A/N: Sometimes you really just need the Charah fluff. Like, it's necessary to your existence. Lo and behold, an update to Chuck Versus the Dive. How splendid!
Thank you to all of you for the wickedly rad response to the first two chapters. It was...a lot. Too many for me to even respond to. Just awesome. So many people riding the CHUCK train. The Charah train. Both.
You readers are inspiring!
Enjoy!
Chuck moved fast, reaching up to catch her as she teetered to the side, swallowing her breathless laugh in a heated kiss as he turned to ease her gently down onto the mattress beside him.
He pulled back just a tad, pecking her cheek first, then her chin, and finally kissing her lips again before he folded his arm under his head and rested on his side, watching her.
Sarah hummed and turned onto her back, her arm flopping over the side of the bed as she grinned at the ceiling. She sucked a long breath in through pursed lips and let it out again slowly.
Silence stretched on for a few minutes, and Chuck let his eyes drift shut.
He couldn't decide if he should speak or not and perhaps interrupt the silence, break the spell that had come over them. He pushed himself up to glance over his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand and raised his eyebrows. It was after 2:30 in the morning.
"What time is it?" he heard her ask and he turned back to prop himself up a little and peer down at her.
"It is precisely 2:36 in the AM."
Her eyes bugged out and she just stared, her jaw slack. "You're kidding."
"Nope. It's 2:36." He glanced over his shoulder again. "Well, 2:37 now. Technically."
Sarah puffed up her cheeks and then blew the air out. "Time flies when you're having fun?" she asked, a bit of shyness in her face as she crawled up to sit against the headboard and pulled the sheet to cover her chest for a bit of modesty.
He chuckled with a nod, moving to mimic her position against the headboard.
"I should probably get home."
His ribcage suddenly felt like it had collapsed, squeezing painfully. He covered his disappointment as best he could with a smile, because she had to leave at some point, didn't she? He knew this would happen sooner or later. He just didn't want it to happen yet.
"Right. Yeah. It is super late—or early, perhaps." She smiled a little and he knew she'd seen his disappointment. She looked like she was trying to find something to say. So he continued, letting her off the hook. "You've probably got a boat full of people to dazzle with majestic sea life in the morning, huh?"
She just smiled and paused, her body tensing for just a moment, before she pushed the sheet away and climbed up to her feet. Chuck did his best not to stare, but he could see her exemplary bare figure in his peripheral as he forced himself to look at his hands in his lap.
The nerd was still in complete awe that things had progressed the way they had. Not once, not twice, not even three times. He'd lost count, and he hadn't even cared that he'd lost count. He hadn't even known this woman for twenty four hours, but the air between them was magnetic, electric, and so so warm. More than that, it was comfortable. Mostly. Right now, a little less so. Right now he felt a little awkward. At a loss for what to do.
He got lost in his own head as she wandered the room, getting dressed slowly, as though she really didn't want to go, either. Or maybe he was just hoping that was the case. She was probably just tired. Not that she'd shown any trace of being tired the last few hours they'd spent tangled together on his bed.
People did this all the time, didn't they? People who had a better social life than he did.
They met someone, slept with that someone, and then moved on. One night stands, they were called. He'd never had one of those before. It wasn't his style. But then again, he'd never met anyone like Sarah Walker before. Maybe, for him, it just depended on the person.
It could be so easy. He'd say goodnight, let her walk out, and go to sleep. In the morning, he'd do something else touristy. Maybe he would go hang gliding. Or find a zip line through the jungle somewhere. Or just sit out by the pool with a fruity alcoholic beverage.
It could be so easy—but it wasn't. Because he wasn't like other people. He couldn't just have one date, sleep with her, and end it there. It felt…wrong was the only word he could think of. It was so impersonal and strange. After the great conversation they'd been having. He couldn't just leave it at really good sex and wave her off with a grin.
Thanks for changing my life! Drive safe!
He slowly climbed out from under the covers and swept his gaze around the room, peeking over the edge of the bed, until finally spotting a corner of his boxers poking out from the duvet that had ended up on the floor at some point. And the fact that he didn't even remember that happening…
He bent over, facing away from her, trying to hide his blush. Because it had been quite some time since he'd slept with anyone, and he wasn't sure he'd ever gone into it with this much gusto before. There was a lot of gusto involved. And as he slid his boxers up his legs and pulled a T-shirt from the suitcase he had yet to unpack onto his torso, his knuckles brushed against a bit of raised skin on his lower back. He furrowed his brow in confusion and moved his fingers to trace it. It stung a little, nothing too painful, and as he turned and glanced at Sarah, who was struggling a bit with the back of her dress, trying to get her hair out of the way so that she could fasten it shut, he realized she must have scratched him. He didn't remember that, either.
She stopped struggling and eyed him from under her eyelashes. "What?"
"Uh. Nothing." He pulled his hand back out from under his shirt and did his best not to blush again. He had to push his discovery completely out of his head, or he'd go batshit nuts. She scratched him. He could think about it later. As long as he fended off the urge to saunter up behind her with a bit of pride in his gait. He did. Just barely.
He buttoned her dress for her and slid his hand along her upper back to curl around her shoulder. She'd shifted her hair in a way that left her neck open to him, and he wanted so badly to lean in and press his lips against her smooth, warm skin there.
Instead, he pulled his lips back between his teeth and gave her shoulder a quick, tender squeeze.
He might've been imagining it, but he thought he saw goosebumps rise on her arms.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
She wordlessly waited for him to pull jeans on, leaning against the wall next to the doors that led out to the main room. And as they walked out together, the ache in Chuck's chest was palpable.
He couldn't do this. He couldn't just let her leave yet. He would, because he knew she probably had a lot to do the next day. And he was leaving this paradise in a few weeks so it really was for the best. But…
Sarah stopped at the door and turned to face him. "Do I have you convinced that Hawaiians can do Italian?" she asked, tilting her head.
Chuck laughed and pinched his chin between two fingers, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "Yes. Absolutely." They smiled at one another as he dropped the act. "Though, I have yet to discover if Hawaiians can do Hawaiian."
She giggled. "Really? Well, that has to be next on your agenda."
His heart twisted a little. Had she missed his hint? Was he too obtuse? Or did she purposefully ignore it? Was it even a hint? Did he have a right to hint? God.
"Yeah." He ducked his head for a moment, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking back up at her. "If you have any recommendations for me…" He didn't quite know how to finish that. So he didn't. Instead he just shook his head with a self-deprecating huff of amusement.
She just smiled, one shoulder lifting as she readjusted her purse and shifted her weight. And then she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him close and turning her face into his neck.
"Thank you, Chuck," she breathed, giving him a squeeze.
His eyes slipped shut and he pressed his lips to her hair, hugging her back just as tightly. "Me?" He chuckled, and then loosened his grip as she pulled back. "I didn't do anything."
There was a mischievous sparkle in her blue eyes at that, and then she readjusted her purse strap again. "On the contrary, you did…quite a bit."
She said it in a way that left no question as to her meaning and he grinned wildly, ducking his head again and chuckling, pushing a hand through his hair shyly. "I, uh…don't actually know how to respond to that, so…I guess…you're welcome?"
Sarah grinned back with a soft laugh and shook her head. "Well," she finally said, moving to touch the door handle. Chuck's eyes followed the movement and he fidgeted a bit. Please don't go, he wanted to say.
Nothing in the next few weeks would be better than meeting this woman. He knew it. And he couldn't just let her go.
But he did.
He let her set her hand on his cheek, lean up to kiss him. She smiled one last time and walked away. The door clicked shut behind her and he shut his eyes, letting out a long breath.
He let her go.
}o{
Would he make it in time?
He didn't know.
And he especially didn't know what was more foolish, the fact that it took him this long to run after her, or the fact that he was running after her in the first place.
He bypassed the elevator and immediately felt it in his legs, which were still a bit like jelly after everything they'd done for hours on end. He didn't care. He forced his long limbs to eat up the steps, skipping three, sometimes four at a time, until he hit the bottom floor and burst through the door into the hallway.
Chuck Bartowski felt like he was in a romantic comedy, stumbling into the wall opposite the door, bouncing off of it, and sprinting to the exit.
And as he staggered out into the night, he cast his eyes around the parking lot. Sarah was just about to slide into the driver's seat of her convertible. He'd made it. He was in time.
Chuck kept running anyways, catching her eye as she paused in a half-hunch, before straightening up to her full height again with a look of confusion on her face.
"Uh," he heard her say, blinking once.
He slowed down and stopped in front of her, taking a moment to hunch down, his hands on his knees, lifting his pointer finger in a wordless request for her to give him a moment.
And then he stood again and gave her a weak smile. "Hi. Sorry."
"Um."
She was so confused. He was so ridiculous.
"I'm sorry. I just…I was standing in my room up there and…" He was so out of breath. He cursed softly and took a deep, slow breath through his nose, letting it out through pursed lips. "A lot of stairs."
"There's an elevator."
"I didn't want my fate in the hands of a metal box operated by electricity and a series of pulley systems. Like, what if it broke down while I was in it or something?" he panted. She smiled in amusement and lifted her eyebrows expectantly. "That's not…important. So listen. I really don't want you to go just yet. I'm being really selfish and probably thoughtless, too, because you've probably got a lot going on tomorrow and you need some sleep. But I feel like…I've never had so much energy. Ignore the ridiculous panting from the running down the stairs thing. Ignore that."
She let out a bubbling laugh, shaking her head at him.
"Please stay. We can go up on the roof. That sounds super random, I know. I just mean because it's beautiful up there. Not the actual roof itself. The roof is kind of just…grey…and there. The scenery, I mean. It's breathtaking. Which, of course you know that, you live here, but I doubt you've ever seen it from that particular roof before. Also there are drinks at the bar on the top floor. Or we can get coffee. Coffee is great, too. Anything. Anything that means you don't leave. I just want…a little more time."
She didn't say anything, her eyes darting to the side as she shifted her weight.
"I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I know I keep doing this. First when I asked you to come up and now, asking you to stay the night. But you are an…extraordinary woman. And God, your eyes are unbelievable in this moonlight, are you serious right now?" he asked no one in particular.
He hadn't really expected her to laugh. But then again, he hadn't expected his filter to shatter into five trillion pieces like this, either.
"I'm sorry," he said a bit lamely, clenching his eyes shut. "You probably have lessons tomorrow and I already kept you out until, like, three in the morning. And you have to be super alert out there, I'm sure. To keep people from drowning."
He opened his eyes to see her shake her head. "After seven twelve-hour days straight, I've got some time off," she said, raising her eyebrows and shrugging.
"Oh. Well, that's nice. You deserve it."
"Yeah."
"Yeah." He shrugged, a twitch of a smile on his lips. And then he paused."Okay, I'm gonna ask again, because I'm ridiculous. Stay. Please? I've got all of the food and drinks you want at my fingertips. Sorry, that sort of sounds like bribery. I'm not trying to bribe you. If you want to go home, that's okay. I totally get that. But please, either way, answer soon, because I have apparently lost complete control of my mouth—"
She quickly covered said mouth with her own, cupping his face between her hands tenderly, her lips moving so slowly over his. And when she pulled back, she was smiling. "I can take care of that for you. Your mouth, I mean."
"Oh, no. I passed the broken filter onto you."
Sarah pulled back and smacked his arm, laughing. "Shut up, you jerk! I thought I was being smooth, okay?" And he felt bad when she ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. She seemed sincerely embarrassed, if only a bit.
"You were. You were super smooth. I'm just givin' ya a hard time." He reached out a hand of apology towards her. She slid her hand into his as he grinned. And then he sobered a bit and pressed his lips together. "Will you stay with me?" He paused. He was going to say something else, but he stopped himself. Just barely.
She didn't appear to think all that hard about it before she lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah. I'll stay."
His grin grew in stages over his face, and then dimmed just a bit. "Really?"
She actually met his eyes this time. "Yes. But only if you can sneak me onto that rooftop you talked about."
He clapped his hands together once, doing his best to keep it together instead of dancing up onto the hood of her car and back flipping off of it again. "Done."
"Good. Because otherwise I'm going home."
And her cheeky grin lit up the entire sky.
}o{
"Shhhh."
He put his finger to his lips and pressed his back against the wall at the corner, watching as Sarah covered her mouth to stop her adrenalized giggles. Her eyes went comically wide above her hand and he nearly giggled himself.
Instead he slowly curled around to peek down the hallway, before ducking back. "Coast is clear, Agent Walker. We can make our ascent."
She rolled her eyes at him as he took her hand and pulled her along after him, their steps hurried as they moved down the hallway, arriving at the door.
"You know, that's the part where you answer in the affirmative. Like a 10-4 or something," he whispered as he glanced both ways down the hallway and pushed the door open, pulling Sarah through first before following after. They let the door shut gently behind them.
"You just shushed me a second ago, and now you want a 10-4?"
"I would've settled for a silent hand gesture." She stuck her middle finger up and he frowned. "Not that one."
There was a short staircase with a dozen steps or so that led up to the roof, and he guided Sarah up in front of him as she giggled quietly. When they made it to the top, he glanced around to make sure no one else was there, and then he turned to find Sarah had wandered away from his side.
She stood at the railing, looking out at the Pacific that sprawled for miles and miles and miles, the moonlight dancing on the water in the distance. "Oh my God."
He sidled up next to her and gave her a crooked smile. "I know. Imagine how great it is with a bottle of chianti. Or, you know, anything really. I'm just a fan of chianti."
"Okay, Mr. Lecter."
"And fava beans." He sucked air in through his teeth just like Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs, causing her to laugh and swat at his arm.
"Eww! That's creepy. Stop it. Especially now that I'm alone with you up here. No one to hear me scream."
He chuckled and offered her the extra sweatshirt he'd snagged from his room on the way up to the roof. "Want it?"
Sarah's smile was quiet as she looked up at him, pausing for just a moment, before she nodded and turned her back to him. He helped her shrug it on and she wrapped it around her body, hugging it to her slim figure as she looked out at the Pacific again.
He chuckled suddenly, moving his arm to purposefully press up against hers as he stood beside her.
She turned to peer at him, her forehead wrinkled in curiosity. "What?"
"Nothin' really." He shook his head. "I was just thinking about how long it's been since I've been up this late for anything that didn't have to do with work. Probably college." Chuck tilted his head thoughtfully and nibbled on his lip. "Yep. College. And that was because I was studying for a final, most likely."
"Jesus." She lifted her eyebrows. "You really are a workaholic."
"I would never have gotten where I am if I hadn't worked so hard."
"I didn't mean that in a bad way." He shook his head at her to let her know he didn't think she did. "I think it's commendable that you've always known what you wanted to do and you worked hard. And now look at you. All your dreams are coming true."
Chuck didn't mean to scoff. It wasn't the most respectful or thoughtful response to what Sarah'd just said, and with that nice glint in her eye. And he was upset with himself for stifling that glint. He wanted to bring it back.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You're right. I worked hard to get here. But there's still a lot I wanna do. I mean, I-I can't take my foot off the pedal just yet. In no way is BarTech in the green. And, weirdly enough, this wasn't my dream really. Not always, at least. It is now, but when I was a kid, I—" He stopped and chuckled softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"What? You wanted to be a fireman?"
The glint was back. It made him smile hard.
"No," he laughed.
"An astronaut? A veterinarian?"
"No and no."
"Come on," she teased. "I can see you wanting to be an astronaut."
"I can't handle the ocean and you think I can handle space?" He laughed in disbelief, earning a laugh out of her. "Nooo, no. Nope. I did not want to be an astronaut. When I was really little, I wanted to be a barber."
She giggled so hard that she rocked forward, a beautiful grin on her face, her eyes shining in mirth. "That's probably the cutest thing I've ever heard a grown man say. Why a barber?"
"The first haircut I ever got, I loved it. It was probably the best thing ever. I don't even remember how young I was. Probably only a couple of months old. This curly mop was wild even then," he said ruffling his own hair and wrinkling his nose, earning another giggle. "Ever since then, I liiiived for sitting in that chair."
"Wow. Usually kids are terrified of haircuts, aren't they?"
"I know!" he exclaimed with a shrug. "I guess I was always a weirdo."
"I think it's cute."
"Yeah, well…I didn't realize what being a barber meant until I was older. I started reaching for, um, other things once I did. But I just thought, man, I get so much joy out of haircuts. It'd be great to be in a profession that meant making people as happy as I was when I sat in that chair." He chuckled and shook his head.
She simply looked at him for awhile, and he wondered what she was thinking, all wrapped up in his sweatshirt, the sleeves eating up her knuckles, her hair bunched up around her shoulders, her nose a little red from the cool breeze.
Sarah didn't offer any little tidbits about her childhood, and he found himself thinking about what her life must have been like before she cut herself away. He wanted to know more about her. But he hadn't even known her for a full day yet. He couldn't expect her to shell everything out for some guy she barely knew.
Silence settled between them for a few seconds and he could feel her eyes on him, even as she pretended to look out at the water. He liked it. Though the breeze ruffling his hair did nothing to stave off the heat rising up to his face.
"So," she finally said, her voice soft. "Barbering—barbing." He laughed. "That didn't pan out and you decided to go into tech. Then you built up this business of yours. From scratch. And now you've got the kind of money that allows you to take almost a month of vacation in Hawaii and stay in a swanky joint like this."
Chuck shrugged. It hadn't been easy. Some of it was pure luck, pristine timing, a number of things that had come together perfectly for him. But mostly he'd worked his ass off, locking himself away in his office and losing a few friends in the process.
"Here's what I've been wondering all night," she said, and he raised his eyebrows.
She paused, turning to face him, her front pressed against his bicep as she looked up into his face. Honestly, her eyes in the moonlight were astounding. They really were. He couldn't get over them.
"How in the world does a guy with your success—I know, I know, you're not done yet, you told me—but how do you still manage to be so sweet and genuine and…" She seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Nerdy?" he tried. She gave him a look. "Dweeby? Geeky? Goofy? Derpy?"
"Stop," she chuckled. "I'm serious. I've met plenty of people with money while doing what I do for a living. And a lot of them were perfectly nice and all, but you're…I don't know," she said with a smile, looking a little shy again. "You're different. And I don't get it."
He turned to face her and shrugged matter-of-factly. "At the end of the day, Sarah, I'm still I'm still Charlie from the block. I used to have a little now I have a lot."
"Oh God." She rolled her eyes and snorted, shaking her head. "I can't believe that just happened."
"Believe it. Couldn't pass up the opportunity."
"Of course you couldn't."
"No, seriously…" He chuckled and smiled at her. "I owe a lot of it to my sister, probably. She's kept me grounded through all of this. And she doesn't mind giving me a smack to the head if it gets too big." Sarah smiled in amusement. "Really, I can't explain it. Like I told you before, it's still a matter of…Well, it's all pretty new. Being poor is still super fresh in my mind. Having to skip breakfast and eating Ramen for lunch and dinner. Or washing laundry at my buddy Morgan's house when I was a kid because our machine broke and we couldn't afford to fix or replace it until Ellie racked up enough paychecks."
He was surprised to see understanding in her face instead of the usual pity or sympathy. It was more like…empathy. Like she knew exactly what he meant. Perhaps because she'd had it difficult, too? After all, she had listed more than a handful of places that she'd lived in after high school.
"Doesn't sound like you had it all that easy," she said quietly.
"It wasn't as difficult as it could've been," Chuck said with a shake of his head, thinking about how hard Ellie had worked to keep the worst of it from him. The extra effort she'd put into the holidays, the extra job she always seemed to have, how she'd scrounge up enough money to get them to Disneyland every couple of years, the way she taught him how to use the bus system in LA in case she couldn't get away to pick him up from school. He knew things had been much harder for Ellie. He didn't know it then, and he felt regret prick at his heart whenever he thought about it now. "I had what I needed most of the time. Or at least we were good at pretending. Almost as good as the real thing."
Her eyebrows bobbed and she smiled quietly, looking off into the water. "Pretending, huh?"
"Familiar with pretending?"
She lowered her gaze to her arms crossed at her chest and hugged herself tighter, getting lost in her own head for a moment it seemed like. He patiently waited for her to come back out, wondering again what she was thinking about. "A little," she finally said. "I'm sorry you had it hard, Chuck."
"Nah, don't be. Look at me now." He spread his arms out and grinned as she turned to look at him again. "I'm on the roof of a swanky Hawaiian hotel with a woman who's so beautiful it's legitimately staggering."
Her smile was soft, and then she gave him a particular look, one that made the cool Hawaiian night breeze imperative. "That right there? That's how you get yourself a second date."
"Is it?"
"Mmm. Oh, yes."
Right at that moment, Chuck Bartowski couldn't think of a comeback that wouldn't sound horribly corny. She had yet to be put off by his knack for sappy cheesiness. In fact, she'd almost seemed amused by it so far. But he stifled himself anyway.
"But this one isn't over yet, right?" he asked instead. "Now that you got the rooftop view, you're not buggin' out on me, are you? Because I'd feel mighty used if you did that to me, Scuba Sarah. Just so you know."
She laughed. "Scuba Sarah? Really?"
He shrugged and chuckled.
"I'm not bugging out on you, don't worry," she said, smiling. "What's next?"
He patted his pockets, felt the key in there, and nothing else. "I was gonna check the time, but it seems I left my phone in my room. And I took my watch off when we…" He turned red.
"My purse is in there, too," she said mercifully, having left it in there when they swung by earlier. "Guess we don't know what time it is."
"I'd rather not know what time it is, honestly. If I see how late—or early—it is, I might get tired. It's psychological."
"Ah. Yes. Good thinking."
"You wanna stay up here or saunter back out there?"
"Not sure how I feel about sauntering, honestly." Her face was perfectly serious and Chuck thought maybe he wouldn't last 'til morning with the way this woman played to his humor so perfectly. She was so perfect, he might just keel over from the intensity of it.
"Hm. What would you prefer instead?"
"Something sneakier than sauntering."
"Like sneaking?"
She sniffed a bubbly giggle through her nose. "That might work."
"Yeah."
He reached out to take her hand, the sleeve of his sweatshirt that she wore caught between their palms, but as he moved to walk her back to the stairs that would lead them inside, he found resistance from the scuba instructor.
Curious, he turned to glance back at her. She gave him a tug, forcing him to stagger towards her. She put her other hand on his cheek and caught him against her, tilting her chin up to kiss him.
He slid his free hand up underneath his sweatshirt, feeling the material of her dress crunch in his fingers, and he pulled her flush against his chest.
Chuck Bartowski had no concept of time as they stood on that rooftop, wrapped up in one another, kissing. And he didn't care. She didn't either, apparently, since it lasted for quite awhile.
And yet, as they finally pulled their lips apart, he felt it hadn't lasted long enough.
He finally blinked his eyes open, feeling her fingers slide down his cheek before her hand dropped to his chest.
They stared at one another for a moment, and then she smiled a little. "It just felt appropriate to do that up here. Romance and all that."
"Very appropriate." He paused. "But for the record, in my opinion, there's no such thing as an inappropriate time as far as you kissing me is concerned."
She giggled. "Oh my God, you're so cute."
He smiled brightly.
"What do ya say we get into some trouble?" she half-growled, and Chuck found himself considering the possibility of skipping the sneaking and exploration, and instead burying themselves in his bed again.
"What d'ya have in mind, Scuba Sarah?"
She rolled her eyes at the nickname, but he could tell she was at least a little amused by it. "You're the one who asked me to stay instead of going home, Bartowski. You tell me."
"I'm new here. I don't know how to get into trouble."
That was when she got a glint in her eye that made him feel like maybe he might be able to stay awake for the rest of his vacation.
}o{
"Do they arrest people for having open containers in public here?"
Sarah flashed him a mischievous look and snorted. "You afraid we're gonna get in trouble, Curls?"
"Curls? Is that your revenge on me for calling you Scuba Sarah?"
She laughed quietly. "Probably. Unconsciously. You don't like it?"
Chuck shook his head and grinned dreamily. "Honestly, you can call me anything you want as long as you keep smiling at me like that."
The smile on her face twitched and she twisted her pursed lips to the side. They had nothing but the moonlight to guide their way, so he couldn't exactly see it, but he thought she might be blushing. "Keep doing you, Curls, and you'll be seeing it a lot."
This time he blushed.
"Shh shh…" She held a finger to her lips, and pushed aside a few flimsy branches, peeking into the courtyard. "Think the coast is clear. They closed up a few hours ago, probably."
"Dinner crowd is gone at 4:30 in the morning?"
She giggled. "Come on."
They stepped through and Chuck followed her to a nearby table.
Sarah brought him to a restaurant that was a twenty minute walk down the beach from his hotel, but tucked a bit more inland. A bottle of champagne and a bottle of bourbon, in case that was more to their taste by the time they trekked through the cold morning air to get to their destination, were both wedged in his backpack with a few sweatshirts in between to keep them from knocking into each other. His sense of adventure had given way to nerves halfway there, and he found himself fretting over whether or not they might be caught.
He'd never been much good at breaking the rules, not as a kid, and not even now as an adult. But Sarah had assuaged his fears. Or maybe she was just a bad influence—an adventurous spirit who didn't care about rules, or…you know…laws. He'd been in the passenger seat while she drove them to dinner, after all.
The restaurant's outside seating was surrounded by a clump of thick-trunked trees, but it had been easy enough to get through and step into the little Hawaiian wonderland.
There were about ten wooden tables with matching chairs, old-fashioned gas lamps in the middle of each table, and some stereotypically tropical-looking torches poking up around the edges of the space. Chuck spotted lights draped through the trees' lower branches, and he thought they probably added some romance to the atmosphere when they were on. A bit hodge-podgy, the different types of lighting not matching, but it was still charming.
She gestured to one of the tables. "Go ahead and sit. Gimme a second and I'll join you."
Chuck gave her a curious look, but moved to sit down, watching as she walked through the tables and slid behind a small wall made of bamboo just outside of the double doors that led into the restaurant.
She emerged again with a gas lighter.
Sarah leaned down when she got to the table and opened a glass pane of the lamp so that she had access. It took her a few moments to get the lamp turned on, and then she shut the glass again and smirked. "Still got it."
Chuck's curious frown deepened, but she seemed to ignore it, glancing over her shoulder.
"I wonder…" she muttered, probably to herself even though he heard it. "Hold on, let me see if…" Her voice faced and she put a hand on his shoulder as she walked past him, going around the corner of the restaurant building. About a minute later, the lights surrounding the area lit up in the trees and gave the whole area a magical feel.
His jaw fell open and he gaped at the twinkling white lights, a grin growing on his face. He heard Sarah's heels clicking behind him and he spun to watch her approach, still wearing his sweatshirt that she'd finally zipped up during their journey to the restaurant. Her dress poked out from underneath it and her long, bare legs ended in the same heels she'd shown up in hours earlier to pick him up for their date.
The lights did something to her face. Maybe it was the way they were glinting in her blue eyes, or the way they emphasized the gold in her gorgeous, disheveled blond locks. He didn't know what it was, but he was struck speechless by her.
"Now I think we're good," she said, smirking a little.
He leapt to his feet wordlessly and pulled the nearest chair out for her. She accepted his gesture with a grin and sat, and he had to bite his cheek to keep from smiling too wildly when he caught her scooting the chair closer to his.
They sat in the quietude of the night, letting the romance in the air settle, before Chuck belatedly remembered what he'd lugged all the way here. He reached down and grabbed his backpack, unzipping it and stalling with his hand inside. "Right, what do you want? The champagne? Or the bourbon?"
She made a show of thinking about it. "I think bourbon is more of a 4:30 in the morning kind of drink."
"Agreed."
"Champagne is post-dinner."
"Agreed agreed. Also it's a little cold."
"And you said you didn't need a jacket," she teased. "Want this one?" She held out her arm, goofily swiping at the air with the too-long sleeve.
"No. Absolutely not. You, in your little spaghetti strap dress."
"In my defense, I didn't think the date would last until after four in the morning."
The conversation paused for a moment while Chuck took the bourbon out of his backpack and worked at opening the bottle. As he heard the telltale click of the seal being broken, he set the bottle on the table in front of him, careful not to look at her while he spoke. "Would you rather be all tucked away in bed, sleeping?"
"No."
A little surprised by how immediate and matter-of-fact her answer was, he set wide eyes on her face, and was struck again by how uncommonly beautiful she was. "Me neither. For the record."
"The record thanks you."
Chuck laughed, then reached out for the bourbon, taking the cap off and taking a good whiff of it. "Want the first taste?"
"You bought it, you get the first taste."
He gave her a look, meaning to argue with her for a moment, but then he backed down and shrugged, bringing it to his lips and taking a swig. He lowered the bottle and let the hard burn singe his throat in the best way. He smacked his lips a little and hummed.
It had an almost coconut aftertaste to it, having used some sort of Hawaiian something or other to distill the bourbon whiskey. And it was damn smooth. He offered her the bottle and watched as she drank from it without pause.
She furrowed her brow and licked her lips, causing his eyes to lower to them. He'd tasted them enough now to know they were dangerous. And he wanted to taste them again now. Badly. But he forced himself to meet her eyes again. "That's a damn good bourbon."
"It is. I bought it for Awesome, so I'm glad it's good."
"What? I can't drink this. It's for your sister's boyfriend." She put it back on the table.
"I can easily buy another one. It was at the gift shop in the hotel." He shrugged.
"Oh. Well. Thanks."
He shrugged again and took another swig, watching as Sarah kicked her heels off and brought her legs up to tuck underneath the oversized sweatshirt, her toes curling over the edge of the seat.
"Hey, how'd you manage to know where the lighter was? And the switch to get these on?" he asked, tossing his thumb over his shoulder at the lights.
Sarah shrugged. "I used to waitress here. When I first moved onto the island. I didn't just hop into the scuba circuit, and I needed something to get me by. Then I discovered scuba diving. Once I got certified and got my job that I have now, I ditched this place."
"Oh. Was it bad?"
"Nah, not really." She smiled and sipped some bourbon. "Just like any waitressing job, it had its ups and downs. Ben liked me enough. He probably wouldn't even mind it if he knew I'd done this."
"Can we call Ben up and have him scramble us some eggs for an early breakfast?"
"Ummm I said he probably wouldn't mind. Don't think we should chance it." She wrinkled her nose and it was insanely cute.
"You are so…" He searched for the right word in vain.
"What?" she prompted when he took too long.
"Adventure-y."
"Adventurous?" she corrected in a chuckle.
"Don't judge me. It's, like, five a.m."
She laughed. "I guess I am a little adventurous, yeah."
"A little? I've had more of an adventure with you in the last twenty four hours than I've had in my whole life up until now, Scuba Sarah." He grinned cheekily when she sent him a stop-that look.
"I'm not great at being stationary," she said quietly.
"Oh, I'm really good at it, yeeeah. It's probably one of the things I do best. I get into this routine and I never change anything. Creature of habit. I work, sleep, eat, work, sleep, eat, then do it all over again. Same work since I got out of college. Same place that I've been living in, even though I could probably afford something bigger and nicer. Same car. Yadda yadda yadda."
She smiled mutely.
"Do you think you'll ever settle?" he asked, not sure if he should've asked that question. Maybe it was too personal…
Sarah looked to be thinking about it though, nibbling on the inside of her bottom lip. "I don't know. I've never really been…settled. I don't know what it's like to have a permanent home, so I don't know if I'd like it. You know?"
"I getcha." He nodded slowly.
"You know, you're easy to talk to, Curls." She took another drink.
Chuck smiled and reached out to take the bottle from her. She offered it willingly and he took a few drinks himself, feeling warmer already. "I guess I am. But so are you." She flashed him a look of disbelief. "No, really! You are."
"Thanks…" There was that shyness again. And then he found his skin feeling a bit of a prickling heat where her eyes rested on the side of his face.
Chuck glanced out of the corner of his eye at her. "What? Do I have alcohol dribbling down to my chin or something?" He swiped at his mouth comically and earned a soft one syllable hum of a giggle.
"No. I guess I'm just wondering how in the hell you're single."
He wasn't prepared for that. And it definitely showed on his face.
"Sorry. That's probably a little personal. It just—It doesn't make sense. You're kind of like…the full package. And I hope you don't mind me being a little crass here, but there's the added bonus—you're really good in bed."
His jaw fell open and he blushed vibrantly, looking away with a chuckle.
"Sorry. Did I shock you?" She shifted to the side in her chair and reached over to drape her hand over his knee.
"Honestly? A little. But I don't mind it." He cleared his throat and set his hand over hers, curling his fingers through her cold ones and squeezing. "The thing is, well—I don't know. It's a lot of different factors. I don't really…date much. And it isn't really that I don't want to. I've tried to. There are just…a lot of uninterested girls. Can't fault 'em for it. I'm sort of a massive geek, so…"
"Maybe you are, but it's incredibly endearing."
"Well, you seem to think so. And I'm more than okay with that."
She giggled softly.
"I also work a lot. I don't know. I don't even know why I'm trying to come up with an explanation. I'm not gonna pretend I know anything about women. I really don't. Not that I'm not willing to learn."
"That's a good attitude," she said with a teasing grin. And he felt embarrassed suddenly.
"What about you?" he asked, trying to push the spotlight off of him. "You're absolutely the most gorgeous thing I've ever laid eyes on. Just beautiful. And you're smart, have a wicked sense of humor that I personally find extremely attractive, and you're an adventuress, which makes you fascinating. And even though my chest feels a little tight saying this out loud, you already did it, so what the hell…You're amaz—the sex is—the sex is amazing. You're really good at sex. My mouth stopped working. There was an actual moment where it seriously just, like, freaking switched off. Did you catch that?"
"Yeah, I did." And she seemed tickled to no end by it.
"Wow. Right. Can I just finish the rest of this bottle now? You can leave me here. The police will pick me up in a few hours. It'll be fine." He covered his face.
His hands were still folded over his face when he felt her drape her long legs over his and lower herself onto his lap. He pulled his hands away and looked down to see her perched on top of him, her legs swung to one side. Her fingers folded over his jaw, pulling his face to hers and kissing him.
This kiss had a lot more passion than the one on the roof did. Maybe it was the colder air or the fact that they'd both had some bourbon, but there was much more heat, much more tongue, and he nearly gasped as he heard her unzip the sweatshirt.
He pushed his arms under the sweatshirt and around her torso, pulling her closer as she wrapped the sweatshirt about his shoulders, at least as much as she could.
Chuck cradled her warmth even closer to him as she kissed him harder. Her hand dragged down his back, her fingers practically singeing his skin through the thin material of his shirt. And when the fingers of her other hand pushed into his hair at the back of his head, fisting his curls, he heard himself groan.
Sarah smiled against his lips and pulled back a little, kissing his chin, along his jaw, and gently nibbling at the spot just under his ear. His eyelids fluttered and he let out a soft breath.
He had no idea how much time passed, but it had to have been awhile. Because neither of them wanted to be the one to put a stop to it.
Eventually, however, he felt Sarah reach back and snag his hand, folding her fingers in his and lifting their entwined hands up. She pulled out of the kiss for just a moment, lazily tilting her head to look at the watch he'd put back on. And then her eyes got big. "Crap. It's almost six."
"Hmm?" was all he was capable of, still lost in a fog, his lips a little numb.
"It's almost six," she said, and then she pulled back to look in his face and giggled.
Chuck shook his head and cleared his throat. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize." She wrinkled her nose regretfully. "But we do have to get a move on if we're going to get high enough to see the sunrise."
Chuck helped her off of his lap and let her tug him up to his feet in front of her. "Not sure getting high on a stomach filled with whiskey is a great idea." He gave her a cheeky grin and she snorted, patting his cheek.
"That was cute. Corny, but cute. You know what I meant. There's a road I know of that leads up to an outlook point. Perfect for the sunrise. It will get us a really good view." She paused. "If you want to."
"Hell yes," he said immediately. Even if he was a little tired, he wasn't going to be the one to end this. He could sleep whenever he wanted to. This was his vacation, after all.
"Kay. But we have to hurry back so that we can take my car in time to see it rise."
"Well how long do we have?" he asked, quickly snagging the whiskey from the table and sliding it back into his backpack.
"About forty five minutes, give or take a few."
"Let's do this," he said, grabbing her hand.
But she held fast, her strong grip nearly pulling him back against her. "The lights," she said, pointing a little comically.
"Right, yeeah. Thoose."
"I'll be right back," she giggled. "Take care of the lamp while I'm gone, huh?"
He did, and she was gone for less than half a minute before the lights flicked off around him, immersing him in nothing but gentle moonlight streaming through the trees.
Chuck watched as her alluring shadow moved across the patio towards him, and then she was there again, sliding her hand into his. "I'd say we could run, but I'm in heels."
"I could hoist you up into my arms and run."
She laughed, pulling him along at a fast walk. "That's a little too drowning-victim for me. But it's sweet of you to offer."
}o{
"It's coming. I can feel it."
He heard Sarah giggle from where she was digging around in her trunk. And then she slammed it shut and came back around to the driver's side, sliding in behind the wheel holding a comfortable-looking blanket. "Want some? It's big."
"Uh, I think I'll be—oh! Okay."
She giggled again, having already reached over him to tuck it around his body. She slid back into her seat and snuggled up beneath it, kicking off her heels and pulling her feet up under her body. "This is my favorite part of the day."
"Ass-crack of dawn?"
Sarah snorted. "Sure, we can go with that. It's just very peaceful. People are still asleep. The sky slowly getting lighter and lighter. Nature is just starting to stir. The birds chirping. That fresh dewy morning smell."
"I typically sleep through this part of the day."
"I do, too. And then sometimes I…don't. It's rejuvenating, waking up in time to see the sun rise. Sometimes I go for runs at this time."
"You take a nap later, though, right?"
Her smile made him wonder if, just for a moment, the sun had already risen and he'd somehow missed it. But no…
"Not a morning person then, huh?"
"If I have to be." He shook his head. "No, you're right, though. It is the best time of the day. I wish I wasn't such a lazy-ass, and maybe I'd see it more often."
"You should go for a run with me."
"Ha!" He chuckled. "Haha. Good one. You'd lap me at least three times, before I'd finally give up and just crawl onto the floor and just lie there. Half dead."
"I don't think so."
Chuck tilted his head and made a high-pitched, doubtful sound. "You're just being nice, but thanks."
"I know firsthand that you've got an impressive amount of endurance."
She stared at the horizon instead of looking at him on purpose, he was sure. And that was good, because her meaning hit him the moment she spoke, and it was like a punch to his gut. A really, really good punch to his gut. And he was blushing like mad now.
"Well, I, uh…erm…I'm glad." He winced and shook his head at himself, glancing the other way. Idiot.
She hummed quietly. "So am I."
All he could do was blush as he finally saw the sky start to turn a stunning mixture of pink, orange, and purple. They sat in comfortable silence as the first sliver of the sun made itself known. And they watched it rise oh so slowly, a vibrant yellow splotch in the sky that got brighter the further it separated itself from the horizon.
"So…wow."
Chuck bit his cheek, feeling like maybe he shouldn't have broken the peaceful silence that fell between them with something that paltry. "So…wow" didn't even begin to do what he'd just witnessed justice.
"Nice, huh?" He just nodded, still staring out at the horizon. "Kind of makes you think life is sort of great, right?"
"There's no way I'm gonna argue with that," Chuck answered quietly, turning to look at her finally.
There was a yellowish-orange glow to her face from the early morning sun, and the breeze fluttered at her hair, whisking it over her face. Chuck really couldn't help himself. He leaned over and reached up, tenderly stroking the hair away from her stunning, quiet features and tucking it behind her ear. His thumb gently followed the swoop of her ear, and he felt her jaw clench under his fingers.
Sarah shifted in her seat so that she was fully facing him and she pressed her cheek to the backrest, nuzzling it a little. When he moved to take his hand away, she quickly grabbed it between both of hers and pulled it back to her face, the smile gracing her lips having just a tad of shyness.
Oh, he was sunk. He knew he was sunk. He was back in the ocean, except this time his ankle was tied to a cannon. There was no way for him to come up for air. There was no coming back from this.
Sarah twisted her lips to the side and nibbled thoughtfully on the bottom one. "We should probably go back."
Chuck narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Yeeaah."
But neither of them moved for awhile. Finally, she lowered his hand away from her face and she turned back to sit in her seat properly, pushing the blanket over onto Chuck. They buckled up again and she turned the car on, carefully and skillfully backing the car up enough to turn around and begin the slow drive back down the hill to the main street that would lead them back to Chuck's hotel.
Surprisingly, she didn't do the whole death-defying car trick act he'd been privy to the night before, or even on the way to their sunrise destination an hour earlier. Instead, she drove a little more…well, safely. But also without that need to get to where they were going as fast as possible.
And he wondered if she really wanted to get there at all. He didn't. He wanted to stay out here until he literally passed out from complete exhaustion. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.
Especially as she pulled into the lot in the back of the hotel and slid into a parking space, turning off the car. He was going to turn to her and thank her, do his best not to make the goodbye awkward.
But she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, turning to look down at him. "What…?" And then he could see in her face that she probably knew exactly what, because she winced and looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, I—" she started, but he cut her off, scrambling out of the car.
"I promised you breakfast. And breakfast is what you're gonna get. Let's go."
Her smile still looked a little tentative as she watched him shut the door and gesture towards the nearby side entrance into the hotel. She finally shut her own door and followed him.
He was glad neither of them felt the need to break the silence as they headed up to his suite. Though she did giggle a little when he had trouble getting his card out of his pocket to let them into the actual room.
As they walked inside, he turned to face her, watching as she slowly swung the door, the soft click of it shutting the only sound in the room. The morning light spilled in from the balcony, but he didn't dare look away from her.
"So…breakfast. Are we thinking the works? Eggs, bacon…scrambled, omelet…or should we go carb heavy with pancakes and waffles?"
Sarah didn't respond, instead walking up to him and curling her fingers around his. Then she stepped around him and gave him a little tug, very pointedly backing towards the bedroom.
"Or are you more into yogurt and berries? A little granola?"
An amused smile caused her to press her lips tightly together, still not answering him, still leading him back towards the bedroom, her steps slow and seductive.
Chuck kept going, wanting to see that amused smile bust open on her face, the light he'd seen a few times last night and this morning spilling out for him to feast on again. Because he was addicted to it.
"Please don't tell me oatmeal. I feel like that's such a waste of room service. Like, just the thought of someone down there in the most likely super fancy kitchen pouring oats into hot water and stirring it makes me cringe."
She finally laughed and shook her head at him, pulling him into the bedroom. The door shut securely behind them.
A/N: Seeeeeeeeeeeex!
I'm actually 12.
I really, really, really had fun. Writing in this universe is such a breath of fresh air for me. It's just fun. I can infuse them with my personality and don't have to worry about aaaangst or drama. Just silly fun romance! Ahhhh! Like oxygen!
Hope you all enjoyed! I'm sure you'll see more of this in the future. I'd love to hear what you all thought of this newest chapter and thank you for reading!
-SC