Fallen

36. Beach

The following Sunday of Harper's birthday, she decided to do something private with Ivy; the beach was perfect. It was considerably chilly out, so luckily the girls both admired sweater weather. They walked to the beach, which wasn't far away, yet it felt like eternity because there was a somewhat one sided conversation.

"Well.. The beach." Harper presented sarcastically.

Ivy nodded.

Harper groaned in agony. "Ivy please. I'm not going to have you moping around the whole time, this is supposed to be fun."

"I'm having fun." Ivy shrugged.

Harper shook her head. "Ivy I'm serious. I- I'm not saying you can't have a bad day but.. The last week or two you haven't been happy around me! Do you not like being girlfriends? If you think we're moving too fast, that's okay.. We can slow down."

Ivy bent down and picked up a piece of sand, letting the grains fall between her fingers as she hesitated on a response.

"I'm.. " Ivy bit the inside of her cheek, letting go when she spoke again. "Can I be honest?"

"Of course you can."

"I'm happy being your girlfriend, I really am." Ivy started with. "But.. I'm scared for people to know.. And- you know how I used to be the quiet girl who didn't like anyone.. I don't want to suddenly be the happy girl who's dating.. Nevermind."

Harper smiled softly. "Ivy, you're still emo.. Don't worry." she teased.

"I'm not emo." Ivy protested, folding her arms.

"Goth?"

"Okay, stop it!" Ivy chuckled, now running towards the sand. Harper followed behind, happy her girlfriend was smiling, though she knew it probably wasn't genuine.

Harper felt her toes touch the cold sand, and she began to overthink. They could never have a serious conversation, Harper always had to ruin it with a joke or remark to cheer Ivy up, but maybe it was making it worse..

As Harper was running, the sand became hard terrain, and (focusing on her thoughts rather than her feet) she fell face first into a thick pile of shore.

"Harper keep up- oh my God, did you fall?!" Ivy practically cackled like a witch when she noticed Harper fell.

Harper surfaced, sand stuck on her face and tongue. "Eww!" She exclaimed, sitting up and wiping millions of grains off her clothes.

"How did you manage to fall?" Ivy asked through laughs as she helped the girl up.

"Guess I've fallen for you." Harper rolled her eyes sarcastically.

Ivy nodded, chuckling again. "You're a mess.."

"I'm aware." Harper mumbled, attempting to shake out her pants. "Ugh, cmon.. I need to get some sand off my jumper." Harper said as she started walking to the bathrooms. They reached the bathroom and went inside the shower area.

Harper stood inside a shower stall, not bothering to close the curtain. The beach was practically a ghost town in winter, and Harper wasn't uncomfortable with Ivy seeing her in a bra. She removed her jumper, shaking it out as she watched the sand slide off of it.

Ivy couldn't help but smirk, her cheeks getting warm.

"You peeping?" Harper asked with a cheeky tone.

Ivy shook her head as if Harper was insane. "What? No, I'm not peeping.."

"I think you're peeping." Harper hummed, now shaking the sweater with more aggression.

"I'm not."

Harper smiled and nodded to herself. As cocky it was to admit, Ivy's peeping gave her an ego boost.

Ivy leaned against the wall, impatient. "Come onnnn."

"Okay, okay!" Harper chuckled, giving one more shake of her jumper before putting it back on.

"The fucking sand is so itchy.." Harper grumbled as she slouched out of the stall.

"You can leave your jumper off." Ivy suggested.

Harper considered it, then felt the cool breeze as they stepped outside. "I would.. However, I'm not fond of freezing my arse off."

"Well.. Is being cold better than being itchy?"

"Y'know what.." Harper smirked. "I think you're just trying to peep at me again!"

"Stop having such a dirty mind!" Ivy chuckled, giving Harper a small shove.

Harper stumbled back, catching herself before she fell again. "Oh my God, do not make me fall again!"

"Sooo clumsy." Ivy smiled, hopping onto the sidewalk as the sand ended.

Harper's attention suddenly drifted to a small, yet human sized box only a few steps away.

"Look, a photo booth!" She pointed out with a smile, running towards it, watching as Ivy trailed behind her.

By the time Ivy reached the booth, Harper was already inside and inserting a bill into the machine.

"Let me sit." Ivy huffed, accidentally pushing Harper out of the booth.

"Ivy!" Harper scolded playfully, crawling back in the booth and sitting on her lap. Harper pressed a button, and a five second timer started a countdown.

Snap!

The first picture was somewhat normal, with the girls just smiling at the camera.

Snap!

Harper pulled Ivy into a kiss as the second shot was taken.

Snap!

The third photo was Harper almost falling off of Ivy's lap, though she was caught by her girlfriend.

Snap!

The fourth and final shot was a sweet photograph of Harper giving Ivy a kiss on the cheek.

The girls stepped out of the photo booth, waiting for their pictures to print. The second the machine let the strip loose, Harper grabbed it, admiring it with a huge grin on her face.

"We look really cute." Harper stated, showing Ivy, who nodded in agreement. Harper ripped the strip of photos, giving two shots to Ivy, while Harper kept the other two.

"Thank you." Ivy said softly, pocketing the pictures.

Harper nodded as a chilly gust of wind blew over them. "Should we head back?"

"Yeah, I suppose so.."

Harper nodded and offered her hand to Ivy, which she surprisingly took.

"I'm glad we're so comfortable with each other now. Don't you agree?" Harper asked softly, looking over to her girlfriend.

Ivy hesitated, but nodded. In all honesty, it was nice to have Harper.. Harper was nice. "Yeah. It's.. It's nice to have someone to talk to.. You know."

Harper squeezed Ivy's hand, smiling. "I know."