As First Dates Go

Chapter Three

It was a beautiful day in the ocean as they drove, which Shellington was more than a little grateful for. He knew that whatever the weather, he and Dashi would probably still have an amazing time together on their date, but it did help the outlook of the situation for the sun to be shining through the water, illuminating their surroundings with broken rays of light.

Every so often, he would hear a tiny, barely audible gasp from Dashi as her eyes would light up at some passing sight, and she would pass over control of the Gup to him as she darted off to one of the windows in the back of the Gup A to snap a picture or two. Shellington tried to keep his cool as he would suddenly find himself driving the Gup all of a sudden. He was much better at driving now than he had been back then, but even so, with so much riding on today, it did cause a slight quaver in his paws as he gripped the steering wheel slightly tighter than he would usually. Still, he tried not to let his uncertainty show when Dashi would come and rejoin him in the front, smiling trustingly in his direction. She believed in his driving ability. Maybe he should too.

"Are we on time?" Dashi asked eventually, after they had been driving for about twenty-five minutes, breaking the comfortable silence between the two scientists.

Shellington leant out over the dashboard and checked the direction of the sun up above through the rippling water. "Pearl said to arrive at about midday, and from what I can see the sun is just reaching its highest. We're on time as long as we're nearly there."

"And are we nearly there?"

"Um." Shellington leant out again, this time to search the strands of kelp for any aspects of familiarity. They had entered the kelp forest a few minutes ago, so that was a start, at least. "I don't really know. It doesn't look all that familiar just yet," confessed Shellington.

"You grew up here, and you don't know what the way to your own childhood home looks like?" queried Dashi in slightly teasing amusement.

"Well, I don't usually come at it from this direction," the scientist pointed out in his defence. "Last time we visited, we were coming from the other side of the ocean. And we're not actually going directly to my home, we're going to a more sheltered place about half a mile away where we usually have our sea otter parties. And to be fair, kelp forests do have an awful habit of all looking the same."

"That's true. I just hope we make it in time," Dashi said fervently.

"Me too." Comfortingly, seeing Dashi was still looking distracted, Shellington pressed a light kiss to her cheek and placed his hand on hers, so that both of their paws were resting lightly on the steering wheel. "Don't worry. We'll get there soon."

Dashi threw him a grateful smile, and continued to confidently steer the Gup through the kelp forest, her boyfriend keeping a sharp eye out for anything that looked anything like home.

"The currents are picking up," noted the computer expert again after another five minutes or so, who always enjoyed reporting the weather back in the Octopod (especially a good storm, she would occasionally admit to Shellington).

Shellington felt the slight pressure against the outside of the Gup as opposing streams of water tried to take the vehicle in several different directions at once. "Was this forecasted?" he wanted to know.

Dashi shrugged lightly, fighting the currents with a firm hand on the wheel. "I don't know. Not in this part of the ocean, certainly, but currents will occasionally move further than you initially expect them to. I don't think it should be too much of a problem, though, since the party's being held somewhere deeper and sheltered, right?"

"That's the plan," agreed Shellington, feeling another current pick up from behind them as he spoke. "Winds or currents shouldn't affect it there. I thought I knew the way by heart, but kelp strands move, and the kelp forest looks quite different from how I remember it when I was growing up here."