Finding My Prince Charming (7 page)

“There they are.” Anna’s voice was excited as we worked our way across the room to the large table of other excited students from across the world.

There was a huge poster on a stand next to the table that read “Welcome to London, students of the world!” I trembled with excitement as I surveyed the group. It wasn’t as large as I had thought it would be, but perhaps that was good. There were fifteen students there—ten girls and five boys.

“Oh my God, I’m in love,” Anna whispered to me. “That blond guy is to die for.”

I checked out the guys to see which one she was talking about and my eyes connected with another guy’s—a guy with a piercing gaze and smiling green eyes. He gave me a wide smile and I smiled back. He was very cute with his black hair, tan skin, and green eyes, and I wondered to myself if I had been too hasty in changing my rules back.

I quickly looked away from him to survey the other guys and to see who Anna was talking about. I didn’t want to give Green Eyes the wrong impression, and I felt a bit creeped out that he had a similar physical description to Xavier, even though they looked nothing alike.

I knew who Anna was talking about as soon as I saw him. He was tall, probably about six foot four, and he had a shocking amount of wavy white-blond hair. His eyes were bright and blue, and he had a golden tan that was definitely not from his hours in London.

“Isn’t he hot?” Anna pinched me. “I have to have him.”

“Anna, let’s say hello to everyone before you take him to the back alley,” I teased, and she blushed at my words. For all of her talk, Anna was as shy as I was when she was sober and not much of a femme fatale.

“Hey, girls. Are you part of the Study in London program?” A tall blonde smiled widely at us as we nodded. “Great, I’m Henrietta. I work at the university and I’ll be your liaison. What courses are you both taking?”

“I’m doing art history.” I smiled back at her. “And Anna’s doing British literature.”

“Welcome, welcome. You’re going to love the art history course. Did you catch the museum exhibit and talk on Friday? Wasn’t it fabulous? I’ve already got my Bachelor’s, but I’m signing up for the course again just for fun because Professor Van Romerius really knows his stuff. I mean, imagine learning about art from a man who owns most of the pieces he talks about. And he’s so gorgeous. I will not have trouble getting up in the morning to look at that face.” Henrietta rambled on and I bit my lip, worried she was going to ask me if I had attended. I tried to think about what I was going to say, but then she turned towards Anna. “And don’t feel bad, dear girl. The lit program’s good as well. I think you guys are going to get to spend a week in Stratford-upon-Avon, so that will be good fun.”

“Thanks.” Anna nodded and gave me a look. We both stifled a giggle as Henrietta took a large gulp from a pint glass she had in her hand.

“Well, here are some welcome packets. Tonight, we’re just going to have dinner, let everyone get to know each other. As you know, as part of the program, we’ll have about six different meet-ups this term.” She giggled. “Oops, I mean semester. I forget you Yanks don’t have terms.”

“Okay, thanks.”

We both took the packets and were about to go and introduce ourselves to the other students when Henrietta grabbed us both by the shoulders.

“Oh, I almost forgot to remind you. Classes start tomorrow, bright and early. Please know that attendance is monitored and you will fail if you don’t attend eighty percent of your classes.” She looked at us sternly, but it was hard to take her seriously as she was hiccupping. “Oh, yeah. There will be a ball at the end of the year, so start thinking about dresses and dates. You’re both pretty girls, so I don’t think you’ll have problems snagging a date.” She paused for a moment and looked at us thoughtfully. “Oh, and one more thing. I almost forgot. There are two professors overseeing the program this year. They will have two special get-togethers at their houses at some point during the term. Make sure you show up. It looks really bad if you don’t.”

“Okay, thanks.” I nodded and nudged Anna so that she would walk away. I was starting to feel overwhelmed with all the information Henrietta was giving us.

“See you later, girls.” She grinned at us and took another large gulp of the beer in her hands.

“Bye.” I waved at her and was about to whisper something to Anna when I looked up and realized that the green-eyed boy was standing in front of me and grinning.

“Hello.” He reached his hand out towards me. “I’m Sebastian.”

“Lola.” I shook his hand and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t squeeze it too hard or too limply like most of the guys I knew back home did.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He gave me a dazzling smile and I blushed and tried not to remember how Xavier had responded to my name. Lolita, indeed.

“Thank you.”

“Are you American?”

“Is it that obvious?” I laughed. “I’m starting to feel like the redheaded stepchild.”

“No.” He shook his head and his dark hair fell in his face. “I was just curious.”

“Are you English?” I looked at him in surprise. He definitely had an English accent, but I wasn’t sure why he would be in this program if he were from the country.

“No.” He made a face. “God, no.” He laughed again. “I’m from a small country near Belgium. But I was educated in English boarding schools.”

“Oh.” I still looked at him curiously.

“I suppose you wonder why I’m in this program?” He made a face. “My brother convinced my mother it would be good for me because I sort of played around a bit too much last year.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“Not really.” His eyes sparkled at me. “I’m quite glad he played the overbearing bully this time.”

“Oh?” I laughed nervously as he leaned in towards me.

“Yes.”

“Lola, you coming?” Anna called back to me, and I nodded.

“Sorry, I have to go.” I smiled at Sebastian, and he looked at me in disappointment.

“What are you studying, Lola?”

“Art history.”

“Really?” His eyes gleamed and he shook his head. “I heard the professor’s an asshole.”

“Oh no,” I groaned. “Just my luck.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be in the class as well.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. This way my brother really gets to watch my every step.”

“Huh?” I looked at him in confusion, but then Anna grabbed my arm.

“Come on, Lola.” She nodded towards the tall, blond surfer-looking dude, and I gave Sebastian a quick smile.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, if not later again tonight,” I muttered quickly.

“I look forward to it.” He grabbed my hand and gave it a quick kiss before I was pulled away by Anna.

I glared at her. “I was just talking to that guy, you know.”

“Sorry, but I need to speak to the blond god before another girl gets her claws in him.” Anna gave me a frantic stare and nodded towards her new crush. He was standing there, eating what looked like a breadstick, and as far as I could tell, he was all alone.

“There’s no one there,” I sighed as we casually walked over to him.

“Shh!” She gave me a look. “Play it cool,” she whispered.

“I didn’t think I was playing it warm or hot,” I said, slightly irritated.

I had enjoyed talking to Sebastian. There was something about him that seemed fun as well as friendly. I wouldn’t mind making him my first male BFF. And it didn’t hurt that he was hot, either.

“Laugh,” Anna commanded me, and I gave her a look.

“Laugh at what?”

“Oh, Lola, you’re so funny.” Anna burst out laughing and played with her hair as she pretended to double over in a fit.  I stared at her in confusion, and she glared at me as she continued laughing.

“I am?”

“Oh, Lola.” Her laughter became even louder, and she took two steps backwards and bumped into the tall blond. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see where I was going.” She turned around and gave him a huge smile.

“No worries.” He smiled back at her and then looked over at me. “What’s the joke?”

“I’d like to know that my—” I started, and Anna started coughing.

“I’m Anna.” She batted her eyelids up at him. “I’m from Florida, which is in the United States of America, and this is my best friend, Lola.”

“Hi, girls. I’m Jason, from Brisbane, Australia. Not to be confused with Jason Donovan.”

“Who?” Anna and I both asked at the same time.

“Oh, sorry, mates. He’s an actor. I guess the Brits love him. All I keep hearing about is Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. I’m like, I’m in my twenties. They ain’t popular where I’m from.”

“Oh.” Anna smiled at him again, and I looked at him blankly. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I could barely understand what he was saying.

“I know Florida, though. I’ve been surfing in Cocoa Beach. Went to a contest put on by Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.”

“Oh, awesome!” Anna flashed a brilliant smile at him. “Are you a surfer?”

“I used to be.” He shrugged and his blond hair fell in his face. “Now I play rugby.”

“I love rugby,” Anna lied. I knew for a fact that Anna was lying because we had had a conversation the previous year about sports that were sexy but that we didn’t understand and rugby was at the top of the list. “And cricket.”

“Cricket.” He nodded. “I used to play in school. I was plenty rubbish though.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“That’s okay.” He shrugged. “Want a breadstick?” He handed us the plate, and I thought Anna was going to burst from happiness as she took a limp piece of bread from the offered plate.

“No, thanks.” I shook my head.

“You girls studying with the program?”

“That’s what the party’s for, right?” I mumbled, and Anna glared at me.

I figured she deserved my being a bitch for dragging me away from Sebastian. Not that I really cared about Sebastian. In the back of my mind, all I could think about was my night with Xavier and the way his lips had kissed me all over.

“What are you studying, Jason?” Anna asked him as if it were the most important question in the world.

“Art history.”

“Really?” I looked at him in shock. He didn’t look like the sort of guy who knew anything about art.

“Yeah. I want to own my own gallery when I grow up.”

“Wow, me too.” I looked at him consideringly. I had to stop judging people by their appearances. “I’m in the art history program as well.”

“That’s cool.”

“I’m in the literature program,” Anna sighed. “Though it seems like I may be in the minority.”

“No, there’s a cool dude in that program.” He pointed to a skinny guy who was sitting on a chair playing with his phone. “That dude. I forget his name—Mike or Paul or something. He’s in the lit program as well.”

Anna looked over at him. “Figures,” she muttered as she took in his nerdy appearance.

“I heard that they are going to make us all take a lit and art class this year, though.” He made a face. “They’re trying to expand the vision and learning experience of the program.”

“But what if we’re not interested in the other stuff?” I frowned, slightly upset at the news. I had come to learn about the great art pieces of Europe, not about books.

“They think it’s all connected. At least that’s what that professor said on Friday.” He shrugged. “He seemed like he was all about it. This way, art and books can infiltrate every part of our lives. They’ll be like the air we breathe. That’s what he said. Or maybe that’s what he hopes.” Jason shrugged. “Didn’t you hear him?”

“I kinda missed the actual talk.” My face flushed. Damn Anna and Max!

“Oh.” Jason grabbed another breadstick. “You didn’t miss much.”

“Yeah, just the fact that the whole program is changing.”

I turned away to look at the other people in the group. It looked like everyone had already formed their own cliques. There were a bunch of obviously rich girls. I could tell from their clothes that they didn’t shop at Target and Forever 21 like Anna and I did. There were some obviously nerdy girls, all wearing glasses and standing around, barely talking. Most of the guys were with the rich beautiful girls, aside from the nerdy lit guy, who was sitting down, and Sebastian, who was chatting with a very obviously drunk Henrietta.

“It’ll be cool, Lola. We’ll get to take classes together.” Anna smiled and then leaned towards me, whispering in my ear, “Now scat. You’re bringing down the mood.”

“Oh, now you don’t need me.” I rolled my eyes, and she laughed.

“Go find your Prince Charming.”

“I’m not looking for a Prince Charming,” I retorted and flushed as I thought of Xavier and how mad he had made me.

It had been a day since our night together, but I couldn’t stop thinking about our passionate lovemaking. I should hate him for the words he had said to me, but I’d always been a glutton for punishment. I wondered where he was at that very moment. Maybe he was on a date with a model or something. Only this time, he’d be whispering sweet nothings in her ear and telling her how beautiful she was. He wouldn’t be offering her money for her time.

“Ass,” I muttered to myself as I thought about him again.

“What?” Anna looked at me in confusion, and I shook my head.

“Nothing. I’m going to the bar to get a drink. Do you want anything?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m good.”

“Okay.” I walked away and wondered how long Anna was going to keep up her new no-drinking policy. I made my way to the bar and looked up at the list of beers and lagers they had available.

“What’s your poison?” a voice whispered in my ear, and I felt a warm hand on my back. I jumped and turned quickly to see who was being so familiar with me.

“Oh, hi, Sebastian.” I blushed as I looked into his handsome face. It really was unfair how beautiful he was, with his clear luminescent eyes and long lashes.

“I saw you come over for a drink. I figured I would come as well.”

“Oh, okay. That’s good.”

“I’m boring you, aren’t I?” He laughed heartily, and I wondered if he had issues since I had no idea what was so funny.

“Not really.” I smiled and turned back to look at the drink menu.

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay.” I shook my head.