"Hey. What are you doing up?"
Sophie didn't need to turn to see who it was. She'd know his voice anywhere.
"Couldn't sleep," she answered distractedly, kicking her feet mindlessly in the air. The warm summer breeze caressed her face and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks was strangely therapeutic, lulling her…not exactly into a state of sleep, but a state of relaxation; a feeling that was all too rare in her life. "You?"
"Sleep's overrated," was his answer. He moved to place his elbows on the ledge, next to her dangling feet. They sat there in silence for a moment, just dwelling in the quiet of world not yet awake. Out of the corner of her eye, she studied his face. The way his messy, sleep tousled hair hung over his forehead and almost into his eyes, just barely long enough to be considered shaggy, although she'd never let him know. Sophie thought it was kind of cute; and his un-styled hair made him seem younger, more innocent. It was moments like these she could almost forget the things they'd been through, almost imagine they were just another couple in just another house in just another city, breezing through life without a care in the world except their love for each other. They'd visit his family for Thanksgiving, stay with hers for Christmas, and travel for the time in between. Maybe they'd settle down someday in Edinburg or Rome, perhaps even in some colorful French village like Eguisheim or Beynac-et-Cazenac. She could imagine their children, running through the yard, playing sardines and base-quest and everything in between. Then, every night they'd sit on the porch in their white rocking chairs to read a book or watch the sunset. They'd grow old together, their children would go off to college and have children of their own. But throughout the years, their love would never waver, never fade. Someday they'd die, as all people do, but they'd die happily of old age, together. She saw all this in the drowsy flutter of his eyelids, the thoughtful set of his lips, the graceful arc of his back as he carelessly leaned against the ledge.
"You're staring," he said, breaking her out of her trance. But he turned his sparkling eyes to her as a sleepy smile slipped across his lips.
"I can't believe how hard I've fallen for you," Sophie whispered, staring out at the ocean. "Sometimes it takes me by surprise."
He just smiled a dopey, sleep-drunk as he watched her through the coating of sleep over his eyes himself and offered her a hand. "Ready for bed?"
Sophie smiled naturally in return. She kicked her legs over the ledge and slipped off to stand on the cool crystal floors of the small house they'd bought just last year. "It's you and me, kid," she told him, rising up on her tiptoes so she could kiss his cheek.
"You and me," he repeated, kissing her gently on the lips before hand-in-hand, they walked inside.