The Royal Romance - What nearly happened...

Closer

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to enjoy the water," Drake stated.

Maxwell couldn't join in with that activity, for obvious reasons. "I'm ready to stretch out like a beached whale."

"Suit yourself. You coming with me, Jones? Hana?" Drake asked the girls.

"Hang on, we need to put on sunscreen before we go," Hana said, and the three of them started fussing about with sunscreen. Maxwell stayed where he was, settling down by some rocks, and observed as they headed towards the water. Hana had already removed her dress to reveal a bikini, Drake was self-consciously removing his shirt. Jen was applying sunscreen to Hana's back, and Hana returned the favour, although Jen was still mainly dressed, due to her lack of swimwear.. which had been his stupid fault, of course. It still made for an interesting watch.

They were splashing around in the water now, and after a few minutes Hana and Drake were fully in the sea, swimming. He noticed Jen heading back in his direction, and lay flat, looking up at the sky for a minute, pretending he had not noticed she was coming back. He closed his eyes.

After a few moments, he felt something shading him from the sun, and opened his eyes to see Jen standing over him.

"You seem a little overdressed for the beach."

"Huh?" he said, sitting up.

She sat down next to him. "Don't you want to... take off your shirt?"

Oh no, was she onto him? Had Drake told her?

What nearly happened....

He had to have done. He smirked at her. "I'm guessing my good buddy Drake just spilled my deepest darkest secret.."

She looked at him, shock and confusion on her face. Crap. He hadn't.

"What guilty secret would that be?" A smile crept back to her soft lips, and her eyes lit up with mischief.

"Uh... that I'm really a robot underneath these clothes?"

She laughed. "Now I really wanna know!" Playfully, she grabbed at his collar. "Come here.."

"No! You can't.."

She wasn't giving up, and he shot her a desperate look. Ah, what harm would showing her his hippo do? She wasn't going to let this lie now. "Wait. Not here."

She stopped, and looked at him with clear intrigue.

He stood up, and headed across the beach, through the crowds, and in the direction of a small structure where the toilets and showers were. She was following closely behind, and soon joined him around the back of the block, where they were just out of view of the other people on the beach. Her eyes were on him, expectantly. Oh, now this was awkward.

"Turn around," he said, gesturing for her to look away.

"I'm sorry?"

He put his hands on her shoulders and span her around, and was rewarded with one of her infectious giggles. "Now, just you stay facing that way until I say you can look.."

He quickly unbuttoned his shirt buttons and pulled off his sleeves, folding his black shirt carefully and hanging it on a nearby fence post. It wouldn't do to crease it. "Okay."

She span around, eyes on his body. There was a long silence, but she finally broke it. "Awwww! That's the cutest!"

"Oh, thank god you like it. I thought you'd laugh."