Story [Red, White, and Royal Blue] A Measure Of Distance (The Kessel Run Challenge)

Title: A Measure Of Distance
Fandom: Red, White, and Royal Blue
Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran, Ellen Claremont, others
Genre: Romance

Notes: These are my entries for the "The Kessel Run" challenge. I feel all will be for the Red, White, and Royal Blue novel, but the book's premise is pretty simple, and I'll fill in relevant info as needed. However, this first entry is a prequel of sorts, taking place three years before the book, so any information needed is in the text and works well as a primer. It's basically an AU of American and UK politics. Also, I surprisingly didn't make up any of the names.


Week 1: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that starts with this sentence: "Saying goodbye was never easy, but she couldn't put it off any longer."


It Starts With Goodbye
Timeframe: January 2017


Saying goodbye was never easy, but she couldn't put it off any longer. June looked around her small apartment she had shared with two other UT Austin students up until a few months ago... up until she became a protectee of the United States Secret Service. The apartment was once so alive with study parties and three college students experiencing the frightening, freeing first years of adulthood. But it was now empty and bare, save for a few pieces of furniture someone would come by to put into storage. The walls seemed so blank and ordinary. Gone were the canvas prints of Frida Kahlo and 4000 sticky notes in neon colours. June had only come back for a few personal items and the rest of her clothes, now in suitcases, someone else would come by and collect. Her roommates had moved out their things months ago, and with the election campaign, June's time had been spent in almost all other states, Texas being a write-off for a Democratic Presidential Nominee, even one from Lomita, Texas.

Moving into the White House hadn't been June's post-graduation plans. It was supposed to be California. It was supposed to be Sacramento with Evan, moving into a closet of an apartment. It was supposed to be living in the same time zone as her father for the first time in nearly a decade. It was supposed to be a neatly laid out plan. DC was on the other side of the country from neatly laid out plans.

But June knew where she was needed; why she had to say goodbye to neatly laid out plans with her boyfriend.

… Ex-boyfriend.

She had been the one to break up with Evan... but it still hurt. June was needed elsewhere by her younger brother, Alex, and stepfather, Leo.

Because her mother had won the 2016 Presidential Election and would make history in a week's time as the first female president of the US.

Leo would need help as the first First Gentleman. His new duties would include dinner parties and place settings, and event planning, all of which he knew nothing about. As for Alex... Alex was going to cause some sort of international incident before their mother's first term ended, and she was going to have to bail him out or cover it up. Both were already in DC.

June needed to be there for them. It was the right thing to do. Besides… this was history. How many people would get to be a part of history? She was about to live the first line of her Wikipedia page, might as well be an active part in it. And she'd be close to Nora.

Nora, the granddaughter to the soon-to-be Vice President, was Alex's ex, but thankfully her disaster of a brother and her new best friend had broken up amicably. Nora was too good for Alex anyway.

June's phone dinged a notification. It was Evan. They had at least broken up on good terms too.

Evan ❤️
Coffee? Before you fly out? I swear I won't try to win you back. I wanna say goodbye. End of an era, closure, and all that.

She immediately remembered to remove the heart emoji from his contact info, but replied.

Yeah, sure. One last goodbye to life in Austin.

This was the way to say goodbye to life as she knew it. Not bitter, just moving on. Evolving, as life forced you to.

 

This is great. No Trump in DC

 

Thanks for reading! Yeah, this is an AU of our world. The Cheeto Benito is never named.

 

Week 2: Write a dialogue-only story between 400 and 800 words in which two characters have a disagreement.


Note: since I can’t really fill in context in the narrative, here’s the basics for this fic: Henry is the (youngest) Prince of England. Alex is the son of the President of the US. They are dating (I swear the book is better than my summary). Alex is a walking disaster; Cash is his Secret Service agent. Henry’s grandmother (Queen Mary) doesn’t approve and forced Henry to keep his sexuality a secret for many years.


“Henry, look, I know. I messed up, I’m sorry.”

“Yeah-huh.”

“So you’re not even going to get mad at me.”

“Nope, Alexander, I’m just going to sit here in silence, ignoring you, like you ignored all my text messages and phone calls.”

“Baby-.”

“Don’t call me that when I’m pissed off at you.”

“I was in the library. My phone was off. Time just got away from me. It was an honest mistake.”

“So you just completely forgot you were going to meet me for dinner? I know law school consumes most of intelligence, but we agreed on date night once a month. I even do it around your schedule. I felt like a complete idiot sitting there alone with the PPOs. What’s worse is that I was actually kinda worried about you, but then I realized Cash would have had the decency to call me if there was an emergency. So you weren’t in the middle of the street, bleeding out. I was just being stood up by my boyfriend of two years.”

“I’m sorry! You know this contract law class is kicking my ass. I’m so stressed out. Just cut me some slack. How can I make it up to you?”

“I’m sure you’ll come up with some sort of huge romantic gesture. But I just want a boyfriend who bothers to check the time for me.”

“I’M SORRY! Where are you going?”

“Bed. It’s easier to give you the silent treatment when I’m asleep. You can sleep on the couch.”


* * *


“Alex. Alex wake up.”

“Hmmgrnm? Baby, what’s wrong? What time is it?”

“It’s 3 in the morning, I’m sorry. I have to catch a flight back to London.”

“What? Is this about me missing dinner? I swear I will never forget anything ever again?”

”No, Alex. Shockingly, this isn’t about you. My mom called me. My grandmother isn’t doing too well.”

“Is it actually my lucky day or is this her semi-annual drama Queen Mary moment so she can make all her children and grandchildren to rush to her bedside?”

“Likely the latter but my mom thinks I should come, she doesn’t want the estranged gay grandson stories in the tabloids and neither do I. I’m sorry. Go upstairs and get into bed. I’ll call you when I land.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, you have exams coming up. If I thought this was serious, I would ask you to come, but I think this really is going to be a case of miraculous recovery once we’ve all dropped everything to show her some attention. I’ll call you if you do need to catch a flight but unless she takes a turn for the worst, I’ll probably be home in a week.”

“Okay well, give your mom and Bea my love, and don’t let Pip get too wound up and take it out on you. And Henry, I truly am sorry about dinner. There’s no place I’d rather be than with you.”

“I know. I’m sorry for making you sleep on the couch.”

“I’m going to miss you, Baby.”

“I’m going to miss you too, my love.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“Don’t go all Han Solo on me. I’m the Han Solo in this relationship.

“You are the scruffy lookin’ one.”

 

Those royals, bickering like Han and Luke with all their secrets to keep