Lance awoke, feeling something soft move through his hair. He smiled at the comforting feel of it and opened his eyes.
Lance saw Marin quickly draw her hand away from his head, biting her lip. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she asked. He was about to say that if he could wake up to her face every day, he wouldn't mind if she woke him up. But instead, he said, "Nah, I was awake before then."
She smiled and stood. She walked over to the other side of the room, looking out the window. She didn't appear to be staring at anything in particular. She was just…. staring.
Lance looked at her curiously. "What are you staring at?" he asked inquisitively. Marin snapped her head in his direction and said casually, "Oh, nothing. Just watching the sunrise."
Sunrise? Lance had always wanted to watch the sunrise (or sunset) with a girl. He stood quickly, dizziness blurring his vision momentarily, and he walked over to her side. When she saw him standing next to her, she jumped about a mile.
"Lance! You should be lying down!" she cried. She was about to push him over there but he grabbed her hands softly and whispered, "I think I can stand now." They just stared into each other's eyes for a while. Marin looked mesmerized. Lance felt it in his own face.
For a moment, everything seemed to stop as the two gazed into each other's eyes, letting the time fly by.
Suddenly Marin snapped her head back at the sun, and Lance followed suit. What just happened there? Lance thought. He just shrugged inwardly and watched the clouds turn from blue to dark orange.
Lance felt something warm and soft grip his hand. He looked down secretively and, sure enough, Marin had grabbed his hand. A surge of adrenaline shot through his body and he smiled inwardly. This is awesome, he thought.
"You know, Lance," Marin started as she looked back at him. Lance gave her his full attention. She'd earned it.
"What?" he asked. "I was thinking… whatever drove you to do something like that?" she asked. She never really clarified things like that. But Lance knew what she meant.
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not the kind of person that likes to stand by and watch people take advantage of women like that," Lance explained.
Marin smiled. "That's sweet," she said. Lance didn't know what to say to that. "Thank you" seemed a little tacky, and nothing else came to mind. So he just smiled back.
She laughed and took his other hand. Now they faced each other, each of their hands wrapped around the other. Lance didn't know what was going on, but he liked it. He didn't care that they had just met the previous night, he felt like he'd known her all his life.
"So…are you…busy tonight?" Lance asked. Marin perked up, a fake but innocent look on her face. She was so cute when she did that.
"Well… I do have chores all day today as usual but I think that my mother would allow the son of her former lover over," she said with a cute grin.
Lance's smile was instantly wiped off.
"How did you know?" he asked. "Well," she said. "When you asked me that question about the prince, I noticed how much you looked like the king. So I just assumed that you were him, and the look on your face proved it."
She didn't seem angry at all. This was…odd.
"You're not angry?" Lance asked. Marin shook her head. "I can understand how you would feel," she said.
Lance smiled. He was about to say something when he realized that his parents were probably worried sick about him.
"I have to go!" he cried suddenly. Marin looked a little surprised at first, and then she smiled. "Okay," she said. Lance didn't know what to do. Should he… kiss her goodbye?
Then he decided that he wanted his first kiss with her to be special. Not just a goodbye. So he gave her a quick hug, picked up his things, and left the house.