Silent Prayers

Chapter 7

"Yeah, sounds good" Stefan told him. "We should get going though" he said, looking down at Elena. She looked up and met his eyes, smiling.

"Hey you two have fun" Damon said, standing to walk out with them. "Elena, we'll talk about a job this weekend" he promised.

"I can't wait" she said, shooting him a smile. She was relieved to think about making money.

"Later" Stefan said, walking with Elena back to his jeep. He was ready to spend his day with the beautiful girl holding his hand.

XXXX

"A sea anemone" Stefan said, crouching down next to Elena to examine it with her. The tide was out and that meant they had a lot of opportunities to scope out creatures.

"The scientific name is Anemonia Sulcata" she informed him. Then she grabbed her forehead and laughed at herself. "You must think I'm the biggest nerd ever" she told him.

Stefan laughed as well. "I work with numbers, so I think we're even" he reminded her.

She still looked adorably embarrassed. "I just get really excited about this kind of stuff" she explained to him.

"It's good to be excited about things" Stefan told her. He loved that about her. She gave him a small smile that made his heart skip. He was falling hard for this girl, and he didn't care that they hadn't known each other very long. He believed that you could fall in love with someone at first sight, and he was starting to believe that had happened with Elena. "What's this one called?" Stefan asked, pointing to a sand dollar just below the water.

Elena paused for a moment, remembering the scientific name. "Clypeasteroida" she answered.

Stefan wrinkled his nose. "That sounds like some sort of disease" he said.

Elena laughed. "I agree. But aren't they cool looking?" she asked.

Stefan had never really taken the time to admire anything on the beach or in the water. He was usually more preoccupied with surfing or soaking up the sun. But spending the day with Elena at the beach was making him realize how much he was missing out on. "I think these are my favorite" Stefan told her, reaching beside him and grabbing a small empty conch shell. Then he handed it to Elena.

She held her hand out and watched Stefan place the light colored shell in the palm of her hand. "It's beautiful" Elena said, smiling. Her eyes met his and she got a little giddy when she saw him lean in to kiss her.

"Come on" he said, grabbing her hand. "There's something I want to show you."

Stefan led her back up to the jeep where they preceded to drive down the highway, never losing sight of the water. She didn't ask where they were going, but instead enjoyed having the top down and the wind blowing through her hair.

Stefan pulled off the highway about half an hour later and turned his jeep off. Then he jumped out and went around to Elena's side to help her. They stood on top of a lookout point, staring out at a vacant beach. "Best surfing you'll ever find" Stefan told her. "Not many know about this place, so we won't have to share" he added.

Elena grabbed the beach bag and Stefan grabbed the cooler and surfboard before heading down the narrow trail that led to the sand. "This is amazing" Elena told him, in complete awe. The privacy is what stunned her the most, since there had been people everywhere further down the beach.