when I ruled the world -> Replying in A...blind...date?

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Elizabeth Grey	Posted on Aug 30 2011, 09:30 PM
	What was there to do except make the best of the situation they found themselves in? Obviously, her father's match making skills had failed from the word 'go'... But it wasn't like they could just walk away now. No, they'd be good sports about the whole thing. Well, she was determined to and he seemed well on his way. Elizabeth would, no doubt, take the more difficult role of trying to act as if there was nothing wrong at all-- even if there was a lot wrong. Ever since she had started 'seeing' Alastair Gordon, she really had not been interested in any other man. Not even the Prince of Wales. Oh, sure, he was a good looking bloke-- but too young, too silly to hold her interest for more than a passing night. And even still, if it wasn't Alastair it didn't feel right. It was an odd thought she didn't let herself dwell on for too long, simply because she found it out of place and rather strange. There was no need to decipher what it meant. As it was with many things in her life, it simply was. And that was good enough for her. None of that changed the fact that sitting across from her was the Prince of Wales. She tried to flutter back, thinking of what she had last heard about him in the press-- but really, she couldn't be bothered. With him, it was a different girl every week it seemed. Elizabeth also didn't much care how much of it was truth or not. She always questioned why he preferred to be known for dating commoners, because they never really understood what any of this was about. They didn't understand that their lives were open books, which they preferred to keep shut. At least, she did. Which was why she manipulated the press and maintained her image so meticulously. One way in which they were very different, were their fathers. Elizabeth's father would rake her across hot coals if her public image had been that similar to Alex's. Dating around, head in the clouds, chalk full with media faux pas, after media faux pas. She wondered if the King much cared at all what Alex did or didn't do. She knew her father felt that he had raised her and her brother better than His Majesty had raised the heir to the throne. He'd told her a million times, in frustration, that she would make a better Queen of England than Alex would be King. One of the many reasons, she was sure, that the Duke of Dorset thought this blind date charade had been a good idea. The idea of queen appealed to her sense of duty. But that was it. It was not what was going to make her happy and really, she was thankful that Alex made it quite clear he had no interest in marrying. His comment had even made her chuckle. "Well, I think the world is safe from us. Lucky them." Her voice just as smooth and even as ever, her lips curving ever so slightly into a smirk. Alex ordered a bottle of champagne, which Elizabeth was more than happy to indulge in. This was going to be a far more enjoyable evening with half a bottle of champagne in her. Hell, they could skip dinner and she'd be content. With one elbow on the table, her hand lifted up under her chin, she looked over to him with another chuckle. Well, Alex was actually being rather entertaining this evening."If our marriage brought about the end of the world, than perhaps my father is the anti-Christ." She said in a devilish, hushed tone so that only he would hear. When he continued, she found herself highly amused. Alex had no intention of marrying. Well now, that would irk her father to no end. But he didn't stop there, he went on to compliment her? Or something like it. Once the champagne was brought, Elizabeth spoke as Alex poured her a glass, eyeing him as he did so. "You? We both know you are no such thing, as much as it pains you." She replied with a grin. It was his toast, however, that amused Elizabeth more than anything else. She gracefully lifted her glass to clink gently against his and nodded in agreement. "You're not already?" She said before taking a nice, long, needed sip of champagne. "Lucky you." Another quick sip and she continued. "Though I have high hopes that you will take off some of the pressure for me, when it comes to my father." Elizabeth chuckled, surprised that they were actually having a genuine conversation with substance. Who would have thought? "But now I will have the honor and privilege of having my name next to yours... in the tabloids. Better that then a wedding invitation, I suppose. But who knows, I still have a few hours to get you to fall in love with me. It's my duty as Dorset's daughter, you know." Of course, her tone was playful and if he wasn't sure of it, the look in her eyes gave her away as she looked over the flute, as she took another sip. "Word has it that I'm rather charming when I want to be."
Alexander, Prince of Wales	Posted on Aug 30 2011, 03:24 PM
	The idea of falling madly in love with anyone other than Adele Pennington--because damn it, he was in love with her--was laughable. Especially with prim and proper Elizabeth Grey who had much more to her than that. Alex should know, he slept with her and besides, they'd grown up together. He always felt she thought he was some young, stupid kid, despite only being two years younger. They were worlds different from one another. Where Alex had to work sometimes at promoting a sort of image of himself when he was in public, Elizabeth did it with elegance and grace. All the elegance and grace of someone cold, someone Alex was a little wary of, truth be told. And here he was, on a 'date' with her, set up by her father. That was all it could have been. When she'd joked dryly about living happily ever after, Alex snorted, thinking on how that was exactly what her father probably wanted. God. Marrying Elizabeth would be like a death sentence. Besides, he wasn't even twenty five yet. Marriage was such a foreign, strange concept to him, one he knew he'd have to jump into at some point. It wasn't a thing he was eager to do, considering the only person he thought he could marry was currently dating someone else, so he had to look elsewhere, but he didn't know if he could do it. Some guys would have enjoyed the company of Elizabeth. She was beautiful, after all. But Alex didn't think he was going to, exactly. Some guys would just gravitate towards her on their own, putting images of another girl out of their heads because she was unavailable and look here, the daughter of the Duke of Dorset was. Nope. Not the Prince of Wales. "If we lived happily ever after, I bet it'd be in the Bible somewhere that it's one of the signs of the Apocalypse," he said with a dryness to his voice as he slipped into the seat across from her. Not even noticing the few other folks in the restaurant (probably convincing himself that no one else was out and about here, because if someone saw, undoubtedly it would make its way to the Daily Mail's gossip section to be treated as fact when it wasn't), he shook his head at the idea. Marrying Elizabeth. Jesus Christ. That was totally insane, wasn't it. Marrying anyone was. Marrying her was beyond insane...whatever 'beyond insane' was. Tapping his fingers absently on the table, Alex bobbed his head in agreement. A drink sounded fantastic. He could forget all the things he was having trouble wrapping his head around at the moment--none of the things that involved Elizabeth or this weird as hell situation. "I think so." The prince waved down a waitress, requesting some obscenely expensive bottle of champagne to be brought to their table to share. Even if it meant he was going to get deliriously drunk off champagne, it didn't much matter. Being drunk would make this exchange easier. It had that one time, on his birthday... Alex cleared his throat. "If this is part of your father's ultimate evil plot to control the universe by marrying us off," he continued with humor in his voice, "it will completely and utterly fail. I have no interest in getting married. None at all. I've got to keep my name in the papers, I doubt anyone would care about me once I was off the market. Right? Right. Same with you, but you keep yourself above all that, don't you?" Almost playfully he clicked his tongue, tsk tsk, shaking his head along with it. "You're better than the rest of us plebeians. Even me-- oh, thank you very much." Interrupted by the waiter returning with the chilled bottle, already opened, he took it from him and kindly first poured a glass for Elizabeth despite the protesting expression of the waiter, then one for himself. Setting it on the table, Alex raised his glass to his dinner companion for the evening, determined to make this some sort of bizarrely enjoyable bullshit date because he didn't want a miserable night. "To not getting married until we're getting screamed at from all sides."
Elizabeth Grey	Posted on Aug 21 2011, 12:01 AM
	Elizabeth Grey had never been one to need help when it came to men, which is why she found it vaguely amusing that her father had felt the need to set her up on some sort of date. Well, he hadn't exactly put it that way, but he hadn't raised a stupid daughter. Apparently twenty-six was far too old to be unmarried and, in a fatherly gesture, he had decided to step in and use his ever so gentle hand to help her along down the aisle. Truly, she hadn't really thought much of the date before it happened. It was just another appointment on a schedule that she tried to keep fairly busy. Suffice to say this wasn't her favorite way to spend an evening -- being set up by her father, but she was willing to endure it. Part of her was actually a bit curious as to who this mysterious beau was that he had hand picked out for her. There was rarely a guy that she had dated that he actually liked, not that she seriously dated anyone at all. But apparently, according to her father, it was time to start. Oh, how disappointed he would one day be when he learned that his daughter was not the marrying sort. But there was no need to tell him now. She was quite content with the current man in her life,who also just happened to be the Prime Minister. No one needed to know that, however. Elizabeth had arrived first, but she was always one to be extremely punctual. After the hostess had shown her to the table, she briefly looked around and took in the scene. A typical, rather boring night at a restaurant. With the menu in her hand, she glanced up at each passing person...wondering for a moment if they would take the seat across from her. Then a teenage girl a table over stirred in her seat and pointed politely to someone that had just entered the restaurant. It was obvious she was quite enamored with whatever it was she saw, but Elizabeth wasn't going to look over and cause an even bigger scene. But she didn't need to either, because the Prince of bloody Wales was walking up to her. Oh how she was going to absolutely murder her father the first chance she got. "A bit, yes." She said in agreement to this being awkward. Because it absolutely was. She had taken his virginity in a bet, for Christ's sake. It hadn't been bad or anything like that. But this was six year later and, well... it was awkward. What was he going on about now? Funny ha-ha? Elizabeth actually had to chuckle at that, simply because of how amusing it was coming from him of all people. "A Date?" Elizabeth paused in thought, trying to pushing through the awkwardness. Well, she was pretty sure her father was trying to force their hands into her becoming the Queen of bloody England, but that sure as hell wasn't going to happen. And the both of them knew it. "Well, I wasn't going to go that far." She said with a bit of a genuine chuckle, absently wondering if the teenage girl nearby was going to sell this story to the tabloids. Just what Elizabeth wanted. Except that it absolutely wasn't. *"I think we're supposed to fall madly* in love and live happily ever after." She said jokingly, trying to ease their way into a fun sort of conversation. At least they could talk casually, like friends. It meant that this night wasn't going to be as stuffy and awful as it could be. "On that note... I think we're both in need of a drink, don't you think?"**
Alexander, Prince of Wales	Posted on Aug 20 2011, 11:14 PM
	September 2, 2011, 5.30pm The Goring Hotel You are stupid, stupid, stupid, thought the Prince of Wales as he strode into the lobby of The Goring Hotel. He was told by the Duke of Dorset to get to the hotel by five thirty, as the man who was like an adviser set up some meeting. The reason was vague, but Alex thought it had something to do with a charity. That's usually what these things were: meeting with some head of charity to discuss being a patron of it, something like that. Boring, where he had to put on a grand performance as a respectful, bland prince. He wasn't stupid for going here, though. Alex was just stupid because he walked. Not wanting to deal with the fuss of a car, although his mother went on and on about it, he instead walked the ten minutes from Buckingham Palace to the hotel. He was glad he left early, because on what he thought would be a nice, peaceful late summer walk turned into the seven levels of hell thanks to being stopped by various people along the way who wanted pictures, to talk, something, anything. Alex was well-used to it, smiling and being quite accommodating, but man, was that stupid. So when he walked into the lobby, bowed at and shown the way to the restaurant (where he had been plenty of times before, thank you very much, he didn't need to be guided like an idiot to where it was), Alex wasn't in the best of moods. Before stepping into the restaurant he took a deep breath and made sure he had his senseless smile on his face when he walked up to the podium. "I've got a reservation under the name of John Grey." He could have used some ridiculous pseudonym--even Alex Wales, what he used at Oxford--but no, Dorset took care of that, too. Whatever. The hostess smiled, beamingly, at him, and led him towards a table for two by the window that let in the late summer's light that pooled in and made the chandeliers sparkle. Alex was even more irked by who the guest was. No charity person, nope. It was Lady Elizabeth Grey. What the hell was this, a blind date? In a poor mood thanks to worrying he'd forever destroyed his friendship with Adele Pennington, berating himself for being such a moron as to walk from the palace to the hotel, well, this just made his mood fantastic. The last time they had been alone together was when he was eighteen...when they slept together. Great. "This is awkward." As the hostess disappeared, Alex stood by the chair, unsure of what to do, exactly. Sit down? Kiss her cheek? Ew, he didn't want to do that. Instead, after a moment's hesitation, he slid into his own seat, looking to the slow through traffic on the street. "Awkward and funny. Not funny ha-ha, funny as in what the hell is going on here funny..." Turning his eyes to his guest, he wondered what this was about. Judging by the look on her face she was as happy to see him as he was to see her. That was, not that much. They weren't friends or anything. "So what do you think your dear old dad was trying to accomplish with this? What is it, a blind date?" If Alex had the propensity to sneer, he'd have been sneering, but he wasn't. He just looked bemused by this whole thing.

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