Cathryn and I spent the day going over my press conference. They wanted to announce me when I had chosen a ruler to be presented by my side. She said it would be more unified. And I was fine with it. If they knew Prince Daniel was going to rule with me it might make them less worried about how I'd be as a ruler and honestly maybe I was making more out of this than I should. Maybe Rhett was right and maybe the people would be okay with me. I guess I shouldn't worry about this until I knew for sure how they felt.

       I told Cathryn that I had chosen to ask Daniel to marry me. "Why do you feel weird saying that? He's very nice." "Oh I know that. It's just weird all of these boys just showed up totally okay with marrying me one day." I said. "Well of course. They would do anything for their country and marrying you is something that looks good on them and their country." She said. "Oh well that's good." I said. "So now that you've chosen Daniel, you will have a few weeks to get used to being engaged. He will most likely give you a ring that belonged to his grandmother. It's tradition. But it will be lovely. And then you will let everyone at the ball know that you have made your choice about who you are marrying. We will have another ball, that will be an engagement party of sorts. People will wish the happy couple well." She said. "Oh, who all comes to that?" "More people, different people. You know people that ah wouldn't be looking for your hand in marriage I suppose." She giggled.

       I nodded. "Then you will have a bachelor party. All of the ladies will show up from princess's to Lady's. They will bring gifts on behalf of their country. You can expect to receive some pretty lavish things." She said. "Then we will go full steam on your wedding." "Will I be coronated as queen first?" I asked. "Yes, because that gets ride of some of the yellow tape. They want you to marry. Usually you would have to get the queens permission to marry." "Really?" "Sure, she likes to be keyed in on what's going on in her country." She said. "But since you will be queen you can do as you like. Now all that is asked of you is that you don't do anything to crazy or over the top such as bright colors or crazy patterns." 

       "Sounds doable and I'm a pretty low key person." I admitted. "Well that works for me." She nodded. "So two weeks should give you time to talk to Daniel about marrying you and give you time to..." "Heal." I said frowning. "Oh? Do tell." I told her about Andy and how I was pretty sure I was in love with him. I'd never admitted that out loud until now. But he was perfect and I wanted nothing to do with anybody else. And I was kind of angry that my hands were tied. But I don't think I could do like my dad and just leave. Even if it hurt me. And I was being crazy and avoiding Andy. I mean what did I think I was going to jump him? Okay yes, I kissed Rhett but that was different. I think I was trying to get out all of my foolishness. Now it's time for business. 

       And marrying Daniel was what I was going to do. So I should be allowed to go skate and clear my head. Put on my big girl pants and be friends with a ridiculously hot guy. And no I won't think about how badly I'd like to kiss him. I wont even imagine what a good kisser he probably is. I won't imagine his abs...okay fine. Starting now I won't imagine any of that.

       Cathryn frowned. "I'm sorry this is the position you are in. I am sure he is a great guy." "He is but let's focus here." I said. "Okay so two weeks. You've adjusted he's had time to tell his parents. He's procured the ring and you are announcing it to the ball. We won't tell anyone who you are marrying but I will have Charles send out invitations to everyone right away. It will just tell them that the future queen of Levoux has an important announcement concerning her future. Then once that is settled the next morning you will do your press conference. You will come out by yourself.  You will talk to the interviewer. I have a list of approved questions here. She is only allowed to ask you what's on this list. That's so you'll have a diplomatic answer and you aren't taken off guard by anything. I have a second set of questions here." She held up a stack of papers. "These are for you and Daniel to go over together. Because once you are done introducing yourself to your country you're going to tell them you are engaged to be married and that you and Daniel will be ready to take the throne." She said.

       "Right, well let's dive into the questions." She read each question off to me and I gave the answer I would have given. She gave me a few pointers on how I should answer and we worked for hours. By the time I was done I could give this interview in my sleep. So I was going to the skate park for a few hours before dinner. Once I had changed I ran down the stairs careful to not be seen. My driver took me close to the park and I jogged the rest of the way. When I walked into the park Andy was sitting taking a drink of water. I'm not even gonna look at his abs.

       "Hey Mac! I was starting to worry you wouldn't be back." He frowned. "What? No, I just had a lot going on." I said. "You can be honest if it was me. I think I was starting to let my feelings show and I tried to hide them because you know you're leaving at the end of summer." I had been lying to him for far to long. I had to tell the truth. I was for once grateful that he lived in a different town. He had no idea that I was going to be queen. "Actually, I'm not. When summer ends I got a job here." I said. "Oh that's fun doing what?" He asked. "Just something in the family." I waved the question off. "Right, so about last week..." He frowned again. "Yea?" "I...well...you know how I feel about you...I mean I think you do. I care about you a lot. I mean we've spent about a month and a half getting to know each other. And I really feel like I know you are and for some strange reason I feel like you and I would be really good together." He said.

       "I feel the exact same way you do." I wiped tears that were running down my face. "Then why are you crying. It's hurting me to see you like this." He pulled me to him and I breathed into his neck racking sobs. "Looks there's a lot you don't know about me and I can't tell you just yet. I just have all this pressure on me and I don't know how to handle any of it. I feel like I'm letting you down, I'm letting my family down and I'm just trying to do the right thing and not fall apart and I'm failing." He rubbing my back soothing. "Hey, listen to me. You are not letting me down. While yes I really like you I also respect you. And if you have stuff going on and it's not the right time for you then that's what it is. We can just be really good friends. But forgive me if I think I might be falling in love with you. It's gonna take me some time." I didn't tell him that I wouldn't be back after I was made queen, that I couldn't.

       It felt like my heart was breaking into a million pieces. He was doing everything right and I wanted so badly to be with him. He pulled back turning my face up to look at him. He wiped away my tears. "I'm sorry I'm a mess." I sniffled. "You're beautiful. You need to take a deep breath. I'm sure whatever mess this is will all work out. I know whatever it is you're up against you will be able to handle it." "Thank you. I'm feeling better. I was just so worried about hurting you." I said. "Well I am hurting because I'd like to be with you, so I'm a little sad. But I trust you and if you say you need time then that's what I'm going to give you." He said.

       "Can you give me two weeks? I promise after I've had some time I'll explain everything to you." I said. "I'd like to be clued in on what's got that pretty face of yours all upset." He said gently smoothing the worry lines under my eyes. "Thank you, for everything." I said. "No problem. Come on crank your music up and skate your cares away." He said giving me a small push. I grinned. "Okay thanks." After a few hours I felt better. I knew what I was going to do and Andy seemed okay with my decision even if he didn't know fully what it was. I took a seat on the bench pulling my phone out. Crap I had to go I only had a few hours until the ball started and I needed time to get ready.

       I was nervous about talking to Daniel but this really was the best decision for everyone involved. I just hope he agreed. I know he had said before that he didn't want the crown but he had shown up to all of the balls so I take it he was at least open to the idea. We shall see tonight I suppose.

       Andy walked over. "Heading out?" "Yea family stuff tonight." I nodded. "Okay I'll see you around. Don't be a stranger pretty girl." "I'll try." I waved walking in the direction of the pick up spot.  I knew that we'd have to stop seeing each other once I had gotten engaged to Daniel. I can't be running off to see some other guy, even as friends. And it would just be to hard on me to see him every day and not be with him. I met the driver and we headed back to the palace.