Her Runaway Prince

*****

“Amanda, I’ve got to tell you something” Petro started to exclaim as he stormed through the front door before seeing the large, well-dressed man sitting in the living area with her. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you had company,” he quickly apologized.

“No, no, don’t be silly, this is perfect!” she gleefully exclaimed. “Now you can finally meet my brother. This is Carey.” She motioned to her brother. Her brother stood up and almost immediately Petro felt primal fear sweep over him. “Carey, this is—”

“My God.” Carey interrupted her. The look on his face told the story. Petro immediately knew that the charade was to about to be over.

“I’ll be goddamned. Petro Mikael Johansen? My baby sister has been harboring the runaway prince? Oh man sis, you shoulda told me sooner. I found the fu*king runaway prince. Holy sh*t. This is going to make my career,” Carey exclaimed with irritable excitement in his voice.

Amanda’s face told a different yet painfully similar story to Petro’s. Whilst panic covered his face, confusion was stricken across her’s.

“Carey, we’ve talked about this before. Please mind your language when you’re here. You know Nana hated foul language in her home. And secondly, just what in the hell are you talking about?” she asked him.

“You’re actually telling me you don’t know? That man that’s standing right there, that’s prince Petro Mikael Johansen. Heir to the throne of Skatchvana. Or at least he was until he ran away in the dead of night a few months ago,” he said enthusiastically.

Amanda looked confused for a bit longer, struggling to fully comprehend what her brother was telling her. Then she turned to Petro and tears started to swell in her eyes.

“You… You lied to me all this time?” she asked him, her voice shaking.

“Amanda, please, I can explain,” Petro tried to explain, but he knew it would be use.

*****

“Don’t even bother. I remember you now. The playboy prince. The prince who once screwed a prime minister’s wife just because ‘she was hot’. The prince who ended a marriage just because ‘she was hot’. Yeah, I remember the news story now.” Suddenly the sadness gave way to a burning anger. Amanda felt betrayed. She felt used. She always knew she wasn’t good enough for a fairy tale happy ending. How could she ever be good enough for some prince? And how did he ever manage to make her believe that she might just be?

“Amanda, I know I messed up, but please let me explain,” he pleaded.

“Save it. I get it. No more girls left that side hey? Decided to come to the states for some fresh meat, huh? But oh, this girly ain’t just gonna give it up. So let me pretend to be this hurt man in need of solace. Let me make her fall in love with me, yeah? That was your plan, huh? Why, Peter? Why?”

Peter just stared at her as if he didn’t know what to say.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Got the name wrong. Wonder how I could ever have done that? Let me try again. Why, Petro? Why? Does it make the chase more fun when they put up a fight first, hmm? Oh, does it make the pu*sy sweeter? Is that it?”

“Amanda, it’s nothing like that, I—”

“I said save it. I don’t want to hear it. In fact, I want you gone. You got what you wanted, so now you can go.”

“Amanda, please. Let me just—”

“I said leave, Petro.”

“Amanda—”

“GET THE FU*K OUT OF MY HOUSE!”

As Amanda shouted that last sentence through tears streaming down her face, Petro deflated right in front of her. He hung his head, but she didn’t care.

“If that’s what you wish. Just know this, the only lie was my name and my family. Everything else was the absolute truth,” he said softly as he left the cottage, closing the door behind him.

Amanda started bawling her eyes out. She hugged her brother tight and sobbed uncontrollably onto his shoulder. She remembered how she’d fantasized about him actually being a prince. How she’d actually considered him to be her prince in her own mind. How he’d actually managed to make her believe she was good enough for a prince. She should have known she could never be. She should have known that little Mandy would always just be the girl giving her heart out only to have it ripped to pieces. He actually had her believe that her dreams of being loved completely and fully could be real. He made her feel like she was living a dream. And, just like that, the dream was over and she had to wake up back to the painful reality of her gullibility.