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Once upon a time, Chase Turnleaf promised his mom that he would never marry an American. It was during his parents divorce, when his dad was making plans to return to Idaho and his mom was struggling to keep it together. When she had just finished yelling at his father on the phone about something stupid, she’d said with a sigh, “Never marry an American.” And he had nodded.
But that was before he met Rory Landon.
By then, she was already a princess in her own sense of the word. He’d grown up seeing her face on the cover of magazines, watching her movies and then her interviews. They’d both grown up in the spotlight, both watched-- along with the rest of the world-- as their parents marriages fail, and both, however backwards this may seem, embraced the worlds they were born into and everything that came with it.
So in a way, it made sense that Rory Landon would be the one to make him break his promise.
He’d already known about her well before they’d ever met. He’d long admired her from afar, watching her countless movies, always betting on her films for his yearly Oscar ballot for the palace’s competition.
Which is why when they both did an event at a hospital in London he had to introduce himself.
And maybe he's nervous, but he makes sure not to show it, “Chase Turnleaf.” He's holding his hand out to shake and she smiles looking exactly like she does in the pictures.
It’s a half smile though, one that doesn't fully reach her eyes, one that seems controlled, perfected. He makes it is goal, right then and there to make her smile for real.
“Rory Landon.” He’s surprised for a split second when she tells him what must be a nickname instead of the name that everyone in the world has alway known her by, Aurora, but it also makes sense. His full name is Charles, something that no one calls him except for his dead grandma, but he can’t even begin to imagine everyone calling him that all of the time.
They eat lunch together, then dinner, then dessert. They're out until it's pitch black outside, the streets of London uncharacteristically empty.
They'd talked about anything and everything. Nothing seemed to be off the table, not their parents divorce, their childhoods, not his brothers death, or her sister’s birth, nothing.
It was refreshing and scary and somehow also so natural. Maybe he should have been afraid of scaring her away, of her learning too much about his sorta messed up life and running away before anything could happen.
But it didn't scare her away. She stayed and it was perfect.
Afterwards, when they’re standing outside her rental house, when it's late at night and they're both laughing at some stupid joke one of them made earlier, she gives him her phone.
“So I can take you out for coffee and make up for the fact that I kept you out so late.”
He laughs and fumbles around for second before pulling his own phone out of his back pocket.
And when she's just closed her door and he's heading back to the car, he's texts her. Maybe it's a bit soon, but he already sort of misses her, he wants to see her again.
Chase: coffee tmr?
He stares at his phone as it says read and then the little dots telling him that she's responding.
Rory: sure
He doesn’t realize it then, but this is the night that he falls in love.
/
They get coffee the next morning at a small cafe nearby and they're somehow not recognized which is a huge relief. He can already imagine their faces on the cover of magazines, her running away, him being alone forever.
“I'm paying,” she says and he rolls his eyes as she takes out her wallet.
“Good because I don't think i could have afforded it seeing as you did grab two slices of chocolate cake.”
“Shut up, one of them is for you.”
“It's 9 in the morning. Is this an American thing, having cake for breakfast?”
They sit down and the cake is set down on the table with them.
“If you don't want your slice, I'll take it,” she says pulling the plate towards her.
His eyes widen and he sets his own hand on her to stop it, “No, I think I'll have it.”
She laughs and maybe his hand remains on top of hers for a second too long, but she doesn't seem to mind.
/
She's only in London for 3 months, though, and soon she has to leave.
It's an amazing three months full near daily coffee shop visits each morning. Full of museum visits and long dinners and entire days just spent lounging at her rental.
They're spotted multiple times during the three months, though. Their faces grace magazine covers, but somehow the cameras are rarely able to follow them and they barely notice them.
The three months she spends in London with him are some of the best three months of his life.
They have their first kiss on her doorstep after their second dinner date. She wraps her arms around his neck and his own arms are around her waist and it feels so much like their teenagers kissing on doorsteps after going to the movies.
She pulls away first and if she hadn’t, Chase isn’t sure he would ever have.
Rory’s smiling wide and he wants so bad to kiss her again.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning for coffee?”
He smiles and nods, before pressing his lips to hers because now that he’s done it once, he can’t stop thinking about doing it again.
For the three months she’s there in England, all he thinks about is her and that’s okay because she’s just a car ride away. But then she has to leave for LA because she has other things to do in life besides spend all day in bed with him and suddenly she’s not even in the same timezone as him.
“I miss you,” He says, staring at her slightly grainy picture on his phone screen and he can see her smile sadly.
“I miss you too. It’s weird not getting coffee with you. I went into this cafe this morning for my daily iced latte and I turned around to ask you if you wanted anything and you weren’t there and it messed up my entire morning.”
“I visited my mum for dinner last night and we had chocolate cake for dessert and I almost brought some home for you to eat with breakfast.”
He misses her so much. So he decides that he’s going to go and visit her. Only, the thing is, he doesn’t exactly know her address, and he wants it to be a surprise.
It takes him about two days to come up with the idea to dm her friend Lena, the one who she told him she lives with back in LA, for the address. It’s not his best idea ever, but he’s desperate at this point, and refuses, for lack of better judgement, to just call Rory.
Chase Turnleaf: hey is this Lena Rory’s roommate?
Lena LaMarrelle: Ummmm… yes. How does the prince of england know this?
Chase Turnleaf: rory mentioned you a few times and said that you were the most amazing and perfect friend ever
Lena LaMarrelle: What do you want
Chase Turnleaf: can i pls have your address???????
/
He’s not actually supposed to leave the country without a full security service and prior approval.
Chase doubts that his mother would mind much, though, him going off and visiting this girl all the way in America. He’s told her about Rory, about how amazing she is, how she could be the one, and his mom can’t wait to meet her.
Chase: hey mom, going off to america to visit that girl i told u about, dont worry about me
Mother Dearest: kk have fun don’t do anything stupid
So he goes off and buys a ticket, packs his bags, and hopes that Rory doesn’t kill him for a surprise like this.
The plane ride itself goes off without a hitch. He’s not spotted once, probably because he’s wearing a baseball cap which makes him look undoubtedly American.
It’s long, don’t get him wrong, an so incredibly boring, but the entire time he can’t stop thinking about her, about surprising her at her door in LA with flowers, about her smiling wide and kissing him.
All of that just so happens to happen and he’s probably never been happier.
/
He kisses her for the first time in months and is absolutely sure that he’s in love.
/
While in LA, Chase Turnleaf decides for once and all that he hates the paparazzi. He’d already sort of come to this realization as a child when his brother died and they wouldn’t leave his family alone, but now, as an adult, when he can fully understand what they are doing.
He hates them.
Like, he understands that they’re just doing their job, but their job is this horrible thing where they have to totally ignore basic rules of privacy.
Chase wraps a protective arm around her shoulders and tries his hardest to shield her from the cameras and the bright lights and the unnecessary questions. He pulls his own baseball cap-- which works so much better in the UK-- down in an attempt to hide more of his face.
But they make it to the car eventually and they go out to eat at this fancy, private restaurant. She’s smiling and laughing the entire time, and if he wasn’t sure it was worth it before, he’s certain it is now.
/
His favorite part of LA is her, no doubt about it. He loves waking up next to her every morning, making breakfast in pajamas and kissing her goodbye when she has to go somewhere.
But he has to leave much sooner than he would like to because he was never really supposed to be in LA in the first place.
So he packs up his stuff-- there’s not much, it all fits in his backpack-- and returns home with promises of future visits.
He regrets it, though, because as soon as he leaves, it all gets so much worse.
“Chase, I can’t do it.” She’s crying, he can tell. He hates it when anyone cries, but it’s even worse when it’s her. He wishes he was there, in LA, so he could wrap an arm around her and whisper that it’ll all be alright.
He invites her to visit the palace with promises that it’ll be quieter there and she agrees and in the span of a day.
He’s beyond excited, and so is his mother.
/
Her visit is so much different then the time he went to LA. He spent his time there strictly with her, mostly inside of her apartment, cooped up with the million scripts she’s sent to read and nothing to do. Don’t get him wrong, he loved every minute of it, but it’s so much different then now.
First of all, they don’t spend anywhere near the entire visit in the castle. They do tour it real quick, he shows her all of the places he spent the most time in during his childhood and she laughs at the stories he tells. They also meet up with a tour group and do a real quick meet and greet that really does show her people skills.
Second of all, they go out all time. They enjoy sightseeing and getting food at cafes and eating out. Yes, it’s still a burden with the paparazzi following them everywhere, but here in England he has his security detail with them. It’s better, even if it’s only by a little bit.
Last of all, she doesn’t spend every moment with him. She goes out and does things on her own. She’ll go get coffee in the morning or meet up with old friends. She talks to directors about possible scripts and looks into things that would involve shooting in London or the surrounding area.
At some point in time, the topic of living together, of her moving across the pond comes up.
And no, he doesn’t want her moving away from her family, her friends, her life really, if she doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want he to feel cooped up or isolated.
But she promises him that she won’t, that she can visit everyone in LA often and that she’ll never really be alone if she has him and he agrees.
/
She moves a month later and everything is perfect.
/
Her family visits which is all just a blur of awkward introductions leading to dinners that already feel normal.
He pulls her dad aside one day and asks him for his blessing to marry Rory.
“Yes, of course, but only when you’re sure you’re both ready.”
Chase nods.
That ends up being over a year later.
/
So he has this whole elborete thing planned out that involves dinner at some fancy restaurant and then a walk in a private park and a proposal that’s as perfect as her. He has a whole speech written where he tells her how much she means to him and how different everything would be without her.
Only none of that happens.
He saves the speech for the dinner at the fancy restaurant and proposes to her while she’s making pancakes.
/
The wedding is everything it’s supposed to be, and maybe some part of them really hates it, but another part of him loves every second of it, if only because he’s marrying her.
She’s walking down the aisle and he knows he’s not supposed to look but he can’t help it. He makes eye contact with her. She’s smiling and he’s smiling and everything is amazing.
And when she reaches him, he can’t help but grab her hand and hold it tight.
Chase Turnleaf loves Rory Landon and right now, nothing else really matters.