We were awake at 7am, catching our 9am flight hours later. I caved and bought a coffee, enduring Ethan's teasing, and fell asleep next to him just like all of our previous plane rides. When I awoke, I learned we were in Huntington Beach, so it had been a short plane ride.
I sleepily walked off the plane, holding on to Ethan's shoulder, the 45 minute nap not quite pulling me out of a constantly tired haze.
"I have a legit injury and I'm still pulling you along like a blind dog..." he muttered as we approached baggage claim. I giggled.
"I'll call an uber," I offered, and then we waited for a moment at the airport doors. Suddenly, a gaggle of girls were in range.
"Shit," Ethan muttered.
"It's here," I announced, looking down at my phone. He pulled me close by the waist and guided me toward the Honda.
"Hey, man," he greeted, before quickly throwing our luggage in the back, "No problem, I've got it,"
"We're kind of in a hurry," I said softly, trying not to sound like a brat. He noticed the girls.
"Are they following you?" he asked harshly.
"Um, I don't know," I said honestly, watching them conspicuously as they spread out into cars behind us.
"I'll take the long way, no extra charge," he offered warmly. "And I'll probably go around the block of your destination."
"Thank you so much," Ethan said, climbing in the back with me. My heart was beating a bit fast, and it helped when Ethan put his arm around my shoulder and let me sink into his firm body.
"Go to sleep," he whispered, "it'll be a while."
I really wish I could have, but I was too nervous. It had happened at home too, there were pictures of us everywhere almost instantly. No one had ever followed us before, to my knowledge at least. There had been one incident that I really felt like someone was following and even called Ethan, panicked. He had saved the day, per usual, meeting me at my apartment, and then booking an appointment to get my windows tinted for me.
So I pretended to sleep, with my eyes closed and everything.
"So, where are you two headed? Valentine's day retreat?" the uber asked.
"Just a hotel in Huntington Beach. Hopefully, the surfing is good even though the water is cold," Ethan explained. I didn't know how to surf.
"Oh yeah, cold water, but good waves," he commented. "Damn, that silver Buick has been on my tail for the last ten minutes,"
"We're YouTubers, and we get followed sometimes," Ethan said.
"Ah," the uber said. The conversation petered out, and I felt Ethan relax next to me. Had he fallen asleep? I shifted to look up at him.
"Hey, we're fine," he whispered.
"I know," I said. I reached up and ran my fingertips over his jawline. He kissed my forehead.
"Surfing?" I questioned.
"Eavesdropping?" he accused. "Yeah, I thought I'd teach you."
"Oh, boy, I don't know how that will go," I warned. He snickered.
"Then it will be good footage for the video," he reasoned. Ethan had really embraced the artsy side of his job, deciding he was going to make a film video of our trip. The camera was annoying to carry around, but Ethan was determined to use it before Bryant sold it. He said it reminded him of Australia, and that we just had to go together sometime.
"Ten minutes away, folks," the uber said from the front seat. I peeked in the rearview mirror. A silver car was still following us. Ethan noticed too.
"Dammit," he muttered. "Around the block it is,"
So we took an extra twenty minutes, eventually losing the silver Buick.
"Thank god I got a house on a private beach," Ethan huffed after thanking the man copiously and giving him a generous tip.
"A private beach?" I exclaimed. "You said you didn't spend that much money on this, E,"
"I lied," he shrugged, ruffling my hair.
"Dick," I mumbled. He raised his eyebrows.
"Stop it!" I yelled, smacking his arm.
"Come on, come on," he laughed, pulling me along into the beach house. The front was adorable of course, and it opened into a perfectly decorated kitchen. I peeked in the bedroom, which was scattered with rose petals and decorated as cheesily as possible.
"Ethan," I groaned, finding him with the camera pointing at me. I smiled sweetly and then gave him a hug.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"Of course I like it, it's adorable, baby," I giggled.
"Get a swimsuit on," he announced. "We're going swimming,"
I picked out white swimsuit bottoms and a pink top, since it was Valentine's day after all, and stepped out on the deck. It wasn't boiling hot, but the sun was out, so the temperature didn't bother me.
"Beach time, babyy," I called to Ethan. He grinned at me.
"Lead the way," he said.
"Mmm, it looks like there's some rocks down there," I informed him, leaning over the stairs at the beach that was right out the back door of the beach house.
"Are you kidding me..." he said rolling his eyes, but ambled over to me and scooped me up bridal style. It was a wonder he could carry me and the film camera in another hand, but nevertheless, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He set me down in the shallowest part of the water. I shivered.
"Cold?" he asked, enthusiastically filming me.
"A little," I smiled, "Is your ankle okay?"
"Better than okay," he assured me. He took my hand, and we waded in together.
"This is like a really awful romantic comedy,"
"Haha! So you do think it's romantic! I'm such a good boyfriend!" Ethan said, fist pumping in victory. "And that's why I'm turning it into a movie. Duh," he said, gesturing towards the camera. I rolled my eyes.
"It's nice to see you this happy, Ethan, I missed you," I admitted.
"C'mere," he coaxed, and I leaped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his solid hips.
"Thank you for keeping me happy," he said into my neck.
vote/comment for next chapter
finally a decent length chapter lol :)
