thought about Jason and the last few weeks. How I'd been in cloud nine in Mexico and how devastated I'd felt over the couple of days.

And then I thought about yesterday.

How warm and tingly and happy I felt on his arms.

How I could get lost in those grey eyes.

How absolutely complete I felt whenever he kissed me.

And I just knew.

That even though we really don't know how much time we had together, that single moment being with him was worth it all.

"Then let yourself enjoy it. Entirely. Because we don't know how much time we have...it could be a moment or a lifetime..." I'm pinning for the later.

Wide-eyed, my sister turned to me, "who are you and what have you done to my sister?!"

I shoved her harder making her fall on the bed. "You're just too immature, Ash."

She cracked up, "there you go, there's the sister I know!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled my blanket trying to make her fall off the bed, "Get out of my room and let me sleep, you dimwit."

Begrudgingly, she stood up. "It's unfair that your room is cozier than mine."

"Bad luck," I closed my eyes suppressing a smile. I heard her walk away and close the door.

I loved my sister. Even if she could be a pain most of the time.

Stretching my arms, I grabbed my phone and peeked at it. It was past noon. Nobody had tried to wake me up. I frowned. To my defense, it was the first time in almost a week that I'd slept so peacefully.

It probably had to do with the fact that I didn't feel down or overwhelmed. In fact, I felt excited and giddy. I smiled at that. Biting my lip, I glanced at my phone again.

Could he be sleeping too? Probably.

Grabbing fresh clothes, I took the phone with me and placed it on the sink. I was sort of expecting him to call me. Or text. Whatever.

After my shower, I dressed in casual clothes. Jeans and a grey-blue striped t-shirt. Without drying my hair or putting on makeup, I walked to the kitchen, where a divine smell was coming from.

"Good morning, sleepy-head!" Uncle Hugh beamed at me. He was making his famous minestrone soup for lunch. Mom was cutting zucchinis on the other counter. She was grinning, too. "Do tell us? Is it true?" Uncle Hugh leaned towards me, wooden spoon in hand, "did you work things out with our navy Greek God?"

Chuckling, I blushed. "Yeah..."

Mom clapped excitedly, "that's awesome honey! I can't wait for him to come over for dinner!"

Her words caught me off guard. Furrowing my brows, I scratched my neck before taking a seat by the kitchen table, "yeah...I'm not so sure about that. Jason asked me to keep this off the public eye and if he comes over...it would be over the news, right?"

Mom and Uncle Hugh shared a look.

"What do you mean off the public eye?" Dad's darker voice asked from the door. He was frowning.

I shrugged. "Like no pictures and stuff like that..."

"You do realize that's almost impossible to achieve, right?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Scott," Mom sent him a disapproving look. "You know it's not easy to date a royal."

"I don't." He pulled away and peeked at the simmering pot on the stove. "You do."

Mom glared at him for a moment. "Exactly. Give the boy some slack."

Uncle Hugh directed his wooden spoon at me. "But I want to meet him. Can't you guys figure some way to make him pass undetected? I'm leaving tomorrow!"

Mom looked thoughtful for a moment, "I'm sure we can work something out, don't you?" she asked my father.

"Of course," Dad said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey!" I raised my arms. Everyone looked at me. "I'm not even sure if he could come over tonight!" Or if he wants to. "Besides, this is like too soon and I really don't want to scare him off." And suddenly I was sounding exactly like my sister a few hours ago. I grimaced.

"If he likes you enough, he'll come." Dad raised an eyebrow in challenge. It seemed like this had just turned out to be some sort of test.

"Just ask him," Mom added nonchalantly as she kept chopping the zucchini on the chopping board. "But we better come up with a decent menu," she said to Uncle Hugh.

"Not that vegan crap, guys!" Dad implored. Both Mom and Uncle Hugh rolled their eyes.

Not so hungry anymore, my clasp on the phone tightened. I grabbed a pear on my way out to the garden as my Mom added, "Tell him to come at seven!"

I rolled my eyes.

What happened to giving the boy some slack?

Now I had to invite him over and my parents were probably going to be scrutinizing him. Especially Dad.

After sitting below the shade of a tree, I stared at my phone for a moment. Hesitantly, I went to my contacts and dialed Jason's number. I bit my lip as the dial started to beep on the other side.

After a few beeps, Jason's dark voice said, "Hey gorgeous."

"Hi," a goofy smile played on my lips.

"How are you?"

"Good. You?"

"I'd be better if I had my arms around you." My stomach fluttered. You and me both.

"Missing me already? I didn't know you were so clingy," I quipped.

Jason chuckled, "there are still a few things that you don't know about me, babe." I sighed. Yeah. To be honest there was a lot that I didn't know about him yet. "But we've got time to catch up, right?"

"Right." Plucking grass and playing with it in my hands, I bit my lip before blurting out, "so, do you have plans for tonight?"

"Not really. Do you have anything in mind?"

I swallowed hard. "Well, I sort of wanted to know, and I'd totally understand if you're busy and whatnot, because this is totally sudden-"

"Marianne. Just spit it out," he sounded amused.

Grimacing, I closed my eyes and added in one breath, "would you like to come over for dinner tonight?"

Silence greeted me from the other side of the line. "To your house?" I knew he meant, with your parents?

My heart started to race with uncertainty. "It's just that my Uncle is here and he'd like to meet you before he leaves..." I trailed nervously. "He leaves tomorrow."

"Huh."

"You know what? Forget I said anything. I mean, you probably have plans or something, so I'll just-"

"Ok."

I breathed out. "Really? I mean you don't have to. My family is just being nosy."

He chuckled softly, "I get it. It's ok. At what time should I be there?"

"Seven," I answered relieved and worried at the same time. "You can meet with Tom a few blocks away and he'll get you in unnoticed."

"Awesome. Should I bring something? Is there anything that I should or say?" I smiled. He sounded nervous.

"Dude, are you telling me that you haven't read the list of requirements for dating a royal?"

He laughed, "Do enlighten me."

Grinning, I looked to the side plucking a daisy off the ground. "Well, first of all, and most important, you have to worship the ground the princess walks." He cracked up, "you have to bring her flowers. And a box of chocolates wouldn't hurt, either. You have to agree with her in everything. She's always right," I raised an eyebrow smiling. "You have to be available at all times and basically you have to make sure that she's always happy."

I could see him smiling that bad boyish smile on the other side. Probably shaking his head, too. "Well, that doesn't sound difficult at all."

"I know. I'm that easy to please."

He laughed, "I'm going to have nightmares now. Thanks to you." I giggled, "see you at seven, then?"

"Yep." I took a deep breath out, "thank you for agreeing, though."

"No problem. Seriously, what does your father say in all of this?"

Was he actually scared of him?

"He wants to meet you."

"Okay. So it was nice meeting you beautiful..." he trailed teasing me. But there was a nervous edge on his voice tone.

"Jason, you really don't have to-"

"I'll see you at seven. With flowers and chocolates. I don't want to screw it up so soon."

Chuckling, I shook my head, "you know it was a joke, right?"

"Sure." I rolled my eyes. "See you soon."

"See you." We hung up.

I breathed out contented. Parents or no parents, I was just happy that I was going to see him tonight.

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I'm trying to make it up by taking so long to update :)

So, I'm reading Hush Hush saga. Anyone else read it too? (probably yes since they're so popular) I'm on the third book now. And I just have to say...do they ever get a break?? I mean, I've kept reading because the writing style is great and I'm stealing a lot of new vocabulary :) but...geeeeeesh...I'm getting impatient (Sorry. I needed to voice out my literary frustrations!).

Anyway, are there any book you'd reccomend me to read? (published books) I'm on a free trial on Scribd and I'm thinking to keep it if it's worht it. Have any of you tried it?

Last but not least...what do you think about Jason meeting Marianne's family????