The Calm Before The Storm

The Blue Hour

~Chloe~

-October 11-

"Max...psst, hey Max. You awake?" I whisper, tapping her on the shoulder. She stirs, swatting my hand away, "I am now *yawn* What is it Chloe?". "Come on, I wanna show you something". Max rouses herself just enough to peer over at the alarm clock next to her. "It's like 4 in the morning Chloe... What the fuck do you want to show me?" she asks, flopping back down. I throw a thick jacket over her head, " It's a surprise". She sighs and sits up, clumsily putting on the jacket, Still half asleep. "This better be worth it Che'" she groans irritably. "Trust me, It will be" I assure her, grabbing my coat and keys and walking to the window. "Aww, do we have to go through the window, Can't we just go through the door like normal people?" Max whines, pulling some thicker pants over her pajama bottoms and slipping on her shoes. "Since when are we normal?" I say as I'm half way outside. She shrugs and quickly follows my lead as we both slink off into the darkness. I drive up the coast to a spot that's literally just outside the city limits, opposite the way we came. "Can I open my eyes Now? " Max says, sorta pissed that I made her wear a blindfold despite it already being dark. "Just hold up would ya, I'm almost done," I say adding the last few finishing touches to the surprise, "AAAAnd, You can look now". Max eagerly rips off the cheap bandanna I had used and sees a large towel spread out on the sand overlooking the ocean, a few candles line the edges. "Is... is this it?" She says, sounding somewhat disappointed. I smile and lift her chin up to face the horizon as it grows brighter. "That," I whisper in her ear, "That's the surprise". I had to get the timing just right for this. "The Blue Hour... the period of twilight each morning and evening when the sun is a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue... like so," I tell her, taking a small step forward. "I know how much you love 'The Golden Hour', so I did a bit of research and found something even better". I turn back to Max and see she's fallen silent... she's speechless. "Chloe... this... this is so.... Beautiful," She finally mumbles, following me as I walk a little ways down the shoreline, "I mean, Wowsers. I just... sorta wish I'd brought my camera". "Well then I guess it's a good thing I brought it for you" I saw with a cheesy smile, "Go check the truck". She jumps up and down for a moment and leans in and kisses me on the cheek. I smile and watch as she runs back to the truck, grabs the camera, and heads down towards the water. As I sit back down on the sandy towel, I sigh deeply. Max is standing at the water's edge, the waves lapping at her worn out old sneakers. I'm glad to see Max happy like this... with all the shit that's going on, this was the one day I never thought I'd see her smile like this. She's still standing there, in the same spot, same position, same view (which is fading fast). The water's now around her ankles and she still hasn't noticed. Max does that sometimes, just completely shuts the world out for minutes at a time, lost in her own special world. "You okay?" I ask, coming up behind her. She blinks a few times and nods her head, "It's just... I've never seen anything like this before... It's amazing". Max snaps a single photo. The Polaroid floats down and the hungry waves consume it. "Nothing's as beautiful or amazing as you, though," I say, kissing her, She blushes, "Why do you insist on hitting on me? I'm already your girlfriend". I shrug and kiss her again, making her giggle. "You're such a ham". "I know, but you love it," I reply as we continue our way down the shoreline. "I can't argue with that," Max says, leaning up against me and hugging my arm. "*Sigh* Who would have though this is where we'd be when we grew up. I can't believe we've been together for a whole year....wowser". I nod, wrapping my arm around her waist, "I know.... And despite all that's happened, despite all the hardship and pain we've endured, just to be standing here with you now, makes it all the more worth it".  

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The Blue Hour: