It's Just Four Years: Somebody To Love #2

Chapter 23

Madelyn’s POV

            “Madelyn,” Justin whispered in my ear. He put his hand on my cheek and gently kissed me.

            “What a way to wake me up.” I laughed opening my eyes. “What time is it?” I yawned and sat up.

            “It’s noon.”

            “It’s noon?! Why didn’t you wake me up?” I pulled the covers off of myself and stumbled into the bathroom.

            “I tried! I couldn’t wake you up, but you were breathing, so I just let you sleep.”

            “Bahah.” I laughed. “At least you checked to see that I was alive.”

            “So I know we talked about just staying home today, but I am kind of in the mood to surprise you. And because you slept so long, I had time to arrange everything.” I wasn’t even surprised. Justin was constantly surprising me, but I loved every minute of it.

            “Okay, when are we leaving?”

            “Whenever you’re ready. Which will be when?”

            “It depends, will there be any chance there will be paparazzi?”

            “We can hope not, but there’s a pretty good chance that they will find us.”

            “Okay well then give me fifteen minutes to shower.” He gave me a look.

            “You realize we are going to the beach? Where you are going to get into the ocean and have to shower tonight anyways?”

            “You’re right.” I said throwing my hair into a ponytail. I slipped on my bikini bottoms and tied the top. I was grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a tank to put on over my bikini. It wasn’t until then I realized I had an awful headache, probably from a low blood sugar. I hadn’t had anything to eat in over twelve hours. I also had forgotten to put my insulin pump back on after we had sex last night, so I hadn’t had that either. I grabbed my insulin pump from my nightstand and attached it to the site on my stomach and then to my shorts.

            “Okay, I just need some sugar and I’m good.” I hopped downstairs to the kitchen. “We seriously need to go to the store.” I said laughing. I settled for a poptart and apple juice. I grabbed four extra bottles of apple juice to stick in my purse, an easy way to up my blood sugar quickly.

            By the time I got to the car, Justin had loaded the dogs in the back. “We are taking the dogs?” I asked.

“Yeah! It’s a surprise for them too.” He joked.

Justin’s POV

            “Where are we going?” Madelyn pleaded.

            “There is no chance I’m telling you. You’ll find out.” I hoped on the highway heading out of the city.

            “How long is it going to take to get there?” She kept pressing, trying to figure it out.

            “Well it takes the normal person about two hours. So we should be there in an hour.” I laughed. I was notorious for speeding, but I was always a careful driver, especially when Madelyn was in the car with me.

            When I exited onto a street in Santa Barbara she started guessing again. “The beach? Are we going to the beach?” She smiled at the thought. I didn’t say anything. Two minutes later we were parked at the beach.

            “Not just the beach.” I laughed. “The only beach for miles that allows dogs to be off their leashes.” I grabbed the bag I had packed out of the car and then put leashes on the dogs to walk them to the beach. Madelyn took Luna and I took Norris.

            “Are you sure the beach isn’t closed?” Madelyn laughed. We were the only people on the beach on the gorgeous summer day. It wasn’t too hot, but it was warm enough to get in the water.

            “No, its not closed!” I laughed. I set the bag down a few feet back from the water’s edge and set out a blanket. I took out sandwiches, strawberries, kettle cooked potato chips and chocolate truffles.

            “A picnic on the beach?” She looked at me and smiled. “You’re such a romantic guy.” She sat down on the blanket as Norris decided he was hungry, too.

            “No!” I scolded gently. “Go lay down.” I pointed to the other side of the blanket. Surprisingly enough, he listened to me. He pouted all through lunch, but he listened.

            “Want to go swimming?” I asked after we were done with lunch. She looked over at the paparazzi who had gathered on the other side of the beach. “Babe, don’t tell me you are worried about the paparazzi. You have an amazing body. Show it off.” I winked.

            “It’s not my body I’m worried about.” She stood up and took of her tank top. She disconnected the insulin pump from her stomach and slipped out of her shorts. “It’s this ugly thing.” She pointed to the connection site on her stomach as she put a cap on it. A circle sticker surrounded the place where she connected her insulin pump.

            “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. If you didn’t have that, you would be dead. So, I love that little circle sticker.” I tried to make her laugh and feel better.

            “Come on.” She said taking Luna and Norris off of their leashes. “Let’s go play in the water with the puppies.”

Madelyn’s POV

            “I love the beach.” I said. We had been here for nearly six hours. The sun was just beginning to set on the ocean. I was laying on Justin, and Norris was laying on me. The paparazzi had begun to disperse and we were once again alone.

            “I know. I love the beach, too.” Justin was staring out at the water. “It’s so beautiful here.” He took a deep breath. “We should get married at the beach.”

            “Really?” I just looked at him. We hadn’t talked about marriage in a long time. Of course I wanted to marry Justin, but it was like every time he brought it up it seemed real. It was like for a moment I had forgotten that we weren’t married yet. We had been dating for almost four years and living together for a year now. It felt like we were much more serious than dating could be.

            “Yeah. I would love to get married on a beach somewhere.”

            “A private beach. I don’t want any paparazzi at our wedding.”

            “Let’s do it somewhere super exclusive, like the Seychelles.”

            “I’m down with that.” I laughed.

            “We should do it on Valentine’s Day. I want the most romantic day of the year to be the day we say I do.”

            “I think that sounds like a marvelous idea.”

            “I cannot wait to marry you, Mads.” He kissed my forehead. “I just want to lay on a beach with you for the rest of my life.”