Under The Willow Tree • Louis Tomlinson

xxxii.

xxxii. seaside

— • —

Wind blew effortlessly outside, stirring leaves in circular motions and causing the few people out and about to hold onto their hats, skirts and other things that could get caught in the wind easily. Even though the wind was strong, the weather itself was humid, as if a storm was going to hit us later today or even tomorrow. I was sitting in the passenger's seat of Louis' car, my face positioned in front of the air conditioning vents so I could cool myself down.

"Rose, you should move back from the vents, icicles are growing on your nose." Louis chuckled, glancing quickly at me before focusing on the road.

"It's so humid outside, I need the cool air." I smiled at him and leaned closer to the vents.

Louis smirked and reached out to the vents and closed them completely "You'll catch a cold... In the middle of summer."

I sighed and leaned back into my seat, staring out of the car windows. I was trying to work out where Louis was taking me because he would not tell me. I don't know why he was making it a secret, I don't mind secrets but I really wanted to know how I'd be spending my Sunday. We had been driving for close to an hour, I knew he was taking me east but I had no idea why. "Where are you taking me?" My thoughts turned into spoken words and I bit my lip, it was a stupid question. He would never tell me.

"Grab the bag in the back seat." Louis instructed with a grin. I did as he said and grabbed a chunky black bag, pulling it from behind my seat and onto my lap. I peered into the bag and took out a smaller plain white bag, like the ones you get at fancy shops when you buy something. I then looked into the bag and saw a brand new bikini. I gasped excitedly and checked the tag to make sure it was my size. Sure enough, just like the birthday clothes, my bikini would fit just right.

"Thank you so much Louis!" I grinned, examining the hot pink frilly swimmers. They looked nice and were perfect since I didn't own a bikini. I hadn't owned one for years.

"That's alright Rose but there's more." Louis nodded to the black bag and I looked inside it once more. Below where the white bag just sat, there was a nice looking pastel pink towel, Ray Bans and a tube of sunscreen.

I laughed and took the contents out of the bag, particularly admiring the Ray Bans. "I'm guessing you're taking me to the beach?"

Louis shrugged, "I don't think we've ever been to the seaside so it will be nice."

"Like a first date?" I asked Louis curiously, outside the car I could see a thin dark blue line on the horizon, it must be the sea.

"I guess so, our first proper date." Louis winked. I smiled and thoroughly looked through my new gifts, excited to get to the seaside.

— • —

Cool blue water flowed around me. Even though the air around me was heavy and hot, the ocean was slick, smooth and cool to the touch.  The water was like the air con in the car but it was all around me, covering me with its silky smoothness. Relaxing me with every movement I made. I closed my eyes and floated on the top of the ocean. Small waves lapped around me but I didn't get annoyed at them. It had been ages since I had been in a large body of water, yet alone the sea. I closed my eyes and let my thought's drift to nothingness, letting the currents take away my stress and worries. I had blocked out the world around me so I didn't hear any movement besides my body's own. I was on cloud 9 so to speak when my relaxation was interrupted by my legs being dragged down to the ocean floor.

"Shit!" I exclaimed before submerging fully under water. It was shallow enough to stand but deep enough that you could swim underwater without touching the surface. I opened my eyes to reveal the light blue water surrounding me, I spun around in search for the person who had disturbed me from my alone time.  Behind me Louis was grinning, bubbles spilling out of his mouth. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing and I pushed up off the sea floor so I could get to the air again. "Louis!" I whined

"You said my name." He appeared right in front of me, still laughing though bubbles were no longer spilling out of his mouth.

"I was relaxed! It's been yonks since I've done that." I frowned at him even though I wasn't really angry.

"Sorry about that." He moved closer to me, streams of water were falling down his face from his soaking hair. "But the goal of this date was to spend time together."

I chuckled and pushed his hair off his face so he didn't have to blink away water from his vision. "And look Louis, we are." I then pulled my face closer to his but instead of my lips meeting his I got splashed. My eyes flickered open to see that Louis was already meters from me.

"If you want the kiss you'll have to catch me first." He then swam as fast as he could away from me.

"Tomlinson! Come back here!" I yelled after him. I started swimming as fast as I could in the direction he went.

I thought dates were supposed to be romantic, not a training session.