Royal Runaway

Chapter Fourteen

"Maddie. Maddie, wake up."

Madeline woke up to a whisper in her ear and someone shaking her shoulders. She fluttered her eyes open. The first thing she say was Jaylin, who was leaning next to her, his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, his face smiling with that morning happiness that only people who are experiencing the fullness of life get on their face.

She sat up. "Good morning," she yawned, stretching her hands over her head. She glanced at her backpack and saw that there was a wet spot on it where her mouth had been. Oh shit, she thought, Please don't tell me that I drolled and in front of Jaylin! She wiped at the corners of her, finding them a little damp. Yep. I drolled. In my sleep. In front of a cute boy. She mentally slapped herself and sort of wanted to crawl up into a little ball and hide.

She glanced at Jaylin and saw him looking at her backpack. Oh great, now he saw it! I am so done, Lord just take me now. Jaylin slowly chuckled, looking back at her. When he saw how red her cheeks had gotten, he laughed a little more.

"Hey," he said, "Don't worry about it. I have drolled way worse than that. Besides, I think it's kind of cute." He stopped, turning his face away from Madeline. Madeline felt herself blush even more. Did he just say something she did was cute? Don't over think it.

"Besides," said Jaylin, sort of shrugging off what he'd said. "You don't expect me to expect you to wake up like a princess every morning right?" He chuckled at his own joke as turned towards his things.

Madeline couldn't help but freeze at the accuracy of his joke. Well, actually, a lot of people expect me to do that. Just not you, is what she wanted to say. She ended up just chuckling at his joke as she stood up and stretched some more.

She glanced around at their surrounds, because she had been too tired to do it the night before. They had traveled off of the path they had been following the whole day, making their own little side path and had found a very nice spot to sleep. All around them were an abundance of trees, most of them being large evergreens. Madeline did notice a few colored leaves that had fallen on the ground, showing that summer was almost over. Madeline hadn't thought her plan through all the way. She didn't know if she wanted to be traveling when the colder months started to approach. She decided she would cross that bridge when she got there.

"Are you hungry?" asked Jaylin, who was digging through his backpack. At that moment Madeline felt her stomach growl.

She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, a little bit." Jayline handed over a piece of smashed bread that he had in his backpack. Obviously Madeline wasn't expecting a gourmet meal, but it still was a little disheartening to go from having all her meals wonderfully prepared and delicious, to eating smashed stale bread in the light of the early morning. But this is what you choose, she thought to herself. You wanted this. So she gratefully took a bite of her bread, even though she had some trouble swallowing each bite.

The two of them sat down, backs against the tree eating their breakfasts. They both sat in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was peaceful, as if they both knew there was no need to talk. They were just happy in each other's company. They stayed like that for awhile, until Jaylin stood up and started packing his things.

Madeline packed up her things as well, which wasn't much. She threw her blanket into her backpack and called it good. She did pull out the map, so they could see where they were going. "The town was called Dewsbury right?" she asked Jaylin, as she turned the map in her hands trying to figure out how to read it.

She'd learned how to read maps in school, but it was never something she excelled at. Jaylin looked over at her and laughed. "Here," he said, coming over to her and putting the map in the right direction, "This is the way it goes."

Madeline laughed. "I'm sorry I'm directionally challenged. I think you should be the navigator, because otherwise I'll just get us lost."

Jaylin laughed again. "Okay. But what will you bring to the team?"

Madeline thought for a moment. "I'll be the comic relief."

Jaylin laughed. "See, I'm already so good at it!" Madeline exclaimed, as Jaylin tried not to laugh again but gave into it anyway.

"Come on, let's go."

~

It was hot. Sweltering hot. Madeline hadn't really noticed the heat over the last few days because she was mainly in the shade of the forest, but as she stood in the park in the open sunlight, she felt the full heat of the day.

Madeline and Jaylin arrived at the park in Dewsbury. It wasn't your normal park with swings and play structure, it was a park with a large lake. There were tons of families and little children running around in the water. Boats were floating further out in the dark blue water. Kids built sand castles out of the coarse sand on the shore, giggling as they did.

"I wasn't really expecting a lake. And this many people." Madeline said to Jaylin in a whisper, the unease and anxiety starting to do flip-flops in her stomach.

Jaylin looked at her, curious. "That's okay right? I mean, we don't have to swim. Unless you want too..." He trailed off, making faces at Madeline.

Madeline couldn't help but crack a smile at his silliness. But she couldn't help but feel worried at the idea of being discovered. There were a lot of people there, who at any moment could realize who she was and reveal her to everyone. And she couldn't tell Jaylin for the very same reason. She was growing fond of him, but she wasn't sure she could trust him with such a big secret yet.

"I mean," she started, "I do, but I'm just not sure about all these people everywhere."

Jaylin looked at her. Then he smiled a little. "That's okay. We don't have to. Or we can find some secluded place to swim if you want."

Madeline smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I like that."

The two didn't go to the main shore, but started to follow the outline of the lake on land. There were a few places where there were rocks and people were jumping off of them. So the continued for a little while till they found a little beach that wasn't occupied at all. It seemed as if it was made for them, this tiny little patch of sand leading to the water and a large rock just big enough to jump off of.

"This is perfect," said Jaylin throwing his backpack to the ground. He ripped of his shirt and threw off his pants, leaving him in his boxers as he ran into the water, filling emerging himself under it.

Madeline blushed a little after having gotten a look of Jaylin, very exposed. He was well built and did have some muscles that defined his skin. Now he came up for air, smiling and shaking his hair trying to get the water out of it.

"Come on Maddie, the water is great!" He called to her.

Madeline hadn't thought about it when she agreed swim, but didn't have a swim suit. She had a change of clothes, but she didn't want to swim in jeans and a t-shirt because that was uncomfortable and would be a pain to take off. She was also not really wanting to show off her body to Jaylin in anyway. She wasn't comfortable with it. It was just a fact.

But then a little voice inside her said, Come on Madeline! This boy has had numerous opportunities to judge you and he hasn't yet. There is no one else around and this could be a really good time to test his trust. Plus, he has already seen your body. He knows what it looks like. Give him the benefit of the doubt.

And with that, Madeline decided to take a chance. She took of her pants carefully, but left on her under things and t-shirt, before she jumped in.