Bad Dreams //mgc

48.

*Michael's POV*

I shift nervously from one foot to the other, scratching the back of my neck and newly dyed hair. I decided last night to surprise Cara and go bright blue. I really hope she likes it. Any minute now she'll be getting out of her English Composition class. She has no idea I'm here. I haven't seen her all week and I can't wait to hold her in my arms again! I hear her professor dismiss the class and the butterflies start going nuts. Why am I so nervous, my god. This is my girlfriend who I am in love with, not some stranger. She comes into my sight and I'm blown away. I forgot how gorgeous she is! I can't stop the smile that reaches across my face. She looks up and catches sight of me. A smile just as big stretches across her face. The people she's following out the door seem to be taking forever to move.

"Michael!! What are you doing here?! Oh my god!" She says excitedly and literally jumps into my open opens, wrapping her arms around my neck. I immediately wrap my arms around her waist to hold her up and I spin her around, attaching my lips to hers.

"Isn't a guy allowed to come pick up his hot girlfriend from school?" I ask while setting her down. I'm leaning over her as she isn't letting go of my neck. I am a foot taller than her after all. I lean in and place my lips on hers again. "God I've missed you!" I tell her as I pull away.

She giggles, damn I've missed that sound. I've missed everything about her! She releases my neck and grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together. "Love the blue by the way!" and we head out to my waiting car.

I quickly open the passenger side door and her mouth drops open. "What is this?" She asks.

I take her backpack from her shoulder and answer, "Your surprise awaits! After you, ma-lady!" and she climbs in the car. I close the door for her and run around to the drivers side, carefully putting her backpack in the back seat since she always has her camera with her and climb in the car. As I start the car I ask, "Are you ready?" She nods excitedly, biting her bottom lip and we head off.

"So how did you know where my classroom was? Its a big campus!" Here comes the interrogation, but I'm too excited to ruin the surprise.

"I had Regan do some reconnaissance for me!" I said, knowing I had a cocky grin on my face. I can't help it! I put a lot into this weekend.

"That's a mighty big word for you, Clifford!" she teased.

"There's a lot of mighty big things that you haven't discovered about me yet, Davidson!" There's the pink cheeks I love!

"Where are we going?" she asks as we pass the exit we would take to get home.

"To your surprise! Now no more questions!" I say. This will be a long 4 hours if she
asks questions the whole time, but I knew to expect this and planned accordingly.

"Okay, so here's how this works. At predetermined times only, you will get clues. You are not allowed to ask questions. And no matter how much you try to guess, I will not answer. Got it?"

"Got it!" she smiled.

As we get onto the interstate to lead us south I give her the first clue. Two words I know she loves. "First clue: ROAD TRIP!" and I put in a CD I made of her favorite upbeat songs.

After an hour of driving of singing and talking about random things, I gave her the next clue. "Your next clue is in here," opening the center compartment. She quickly opened the box and her eyes lit up at the five rolls of film and three 64Gb memory cards for her camera. "But -" she started.

"Nope. No questions, remember?" I laughed. She crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip in the cutest pout ever. No, I cannot cave. It's hard as hell when she looks at me that way, but I worked too hard on this!

We continue driving down the interstate, music blaring, Cara dancing and singing along to every song. I keep glancing over at her, memorizing every single thing about her. Every time she catches me looking at her, she smiles even wider, if that's even possible.

Another hour has past, and it's time for her next clue. I pull off at an exit to stop off for some snacks and drinks, and grab it from the trunk. "Clue three!" I tell her as I hand her the camera that she hadn't taken to school today. "Regan called me after you left and told me you only took one with you," I explained as I got back in the car. This was her digital camera, so she put a new memory card in it and started taking pictures as we headed east towards the coast. She took pictures of everything! Scenery out the window, her feet, me, our hands, you name it. She even tried taking selfies! That's kinda hard to do with a big ol' Nikon DSLR but she managed somehow!

Its time for her final clue, so I pull off in Hampton and find a Starbucks. They have really clean bathrooms so I get the large box and small box out of the trunk, as well as a small bag I packed for myself and open her door.

She looks at me curiously and I remind her no questions. We walk into Starbucks and I escort her to the ladies room, handing her the boxes and signal her into the bathroom, saying "Final clue". I quickly run into the men's room and change into the nice clothes I packed in my bag and beat her out and wait. She emerges from the restroom with tears in her eyes. Oh my god she takes my breath away! The black dress I bought her fits perfectly, thank god. The top is plain, but form fitting and goes to her hips then flows out, raising in the air slightly as she spins around for me. Damn I did good! The Victoria's Secret bra I bought her (that was awkward, let me tell ya) makes her boobs look amazing! How did I know the sizes? I'm one sneaky guy!!! The black pumps (the lady at the store said they're pumps, not heels, whatever the difference is I don't know) match perfectly.

"You - you look....stunning!" I stuttered out.

"You look pretty spiffy yourself there Mr Clifford!" she replied. I actually forgot for a minute that I had changed. I had on black jeans (not skinny jeans for once) and a black button-up.

"Thank you Miss Davidson. Shall we continue our journey?"

"Yes we shall Mr Clifford!" she giggled as we headed back to the car.