38.

38.

“What is happening? I don’t understand,” I muttered in confusion as three girls started fiddling with my hair, clothes and face, all at once.
“They are getting you ready for today’s interview,” Quinn replied, walking into the room.
“What? I-interview?” I stuttered, turning to her with wide eyes.
She gave me an apologetic look, and held up a one piece dress for me. “Part of the stuff you need to accomplish in one week.”
“Okay, um, what kind of interview? Whose interview?” I asked hopefully, even though I already knew the answer somehow.
“Your and Noah’s interview…”
“Why?” I groaned, letting my face fall into my hands. “Is it necessary?”
“Would you rather prefer if Alice went with Noah, as his girlfriend?”
That instantly made me look up with a glare. “No!”
Quinn shrugged with a grin. “She is going to do just that if you don’t go.”
“Ma’am, please, sit still,” one of the girls who had her hands in my hair, requested.
I took a deep breath, keeping my eyes on Quinn. “What am I supposed to do there? I don’t even know what I would say. Heck, even my class presentations are filled with a series of ‘um’ and ‘uh’. I am going to screw this up.”
Quinn laughed, handing over the dress to one of the girls. “Don’t worry, they erase all the ‘um’ and ‘uh’ before airing it.”
My face instantly paled. “What do you mean, ‘airing it?’”
“Um,” she started unsurely. “Broadcasting it? Like, it will be aired on televisions, radios, live streaming services.”
“Oh my God! Are you serious?” I shrieked, in panic.
“Ma’am, please,” the makeup girl said with a tight smile.
“Chloe, seriously, what are you so worried about?” Quinn asked, folding her arms across her chest. “I mean, look at you. You are a natural. I am so proud of the way you talked to my mother yesterday.”
That was adrenaline rush in my brain…if that’s even a thing.
“Just wear this dress,” Quinn continued, “after they are done with your makeup and hair, and then, you will be all set to go.”
I took a peek at the dress. It was a simple one piece, in light pink color and it looked very…sad- I mean, dull. It was cute but just wasn’t my type.
“I know, what you are thinking,” Quinn broke my thoughts. “But, you don’t have any other choice.”
I looked down at my jeans and top, then, back at her.
She shook her head, sighing. “Jeans are a strict no-no for royals.”
Uhm, what?!
I laughed, despite myself. “It’s like saying; food is a strict no-no for Caleb. Or Shawn Mendes is a strict no-no for Liam. Jeans constitute for like, seventy to eighty percent of my lifetime attire and, I am also pretty sure, for most of the girls in this world.”
“I will explain you everything later,” Quinn said, glancing at her watch, “time to get ready now or you will be late.”
***
I wore jeans.
That one piece made me look pretty and everything, but, it wasn’t comfortable and it made me feel more exposed than I would have liked…
But, that wasn’t the reason I wore jeans. The dress up girl (yup, they exist) whose name was Amanda, accidentally tore up the dress from the seam while doing something with it (I don’t know what). Bless her soul.
So, in the last minute, there were two options in front of me: my jeans and my pajamas. Quinn didn’t look too pleased with the idea of me wearing pajamas to this bloody interview.
So, here I was, in my good old jeans, waiting backstage for my name to be called. Noah was already on the stage, as his part had started before mine.
I almost sneezed when a guy and a girl appeared out of nowhere and started dusting powder on my face.
“Stop dude!” I started flailing my arms in the air. “They have already done my makeup.”
“This is our stage preparation,” the guy replied. “Please, cooperate, ma’am.”
“Look, if you let me go, I will-”
I was cut off by a loud announcement which resonated backstage.
“And, ladies and gentlemen, wouldn’t you all be so delighted if you got a chance to see this so talked of girlfriend of our charming prince? Let me present before you Chloe Scott!”
A huge round of applause went off, and that was my cue to make an entry.
The only problem was that the powder was blinding me, and causing an itch in my nose. Instead of gracefully walking towards the stage, as Quinn had made me practice; I stumbled in, almost tripping on my steps. That was not even the most humiliating part.
By the time I made it to the center stage, a sneeze was due.
“Achoo!” I sneezed loudly, covering my face with my handkerchief.
And, all I could hear after that was…pin-drop silence.
I slowly opened my eyes, which had shut from the impact of the sneeze, already dreading the sight before me. My heart was beating so loudly, I was sure everyone within ten miles could hear it. My hands started growing clammy and I had to press my palms on the front of my jeans.
“That, my friends, is why she is Chloe awesome Scott aka my girlfriend,” Noah suddenly announced into his mouthpiece, and wrapped his arms around me with a grin.
Another round of applause went off and I could only stare…not at the audience, but, at Noah and the genuine expression on his face. As cheesy as it sounds, I must have done something really good at some point in my life, to deserve him.
The trance I had fallen into was broken when the host laughed, clapping.
“Miss Chloe, that was an…interesting entry,” he said cheekily.
I tugged my hair behind my ear, wishing he would not call me ‘miss’. “It wasn’t my fault. I am allergic to-”
“Come on, let’s get you settled first,” Noah said, pulling at my arm impatiently.
The host laughed again. “Of course. Please have a seat. I am Jeremy Walker, your host for tonight.”
I carefully settled down on the couch, with my still beating heart, and looked around at everyone present in the studio. There were people, a lot of them. The relief was that I couldn’t see them. But, still, they could see me.
“So, are you nervous?” Jeremy suddenly asked.
I realized that the question was directed at me when Noah squeezed my fingers.
Seriously, what kind of question was that?
“Duh!” I chuckled uneasily. “Of course, I am nervous.”
Jeremy smiled. “But, seeing as you are dating our future king, don’t you think you should be more composed and collected?”
Was he kidding me?
“I am human, after all,” was all I replied.
He found this amusing for some reason, because he started chuckling. “Agreed. I see why Noah was talking so much about you.”
Noah was talking about me?
Beside me, Noah cleared his throat, and I noticed the tips of his ears turning red.
Aw…this guy…
Jeremy kept it to basic questions after that, for a while, like my hobbies, likes, dislikes etc. and I started getting comfortable, relaxed. It was only when he asked his next question to Noah, when things started heating up.
“Why did you run away from your introduction ceremony the first time?”
I thought Noah would be like, furious or something, but, imagine my surprise when he laughed the question off with, “So that you could ask me this question today, Jeremy.”
I had to laugh along with everyone else at that.
“You can dodge, I see,” Jeremy chuckled. “But, if given a chance to go back in time, would you choose to stay instead of running away and leaving the world media in bewilderment?”
“Nope, never,” Noah replied, without missing a beat. “I would take the option of running away again and again because that’s how I met Chloe.”
Oh, yeah…that was true.
“Ah, about that!” Jeremy clapped his hands. “The audience and I are dying to know the story of your meet cute. Please elaborate.”
Noah turned to look at me, with a smug smile. “It started with my awesome self and ended with…my awesome self.”
I gaped at him. This cocky SOB.
“Actually, no,” I spoke up, “it started with Chloe awesome Scott and ended with Noah, the annoying SOB.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “No, it started my fake mate and ended with my true mate, the fork.”
I gasped. “You did not!” I turned to Jeremy. “He is lying. It actually started with ‘what are you hiding’ and ended with-”
“Noah and the fork!” Noah cut in.
“Okay, okay, guys, hahaha,” Jeremy interjected. “Looks like this story has too many beginnings and endings. Let’s move to a different question. A very burning one, one which we have all wanted to know for a long time.”
Noah and I gazed at him curiously. Something told me Jeremy was treading on a thin line here.
“What happened with the king?”
A/N: Revelation time! Sorry if this chapter sucked. My life is so hectic right now. Classes have started and they have dumped a shit load of work on us. I am operating on my robot mode. But, wattpad is always on my mind. I will try to update as often as possible. I have so much to tell you guys, but, right now my assignment is staring at me. Hopefully, I will find more time soon. See ya in the next update!