Begin Again

Chapter 25

Important authors note!

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Butterflies swarm around my stomach as he takes my hand. “Hi,” he whispers, interlacing our fingers. “You look absolutely beautiful,” he smiles.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” I tease.

He chuckles. “Shall we go?” Joe wonders.

“Sure,” I respond, stepping outside.

“No, no, no,” he stops me, grabbing my arm. I give him a confused look. “We need to get to the beach,” he explains, gesturing to the inside of my house. I nod my head, my mouth forming an ‘O’ shape. Joe pulls me along. We go to the back door, passing Melissa on the way. She gives me a knowing smile, something that Joe doesn’t notice.

I roll my eyes as she mouths, ‘I was expecting this!’

Not bothering to reply to her, I let Joe lead me out of the house and into my backyard, well the beach. He walks in the direction away from the pier, going the way our meeting spot leads to. Suddenly, I got the hint to where he was taking us. “We’re having a picnic on the beach, aren’t we?” I ask. “At our spot?”

He gives me a sheepish smile. “Damn, you figured it out,” he jokes. “I should’ve blind-folded you.”

“Yeah, no,” I respond, immediately. I hate not being able to see.

The talking dies down after that. We walk in a silence, but it’s not uncomfortable, in fact it’s the exact opposite. After a few more minutes of walking, we arrive at our spot. I almost didn’t recognize it, as Joe has certainly made it look amazing.

He’s put a soft white picnic blanket in the middle, placed with a picnic basket and some drinks. As well at the usual things you find at picnics, he’s brought a mini movie player, with a bunch of different movies. Around the picnic blanket he’s put little lights, that I presume run by batteries. Over the top of the picnic blanket he’s sent up a white cover, using wooden poles to hold it up. Joe’s also sprawled pillows along the back of the picnic blanket. It looks really cosy and really adorable.

I look up at Joe, staring at him in awe. “Do you like it?” he asks nervously. “I thought we could sit and watch the sun go down? Is it too much? Or is it not enough? It’s just that I didn’t know how to top it off after that concert, so I was really stressing out-“

I cut him off, by pressing my lips to his. “Don’t worry, it’s absolutely perfect,” I whisper, after pulling away.

He gives me a full blown grin, sighing in relief. “That’s good.”

I nod, smiling. He takes my hand, pulling me to the picnic blanket. We both sit down, leaning back against the pillows. I sigh in content, as Joe wraps an arm around me. I snuggle closer to him, enclosing myself in his warmth.

“What do you want to do first?” Joe asks.

“Whatever you have planned,” I respond, closing my eyes.

He thinks for a moment before replying, “How about a swim?”

I nod, getting out of my comfy position. I strip out of my dress, chucking it to the side, along with my shoes. Seeing as I already had my swimmers on, it takes me no time to get into the water, whereas Joe still has to put on his swim shorts.

I dive under the cool waves, refreshing my body. I do a few doggy paddles around the ocean, waiting for Joe to come. Peering over to our picnic, I find Joe is nowhere to be seen.