Mal and Evie's dorm room
Mal sat in her dorm room looking at the sight in front of her. She had asked Evie to make her a swimsuit because Ben had told her that he was going to teach her to swim and she did not have a suit. The suit that Evie had made for her was a shimmery purple bikini with silver accents.
"E are you sure about this?" Mal asked.
"Of course I am. You are going on a date with Ben! Don't you want to look god for him?" Evie responded.
"Well... Yeah... but not in a bikini," Mal complained.
"Oh you'll be fine," Evie said sounding exasperated as she pushed Mal into their bathroom to try it on. A few moments later Mal came out of the bathroom in the bikini and looked herself over in the mirror. She had to admit it didn't look half as bad as she thought it would. Evie clapped excitedly.
"See I told you you would look gorgeous! Now wear this green coverup I made for you," she demanded. Mal slipped on the coverup and pulled her purple hair back into a slick ponytail.
Ben would be here any minute and she was nervous about swimming. Right on cue, there was a knock on the door. Mal went to open it and found Ben standing there. Evie handed her a towel.
"Have fun you two love birds," Evie teased. Both Mal and Ben blushed before heading outside.
At the beach
They got on Ben's motorcycle and headed out to wherever Ben was taking them. As they were driving, (Mal sat behind Ben) Mal instinctively slipped her hands around Ben's waste. Ben smiled. There was something so natural about this he thought to himself. Ben parked his bike and helped Mal get off. He grabbed a picnic basked and led Mal to a small lake with a nice beach on the edge. Ben immediately tore off his over clothes to reveal his crown swim trunks, and jumped into the lake. Mal was a little hesitant to take off her coverup, but there was no time like the present she thought to herself and slowly slid off the emerald green coverup. She heard a whistle coming from the lake and turned to see Ben staring at her. She smiled.
"You are such a dork," she laughed as she slowly made her way into the chilly water. As soon as she got used to the water being around her, Ben took her out a little deeper so he could teach her the basics of swimming. First he helped her learn to float and then he taught her a few strokes. Soon she was a natural.
"All that swimming has tired me out," Ben remarked as he made his way out of the water to where their towels were.
"Well good thing there is a handsome king who brought us an amazing picnic lunch," Mal smirked. Ben smiled. She had never called him handsome before and he really wanted to kiss her, but he knew he had to wait for the perfect moment or it would never work. He began to lay out container after container of picnic food. The last thing he took out of the picnic basket was a fairly large container containing strawberries. He laughed when Mal's eyes grew wide as she stared at them. They began to eat and Mal began to make conversation.
"So how do you manage to be king, finish all your schoolwork, and spend so much time with me?" Mal asked him.
"That's simple," he said through bites of his sandwich. "I spend as much time as I can with you because I love you." He smiled as Mal blushed. But Ben had other things on his mind. Like those beautiful lips she had. Oh how he wanted to kiss her! Self control, he told himself. They finished up eating, and Mal began to relax on the soft sand of the beach.
"Are you going to do some sunbathing?" Ben asked her. She laughed.
"Well I guess I could use it because of how pale I am"
"Then I'll join you," he responded. She smiled. Ben looked into her eyes and could see love shining through them. He leaned in to kiss her but she turned her head and picked up a strawberry.
"I swear these strawberries are juicer than the ones we had on our first date," she said changing the subject. Ben smiled on the outside but on the inside he was crushed. It was useless. He would never get her to kiss him. He began to worry that there was something wrong with him. Why wouldn't she kiss him? These thoughts left holes in his heart as he looked at her with a pained expression.
"Ben, are you ok?" Mal asked him pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Yes I'm fine," he replied forcing a smile on his face. "It's getting late we should be heading back." Mal nodded and began to pack up their things with Ben's help.
Mal and Evie's dorm room
Ben walked Mal back to her room. She stopped outside the door.
"Thank you for teaching me how to swim Ben, I had a wonderful time with you today."
"I had a great time too," Ben replied smiling. Mal was about to walk into her room but he stopped her. Without saying anything he placed a light gentle kiss on her cheek. Mal looked at him surprised.
"Goodbye Mal, I love you," Ben whispered in her ear before she walked into her dorm. Evie was working on her sewing as usual, but as soon, as Mal walked in Evie swarmed her with questions.
"Slow down E, one question at a time," Mal said exasperated.
"Did he kiss you," Evie asked.
"Sort of," Mal smiled.
"What does that mean?" Evie asked sounding interested.
Mal went on to explain that Ben had tried to kiss her, and she almost kissed him back, but then she chickened out and ate a strawberry instead. She also told her about how Ben had kissed her cheek right before and Evie clapped excitedly.
"Mal you should just kiss him on the lips already. He's probably dying to kiss you and is getting worried about why you won't," Evie explained to Mal.
"It's not really that easy E. I guess I'm just scared that's all," Mal reasoned.
"Oh please, what do you have to be scared about? That boy is crazy in love with you, I can see it every time I look at his eyes," Evie said sounding exasperated.
"Well maybe I will kiss him sometime," Mal decided. Evie screamed excitedly and ran around the room ranting about how she had to find the perfect shade of lipstick. Mal rolled her eyes and headed to the bathroom to change.
