Title: Friendship
~ Lyrics
" " Speaking
[] Thoughts
***********
"Thanks," Allura smiled and took the package from Hunk, going upstairs to her room to change.
[Wonder what it is] She shook the box close to her ear, noticing it sounded like a lot of small things. [Whatever they are, they´re definitely not heavy]
Sitting on her bed, she took the last bite of her cookie and read the short note taped to the box.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Allie & Lance,
Just a gift for your anniversary,
hope you enjoy!
love, Maru.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"How sweet!"
Allura quickly ripped the tape holding it closed and turned the box over to dump the contents on her bed.
"OH MY GOD!" she quickly picked the small packages up and threw them back in the box, closing it again and running into the closet to hid it.
"What?!" Lance came into the room wearing a towel he´d quickly wrapped around his waist. "Allie?"
She came out of the closet and blushed as she noticed his state of undress. "Sorry, go back to your shower, everything´s fine."
"Or it will be as soon as I call Maru," she mumbled under her breath.
"Are you sure? What made you..." Lance noticed her blushing and wondered why. [She´s seen me shirtless before]
"Nothing, I just remembered I have to call Maru about something. You go back to your shower." She smiled to re-assure him and ran out of the room to call Maru from downstairs.
"Women!" Lance sighed and went back into the bathroom to get dressed.
Downstairs, Allura grabbed the phone from the living room and went into the music room, where she was never disturbed. Dialing quickly, she was relieved that Maru answered the phone.
(M) "Hello?"
"You evil brat! How COUld you?!" Allura flopped down in her favorite chair and heard Maru laugh.
(M) "I thought you might need them, who knows if you´ve been good."
(A) "I assure you, if I needed those items, I´d have bought them myself!"
(M) "Or made him buy them right? So how go things?"
(A) "Ok, we´re enjoying ourselves, all of us, and I saw Cassie yesterday. We might go out with her and her fiancée, but you wouldn´t believe who it is."
(M) "Who?"
(A) "Mick Delaney"
(M) "No way! How?!"
(A) "I don´t know, but I´m not sure about what I should do. Do I tell her what a horrible person her husband-to-be is or do I keep quiet and watch her make the worst mistake of her life?"
(M) "Tell her, I´d want you to tell me."
(A) "I know, its the right thing to do, but if I tell her I´ll have to explain about before and..."
(M) "I thought you were over that."
(A) "I thought so too."
(M) "How´s your husband? Being good?"
(A) "He´s great, I´m really happy actually, and I don´t think I´ve ever slept so well in my life."
(M) "You mean you actually sleep? I thought for sure you´d be busy having fun."
(A) "Fun?"
(M) "YOU KNOW!"
(A) "NO! I have not had any of that kind of fun, and I remind you that I will NEVER have that kind of fun becuase..."
(M) "Yeah I know, but you should really try it sometime."
(A) "Wait a minute, have you been having fun?"
(M) "Maybe"
(A) "Maru! I can´t believe you! Although of course I can´t blame you."
(M) "Of course not."
(A) "I´m actually surprised you took so long."
(M) "Yeah well, you know how things have been, but now that we´re engaged..."
Allura laughed, "I know and I´m happy for you both."
With her back to the doorway, she didn´t notice Lance, who´d come to tell her lunch was ready. He stopped as he heard her laugh.
"Although its not fair that I´m the married one and YOU get all the action." She laughed again and shook her head. "No I´m not saying that I would sleep with him, although he is cute and all... Ken!"
[Ken?] Lance knocked on the door and called her name, "Lunch is ready."
"Okay!" she turned and told him she´d be right there. "I´ve gotta go Mar, I´ll call you... my anniversary?"
(M) "Yeah what are your plans?"
Allura shrugged, "I don´t think we´re doing anything, I mean, I know Lance remembers because he told Mick about it yesterday but he hasn´t mentioned any plans."
"The sandwhiches are getting cold you guys!" Hunk stuck his head in the living room and yelled.
"Coming!" Allura laughed and quickly said her good-byes to Maru. Leaving the phone in its place she walked beside Lance to the kitchen where Hunk was sitting down.
"Cold sandwhiches?" Lance smirked.
"The recipe says they´re to be eaten warm," Hunk explained, "So what are you guys gonna do tonight?"
"Nothing," Lance turned to Allie, "Is there something you´d like to do or somewhere you´d like to go?"
"No, I´d been thinking about going to visit Jennie at the hospital," she took a bite and smiled in approval at Hunk.
"Well I´m going to the gym after lunch and I have a date tonight so I won´t be back early." he took another bite of his sandwhich.
"With Tanya?" Lance asked
Hunk nodded and checked his watch. Hurrying to finish his sandwhich, he left them there, excusing himself. "I have to hurry or I won´t make it to her work on time. See you later!"
"Bye Hunk! Thanks!" Allura sighed and finished her sandwhich.
She and Lance finished and cleaned up in silence, finally broken when Lance asked. "So what was that about Ken? You mentioned him when I went to tell you about lunch."
Allura blushed again, "Nothing."
"Really?" Lance gave her a disbelieving look but dropped the subject.
"What do you want to do?" he asked once the dishes were washed and put away.
"I really don´t know," Allura walked with him upstairs and picked up a magazine from the table as they sat in the tv room. Flipping through it, she sighed as she saw a picture of a beach house.
"This looks like fun," she showed it to Lance.
He took the magazine, "You want to go to the beach?"
"Yeah, we haven´t gone yet," Allura picked up the phone as it rang.
(A) "Hey Cassie! How are you?"
(C) "Fine, just wanted to see what you guys are doing tomorrow so we could go out."
(A) "Nothing as of yet, we were commenting of how much fun it would be to go to the beach."
(C) "Yeah! Want to go? Mick has a nice two-bedroom, waterfront beach house not too far from the city. We could leave early tomorrow and spend the weekend there."
Allura hesitated, "Hold on, let me put you on speakerphone so Lance can listen and give his opinion."
She clicked the phone into speaker mode and hung up the reciever. Lance and Cassie said their hello´s and then went over the idea of the beach house.
"Sounds like fun, I´d be up for it." Lance looked at Allie, wondering how she felt about the idea.
"Me too," she said.
Cassie could be heard opening a notebook, "Great! Then here´s what we´ll do. I´ll drop by your apartment tomorrow morning at... about eleven. We´ll go from there to pick up Mick at his office because he has to drop off some paperwork, and then go to the beach."
"All right, then we´ll see you tomorrow Cassie," Lance kept his eyes on Allura.
"Sure thing, bye!" Cassie quickly hung up.
Allura hung up also and bit her lip nervously. Lance watched for a moment quietly before asking what was the matter.
"I´m gonna need a bathing suit," she smiled and stood, holding out her hand. "Come shopping with me?"
"Sure," Lance set down the magazine as he got up, taking hold of her hand as they went downstairs and picked up his keys.
During the car ride, Allura seemed more cheerful and sang along loudly to the radio. Since the mall she liked was across town, they took a while to arrive and she´d decided where she was going to buy the suit by the time they parked.
"There´s that store that sells all those sports outfits and has both men´s and women´s suits."
"I have a bathing suit!" Lance protested.
"Not a decent one, and believe me, you have to have the best." Allura smiled, "Wouldn´t want my husband out-done by Cassie´s fiancée."
"Who cares about that?" Lance whined.
"Me and Cassie," Allura dragged him to the store and over to the men´s department. They picked out a few suits before he went to try them on.
Being in as good shape as he was, Allura wasn´t surprised when all the suits looked good on him. They eliminated a dark blue one because of the color and a yellow one because it was too bright.
"Green or Red?" Lance asked, wearing the green one.
"Green," Allura decided, forcing herself not to focus on his lean chest and marked abs. [Just think of... anything but his body!]
"Green it is then... are you sure?" Lance asked, looking into a mirror.
"And you say women are picky shoppers!" Allura laughed and came over to see him in the mirror. [Wow]
"I just don´t know if the green´s a good choice," Lance explained.
Allura nodded, "Look, you have great eyes, which look even sexier when contrasted with the dark green. It accentuates the green specks in them."
Lance gave a sly grin, "They look even what?"
Allura caught her mistake and gave him a playful glare in the mirror, "Don´t get any ideas buddy."
"But you just said..." he smiled and pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder and saw her smile.
"I didn´t mean it," she was saved as the saleslady came over to them.
"Finally decided on the green?" she asked, smiling as she saw what a cute couple they made. [Must be newlyweds] she thought as she noticed their rings.
"Yes, he´ll take the green." Allura stepped away and Lance nodded as he went into the changing room.
"Would you like to see any suits for yourself?" the young lady asked.
"Actually, yes, we came here for a suit for me and suddenly decided he´d need one too." Allura followed her over to the women´s section and was being shown some of the most popular models when Lance caught up with them.
"I´ll take this to the cashier and leave you to choose," the lady took the suit from Lance and did as she´d said.
"What do you think?" Allura asked, holding up a black, one-piece suit.
Lance gave it a sweeping glance and raised his eyebrow at her, "You´re joking right?"
"No!" Allura pouted and looked at the suit in her hand, "What´s wrong with it?"
"Its not you," Lance took it away and began walking through the aisles, pulling out suits as he found them.
He came back with five suits and handed them over to her, "Go try these on."
"But they´re all bikini´s!" Allura whined.
"Exactly, if I´ve gotta out-do Mick, I can´t let my wife be out-done by Cassie." He pushed her towards the nearby dressing room and closed the curtain after her.
"But I don´t want to be half-naked in front of him, that´s exactly why I wanted a new suit! I already have a bikini remember?" Allura said, sticking her head out to look for another suit.
"The only one who´s coming anywhere near you is me Ally, and if I have to look sexier, so do you." He grinned as she blushed and stuck her head back in.
A few moments later, she stuck her head back out and motioned for him to come over.
"There´s no way we´ll both fit in that little booth Allie, come out," Lance said.
After a slight hesitation, Allura came out, wearing a red bikini. It was a simple model, just plain red with a small bow in between the cups of the bra. The color, however, didn´t suit Allura.
She tried on three more, one green, one black, and a pink one. "I am not buying another pink suit," Allura told him when he told her to take that one.
"But the color looks really good on you," Lance said, making an effort not to gape. Being a halter top suit, the spagetti straps looked really good, both on the top and the bottom, where they tied on either side of her hips.
He noticed a salesman a few aisles down had stopped putting suits away to stare and told her to quickly change. Allura tried on the last suit, another halter top with spaghetti straps, but it was a bright blue which also brought out the color of her eyes.
"That´s it!" Lance said, standing in front of the booth to block the view of her, still bothered by the other guy´s staring earlier.
"Are you sure I have to buy a two piece?" Allura asked, noticing how much of her body was exposed.
"Most definitely," Lance grinned and told her to hurry and change so they could go.
Once the suits were paid for, they bought a couple of towels at another store, some suntan lotion, and then wandered around the mall aimlessly.
[What do I give her tomorrow?] Lance wondered, scanning the stores for a gift. Spotting something in a women´s boutique, he was relieved when Allura stopped in front of the pet shop next door.
"Oh how cute!" She went inside to look at the puppies and nodded absently as he told her he was going to the restrooms. "Fine, I´ll stay here!"
He headed out and quickly went into the boutique next door. After talking to the saleslady there and making arrangements, he went to the store she pointed out to him and made more arrangements with the manager there. Once done with his errand, he went back to the pet shop and wasn´t surprised to see Allura waiting for him by the door.
"What took you so long?" she asked.
"I ran into one of the guys from the gym and was caught up talking for a few minutes," he explained, relieved when she accepted the excuse and asked to go home. "Tired?"
"Yeah," Allura walked towards the parking lot and was quiet during the ride home. [How can I tell Cassie about Mick?]
They arrived home and put away their stuff, packing a bag for their weekend away. Allura checked the answering machine and was annoyed to find a message from Mick about the trip. He had called to tell them not to worry about towels, beach chairs, or any of that because they had it at the apartment, also food and restaurants nearby.
Allura made a face and erased the message, jumping when Lance asked from behind her, "What´d he do?"
"What´d he do?" she repeated.
"Mick, during your last vacation," he noticed her shiver and wrapped her in his arms. "What was it?"
Allura felt his warmth and sighed as she leaned against him, "I can´t tell you, I´m sorry but..."
"Why?" he asked, annoyed by her hesitation.
"Because I can´t," Allura whispered, "Because I don´t want to lose you too."
"Lose me? Who else did you lose?" Lance wondered.
"Teddy" Allura answered, "I told him about what happened and he left."
Lance frowned, "I thought you said he was your best friend?"
"He was, but he was raised with a different mind set, we´re total opposites. I thought he´d help me when I told him, but he changed completely and then the war got worse..." she sighed and closed her eyes.
"I was wondering why he hadn´t called," Lance shrugged and pulled back to look at her, "But you should know better than to think I´d leave you too Allie. I´m sure whatever it was won´t change my mind about you."
Allura looked up at him surprised, noticing the sincerity in his eyes with a smile, "Thanks Lance, that means a lot."
"So?" he waited for an answer and wasn´t surprised when she changed the subject.
"We´d better go to bed early if we´re going at nine instead of eleven, we´ll have to get up around eight." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going to change into her pj´s.
"Its barely seven thirty!" Lance yelled.
"So we´ll watch a movie!" Allura yelled back, changing quickly.
[I´ll find out somehow] Lance went into their room to change out of his jeans.
***********
"Nice car," Lance told Cassie as he put their bag in the trunk.
"Thanks, that´s all you´re taking?" she asked.
"Just a bag for both of us," Lance said, putting away a smaller one that Allura didn´t notice.
Cassie nodded and closed the trunk as Allura kissed the others good-bye. "Take care of yourselves, no wild parites, and have fun."
"What´s the fun if we can´t throw a wild party while you´re away?" Pidge joked.
"Exactly, wild parties are more fun with me there," Allura winked, "You´d be surprised."
"I´m sure we would," Pidge agreed.
"Take care prin- Allie," Keith saw her roll her eyes a bit but still smile at him. He shrugged, "Old habits die hard!"
"I know, bye!" Allura hopped into the convertible, noticing Lance had left her the front seat so she could talk with her friend.
They picked up Mick and then headed out to the beach. It was an hour and a half drive and Allura was delighted to see that the beach was a few miles outside of a small village. As they drove through, they saw that it was being set up for a celebration.
"Its their yearly festival, at night there´s a huge bonfire in the center of the village and they dance and sing. Its been a tradition here for centuries, although before the dances were a bit more ceremonial, they asked for good weather and no terrible storms." Mick explained.
"Sounds like fun!" Allura said, noticing all the happy people.
"We could come tonight if you´d like," he offered
"Yeah!" Allura and Cassie said, sitting back as they left the village.
They arrived at the beach house twenty minutes later and were recieved by an older lady who´d been waiting for them.
"I hope your drive was pleasant, Mr Delany told us yesterday to prepare the house for guests."
Mick smiled, "I know I can always count on you Mrs Yvonne."
Allura stared at the lady as she heard him say her name, "Mrs Yvonne?"
"Yes dear?" the lady smiled, suddenly looking at her wide-eyed as she recognized her, "Its you! Oh little miss how are you?!"
"Fine, I´m just fine, oh Mrs Yvonne its so good to see you!" Allura hugged her and was surprised when the old lady started crying.
"What´s the matter?" Lance asked.
"I was just so worried about my little one, you were completely out of place in that..." Mrs Yvonne was cut off by Mick.
"Where´s Cristine?" his tone of voice was cold and he gave her a look.
"Oh yes, Cristine went to the village for the festival, she hadn´t taken a day off this week to be able to attend. Since you called so late last night, it broke my heart to tell her she couldn´t go after she´d been so excited so I let her go early this morning." Mrs Yvonne excused herself and went inside the house.
Lance looked at Allura, wondering what the woman had been about to say when Mick cut her off. To his surprise, the princess looked kind of pale and had tears in her eyes as she watched the older lady go inside. When he put his arm around her shoulder, she snapped out of her thoughts and turned to smile at him.
"What do you think of the house?" she asked
"It looks pretty nice," he said, looking over the small building. He turned to the beach and noticed there were two levels, meaning there was a small overhang a few yards away from the house and a lower beach below.
The house itself, was actually quite interesting if you took in the triangular shape of the upper floors. Going inside, they were impressed by the large windows looking out to the ocean. The living room was small but well furnished with bamboo furniture and a nice glass coffee table. Beside it was the cozy little dinning room with a small table with four chairs, also bamboo. To the right of that was the kitchen and the stairs for the second and third floors.
On each floor was a large bedroom, the first decorated in white and light blue, with small shells and sea animals as decoration on the walls and furniture. The second room was more darkly furnished, with a black bedroom set and maroon sheets and blankets. Only a few decorations were spread about the room and unlike all the other windows, the ones in the top room were tinted, making the room even darker.
"You guys will be in the first bedroom, and we´ll sleep in the darker one," Cassie told them as she took her bag up to her room.
"That´s fine," Allura smiled, relieved not to be sleeping in the dark room.
After unpacking their stuff, they sat down to a quick lunch before beginning to make plans.
"So what do you guys want to do?" Mick asked, noticing Allura leaning into Lance on the sofa. He had his arm around her shoulders and her back rested against his side.
"You know, the sun´s perfect for getting a tan," Cassie said, coming out of the kitchen with a couple of beers.
"What do you say Allie?" she asked, handing one to her.
"Sounds great," Allura stood with the beer in hand and excused herself to go change into her swimsuit.
"We´d better go change too," Cassie and Mick both went upstairs, Lance left in the living room. Allura came back down and told him to go up and change.
"You´re done?" he said, standing and was surprised when she shook her head and headed up with him.
"But it´d be kind of weird if we, the married couple, didn´t change together don´t you think?" Allura said as she closed the door behind them.
"I guess, so where´s the bathroom?" Lance grabbed his suit and looked around.
"There isn´t one connected to this room," Allura shrugged and picked up his towel, "So we improvise."
She held up the towel over her head behind her, facing the door where there was no mirror. "You change first, you´re faster."
"Okkkk..." Lance kept his t-shirt on, changing into his shorts quickly.
They switched places and Allura changed quickly also, keeping her t-shirt on just in case. When she was done, Lance took both their towels downstairs while Allura fixed her hair into a bun so it wouldn´t be in her way. She met up with him in the living room and they went outside to where Mick and Cassie were waiting, Cassie was sitting on her towel while Mick kicked a soccer ball around.
"Either of you up for a game?" he asked
"I´m in," Lance handed her the towels and was surprised to see she´d brought the beer with her. "You are not drinking that."
"Oh really?" Allura arched an eyebrow at him, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Now you´ve done it!" Cassie laughed.
"Nah, its not worth the trouble of fighting with him," Allura spread her towel on the sand and dropped his next to it. "Especially when he´s right, I´m not drinking it."
She opened the beer and poured some into her hand, spreading it evenly over her body. Cassie noticed Lance´s perplexed expression and laughed, "Beer´s a great tanning lotion, didn´t you know?"
"Never heard of such a thing," he shrugged and followed Mick a few yards away to start up the match.
They played two rounds of soccer, one of volleyball, and threw a disk back and forth while the girls tanned. After getting tired of staying on the beach, they used the excuse of leaving their glasses on the towels to sneak up on the sleeping girls and give them a rude awakening.
"Don´t you dare!" Allura wrapped her arms around Lance´s neck almost painfully as he ran with her into the water.
"You´ve been lying around long enough you bum," he laughed as she tried to avoid the water as much as possible. Once in deep enough, he leaned back and dunked himself and her into the water completely.
Allura released him and gasped for air, wiping salt water out of her eyes to glare at her laughing husband. "That was so mean Lance! I didn´t want to get wet!"
"Then why come to the beach?" he laughed and pulled her close as he saw her teeth chattering. Her arms snaked around his chest and her head settled beneath his chin as she rested her cheek over his heartbeat.
"The water´s freezing," she shivered as a colder undercurrent swept over them and pressed closer to him for warmth.
"You´ll get warmer if you swim," Lance felt her shake her head and sighed, "Come on, you´re only going to freeze if we stay like this."
"I wouldn´t be freezing if you hadn´t brought me in here," Allura looked up at him with a pout.
"Sorry for thinking you looked overly warm lying there under the hot sun," Lance glanced at Mick and Cassie and saw that Cassie had smacked him upside the head and was on the beach again drying herself with her towel. Mick wasn´t smiling as he turned to look at the couple a few yards farther into the water.
Before Allura could complain any more, he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, smiling as he pulled away and asked her to swim with him. Allura smiled back and agreed since she was already there. Noticing Mick was coming over to them, she stepped back, slipping one of her hands into his.
"Why´d Cassie get out?" she asked calmly.
"She´s not much for swimming, just tanning," he glanced in her direction to see her lying face down on her towel.
"That´s a shame, the water´s not that bad," Allura turned away from both of them and moved further into the water to where her toes barely touched bottom.
"You´re lucky to have her you know," Mick watched as Allura smiled and dunked under water.
"I know," Lance noticed the hungry look in Mick´s eyes as he watched her and felt a strange uneasiness form in the pit of his stomach.
"Shall we join her?" Mick smiled and headed in her direction.
Lance nodded and was about to follow when Cassie called out from the beach. Being closest, he turned and went closer to hear what she said, glancing back at Allura and Mick uncomfortably when he followed her up to the beach house.
"Thanks Lance, Mrs Yvonne said she´d make us lunch but its too heavy for her to carry and too much for me to carry alone." Cassie smiled and handed him a towel, leading the way.
"Its no problem, I just hope they don´t wonder where we went," Lance said as they went up the steps to the upper part of the beach.
***********
Gotta end the chapter there - I hope to have the next one up much sooner, but my computer´s busted so I have little time to type at school. Hope you liked the chapter - see you soon!
Don´t forget to review!
- K.C. -
~ Lyrics
" " Speaking
[] Thoughts
***********
"Thanks," Allura smiled and took the package from Hunk, going upstairs to her room to change.
[Wonder what it is] She shook the box close to her ear, noticing it sounded like a lot of small things. [Whatever they are, they´re definitely not heavy]
Sitting on her bed, she took the last bite of her cookie and read the short note taped to the box.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Allie & Lance,
Just a gift for your anniversary,
hope you enjoy!
love, Maru.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"How sweet!"
Allura quickly ripped the tape holding it closed and turned the box over to dump the contents on her bed.
"OH MY GOD!" she quickly picked the small packages up and threw them back in the box, closing it again and running into the closet to hid it.
"What?!" Lance came into the room wearing a towel he´d quickly wrapped around his waist. "Allie?"
She came out of the closet and blushed as she noticed his state of undress. "Sorry, go back to your shower, everything´s fine."
"Or it will be as soon as I call Maru," she mumbled under her breath.
"Are you sure? What made you..." Lance noticed her blushing and wondered why. [She´s seen me shirtless before]
"Nothing, I just remembered I have to call Maru about something. You go back to your shower." She smiled to re-assure him and ran out of the room to call Maru from downstairs.
"Women!" Lance sighed and went back into the bathroom to get dressed.
Downstairs, Allura grabbed the phone from the living room and went into the music room, where she was never disturbed. Dialing quickly, she was relieved that Maru answered the phone.
(M) "Hello?"
"You evil brat! How COUld you?!" Allura flopped down in her favorite chair and heard Maru laugh.
(M) "I thought you might need them, who knows if you´ve been good."
(A) "I assure you, if I needed those items, I´d have bought them myself!"
(M) "Or made him buy them right? So how go things?"
(A) "Ok, we´re enjoying ourselves, all of us, and I saw Cassie yesterday. We might go out with her and her fiancée, but you wouldn´t believe who it is."
(M) "Who?"
(A) "Mick Delaney"
(M) "No way! How?!"
(A) "I don´t know, but I´m not sure about what I should do. Do I tell her what a horrible person her husband-to-be is or do I keep quiet and watch her make the worst mistake of her life?"
(M) "Tell her, I´d want you to tell me."
(A) "I know, its the right thing to do, but if I tell her I´ll have to explain about before and..."
(M) "I thought you were over that."
(A) "I thought so too."
(M) "How´s your husband? Being good?"
(A) "He´s great, I´m really happy actually, and I don´t think I´ve ever slept so well in my life."
(M) "You mean you actually sleep? I thought for sure you´d be busy having fun."
(A) "Fun?"
(M) "YOU KNOW!"
(A) "NO! I have not had any of that kind of fun, and I remind you that I will NEVER have that kind of fun becuase..."
(M) "Yeah I know, but you should really try it sometime."
(A) "Wait a minute, have you been having fun?"
(M) "Maybe"
(A) "Maru! I can´t believe you! Although of course I can´t blame you."
(M) "Of course not."
(A) "I´m actually surprised you took so long."
(M) "Yeah well, you know how things have been, but now that we´re engaged..."
Allura laughed, "I know and I´m happy for you both."
With her back to the doorway, she didn´t notice Lance, who´d come to tell her lunch was ready. He stopped as he heard her laugh.
"Although its not fair that I´m the married one and YOU get all the action." She laughed again and shook her head. "No I´m not saying that I would sleep with him, although he is cute and all... Ken!"
[Ken?] Lance knocked on the door and called her name, "Lunch is ready."
"Okay!" she turned and told him she´d be right there. "I´ve gotta go Mar, I´ll call you... my anniversary?"
(M) "Yeah what are your plans?"
Allura shrugged, "I don´t think we´re doing anything, I mean, I know Lance remembers because he told Mick about it yesterday but he hasn´t mentioned any plans."
"The sandwhiches are getting cold you guys!" Hunk stuck his head in the living room and yelled.
"Coming!" Allura laughed and quickly said her good-byes to Maru. Leaving the phone in its place she walked beside Lance to the kitchen where Hunk was sitting down.
"Cold sandwhiches?" Lance smirked.
"The recipe says they´re to be eaten warm," Hunk explained, "So what are you guys gonna do tonight?"
"Nothing," Lance turned to Allie, "Is there something you´d like to do or somewhere you´d like to go?"
"No, I´d been thinking about going to visit Jennie at the hospital," she took a bite and smiled in approval at Hunk.
"Well I´m going to the gym after lunch and I have a date tonight so I won´t be back early." he took another bite of his sandwhich.
"With Tanya?" Lance asked
Hunk nodded and checked his watch. Hurrying to finish his sandwhich, he left them there, excusing himself. "I have to hurry or I won´t make it to her work on time. See you later!"
"Bye Hunk! Thanks!" Allura sighed and finished her sandwhich.
She and Lance finished and cleaned up in silence, finally broken when Lance asked. "So what was that about Ken? You mentioned him when I went to tell you about lunch."
Allura blushed again, "Nothing."
"Really?" Lance gave her a disbelieving look but dropped the subject.
"What do you want to do?" he asked once the dishes were washed and put away.
"I really don´t know," Allura walked with him upstairs and picked up a magazine from the table as they sat in the tv room. Flipping through it, she sighed as she saw a picture of a beach house.
"This looks like fun," she showed it to Lance.
He took the magazine, "You want to go to the beach?"
"Yeah, we haven´t gone yet," Allura picked up the phone as it rang.
(A) "Hey Cassie! How are you?"
(C) "Fine, just wanted to see what you guys are doing tomorrow so we could go out."
(A) "Nothing as of yet, we were commenting of how much fun it would be to go to the beach."
(C) "Yeah! Want to go? Mick has a nice two-bedroom, waterfront beach house not too far from the city. We could leave early tomorrow and spend the weekend there."
Allura hesitated, "Hold on, let me put you on speakerphone so Lance can listen and give his opinion."
She clicked the phone into speaker mode and hung up the reciever. Lance and Cassie said their hello´s and then went over the idea of the beach house.
"Sounds like fun, I´d be up for it." Lance looked at Allie, wondering how she felt about the idea.
"Me too," she said.
Cassie could be heard opening a notebook, "Great! Then here´s what we´ll do. I´ll drop by your apartment tomorrow morning at... about eleven. We´ll go from there to pick up Mick at his office because he has to drop off some paperwork, and then go to the beach."
"All right, then we´ll see you tomorrow Cassie," Lance kept his eyes on Allura.
"Sure thing, bye!" Cassie quickly hung up.
Allura hung up also and bit her lip nervously. Lance watched for a moment quietly before asking what was the matter.
"I´m gonna need a bathing suit," she smiled and stood, holding out her hand. "Come shopping with me?"
"Sure," Lance set down the magazine as he got up, taking hold of her hand as they went downstairs and picked up his keys.
During the car ride, Allura seemed more cheerful and sang along loudly to the radio. Since the mall she liked was across town, they took a while to arrive and she´d decided where she was going to buy the suit by the time they parked.
"There´s that store that sells all those sports outfits and has both men´s and women´s suits."
"I have a bathing suit!" Lance protested.
"Not a decent one, and believe me, you have to have the best." Allura smiled, "Wouldn´t want my husband out-done by Cassie´s fiancée."
"Who cares about that?" Lance whined.
"Me and Cassie," Allura dragged him to the store and over to the men´s department. They picked out a few suits before he went to try them on.
Being in as good shape as he was, Allura wasn´t surprised when all the suits looked good on him. They eliminated a dark blue one because of the color and a yellow one because it was too bright.
"Green or Red?" Lance asked, wearing the green one.
"Green," Allura decided, forcing herself not to focus on his lean chest and marked abs. [Just think of... anything but his body!]
"Green it is then... are you sure?" Lance asked, looking into a mirror.
"And you say women are picky shoppers!" Allura laughed and came over to see him in the mirror. [Wow]
"I just don´t know if the green´s a good choice," Lance explained.
Allura nodded, "Look, you have great eyes, which look even sexier when contrasted with the dark green. It accentuates the green specks in them."
Lance gave a sly grin, "They look even what?"
Allura caught her mistake and gave him a playful glare in the mirror, "Don´t get any ideas buddy."
"But you just said..." he smiled and pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder and saw her smile.
"I didn´t mean it," she was saved as the saleslady came over to them.
"Finally decided on the green?" she asked, smiling as she saw what a cute couple they made. [Must be newlyweds] she thought as she noticed their rings.
"Yes, he´ll take the green." Allura stepped away and Lance nodded as he went into the changing room.
"Would you like to see any suits for yourself?" the young lady asked.
"Actually, yes, we came here for a suit for me and suddenly decided he´d need one too." Allura followed her over to the women´s section and was being shown some of the most popular models when Lance caught up with them.
"I´ll take this to the cashier and leave you to choose," the lady took the suit from Lance and did as she´d said.
"What do you think?" Allura asked, holding up a black, one-piece suit.
Lance gave it a sweeping glance and raised his eyebrow at her, "You´re joking right?"
"No!" Allura pouted and looked at the suit in her hand, "What´s wrong with it?"
"Its not you," Lance took it away and began walking through the aisles, pulling out suits as he found them.
He came back with five suits and handed them over to her, "Go try these on."
"But they´re all bikini´s!" Allura whined.
"Exactly, if I´ve gotta out-do Mick, I can´t let my wife be out-done by Cassie." He pushed her towards the nearby dressing room and closed the curtain after her.
"But I don´t want to be half-naked in front of him, that´s exactly why I wanted a new suit! I already have a bikini remember?" Allura said, sticking her head out to look for another suit.
"The only one who´s coming anywhere near you is me Ally, and if I have to look sexier, so do you." He grinned as she blushed and stuck her head back in.
A few moments later, she stuck her head back out and motioned for him to come over.
"There´s no way we´ll both fit in that little booth Allie, come out," Lance said.
After a slight hesitation, Allura came out, wearing a red bikini. It was a simple model, just plain red with a small bow in between the cups of the bra. The color, however, didn´t suit Allura.
She tried on three more, one green, one black, and a pink one. "I am not buying another pink suit," Allura told him when he told her to take that one.
"But the color looks really good on you," Lance said, making an effort not to gape. Being a halter top suit, the spagetti straps looked really good, both on the top and the bottom, where they tied on either side of her hips.
He noticed a salesman a few aisles down had stopped putting suits away to stare and told her to quickly change. Allura tried on the last suit, another halter top with spaghetti straps, but it was a bright blue which also brought out the color of her eyes.
"That´s it!" Lance said, standing in front of the booth to block the view of her, still bothered by the other guy´s staring earlier.
"Are you sure I have to buy a two piece?" Allura asked, noticing how much of her body was exposed.
"Most definitely," Lance grinned and told her to hurry and change so they could go.
Once the suits were paid for, they bought a couple of towels at another store, some suntan lotion, and then wandered around the mall aimlessly.
[What do I give her tomorrow?] Lance wondered, scanning the stores for a gift. Spotting something in a women´s boutique, he was relieved when Allura stopped in front of the pet shop next door.
"Oh how cute!" She went inside to look at the puppies and nodded absently as he told her he was going to the restrooms. "Fine, I´ll stay here!"
He headed out and quickly went into the boutique next door. After talking to the saleslady there and making arrangements, he went to the store she pointed out to him and made more arrangements with the manager there. Once done with his errand, he went back to the pet shop and wasn´t surprised to see Allura waiting for him by the door.
"What took you so long?" she asked.
"I ran into one of the guys from the gym and was caught up talking for a few minutes," he explained, relieved when she accepted the excuse and asked to go home. "Tired?"
"Yeah," Allura walked towards the parking lot and was quiet during the ride home. [How can I tell Cassie about Mick?]
They arrived home and put away their stuff, packing a bag for their weekend away. Allura checked the answering machine and was annoyed to find a message from Mick about the trip. He had called to tell them not to worry about towels, beach chairs, or any of that because they had it at the apartment, also food and restaurants nearby.
Allura made a face and erased the message, jumping when Lance asked from behind her, "What´d he do?"
"What´d he do?" she repeated.
"Mick, during your last vacation," he noticed her shiver and wrapped her in his arms. "What was it?"
Allura felt his warmth and sighed as she leaned against him, "I can´t tell you, I´m sorry but..."
"Why?" he asked, annoyed by her hesitation.
"Because I can´t," Allura whispered, "Because I don´t want to lose you too."
"Lose me? Who else did you lose?" Lance wondered.
"Teddy" Allura answered, "I told him about what happened and he left."
Lance frowned, "I thought you said he was your best friend?"
"He was, but he was raised with a different mind set, we´re total opposites. I thought he´d help me when I told him, but he changed completely and then the war got worse..." she sighed and closed her eyes.
"I was wondering why he hadn´t called," Lance shrugged and pulled back to look at her, "But you should know better than to think I´d leave you too Allie. I´m sure whatever it was won´t change my mind about you."
Allura looked up at him surprised, noticing the sincerity in his eyes with a smile, "Thanks Lance, that means a lot."
"So?" he waited for an answer and wasn´t surprised when she changed the subject.
"We´d better go to bed early if we´re going at nine instead of eleven, we´ll have to get up around eight." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going to change into her pj´s.
"Its barely seven thirty!" Lance yelled.
"So we´ll watch a movie!" Allura yelled back, changing quickly.
[I´ll find out somehow] Lance went into their room to change out of his jeans.
***********
"Nice car," Lance told Cassie as he put their bag in the trunk.
"Thanks, that´s all you´re taking?" she asked.
"Just a bag for both of us," Lance said, putting away a smaller one that Allura didn´t notice.
Cassie nodded and closed the trunk as Allura kissed the others good-bye. "Take care of yourselves, no wild parites, and have fun."
"What´s the fun if we can´t throw a wild party while you´re away?" Pidge joked.
"Exactly, wild parties are more fun with me there," Allura winked, "You´d be surprised."
"I´m sure we would," Pidge agreed.
"Take care prin- Allie," Keith saw her roll her eyes a bit but still smile at him. He shrugged, "Old habits die hard!"
"I know, bye!" Allura hopped into the convertible, noticing Lance had left her the front seat so she could talk with her friend.
They picked up Mick and then headed out to the beach. It was an hour and a half drive and Allura was delighted to see that the beach was a few miles outside of a small village. As they drove through, they saw that it was being set up for a celebration.
"Its their yearly festival, at night there´s a huge bonfire in the center of the village and they dance and sing. Its been a tradition here for centuries, although before the dances were a bit more ceremonial, they asked for good weather and no terrible storms." Mick explained.
"Sounds like fun!" Allura said, noticing all the happy people.
"We could come tonight if you´d like," he offered
"Yeah!" Allura and Cassie said, sitting back as they left the village.
They arrived at the beach house twenty minutes later and were recieved by an older lady who´d been waiting for them.
"I hope your drive was pleasant, Mr Delany told us yesterday to prepare the house for guests."
Mick smiled, "I know I can always count on you Mrs Yvonne."
Allura stared at the lady as she heard him say her name, "Mrs Yvonne?"
"Yes dear?" the lady smiled, suddenly looking at her wide-eyed as she recognized her, "Its you! Oh little miss how are you?!"
"Fine, I´m just fine, oh Mrs Yvonne its so good to see you!" Allura hugged her and was surprised when the old lady started crying.
"What´s the matter?" Lance asked.
"I was just so worried about my little one, you were completely out of place in that..." Mrs Yvonne was cut off by Mick.
"Where´s Cristine?" his tone of voice was cold and he gave her a look.
"Oh yes, Cristine went to the village for the festival, she hadn´t taken a day off this week to be able to attend. Since you called so late last night, it broke my heart to tell her she couldn´t go after she´d been so excited so I let her go early this morning." Mrs Yvonne excused herself and went inside the house.
Lance looked at Allura, wondering what the woman had been about to say when Mick cut her off. To his surprise, the princess looked kind of pale and had tears in her eyes as she watched the older lady go inside. When he put his arm around her shoulder, she snapped out of her thoughts and turned to smile at him.
"What do you think of the house?" she asked
"It looks pretty nice," he said, looking over the small building. He turned to the beach and noticed there were two levels, meaning there was a small overhang a few yards away from the house and a lower beach below.
The house itself, was actually quite interesting if you took in the triangular shape of the upper floors. Going inside, they were impressed by the large windows looking out to the ocean. The living room was small but well furnished with bamboo furniture and a nice glass coffee table. Beside it was the cozy little dinning room with a small table with four chairs, also bamboo. To the right of that was the kitchen and the stairs for the second and third floors.
On each floor was a large bedroom, the first decorated in white and light blue, with small shells and sea animals as decoration on the walls and furniture. The second room was more darkly furnished, with a black bedroom set and maroon sheets and blankets. Only a few decorations were spread about the room and unlike all the other windows, the ones in the top room were tinted, making the room even darker.
"You guys will be in the first bedroom, and we´ll sleep in the darker one," Cassie told them as she took her bag up to her room.
"That´s fine," Allura smiled, relieved not to be sleeping in the dark room.
After unpacking their stuff, they sat down to a quick lunch before beginning to make plans.
"So what do you guys want to do?" Mick asked, noticing Allura leaning into Lance on the sofa. He had his arm around her shoulders and her back rested against his side.
"You know, the sun´s perfect for getting a tan," Cassie said, coming out of the kitchen with a couple of beers.
"What do you say Allie?" she asked, handing one to her.
"Sounds great," Allura stood with the beer in hand and excused herself to go change into her swimsuit.
"We´d better go change too," Cassie and Mick both went upstairs, Lance left in the living room. Allura came back down and told him to go up and change.
"You´re done?" he said, standing and was surprised when she shook her head and headed up with him.
"But it´d be kind of weird if we, the married couple, didn´t change together don´t you think?" Allura said as she closed the door behind them.
"I guess, so where´s the bathroom?" Lance grabbed his suit and looked around.
"There isn´t one connected to this room," Allura shrugged and picked up his towel, "So we improvise."
She held up the towel over her head behind her, facing the door where there was no mirror. "You change first, you´re faster."
"Okkkk..." Lance kept his t-shirt on, changing into his shorts quickly.
They switched places and Allura changed quickly also, keeping her t-shirt on just in case. When she was done, Lance took both their towels downstairs while Allura fixed her hair into a bun so it wouldn´t be in her way. She met up with him in the living room and they went outside to where Mick and Cassie were waiting, Cassie was sitting on her towel while Mick kicked a soccer ball around.
"Either of you up for a game?" he asked
"I´m in," Lance handed her the towels and was surprised to see she´d brought the beer with her. "You are not drinking that."
"Oh really?" Allura arched an eyebrow at him, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Now you´ve done it!" Cassie laughed.
"Nah, its not worth the trouble of fighting with him," Allura spread her towel on the sand and dropped his next to it. "Especially when he´s right, I´m not drinking it."
She opened the beer and poured some into her hand, spreading it evenly over her body. Cassie noticed Lance´s perplexed expression and laughed, "Beer´s a great tanning lotion, didn´t you know?"
"Never heard of such a thing," he shrugged and followed Mick a few yards away to start up the match.
They played two rounds of soccer, one of volleyball, and threw a disk back and forth while the girls tanned. After getting tired of staying on the beach, they used the excuse of leaving their glasses on the towels to sneak up on the sleeping girls and give them a rude awakening.
"Don´t you dare!" Allura wrapped her arms around Lance´s neck almost painfully as he ran with her into the water.
"You´ve been lying around long enough you bum," he laughed as she tried to avoid the water as much as possible. Once in deep enough, he leaned back and dunked himself and her into the water completely.
Allura released him and gasped for air, wiping salt water out of her eyes to glare at her laughing husband. "That was so mean Lance! I didn´t want to get wet!"
"Then why come to the beach?" he laughed and pulled her close as he saw her teeth chattering. Her arms snaked around his chest and her head settled beneath his chin as she rested her cheek over his heartbeat.
"The water´s freezing," she shivered as a colder undercurrent swept over them and pressed closer to him for warmth.
"You´ll get warmer if you swim," Lance felt her shake her head and sighed, "Come on, you´re only going to freeze if we stay like this."
"I wouldn´t be freezing if you hadn´t brought me in here," Allura looked up at him with a pout.
"Sorry for thinking you looked overly warm lying there under the hot sun," Lance glanced at Mick and Cassie and saw that Cassie had smacked him upside the head and was on the beach again drying herself with her towel. Mick wasn´t smiling as he turned to look at the couple a few yards farther into the water.
Before Allura could complain any more, he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, smiling as he pulled away and asked her to swim with him. Allura smiled back and agreed since she was already there. Noticing Mick was coming over to them, she stepped back, slipping one of her hands into his.
"Why´d Cassie get out?" she asked calmly.
"She´s not much for swimming, just tanning," he glanced in her direction to see her lying face down on her towel.
"That´s a shame, the water´s not that bad," Allura turned away from both of them and moved further into the water to where her toes barely touched bottom.
"You´re lucky to have her you know," Mick watched as Allura smiled and dunked under water.
"I know," Lance noticed the hungry look in Mick´s eyes as he watched her and felt a strange uneasiness form in the pit of his stomach.
"Shall we join her?" Mick smiled and headed in her direction.
Lance nodded and was about to follow when Cassie called out from the beach. Being closest, he turned and went closer to hear what she said, glancing back at Allura and Mick uncomfortably when he followed her up to the beach house.
"Thanks Lance, Mrs Yvonne said she´d make us lunch but its too heavy for her to carry and too much for me to carry alone." Cassie smiled and handed him a towel, leading the way.
"Its no problem, I just hope they don´t wonder where we went," Lance said as they went up the steps to the upper part of the beach.
***********
Gotta end the chapter there - I hope to have the next one up much sooner, but my computer´s busted so I have little time to type at school. Hope you liked the chapter - see you soon!
Don´t forget to review!
- K.C. -