Hand in hand with Sarah, Chuck stepped outside. Together they walked down the boardwalk and towards the beach. When they were standing on the sand, she stopped, let go of his hand and turned to face him.

Sarah held out her hand as if she was asking him to dance. Chuck just blinked at her. He stared at the extended hand, confused. She motioned again for Chuck to take her hand, and this time he did. Placing his hand in hers, Chuck suddenly found himself pulled to her side. She placed one of his hands on her waist, and intertwined the fingers of their other hands together.

"What are we doing?" Chuck asked.

"Dancing," Sarah replied easily, as she led him in a basic swaying motion.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one leading?" Chuck asked.

"If you like," Sarah smiled.

"There isn't any music," Chuck said.

"The gentle sound of the waves isn't enough for you?" she said with a smile.

"It's not music," Chuck said stupidly. Why was he fighting this?

"Well, aren't you full of excuses," Sarah laughed. Then she started to sing, or rather hum. She projected the sound well, and Chuck could no longer complain that they had nothing to dance to.

They danced rather awkwardly since the sand under their feet shifted quite a bit as they moved. Sarah was clearly better at it than him, but Chuck was getting the idea. When he wasn't focused on his feet, he was listening to her humming. Chuck had never heard this tune before but he loved it. There was a sense of hope in the melony mixed with loneliness. He had a feeling that she'd written it, but he didn't want to interrupt her humming to ask.

"Did you write that song?" Chuck asked, when she stopped humming.

"Yeah," Sarah answered. "It was one of the first ones I wrote."

"It's beautiful," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

"So do you often dance on the beach?" Chuck asked her.

"I' have actually never danced on a beach before," Sarah told him. "I just didn't think there were any ballrooms in town."

"You would be correct about that," Chuck laughed.

Getting into the mood, Chuck placed his hand at her waist once more and led her in a dance. He didn't know anything about ballroom dancing, but he could definitely sway on a beach with the best of them.

Sarah was laughing, clearly enjoying herself and Chuck couldn't help but laugh with her.

He missed her humming, but the sound of her laughter felt equally musical to him.

"You dance, you sing," Chuck began. "You travel the world, you're stunningly gorgeous, and to top it all off, you showed up out of nowhere and bought me dinner." Chuck regarded her with narrowed eyes. "What's the catch?"

"I have a confession," Sarah said with a grin. Chuck was all but ready for her to announce that she was secretly married to a mob boss when she added, "I can't cook."

"Pfft," Chuck waved her imperfection aside.

"You're right," Sarah grinned. "It isn't much of a flaw."

"Are you trying to tell me there is no catch?" Chuck asked. "And you just fell out of the sky, and landed in my lap?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Sarah replied. "But this doesn't just go one way. I could say the same thing about you."

Chuck just blinked. That didn't make any sense, so he waited for her to explain.

"You really are rather remarkable, Charles Bartowski," Sarah said, slightly breathlessly. Between the dancing and laughing they were both playing catch up for oxygen.

"Nah," Chuck shrugged. "I'm nothing special."

"But you are," Sarah disagreed and with such sincerity in her voice, Chuck almost believed her. "You are honest, to a fault," Sarah smiled up at him.

"If that's all it takes," Chuck tried to wave away the compliment. "Then I can't believe you haven't met an honest person before me."

"Oh you'd be amazed how many liars there are out there," Sarah replied, but he wasn't paying attention to what she was saying anymore. She'd placed her hand against his chest as she leaned closer to him. She was so close now he could have kissed her if he'd just moved an inch.

"You're also kind and caring," Sarah continued. "Unselfish and loyal."

"We just met a few days ago," Chuck said. "You can't know all that about me."

He wanted to believe her words, but they were so far off his own views of himself it was difficult. Chuck didn't know what to think or feel. Was this really happening? A beautiful woman appearing out of nowhere, to make Chuck feel special after feeling mediocre all his life? It was like something out of a movie, and Chuck didn't trust that; it was too good to be true.

Despite that, it seemed to be happening. Was there any point in fighting this?

Sarah moved ever so slightly closer to him. Her hands still pressed against his chest. She was looking up at him with her beautiful blue-grey eyes. Only her hands were touching him, and yet his whole body was on edge.

Ignoring his brain for the moment, Chuck leaned down, closing the space between them, and kissed her, putting his arms around her, lifting her slightly from the ground. For such a tall woman, she felt small in his arms. Her hand came up to rest on the nape of his neck. He could feel her tongue trying to part his lips. She clearly had quite a bit of experience in the kissing department.

As her skilled tongue slid past his lips and began to explore his mouth, Chuck felt his stomach do a flip. His hands were still helping to support her but he could feel her palm against his lower back. He felt slightly lost, as if the world around him had ceased to matter. Chuck wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted, but when they pulled away, he was breathless.

Chuck still had his arms around her as they caught their breath. He just didn't want to let go.

"Thank you for breakfast," Sarah whispered softly.

Chuck couldn't help, laughing at this. After all, she had paid for half of it, but somehow that didn't seem to bother him anymore. Even if she didn't want him to pay for things, she still wanted to be here with him, which was all that mattered. As long as their day dinner together had been a real date, Chuck didn't really care who paid for it. Sarah had even used the word date.

He was suddenly hit with a need to do something for her. Given everything he knew about her so far, one very obvious idea came to mind.

"Yesterday you mentioned your writer's block," Chuck began. "How is that going?"

"Not great," Sarah sighed. "Still can't seem to get a decent tune on paper."

"Then I think that should be our next activity," Chuck suggested.

"Writing music?" Sarah asked.

"Sure, but to be more specific, curing your writer's block," Chuck clarified. "I am going to make it my mission to cure you."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Sarah asked him with a coy smile.

"Umm," Chuck stopped. He'd be so focused on figuring out what he wanted to accomplish that he'd rather forgotten he'd need a plan of action. Getting out his phone, Chuck decided to google the problem. It was usually his go to solution for almost any problem: ask a computer.

During the few minutes he'd been on his phone, Sarah had sat down on the beach, looking out over the waves. Chuck sat down beside her before speaking.

"So you seem to have the right idea," he said. "The first thing Google told me to do to fix writer's block is go on a trip."

"Check," Sarah laughed. "What else?"

"Practice a sport or hobby," Chuck replied. "Change your routine. Brainstorm ideas. Take a break. Seek feedback and something about creative writing exercises."

"Anything about making out on a beach?" Sarah suggested. Chuck felt himself flush.

"Um, no," he mumbled. "Not specifically, but I feel confident it can't make your writer's block worse."

She laughed and turned to face him. For a split second, Chuck felt sure she was going to get up and leave, but instead she pushed him back on the sand, kissing him as she did so.

Wrapping his arms around her, Chuck felt himself melt into her touch. She was slightly off to the side, with her knees against the sand, but Chuck could still feel her breasts against his chest.

Chuck had never met anyone quite like her before. She was exotic somehow, out of reach, and yet, here she was with him, a nobody from a small town. Chuck realized that he needed to be careful. He knew very little about her life before she came here. Sarah could just be interested in a vacation romance. Chuck didn't want to get hurt again.

But even knowing all that, he couldn't resist spending time with her. Sarah was intoxicating, in a rather marvelous way. He knew eventually she'd leave, but he decided to worry about that later.

"How about a picnic?" Chuck suggested when they stopped kissing.

Sarah laughed. "We just ate," she said.

"Yes but after our bike ride to the picnic spot, we are gonna be hungry again," Chuck explained.

"I don't have a bike," Sarah reminded him.

"You can borrow my sister's," Chuck waved away the problem.

"Well in that case, I don't think I have any reason to say no," Sarah smiled at him.

"Excellent!" Chuck exclaimed. "Now I just need to go home and collect a few things. Do you want to meet up somewhere?"

"Or I could come with you," Sarah suggested.

Chuck balked at this idea immediately, but then he remembered that his dad was out of town on a business trip. Sarah had already met his mother and sister. He supposed it couldn't hurt for her to come, especially if they were in and out fast. How awkward could it get, really? Ellie might be hiding upstairs with her textbooks anyway.

"If that's what you want," Chuck replied. Sarah nodded.

Together, they got up off the sand and began the short walk back to his parents house.

Chuck walked in without really seeing the place, like he'd done every day of his life up until now. Sarah, however, stopped to take in the house before entering. Chuck only noticed when he turned around.

"You coming?" Chuck asked.

Sarah pulled her eyes away and followed him. Chuck had no idea what she'd been staring at. Their little house wasn't anything special, just home.

"I'm home," Chuck called out.

"Then who's at the store!" his sister's voice called out from somewhere in the house.

"Mom!" Chuck yelled back.

She was quiet after that and Chuck assumed she'd gone back to her studying.

Chuck turned around and noticed Sarah was giggling. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You and your sister," she said. "Do you usually just yell at each other like that?"

Chuck shrugged. "When we're too lazy to come downstairs we do." He thought for a minute that she didn't like the yelling, but then Sarah continued.

"It's kinda great," she said. "Very casual and not at all what I would have imagined."

Chuck didn't know what to say to that, so he decided to focus on the picnic. Walking into the kitchen, he opened the fridge. In a rare turn of events, his mom hadn't prepared lunches so Chuck took out what he needed and got to work.

"Mom insisted we all know how to cook," Chuck explained. "Even if she never lets us do much cooking. She said it's an important life skill or whatever."

Sarah smiled. "Your mother sounds like a wise woman."

Chuck then remembered something Sarah had said earlier and worried his comment was insensitive.

"Not that it's a bad thing not to be able to cook," Chuck babbled. "It's just something Mom said over and over when we were kids. Kinda got burned into my brain."

Putting together a few sandwiches didn't take long. Chuck grabbed a couple bags of chips from the pantry and then some carrot sticks from the fridge. He packed water bottles and two juice boxes, as well.

"That should be it," he said, mostly to himself. "Oh wait." Going back into the pantry he grabbed some cookies for dessert.

Chuck had one more acitivy for their picnic that would need items he had yet to pack. Telling Sarah to wait here, Chuck darted upstairs and collected the necessary things from his room.

"All done," Chuck said as he returned, patting the backpack on his back. "Let's go around back and see how Ellie's bike is doing."

"Shouldn't we ask her first?" Sarah inquired.

"Nah, she won't mind," Chuck answered. "In fact, I doubt she'll notice. She never uses it much anymore. Too busy studying for her board exams."

Chuck led the way through the back door, stopping at the shed. He pulled out both bikes and presented his sister's to Sarah.

"Your chariot, my lady," Chuck said.

"Why thank you, kind sir," Sarah replied, reaching out to hold the bike.

Chuck led the way out the back gate and to the road. Then he got on the bike and Sarah followed his lead.

Bicycles move a bit too quickly to really appreciate the view. Chuck knew it well, but he thought Sarah might want to look around, so tried to pick the nicest spots for their water breaks. He led her down roads and up paths until they reached his favourite paved bike trail.

The trees here felt like old friends as Chuck biked past them. With shrubs at their base, the tall trunks of the trees seemed to go up and into the clouds. Chuck knew they in fact ended out of sight, but the illusion was beautiful.

Passing over a wooden bridge, Chuck felt the bumps between the boards. Keeping his eyes peeled for the bike lock, Chuck saw their destination and stopped his bike.

"Can't bike this last bit," he said, walking his bike forward to secure it. "It's just a short walk from here."

"A walk," Sarah echoed, in a curious voice as she followed.

Chuck led her off the paved road and down a narrow winding path. It wasn't long before the path opened up to a small clearing covered in thick green grass.

"I have a blanket in here," Chuck said, taking his backpack off his back to set up the picnic. "Just gotta dig for it." Why had he packed the blanket first?

Sarah stopped and looked in every direction, as if determined to take in the view. In between the trees off to the left, the mountains were just barely visible, far in the distance. There was also the sound of seagulls to remind them that they were close to the ocean. It was a beautiful site, for sure. The air smelled of trees and soil.

"This is an amazing spot," Sarah told him as she sat down.

"My sister and I found it when we were teenagers," Chuck explained. "Anyway, are you hungry?"

"You know what? You were right," Sarah laughed. "I am hungry again."

"Fear not, my lady," Chuck said in his best, and yet horrible, old western accent. "For I have brought food and drink for all."

"My hero," Sarah smiled at him as she accepted her sandwich and snacks.

They ate in comfortable silence. Like always Chuck enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, but the company was his favourite.

"That was excellent," Sarah complimented the chef once she finished her sandwich.

"Anyone can throw a sandwich together," Chuck deflected the praise.

"That might be true, but you could just take the compliment," Sarah countered with a laugh. Chuck flushed. She had him there. Sincere compliments directed at him were out of his comfort zone. It was time to change the topic.

So this chapter got really long. I cut it here and created another chapter to finish it off. Just felt more balanced given the length of all the other chapters in this story. I think you were all expecting a lot more dancing than I had planned. lol. Oops. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway.