Bright Flashes and Loud Voices

This... This is crazy. He gets that there's going to be a lot of press when the Princess of Spain--and it's funny how he still only thinks of her as Vanessa, the pretty, funny, super-smart girl from the library that helped him with papers and teased him for not riding the subway and let him fall in love with her--steps outside. But seriously? This is crazy. They're practically mobbed and it's just bright lights that dot out parts of his vision and loud voices asking too many questions too fast for him to hear anything beyond a buzz in his ears. He just sticks to Vanessa's side as close as he can, one hand at the small of her back that grounds him to her, and follows her lead.

Vanessa had been used to the paparazzi. She had dealt with them all her life and it was something that she learned to accept from a young age. The best time of her life was when she convinced her father to let her study in New York and pose as just a normal girl. No one asked her anything, everyone just assumed that she was Vanessa Abrams. A girl from the wrong side of the tracks who just happened to go to a nice school. She sighed and looked over at Nate. Vanessa was constantly worried that one day, he was going to have enough and leave her. Not that she could really blame him. It was a hard life to lead, always being in the spotlight.

"So..." She said once they had gotten to the car. "How about that Kurt Cobain?"

"Huh?" He's still a little dazed and his vision is still a little spotty but he looks over at her and tries to put the words she just said in the right order so they make sense.

Vanessa looked over at him. "Are you okay?" She wasn't sure what else to ask. Vanessa was never really good at asking him how he really felt about the whole situation. Part of her didn't want to hear the truth and it was easier to go on pretending.

He puts on a grin for her because he doesn't like to see her upset. "Yeah, 'Nessa. I'm good. Just got a little loud out there," he jokes. "Had to wait for my ears to get back to normal." He slides closer to her, taking her hand. "How're you doing?"

"Typical life of a princess." Vanessa said with a small sigh. "You get used to being in the public eye all the time. It's kind of like being followed by Gossip Girl 24/7 only on a much larger scale." She shrugged. "Dad suggested that we go to New York for a week or so. There's a few charity balls that he thought I might like to make an appearance at."

"Much larger scale," he agrees with a laugh. And he perks up a bit at the mention of New York. "And do you? Want to make an appearance?"

Vanessa nodded with a smile. "I told him that I would love to go to New York. It would be great to see everyone."

It would be. "It would be. You mind if I send an email to Haley? See if she wants to have lunch or something?" If they weren't busy.

"Absolutely! I would love to see Haley. I wish that she could come visit us more often but I know that she's busy with her photography, which is beautiful, by the way." Vanessa smiled. "I'm going to tell Bri we're coming and make sure we get to spend time with them too."

"Isn't her stuff just awesome," he says with no small amount of pride. He always knew that Haley would be amazing. "And you realize if we're going to see Bri and Chuck, we need to go and find something first." It was... really fun to do, honestly, finding the most ridiculous flowered headband for Ilsa but the kid loved them and that made it even better.

Vanessa nodded. "I suppose I have no choice but to commission her for royal portraits." She smiled at him. "I was thinking about asking her to take the wedding photos."

"But she has to be in some too," he points out. He's not going to mention the fact that everyone, whenever they get the chance of Vanessa out of earshot, reminds him that he can't have "The Princess" because he doesn't have a title. Because he's just a guy from some noveau riche family in New York; at least they don't have the knowledge and he does have the common sense to keep what happened to his family in the dark. "She's really the only family I've got."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Of course she would be in some of the pictures. I was planning on asking her to take the official pictures. She's going to be in the wedding party. Those pictures will have to be left to someone else."

"Oh. Didn't know there was a difference." And he didn't. He's so far out of his depth. It's a wonder she keeps him around; she should be with someone that actually knows what the hell is going on half the time.

"Unfortunately, there are." Vanessa told him. "It's some stupid tradition that was started ages ago. At least we don't have to stand still while someone paints our portrait. That's what used to happen."

He winces at the thought of standing still for hours while someone paints a picture. "Okay, yeah. That's definitely a plus."

"They're beautiful paintings. My favorite is the one of Katherine of Aragon. I always thought that she was amazing. If I could be like anyone, I want to be like her." Vanessa told him. "She was a queen even when they stripped her of her title and humiliated her."

"Isn't she the one who married Henry right before he went all coo coo for cocoa puffs?"

Vanessa looked somewhat impressed. "And here you told me you didn't know anything about Spanish history. Yes, that's the one. She was exhiled and was refused when she asked to see her daughter."

"Dick move, man," he says with a shake of his head. "And in my defense, part of it's English history and everyone knows about Henry." Even idiots.

"That's the English for you." Vanessa commented. "Well, maybe that's not fair. Henry was just a manwhore and I fully believe that karma screwed him over and that's why he never got a son."

"I've heard that about karma," he grins. "Something about coming and going around and the biting of asses." He leans into her shoulder a little, kisses her cheek.

Vanessa smiled and returned his kiss. "What goes around comes around, I believe is the official terminology."

"You know I've never been good at remembering the exact words of things outside of sports rules," he teases. "But that sounds like what I was going for."