Who: Rose and Tom When: Early April Where: Out What: Tom’s got a wandering eye Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Tom invited Rose to come to the beach with him. It was a glorious day, and he thought it’d be fun and possibly romantic to go to the beach and play for a bit. He packed a picnic, grabbed some fun, outdoor toys, a blanket, and some sunblock, then headed over to Rose’s house to pick her up.
He had a kite. And a frisbee. And some salads in disposable containers. He was all set.
Going to the beach sounded absolutely perfect. She packed up a tote with some supplies that she would need, had a coverup dress over her swimsuit, and her hair in a big bun at the top of her head. She would most likely go into the water and if she didn’t dunk her head underneath she should be set. She heard the doorbell ring and she dashed over to open it. In front of her was Tom and she quickly looped her arms around his neck to kiss him and then pulled away, “Lemme grab my bag!”
It only took her a moment to go over to the kitchen table and grab it, so she was back to him in a flash and there was a grin on her face as she looked up at him, “Hello handsome, how are you?”
Arms lowered to wrap around her and return her kiss, but then she was pulling away to go grab her bag. Tom grinned at how full of energy she seemed to be at the moment, and before he had a chance to say ‘okay’ she was back again. Grinning.
“Good. Ready for a lazy day at the beach?” Lazy was fairly far from it, though. They could do whatever they wanted. frisbee, volleyball, whatever. He offered her his arm to walk her to the car.
“Of course. Hopefully you’ll be willing to help rub some sunscreen on my back,” she looped her arm through his as she followed him out, locking up behind her, and snuggled up against him It was going to be a really nice day at the beach and she would hopefully get a little more color to her skin being out in the sun.
“I think I can handle that.” Tom led the way to the car, one arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. He leaned over to press his lips against her hair. Then released her so he could pull the car door open and let her in.
“I packed some salads for lunch.” He said once he was around the car and in on the driver’s side.
Tom always knew how to make her feel wanted and loved. Being close to him and getting those kisses to her hair always caused butterflies in her stomach. She quickly got into the car and waited for him before slipping her hand into his, “Oh good. Smart thinking, dear. Did you bring some water? That’s probably something important we’ll need. I just have a book, some sunscreen, trail mix, and a beach towel.”
“Yeah, there’s some water bottles in the basket.” Basket. He even had a basket. He turned on the car and pulled away from the curb. “You brought a book?” He asked, grinning over at her.
“Um, duh. Reading on the beach is awesome. And I’ll get exhausted of you at some point,” she couldn’t help but tease him. She wasn’t sure if he was teasing her for actually reading or thinking that she will be alone time to read. He would most likely try to occupy all of her time while on the beach if he got his way. And she would most likely let him in the end.
Tom gave a laugh, turning onto the highway. "Right. Well, while you do your reading, I'll have a nap." He had a hat he could lay over his face to hide from the sun. Maybe he should have grabbed an umbrella.
It was a fairly short drive, and within in a few minutes they were pulling into the parking place at the beach. They were lucky, and got a really good parking place. Tom turned off the car and climbed out to start gathering stuff from the back.
“You totally would. We need to get you more intellectual hobbies or something,” Rose pointed out with a laugh. She got out of the car when they arrived and joined him at the back to grab things. She grabbed what she could and then wandered over to where he was with a smile, “Alright, handsome, let’s go get some sun.”
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a nap,” Tom said, playfully defensively. He grinned, though, and grabbed the blanket from the back. The pair of them headed onto the warm sand to start setting up their area. Blanket, basket, chairs, all that stuff.
Tom grinned once their home base was established. “What would you like to do first?” He asked, grabbing some sunblock so they could smear it all over each other.
“Um, sunblock probably. And then after that, I’m down for whatever. What are you in the mood for?” She questioned as she set down her bag and then peeled off her cover up, which left her in her tiny black bikini. She brushed the bits of hair out of her face that fell down into her eyes and reached down to grab the sunscreen out of the bag.
“Oh, I dunno.” Tom sat down on the edge of the towel and motioned for Rose to sit in front of him. He could smear the sunblock all over her shoulders, the back of her neck, her back, wherever he could reach that wasn’t covered by a layer of cloth. He always wanted to have his hands on her, and this was just a good excuse.
“Maybe we can just take a walk and explore?” He offered. There were beautiful people all over the beach, all vying for his attention. It was hard to stay focused on Rose.
She sat down in front of him and closed her eyes in bliss as he rubbed the sunscreen on her. It felt amazing and she almost wanted to get a little frisky, but they were in a public place, so that wouldn’t be happening right now. “Walking and exploring sounds nice. We’ve just gotta make sure that no one will take our spot while we’re gone,” she explained to him and hoped their stuff would be there when they got back.
Frisky would have to wait until they got home. And then there would be lots of frisky. Tom knew just how close he could let his hands wander without it being inappropriate, but still send that message to her. I want you.
“Nah, I think it’s safe here.” Besides, he hadn’t packed anything that was irreplaceable. He stood and lowered a hand to help her to her feet. “Let’s walk along the beach a bit first.”
“Perfect,” she took his hand. The message had been read loud and clear and she was more than happy to just spend some time with him. They may not be able to do anything frisky, but just being around him made her happy. She hadn’t packed anything too important in her bag, so she hoped it would still be there when they got back, “Alright, time to go walk along the beach.”
All the important stuff was either in a pocket or locked in the car. Tom wasn’t worried. The pair of them turned to walk along the beach, not too far from the water. His fingers were linked with hers as they walked, at first he kept his eyes on the sand in front of them, but soon he was looking out over the waves. It was nice. Beautiful weather. And then he noticed another girl. One in a bikini walking toward them. All curves. He couldn’t help staring.
It wasn’t like there was a shortage of attractive people to look at on the beach, but at least Rose had the decency to not stand there and stare. She was pretty skilled in her ability to check someone out and not look like an idiot as she stared at them. However, Tom was certainly showing his Prince nature and she grabbed her cell phone. She snapped a photo of the woman and shoved it in Tom’s free hand with a slightly annoyed look on her face, “Took a picture, it’ll last longer. Stop staring, you perv.”
Tom was caught completely off guard when she shoved her cell phone in his hand. He stopped in his tracks to stare down at it for a moment, not comprehending, then frowned deeply. “What? I wasn’t… I wasn’t staring.”
“You almost started drooling, Tom,” she pointed out in a slightly terse tone as she spoke to him. It didn’t surprise her that he didn’t realize what he was doing especially since this was the first time they had put themselves in this situation together. It was all about figuring out the other person and they were still learning. And she was not a meek girl, so she would call him out on what he was doing.
“What?” Tom got defiant, frowning. he’d been caught doing something he maybe shouldn’t have done, something the Dream version of himself would have. There was a bit of anger at himself for falling into old habits. “I wasn’t drooling.” He argued. “I can’t help it if there are pretty things to look at on the beach.”
“I said almost drooling. And yes, there are very pretty things to look at, especially the pretty thing that is holding your hand right now. I’m not that crazy girlfriend that is going to yell at you to never look at another girl, but at least don’t stare. You don’t think I noticed the hottie in the yellow board shorts over there? But I’m not going to stare because you’re better to look at,” she pointed out to him. She wasn’t overly upset with him, but he certainly needed to think twice about what he was doing.
Tom couldn’t help himself. He turned to glare at the dude in the yellow board shorts. But his expression softened. That guy was ripped. Hey, at least Rose had good taste. He turned back to Rose and gave a little sigh. His arms wrapped down and around her. “Sorry.” He said, realizing how much it’d suck if Rose was all about staring at other guys. While he was there. Or whatever. It’d suck a lot. “I don’t know how you can put up with me. Can’t take me anywhere.”
She snuggled up to him when he wrapped the arm around her and tilted her head up so she could kiss his chin. Oh the silliness of being shorter than your boyfriend. “It’s okay. You’re still learning how to do this monogamous thing. It’s probably a hard habit to break since you were such a horn dog and probably stared at every girl that walked by. But I know you love me and I’m willing to let things slide for a moment if you learn from the experience. So, no more staring. you can check them out, but you should really only stare at me.”
“Okay.” Tom said, nodding. He could do this. He could get used to this. “...maybe we should go sit back down.” He didn’t want to slip up again, so it was best if he just removed himself from the temptation to stare. It was important to him to be a good boyfriend. To not hurt her. So he leaned over to press a kiss against her temple, then turned around on the sand. They could sit for a bit, have a snack, maybe lay out on the towel and sunbathe before it got too hot to do so.
“Sure, whatever you want to do,” She hoped that she hadn’t completely freaked him out. It really wasn’t that something that would probably be an issue, but she was also trying to help guide him into not being that man in his Dreams, which she knew he feared. She leaned up to give him a proper kiss and smiled, “Hey, don’t stress out over it, okay? Let’s just continue having an amazing day. I love you.”
“Okay.” Tom said, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her in against him. With Rose by his side, he felt like he could do anything. She was all he needed. “I love you,” he added. It was funny how the words got easier and easier every time he spoke them. He nuzzled his nose against hers once, then released her so they could walk back.