The Beach

Sawyer woke up to the feeling of kisses being placed along her shoulder and neck. She groaned a bit, trying to turn away from the feeling so she could fall back asleep, but the feeling persisted, followed by an arm holding her in place, causing Sawyer to allow her eyes to open. She blinked a few times before turning around, where Alex laid with a smile on his face, arm still holding her securely close to him.

“You’re interrupting my sleep, again. You already woke me up super early to have sex. I want to sleep more.” Sawyer whined, her voice raw and rough. All Alex could do was smile a little, a momentary chuckle getting lost as she groaned.

Alex had woken Sawyer up at 6am, three hours before they even really needed to be waking up in order to fit sex in before leaving for the afternoon wedding. Although she was originally irritated with his early morning wake up call, she had quickly changed moods as Alex started to rub against her, his lips and teeth trailing over her neck and collarbone. As promised, her and Alex had spent a fair amount of time wrestling around in the bed, ravaging each other. And almost immediately after, Sawyer kissed Alex and told him that she was going back to bed until they had to be up to get ready for the wedding.

Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to be woken up right now. She knew she hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep, and the disruption to her sleep most definitely hadn’t helped any.

“But. I have breakfast.” He said, and at that, Sawyer’s eyes glanced at him curiously. He sat up, turning to his bed side table where he had a tray of breakfast sitting and waiting.

“You made me breakfast in bed?” She asked, her voice a little more excited than it was minutes ago.

“Waffles.” Alex confirmed, setting the tray of waffles and bacon in front of Sawyer as she sat up, leaning against the headboard. “And bacon.”

“You are completely forgiven.” Sawyer said with a smile, leaning over carefully to give Alex a kiss. Alex laughed with a lighthearted shrug.

“I couldn’t sleep for very long so when I woke back up, I decided that you might like some breakfast for waking you up so early this morning.” He said before letting a smirk over take his lips. “Even though it was completely worth it.”

Sawyer couldn’t help but laugh at Alex.

It was completely worth it. That, Sawyer could agree with. Any time with Alex without clothes was more than worth it. And this morning had been no exception. Though she hadn’t been anticipating such an early wake up, she could admit that Alex had done an exceptional job at shifting her mood from grumpy to ecstatic and breathless.

Sawyer took a bite of her waffles, smiling at the wonderful taste. She never would get over how awesome Alex could cook. She really had to remember to bribe him into cooking more in the future.

“I love how well you know me. You’re totally buttering me up with waffles and bacon before having to endure your cousin’s wedding. Who says rock stars aren’t smart sometimes.” Sawyer said, earning a small pout from Alex as he ate his own waffle, causing Sawyer to chuckle just a little bit.

“So mean to the man who cooks for you.” He pouted, and she laughed once again, before reaching over to place a kiss on his cheek.

Sawyer smiled happily as she continued to eat the breakfast that Alex had made her, idly making small talk with Alex as they ate, neither feeling the need to keep conversation, but having no problem saying small little things either.

She finished her breakfast, feeling almost more exhausted than she had both times that Alex had woken her up with her stomach now overly full.

“I don’t want to do anything today. Let’s just stay in bed forever.” She said, moving the breakfast tray off of her and setting it on the floor, sinking back into the bed.

“I hate to break it to you, but we have to get up. We need to start getting ready for the wedding,” Sawyer groaned, tossing the covers over her head. Alex reached over, grabbing the comforter and pulling it back down, exposing Sawyer to the sunlight in the room.

“Oh come on.” Sawyer pouted, and Alex shook his head.

“You take a lot longer than I do to get ready, so you’re the one who needs to get into the shower first.” Alex said, and Sawyer let out a big huff.

“But if you shower first, I can stay in bed longer” Sawyer tried, and Alex just laughed getting up. Sawyer smiled, closing her eyes, glad that she had won, only to be more than slightly surprised when Alex was suddenly lifting her up. She let a fairly loud yelp come out, moving as quickly as possible to throw her tired arms around Alex’s neck in order to be able to hold on to him and feel like she wasn’t going to fall.

“ALEX” Her voice was higher pitched than normal, shock still radiating though her body as Alex carried her to the bathroom. She struggled against him a bit, trying to be troublesome enough to be set down, but Alex had a fairly firm grip on her, managing to get her all the way into the bathroom and set her down in the actual shower. Before she even had time to stand back up, Alex had turned on the water, letting the icy cold drops hit her skin.

Sawyer let out a shriek, startled by the ice cold water soaking her clothes and skin, causing goose bumps to raise on her skin.

“ALEX!” She cried once again, but Alex could hardly even hear her loud shriek as he laughed, half bent over with one arm on the wall to stabilize himself, and one arm wrapped around his own stomach, laughing so hard. “My clothes are soaking wet!” She exclaimed as she scrambled to turn the shower to a warmer temperature.

Alex tried to talk, but really all he could do was laugh, trying to calm himself down to no avail.

Sawyer grumbled, shooting Alex a glare before starting to strip her clothing off. She got the oversized t-shirt off, leaving her body exposed completely to the water, before chucking the drenched t-shirt right at Alex’s face. Alex stood stunned, his face now covered with the wet cloth of his own t-shirt that Sawyer had been wearing.

Sawyer started to giggle, unable to contain herself once she saw Alex’s stunned face, no longer minding that she was in the shower.

“If we didn’t have to start getting ready, I would be getting you back right now.” Alex said, and Sawyer just sent Alex a cheeky smile before ignoring him for the warm water that was running down on her. “You’re so lucky.” He muttered, causing her to laugh once more.

“Big talk.” She retorted with a laugh. “Now if you don’t mind, I do actually have a wedding to get ready for.” She continued, and Alex only shook his head at her before walking out of the bathroom, knowing if he stayed, he would only get both of them into trouble.

It was just a few hours later that Alex found himself staring at Sawyer, his mouth dropping open a bit as he watched her walk down the stairs of his house. He was absolutely struck by how breathtaking she looked. She had her hair still down, yet she had half of it up and pulled back. The remainder that fell down fell in curls, falling gracefully around her shoulders. She had plain makeup on, only there to accent rather than stand out. Her green eyes seemed to be even brighter than normal, a lightness and happiness set inside them that only rarely showed. She looked flawless in the black summer dress, the pink rose pattern falling over the black silk. Although her skin looked slightly paler against the dark fabric, she looked flawless, radiant.

He couldn’t believe that this girl wanted him. He just hoped that he could convince her to stay with him. He hoped that she would stay naïve enough to believe he was good enough for her.

“Sawyer” he breathed, stepping forward to meet her at the end of the stairs. “you look stunning.” He confessed before moving to place his hands on her waist. He noticed that she was a bit taller than normal due to the heels that were strapped on her feet, bringing her short frame a bit closer to his own, but still inches off.

She let a small smile overcome her lips as she looked at Alex, his hair disheveled intentionally, styled to perfection in a way that shouldn’t look appropriate for a wedding, but seemed to somehow fit Alex. He was dressed up in a black suit, looking more like a gentleman than she had ever seen him look before. He was still scruffy, which made her want to laugh because, here he was, going to a wedding, and couldn’t even be bothered to shave. It was so typical Alex, which is what she adored so much about him. He looked so grown up, yet in such a way that only Alex could successfully pull off.

“You clean up fairly well.” She remarked back, causing a small laugh to escape from Alex’s mouth in return. He let his hands run up and down her sides a bit before setting again, leaning orward to rest his forehead against hers.

“We should really get going. We don’t want to be late.” He whispered, and she nodded lightly in return. She leaned forward to press a shy kiss to his lips, smiling softly as she pulled away.

“Let’s go then.”

And from there it was a blur. Getting to the location of the wedding, sitting down with relatives of Alex, meeting one person after another before the wedding had a chance to start. Then the actual wedding. Sawyer, despite not knowing the bride or the groom, could honestly tell how much they were in love with each other. It was so obvious. She wondered if the way the bride looked at her groom was the way Sawyer looked at Alex. She hoped that she looked at him with even a fraction of that amount of love.

While captivated by their love, she did manage to admire the beauty of the wedding. The entire outdoor set up was gorgeous, and Sawyer couldn’t have been happier for the two strangers in front of her. She smiled at the feeling of Alex’s hand reaching over to grab hers, lacing their fingers together as they continued to watch the ceremony.

It was later that Sawyer found herself at the reception, making small talk with Mrs. Gaskarth at the table while Alex was moving around the room chatting with different family relatives. She had already met most of them, and had told Alex that she wanted a minute to just sit. Walking around in high stiletto heels wasn’t something she found herself doing every day.

Before she could fathom what had happened, her gaze had shifted slowly from Mrs. Gaskarth to her son who was standing a few tables away, right in Sawyer’s eyesight. He looked so happy, glowing with contentment and the alcohol that he’d already drank that night. He turned his head for a brief moment, his eyes catching Sawyer’s and his lips widening a little more to extend his smile. She let her lips upturn a bit as well.

“You two are so love sick for each other.” Mrs. Gaskarth’s voice brought Sawyer’s attention back to her, a light blush creeping up on her cheeks, embarrassed she’d been caught staring at the woman’s son.

“I really do like Alex. A lot.” She confirmed, but Mrs. Gaskarth just shook her head.

“Any fool with more than four working brain cells can see that you two are past the like stage. Whether either of you want to admit it, you are both in love with each other.” She countered, and Sawyer couldn’t help but nod.

“I love him more than I thought I could.” She agreed, and Mrs. Gaskarth’s smile just widened.

“Have you told him?” She asked, and If Sawyer didn’t know any better, she would think that Alex’s mother was a teenager gossiping with friends. And as off as it was, Sawyer was entirely comfortable sitting and having this conversation with her.

“Not yet. I was thinking I might tonight.” It was a lie, of course. What Sawyer really planned on telling Alex was that she was his, for as long as he could tolerate to be around her. But there was no harm in letting his mother think otherwise.

“So exciting. You should tell him.” She said, the enthusiasm in her voice more than evident, more than likely due to the several glasses of wine she had enjoyed during the evening.

“Tell who what?” Alex asked as he walked up to the women, both with large smiled on their face. They looked suspicious, but neither seemed to be bothered by the fact that Alex was standing there. They were hiding a secret, but Sawyer wasn’t ready to give it up yet.

“Tell you something.” She said cheekily, causing Alex to laugh and roll his eyes before taking a seat next to Sawyer, reaching to grab one of her hands and lacing their fingers together.

“I just hope you tell me before it could potentially cause harm to people that way I can thwart your evil plan.” Alex responded, causing both the women to laugh whole heartedly. Sawyer reached over and kissed Alex’s cheek lightly, just happy to be there with him.

“Mom. I hope you don’t mind but I plan on stealing Sawyer over here to drag her onto the dance floor, where hopefully the alcohol in her system doesn’t cause her to be so ungraceful that she breaks my toes.” Alex said cheekily, standing back up and bringing Sawyer with him, tugging her away and leaving her to shout a fleeting goodbye to Alex’s mother, who couldn’t help but to laugh at the young couple.

“So rude!” Sawyer exclaimed once Alex had stopped in the middle of the dance floor, pulling Sawyer close to his body and swaying with her to the tune that neither that they were registering.

“I’m sure my mother will get over it.” He said laughing, which only caused Sawyer to copy him and laugh as well.

“So do you plan on telling me what you apparently told my mother?” Alex asked and Sawyer smirked in response.

“I told her that I planned on telling you that I love you tonight.” At this, Alex raised his eyebrows.

“Ok.” And yea, he was confused. Sawyer and himself had already admitted their love for one another. What was so secretive about that?

“Your mom thinks that we haven’t said the L word yet.” Sawyer continued, and yea, ok, that made a little bit more sense, but not much.

“So should we fake a really sappy love moment?” Alex wondered aloud, but Sawyer giggled, shaking her head no a bit.

“What your mom doesn’t know is that I have something else I want to tell you. A different secret.” Sawyer said, and Alex was confused all over again. Sawyer really was doing a good job at running him around in circles.

“See, what your mom doesn’t know, and what you don’t know, is that I wanted to tell you I don’t plan on going anywhere.” She said, and Alex just kept staring at her, not quite getting what she was saying. “I don’t plan on going back to Jake. I plan on telling him that we can’t be together because I’m madly in love with this guy that I’m currently dating, and hope to be dating for quite some time.” She said, and the smile on Alex’s face was instantaneous. His eyes widened, sparkling a bit with excitement.

“You mean you want to be my girlfriend? For quite some time?” He questioned, and she giggled and nodded in return, only to be interrupted mid gesture by Alex leaning down to press his lips to hers forcefully. She pressed back, happy to have gotten this reaction from Alex. Once they separated, he rested his forehead against hers, her smile reflecting his as they started to sway once again to the music.

“I’m so happy right now.” He whispered to her, and she let a small giggle escape.

“That might be the alcohol talking.” She retorted, and Alex laughed.

“It might be helping. But I just found out my pretend girlfriend is now my real girlfriend. It’s a good day.” He responded and she gave a small light smile in return.

“There’s still a lot to talk about of course.” She said, and he nodded, pulling their foreheads apart so that he could bring her closer to rest closer to him, their chests now pressed together.

“Tomorrow. Let’s just have tonight be simpler happiness.” He said, and she smiled, pressing herself just a little bit closer to Alex, choosing to enjoy this precious moment with Alex, her boyfriend.

She smiled a little bit more at that thought. Boyfriend.