I always said I would never fall in love with a tourist, but I did. She walked into the store with a bright green and curvy bottle filled with some sort of slushie. I watched closely just to see if her or her friend would do something that would have made me come over in a professional manner. There was only but a few people in the store looking for something they just had to have while on vacation. As I began to check a few people out, I saw her pick out a teal hat that read Vitamin Sea. She tried it on, but when she took it off to see the tag, she put it back.
“Excuse me, ma’am.” I murmured to the mom with a kid on her hip crying and two by her playing with some random toys from the counter. Before she could leave, I grabbed the hat real quick along with her wrist. She recoiled ready to yell out something until she looked at me. Those eyes. I think they may have been just as blue as the ocean that was less than 500 feet from us. I could tell what she was thinking just from the glint in her eyes and the twitch of her lip; Fuck off.
“I’ll make you a deal you can not refuse.” I could see her friend standing just a few feet away with a look of aggravation, either from me or the heat.
“Alright, Mr. Salesman. Lay it on the table.”, she spoke all while gesturing to an imaginary table. Her voice sounded just as refreshing as sweet tea on a hot ass day.
I chuckled out, “You give me your number along with your name and I will give you this bad boy for free.” I placed it on her head and she just simply replied, “Deal.”
She scribbled onto my arm, 843-742-8756.
I didn’t know if it would be weird to text immediately or to just wait until after work. Either way, all I could see was our future together. I knew this had to be something that only came once in a lifetime. All I could do after getting off from work was just stare at my phone's screen, begging for me to type out something in the message section of a new thread.
Hey, this is Lowell from Beach Waves. You gave me your number? I didn’t get your name though.
Hi. I was waiting for you to text me, but my name is Cora.
Sorry, work ran a little late and I might have been a little nervous to text someone as beautiful as you.
That’s so sweet of you to say. You’re not too bad on the eyes either. Are you up to anything tonight?
No, I was just planning on eating something then maybe just watch a movie.
Well, how about we do it together?
Like a date?
Sure. How about we go to this diner I know about? Then we could head back to your place to watch that movie you were gonna watch?
I guess it's a date then. Want me to pick you up?
Yeah, I’ll call you in five.
That date started it all. The night was filled with chili cheese fries, ice cream, game tokens, laughter, half an hour of a movie and moans. After that night, I think we both knew there was something there that was unstoppable. Cora told me she was only in town for another week, but if things went well she agreed to see where it would take us. So, while I was working she was out having fun with her friends, but once the night came she was all mine. Of course, she wanted to do the typical tourist thing of a round of night mini golf and even though I had done it a million times, it felt like the first.
“Hey, so, wanna go get a drink and get a tattoo?” she blurted out along with a mischievous grin. The only way I knew how to respond was to kiss her.
“I’m gonna take that as a yes?”
“Totally, but I get to choose your tattoo.”
“As long as I’m picking yours.”
After downing a few bottles, we walked over to the tattoo parlor, Blacklight Ink. There was some girl, about thirty years old with quite a few piercings and not a single tattoo, tattooing some frat boys all while they chanted Delta Psi Beta. Then, we had Z, he was about twenty seven with his entire body covered in tattoos. Some of them didn’t even make sense like the turkey leg in a diaper. Cora went first after I told Z to give her the Netflix logo, but made to look like pizza. Then, it was me. All I could feel was the tingling of the needle going into my ass cheek, but I couldn’t have been happier.
“Alright, on the count of three we look.” I announced.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three!” squealed Cora.
We both bursted out of laughter at the tattoos we had given each other.
“Is it bad that I like having an actual piece of pie on my ass?” I chuckled out.
“Not at all. Now, this is what defines me. Pizza and Netflix? Hell yeah.”
It was the day before she was leaving to go back home. I asked for the day off so, we could at least have one last day together. I didn’t want her to think less of me, but I could have cried like a baby with a shit diaper in need of a changing. I kept reminiscing about all the adventures we had somehow gone on in just a matter of days. I was on my way to pick her up at the house she was staying in when I passed a thrift store. I quickly made a u-turn, which created a symphony of horns, and pulled into the parking lot. After twenty minutes of looking, I found what I was looking for.
I pulled up to the curb and she came off from the porch. She was stunning in a flowy peach dress with strappy sandals. Her maroon hair looked so bold against her now tan skin. She got into the passenger side of my car and asked, “So, what do you wanna do on my last day?”
“Do you trust me?”, I dangled a scarf in front of her face. She grinned which told me everything. I tied it around her eyes, cupped her face and laid a kiss on her lips. I drove around a bit to confuse her before pulling into a beach access. It was public, but no one ever came around this area. I got out of the car and came around to get her. As soon as she stepped out, I scooped her up. I carried her up to the shore line and whispered into her ear, “Do you know what's about to happen?”
“Let me guess, you’re gonna drown me?”
I started to walk into the water, until it was up to my knees before having her stand up on her own. I took the blindfold off from her and grabbed her hand.
“Lowell, what are we doing? I think this tops everything we did.” I could tell from the look in her eyes she was amused. That’s until I pulled out the ring from my pocket. Confusion. Then, I got down on one knee. Shock.
“Cora, this week and a half gave me a reason to enjoy the little things. You taught me how to live a little and how to love. I want this to continue. No, I need this to continue. Standing here in the ocean with you, fully clothed, is how life is when I’m with you. Sometimes it can be calm, it can be choppy as hell, but it can be a shit ton of fun. Clothed or not. So, I guess what I’m saying is, will you marry me?”
“Duh.”, she smashed her lips to mine all the while still babbling, “This is gonna be a story to tell my parents when I go back home.”
She pulled me up from the water and cupped my face while running her thumb along my jawline. All I wanted was for time to pause and to just live in this moment forever. I slid the dainty pearl ring onto her slender finger then planted a kiss on her head. We walked back up to the sand and planted our happy asses right where the water barely met our soaking shoes.
“This is gonna be a hell of a transition for us. I didn’t think I would come down here single and go back home engaged. In. Two. Damn. Weeks.” she gasped.
“Wow, you make me feel like the luckiest man in the world.”
“It’s crazy, but I know this is whats right. I feel like I’m breaking some ancient rule.”
I chuckled, “I always said I wouldn’t fall for a tourist. Yet, you somehow managed to make me break an actual rule.”. We looked out to the water for what seemed like hours when in reality it had been ten seconds.
“I would break every rule, especially mine, as many times as needed, if it meant that you would be the person I get to break the rules with, Cora.”, I declared. I knew when she gave me that smile, the smile that shined even in her eyes, it only meant one thing; Kiss her like it was a conjugal visit.
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