Shark Strike Survivor

Chapter 17

At 1:59 p.m., there is a loud knock on the front door, and I grin broadly as I walk to the door to open it for Chandler.

"Hey Chandler," I greet him with a larger smile as he steps inside the apartment with his own large smile. "You look really handsome by the way."

"Hey Larken," he greets back with a wink as he gently pulls me by the hips into his body. "You look incredible by the way. Are you ready to leave, or do you need a little more time to get ready? I am okay with waiting if you need the time."

"Don't need any more time, but thank you," I answer while wrapping my arms around his waist, giving him a gentle squeeze as he gently squeezes my hips in response.

"Great. Let's head out then," he grins broadly, separating from me, so we can leave the apartment.

Locking the door behind us, we walk to his car hand in hand, and he sweetly opens the front passenger door for me, and shuts it once I am settle comfortably. He rushes around the front of the car to his side, and climbs inside.

"Can I know where we are going, or no?" I question as he starts driving toward town after starting the engine; internally I am hoping that he will tell me, but I won't be upset if he does not tell me either.

"Yup. We are gonna go paintballing, then have dinner," he replies, and I instantly grin at the fun activities he has planned for us. "Oh, we are also gonna go to a pottery painting place to paint something fun. Hope these are okay with you?"

Now he sounds nervous about his activities, so I try to assure him; "All of those sound fun! Thank you, Chandler! Can I plan the next date, to make things fair between us?"

Chandler smiles over at me with a slightly surprised expression before looking back at the road; "I would love for you to do that! Thank you, Larken as I have never had a boyfriend who wanted to plan a date for us."

"Boyfriend, huh?" I tease with a giggle. "I do not remember you asking me to be your boyfriend."

"Ha, ha," he replies deadpanned before shyly smiling at me quickly. "Larken Carrigan, will you please honor me by agreeing to be my boyfriend?"

Trying to pretend to think over his question with a serious expression, but failing miserably as I excitedly answer; "I would love to be your boyfriend!"

"Oh, thank goodness! I seriously thought you weren't going to agree!" he breathes out, his body relaxing as he pulls into the parking lot of the paintball location.

Giggling at his dramatics; "I am sorry, Chandler. I did not mean to worry you, I just thought it would be funny to mess with you for a second."

Pouting at him as we climb out of the car, and meet at the hood, and Chandler tentatively takes my hand in his. Brightly smiling at him, we head inside together where Chandler insists paying for the both of us, despite my small protest.

Once we have our equipment on and prepared, we head to the outdoor course behind the building to start our game. Our game is supposed to last for thirty minutes, and Chandler has light blue colored paintballs, and I have my favorite color - pink. Thirty minutes later, we are walking back to the building, and we count our paint splatters on us. I have twenty-nine light blue splatters, and Chandler has thirty-five pink splatters. I win. Smirking at Chandler as we hand back our equipment to the employees, and I grin at Chandler's adorable pout at losing to me.

"Next time we play, perhaps you will win against me," I gently tell him as we head back to his car.

Leaning my butt back against the passenger side door of his car, Chandler's body is almost flush with mine, and his lightly grips my hips. He pouts a little deeper as he searches my face for a second before letting out a soft chuckle.

"You are such a little minx, but I still like you despite that. You won," he teases with a growing grin.

"I know both things are correct," I sass, chewing on my lower lip, and he chuckles loudly at my sassy attitude.

"I think you are gonna keep me on my toes, aren't you?" he chuckles, glancing quickly at my lips before looking deeply into my eyes, almost as if he is asking another question.

"I am definitely gonna keep you on your toes, and yes, I want you, too," I murmur with a welcoming smile, and he nods once in understanding.

Resting my hands on his hips as both of us lean toward each other, our heads tilting in the opposite direction of each other. Our lips lightly ghosting over each other for several seconds before he fully presses his lips against mine in a heated kiss. Gripping the material of his shirt at his hips as he does the same to me, we moan into each others mouths.

When our lungs start protesting the lack of oxygen, we pull apart slightly to replenish our lungs. We grin broadly at each other as we gently rest our foreheads against each other as we stare into the other's eyes with goofy grins. During this perfect moment of our first kiss, my stomach decides to grumble loudly in hunger, making me blush a deep crimson color at the loud, and sudden noise.

"Come on, let's go, so I can feed my baby," he lightly laughs, stepping back so he can open the passenger door for me, and once I am settled, he shuts the door, and quickly walks around to his door.

"What are you in the mood for?" he asks, shifting the car into drive after starting the engine.

"Um, how does a nice, greasy pizza sound?" I reply as a question because that is what sounds good to me, but I do not want to fully decide.

"Pizza it is, and then off to the pottery painting," he agrees, driving toward the pizza parlor.