You're Not What I Was Expecting To Find

“I cannot believe you convinced me to call in to work. I’ve never called in, ever,” Charlotte said incredulously as Matt drove them away from Charlie’s and towards the beach. Matt planned on taking her to the pier, to show her his favourite part of Huntington.

“All work and no play isn’t very much fun,” he reasoned.

“You say it as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. To just forget all of your worries and stresses, and go to the beach when you should be working.”

“It is. All of my worries and stresses go away when you’re around,” Matt told her, and Charlotte rolled her eyes.

“You’re a cheese-ball,” she told him, leaning her head on her hand as she rested her elbow on the window sill. She looked sideways to see him grinning like an idiot, eyes still on the road ahead of them.

“It’s true,” he insisted, “I haven’t thought about Val, or the new record, or management problems, or my mom nagging me about visiting her. You’re very distracting,” he mused.

“I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing, Matt.”

“Oh, it is a very good thing, Charlotte,” Matt told her slyly, pulling into the parking lot and quickly gliding into a spot. He turned off the engine, and turned to smile at Charlotte. He quickly leaned over to kiss her forehead before pushing open her door. He hopped out of his side as Charlotte got out hers. She could smell the salt in the air as she closed the truck’s door, grunting a little with the effort. She had never been very strong.

Matt appeared in front of her and kissed her, grabbing onto her waist to pull her closer. Charlotte sighed and moved her hands to his neck. And as he kissed her, making her weak in the knees, she thought vaguely that maybe she could get used to this. She just hoped that he really would hold steady to his promise of not trying not to hurt her. It’s not as if she had been hurt a lot, she just wasn’t very sure of this…thing she had with him, and she wanted to at least test the waters before jumping in.

Both Charlotte and Matt pulled away slowly, yet still remaining close. Feeling the wind off the ocean pick up, Charlotte shivered and moved her head to his chest, hearing his heart beat against her ear. He lowered his cheek to her hair and breathed in. He thought about what she had said in the truck, about being scared. He then thought about of his emotions as he felt her breathe against him. Maybe wasn’t so sure of this relationship which was developing. All he knew was that it felt right, and he wasn’t going to let her go without a fight.

The pair linked fingers and made their way towards the pier. Matt brought her over to the railing so that they could lean against it, looking into the water. Charlotte felt Matt’s arm slide around her waist, and smiled, finally glad that she had listened to his advice and called in sick to work. She was in need of a day like today.

But god, what was he doing to her? They watched movies together all the time. She watched him work on his music. She watched him cook while he watched her clean. Now she was skipping out her responsibilities and hanging out at the beach. And she was enjoying herself!

When Matt grabbed her hand again, pulling her down to the beach, she just laughed, deciding to enjoy herself. Matt slipped off his shoes, and rolled up his pants to mid-shin. Charlotte did the same, realizing she still had her uniform on, and followed him into the water. Her smile grew as the splashed around for a few minutes, he chasing her in circles. He finally caught her around the waist from behind. He lifted her up, pulling her feet from the water, and spinning her around. Charlotte laughed and Matt carried her up to the beach. He set her down, kissing her quickly before falling to the sand beside her.

“Now my uniform’s all dirty, butthead,” Charlotte told Matt, shoving his shoulder. He didn’t budge. Matt laughed.

“We can wash it,” he said, then remained silent. But he slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his body as the wind picked up again. He felt her shiver a little and felt her snuggle into him more. He leaned close to her ear, kissing it before saying, “Do you want to leave?” She shook her head slowly. Matt rested his cheek on her hair, as he had done earlier in the parking lot, and looked out to the ocean.