"Hmm what about this one?" asked Lacey, holding up a very revealing royal blue mini dress that she found on the rack.
"Umm I don't think so I don't want to look like a hoe" said Ariel, shaking her heard.
"Excuse me you think you I dress like a hoe?" asked Lacey, her mouth wide open.
"Yeah you do and you know it. I mean the other day we were standing on the sidewalk at night and freaking Dr. Whale of all people pulled up and asked for you cause he thought you were a hooker!" said Ariel.
Lacey just stared at her while Ruby laughed like a maniac. "Did that really happen?"
"Yes! I had to freaking call Graham because he wouldn't stop. I'm pretty sure he was drunk and Graham actually ended up arresting him" said Ariel laughing as she realized how ridiculous it all sounded.
Lacey just shrugged as she put the dress back on the rack. "Whale is hot but, such a letch."
"Ok how about this one" asked Ruby as she pulled out an emerald green halter dress. "This one would really show off your cleavage well."
"It's lovely. But I don't know should I even wear a dress? I mean we're having dinner at his place not the Four Seasons" said Ariel, arching an eyebrow as she looked at her dress.
"It's better to be overdressed than underdressed Ariel" said Ruby.
Just as Ariel was going to respond she heard her phone ring. She took it out of her purse and saw that she had a gotten a text from Killian.
"Hey gorgeous, can't wait to see you tonight. ;) P.S. You might get wet."
Ariel chuckled as she read his text. She responded "So is aquatic attire required? ;)"
"If the lady whishes then yes, otherwise I would be contempt with our underclothes or no clothes at all."
"We'll see Captain;)"
"OOOH is that Killian you are texting?" asked Ruby, a huge smile on her face.
Ariel nodded as she felt her cheeks redden. "Anyway, I need to find an outfit guys! Actually he told me to wear a bathing suit. He told me we were going to have dinner though?"
"Looks like Killian is hoping for some sexy times by the water" said Lacey, winking at Ariel.
Ariel rolled her eyes, smiling at her friend. "I have to be over there in 4 hours and I don't even know what to wear yet!"
"Just show up in your bikini and a towel. I'm sure he'll love that. All he has to do is unknot the back of the bikini and voila!" said Ruby gesturing with her hands.
"Guys I'm serious!" said Ariel, getting impatient. "
"Oh how about this?" said Lacey, pulling out a simple strapless white summer dress.
Ariel got up, walking over to Lacey. "This could work" she said, taking the bottom of the dress into her hands.
"It's cute, very summery. Just wear your bikini underneath and your all set!" said Ruby happily.
"All right I think we have a winner" said Ariel, taking the dress to go and try it on.
-X-
"Shit!" said Killian as he ran over to the chicken, which was burning! He touched the handle of the pan and cursed again, as he burned his fingers. He took the towel from his shoulder and grabbed the handle of the pan, pulling it away from the hot stove.
"Well it's not that bad" he said, placing the pieces of chicken onto the plate. The tortellini's where also done and he set them out onto the other plate, pouring the hot pesto sauce on top. "She should be here soon" he said to himself. Just as he set the towel down he heard Ariel's voice calling him.
He let out a deep breath and quickly ran over to the mirror to make sure he looked good. He ruffled his hair a little bit and fixed the collar of his red plaid shirt. He was nervous, which was odd because he never got nervous on dates. Then again, this wasn't just any date.
With another breath he went up the stairs onto the deck. He could swear his heart skipped a beat as he saw Ariel smiling at him, looking beautiful and radiant in her strapless white dress and sandals. Her hair was in simple curls, which looked more natural than what her hair looked like the first night they met. "I hope I'm not late" she said sheepishly, clutching her pocket book.
"Not at all" he said in a low voice, trying to compose himself. "Come in please"
He held out his hand to help her get on the boat, as their fingers touched, he felt a little spark run through his veins. He wondered if she felt it too.
"You look beautiful Ariel" he said. Ariel blushed and said "thank you. You look very handsome yourself. So I'm curious you said we were going to have dinner but you told me to wear a bathing suit so, what gives?"
Killian chuckled. "I might have a few tricks up my sleeve love. Now we better go before the food gets cold."
"Go where?" asked Ariel curiously.
"To our dinner table" he said.
"I thought we were going to eat here?" she said, looking at him curiously as he approached her with a scarf. "Why do you have that?"
"Our destination is secret. You'll have to trust me. It's only a few minutes away but I want to keep it a surprise" handing her the scarf, and gesturing for her to put it on.
Ariel hesitated but took the scarf and wrapped it around her eyes.
"Excellent" said Killian. "Now just stay here." He went over to untie the boat and pretty soon they were off, sailing through the ocean.
In a few minutes they had reached their destination, as Killian lowered the anchor. He took her hand and gently led her off the boat, onto the shore.
"All right we're here" he said, walking behind her and untying the scarf.
Ariel opened up her eyes and saw that they were on a small island, and right at the shore Killian had set up a little table with candles, beautiful light blue plates and a bottle of wine with the glasses. There was also a blanket laid out on the floor near the table.
"Madam, your table awaits" he said, pulling out her chair. Ariel curtsied playfully and sat down at the table. "Thank you" she said.
"All right I am going to get the food, I'll be right back" he said, walking over to the boat.
"You need help?" asked Ariel, starting to get up.
"No it's quite all right darling, you are my guest so you get to relax" he said winking at her.
He returned soon with the plate of chicken and tortellini's. "Mmn smells delicious!" said Ariel happily. "I took the liberty of pouring us some wine, I had to do something."
Killian smiled as he set the food down. He served Ariel and then he served himself. Then he sat down and picked up his glass of wine.
"Cheers" he said, raising his glass. Ariel raised her as well and said "Cheers."
-X-
"Dinner was delicious Killian thank you" said Ariel, taking another sip of her wine, as she sat on the blanket he had laid out, soaking in the rays of the sun. The sun was starting to fall, the sky changing colors from blue to hues of pink and orange. "Who knew you were such a good cook."
"Well growing up, I was practically alone so I had to learn to cook" he said.
"I see" said Ariel, looking down at the blanket. Killian could sense she was getting a bit tense. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to get into anything touchy."
"It's quite all right" he said smiling at her.
"So what do you mean, growing up alone? Your parents weren't around?" she asked softly.
"My mum died when I was a wee lad, and well my dad…. What can I say my dad wasn't around much" he said, shrugging. "And I don't have any siblings so."
"I'm sorry" said Ariel, reaching out to place her hand over his. His hands were rough, but strong. She could see marks on his fingers from the grips of the paintbrushes.
"It's ok" he said, looking up at her. "At least it's given me plenty of inspiration for my paintings. "So what about you? What's your family like?"
"Well umm… its…. Big" she said chuckling. "I have a father and six sisters."
"Six really?" he asked. "I am guessing they are not all red-heads right? I'm pretty sure I would have noticed seven red-heads in town."
Ariel chuckled. "No they're not, they are mostly brunettes and my sister Anna is a blonde, but that's it. "
"And your mum?" he asked.
"She uh, passed away when I was ten" she said.
"Sorry to hear" he said. "So what does your dad do?"
"He owns the aquarium" Ariel laughed as she said this. "He loves fish and the ocean, actually my whole family does. If you didn't know any better you would think we were all mermaids."
"Well you would certainly be the most beautiful mermaid ever then" he said.
Ariel blushed as she looked down again. She then raised her head and looked at him again, biting her lower lip.
Killian wanted to lean in and kiss her but he saw from the corner of his eye that the sun was just about to disappear. "Ah the sunset is quite beautiful here" he said, looking out into the horizon.
Ariel quickly followed his gaze and agreed. "It's beautiful".
Killian's heart beat started to quicken, but he moved in a little closer to her. He hesitated at first, but he took his arm and slowly put it around her shoulder. Ariel smiled to herself and quickly rested her head on his shoulder. He let out a sigh of relief and watched as the sun went down, leaving behind streaks of red, orange and pink in the sky.
"So how do you even know about this island?" asked Ariel. "Or did you like make it or something? I've never knew this island was here" she laughed, and Killian smiled as he felt her back move up and down with her laugh. She had such a beautiful laugh.
"It's always been my little secret. This is where I would come when I needed inspiration. I've never told anyone about this place" he said, gently moving his thumb up and down her shoulder.
Ariel got up and looked at him with curious eyes "Then why did you bring me here? I mean no one else knows about it so? It must be a special place."
"It is special, but so are you Ariel and I know I've only known you for like 2 days, but it feels like I've known you forever really, and I just thought it would be the perfect place to have our first date."
Ariel smiled at him. She then slowly leaned in and pressed her lips against his. He returned he kiss, placing his hand on her cheek, and caressing her skin. Their kiss got more passionate by the second, as their hands traveled over each other's bodies.
They pulled away catching each other's breathes, as their foreheads rested on each other. "So…"
Killian chuckled, pulling away but still keep his hand on her back. He glanced down and saw the tattoo on Ariel's ankle. He had seen it the other night but he never asked her about it. It was an anchor, colored blue. "What does your tattoo represent?" he asked curiously. He wanted to know. He had a few tattoos of his own, which seemed to like, or at least that is what she had said. But he was curious to know the meaning behind her one tattoo.
"My anchor? Oh well my father umm he always told us that in life we all have this one person who grounds us, you know who is always there to remind us of who we are. He calls these people our anchors. And he would always tell us that we had to choose carefully, who we wanted our anchor to be. So I got this tattoo for my 18th Birthday and when I told myself that when I find my 'anchor', I was going to put his initials inside the anchor."
"So you haven't found him yet then" he asked, a bit relieved.
"No I haven't" she said, smiling at him.
"Good" he said, leaning in and kissing her once again. "So how about we go for a little swim?" he said, getting up and winking at her. He took off his shirt, and pulling down his pants where he had on his blue bathing suit.
Ariel giggled and took off her dress, showing off her polka-dot bikini. She walked over to the shore and waited for the waves to come in. Killian walked up behind her and placed his arms around her waist, bending down to kiss her shoulders, wanting to kiss every freckle that sprinkled her creamy white skin.
"You know this isn't exactly swimming" she said turning around and placing her arms around his neck.
"Well if you want to swim, we shall swim" he said. He then picked her up, as Ariel giggled and ran into the water, splashing water everywhere. He then set her down and placed another kiss on her lips.