Soulmates | S.M.

23

Alana's POV

I walked out of the bathroom, finding Shawn laying on the hammock outside on the porch, guitar in hand, strumming a tune that I couldn't clearly hear from inside. I opened the glass sliding door, walking towards Shawn, and laying down across from him on the hammock. The moment I stepped out onto the porch, he stopped playing. I rubbed the side of his jean-covered leg. "Why'd you stop playing?"

"Oh" He brushed his right hand through his hair. "I didn't even notice. You look terrific in that dress"

I grinned, leaning forwards to squish his cheeks. "I love you"

"I love you more" He smiled, placing his fingers on the strings and started to strum again. "Can you guess which song this is?"

"Youth" I stated without thinking.

"How'd you get it so fast?"

I looked at him, unsure. "I don't know. I guess I've listened to your music so much that it's become imbedded in my brain"

He put the acoustic guitar down, reaching forwards to get a grasp on both of my hands. "Are you ready?"

"For?"

"I have a list of activities for us to do today, mainly because of your birthday. Also because we're only in Hawaii once in a while and I believe that we should make the most of it"

"Sounds great" I gave him a soft smile, leaning in to give him a peck on the lips.

We called a car to take us to our first destination. Shawn brought a large picnic basket with him so I assume that we're going to have a picnic somewhere. After thirty minutes of sitting in the car, curiosity filling my head, we got to our destination. I read the sign at the front of the building.

"We're going to have a picnic on a hot air balloon?!" I looked at Shawn with amazement.

He gave me a heartwarming smile. "Kinda. We're taking a hot air balloon to another island and then having the picnic there"

Shawn and I went into the building, dealing with the paperwork for the hot air balloon. We finally got on the large balloon and watched as we were lifted up and far away from the ground. I looked at the land around me; the green hills, light sand, and bright blue water. I turned around to look at Shawn. "Isn't it so beautiful here?"

I looked at him and his phone camera was pointed right at me. I smiled and asked, "Are you filming me?"

He grinned. "Mmm. Maybe" He put his phone away into his back pocket and motioned his hands for me to go to him. I walked over, holding onto the sides of the basket for stability. "Are you sure it's okay for us to be on the same side?"

"Yeah? Why not?"

"Don't you think our weight combined will tip this thing over?"

He contemplated for a moment. "Yeah. That sounds logical. It would probably be best for you to stay on that side" I walked back, looking out at the view again.

We got to our landing point and Shawn brought the balloon down, the way the instructor taught us. We landed in this secluded area on the beach. I opened the little door of the balloon and allowed my feet to be engulfed by the warm sand, my sandals in my hand. Shawn grabbed the basket, following me onto the sandy beach. We situated ourselves near the water next to a tall palm tree that allowed for shade.

Shawn pulled out a red and white checkered picnic blanket from the basket and laid it on the floor. We sat down and Shawn started pulling out the food from the picnic basket.

"Okay. I brought Hawaiian chocolates," He stated the name of each food item as he pulled it out and showed it to me. "Cute little sandwiches, your favorite diced pineapple, barbecue skewers, and apple cider"