Page 58 of Tabloid Princess

Freya.

“Freya?” Molly scrunched her face which was my first response too.

“Oh well.” I shrugged. “Let’s get on before Mrs A sells a story to the papers again.”

We both turned and glanced at my neighbour’s house. Sure enough, her curtains were twitching. We both waved, giggling louder than necessary and then ducked into the large car.

Now. I’d like to see this manoeuvre its way out of the small close.

Brigham House on the Strand in the centre of London glowed with bright purple as floodlights beamed a vibrant shade of violet onto its façade.

The house, an icon once belonging Queen Elizabeth the First, was now one of the prime venues in London, known for its art exhibitions, ice skating in winter, and open cinema in summer. I’d never been.

I was almost entirely sure it wasn’t usually purple.

“Wow. They’ve really adopted the theme.” Molly gaped open mouthed at the building too.

“Janine is going to die when she sees this.”

I was just about to say something else when a flash on a camera went off. “Princess Leia, over here.”

I groaned and half turned my back as though I hadn’t heard. “I thought they would have forgotten about me by now.”

“Just ignore it, Leia. It can’t last forever.” Molly snuck a protective hand through my arm, and we walked up the sweeping steps together.

A man in livery stood at a desk just inside the door. “Good evening. May I take your names?” His eyes flickered over me; he already knew my name.

“Leia Lawrence.” I said, mainly for my own benefit. I could have said, “Tabloid fodder”, and he still would have known which name to tick off. “And Molly Adams.”

“Thank you.” He smiled and motioned to another liveried man who appeared out of thin air. “Elliot will show you up to the ballroom.”

“Blahbeblahblah.”

Molly turned, her dark hair swinging over her shoulder. “What was that, Leia?”

“I said, thank you. Thank you.”

I saw him instantly. My legs wobbling as I stepped into the main room. Chandeliers hung overhead, thousands of glistening facets of glass, but my eyes were on him, shining brighter than anything else in the room. He turned, his look searching, and I wanted to tell myself it was because he could feel me, but that would be crazy. While I was slipping into insanity faster than I thought possible, I told myself he wasn’t on the same path.

He couldn’t be.

Our gazes locked. The left corner of his lips curved ever so slightly as he nodded his head at the man who had him engaged in conversation.

“Wowser, look at that man in a tux.” Molly waved her hand in front of her chest like a fan. “It’s impossible how good looking he is.”

“Mm.” I nodded, my head distracted, my thoughts scattered. “Really impossible.”

“You okay, Leia? You are sweating all over your face.”

Oh God, was I? “This dress is hot. Let’s go and find a drink.”

We didn’t have to search far. A man in white long coattails appeared almost magically with a silver tray holding tall champagne glasses.

“Ooh thanks.” Molly took two and handed me one. I managed to hold onto my decorum for a split-second to chink the glass vessels before I then almost downed mine in one go. Her eyes widened.

“Don’t look at me like that. I can feel everyone is watching me. ‘Oh, look. There’s that girl from the papers.’”

Molly placed her hand on my elbow and guided me around in a small circle. “Leia. Look at how many famous people are here. No one is looking at you.”