Lunch is uneventful.

JKR owns everything that you recognize.

I returned to my parents' place late last night, after a cute afternoon on the town with Scorpius where we kind of danced around the issue of reopening our old high school flame. It was there, I know it was there, when I looked in his eyes I could tell that he was thinking it too. But neither of us said or did anything, and we parted with a very unsatisfactory (for me), "See you… eventually." I spent the whole train ride home wondering, moping, and gradually coming to terms with bookmarking that story until the next time we saw each other.

I sleep in the next morning, and upon waking up, decide to go for a run to the beach. I push hard on the way out, but take it a bit easier on the way back, taking in the lavender farm that is dressed up for the festival this weekend. It's possible that I've also been slowed down by the memory of Scorpius saying that he wanted to come out to this town for the festival… Wouldn't it be great if we could hang out on the beach together?

A car slows down near me, startling me out of my reverie. I look up, expecting to see a confused face of a tourist needing directions, but instead, it's Scorpius.

Blink. He's still there. I'm definitely not hallucinating.

"What… What are you doing here?"

"Wow, so cold, no, 'Nice to see you, Scor!' Oh yes I drive all the way out here to see you and you're not even happy to see me. I guess I'll just be going, then."

I laugh. "It is nice to see you, Scor! Don't leave yet! I just, I'm just really surprised to see you here, how did you find me anyways?"

"You had mentioned that your parents lived down the road from this farm, so I kind of, just, figured I'd cruise around until I found you?" Scorpius now resembles a tomato and refuses to meet my eyes.

I go to lean on the open passenger side window. I'm smiling because I want to jump his bones, but I guess I'll have to settle for teasing him instead. "That's preposterous, I wasn't that specific about which farm, or what if I didn't come outside? How long have you been 'just cruising' anyways?"

He meets my eyes and we smile shyly at each other. "Rose, why don't you get in and we can continue this conversation on the beach?"

So I do. I'm sitting sideways in shotgun and my eyes haven't left him since I got in but he's already focused on the road again, pulling his car back to the beach that I just came from. It's silent in the car as he parks and shuts off his car, and rests with his hands still on the steering wheel.

"Scorpius."

He addresses the windshield as he says, "I just couldn't let you go back to the States without knowing… I've wondered this since the summer we went backpacking in Europe, and I felt it again this weekend… It just feels like we have unfinished business…"

"Scorpius, is this an inappropriate time to ask you to kiss me?"

We're walking on the beach, fingers intertwined, when he fills me in on the details. "The poor person driving behind me must have been really frustrated, I slowed down at every farm marked on the tour to see if there was a hot air balloon, as you had mentioned. But after I found this one, I got really lucky, it was actually my first time down the street. I could recognize your gait from anywhere." We punctuate his explanation with a little makeout. "And if I hadn't found you, well, I guess there would be this lovely beach to hang out on."

"Or you could have texted me that you were coming, you clown." Kiss.

He packed a picnic. I fall a little bit more in love with him for it. So I text my parents to not expect me back for lunch, and curl up with Scorpius for the afternoon, talking about nothing in particular.

Around mid-afternoon I feel him shift and check the time, and I realize, "Scorpius, don't you still have a four-hour drive home and work in the morning?"

He doesn't say anything to me, just pulls his arm tighter around my shoulder and kisses my face. I kiss his collarbone and mumble into his shirt, "Scorpius, I really want to show you the sunset from this beach, but that would definitely be too late for you to make it back for work tomorrow morning."

"I'll call in and take the day off."

"Scorpius! That would be irresponsible."

"Rose, when's the next time that we can watch the sunset together?"

"This beach isn't going anywhere. My parents aren't going anywhere, they're retired. I'll come back again. Besides, we can plan trips for just the two of us. We can see each other more often now that we've got this all cleared up."

"Wow, Rose, I didn't know you wanted to be rid of me so quickly."

"Scor." I sit up. "I've never wanted to be rid of anyone as little as I do you right now." I throw one leg over his lap so I'm straddling him and I put my hands on his chest. "I'll prove it to you."

"Rose." He's sitting up now, in more ways than one, and he runs his hands lightly up my legs, my waist, he ghosts his thumbs over the curves of my breasts and he finally cups my face in his hands. His pupils are huge and I can feel the lust coming off of him in waves. My face feels like it's going to split in half from this half smirk / half sunrise of a smile that I feel is going on.

"Let's continue this in the car."