Flynn's head was pounding as he opened his eyes. He slowly rolled over onto his back and brought his hands up to rub the sides of his head. What had happened last night? He hadn't stayed out that late had he? No. He had left the Snuggly Duckling early. Flynn looked around the room and was relieved to find that he was currently laying in his own bed, alone. He wasn't stuck at Clarissa's, or any other girl's place for that matter, and desperately trying to wedge her off of him in order to sneak out.

He sat up and pressed the palm off his hand to his forehead as it began to pound even more. He only had one drink last night, so why was his head hurting so bad? Maybe it was from the whiplash I experienced when that girl jumped on my back. Wait...the girl! He had talked to her! Plus, she wasn't "the girl" anymore, she was Rapunzel. Flynn smiled and shook his head a little as he remembered the two of them tumbling to the ground the day before. Even though their meeting was quite amusing, it didn't leave them on the best of terms. She didn't seem all that upset with him when they say goodbye yesterday, but they weren't exactly qualified as best friends at this point.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Flynn experienced another wave of pain coming from his head. Normally in this situation a little relaxation went a long way. As much as he wanted to lay back down and sleep the day away, he figured it would probably be better to fuel up.

Flynn got up and braced himself against his night stand. He groaned as the room began to spin a little, but still managed to remain standing. Okay...clothes. Once Flynn felt a little more stable he made his way around the room and slide on a few articles of clothing.

When he was dressed and fixed his hair a little, he made his way out of his place and headed toward the lake. The sun burned his eyes as he attempted to let them adjust to the bright glow, thinking of the Princess' painting he had seen on the building wall yesterday. He wasn't lying when he said it was breath taking.

Flynn reached the lake and made his way down the dock, taking his usual seat at the end so he could let his legs dangle. When he was all situated he felt his body begin to instantly relax and closed his eyes as he tilted his head back slightly. It felt so good to be in the sun and the open air, letting himself relax and attempt to quiet his thoughts. He certainly had a lot to deal with in the next couple of days, or whenever he planned to finally break off his "relationship" with Clarissa.

Flynn swung his legs back and forth as he stared out at the water.. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there, but he imagined it had been almost an hour. He had been completely lost in thought and it wasn't due to the usual things that bounced around in his head. Instead of forming some sort of plan to get rid of Clarissa, he was thinking about Rapunzel. At least he knew her name now, but that didn't make up for the fact that she most likely hated him at the moment. Not that he was feeling any remorse, that sort of thing was unheard of to someone like Flynn Rider. He just knew he had lost any chance he possibly had to lure this beautiful girl back to his apartment, which definitely wasn't something he was exactly happy about.

"Flynn?"

Flynn was suddenly shaken from his thoughts and felt his back tighten slightly as he heard his name. At first he thought it could be Clarissa or another one of the girls he had slept with, but due to how sweet and innocent this girl's voice sounded he could tell it wasn't.

He slowly turned around to find Rapunzel staring down at him, gripping the strap of her bag with one hand and protecting her eyes from the sun with the other.

A sense of shock swarmed over him. He wasn't exactly sure why this girl would possibly want to come and confront the very man who tried to steal her paintings, but then again she had already proven to be unpredictable.

"Rapunzel?"

Rapunzel gave him a sweet smile and seemed to sway a little as if she were suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. It was funny to him how she could be confident yet self conscious at the same time.

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding. I was just walking by and when I looked out at the lake, I saw you sitting here. I don't know why, but I felt the need to say hi and well...here I am." Rapunzel brought the hand that was shading her eyes down and gestured out in front of her.

Flynn let out a small laugh. "I see. You're not intruding." He looked out at the water and then back at her. "You can take a seat if you want to." He patted the spot next to him, feeling himself grow slightly hopeful that she would accept his offer.

Rapunzel continued to smile and nodded, "Sure, why not."

She sat down next to him with her bag sitting in between them. Flynn found this a little funny due to the fact that he had just ran off with her paintings the day before, yet she was trusting him now to be so close to her personal belongings. It said something about her.

They sat there in silence for a couple of moments, both staring straight out at the water. The silence was somehow comfortable and calming. He was almost enjoying it and was glad that she wasn't talking his ear off about meaningless things like Clarissa usually did. However, he felt the urge to break their silence due to the fact that this may be the only chance he may ever get to actually make conversation with her.

Flynn cleared his throat and turned his head in her direction, "So are you new around her or what? I haven't really seen you around that much."

Rapunzel shrugged and looked over at him, "Kind of. I've always lived around here, but I just recently moved closer to the actual kingdom and everything. I try to keep to myself most of the time."

Flynn nodded and looked out at the lake again. They were kind of alike in the way that they both didn't really care to be acquainted with other people, but that was because he was a bit of an asshole while she seemed so friendly and genuine. Maybe she had her reasons though.

Their silence stretched on as they continued to focus their attention on the water. Flynn felt some sort of electricity running through him. He wasn't sure why Rapunzel was currently sitting next to him. Shouldn't she be trying to avoid him at any cost or insulting him somehow? Maybe she was just being nice to him so he would warm up to her and then she would push him into the water or something. Flynn looked over at her once again. She didn't seem to notice him staring as her eyes continued to search the trees across the lake. She really was beautiful. Cute nose, big green eyes, beautiful lips, and her hair was a whole other story. It always seemed to lay on her shoulders and down her back perfectly. Flynn had to admit, it was as if she was a goddess. Now that he was actually able to study her closely he could officially say that she was the most breath taking woman he had ever seen.

"What are you staring at?" Rapunzel looked over at him and he was relieved to see that she gave him a sweet smile instead of a cold stare. Why was she being so nice to him?

"Uh, well you." Obviously Flynn.

Rapunzel laughed and Flynn felt a cocky smile take over his expression. Maybe he could have this girl eating out of the palm of his hand somehow. Could he blame her? He was known as the best looking guy in the kingdom and most of the women around are convinced he's quite the gentleman as well. The thoughts that kept flashing through his mind that involved Rapunzel probably wouldn't be classified as respectful though. How much he wanted to slip her out of that lavender dress and make her laugh in other ways.

"So, that girl you were with the other night...is she your...girlfriend?"

Flynn felt his brow furrow as he was shaken from his thoughts. He resisted the urge to grimace at the word girlfriend and gave her a puzzled look.

"What girl?"

Rapunzel looked down for a moment and then brought her full green eyes back up to meet his. Flynn felt his stomach tighten slightly.

"The other night. I was walking by the lake and I saw you with some woman. You two looked awfully cozy."

Rapunzel broke their eye contact and looked out at the ducks that were now swimming not too far from where they were currently perched.

Flynn tried to study her expression, but her face wasn't giving him any sort of clue as to what she was currently thinking. Based on how she talked about the woman, who he realized was Clarissa, she didn't seem to be jealous or bitter. She just seemed genuinely curious, but it still seemed puzzling to him. It didn't seem like she was asking because she was hoping to pursue him somehow and found Clarissa as some sort of threat.

Flynn brought up his hand and rubbed his chin a little. His gote tickling against his fingers.

"I didn't think you even noticed us the other night. You seemed to be in some sort of hurry."

Rapunzel shrugged and Flynn noticed a smile begin to make its way onto her lips.

"I notice a lot of things, Flynn. A good artist pays attention to detail."

Of course. He had seen her paintings and based on how real they looked, he could tell that she definitely knew a thing or two about detail.

"So do you have a photographic memory or something?" Flynn leaned back on his hands and shot her another cocky smile.

"Something like that." Rapunzel continued to look forward, but he could see a smile still sitting upon her lips.

Flynn licked his bottom lip and looked out at the ducks as well. Watching as one tried to nip the back feathers of another duck as they quacked at each other in disapproval.

"Oh, and to answer your question, no...she's not my girlfriend." Flynn kept his eyes locked on the ducks, but imagined Rapunzel lighting up with his claim. Although Clarissa and him had been intimate the past couple of weeks, they weren't technically a couple. Not according to his terms anyway.

The two grew silent again and Flynn let himself lay back on the deck and shut his eyes. He was hoping she wouldn't take it as him trying to tell her to go away. He actually didn't mind sitting with her, but that was mainly because he was trying to get her to like him. That would help his chances of getting her in bed or possibly just a trip to the Snuggly Duckling so he could shove it in Hook's face.

"You come here often."

It wasn't a question and Flynn could hear the confidence behind Rapunzel's words.

"Yup."

"Why?"

Flynn opened his eyes and leaned up on his elbows a little. He let his eyes adjust as he looked over at her, noticing that she still continued to look straight ahead.

No one had ever asked him that before. Actually, no one had really ever noticed that he visited the lake so often. He had brought girls here all the time after they left the Snuggly Duckling, but it was mainly part of his plan to make them gaze out at the water while he whispered romantic things in their ear. They were like putty in his hand after that.

Flynn hadn't really opened up with anyone about these sort of things. Was he willing to do it now? He searched Rapunzel's face and watched as she turned and looked into his eyes. She definitely seemed like the curious type. That could be a good and bad thing.

"Well...I..." Flynn shrugged and then let out a little sigh. "I don't know. I guess it's just relaxing. Sometimes I just end up here and I didn't even realize that I was headed here. It calms me down and let's me sort out my thoughts...to an extent."

Flynn wanted to shake his head at his own words. They sounded wrong and way too personal. He felt the need to change the subject as soon as possible. He furrowed his brow and looked down at the dock. Trying to figure out some way to steer the conversation in another direction.

"That makes sense." Rapunzel smiled at him and nodded slightly. Based on her tone, Flynn could tell that she wasn't going to press the matter any further and brought his eyes up to meet hers. He smirked at her and saw her smile widen a little more.

Oh, how badly he wanted to kiss those lips. How much would he have to persuade her to come back to his apartment right now? She already seemed to be warming up to him and he was willing to take advantage of that.

Now that they were talking so light heartedly did he break down any barriers between them? Usually women were dying to be touched by him. Was Rapunzel any different?

Flynn decided to test the waters and raised his right hand up to Rapunzel, slipping a piece of her hair in between his fingers and gave her a sexy smile.

"You have very beautiful hair." Flynn continued to slide his finger down her hair and make her over to her shoulder, but stopped to examine her expression.

Rapunzel continued to look calm and collected as she watched his face, but he could see that her cheeks were now slightly pink. What a confusing combination. He was about to continue his journey down her hair when she suddenly brought her hands up to collect her hair and moved it over to her other shoulder.

Flynn blinked a couple of times and felt a little dumb founded as he continued to hold his hand in the air. His fingers were in the same position as if he were still holding onto her hair. Had she really just pulled her hair away from him? Did she not want him to touch her?

"Sorry. I just have a thing about people touching my hair." Rapunzel's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink and she looked down at her hands.

"Don't apologize. I didn't meant to embarrass you." Flynn retracted his hand and leaned back once again. He wasn't used to this kind of reaction from women, but he felt like the best course of action was to reassure her. Surely she would be more thankful and he could still try to convince her to let him do other things to her.

"Well, I should probably go." Rapunzel bounced up and slid her bag on her shoulder before Flynn could even realize what was happening.

He blinked up at her and then nodded.

"Yeah, I should head out as well." Flynn got up from the dock in a graceful motion and stood next to Rapunzel, giving her a charming smile.

She gave him a shy smile in return and Flynn couldn't help but feel a little smug.

"After you." He gestured in front of him and smiled. The whole gentleman approach was probably the best in this sort of situation and he was willingly to play it up if that meant winning her over. Rapunzel gave him and thankful nod and made her way up the dock, Flynn trailing not far behind her. He began to let his eyes wander from the back of her head all the way down her body, smiling at her slender body that still possessed perfect curves. When he reached her feet he lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Where were her shoes?

Once they reached the stone path, they turned to face each other and Flynn noticed that Rapunzel still had the same shy smile on her face despite her disapproval of him touching her hair only a few moments ago. She was certainly forgiving and...sweet. The way she looked at him and treated him felt like she was somehow seeing something else other than what Flynn was showing.

She reached out her hand, a confident smile now taking over her lips. "Well Flynn Rider, it was a pleasure to see you again."

Flynn let out a small laugh and took her hand shaking it slowly, "The pleasure is all mine."

Rapunzel continued to smile and pulled her hand out of his. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

With that she turned around and made her way down the stone walkway, not looking back at him once and maintaining a comfortable stride.

Flynn smiled as he watched her go and began to shake his head. He slowly turned around and made his way to an unknown destination, debating if he should just go back and sit down at the dock again. Although Rapunzel's facial expressions and attitude toward him seemed so confusing, Flynn was sure of one thing; he needed to get that girl in bed.