Teegan sat down on the bus clutching at her bag. It felt good to be sitting in a vehicle again, knowing that she was on her way back to real civilization. The past three days had been challenging, but so rewarding. She would never forget the experience and it was something that she’d always remember fondly. Having the privilege of working with Siri one on one and getting to know and commune with the others was a once in a lifetime experience. She was still a bit in shock that she’d been chosen and she felt that by the third day she was really starting to impress Siri and the others, although some of the others were obviously a bit jealous. There were some good, dedicated practitioners there, but Teegan was impressed with how well she held her own and she actually felt that she might have taught a few of them something.

It felt a bit odd to be thinking so highly of herself, when she was usually a bit reserved and tended to suffer from self-doubt in herself from time to time, but Siri had given her a lot of praise, but it was hard earned. He’d really pushed her and then she started to push herself. And she would be able to take a lot of these teachings back to her own students and get their feedback as well. Hopefully she still had students to go back to. She needed to talk to Ellie and find out how everything was getting along without her there.

As the bus drove away heading back towards the hotel Teegan unzipped her bag and grabbed her cell phone. She clutched it in her hand for several minutes just feeling it, glad to have this little beacon to the real world back in her possession. It was funny how much she missed having the phone, but by the second day she forgot about it. And now it was here she was almost frantic with the thought of how she’d gotten along without it.

She opened up the cheap little flip phone and was excited to see she had a few missed phone calls. That was when she thought of Cort. He’d been in her thoughts incessantly since she’d left him three days ago. During her activities she’d been able to distract herself just enough to focus on the task at hand and push thoughts of him out of her mind, but at night when everyone was relaxing around the fire she couldn’t think of anything else.

She opened up the missed calls and saw that she had two voicemails. The phone suddenly felt slippery in her hand as her palms started to sweat. Her breath began to come in short rapid gasps and she felt a bit dizzy. Closing her eyes she tried to get a grip on herself, a small giggle escaping her dry throat. Mira, a girl sitting across from her gave her a strange glance. Teegan smiled warmly and then went back to phone, blocking out the rest of the world.

She saw the missed calls were both from a number she did not recognize, but they were both the same number. It had to be Cort. She wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead and watched the screen so long it began to grow dim until she pushed the home button to bring it back.

What was she waiting for? She wanted to listen to these messages, she had to… It would be so good to hear his voice again. Had it really only been three days? Why did it feel more like three months?

And why was she still waiting?

Teegan selected the first voice mail and held the phone to her ear. It was Cort! The sound of his husky voice sent ripples of goosebumps up and down the back of her neck. Soon her whole body was tingling. How did this man have so much control over her and the way she felt when they barely knew each other? What started off as just a chance encounter with a sexy, fun stranger passionate sex in an alleyway had somehow become what felt like the biggest defining moment in her life. She was falling for Cort; she knew that. She felt somehow closer to him than men she’d had serious relationships with. That’s what was so scary. It wasn’t normal was it? To feel so close, so desperately needy for the touch of someone she barely knew.

She didn’t care though. Teegan felt the way she felt and she’d made a decision long ago to give in to her desires and her feelings. There was no sense in hiding who she was or what she truly wanted, what would make her happy in this life just to worry about what was considered normal or not. This was her life. And she was damn sure going to live it.

As she listened to both of Cort’s messages she began to get a bit worried. His second message, did she detect a bit of desperation in his voice? He didn’t sound as confident and relaxed as he normally did. Was it because of her?

No, it couldn’t be… unless he felt the same way she did? Was that possible? She thought he probably wouldn’t even call her and here she had two voicemails from him within three days. That meant something, didn’t it? If he wasn’t that interested he probably wouldn’t have called back when she didn’t call him back right?

Teegan felt the tingling moving through her stomach now turning into butterflies. It was like she wanted to run out of her own skin. She wanted to jump up and shout with the excitement she was feeling right now but somehow she found the restraint to stay seated. The bus trip could not possibly be short enough. She wanted to call Cort the first chance she got and talk with him. She had to explain herself and why she hadn’t called him back. Oh, he probably thought she was just messing with him and leading him on. The thought made her sick that she might have blown it again with this amazing man.

But the timing was just bad. Surely he would understand that. If she ever got a chance to speak with him that was. What if he didn’t want to talk with her now? Teegan took a deep breath. All she could do was try. She had his number now. If anything she could track him down that way, right? Unless that would seem psychotic. She surely didn’t want him thinking she was some kind of a stalker.

Oh, why was this all so complicated?

When the bus dropped her off she decided that she needed a drink to calm herself down before she called Cort. She was a nervous wreck and would have probably come off speaking a mile a minute and sounded like some crazy person. She had to maintain the air of cool the way she did the other night. Of course she had been drinking the other night.

“Maybe that is the key,” she giggled to herself.

Teegan found a quaint little bar not far from her hotel and ordered a cocktail and a sandwich. She was suddenly starving.

The place was pretty busy for a pub during the midday of a weekday. It was filled mostly with business men and women grabbing a quick lunch and a few drinks before heading back to the office. That was definitely something you didn’t see as much of in the States. Drinking in the middle of the workday was often frowned upon. Teegan quickly wolfed down her sandwich and finished her drink.  It was a delicious version of a Manhattan. It had some weird name she couldn’t pronounce but it was very fruity and she could hardly taste the alcohol.

But she was starting to feel it almost right away, that relaxing warm feeling, the buzz settling in. She already felt a lot more calm and ready to talk to Cort again, reverting herself back to that sultry vixen he’d first met at the bar the other night.

Teegan pulled up the phone and was about to press send to dial the number when her eyes landed on the television above the bar. Even though the bar was fairly busy it was also pretty quiet, everyone having private conversations in understated hushed tones. It was a very relaxing atmosphere.  

On the television Teegan could hear a news story developing on the television.

“The Parliament has reached a final decision on the appeals of the Prince and his desire to secede his father to the throne in the upcoming month. The Prince must choose a bride before his thirtieth birthday, just three weeks away, or he will have to forfeit the throne to his uncle. So, it would appear that some lucky lady out there is about to become a bride and queen all within the next month. Unless the Prince has other plans… According to his advisors he is still reluctant to choose a bride and he is fighting this decision tooth and nail. We will bring you more on this as soon as we have more news.”

Teegan laughed at the idea. That sounded like such an old fashioned and silly rule. But it was going to make some girl pretty happy to marry a bona fide prince and become Queen.

Teegan started to glance away and make her phone call, taking another deep breath to steady her shaky nerves when the image on the screen flashed over to a picture. The image was striking. It appeared in the corner of her eye and garnered her full attention immediately.

On the screen with a big smile and the words “Prince Cort Monreau” was Cort. Her Cort!

He was on the television… Prince Cort Monreau?

Teegan couldn’t breathe.