A Day at the Beach (1)

Posted on Fri Sep 12th, 2014 @ 8:42pm by Ensign Robyn Maxwell & Ensign Scott Fisher

1,935 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?
Location: Qapla Resort
Timeline: Current

Robyn Maxwell and Scott Fisher had, like the majority of Vindicators crew, taken advantage of the opportunity to transport down to the beach resort and spend time there relaxing to the full.
As still fairly new to the ship and not yet knowing many others well enough to form a group, they decided to go together.
They had arrived mid-morning, wandered around to find out what it had to offer, eaten a snack lunch in a pool side restaurant and then headed to the long wide beach.

They had staked out their own little area with beach-bags and towels before running to the incoming sea and hitting it full tilt laughing as they were immersed in the surprisingly warm clear water and swimming out quite a way to a floating deck which provided a place to rest for a while.

Robyn pulled her wet hair into a bunch and used both hands to squeeze sea-water from it before flinging back the dark locks and folding her arms around her raised knees.
Scott was lying on his stomach peering into the water at the shoal of small fish emerging from beneath the deck.

"This is really good isn't it?" Robyn asked without turning to him. "Its much better than I was expecting."
She looked back at the resort they had left, seeing the groups of people, some sunbathing, some playing beach games, some swimming and one or two on body boards.
The sand was littered with colourful parasols and towels plus the people themselves making it a lively and attractive looking place to be.

Scott dipped his hand into the sea, swished his fingers and watched the fish disappear in terror before sitting up and following her line of sight.
"The beach is amazing." he said silently thinking that she must be very easily pleased to accept the Ferengi idea of beach heaven.
"Lunch was a bit off though" he added.

She looked at him over her shoulder. "It wasn't 'that' bad" she said and laughed at is expression which clearly asked if she really meant it.

"We've got company." he said indicating with a nod of his head the two swimmers approaching the floating deck."Time to go?"

Robyn looked back at the sea. "Yes" she said, not wanting to share their time with strangers.
Scott got to his feet, offered a hand to help her up then told her that the last one back to dry land was standing dinner before taking a few steps back before running and diving head long into the water, swimming away with sure and powerful strokes.

"You just wait" she called after him "Thats not fairplay" and laughing, dived in too, following his wake and only catching up when he deliberately slowed down to let her do so.

By the time they found their spot on the beach, it had become rather crowded so deciding to try their luck for a quieter place further afield, they gathered their belongings.Scott hoisted her beachbag onto his shoulder.

Wearing a floppy wide brimmed straw hat of her own, Robyn reached up to place one of the same material onto Scotts head.
{Where did he get it from?!} she wondered adjusting the cross between a stetson and a panama so that he could see. It had obviously been on many such excursions as this but it suited him in a somewhat offbeat mode.

In fifteen minutes they had walked quite a way, leaving almost all others behind them so choosing a place, they laid their towels on the warm sand, set out cool drinks flask, wedged it in a sandy hollow and generally made themselves comfortable to while away the afternoon with only the sound of the sea and a few long winged birds flying high above to intrude on their privacy.

Scott settled back and pulled his hat over his eyes. "This is the life." he said contentedly.

Robyn, kneeling beside the beachbag, pulled out a bronze coloured bottle but glanced at him and smiled. She sat down beside and a little foreward to him, flicked open the bottle top and poured cream onto her hand.
Carefully setting the open bottle aside and rubbing her hands together, she began to apply the cream to her legs, smoothing it over her skin in an unhurried motion, totally unaware that Scott watched her through the tiny holes in the straw brim.

Her choice of beachwear was, compared to some he'd seen that day, modest indeed. Black with a thin double cerise lines running offcentre, halter neck and revealing enough of her figure to be attractive yet not so much as to leave little to the imagination.

Her still damp hair was piled up and secured by a shell like clasp, the floppy hat having been cast aside until the creaming work was done.
She flicked away grains of sand from her ankle and smoothed her hands over her right foot then the left, caressing the toes on each foot.

That done she lifted her head and gazed out to sea, sitting motionless for a few moments before following the horizon so that her profile was clear to her companion.The arched brows over clear blue eyes, her pale skin with scattering of golden brown freckles and lips that turned upward at the corners.
He watched her drink in their surroundings, saw her pleasure in the simple beauty of the place and savoured the moments that he could look at her and appreciate what he saw.

She was not beautiful but he saw in her a natural prettiness and a physical attraction that which, coupled with her character, held an appeal for him that far outweighed the 'eye candy' attraction that so many women exhibited.
Not that he was averse to such a thing but Robyn was different because she had something he couldnt quite pinpoint.

Their friendship was something he had long valued and during the year they had spent in their respective first postings, he had missed her more than he had expected or thought possible.
It had surprised him and he'd questioned himself on it from time to time.

There were other girlfriends and one in particular but always, at the back of his mind, there had been Robyn and seeing her in the corridor on his arrival aboard Vindicator had for a moment, stopped his breath and he knew then, in that instant, that he loved her.

This too was something of a shock and had since caused him many sleepless nights.
He wanted to tell her he had feelings for her, wanted to suggest a deeper relationship, wanted to tell her that every day they spent together made him more and more certain, wanted to tell her that 'not' telling her was driving him crazy......but the thought of her reply always prevented his words from being spoken.
What if she didnt feel the same? what if putting it into words ruined the friendship that ran so easily? He couldn't risk it and yet......

Robyn had been rubbing cream onto her arms and was now attempting her left shoulder. He took a deep breath and sat up.

"Want me to do your back?" he asked. "....might be easier."

She turned her head quickly supposing him to have been dozing so was surprised when he spoke.

"Err..."
She hesitated.
He thought that a bad sign.

"Yes, yes ok if you don't mind." she said with a quick smile. " It 'is' awkward."

He took the bronze coloured bottle from her hand and as she turned away, poured cream onto his own, rubbing his palms together as she had done.

She had pulled loose tendrils away from her neck and held them safe from the lotion waiting, head bent, for him to begin.
A moment later she gasped as the cold cream met her warm skin.

"Ohwohwoh..thats cold." Robyn said glancing back as best she could, seeing him from the corner of her eye but smiling now the initial shock was over.

She was slender framed, not skinny thin but he could feel the bones in her shoulder as he ran his hands over them and could count the vertebrae beneath her soft skin.

He had imagined many scenarios of the perfect time to tell her but this was not one of them.
Instead, he now found himself in a living nightmare dream and when he eventually stopped smoothing his hands across her skin, unable to find even a half way credible reason to continue, she glanced back at him, twisted round and thanked him for the help.

In silence he handed the bottle back, propped himself onto one elbow and watched as she secured the top, stowed it away, straightened the towel and lay down, sighing a long sigh as she did so.

She stared up at the clear teal sky until its brightness hurt her eyes which she then closed, dark lashes falling against freckles.
Once again the seabirds, the waves and distant people were the only sounds.
Her long fingers plucked idly at the sand within their reach, her head tilted a little to the side ,her heartbeat was visible at her slender throat.

Scott momentarily closed his own eyes then, subconciously immitating her action, lifted a handful of warm sand and watched it trickle through his fingers. He asked himself what was the worst she could possibly say that he hadn't already imagined and why was he so afraid of it?
He partially knew the answer to that.

Kristi...a Junior Labtechnician, tall,blonde and a girl that Mother Nature had more than generously endowed.
They had met at a party, had hit it off straight away and Scott had thought that generally things were going really well even though she was a little more 'high maintenance' than he had envisaged.

He had thought that right up until the moment she had appeared in the doorway of the shower room one morning wrapped in a fluffy white towel, her hair cocooned turban style in a similar one, and calmly announced she didnt want to see him anymore in that way, that she'd had alot of fun and she saw no reason why they couldnt still be friends because she was genuinely fond of him...as if he were her brother.

He, sitting on the edge of the rumpled bed,pulling a black sock over his right foot, had merely stared open mouthed as she had turned away and began to dry her cascade of blonde hair released from its confines.

But that was Kristi..that was then and this was now and this was different...totally different.

So, dropping the sand and shifting his gaze to her began...."Robyn.." but simultaneously, unmoving and with eyes still closed, she said:

"I'm so glad you're on the ship."

This was so unexpected that he couldnt answer but one thing only sprang into his mind...hope.

"I didnt realize until you turned up just how much I missed you, how fond of you I am." she said laughing a little at her own stupidity.
" It was such a surprise to see you standing there and its made me so happy ever since." she continued still lifting the grains of sand, eyes closed.

"Robyn?..I want t.."

" I know I can't speak from experience as I dont have one of my own as you know...but you're like a brother to me."

She opened her eyes and looked up and back at him, the dimples in her cheek forming as she smiled widely to him "The best sort of brother."

 

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