Royal Runaway

Chapter Twelve

"Okay, your turn," Jaylin said, licking some of his ice cream.

"Um..." Madeline thought for a second, reaching to lick some of her strawberry ice cream that had melted onto her hand. "Favorite color?"

Madeline and Jaylin were currently about ten minutes outside of Windermere. After finishing their lunch, they had decided to splurge a little and get some ice cream, sort of in celebration of their new friendship. After getting ice cream, they had decided to ask each other questions, sort of as a get to know you game. They had said, nothing too personal, so the majority of the questions had been silly ones like, Favorite color.

"Red," Jaylin said. "What about you?"

"Don't laugh, but pink," Madeline said, shyly.

Jaylin laughed. "Of course it's pink. Why does that not surprise me?"

"Hey!" Madeline said, laughing herself, "It was my favorite color when I was little and it just never changed. I like other colors too. I'm not going to discriminate against other colors."

"Well that's good, because I don't think I could be in the presence of someone who was racist against other colors." Jaylin let out a low chuckle, then took another bite of his ice cream cone, he was down to the last bit of it. "Okay, my turn. If you had to be stranded with one person on a deserted island, who would it be?"

"That's easy, Nancy." Madeline had blurted this out to fast to stop herself. When Jaylin looked at her with a quizzical glance, she realized what she'd said.

"Who's Nancy?" he asked, which was of course the logical thing for him to say.

Madeline stopped for a second. Obviously she couldn't say, Oh well she's my lady in waiting and has basically raised me since I was a small baby princess. She had to make up something quick and on the spot. "She's my cousin. My mom wasn't really present in my upbringing so Nancy was kind of like my second mom. She basically raised me." Madeline said, casually, licking a bit of her ice cream hoping she had handled the question well.

Jaylin gave her a small smile. "That's nice. I sort of wished I had a Nancy growing up. My mom was around, but she never really felt like my mom, you know? It honestly felt like I raised myself in an odd way."

"I totally get what you mean. Even though I had Nancy, there were things that I solely wished I could've shared with my mom but she just wasn't around and when she was she was bossing me around and not really being a mom. So it felt like every exciting thing that happened I just kept to myself and wasn't able to share it with anyone. " Madeline had forgotten their little pack to say nothing personal, but once Jaylin had started talking about his past, Madeline felt this strange invitation to open up about hers. And it was nice, to talk about things, without Jaylin knowing every single detail about her past before she had a chance to share them herself.

Jaylin gave her a small smile, but it seemed more cold and distant then the smiles he'd shared before. Madeline thought that maybe sharing about their past wasn't the best idea yet. "Anyway," she said, trying to change the subject, "What's your favorite animal?"

~

The two traveled on back roads for the majority of the day. They continued to share facts about themselves, but nothing personal had come up again. Madeline figured that Jaylin had gotten a little scared to how personal they had been and honestly she was a little freaked out herself. So they stayed to light topics, which did prove to be helpful. Madeline figured out things about Jaylin, like how he was terrified of heights and only ate pizza on Sundays.

The day wore on and soon the sun was starting to set. They were in the forest still and decided to park themselves underneath a tree.

"We are both sleeping on the ground so there is a very little chance that anyone will fall on me," Jaylin joked, as he sat down his backpack beneath the trunk of a tree.

Madeline chuckled. "Did I ever apologize for that? I feel like I didn't because I was so focused on making sure you were alright. So, I'm sorry I fell on you."

"Apology accepted." Jaylin looked up at Madeline, giving her a big smile. Madeline couldn't it help it, she felt a little flutter in her stomach when he did. Jaylin had one of those faces that when he smiled, his whole face smiled. His eyes twinkled with happiness. He had these cute little dimples on the sides of his mouth that Madeline hadn't noticed before, but thought they were adorable.

Madeline mentally shook herself. Stop it. You don't need to go falling in love with him. You just need to focus on getting as far away from the palace as possible. She gave Jaylin a small smile in return, then sat her stuff down next to him. She pulled out her blanket and scrunched up her backpack into a makeshift pillow. She laid down, facing Jaylin, who sat upright against the tree trunk.

"So, what's our plan for tomorrow?" Madeline asked, trying to hide the yawn that threatened to escape her lips. "This may seem silly, but I would like to shower or bathe pretty soon."

Jaylin gave a small laugh. "I'm sure we can sneak into a park or campground that has some showers. I wouldn't mind one myself. Do you still have that map with you?"

Madeline sat up, grabbed her backpack and started rummaging around in. She produced the map that she had brought in Springwhich, handing it to Jaylin. He opened it and spent a good few minutes examining it.

"Based on my judgment and from what I know of the area, we should be nearing a town called Dewsbury and I think there is a park that has some showers there." Jaylin said, still looking over the map.

"Great," said Madeline, actually letting out a tiny yawn. Jaylin glanced at her, a small smile gracing his lips.

"You should get some sleep," he said.

"No, I'm fine," Madeline retorted, letting out yet another yawn.

Jaylin laughed. "Goodnight Maddie," he said, as he laid down on his own backpack, pulling a blanket out of it. Madeline realized she did need her sleep, so she settled down into her backpack pillow. The last thought she had before she went off into dreamland was how cute Jaylin's dimples were.