Commission for Anime-FanGirl666 CH 1

  Chapter One
 

  The club was stifling, and Kacey fanned herself with her hand as she peered around. There were people everywhere she looked, with a mash of bodies congregating on the dance floor.  An older man caught her looking in his direction and leered suggestively, to which she snorted in disgust and kept looking.

   With a sigh, she gave up searching for Harry and made her way to the bar.  Obviously he wasn’t here yet, and hopefully sitting at the bar would make it easier for him to spot her when he arrived.  

   Kacey checked her watch anxiously.  She’d been waiting almost an hour.  It wasn’t like Harry to be late, at least not for their weekly club-crawl.  Hell, he usually got here before she did, and teased her for her tardiness all night.  

   She couldn’t decide what to do.  Maybe calling him would be the best thing to do.  But she’d texted him earlier, and gotten no reply. Maybe something had happened to him?!  No, he or one of his guards would have called her if something had happened.  It was possible he couldn’t get away from his “princely duties”.  Or... or he’d found some other girl to hang out with instead of her, which made more sense the the other possibilities.  

   And wasn’t that just a depressing thought.  With a sigh, she grimaced at her drink and stood up, figuring that the best thing for her now-rotten mood would be some Ben and Jerry’s and snuggling up on her couch in front of a horror movie or three.

   Because that was totally how a girl wanted to spend her Saturday night.  Alone at home, eating junk food and watching movies that made it impossible for her to sleep until nine the next morning.

   The cab ride didn’t take long, and after paying the driver and heading up the seemingly endless flights of stairs to her apartment, she unlocked the door and stepped into her comfort zone.  She kicked off her insanely gorgeous (and insanely painful) heels by the door, and shimmied out of her little black lace number as she made her way to her bedroom.  

   Running a hand through her hair and noticing the sweat from the heat of the club, she decided that a steaming hot shower was just the thing for her, to help her relax after a disappointing night.

   A little over an hour later, she stepped out of her bathroom, wearing her fuzziest slippers and robe.  She plopped onto the couch, intent on relaxing and treating herself, and not thinking about how Harry was probably off with some other girl right now.

   Kacey turned on the TV, flipping through channels that held no interest for her.  She groaned when she started over at the first channel, having found nothing to watch but infomercials and foreign almost-porn.  She pinched the bridge of her nose and wondered what to do now.

   She didn’t want to go rent a movie somewhere, she had just taken a shower.  However, she also didn’t want to watch what was on the television.  It was too early to go to bed on a Saturday, and all of her friends were either out of town or getting laid (or MIA, in Harry’s case).  

   Deciding that she had no other options, she grabbed her laptop and booted it up.  She really didn’t want to do this, but it was unavoidable. She’d have to make an account with Netflix.  

   Waiting for the website to load, Kacey couldn’t help but reflect on the choices she’d made in her life to end up where she was now. Not that she was unhappy in general, far from it! It couldn’t be said that Kacey Jones* didn’t live life to the fullest.  She had graduated magna cum laude from an amazing university, gotten a high-paying job fairly quickly, and had an apartment that was to-die-for.  Her relationship with her family was great, and she flew down to visit them at least twice a year.  She had plenty of friends.

   The only area that was lacking was her love life.  It wasn’t because she wasn’t attractive, Kacey was a walking wet dream for many men, with her soft blonde hair, sparkling green eyes, and tight, toned body.  No, she attracted plenty of male attention, the problem was that it wasn’t from the male that she wanted.

   Kacey’s problem was that she was in love with Prince Harry of Wales, and had been for almost three years now.  Because obviously, she was a masochist, and unable to like guys that might notice her as more than a friend.  

   She knew that she wasn’t Harry’s type, she wasn’t petite, didn’t have long brunette curls or big blue doe eyes.  She wasn’t calm and polite, even in the face of adversity.

   No, she was sarcastic, and made snide remarks, and didn’t take shit from anyone.  The things that made Harry notice her as a friend, they were the very things that kept him from noticing her as anything more.

   His last girlfriend, Laura, had been really nice.  She had enjoyed spending time with all of Harry’s friends, and even invited them over to her penthouse apartment for dinners that she made herself.  Almost everyone was bummed when they broke up.  Everyone except Kacey, because she couldn’t help but hate the girl on sight for being with Harry, no matter how hard she tried to be everyone’s friend.

   Kacey was jolted out of her musings by the beeping of her laptop, informing her that it was at 10% power and would shut down if it wasn’t plugged in.  With a disheartened sigh, she closed the laptop, laying it on the floor next to the couch.

   She laid down on her side and curled up into herself.  It was a long time before she fell asleep.

   

   The next morning, Kacey came into awareness slowly, and it took her several moments to realize that the reason she was awake was the obnoxiously ringing doorbell.  Groaning, she heaved herself up and blearily walked to the door, unlocking it slowly as she rubbed the grit from her eyes.  She covered her mouth as she yawned, pulling the door open at the same time.

   On the other side stood Frank and Paul, two of Harry’s guards.  They were wearing sleek black suits, and Frank held an envelope in his hands.  Kacey blushed at the two of them seeing her in her bunny slippers and pink bathrobe, with no makeup on, but the two of them didn’t even bat an eyelash.

   Frank cleared his throat.  “Ms. Jones, Prince Harry would like to beg your forgiveness for not meeting you last night.  He is very sorry about not calling to inform you of the matter, but had no time, as a very important correspondent had to be seen to last night, which then resulted in an emergency meeting.”  Kacey just blinked at Frank and Paul, not quite knowing what to say.  Her brain hadn’t really woken up yet, so she wasn’t sure what was going on.  

   “Also, Prince Harry wanted us to give you these,” Paul pulled a large bouquet of flowers from behind his back, “and an invitation to dinner this evening.” Frank gestured to the envelope in his hands.  “All of the details are inside, and a car will be by to pick you up promptly at seven.  Good day, ma’am.”  Kacey took the flowers and the letter and watched the two guards as they vanished in the elevator.  Looking down at what she was holding, she frowned in confusion and slowly shut the door.

   So it was prince stuff that kept Harry from going to the club last night.  That made her feel much better.  With a grin, she rushed to her bedroom, already worrying about what she would wear that night.

   

    Several hours, one girlfriend, and a half a bottle of wine later, Kacey still didn’t know what in the world to wear.

   “How about this, Kace?  It really makes your butt look good.”  Her friend Maria was holding up a figure-flattering evening dress, and gave her a reassuring grin and a thumbs-up.  Kacey groaned in despair.

   “Ria, the letter said that we were going to that new French place.  It’s super fancy, what if I wear something nice and end up just looking trashy?!”  Kacey buried her head in her hands and flopped onto her bed, determined to never come up again.  After a minute of trying to breathe through her comforter, she decided that it was necessary to occasionally come up for air.  But only occasionally.

   “Kacey, I really don’t think you need to worry about looking anything other than gorgeous!  You look amazing in anything you put on, and you know it.  So stop freaking out, put this on, and let’s do your makeup.  It’s already six!”  Maria threw a slinky dress on the bed and raced off to get what she would need in order to do her friend’s makeup.

   Shaking her head, Kacey laughed quietly to herself.  This was one of the reasons why she loved Maria, the girl knew how to boss Kacey right out of a funk.  And she did it in a way that made it impossible to become angry at her.  

   Shrugging out of her t-shirt and jeans, Kacey slipped into the dress and looked at her reflection in her floor-length mirror.  She had to admit that Ria was right to pick this dress, it was pretty amazing. And she had gotten it on sale, too!

   Just as she was attempting to choose a pair of shoes to match the dress, Ria burst back into the room laden down with every bit of makeup that the two girls owned.  She grinned widely when she saw her friend in the dress.

   “See, Kace, I told you it would be perfect! Harry won’t know what hit him once I’m through with you!  Now, sit down and let me get to work, we wouldn’t want to rush perfection.”  Maria checked the clock on her phone.  “Well, we wouldn’t want to rush perfection too much, but just a little bit will be okay.  But we really wouldn’t want you to be late for you date, so we should maybe hurry just a teensy bit.”

   Kacey rolled her eyes as she settled herself in her desk chair.  Maria was an amazing friend, but she was like a bulldog with how she sunk her teeth into things and refused to let go.

   “Ria, you know good and well that this isn’t really a date, it’s just a dinner because Harry feels bad for standing me up last night.”  She could tell that Maria was rolling her eyes, it was almost a physical sensation.

   “Of course, because you definitely are going into this with the idea that it isn’t a date.”  Ria began applying foundation, then just a smidgen of blush in all the right places, so that Kacey had a healthy glow about her face.

   “It doesn’t matter what I feel going to this dinner, it matters what Harry feels, and it definitely isn’t anything romantic as far as he’s concerned.”  Kacey took the eyeliner and mascara that her friend handed to her after finishing her eye shadow, and carefully applied both evenly to each eye.  In the mirror, she could see Maria digging around in her makeup bag, presumably looking for the perfect lip gloss.  She emerged triumphantly moments later, brandishing a slick pink tube that was just a touch brighter than coral.  She spun the chair around so that she could apply it to Kacey’s lips perfectly.

   “And... There! All done, Kace.  Harry won’t know what’s hit him!”  Kacey smiled when she saw her reflection.  She really did look great, and had never been more grateful for her friend.

   “Thanks, Ria, really.  You probably already know how much this means to me, even if...”  Kacey stopped, blushing. Maria nodded understandingly and hugged her, careful not to mess up her hair or makeup.

   “Even if you won’t admit it, even to yourself?  Yeah, I do know.  And you shouldn’t worry so much, Kace, if Harry doesn’t sweep you off your feet, especially looking like this, then he’s the one that’s making a mistake.”  After patting down her friends hair one more time, making sure there were no fly-aways, she scooted her down the hallway to the front door, grabbing her clutch on the way.  

   Almost exactly when they stopped in front of the door, there was a brisk knocking.  Kacey could feel her eyes going wide, and her anxiety skyrocketing.

   However, before she could say or do anything that she might later regret, Maria had pushed her to the door and was pulling it open for her, smiling at the man on the other side.

   “Hey, Frank, you here to take Kacey to the restaurant?  You’re right on time, of course.  You’ll make sure she gets there and back again in one piece, right?”  Kacey could only roll her eyes at her friend, who loved needling both Frank and Paul whenever she saw them.  It was unclear to everyone whether any of the three of them were actually serious in their flirting, and how they would work it out if they all were.  But it gave the three of them something to do, and they all got along well, despite the ‘competition’ they posed to one another.  

   Shaking her head, Kacey decided to try to work out her friend’s mess of an almost-relationship later.  It would suck to show up to her not-date with a pounding headache.  So instead, she put a small smile on her face and looked to Frank in expectation.

   “You ready to go, big guy?”  It was probably her imagination that the corner of Frank’s mouth quirked upwards just a bit.
   “After you, my lady.”  Giving an entirely too solemn bow, he showed her to the car, with Maria grinning and waving frantically from the doorway to her apartment.