The Princess Next Door

Chapter 6

Cara's P.O.V.

As I tried to swallow the fact that I was engaged to be married, I saw Shawn come out of the kitchen and go into the hallway as he looked as though he was in his protective mode. " Please excuse me, I will go to my room now." I said as I got up from the table. " My dear, you must understand that this is the way of living a royal life. We have duties that we must attend to. " my mother commented as I just looked at her.

I ran down the hallway up to my room and just threw myself onto my bed and started crying. I had always wanted my parents in my life and I couldn't be happier, but what did they expect me to do? I was just supposed to be okay with being betrothed to someone I didn't even know. I heard my door creak open and I didn't even turn to see who it was, but I could smell his lovely cologne to know it was Shawn. " What is the matter, Princess?" he asked me as he sat down next to me on the bed. I just turned to my side and looked at him.

He was so gorgeous and to think that there may never be a future for us, just broke my heart even more. Granted, Shawn was the one of the first guy's to pay a lot of attention to me, but he made me feel so special. He caressed the side of my face and wiped away one of my tears. It was a very intimate thing and then he leaned down and gently kissed my cheek. " Princess, please talk to me." he pleaded with me. " I am engaged to be married, and I'm meeting him tomorrow. What am I to do?" as I got up and sat cross legged on the bed, leaning up against my pillows.

Shawn moved closer to me and looked at me with pitiful look, "Princess, I cannot tell you what to do because I am not in any position to say. What does your heart tell you?" he asked me as he grabbed my hand and held it. " To be honest, I just want to run away. Back to my simple apartment and live the simple college life where no one knows me and I can live happily without a care in the world." I said as he nodded his head in agreement. " That's understandable, but we cannot run away from our destiny." " I know, but it just makes everything harder. I mean what about us?" He smirked at me and had a gleam in his eye, " What do you mean, Princess?" he asked as he scooted closer to me. I gulped nervously, I wasn't expecting myself to even ask him that question, but it was on my mind.

We obviously had feelings for each other and I knew he felt the same way I did. " Well we admitted that we both had feelings for each other, so I know that if I'm engaged to be married to someone else, we can't continue this." I said " Aww Princess, you act like you already have feelings for someone you haven't met. How about I make a deal with you, if you develop feelings for the Prince then I will go back to just being your bodyguard." he said sadly. I just glanced at him and figured that would be okay, so I just nodded my head and he got up from the bed and grabbed my hand. "Okay Princess, I will take my leave. Good night and I will see you bright and early." as he held my hand out and bowed in front of me and it just made me giggle as he kissed the top of my hand. He then left the room and it felt so empty without him there with me.

I awoke the next morning to knocking on my door and then realizing what was to take place today. Francis entered and just shook her head. " Oh this will never do my dear, you need to get into the shower pronto." As she grabbed my arm and pulled me out of bed, then pushed me into the bathroom. " You have 30 minutes to get washed and dressed. Now hurry!" she exclaimed as I was still trying to wake up.

I loved to sleep and being awoken without much warning, kind of put me in a bad mood. I quickly washed my hair and body as I could hear footsteps in my bedroom. As I was rinsing my hair out, I heard the door open and then shut. " Who's there?" as I tried to cover myself up in the shower. " It's just me Princess, don't be alarmed." he laughed. " What are you doing in here Shawn?" I whispered as I tried to finish getting clean. " Well I figured you might need some help getting clean" as he pulled back the shower curtain and looked me up and down. He whistled as I tried to push him away and he just laughed. " Oh Princess, the fun things we could do." " Well I hate to burst your bubble, but I only have about 10 minutes left to get dressed, so if you don't mind." I said as grabbed my towel off the rack and wrapped myself up quickly. He helped me out of the shower and I was pressed up against him tightly as I stared into his big eyes.

He looked down with an unreadable expression on his face as he leaned his lips towards mine and kissed me. It was a sweet, sincere kiss as he pulled back and looked at me. " Princess, you better get dressed." as he handed me a robe and then stood back. " You need to leave, so I can." as I tried to shoo him out of the bathroom. " Okay, Okay" as he left and shut the door.

Francis came in a few minutes later with a team of stylists and make-up artists behind her. " Okay people, we have 3 hours to make this beautiful girl become a true Princess. Let's get to work" as I sat down in front of a mirror as people went to cutting, styling my hair. Then I was given a full manicure, pedicure and a massage. After that my make-up artist, Ty came in and looked at me and said " Oh Darling your face is perfect. I will make it more of a masterpiece than it already is." Ty and I got along just wonderful, he told me about his life as the only brother among three sisters and how he would practice make-up on them. He learned the art very well and I must say by the time he was finished, I almost didn't look like the same person. Francis came in with the dark blue evening gown and just gasped as she turned and looked at me. My hair was in curls, with the top part of my hair pulled to side, where the tiara was to be pinned on top. Then Ty had done a smoky eye on me to compliment my eyes along with the dress. "Well my dear, you most certainly are ready for the ball" she said as she helped me stand up and I put the dress on.

Once I was dressed, I was ready to go downstairs to meet everyone. Since my parents were so excited about this celebration, it was mid-afternoon when it began. The weather was still cool with a light breeze flowing through the open windows of my room. I walked out onto the top of the steps and Shawn was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Then he turned to look at me and I could tell I had an effect on him by the way his mouth was opened wide.