I Love Him, I Love Him Not - 10

Hey people!

Sorry for the rushed note of the last chapter - it was seven fifty five and I have to be out of the house by eight on the dot for school, and I wasn't ready at ALL.

But anyways, I have time now, so:

MINIMAN: Lol. You're awesome-r! :)

Ivory Gold: You'll probably get sick of it. I have to describe all her time in the other dimension as well, which may get pretty steamy. lol. :)

Pheobe: Yay, I got your comment! Thank you muchly for all that, even though I'm sure I'm not that good. You want good? Look up 'When Sparks Fly'. It's a great story written by an amazing author. You should really check it out sometime. ;)

Nessy: LOL. Imagine how awkward THAT relationship would be. Cole has to be where he wants to be, and right now, that's not with Summer. Or is it? .......

Bella: Thanks!

Emily: The world has officially gone mad! How could you rank me up there with Pheobe Gardens?! How, you crazy person?! lol. Thank you very much. It makes me smile to read how you think I'm as good as the greatest writer on the romance section. :)

Evenfig: Not that much of a talent, but thank you! :) :) :) :)

Everyone else: Thank you! Enjoy the chapter.

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Instead of crying, though, I just bit down on my bottom lip hard and shifted a bit on the bed.

"Um... could you please not do that?" I asked, raking a hand through my hair nervously. "It’s kind of weird, considering we’ve kissed and everything. I don’t like it."

Cole just regarded me with incredulous eyes.

"They’ll have my head back at Constantia. I have to bow in your presence, your highness, when I first see you, and then again when I leave. It’s compulsory." He said, rubbing the back of his neck like he was embarrassed. The delicious-smelling back of his neck that I was just stroking, like, two minutes ago.

"Well, we’re not back at Con-whatever. We’re here, in Rhodes, in the real world. And if I really am this big princess person, they can’t have your head without my consent, can they?" I reasoned irritably. "I mean, not that I’d want anyone’s head. I think that’s horrible."

"Fine, Princess," Cole sighed, pushing his hand into the thick crop of dark hair that fell adorably into his eyes. "I swear they won’t like it, but fine. Whatever you say."

I smiled triumphantly and gestured towards the door.

"Not to be rude or anything, but I’d really like to get my ankle fixed up." I hinted, a little bit of my old self surfacing as I grinned cheekily. Cole paused for a second, and then just smiled, shaking his head as he turned and strode out of the door.

And I collapsed.

I fell back against the headboard and began to bang my head against my bedroom wall. Repeatedly.

Why did these things always happen to me? All these life-changing, ground breaking things? First, my father dying right before my eyes. I never could shake that memory from behind my lids just before I went to sleep. It used to give me nightmares. It still does.

And then finding out I had inherited some kind of powers.
Supernatural powers. That was pretty surprising, I tell you. The very first time I realised something was wrong was when my Malibu Barbie doll stood up and walked across my bed when I instructed her to.
Yeah. Very scary.

Third place would have to go to my mother going into depression because of my father passing away. She was so lost in her own world that it was hard to drag her from it, but I, as a responsible five-year-old, took it upon myself to do this single-handedly. And, because of some weird blip in the solar system, was able to accomplish it whilst also looking after my tiny brother, keeping my newfound Energy in check and assembling some pretty kick-ass outfits for me to wear to school every day.

Fourth would be when my best friend for life, Thomas, moved away to Chile or someplace because of his father’s job transfer. He was my first kiss, my first boyfriend, the first person I learned to trust after my father died. He was the only guy I had ever picked up for myself, and he was always there for me, through thick and thin. A real diamond in the rough.

And then he left.

So, as you can see, my life has been pretty messed up. Adding being a princess to the equation really wasn’t in my plans. But there you go. Nothing ever goes to plan when it concerns me.

I was pulled from my depressing thoughts as Cole knocked lightly on the door and opened it, leading the old, grey haired family doctor into the room.

"Hi, Dr Smith." I greeted him wearily, picking my head up and giving him a weak smile.

"Hello, Summer. How’s the ankle feeling?" He asked friendlily, setting his briefcase beside my propped leg on the bed.

"Oh... like hell." I replied in a deadpan voice, grinning when Cole glanced at me in alarm. "It feels like it’s broken, but Cole says that it’s just a sprain, quite possibly a fracture."

Dr Smith, who was feeling around the discoloured area, nodded seriously.

"Your friend is a very clever young man." Dr Smith nodded. And I couldn’t help but notice that his gentle touch didn’t effect me the way Cole’s did, at all. And Mr Smith, for a fifty something year old, is pretty flicking, you know. "Okay, you have two choices. I could fix you up here, with a bandage and a wrap-around, or you could make a great big fuss and go to the hospital to get, quite possible, a cast. It’s only a minor injury, but if you wheedle it enough, they’ll give you anything."
I nodded, and sighed like it was a great bit inconvenience.

"I suppose you could do it." I grinned cheekily. "It wouldn’t hurt to let you try."

Dr Smith frowned at me playfully, and then opened up his case to get all the said things out. As he began to carefully wrap my foot up, I glanced over at Cole. He was staring at the doctor and my ankle like he might knock the old man out if he did anything wrong.

I would have commented on this teasingly if we were going out, but we weren’t anymore, so I stayed quiet and turned away. It was irrational, really, how bad I felt when I’d thought I was about to lose him, and how good I felt when I realised I wasn’t. But then, all my emotions were sharpened ten fold. I was going to be eighteen soon. This, supposedly, had some significance.

"All right, sweet. All done!" Dr Smith announced cheerfully, closing his briefcase with a barely audible snap. "I’ll be getting on now. You just rest that ankle up of yours and get this handsome young lad to tend to your every need." He winked, and then, with a final little wave, he was gone.

Cole escorted him out of the door, and then raced back up to my side.
"Princess, are you all right?" He asked in a low voice, kneeling beside my bed and looking as if he was very, very worried.

"Um." I said confusedly, wondering what on earth had brought on this sudden change of attitude. "Yes. Is there any reason I shouldn’t be?"
Cole rolled his eyes and stood up, his worry forgotten.

"First, the ruler of about a quarter of our dimension has hurt her foot because of me, and her ankle is swathed in wreaths of serious looking bandages that will be very hard to explain without being awarded exile. Second, that man was a lost witch. He probably doesn’t know about his power, but I have to protect you, so that means taking no chances at all, not even the littlest."

I narrowed my eyes at him, incredulous.

"You are crazy." I stated, as if I had just realised it myself. "Dr Smith? Don’t you think I’d have known if my doctor since I’ve been, like, two, was a witch?"

"No. Because how could you, when you don’t remember?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "And since you can’t remember, you haven’t yet discovered your sixth sense."

At this, I exploded.

"I have a sixth sense?! I CAN SEE DEAD PEOPLE?!"

Cole, looking highly alarmed, just shook his head. "Not so much see dead people, but read alive people. You can sense their power just by touching them. Your father used to do that, you know. He used to let people come into the palace all the time to get their baby’s powers and stuff discovered. It was sweet."

I looked at him, and saw a faraway, sad look in his eyes. He seemed to know my father well.

"Tell me..." I began, staring down at my blue comforter. "All those business trips... fake, right? He was at Constantia?"

Cole looked at me with eyes that were bluer than I had ever seen them. "Yes."

"And... he was...he was happy there? I mean, he was a good king?" My voice cracked mid-sentence, and I fought frantically to clear it.

"The best." Cole replied evenly, taking a seat right at the edge of the bed.

"Did he talk about me?" I whispered, my voice too hoarse and clogged with tears to talk properly. "Did he miss me while he was away?"

Cole smiled a little. "You wouldn’t imagine. He talked about you all the time, but instead of calling you the princess, he would refer to you as his princess, and do you know that he kept a picture of you in his wallet? He used to keep it in his breast pocket, so you were always close to his heart."

I bit down hard on my lip. It was a little hard to stop the tears now; they were already running down my face.

"So this whole thing is real, huh?" I asked shakily. "I’m really going away?"

"Yes." He said, taking my hand gently from where it lay curled into the fabrics of my bed. "I’m sorry, but you have to say goodbye. You would have naturally come into your powers when you were thirteen, and had known about all of this, but because – because you came into them prematurely, and we lost connection, I have to take you now."

"And if I don’t want to go?" I asked.

"I’m obligated to use force." He replied seriously, ducking his head a little. I nodded. Force. I’d never stand a chance. I’d ogled the way the thick bands of muscle around his arms bunched up when he lifted something heavy or whatever. I knew he was built. And I was just a puny teenage girl.

Oh God.

He was five years older than me! Five! My mum would have an apoplexy if she knew his real age. Hell, appreciation of hotness aside, Irena would have an apoplexy if she knew his real age. Oh God.

How did I get into this mess?

"So when do we leave?" I asked, inconspicuously pulling my fingers free from his. If there was to be no kissing policy between us, I wanted it to stay strictly friends, and friends don’t hold hands.

He noticed, though, and his brow puckered in this little frown that smoothed out as quickly as it appeared.

"As soon as possible. Say your goodbyes tomorrow. I’d like to leave by Friday."

"Friday? But that’s two days away!"

"Right. And princess, I must ask you not to tell anyone of Constantia. It’s a secret to average mortals."

"But two days? How will I say goodbye in two days? And is this forever, or will I be able to visit them sometime?"

"It’s forever. Unlike your father, there are... complications concerning you. But I’ll explain those later." He said, and then cleared his throat. "Um, if you could get started now, perhaps...?"

I gave him a look so cold that it could turn water to ice in a nanosecond. "I’m bed bound." I said flatly.

"Well, yes, I suppose so, but prin—"

"Bed. Bound." I repeated, with a little more emphasis on the words. Cole began to talk again, but then he stopped, seeing my face. His mouth settled in a little hard line.

"Of course, your highness." He nodded, and then, without even sparing me another glance, he turned and walked out of my room. I didn’t wonder what I had done wrong. To be frank, I don’t think I really cared. I was sort of numb inside, devoid of feeling any emotion.

He was a jerk, I was a jerk.

It was that simple.