Karen curiously watched from the doorstep as Holly leaned down to speak quietly to a taxi driver. She'd been instructed to wait at the doorway a couple of minutes earlier and despite her overwhelming curiosity she had begrudgingly obeyed. Holly had told her earlier that they were going out but she'd refused to elaborate on where they were going because it was a 'surprise'. Karen frowned at the thought; she really didn't do surprises so well.
"Hey."
Karen refocused to see Holly standing in front of her with an excited expression on her face. An expression which quickly switched to worried when she recognised Karen's troubled appearance "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Karen answered with a shake of her head. She fixed a smile to her face in hopes that Holly would brighten back up "I'm fine."
"Great. Are you ready to go?" Holly asked hopefully as she adjusted the duffel bag hanging from her shoulder.
"Sure." Karen eyed the bag suspiciously. "You still haven't told me where we're going though."
"Because it's a surprise." Holly smiled, leading Karen to the taxi. She opened the door for her and gestured for her to get into the car. "You'll see when we get there."
Karen pouted at the evasive response and got into the back seat. The door was closed behind her and she sighed as she settled back into her seat. A couple of moments later Holly got in opposite her. Placing the duffel bag at her feet, she shut the door behind her. As soon as the door was shut, the taxi driver peeled onto the road. Holly must have already told him where they were going, Karen realised disappointedly.
Holly grabbed her seatbelt, slid it over her chest and clipped it securely into place before giving Karen a look that clearly told her to do the same.
Karen fondly rolled her eyes but mimicked Holly's actions. The woman tended to be a bit neurotic when it came to taking safety precautions but Karen found it to be more endearing than annoying, unlike the suddenly developing need to 'surprise' her.
"Holly?"
"I'm not telling you." Holly responded with a knowing smile. "It's a surprise."
"I don't like surprises." Karen frowned, growing quite disgruntled by Holly's refusal to tell her where they were going. Usually Holly couldn't keep a secret to save her life.
"I think you'll like this one." Holly said confidently. "Just trust me."
"Well can I at least have a clue?" Karen asked hopefully.
Holly looked like she was considering the request for a moment before she shook her head. "Nope."
Karen fell silent for a moment before she decided to change her tactics. Mindful of the low volume of the radio the taxi driver was nodding along to she lowered her voice to a whisper "What if I promise to do anything you want?"
"Anything?"
"Anything." Karen confirmed, flirtatiously biting her lip.
Holly seemed to consider the proposition for a moment before answering "I think I'll pass. You still owe me an 'anything'."
"What?"
"From last week." Holly explained smugly "When you made me walk to the closest garage with you at 3am because you were, and I quote 'craving cherry coke'."
"It's not my fault you only have normal coke at ho...your place" Karen pouted, "Come on just give me a clue."
"No." Holly shook her head resolutely. "You'll see when we get there."
Karen huffed and sat back in her seat. She leaned her arm on the door handle and dropped her cheek to her palm as she stared out of the window. She watches as the passing houses gradually turned to a motorway before something else caught her attention. Raindrops on the window pane. Sneaking a glance at Holly, she took note of the barely hidden horrified look on her face.
"Are you okay?"
Holly flashed a nervous smile "Yeah, I'm fine."
"No worries, it seems to be stopping." The taxi driver spoke up from the front seat.
Holly breathed a sigh of relief but still looked slightly worried.
"Hey." Karen said to get her girlfriends attention. When Holly glanced at her direction, she offered a wink "You're not blindfolding me."
Holly laughed at the statement and Karen felt a wave of satisfaction at the fact that she'd effectively distracted her.
"We'll see."
XXXX
"Is this really necessary?"
"Yes." Holly chuckled breathily into Karen's ear as she awkwardly led her forward, her hands covering the younger girl's eyes "Can you see anything?"
"No." Karen smiled warmly.
"Good." Holly came to a sudden stop and waited for a couple of minutes, judging the view. It was still drizzling ever so slightly and it wasn't exactly sunny but the view was magnificent nonetheless. Her mind drifted back to Karen's painting from a month ago, distracting her from what she was doing.
"Holly?" Karen murmured questioningly.
"Sorry." Holly whispered, ducking her head to press a kiss to Karen's neck "Ready?"
Karen melted at the touch of her girlfriend's lips to her skin "I've been ready since you told me we were going out this morning."
"Don't open your eyes yet." Holly murmured, slowly lowering her hands from Karen's eyes.
"Okay." Karen smiled at the familiar feeling of arms wrapping around her waist and a chin coming to rest on her shoulder.
"Okay, open them." Holly whispered nervously.
Karen opened her eyes and gasped at the sight of the beach before her. She blinked a few times to make sure what she was seeing was real before speaking "Holly, this is…" she trailed off and shook her head in disbelief, unable to put her feelings into words.
"I know it's probably a bit cheesy but I remembered what you said about coming to this beach when you were younger and I thought…"
Karen turned around and silenced her girlfriend with a passionate kiss to convey how much she appreciated the gesture. Finally she pulled away when the need for air became an issue "It's amazing."
"I should do more things to impress you if you're going to kiss me like that."
Karen chuckled and pressed another light kiss to Holly's lips "How did you find this place? I didn't tell you which beach we used to go to."
"I did some research." Holly bashfully admitted "A lot of research actually." She glanced at the beach over Karen's shoulder and bit her lip. "It was meant to be perfect…the rain kind of ruined it a bit."
"It's not ruined." Karen disagreed with a shake of her head "The rain just means there'll be less people here. So we can do whatever we want." Holly flushed slightly at the insinuation causing Karen to laugh "Come on. Let's find somewhere quiet."
Holly nodded and let go of Karen in favour of holding her hand. They wandered off down the beach in search of a secluded spot, their fingers automatically tangling between them. Finally they found a space away from the small amount of people on the beach and Holly reluctantly released Karen's hand to unzip the bag slung over her shoulder. She pulled out a beach towel and lay it down on the damp sand before dropping the bag down next to it. Taking a seat on the beach towel, she looked up at her immobile girlfriend.
"You're not sitting down?"
"Yeah," Karen answered but made no move to take a seat. Instead, she nudged her foot between Holly's ankles.
Holly raised a questioning eyebrow at the action but willingly allowed her feet to be pushed apart "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." Karen smiled innocently before she moved to sit between her girlfriend's legs. She scooted back towards her and finally realising what was going on Holly wrapped her arms securely around Karen's waist. Karen leaned back into Holly's body with a sigh, her head coming to a rest underneath the older girl's chin.
"This is nice." Holly murmured into Karen's hair "It's peaceful."
Karen hummed in response, her hands moving to grip Holly's where they rested on her abdomen "Told you." They fell silent for a couple of minutes, watching the waves as they crashed and broke onto the beach "I want to live in a little house by the sea someday."
"Yeah?"
Karen could practically feel her girlfriend's small smile. "Yeah, I think it would be nice…especially if you were with me."
Holly wavered for a moment, unsure as to how to respond "I'd like that."
Karen beamed at nothing in particular "Good." The slightly unnerving question as to what they would do after she'd finished her exams jumped out at her but she pushed it aside.
"Someday." Holly murmured wistfully, pressing a light kiss to the top of Karen's head. Somehow the words managed to reassure Karen more than ignoring the problem ever could.
"I love you." She said, her thoughts accidentally slipping out. She felt Holly tense behind her and immediately grew worried "I…Sorry. Too soon?"
"No…no." Holly shook her head "You just caught me off guard." She paused for a moment before unwrapping her arms from Karen's waist "Karen?"
Karen looked up in concern "What?"
"I love you too." Holly said sincerely in a whisper.
"Really?"
"Really." Holly confirmed leaning close to press a firm kiss to her girlfriend's lips.
THE END