"It's so quiet," I whispered, finally setting my paddle down on my board.
"It's kind of weird," Grayson said, also in a hushed tone. "It's just the ocean and us."
"Like I know there's civilization back there, but you'd think it's gone," I agreed, carefully sitting down.
"Hey, keep that on," he said sharply when I fiddled with the buckles of my life vest.
I groaned. "But it's so hot!"
"I don't care, you're not drowning out here," he said, pulling out the thick straps of his own vest to let in some cool air. It was breezy out on the open water, but the tropical sun was so overwhelming that the wind didn't make much difference.
"I should've packed sandwiches," I said absentmindedly as my stomach growled.
"They would've gotten soggy," Grayson reasoned.
I had a solution. "Vacuum them."
"Vacuumed sandwiches?" he giggled. "A bit extreme for a snack, don't you think?"
"Nothing's too extreme for a snack," I said rashly. "Besides, you've got to admit, you're starving."
"We just ate lunch!"
"That was over an hour ago," I said, letting my legs dangle in the deep blue water.
Grayson shook his head, smiling. "We'll have sandwiches when we get back. And we have our fancy, large dinner later."
"Will there be pasta?" I asked in a small, hopeful voice.
He looked offended. "Of course there will be pasta!"
"I'm glad you know me so well," I said happily, lying down. It was a moment of instant regret because thanks to the life vest, I wasn't sure I would be able to sit back up again.
Grayson put his face in the water, a gesture I copied a second later because it was so hot. The cool water felt good on my hair, even if it was salty and therefore somewhat sticky.
We bobbed on the gentle waves for what felt like hours. Finally we both agreed to head in, our skin just on the edge of close to burning. Grabbing out paddles, we headed back towards land. Unfortunately, we had to return the boards and paddles before six. Once we'd given up these treasures, we walked along the beach back to our villa, the sun casting long shadows.
"It's so late, do we even want to bother with sandwiches?" I asked.
"We need to eat something," Grayson replied, looking through the cupboards. "Here; we have chocolate bars."
"That is not a healthy snack," I complained.
However, he was waving chocolate under my nose. "Just to get us to dinner, which I have planned in forty-five minutes."
It seemed that chocolate was sadly my only option. Reluctantly, I took the bar from his extended hand and thanked him. The sugar did satisfy my hunger.
"Do you want to shower first?" I asked, tossing my wrapper in the trash.
"No, you go first. I put your outfit on the bed," Grayson said, rummaging through the cabinets again.
Now I was curious. "Outfit?"
"Yeah, I got you something," he said around the pen in his mouth. That notepad looked like it'd seen ten years of hardship. Not to mention he was still writing things down in it.
I shrugged and walked into the bedroom, grabbing my towel on the way. On top of the bed was a pretty white dress, with puffed short sleeves and a ruffled skirt. Normally I would've said it was more suited for a little girl, but it looked perfect. On top of the dress were two small boxes. The first one had a thin gold ankle bracelet with matching seashell charms. The second one had a row of golden hair pins, most of them either ocean or flower themed with sparkly little shells and things. Immediately I loved them, hoping I'd get a lot of excuses to wear them in the future.
"Thank you Grayson!" I called, delighted.
"No problem!" he called back, a smile in his voice.
Taking my new treasures, I shuffled into the bathroom and quickly showered off all of the saltwater. I supposed it would have made my hair nice and curly, but it was too much of an ick to sit all the way through dinner covered in salt.
I went back into the bedroom, now trying to put on my many pieces of jewelry. Aside from what Grayson had given me, I also had my locket to put on. Not to mention that doing my hair with pins was a somewhat new experience. It took several tries, so many that I almost gave up at one point, but finally I managed to get the starfish and lotus pins into the sides of my hair, pulling it back from my face in small twists.
"Grayson?" I called, now realizing that he hadn't claimed the bathroom. "Grayson, I'm out of the shower." I had been for a while, but I figured he would've heard me.
The villa felt eerily quiet. Peeking my head out the curtains, I looked in the kitchen. It wasn't exactly a disaster, but Grayson had clearly been working on something. "Grayson?"
A soft breeze rippled the sheer curtains and I glanced towards the huge glass door. Glancing outside, I noticed the flickering glow of flames. Walking closer, I noticed that the flames were coming from various torches and candles. Most of them were right near the patio, but I noticed a large gathering of light out in the ocean.
"Oh," I said softly.
Grayson really had meant dinner. There was a table set up on the beach, just a little ways out from the villa. On top of the white tablecloth, I could see two place settings, with little wisps of steam coming from the food. Out to the table was a trail of rose petals, deep red in the otherwise smooth sand. I now saw the petals lying on the floor at my feet, although earlier I'd assumed it was part of whatever he'd been working on. Out towards the sea, I could see Grayson's shadow coming closer, even though his actual person was hard to see in the dim candlelight.
Sliding open the door, I stepped outside and walked down the steps, crossing onto the sand. Grayson noticed me and walked up the beach, becoming more visible as he closed the distance. He was dressed up, wearing a crisp white shirt and black dress pants. His feet were bare, which somehow fit the look. His hair was still slightly tousled from our swim in the ocean, and his normally spiffy collar had the top button undone.
Grinning, he met me halfway up the beach, just past the table. "Hey."
"You did not tell me that dinner would be so spectacular," I said, both complaining and expressing gratitude.
"I figured that we should make it an event for our last day in paradise," he said, taking my hand and leading me over to the table. "Besides, I want to talk to you later."
"About our epic meltdown we're planning?" I asked brightly.
He laughed. "Um, something like that. But for now, I made dinner."
One word stuck out to me. "Made?" I asked as he pulled out my chair for me. "You didn't order it?"
"All of my secret recipes," he joked, sitting down across from me. The face of his watch glinted in the soft light of the candles.
"Seriously, you could've ordered it," I argued.
"And lose out on cooking for you? No way," he said with a boyish smile.
I sighed. "You're too sweet sometimes."
"That's what I'm best at," he agreed.
As much as I liked the simplicity of ordering food, I couldn't resist Grayson's cooking. We both started eating, except I was more in devouring mode.
"Okay, but I am kind of excited for tomorrow," I said, swallowing. "Like, we get to blow up your house. What were you thinking for our entrance? I'm thinking about yelling and screaming about something and then I throw my suitcase. Then you push Clay back, who is clearly ready to throw fists. Then...I don't know. Any suggestions?"
Grayson was laughing. "I don't know, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I'm sure Clay will have some good ideas, though."
"He will," I said thoughtfully. "Maybe we should involve something messy. Like liquid or sauce."
"That sounds great," he agreed. "Maybe I ruin your hair or dress or something?"
"I like it. See? Planning people's downfalls is fun!" I said, happily taking the last bite of my food. When I looked up, I was dismayed to see that Grayson had only taken about three bites of his food.
"You've barely eaten," I noticed.
"Yeah, not really hungry," he admitted.
"Nervous?" I asked softly.
He shrugged. "A little."
"We'll be great. Just like we always are," I assured him. "Plenty of chaos and expectation-breaking."
His lips twitched with a smile. "Sounds like us."
"See? I have confidence in us."
Grayson nodded and stood. "Want to go for a walk?"
"What about your food? It'll get cold," I pointed out with a slight frown.
"Reheated pasta is always good," he countered. "I can eat it on the plane."
"Okay then," I said, standing up. He took my hand in his, the warmth of his fingers spreading throughout my entire body.
I squinted, asking, "Are those candles out at the dock?"
"Yeah. I...kind of have a surprise. But we also need to talk," Grayson said, rubbing the back of his neck.
I didn't like his tone. "Is everything okay?" I asked anxiously.
He smiled and squeezed my hand. "Yeah. Everything is okay."
With that, he gestured to the path of rose petals, the path that I hadn't noticed led out to the small dock. Still holding his hand, I walked forward.
Together, without shoes and in the dark, we walked out towards the sea.