To Caress My Day

Twig’s birthday was brimming with first-time experiences that she would remember for the rest of her life. As soon as she was ready to depart the resort, she and her ‘husband’ were escorted by two staff down to the beach where they received lessons on paddleboarding. The couple appreciated the time and commitment to details the trainers were giving them, but they felt very optimistic they could handle the manageable sport on their own. Respectfully cutting them off, they filled the trainers in on their plan and were then set into position onto their paddleboards. The bulk of the staff remained back on the beach, vigilantly watching their every move through binoculars while the trainers got into their heavily supplied, but small, emergency boat to tail the couple at a distance just in case of emergencies.

Beneath the hot sun, the couple managed to balance themselves atop their separate boards as they paddled along through the warm clear waters around their beach with their oars. Taking in the tranquility and reticence of the ocean around their island with grins on their face, Seth decided to take it up a notch by playing a game. Wearing a pair of forest green swimming trunks, he glanced at his ‘wife’ and asked her. “Hey, birthday girl! Wanna have a race?”

Twigs gaped at him in surprise, not believing he’d broach such a thing so early in the sport. “Babe, are you serious? This is your first time paddle-boarding and we’re not even a full hour in before you ask me to race you?” Looking him up and down, she smiled. “Word of advice, MacFarlane. Don’t get too cocky just cause you finally got the whole balance part under control.”

“Ah, I see your point there.” Seth granted with a nod that looked to be like he was agreeing with her. But as he skimmed the crystal rippling waters, he stated. “You ARE nothing but a scaredy-cat.”

Nearly losing her balance due to being unexpectedly slandered, Twigs narrowed her eyes on him and relented to his challenge. “Fine, I’ll race you. Where’s the finish line?”

“There.” Seth indicated to one end of the island they were already headed to.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Twigs declared, whipping her sarong off of her torso where she had it tied. Underneath was a micro black bikini with small round silver beads pushed through some of the string between her breasts, over the small triangle over her breasts and on both sides of her bikini bottom. She didn’t have to glance at him to know that he was looking at her, the brief sloshed of water notified her that he almost fell off of his board.

“W-What the hell is that?!” Seth demanded to know, his brown eyes taking in the black micro bikini barely leaving anything to the imagination. He had never seen that set before, and wondered where the heck she got it!

“A bikini.” Twigs answered plainly, her eyes glued on the finish line. “Are you ready to race, or are you gonna stare at me all day and lose?”

Perusing her bikini one more time for memory’s sake, Seth locked eyes on the finish line too as he began to count down, his hands curling around the handle of his oar. “On my mark! 3…2…1, GO!”

Off the couple went as fast as they were able to without falling off their boards. They were still new to this sport after all. Sometime during the race, Seth attempted to cheat by steering his board towards hers to ram her off, but his perceptive ‘wife’ saw it coming and evaded him for a while while ordering him to stop in between laughter. Seth didn’t listen and when they came close to the goal line, he succeeded in finally getting them both off of their boards and into the warm waters. Coming up sputtering close in time together, the couple burst out laughing at each other.

“Holy shit, we need to stop and get out of these waters before Jaws finds out I’m here and decides to make a meal out of my delectable ass!” Seth gasped out, nearing laughing himself out of air.

“Or we end up drowning from laughter!” Twigs giggled out, trying to curb her laughter as they swam back to their awaiting paddle-boards.
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Later on for lunch, the couple sailed off to the sandbar to dine. They were met when they returned to the long well-kept dock made up of dark wood by a man in white uniform awaiting them in a small boat. He informed them that he was to take them to their location for lunch. The couple were thrilled and were carefully assisted onto his boat. The captain greeted Twigs with a jolly Happy Birthday song that had her clapping along in tune. Draping an arm around his ‘wife’s’ shoulder, Seth smiled when Twigs laced her fingers with his as they snuggled close in the backseat together while their captain began to paddle the boat. They enjoyed the ride to their destination beside a large picnic basket that smelled delicious alongside a cooler that they both chose to ignore peeking inside of, wanting to be surprised when they arrived, and so they fixated instead on their captain singing to them in his native language.

A bar of white sand greeted them, one end already prepared by a lone waiter. Upon hopping out the boat, Seth swept his ‘wife’ up in his arms to carry her to the sandbar through the shallow water. Their waiter bowed to them with a silver tray with two glasses of fruity alcoholic drinks in wine glasses, but it was what was behind him that took Twig’s breath away.

There was an enormous plush bed with assorted pillows on the sandbar and a side of table with a fresh fruit bowl on it. Twigs could imagine what this place looked like in the evening, being illuminated with tiki torches and lanterns as the sunset. It was so romantic in her mind that she was determined to see it happen one of these days before they departed the island for good.

“Happy Birthday, Tahliah.” Seth whispered in Twigs’s ear as he lowered her back onto her feet on the warm white sand.

“Happy Birthday, Lady Barnett.” The waiter greeted her next as he closed the distance between them to extend the tray of drinks for her to choose from. “You get to pick first, of course.”

“Thank you!” Twigs told him as she plucked up one of the glasses and took a sip from it. It was absolutely refreshing!

As the captain of their boat exited the boat with the picnic basket and cooler to place them at the end of the plush bed, Seth gave him a nod. “Thank you both for all your help today. We can take it from here. I’ll radio you when we’re ready to head back.”

The waiter took that as his cue to leave as well, and offered the last drink to Seth. “For you, sir.”

“Thank you.” Seth took the drink and watched as the two men piled into the boat and began to paddle back the way they came. “I wonder what they packed us for lunch.”

“Same here, let’s check it out!” Twigs proposed with excitement, her stomach rumbling with hunger.

Now alone, the couple rallied towards the picnic basket to eat. Brushing some excess sand off of her, Twigs took a seat on the bed and began to set the items down on the bed one by one for them to devour.

“How is your birthday going so far, wife?” Seth inquired after a while of eating in silence and enjoying the Tropical views.

Twigs couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as she raved. “Oh. My. God! My birthday has been AMAZING! Beyond anything I could ever expect someone to do for me.” Her mind went straight to the activity they just finished. “I’ve been on vacation and have seen dozens of people paddle-boarding before but have never done it until today. Neither have I ever had an island completely rented out solely for me on my birthday! I mean, an island filled with people hell-bent on making sure I’m welcomed like their Queen everytime I walk into a room? Lord, it makes me feel so…important, you know? I’ve never felt that before either. Not to this extent at least.”

“It’s fun, isn’t it?” Seth inquired warmly, a handsome smile on his face as he took a bite out of his sandwich. “Having your every need being tended to.”

Twigs let out a laugh, not wishing to admit she enjoyed such luxury. “It kinda is, actually. But…it’s not a treatment I’d ever want on a day to day basis.”

“Why not?” Seth asked before taking a swig from his own tropical drink.

“It wouldn’t be so special and lovely.” Twigs said with a shrug, forking up some glazed potatoes. “It wouldn’t be amazing. It’d lose its glory over time.”

Seth nodded, seeing her point. He experienced the same thing once upon a time. “Point taken, wife.”