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“Women want to date you based on what you look like, but after getting to know you, they decide your looks aren’t enough to compensate for your oddities.”
This is an unfortunate personality trait of mine. I will discover a random thing I find interesting, learn everything I can, and then want to share my newfound knowledge with everyone around me.
“You don’t have to change; you just need to find someone who loves you exactly how you are.”
“It means you are now heir to the British throne.”
“It’s what happens when two cock-ups get together, fuck, and then make a whole lot of super cock-ups,”
In his particular case, Henry Cavill and Chris Evans would combine to produce his dark, brooding handsomeness.
The first openly-gay prime minister of one of our closest allies, at a time when the backlash against LGBTQ+ rights in America was raining thick and fast.
“What do you need me to do?” I ask. Her blue eyes don’t leave mine. “I need you to help me save the crown.”
Oliver reaches out and takes my hand in his. And my world tilts off its axis. I mean, my world is already off its axis right now. I feel like I’m in a whole other galaxy than the one I usually inhabit, but having Oliver’s warm, dry palm pressing against mine makes it tilt even more, the room momentarily swirling around me. My stomach swirls in unison. What the hell? I’ve never had this physical reaction to someone before.
Now I’ve met him, I know the photo doesn’t do Callum Prescott justice. It doesn’t show how his hair flops perfectly over his forehead, how his eyes are such an unusual shade of green, reminding me of a peridot gemstone of perfect clarity.
I’m a fighter. I’ve had to be. A skinny gay kid raised by elderly grandparents on a council estate, with no siblings or close friends for support, unlike the groups of other kids who roamed in packs. No one was going to come to my defense. I had to learn how to defend myself.
I wish I had just a smidgen of Herbert’s unflappability.
Prince Callum Cake-tastrophe Bake-Off Blunder Prince Callum’s ‘Destruction Derby’
So my assassinating Victoria Sponges is a very small infringement compared to my relatives, and it appears that palace communications officers are okay with those stories being the leading headlines.
Or maybe I’m another thing on his to-do list. Help the new Prince of Wales maintain his sanity as he tries to adjust to life in a new country and in the media spotlight.
Sometimes I just feel like an oversized puppet. Though I’m not too sure who the murky people pulling my strings actually are.
“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Callum grins. “I think you’ve just stumbled across the motto for the British press.”
“Look me in the eye when you’re telling me. Not looking me in the eye makes me think you’re ashamed. And you should never be ashamed of who you are.”
‘To catch a glimpse of the beauty and magic of this world, you simply need to look at everything through the lens of wonder.’”
If I want to experiment with my sexuality, Oliver Hartwell is the last person I should be doing it with.
Sometimes I forget he’s only twenty-five. I have fourteen years on him, years where my skin has grown considerably tougher.
Because Callum Prescott is not who you cast to play the role of king. He’s a moderately funny court jester. Which is not what our country needs right now.
There might be a time and place where I can resist Oliver when he looks at me the way he’s looking at me now. But it is not this moment.
Somehow, he says my name like it’s both a question and the answer to that question.
There are so many reasons why I can’t start an affair with the Prince of Wales. My head is flooded with them. A Noah’s Ark-level downpour of why Callum and I can’t be together. How the fuck did I get myself into this position?
It turns out prime ministers are like hedgehogs. You should be careful about kissing them too.
Love isn’t always beautiful. It’s not always caviar and champagne and beautiful sunsets. Sometimes it is simply a familiar voice when your world is darkened by pain.
I am not with Callum because it is the right choice for my future. I am with Callum because it is the right choice for my happiness now.
This is why going on a date is so wrong. I’m not looking for my other half, the person meant for me. I’ve already found him.
“The universe never quite made sense to me until I got to touch you,” he whispers.
It’s the part of my brain that still looks at a rainbow and wants to believe there are leprechauns frolicking in pots of gold at the end of it.
But history has meaning. It binds us to the past while propelling the way toward the future.
