Author's Note:

Yay! I got to update! Yay! Chapter 5! Yay! Reading!

June 18th—Picnics and Thunder

Gwen's P.O.V.

"You look… amazing." Trent looks at me with wide eyes, jaw dropped. "Truly beautiful."

"Thanks." I blush slightly.

He takes my hand and leads me to the passenger side of his truck. He opens the door and I sit down. Trent walks to the driver's side and gets behind the wheel. I look at Trent; he's wearing a dark blue polo shirt and a pair of nice black jeans.

"Your shirt matches my highlight." I smile at Trent.

"Yeah I guess so." Trent starts the car and drives towards town. "Your favorite color is midnight blue, right?"

"Yep! And your favorite song is 'She Will be Loved.'"

"Yeah. Speaking of which…" Trent searches through a stack of CD's on his dashboard. He pulls out one from the middle of the pile. As he's putting the CD in the player, I notice what is written on it.

"'To Hell and Back.' What's that about?" I give Trent a curious look.

"You know… Total Drama and stuff. It was rough for me." He skips a few songs on the CD and "She Will be Loved" starts playing.

"Trust me, I know all about tough times because of Total Drama."

"Well it's a good thing I'm here to make you feel better." Trent looks at me and winks.

"Wow you're cool."

Trent starts singing along with the song. I smile. It's been so long since I've heard his voice. His voice is soft and cool and I never want him to stop singing. At the end of the song, almost as if he timed it so it would end perfectly, Trent turns onto a gravel roadway. A fence is in the middle of the roadway with signs on the outside saying "Do Not Enter" and "Construction Zone."

"Oh, a construction zone. Good choice."

"Actually, my dad is the head of a construction company in the Ozarks. His company was starting a new project but he stopped early because… well… financial issues. But I can still get in." Trent hops out of the truck and unlocks the fence gate. He drives the car through the gate and closes it back up after we're inside.

"So what was this project?" I ask curiously.

"You'll see soon enough."

Trent drives the car on to a gravel road. The car pulls out in a circular peninsula type area. As we get out of the car, I take a closer look at the area. The edge of the shore is sandy and leads down into the lake. Trees surround the gravel entrance to the property. In the middle is a quaint ranch style home. Attached to the house is a light house, smaller than the ones you see by oceans, but perfect in every way. I walk over to the sandy shore. Looking out at the lake, I can barely make out houses across and all around the peninsula. It's secluded.

"Trent," I gawk at the beauty. "This is… amazing. And it looks finished. Why did your dad say it was unfinished?"

"He said he was saving it for me." Trent stands next to me on the shore. "I always told him how much I loved this place, so he said he would give it to me when I found someone to, um… settle down with." He glances at me and takes my hand. I blush.

"That's really awesome, that your dad would do something like that for you. And this would be a great place for… a family." I clear my throat. "So, um, yeah. What's on the agenda for today?"

Trent goes back to the truck and pulls out a blanket and a basket from the back. He brings it back over to the shore and lays the blanket down. "We're gonna have…" Trent opens the basket and shows me the food inside. "A picnic."

"A picnic on the water; cute. What do you have packed for us?" We sit down on the blanket and take out our lunch.

"The classic, of course. I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us. I also have fresh apple slices and organic chocolate milk containers."

"Aw, you remembered I'm a vegetarian. And you packed the cutest kids lunch for us."

"Hey, I took my time slicing the apples. And I hand made those sandwiches."

"I'm not saying it's bad. Actually, it's really adorable." I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. And for the next couple hours, we sit on the blanket and talk about past, present, and future.

I look out over the water. The sky above us starts to turn grey and large, dark clouds roll in. Nothing on the forecast on the television said it would rain today. Oh well, nothing can ruin my date. It's going so perfect so far. But all of a sudden, rain starts falling. Lightning flashes in the distance and thunder sounds.

"Crap, it's raining. We should, um, get inside before anything too terrible happens." As Trent says this, it starts pouring down rain. We grab the blanket and the basket and run to the front door of the house. Trent pulls out the key from his pocket and unlocks it for us. We run inside just as a huge lightning bolt strikes.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" I say sarcastically.

I smile at Trent and take a look around the house. We're standing in the living room of the house. It's cute and quiet with basic furniture and cozy coloring. To my right is seating and a television. To my left is the kitchen. The kitchen is modern in some ways but has an old timey charm to it. Directly across from me is a hallway that I assume leads to bathrooms and bedrooms. I walk over and sit down on the couch.

"Let me go grab so towels. And I'm gonna change if you don't mind."

"Ah, yeah. Go right ahead."

Trent walks down the hall. I hear him rummaging through closets for towels. He walks some more into another room. He walks into the living room in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a white T-shirt. He tosses a towel to me.

"Thanks. So why do you have clothes here?"

"When my dad gets drunk and brings girls over, I spend the night here. I have an entire wardrobe here because I have no idea how long I'm gonna be here. So yeah."

"Wow. I had no idea that kind of stuff happened."

"Yeah, but my dad is cool." Thunder sounds right over us. "The storm is getting close."

"I didn't know it was supposed to rain today."

"Neither did I." Trent walks back down the hall. He comes back out with a pile of clothes. "Here, you can change into this. It's a little older so it's smaller. But it is clean." He hands me the pile. "The bathroom is down the hall to the left and the bedrooms are to the right."

"Okay, thanks." I walk into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. My hair has become uncurled and my makeup is running. Somehow, Trent still managed to look at me.

I wash off all my makeup and attempt to adjust my hair. I walk into the main bedroom to change. On the dressers are pictures of Trent from when he was little. He was tall and skinny and kinda dorky. But he was still adorable.

In the stack of clothing, there is a pair of red and black checkered boxers and a black T-shirt. I take off my dress and put on Trent's clothing. It's soft and it smells like his cologne. I look at my dress on the floor; it's ruined. Well, so much for that dress. I fold it up and set it on the bed. I walk back into the living room and sit next to Trent on the couch.

"Let's see what the weather channel has to say about all of this." Trent turns the television on to the weather channel. "You still look cute, by the way."

"Thanks." The weather man on the television begins to give a report on the storm.

"The storm in the Ozarks was completely unexpected. All over the county, people are losing power. Please take extreme caution if you must drive. Otherwise, I advise you stay where you are and wait the storm out. The storm is expected to end—" A huge bolt of lightning strikes nearby and the TV turns off. All of the lights in the house go out. We have lost power.

"Don't worry, I have candles in my room." Trent walks carefully to his room and brings back some candles. He lights the five candles he has and it only makes a slight difference.

"You don't have a flashlight?"

"No, I never anticipated something like this happening. I guess we'll never know when the storm is gonna end."

"We should just head back home." Trent looks out the window. Trees are shaking and lightning is striking every few seconds. Rain is pouring down intensely.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not used to driving in extreme conditions like this. Got any cell reception?"

I unlock my phone. No new texts and no missed calls. "Nope."

"Awesome. Well, we might be here for a while. Hungry?"

"A little, yeah."

The next couple hours pass by very fast. The storm grows in intensity. Trent and I sit with each other and talk about anything and everything. Every time the thunder comes closer, I jump. He stays by my side and comforts me through it, telling me he's here for me and I have no reason to be scared. The candles keep burning and create a somewhat romantic setting in the storm. Finally, it stops raining and the lightning stops coming. The storm is over and we're okay. I check my phone and I have six new text messages from my mom, all making sure I was okay. The clock on my phone says it is seven o'clock.

"Wow, it's already seven."

"Really? Let's see if the electricity is back." Trent grabs the remote and turns the television on. The weather man returns to the screen, telling us all about the storm. He turns on all the lights in the living room. "Much better."

"Right, well, guess it's time to head back home." I stand up and smooth out the shorts I'm wearing. Trent stands up next to me and looks into my eyes.

"Before we go, I have one more thing I want to do."

"What?" I ask curiously.

"This." Before I can respond, Trent places his lips upon mine, kissing me passionately. I gladly kiss back.

End of Chapter 5!

So I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry it took so long to update, but I'm proud of this one! So please review, favorite, and follow this story. Thanks so much for reading! Bye! 3