Chapter Five

Charlie’s POV

It was almost 7pm and the Royals would be here any minute, I wasn’t sure why they would choose a place like this and not some high end posh place but either way I made sure their table was spotless along with their glasses and cutlery. The King walked in closely followed by the Queen and Prince Alexander who flashed a quick smile at me.

Another waiter showed them to their table and introduced me as their server. The King held a chair out for his wife, he was much older than I had imagined, his hair was white and down to his shoulders, with a long white braided beard to match.

I’m not sure what it was but he didn’t look how I expected a King would look. I knew they were royalty yet I wasn’t even aware of what country they were King and Queen of. Prince Alexander gave me a wink as they seated. Why was he doing that, it wasn’t like I really knew him. The evening went smoothly but boy did they eat a lot, particularly meat which they liked extremely rare. Sometimes it looked as if you could bring it back to life.

Every time I went to get more drinks for them I found Alexander looking at me or glancing in my direction, what was it with this guy. Sam told me that he was letting them eat on the house tonight because their visit had meant we were fully booked with a waiting list and when I explained as much to the King he told me I was being to kind and they would definitely be paying. They also wanted to meet the chef and thank him for cooking their food.

I went to grab the bill for them and the chef to let him know they wanted to thank him. The chef came out as I handed the King the bill who passed it over to Alexander, I was confused, was Alexander paying the bill.

Alexander reached into his jeans, he had changed from earlier and pulled out a wallet and handed me his credit card. I went to the till and ran it through with no problems, why I thought there would be problems I don’t know, they were Royals after all.

When I brought the receipt back to the table, I handed it to Alexander and in return he handed me a fat envelope and showed me a dazzling white smile and said nothing. As I walked back to the counter and looked at the envelope there was a hand written note on the front.

A tip for such excellent service. I hope it will help with your dilemma.

I opened the envelope to find wads of £50 notes, no, just no, this cannot be right. I’m just about to walk back to his table and hand it back when Alexander makes me jump “Charlie, where are the bathrooms?” My name rolls off his tongue smoothly and like music to my ears as I stare into his bright green eyes his woodsy scent hit me. Words fail to leave my mouth and come out in a jumble, once again he smiles at me as I point in the direction of the toilets.

I follow after him “Alexander, what’s this?” and he spins round with his pale pink lips lifting up at each corner

“It's funny, you are the only one who does not refer to me as Prince and that is your tip, we all agreed you did an amazing job” and he goes to turn back towards the toilets

I feel a blush rising to my cheeks “No, the bit about the dilemma? What are you referring too?” He turns and faces me, his green eyes staring into my own and I watch as his eyes move to my neck. My hand instantly goes to my neck where the bruising from my father sits. Thankfully my turtle neck is still hiding the marks “I fell” the words tumble out of my mouth.

He raises an eyebrow at me “We both know that is not true Charlie” the way he was making me feel was like something I had never felt before, it was oddly unsettling and yet comforting at the same time. I forcefully shove the envelope into his chest but he refuses to take it and keeps his hands in his pocket “You need it more than I do” and he turns away walking into the toilets leaving me completely gobsmacked.

I put the envelope in my bag and go back to the Royals, the King had also left his chair and when I looked around, he was talking with Alexander just outside of the bathroom. It was just the Queen at the table “Are you okay dear?” I nod my head and smile, Alexander had the same green eyes as his mother with a few added lines at the creases, but her hair was a dark chestnut colour, rings sat on every finger with long beautifully painted nails in a royal blue.

I smiled “You really do not need to tip me that much”

The Queen smiled at me “Darling, you deserve every penny and it has been a pleasure to be in your company”.

Alexander returned and sat down next to his mother who winked at him, what was that about. I continued to clear their table and pretended to ignore them, instead taking the plates away so that I could make them some coffee. A short while later, they left climbing into a limousine.

Sam came over to help me finish tidying up “Well done Charlie, you handled that amazingly”

I smiled and nodded, I nearly told him about the tip but decided to keep quiet, he might make me share it and as much as I normally would, it was a lot of money that I could use to get out of my parents house, I only had one more week. Sam told me I could go as it was getting late.

I made the journey home, clutching my bag tightly to my chest, tonight was different, it felt like I was being watched but when I checked there was no one about, I was certain that someone was watching me and it made me walk faster. As I arrived home, all the lights were on. Great, how am I going to get past them without an interrogation or a bag check.

I opened the door quietly, the stench of cigarettes and beer was already strong. I sighed hoping I could get to my bedroom without anyone stopping me. I crept in through the hallway, my step mother was already passed out on the kitchen table, her ginger hair fanned out everywhere, it looked like she had peed herself too. Great, I will have to clean that up in the morning.

The TV was blasting out music from the 80’s and my father was no where to be seen, I moved quietly through the house, peaking into the living room and the room that should be an office but was being used as there dumping ground. I crept up the stairs remembering where each creak in floorboards would be so that I could side step them.

When I got to the top of the stairs, I was surprised to see my bedroom door had been fixed, it had definitely been on the floor when I left this morning. Quietly opening the door and closing it behind me only to find new locks and a bolt had been added to the back of my door. Had my father done this? I knew on the rare occasion he was sober he would be really apologetic of how he treated me but that never lasted long.

I slid each lock across carefully trying not to make a sound, when all the locks were in place I hurridly moved the rug that covered up the broken floor board and used a screwdriver to pry it out, slipping the envelope of £50’s inside. I didn’t bother counting it, I would do it tomorrow if I got a chance. I changed into pyjamas and climbed into bed, listening to the TV that was blaring downstairs when a loud thump hit my door.

Crap, he was here. I stayed completely still in bed “I know you are in there Charlotte, you can’t hide from me forever” A single tear left my eye, why did I have to live like this, all my wages went to helping run the house or fuelling their addictions, the only money I got to keep to myself was my tips and that was only because they thought I didn’t get any.

The thumping on my door grew more and more persistent but I kept quiet and eventually he went away. That night I hardly slept a wink. The next day was Saturday, no school which meant just a full day of work. I started my day like any other, cleaning up the rubbish my parents left before heading to work.

Nothing exciting happened and the day was pretty normal until I arrived home. The house was still surprisingly clean, this was not normal. As usual I checked the rooms downstairs, nothing was out of place, no cigarette smell and no scattered beer cans. I was genuinely surprised. Saturdays were generally the days they invited other people round to get high or drunk with them.

Maybe I was home alone, I raced up the stairs to see my bedroom door wide open, I was sure I locked it this morning. I slowed my pacing down and carefully stepped into my room which had been trashed, furniture had been broken, clothing was chucked everywhere, my eyes fells on the floorboard it had been ripped up and the box I kept my money in was gone.

I didn’t even see the punch coming.