Who: Rose and Tom When: Saturday. Where: Starting at her place. What: Tom has a day planned. Rating/Warnings: Low/None (update if necessary.) Status: Complete
> Tom showed up exactly at ten in the morning and knocked on Rose’s front door. There was a part of him that was hoping Rose was in the shower, and he could join her. He was good at washing hair. Really. Though, he had a feeling she was going to be ready to go. The text messages were pretty teasing. He himself was dressed casually, wearing hiking boots under his slacks, and lifted his sunglasses up into his hair while waited on her doorstep.
Unfortunately for Tom, Rose had already showered and was currently lacing up her sneakers when she heard the knock on the door. She wasn’t the type to make a guy wait forever when they came over, so she quickly got up with one shoe in her hand and opened the door. A bright smile appeared on her face as she took in his appearance, it was kind of nice to see him not so dressed up, “Hey! Come on in, I’ve just got to finish putting my shoes on.” She made a gesture with the shoe in her hand and then stepped back so he could enter.
She had dressed in jeans, a red henley ¾ length shirt, “Do I need to bring a purse or anything?” She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a seat at one of their barstools and started to put her shoe on as she waited for his answer.
“Nah, you don’t need anything. Just a phone.” Tom came into the place to wait while Rose pulled her shoes on. He smirked, watching her body as she sat down. “I like you in red.” He added, gently, and closed the door behind himself. He had a pretty great day planned. It wasn’t something that he did often--normally he didn’t put forth such effort into wooing a woman--but when he did, he went all out.
“Gotcha,” she could do that. Her back pocket fit her phone perfectly because jean makers had yet to adapt female pockets to be any bigger than a stick of gum. Her cheeks blushed just slightly when he gave her that compliment and she glanced up at him with a smile as she tied her laces, “thank you.” She hopped off the barstool when she was done, grabbed her phone and keys off the counter, “Alright, I am ready!”
“Good.” Tom stepped over, leaned in, and tapped a quick kiss against her cheek. He smiled almost shyly as he quickly moved to the door. “Your carriage awaits, M’Lady.’
Of course, the carriage was just his car. It was fast and expensive, and he drove it like a bat out of hell, but it could pass as a carriage. Maybe. Tom opened the door to let her out, then walked with her to his car. He opened the car door for her, too, and closed it once she was safely inside. Then he hopped around to his side to climb in, too.
She locked up as she left the apartment and then proceeded to put her keys in his glovebox once she was seated. If she didn’t need it then she would leave it in the car while they were out. His car was quite nice, but she wasn’t going to point that out because she really didn’t know anything about cars. “So, do I get any kind of clue about what we’re doing now?” She reached over to brush some hair out of her face as she turned to study him.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in the glove box. Mints, maps, registration, a couple of cds. No guns or porn or … whatever a psychopath might keep in a glove box. Tom kept his car clean and neat, so sometimes he’d toss receipts or whatever in there, but then he’d clean that out, too.
Tom might have had a little OCD in him.
He buckled up, turned on the car, and pulled away from the curb. “Hiking.” Tom said, simply. “You like hiking?”
Poking around in his glovebox didn’t really cross her mind, but she had noticed it was fairly clean inside of there. Hers was a little messy because she kept a lot of random stuff in there, but it was all organized, just filled to the brim. And then he told her that they were going hiking. Hm, that kind of surprised her. She hadn’t really expected him to be the type that liked to go hiking. “Yeah, I don’t mind it. I haven’t done it in a while since I’m usually at the gym, but you picked a really nice day to do it,” she answered him as she settled back against the chair as they drove.
Tom gave a little chuckle. “It’s not a long hike, I promise. And we’ve got a picnic waiting for us at the end.” There was a trail that he really liked, one that led to a nice clearing on the top of a little cliff overlooking the ocean. It wasn’t too far, they could take the freeway most of the way there.
Of course, Tom hired a caterer to come set up lunch while they were on their hike. He’d paid for soup, salad and sandwiches, and wine. He’d used this caterer before, and he paid well, so they’d be well taken care of.
“It’s got a pretty fantastic view.” Tom grinned, then pulled into the parking spot and shut off the car. He climbed out and came around to meet her on her side.
“I don’t think anyone has ever taken me out on a picnic before,” Rose admitted with a slight blush to her cheeks. It wasn’t something that anyone did when she went to college because you usually just went to someone’s house to party. It was old school romantic and she was a little giddy about it, god knows she’d be even more impressed when she discovered that he had it catered.
“I’m really excited about this now,” she smiled over at him as they parked and she got out of the car. She took his hand in hers and squeezed gently, “Thanks for planning this, it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Tom chuckled, turning his hand in hers to lace their fingers together. “Of course. Hey, anything for you, right, Rosie?” He teased, then attempted to preemptively duck away from any swinging fists.
“C’mon,” he added, giving her hand a little tug. “The path is over here. Just keep an eye out for rattlesnakes.” Grin.
She playfully reached out to hit him when he called her Rosie again with a smile on her face. Oh she certainly wasn’t trying to hit him and didn’t mind that she missed him. He was such a brat sometimes, but she easily followed along when he tugged on her hand. But then he mentioned rattlesnakes and she stopped with an incredulous look on her face, “seriously? Rattlesnakes?”
“Just stay on the path. We’ll be fine.” Tom had spent enough time out here that he was confident they wouldn’t see any rattlesnakes. It wasn’t exactly desert climate, was it? Though, he’d come across some lizards before. And a few little, garden snakes. But nothing huge or deadly. He couldn’t help but grin and give her hand another tug.
“I hate snakes,” she mumbled under her breath as she reluctantly followed behind him. Even the idea of there being snakes was enough to set her on edge a little. But he didn’t seem to mind at all and she wasn’t going to be a major wuss about some snakes. She picked up the pace so she was beside him now as they walked through the woods. It was a lovely spot and she would have to remember where this was so she could come out here again.
Tom reached over and took hold of her hand as they walked. It wasn’t a leisurely stroll, but he wasn’t speedwalking, either. He was enjoying the sights. They came to the top of a crest, and he motioned to the view. It was quite breathtaking. The ocean, the rolling sand dunes leading up to the crashing waves. He gave her hand a squeeze, silently staring off at the horizon.
The view took her breath away with a gasp. She wanted to say something about how great it was, but the moment was too perfect for her to spoil it. She returned the squeeze to his hand as she moved closer to him and leaned against him. It was awe-inspiring and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t found this place before. It was somewhere that she would love to spend an entire day at and just reflect on the world.
Tom released her hand, then lifted his arm and draped it around her shoulders to pull her against him. It was a nice view. He’d been here before, of course. He’d taken other ladies up here. Not many, though. One or two. And not in a while.
Actually, he hadn’t been on the prowl for a while. The Dreams really threw him for a loop.
“You want to go have lunch? Our picnic site is about a mile on.” There was actually a parking lot closer to where they were set to have lunch, but that would have meant skipping this view.
Her hand rested gently against his chest as she pressed close to him and surveyed the scene. Her thoughts were interrupted when he asked if they wanted to go eat. She probably could have stood there for a long time if he hadn’t said anything. But then she realized that she was hungry and she let out a little laugh as she turned her face up to him to answer, “Yeah, I would love food. Let’s head that way.”
It was another twenty minute walk or so to the campsite where the catering crew had set a blanket up on the grass. There was a large picnic basket, a bottle of wine on ice, and some place settings. Tom held her hand off and on as they walked, occasionally slowing his pace so they could get a nice view of the ocean. He picked a pretty, yellow wildflower and offered it to her, then motioned for her to take a seat so he could dish up the lunch. (The catering crew made themselves scarce.)
Wow. She hadn’t been expecting this when they came upon the picnic area. Her jaw dropped a little and she followed along behind him, “My god. Tom, this is amazing. It’s more than I ever expected. You’re completely spoiling me.” She couldn’t believe this but she knew Tom loved the reaction, so she didn’t hold back. She took the flower from him with a smile as she took a seat. Heaven help the next guy that asked her out.
Tom chuckled softly. He sat down with her on the picnic blanket, dished up the food for their lunch, and shrugged, holding out a plate to her. It had salad and a sandwich on it. “...it’s really nothing.” Expensive nothing. Having the catering crew come out here and set up a mile away from the car? “You deserve so much more than a simple picnic.”
She took the plate from him and smiled. “Oh hush. This is pretty impressive. Thank you for it. It’s really sweet and honestly one of the best dates I’ve been on,” She would have to figure out a good way to thank him for this and try to do something fun for him next time, “And I’m a very simple girl, so don’t worry. A simple picnic would have been just as good to me.” She didn’t even want to figure out how to manage this because then she would try and make all other dates more simple.
Tom lived to impress. He was grinning to himself as he settled down to eat his lunch. Somehow, he managed to lounge in a sexy way. It wasn’t easy to sit on the ground and look sexy while you did it, but somehow Tom managed. He grinned softly. “You can plan the next date, then.” Meaning… there would be another. If she enjoyed herself. Because he was.
The fact that he managed to lounge like that just made her roll her eyes. Did he practice these moves in the mirror? She wouldn’t be particularly surprised if he actually did, but she didn’t dislike him for that. She stretched her legs out in front of her as she ate off her plate, leaning against him slightly, “Mmmm, that sounds like a fun challenge to me. What are your dislikes? Because I may need to take advantage of them.”
She probably didn’t want to know the answer to that question. He did a lot of practicing.
“I think you’ll be hard pressed to find something I dislike doing. If it involves spending time with you, that is.” Tom flirted, leaning back against her just a little. He tore into his sandwich, though he ate politely.
“Oh god. You’re bordering on the line of smarmy,” she teased him, reaching over to playfully poke at his side and grinned. He was definitely toeing the line, but since she was enjoying her time when him she wasn’t going to hold it against him. She took another bite of her sandwich, “This is amazing, by the way. Best picnic ever.”
Tom chuckled softly. “Sorry. I can’t help it.” He batted gently at her hand, swatting it away from his side. “Well, you’re welcome. I’ll pass along your thanks to the catering crew.” They still had a view of the ocean, but it was different than the last. Tom finished his sandwich then laid back on the blanket and looked up at the sky. There weren’t many clouds. He thought it might be better to come out and go star gazing. Hmm.
“Give them a nice tip,” she added as she continued to eat. It was just peaceful up here and she liked that this wasn’t some kind of stressful date with way too many expectations put behind it, “Anything else we’re doing today? I mean, this is great, but are we really going to stay up here all day along?” She reached over to playfully poke him in the side as she grinned down at him on the blanket.
“That, m’dear, is up to you,” Tom said. He finished his food and drink, set the plates aside, and turned his attention to her again. “...do you like horseback riding?”
“Yeah, it’s been a very long time since I’ve done it,” she admitted to him with a laugh as she took a long sip of her drink. If they were going to go horseback riding she would have to remember to put some ice packs in her fridge for the day after, “Let me guess, you own a ranch or something?”
Tom gave a little laugh. “No no. My Dad has one, but it’s half-way across the country. I just own a handful of horses.” He started tidying up the picnic lunch, putting things away and wrapping up the leftovers. “...you want to go? I thought it might be fun. There’s a trail we could ride that leads by the beach.”
“Sure! That sounds quite nice. Why not keep going for romantic cliches,” she teased him a little as she got up and helped him pack things up. She wasn’t the type to just sit there and watch someone else do the cleaning. And she was very appreciative of what he had done on the date so far, “It’ll be fun.”
Romantic cliches was pretty much what Tom did. He couldn’t help it. There was a reason it was a classic. Hey, that’s better. Let’s call it classic, not cliche. It worked, anyway. Tom laughed again, then stood and held a hand out to her. “We can do whatever you want to do. If it’s too cliche, we can do something else. I just thought maybe you’d like that. See… another part of me.” A different side of his personality.
“I would love to go horseback riding with you. I bet you look fantastic,” she answered him earnestly as she reached for his hand. But instead of standing up she pulled him down to her and grabbed at the front of his shirt with her free hand. Once he was close enough she captured his lips with her own and grinned against his lips as they kissed, “I would like to see all parts of you, silly boy.”
Tom had meant another part of his personality, not another part of his physical appearance. But when Rose pulled him down and kissed him, he couldn’t help but get swept up in it. She was absolutely perfect. Strong arms wrapped down and around her, pulling her flush against him. Pulling her into his lap. One of his hands moved down to her backside. God, she was perfect. He chuckled softly. “Should we skip the horseback riding?”
She had meant parts of his personality too, but she wouldn't complain about this. Not at all. It was nice to be like this with him, but horseback riding did sound nice. "Nah, I still want to do that, but I couldn't resist kissing you. Let's go have some fun riding."
Tom didn’t move. He still had her wrapped up in his arms. He kissed along her jaw, then down her neck, playfully. “Are you sure? A shower sounds pretty good right about now.”
“Oh my god, stop it, you horrible instigator. And how about this, we go horseback riding and then we can shower. And if you’re super nice maybe I’ll throw in a massage if you promise to give me one,” She offered up. The idea of horseback riding seemed like so much fun and she was going to try her best to not let Tom distract her with those lips of his.
Tom nearly purred. He grinned against her neck, then finally pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “...that sounds like the perfect afternoon to me. Come on.” He climbed up to his feet and held both hands out to help her up, too.
“See, I come up with good ideas as well,” Rose answered with a prideful tone as she took his hands and pulled herself up. It actually was a great idea and she was pleased that he wanted to go along with it. An arm looped around his waist as she looked up at him, “So, do we get the fun of hiking back all the way to the car? Or did you arrange someone to bring your car around here?”
Tom beamed. “My laziness knows no bounds.” He said, and drew out his keys. He clicked the fob, and his car beeped from the near parking lot.