Say You Won't Let Go

Purple Roses & Row Boats

"So, how long is the car ride?" I inquire, coughing sheepishly.

"About an hour out." Lauren shrugs. Her answer surprises me.

"Oh, woah. Okay. I'll get settled in for the ride, then." I take a deep breath, glancing over at Lauren's thigh again. I'm just going to do it. It will be fine, right? I mean, we've been going out on dates for almost two months.

If it's fine, then why is my heart thumping in my chest? Oh yeah, because it's Lauren.

I take a silent breath and reach over to rest my hand on Lauren's thigh. She tenses at first, I feel it, and then relaxes and I can hear her hum happily.

Our car ride is filled with soft singing along to the radio, laughs, glances, and grins. Until Lauren pulls into an empty parking lot for a camping site.

"I'm glad you dressed kind of causal like that." Lauren says, noting my blue converse. I feel my face flush and I sheepishly rub the back of my neck.

"Yeah, well, you didn't tell me what to expect." I gesture to my flowery romper. The top of the romper is stretched over my shoulders and drapes over the collarbone area. At the waist is a brown, leather belt.

"It's cute, anyway." She gets out of the car and rushes around to open my door for me. "My lady," she offers her hand to take and so I do.

She locks the car and we make our way to the beginning of a trail. I notice rose petals lining the path.

"Lauren..." I murmur, squeezing her hand in wistful apprehension.

"Come." Lauren hums, starting down the path. As we enter the heavily forested area, I begin to pay more attention to what the green eyed girl is wearing. High waisted black shorts with a white long sleeved crop-top. Simple but over the top at the same time.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, I decide to speak. "Did you do all this?" I ask, glancing around at all the petals laid out on the ground.

"Of course." The green eyed girl smiles softly, rubbing the side of my hand with her thumb.

"Why?" I laugh wondrously, gazing over at her with adoring eyes.

"You'll see." Lauren promises, leading us to the end of the path. A huge lake sits at the end. The rose petals line a path on the rocky beach to which Lauren is keen on following. So I stay by her side.

We stroll down the beachside, hand in hand, until we come across a small rowboat. In the rowboat is two oars and a bouquet of flowers.

"Here," Lauren grabs the bouquet of purple roses. I notice there's only six roses in the bouquet. "For you."

"Aww, Lo." I hug the roses close to my chest, looking at the spectacular color. The meaning? I'm not sure, but I'll look it up later. "I love them."

Lauren beams widely. "I'm glad." She then kneels down and grabs the side of the boat, stands back up and puts one foot in it. She offers her hand.

I take her hand and step in carefully. Lauren stretches her arm out as long as it can go so I can make it to the back of the small boat to sit down. The green eyed girl then gets into the boat and unties us from a stake she must've put into the ground.

"Lean back and relax." She tells me, grabbing the oars and locking them into place on the sides. She pushes us from the shore and begins to paddle out.

"You didn't have to do all this." I say softly, feeling overly spoiled. "We could've just gone to the plaza or something."

"No way." Lauren tells me, leaning back to get a wider row. "You mean too much. I've been planning this out for weeks now. I hope you're enjoying yourself."