Queen Luana : I'm back ! Sorry to have kept you all waiting. I blame my post holiday laziness. But I'm back now and hey guess what, I've written two chapters in a row but I'll be leaving some space in between them (to give you some time to review muahahaaa). Probably a day, like my usual time between updates. I've been to Dover last Thursday. Who knows, you may've passed me by. But well, here it is, chapter number seven.

Sun cream and towels

"Dress up sexy and go parading. Be confident about yourself again."

Zell whistled when he stuffed two large beach towels in his sports bag, along with his black and red swimming trunks. Today was Saturday, his final chance before the bash this Sunday. But things were going smoothly. Selphie felt better, he could tell. And she loved to party so after Sunday, she'd be joyful, cheery and the Selphie they knew so well again.

Today was hot. Plain hot. Perhaps the hottest it had been all year. So the beach was where they were headed. With this day being so hot, even Fastitocalons would remain buried in the cool sand, away from the burning rays of sunlight.

Zell zipped up his bag and left the room. He'd checked in on Selphie half an hour ago. She seemed ready for some beach action.

"Selphie!" Zell knocked again. "Hurry up or all the good spots will be taken!"

The door swung open. "Just one second!" Selphie was already in her yellow strapless bikini and now snatched her yellow dress from her bed. She pulled it over her head hastily and then put on a pair of black flip-flops. "There, ready!"

Zell smiled. Even still a few meters apart, he could smell the sweet scent of sun cream. Her body shimmered with it. "Okay, grab your stuff and on we go."

The strand was crowded to say the least. They had to tiptoe their way through spread towels, sandcastles and parasols to finally find a nice little spot not too far away from the water. But as they went, Zell could already tell that the beach had been a smart move. Selphie was gazed after by several blokes and he could swear that he even heard a whistle. And Selphie smiled gleefully, enjoying the attention and turning her hips just a little bit more than usual.

"Perfect!" Selphie smiled and kicked off her flip-flops while Zell unzipped his bag and pulled out two towels.

"One for you," he said and tossed her a red one. "And one for me." He took the other yellowish towel and spread him out on the sand. When he stood up he saw Selphie was looking him up and down. "What?"

"Are you going to wear that?" she asked him and nodded at his outfit. Zell looked down at his Bermuda's and black t-shirt.

"Yeah, maybe I should get into my trunks," he said and rummaged through the other stuff in his bag until he found them. He observed the vicinity and located a couple of dressing rooms about a hundred meters away, but the line seemed endless with sweaty grumpy people with nagging children. "That could take forever!" he groaned.

"Oh, never mind those," Selphie said. She'd retrieved a pair of sunglasses from her own shoulder bag, which she placed on the tip of her nose. "Here let me hold you a towel." She crouched and took the towel, shaking off the sand as she got up.

Zell blushed. "What? Right here? In the middle of a beach? Are you crazy?"

Selphie rolled her eyes. "They won't see anything." She shook the towel imploringly and with a moan Zell let her wrap it around him. Why hadn't he put them on back in his room? With the towel wrapped over his arms, right below his shoulders, it narrowly reached Zell's knees. He avoided Selphie's look as he carefully slid out of his Bermuda's and his boxers, keeping his trunk clenched in one fist. Slowly, afraid to lose his balance, he stepped into his trunks, one foot after another and pulled them up. Selphie dropped the towel. "Tadaah!"

He quickly checked whether everything was in the right place and sighed in relief. Thank goodness…

"Come on, Zelly," Selphie said, "let's go and try the water!" And off she went, leaving Zell to trot behind her, manoeuvring himself between various small children and sunbathing adults.

Selphie skipped into the water and shuddered. "Ooh, chilly."

With a boyish smirk he swept her over his shoulder. "Now, don't you go all dull on me," he said and ignored her screams and imploring to let her go. He waited for the next wave to come, then dropped her.

Selphie shrieked and crawled back to her feet. Her sunglasses were dangling from her ears and she quickly placed them on her head. "You'll pay for that, Zell Dincht!" She chased him through the waves, splashing her hands in the water in an attempt to soak him but he was quick and dexterous. But Selphie wouldn't give up. In the end she jumped on his back, causing him to lose balance and both of them splashed into an upcoming wave.

Zell must've swallowed half a gallon of water before he resurfaced and gasped for air. The salt stung his eyes and he rubbed them painfully. Then, as his sight began to unblur, he saw Selphie sitting in the water, laughing triumphantly.

"That's for the bruised bum!" she said and got back to her feet. She winced at the sun. "Phew, better rub myself in again." She skipped out of the water again, back to their spot.

When Zell got out of the water himself he could feel the sun burning and decided it was time to give himself a bit of sun cream as well. When he reached their towels Selphie tossed him a tube of sun lotion. She smiled, pushed the sunglasses back on her nose and rolled onto her belly.

Zell swallowed. She had to be kidding. Washing her hair had been one thing, seeing her naked had almost been too much. Now she expected him to put some oil on her back?

"I'm waiting!" she said singsong.

With some hesitation he kneeled down next to her and squeezed some sun lotion in the palm of his hand. Just stop thinking, and rub. He scooped up some of the cream with his other hand. He waited so did Selphie, curiously whether he would. Zell sighed. Just get it over with!

Selphie shuddered when the cold sun cream touched her back and Zell rubbed it in gently. In the end he decided it'd be better if he used both his hands, so after squeezing out some more sun cream he massaged it into her skin. Okay, cool, no trouble. When he was finished he rubbed his hands clean on his trunks and Selphie rolled on her back. "Okay, your turn now," she said and motioned him to lie down.

"Oh, that's okay…" he uttered but she flipped him over and pressed him down on his towel.

"I'd like to see you rub your own back," she said and took the tube from the hot sand. "Here we go."

Zell felt like sinking into the ground when she sat down on his lower back, both her legs pressed against his hips.

"Watch it!"

He bobbed up when a squirt of sun cream hit his back.

"Relax," Selphie soothed him and started massaging his back with it.

Zell kept his fists clenched the entire time and even when she slid off his back he didn't dare to move. He just lied there, wishing the ground would just open and swallow him. Selphie didn't notice however. She had lied down on her back and enjoyed a bit of sunbathing. Even when Zell felt his back catching sunburn he didn't move, he just lied there, focusing on the grains of sand in front of his eyes. Then he closed his eyes, focussing on his breathing. Focus. Focus. Focus.

He had almost drifted into a slumber when Selphie suddenly shrieked: "Zell, your back!"

He got to his knees and touched the back of his shoulder carefully. It was hot and it stung as he ran a fingertip across his skin.

"Don't you know you have to change sides every now and then?" Selphie asked him and draped her towel around his shoulder. The fabric grazed along his skin and he winced painfully. "We better go back," she said. "You can't stay in the sun like this. Aw, and I wanted to burry you…" Nonetheless she helped him up and wrapped the towel around him again so he could get changed.

Zell stepped out of his trunks, carefully not to let the towel brush his skin too harshly. And then it happened. It had been inevitable. A couple of kids had been running in between the towels and parasols for some time now, and now, passing them, one of them accidentally hit Selphie. It almost seemed to happen in a painful slow motion to Zell.

Selphie lost her balance and not only did she fall down, she pulled the towel along with her. Before he could stop it the red towel was lying pointlessly at his feet together with Selphie, who didn't dare to raise her head to look at what she had done. The few seconds that Zell stood there, quite literally butt naked, passed by in pure silence. Then that silence was filled with wolf whistles and cheering and laughing and, sadly enough, pointing.

The red on his back was nothing compared to his face while he quickly leaned over to snatch his towel from the ground and cover up everything as fast as possible. After tying the towel around his waist he looked down at Selphie, who gazed up at him, hands pressed fiercely against her mouth to prevent Zell from hearing her laugh. But her jolting body proved more than anything that she was having a laughing fit.

Cautiously, yet quickly he got into his boxers and Bermudas and started packing up. He dragged Selphie along by her arm, but all the way back to Balamb Garden she kept her free hand firmly pressed against her lips.

"Just let it go, already," Zell snapped when they had reached her room.

Selphie removed her hands and now revealed the broad grin across her face. "I'm s-s-orry, Zell…" She almost seemed to be hyperventilating with giggles. "It was just so… f-f-f-funny." She pressed her face into her pillow and Zell could hear the muffled screams of laughter. "I'm sorry," she said once she had cooled down a bit. She wiped away a tear. "Here, let me put some lotion on that sunburn."

She did it the exact same way a she had put on sun cream, but Zell hardly cared anymore. How many people had seen him standing there? He should've known from the start that changing in the middle of a beach wasn't a good idea. He closed his eyes and enjoyed how the lotion cooled his burnt skin. But he had to look at it from the bright side. At least he'd made Selphie laugh. Honestly, though, he'd been through a lot of trouble to make her smile. He wanted those free hotdogs badly. Hell, he'd earned them!

"There," Selphie said and slid off his back again. He got up and put on his shirt. "Don't worry, Zell," she smiled, "just one more day."

Queen Luana: Pompompoooom. Yeah, actually I only added the beach chapter so I could put in a 'Zell-butt-naked-scene'. Mehehe. The next chapter will be up tomorrow! Zell's final day. Will he succeed or not? Find out soon!