Justin quietly made his way past the guards and found the secret way back into the palace. He crept down the hallway and sneaked into Ryan’s room. He let out a huge sigh of relief as he closed the door. Justin jumped when he heard a voice behind him. “Good morning, Sir.”
Justin froze at the door and turned around. William was standing there with his arms folded. “Uh, hey William.”
“I know you‘re just now getting in,” he said, crossly.
Justin put his head down, guiltily. “Are you going to tell my parents?”
William broke into a half smile. “I’m afraid not, Sir. Mostly, because I don’t know your parents.”
He looked up, stunned. “You mean, you…”
William nodded, “I know you’re not Prince Ryan. In fact, I had a feeling you were someone else the moment you opened the door that first morning. Now I’m not going to ruin any of your plans by telling the King and Queen. However, I would like to know where the real prince is and why you’ve switched places.”
Justin smiled. “…Do you have awhile?”
Ryan grabbed Olivia’s hand and quietly sneaked up beneath Samantha’s window. “Are you sure this is the one?” he asked her.
Olivia nodded. He picked up a pebble and tapped it on the glass. They both sunk down low, hoping no one would see them. Nothing happened.
“Do it again,” Olivia said, giving him another pebble. He laughed quietly and tapped again.
Finally the curtains opened and Samantha looked down at them, obviously annoyed. She pulled open her window. “Justin and Olivia! What are you doing waking me up at 8:00 on a Saturday?”
Ryan smiled innocently at her. She was wearing her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, and pajamas with slippers. “Let us in!”
She sighed and opened up the screen as well. Ryan lifted Olivia up and watched her scramble through the window. Then he pulled himself up and entered her room. He watched Samantha climb back into her bed.
“No way!” Ryan cried, as she pulled the blankets over her head. “Come on, Olivia.”
She and Ryan took off their shoes and on the count of three they both jumped on her. “Aaaaghhh!” She screamed and sat up as the two bounced up and down on her bed. “Fine I’ll get up!”
Olivia jumped off and rolled on the floor giggling. Ryan stopped jumping as well and fell beside Samantha on the bed. She rolled onto her side and looked at him, frowning. “You’re evil,” she said. “What do you want?”
He rolled over to face her. Her pajamas had a picture of a frog wearing a crown with the words, ‘Someday, my Prince will come,’ written all over them. He almost laughed at the irony of it. “Nice PJ’s.”
She rolled her eyes. “You want to borrow ‘em? I‘m sure they‘d look good on you.” Olivia heard and laughed even harder. Ryan didn’t even realize she had never stopped giggling.
“Get dressed,” he told Sam.
“Whyyyyy?” she whined.
Olivia finally stopped giggling and peeked her head up over the bedside. “It’s a surprise!”
“Are you coming?” Sam asked her.
“Nope, I’m staying here,” she said, positively.
“Oh you are, are you?” she said, looking at Ryan. “Well, if Olivia’s not going, than I’m not going.”
Ryan sighed. “Well then, you give me no choice.” He got up from her bed and walked around to her side, picking her up over his shoulder. Despite her attempts to get free, he held her tightly and rushed her into her bathroom. He set her down in the shower and quickly turned it on before she had a chance to get out. Then he closed the shower door, laughing.
Sam screamed as the water poured down on her head. “JUSTIN RANDALL!” She jumped out of the shower, dripping wet and chased him. Before Ryan could get out of the bathroom, she grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him toward the shower. With more force than he’d ever seen a girl use, she pushed him backward into the shower and closed the door.
He stood there stunned and then turned the water off. Sam saw him looking all pathetic and busted up laughing. Ryan laughed too and stepped out of the shower. He shook his hair in front of her like a wet dog. Sam squealed and pushed him away. She grabbed towels and handed one to him.
Meanwhile, Olivia had gone downstairs to join Sam’s family at the breakfast table. “Good morning,” she chirped.
“Hello, Olivia. Justin called and said you’d be spending the day over here,” Sam’s mom said. She handed Olivia a plate of pancakes. “Samantha’s cousins are coming over so you’ll have some children to play with.”
“Thank you,” she said, delighted at the sight of pancakes, instead of her daily oatmeal.
“So where is that brother of yours, anyway?” Sam’s dad asked.
They all heard several screams from upstairs in Samantha’s room. Olivia shrugged, nonchalantly. “In the shower with Sam.”
Her parents looked at each other wide-eyed.
Samantha smiled over at Ryan and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “You’re quite the chef today, Justin.”
Ryan laughed. “Yeah, it takes a lot of skill for peanut butter and jelly to taste that good.”
The two had just finished eating their picnic lunch at the lake. Sam looked at Ryan, who was leaning back on his elbows. She kept shooing away the thoughts in her mind about how good he looked. He was wearing a wife beater with navy and white Hawaiian swim trunks and a navy baseball hat. She had convinced him to get the swim trunks when he came into her store, and now she was grateful for her own persistence. “So what do we do now?”
Ryan looked over at Sam in the same moment noticing how pretty she looked. She was wearing a light yellow spaghetti strapped shirt and a denim skirt over her bikini. He could see the ties pulled around her neck and tried to keep his mind off of it. He remembered her question and pointed above them to a cliff extending over the lake. On it was a tree with a rope tied to one of its branches.
“You don’t mean…”
“Yep.”
“But we’re not gonna…”
“Oh yeah.”
“You can’t be serious.”
He just smiled mischievously and stood up. He reached for her hand, “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”
She looked at him, doubtfully and took his hand. “Really?”
“Nope.”
“Justin!”
“Just come on,” he said, pulling her up.
Ryan held her hand and led her up the cliff. They stopped when they reached the top. He proceeded to take off his wife beater and threw it down toward their picnic blanket. He was definitely more toned than she could remember. Sam shyly followed his lead and pulled her tank top over her head. She slipped her skirt off as well and tossed them down with Ryan’s wife beater. Standing in her bikini, she glanced down at the water nervously.
Ryan reached out grabbed the rope. “It’s not that high. I promise you’ll be fine.”
She still looked unsure, leaning over the edge to see exactly how high they were. “If I get hurt, I’ll never forgive you.“
He laughed. “So that means you’ll do it! Yes!”
She looked down again and was scared all of a sudden. “I don’t know if I can do this, J.”
Ryan smiled softly at her. “Do you want me to make the first jump with you?”
Her eyes looked up at him, hopefully. “Could you?”
He nodded. “I’ll hold onto the rope and you hold onto me. You can’t let go, though, okay? I don‘t want you to get hurt.”
She nodded.
“Come here,” he said. As she came toward him, both of their hearts began beating faster. Samantha tried to ignore the butterflies as she wrapped her arms around Ryan’s neck and gripped his shoulders. He pulled her upper body up against him as her legs wrapped around his waist. Then he half smiled as her nails dug into his skin. “You okay?”
She nodded again, releasing her death grip on him. “Sorry, yeah.”
He grabbed the rope behind her and looked into her eyes. She felt the butterflies come back as she locked eyes with him. ‘His face is close enough to…stop it!’ she said to herself.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
She nodded burying her head in between his shoulders and neck. “Just go, before I change my mind.”
He breathed a laugh and pulled the rope closer to him. “Okay, hold your breath. Here goes…” He took off running and then jumped off the cliff. They swung out over the lake and then he let go of the rope as she screamed into his neck. Then they took a deep breath and held it as they hit the water with a giant splash.
Their heads popped up seconds later. Samantha laughed. “That was SO awesome! OH MY GOSH, I’ve never been so scared!”
Ryan just laughed, noticing that she had never let go of him. “You did great, Sam.”
She smiled and realized she was still wrapped completely around him. But didn’t want to let go and pretended not to notice. They just smiled at each other as the water dripped down their faces and glistened in the sun.
Ryan didn’t know if it was the adrenaline from the jump, or the fact that she hadn’t pulled away, but he suddenly got a burst of courage. He leaned in and captured her lips, immediately knowing it was the right things to do. Sam pulled his head close to her deepening the kiss. It lasted quite some time before her mind kicked in. ‘What am I doing? He’s Justin, my best friend.’
Ryan was surprised when she pulled away so quickly. “I have to go,” she said, panicking.
He stood stunned in the water as she reached the shore and grabbed her things. His mind registered what was going on and he swam over to the shore after her. “Sam, wait!”
She stopped him with her hand. “I’ll make sure Olivia gets home okay.”
With that, she was gone.
