Love Island

Chapter 58 - The Final Dates

From the front of the town car, our driver spoke up. "We're about two minutes away."

"Thank you!" Charlie called back. He reached into the storage pocket on the back of the car seat in front of him and pulled out a Love Island brand blindfold. "Put this on, please."

I took the accessory in my hands and held the fuzzy white cotton in my palms. "Why? Should I be concerned?"

"You definitely should not. The place I'm taking you to is super obvious, but there's a specific place inside of this place that I want to take you to," Charlie explained.

"Alrighty," I fluffed out my hair once more before strapping the blindfold over my eyes and encasing my vision in darkness. 

"Can you see anything?" Charlie asked.

"No."

"Even if I do this?"

I paused before responding. "I literally have no idea what you're doing, so no."

"Good." I could hear the happiness in his voice and felt the town car roll to a stop. Without my vision, my other senses seemed to have heightened. I heard the sound of a car door opening and the feeling of Charlie exiting the vehicle. As expected, in just a few seconds, he came around to my door and pulled it open. "I'm extending my hand out to you," he announced. I reached around until he grabbed my hand and carefully pulled me from the car. "Okay there's going to be a few steps up-"

"Charlie, I'm nervous," I said, pausing instead of lifting my foot to feel for a step.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

Eventually, I nodded. "I trust you."

"Well, let's get going then." I could hear the smile in his voice as he led me carefully up the stairs, taking his time to help me until we reached a landing. We walked for what seemed like forever until I knew we'd entered a building. The warm, humid air had been replaced by the stale whisper of an air conditioning unit. "Oh, an elevator! But you're getting so good at stairs," he joked.

"You're hilarious, but I'm not falling on my face." I smiled as I heard the elevator arrive with a subtle chime and the doors glided open. We stepped in and Charlie clicked one of the buttons. Whether we went up or down I wouldn't be able to tell you at the time; the elevator's buoyant movements could have occurred in either direction. Just a few seconds more and the elevator doors opened again. Charlie and I stepped out and he led me across a room with soft carpet that was squishy beneath my feet.

"Are you ready?" Charlie asked. He spun me around a few times and planted me still.

"I'm ready," I confirmed. Charlie slowly lifted my blindfold and I was staring at a dark, softly blue-lit room. The elevator was directly in front of me, along with a water fountain, a few coin-operated concession machines, and animal posters.

I turned around and came face to face with the bottom of an aquarium tank. We must've been at least fifty feet underground to have a view like this. The thousands of gallons of saltwater in front of us boasted a variety of species of fish, sea turtles, crustaceans, eels, and every marine animal I could think of. The white sand bottom closest to us was experiencing a swarm of stingrays that flapped their bodies close to the bottom of the tank and disturbed the substrate in a cloudy trail behind them. A moray eel slithered out from the coral to investigate a grouper roaming too close to his home. Meters above, two green sea turtles circled the mountain of coral, followed by dozens of schools of fish.

"Charlie," I whispered breathlessly. I stood in silence for a few seconds more, admiring the beauty that was before me. "Charlie, this is amazing!" I grinned.