It actually was rather warm for October – around sixty degrees. After being in a crowded gym with around a thousand teens for nearly three hours, that sixty degrees felt absolutely delicious on Joe’s and Chloe’s hot skin. They walked, arms around each other, with Joe’s face buried in Chloe’s mussed hair, to Joe’s car. They got in, and almost immediately, Joe leaned over for a kiss. Chloe gave him a little peck, but was too curious about what they were doing next to do anything further.
“Where are we going?” she demanded of him, brown eyes full of interest.
“You’ll see.”
As Joe pulled the car out of the lot and set them on the right path, Chloe said, ‘You know, you really don’t have to be so secretive about it. I mean, does it really matter that much?”
“Yes, I do, and yes, it does,” Joe retorted. “Now just stop talking. You are, however, allowed to sit there and look pretty. I don’t think that should take too much work for you.” He grinned over at her.
“Ha, ha,” she said, now pouting. She was too curious for her own good. But Joe was determined to surprise her about what was going to happen next.
They drove in silence for a little while, the radio on low and the air coming in through the open windows blowing Chloe’s hair all about her face. It was only a short amount of time however, until there was a change in the air and she realized what direction they were going in.
“You’re taking me to the beach?”
Joe just glanced over at her, a smile on his face, before averting his eyes back to the road again. “Hope you’re not afraid of a little sand with your dress on.”
The rest of the drive seemed quite short, and they were both grinning when they hopped out of the car when at the deserted beach. Joe grabbed a blanket, a guitar, and a basket from the trunk of his car, and turned to find that Chloe was apparently too excited to wait for him; she had already run down to the shore.
Over the past few months, if Joe had learned anything about Chloe, it was how much she had loved the beach when she was little girl. She used to dream of getting married there, and she would pester her parents almost every day, begging them to take her to see the beautiful ocean. But then she grew up, got a little busier, and the beach went down a few notches in importance. Joe thought it would be the perfect place to end the night. And, of course, it was an easy way to win over Chloe, although Joe found no need to verbalize that thought.
Joe walked down to the deserted beach, dropping all the items he had gathered from the car and also his jacket and tie in the sand, and the jogged over to where Chloe was standing. Her dress was short enough that she was able to stand in the water a little ways without getting it wet. Joe noticed how she shivered slightly, and as he reached her, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him, and he bowed his head so that his nose just barely touched her shoulder.
“This is perfect, Joe,”Chloe said. Joe could almost hear the smile in her voice. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been to the ocean?”
“Too long,” Joe responded, giving her bare shoulder a light kiss.
“Yeah,” she breathed. They stood there for a little while, letting the ocean air wash over them and the sounds of the waves fill their ears. A little while later, they made their way back to where Joe had discarded all his stuff, Chloe’s face lighting up at the sight of the guitar. Joe playing the guitar was one of her favorite things.
Joe spread out the huge Mexican blanket he had grabbed out of the laundry room before he left, while Chloe busied herself by peeking into the basket of food Joe brought. She was pleased to find that he had sparkling juice and white chocolate-covered Oreos, among other things. Joe laughed when he saw her immediately opening the bag of Oreos and stuffing one into her mouth. He had known she would enjoy that. He opened the sparkling juice and poured it into the plastic cups his mom had stuck in the basket in place of the wine glasses Joe originally packed. He passes a cup over to her, and they, well, attempted to clink their cup together, although they didn’t make much of a clinking noise.
