‘I turn my back on you for a minute and you’re naked.’ He laughs. ‘Why is it you’re always naked or flashing?’

I try to playfully shrug it off but the fact he has a point makes me feel even more embarrassed.

Freddie ushers me under the protective branches of one of the large trees.

‘I’ll get your dress for you,’ he insists.

‘Thank you,’ I reply. ‘I’d be mortified if anyone else saw me like this. I’d have a lot of explaining to do.’

I watch as Freddie tries to untangle my dress from the branch. He’s hunched over it, so soaking wet his hair is dripping down over his eyes. Eventually he hurries over with it.

‘I don’t think you can wear this,’ he says, holding it up to reveal a significant tear.

‘Oh no,’ I squeak. ‘That was my favourite sundress.’

Freddie looks at me for a moment. I notice a glimmer of something in his eye a split second before his dimples become more pronounced. Then he rips open his shirt, pinging off buttons in all directions.

‘That was my favourite shirt,’ he tells me with a playful shrug.

Then he takes off his trousers.

‘What are you doing?’ I laugh.

‘You said you’d be mortified if anyone saw you. Consider this… solidarity,’ he replies.

‘I feel like both of us in our underwear would take even more explaining.’

‘Well, at the very least I can create a distraction,’ he says. ‘Misdirection, while you run for cover.’

‘My hero,’ I joke.

The smell of the wet trees hits me like a train. I find myself distracted, watching droplets of water rolling over Freddie’s muscles as I back into the tree behind me.

‘Ouch,’ I say.

‘Be careful,’ Freddie insists, quickly stepping towards me to save me, lest I fall again. ‘Are you okay?’

And just like that we are in position, just like in the movie and just like in my dream. The perfect set pieces for a perfect play.

‘I’m…’ I start, but I don’t finish. There’s this tension between us, so thick we can hardly move in it. Neither of us moves away from the other. In fact, we grow closer by the second. It’s only a millimetre or two at a time, but it’s happening.

‘That kiss before,’ I start. I can’t help myself. All I can think about is kissing him again. ‘Was… was that because Daniel was watching? Was it just for show?’

‘Do you think it was for show?’ he asks me.

‘I, erm… well, yes.’

‘You don’t sound convinced,’ he says. ‘How about I kiss you now, with no one watching, and then you can make your own mind up about what’s real and what’s for show?’

I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. No witty remark, no self-deprecating joke. I’m speechless.

We snap together like north and south magnet poles; from head to toe every inch of our bodies touch. I don’t know how I’ll ever let go.