Royal Runaway

Chapter Seventeen

Madeline dreamt that she was flying. A lot of her dreams were like this. She soared over Osprey, arms extended, smiling as the wind blew through her hair and across her back. She dipped and dived over the trees, brushing their tops with her fingertips. She felt safe in her dreams. She didn't feel the responsibility of being a princess or the bindingness of her anxiety. All she had was herself and the sky.

She was having one of those dreams now. Only this time, Jaylin was with her. They flew across the sky, using their arms as their wings as they soared over the palace. Madeline could see her parents on the ground, smiling up at her. Her dad's arm was around her mom, holding her close. She saw her brothers run across the lawn chasing after each other, laughing. She glanced to her side at Jaylin, who flew so close to her. She reached out and grabbed his hand. He took it in his and they flew across the sky together.

"Maddie. Come on Maddie." Madeline's eyes shot open, to the sound of Jaylin's voice and his hands shaking her awake. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked at him. He smiled at her. Whenever she thought there would be an awkward situation, like when they had almost kissed or when he held her while she cried, there never was. She knew it was because of Jaylin, but she wished deep down inside that it was because they fit so well together.

"You sure sleep a lot, don't you?" Jaylin laughed, as he leaned his back against the tree they had slept under. After Madeline's break down, they had wandered the city a little bit. Never too much in public, but also not hidden in the shadows. Jaylin had never asked any questions, he'd just gone along with everything. Madeline didn't know if she'd ever be able to thank him enough. At the end of the day, they had gone to a park. The park was crowded but they traveled a little farther than what was probably legal and found a woody area. The had decided to camp under a tree again, maybe their last time to sleep under one.

Madeline laughed. "Hey, I need my beauty sleep," she joked. Jaylin looked at her, the humor lost from his face.

"I don't think you need it," he said so quietly, Madeline almost missed it. Before she could say anything, Jaylin stood up. "Well, while you were sleeping, I wandered off and guess what I found?" The excitement was clear in his voice.

"A spaceship?" Madeline guessed, hoping she'd forget what Jaylin had said.

"No, but I wish," Jaylin said, a big smile on his face. "A lake!"

Madeline looked at him, a little confused. "And that's cool because?"

"Oh, come on Mads, it's like a huge lake and I was thinking we could stay here all day, not bother with traveling. We've been traveling since we first met. We haven't had a day where we have just stayed in one place for awhile and just had fun. Plus, remember how much fun it was last time we went swimming?"

Madeline did remember, a smile appearing on her lips. But she also remembered their almost kiss and the awkwardness that had followed. Stop thinking about all the awkward stuff that's happened and instead, think of all the fun stuff! Madeline yelled at herself. You're so stuck in the past, why don't you go towards the future?

"Yeah, I do. Fine, we can stay." Madeline said, smiling a little.

"Sweet!" Jaylin exclaimed. Madeline noticed that she'd never seen him this excited about something. It was sweet.

Jaylin grabbed his bag, putting it over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" Madeline asked.

"Going to the lake," Jaylin said, "Duh."

"It's freezing!" Madeline shivered, pulling her blanket up to her chin.

"That's because you're in the shade. It'll be much warmer once you're in the sun. Come on Mads."

Madeline sighed and grabbed her backpack, still holding on to her blanket. "Since when do you call me Mads?" she asked suddenly, curious as to why the nickname had popped up.

Jaylin blushed as he led her away from their tree and the shade and into the sun. "If you don't like it, I won't use it. I just, I don't know. I wanted to have a nickname that I called you. I don't know, it's silly." Jaylin rubbed the back of his neck, which Madeline had seen him do more than once before. She figured it was something he did when he was nervous. Madeline thought it was adorable.

"It's not silly," she said, placing her hand on his arm. She did it spur of the moment, not thinking through her actions. His arm was warm underneath her touch. She expected him to pull away, but he didn't. She gulped and continued. "I like it. I really like it. No one has ever given me a nickname before. It's sweet. Thank you." Madeline blushed.

Jaylin blushed too but quickly shook it off. "Come on, the lake it this way." He grabbed Madeline's hand and led her through the woods until they came to a clearing. The lake was in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by bunches of wild grass. Jaylin dropped Madeline's hand, much to her dismay. However, he did tear off his shirt, which Madeline did not mind at all. He then turned to face her, gave her a cheeky little smirk and jumped into the lake.

There was a rock close to the shore and Madeline grabbed Jaylin's bag and her own, and went to sit on the rock. She had her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, for she was still very cold. It had to be about nine in the morning at least.

Jaylin's head popped up from the water. He shook his hair and gave her a big dimpled smile, that made her heart melt a little. "Come on in Mads, the water's lovely!" For emphasis, he swam under the lake's surface again.

Madeline laughed. "I think I'm good up here," she said, once he'd resurfaced.

Jaylin looked at her, turning his face into a pout and giving her large puppy dog eyes. Madeline smiled. Jaylin came closer to her rock. Before Madeline realized what was happening, she was soaked.

"Jaylin!" She screamed. "Did you just splash me?"

But Jaylin was nowhere to be found. Madeline was fuming. She was cold and wet and once Jaylin showed he would be dead. Jaylin's head popped up, on the other side of the lake. He gave her a huge grin, that Madeline couldn't help but smile at even though she was furious with him. Madeline felt a little flutter in her chest, but it wasn't out of anxious feelings. It was something completely different.

Jaylin stuck his tongue out at Madeline, which was the last straw. Madeline was grateful for her long t-shirt because she pulled down her jeans and jumped into the water. It was absolutely freezing, but she didn't care. All she wanted was her revenge. She swam over to the other side of the lake, where Jaylin was treading water. He smirked at her. When she got to the other side, Jaylin was swimming, causally.

"Took you long enough," he said, right before Madeline pushed his head under the water. Madeline laughed as his arms flailed as he tried to come up for air. Of course, Madeline wasn't going to let him drown, but she did want to have a few more seconds of fun before she let him. Just as she was about to let her hand go, she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her under. She was taken by surprise and got a mouth full of water in the process. When she finally emerged for air and had finished coughing, she glared at Jaylin who was laughing.

"You suck, you know that right?" Madeline said.

"I'll just add that to my list of many talents," he smirked at her.

She swam over to him and splashed him with a huge amount of water. When he had recovered, he pulled her into his arms and pushed her under water. Madeline came up for air and found him smiling down at her, his arms still wrapped around her. "Let me go," she squealed, even though she knew she never ever wanted him to let her go.