A Royal Love Affair

    I’ve been feeling like crap for two weeks now. I could not stop sleeping and the Greek food which I’ve come to love over the years no longer make my mouth water, instead, it made me want to find the nearest bathroom and throw up. Finals always brought on extreme stress so I chalked it up to being just that and decided to start my day. Abandoning the idea of breakfast, I hopped in the shower, got dressed, and decided to head to class. It was the last week of classes and I couldn’t wait for it to be over.      All I could think about was the impending trip that Lucas had planned for us for weeks. An entire week on his family’s private island. Just thinking about this had me smiling to myself as I walked to the main hall. Dating a prince did indeed have its perks. I may be the furthest thing from royalty but he treats me as I was born for him to worship the ground I walk on. He was my first and only love and despite our backgrounds being opposites, I know we have something that would stand the test of time.     I arrive at my first class for the day, Journalism Ethics. As soon as I entered the classroom, the scent of a gyro knocks me back. Bile rising in my throat, I am seconds away from throwing up all over my classroom floor. I race to the bathroom, thanking God that it was only two doors down, and empty last night’s dinner. I continued to throw up until I was dry heaving on the bathroom floor. “What the bloody hell is up with me?” I thought to myself. As my luck would have it, my best friend Maria saw me bolt out of the classroom and followed me to make sure I was okay.     “Bebe, what’s wrong?” she asked, her voice dripping in concern. I quickly flushed the toilet and tidied myself up. I stared at Isabella through the mirror and replied weakly, I don’t know. She looked at me with furrowed eyebrows then spun me around to face her. “Are you pregnant?” she asked. I froze then began laughing uncontrollably. Me? Pregnant? No way. The thought was so hilarious tears were in my eyes. There was absolutely no way that my feelings for the past two weeks could be pregnancy. Although I was doubled over and being carried away by my laughter, my friend found nothing funny about her question. I looked up and noticed she had summoned all her Spanish fire and channeled it into that deathly stare she gave me. I stood up straight when it dawned on me that pregnancy may very well be a real possibility. “But I would know if I were pregnant right?” I thought to myself. This was supposed to be a moment in a woman’s life she knew instantly, right?     I pulled out my phone and went to my period app. I’ve always had frequent and reliable periods, this would all be cleared up after I checked and debunked her theory. But as I scrolled through my calendar over the past few months, it was clear as day that the last time I logged my period was April, we were now at the end of June and nothing. My hands began shaking. How could I have let something so important slip through the cracks like this? Could I be pregnant?     “I’ll take a test after class and we’ll clear all this up,” I said coolly, deeply downplaying the shitstorm that was taking place in my mind. I may not have covered it up as well as I thought I had because Isabella stood there arms folded and tapping her feet with an expression on her face that told me she didn’t buy a word I just said, but that she would drop it for now. We then headed back to class and I spent an agonizing three hours trying to focus on the lecture when all my mind strayed to was the test I knew I had to take that would either change my life forever or be nothing more than my first pregnancy scare.     After grudgingly sticking out all my classes that day, I decided to finally find a pharmacy. I could have simply walked to the one located on campus but I couldn’t bear the thought of any student judging my purchase. I caught a cab and made my way to the Athens pharmacy. I pulled my hoodie over my head and walked through the aisles looking for the tests. There were so many options. How do women do this for heaven’s sake? Bollocks! I grabbed the test I stood directly in front of and walked briskly to the cashier. I paid and quickly entered the taxi that was waiting for me. The entire car ride to campus I was sweating profusely. Maybe it was the flu and not a baby after all I thought.     Making my way to my dorm, I made a beeline to my bathroom. I thank the heavens that I lived alone so there would be no awkward roommate run-ins while I peed on a bloody stick! As I read the instructions on the back of the box, I heard my phone chime. Checking the notification, I saw it was Lucas. What are the odds that at the very moment that I was about to take a test to confirm whether or not I was having his baby, he would contact me? I quickly silenced my phone and continued with the test. “Let’s do this,” I said and released a shaky breath. It was now or never.     I stared at the test before me with shaky hands. Pregnant. My legs were wobbly so I had to sink to the toilet seat for support. I had two more semesters to get through, how could I have been so careless? A million questions barraged my mind as my vision became blurry. At this very moment, my phone began ringing. It was Lucas. I couldn’t bring myself to answer the call as there was no way for me to control my emotions enough to act like everything was fine. Instead, I sent him a text that said he needed to come over right away. I’m usually never demanding with him. He’s a prince for Christ’s sake, but at that moment, it was the only way I could get him to come over fast.     After what seemed to be an eternity as time seemed to be moving extremely slow ever since the result came up, I heard a knock at the door. I pulled my head out of the clouds and finally realized I was still sitting on the toilet seat. My body felt like it was made of lead as I moved to the door and found a disheveled Lucas standing there. I guess the tone of my message had him worried and he came over in a rush. I stepped aside to let him in.     “What’s wrong?” he said as he barreled towards me and placed both hands on my cheeks, staring me deeply in my eyes. At his gesture, I began to tear up. I didn’t realize until that moment that I still had the pregnancy test clutched in my hands and given that at that moment I couldn’t speak, I just help up the test. He shifted his gaze to the test and back and me. “Is this what I think it is?” He said in a low voice. I still couldn’t find my voice so I nodded. Before I could try to assess what his emotions were, he knelt before me and held me around my waist. Was a prince kneeling? To me? This day couldn’t get any weirder. “S' agapo we’ll figure this out together.” He said in a soft voice. I am leaking like a faucet at this point. Will I ever stop bloody crying? Lucas was completing his final semester at the university. We met on the lawns of the University of Athens in my sophomore year and had been inseparable after a few heated run-ins with several curse words spewing from me. I was pregnant with the future king of Myotras’ baby. What would his parents think? Did this mean we had to get married? My head began swirling with questions that I couldn’t figure out the answers to fast enough. All I was sure about was that the man in front of me loved me unconditionally and that everything would be okay. ************      It has been two days since I found out about the pregnancy and Lucas has been an absolute dream. After the initial shock of the unexpected news, we both came around to the idea and were now thoroughly excited. I was in the middle of getting dressed for lunch with Lucas’s parents and siblings. To say I was nervous, would be the understatement of the year. However, Lucas kept reassuring me that everything would be fine and that the lunch was the beginning of our future together.     Two hours later, we were pulling up to the front of their castle. I’m about to enter a literal castle. It truly dawns on me that I’ve been dating a real-life prince and I feel like a princess. I couldn’t wait to meet his family and I truly hoped they accepted me and the impending new member of their family. The door opened to a lady with green eyes and black hair that mirrored Lucas standing there to greet us. She gave me a smile that did not reach her ice-cold eyes. Here goes nothing I thought to myself as we made our way inside.  ************     The lunch with Lucas very eventful. I got a mixture of cold glares from his brother Alexander and mother who I deduced was his mother after we were seated. I left the caste with mixed emotions, but Lucas assured me we would be fine and that we belonged together. This all came crashing down with a knock at my door.     I opened the door and saw the love of my life standing there with fire in his green eyes. It looked like emerald daggers were about to pierce me any minute now. He stormed his way past me and made his way to my living area and began pacing back and forth.     “We’re breaking up.” He whispered. I shook my head to clear my foggy thoughts as I think I may have misheard him.     “W-what?” I said as my brain was scrambled and no other words came to me.     “This is over.” He replied in a clipped tone. “I’ve received some information from a background check that ran on your family and I simply cannot permit you to join our family. I will help to take care of this child financially but I cannot be with you after today. I hope you understand.” With those final words, he exited my dorm room without a single glance at me.      I stood there staring at the closed door for so long that by the time I finally came out of my daze it was dark out. The realization of what had occurred hit me like a ton of bricks and I sank to the floor and in the fetal position, I cried. I was a simple college girl with an entire year left, pregnant and dumped by the man who swore that he would never leave and that I was his forever. Anger began to course through my veins. I stood up and stormed my way to my bedroom, found my suitcases, and began packing. There was no way in hell that I would let this man treat me like this and stick around. I didn’t deserve and my baby sure didn’t. He does not deserve to be in our lives. As I continued to throw clothes in the suitcases, I made mental notes to apply to take my exams carded for next week online and apply for a leave of absence. I was getting the heck out of Greece and I was intended to never look back.