.:.:.

The atmosphere was odd to Elise’s sleeping senses; it was quiet and the truck didn’t seem to be moving but was still on. After what seemed to be a full night’s sleep, the well-rested woman opened her eyes and stretched the best she could. She scanned the surroundings becoming confused. Was this Matt’s idea of a joke or did he plan on reenacting a scene in Casino where Elise would be playing Joe Pesci’s fatal role. Her movements were cautious as the door was opened and she stepped outside the cool truck.

Matt was nowhere to be seen but Elise could hear some shuffling in the distance. Upon looking up towards the hazy morning sky, she was met with thick branches in green and brown coloring. The trees surrounding her were absolutely huge leaving her standing in a heavily shaded area. Patches of missing branches allowed the sun to warm random spots of sand and rocks. Looking past the trees, beige colored sand littered with dried looking bushes went on as far as her eyes could see. She knew where she was but couldn’t figure out why.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” Matt greeted her softly.

“Why are we at Rasor Road, Matt?” Elise closed the distance between them giving her a close-up view of the giddy look on his face.

Matt held up a single finger to his lips before grabbing Elise by the wrist and tugging her along to follow. They passed what she knew to be the middle of camp which wasn’t hard to figure out seeing as how there was a giant firepit in the open space in the middle of the trees. He pulled her further along, her shoulder nearly missing the large branch jutting off from the base of the trunk.

“I wanted to keep it a surprise by making you close your eyes but I can’t wait!” Matt quickly switched positions with Elise and put his hands on the sides of her curvy hips from behind. He pushed the confused Elise forward until she stopped in her tracks. A breath caught in her throat as she turned to look into Matt’s dancing eyes. He was definitely proud of himself, that much was obvious.

“Matt, I-“ Elise couldn’t find the words to express the current feelings flying around inside her.

Her gaze returned to the layout in front of her; a thick blanket was spread out over the sand with two lunch boxes sitting next to a small bouquet of sunflowers in the center. It was simple which is what made it so endearing. A new question rose in her mind of how he knew to bring her here. She loved the desert and grew up coming out camping to this exact spot. Nobody knew her love of the sand except for one person…

“Brian had a role in this, didn’t he?” Elise didn’t even need him to answer.

“I wish I could have done more but it would have been difficult getting a bounce house and churro maker past you.” Matt smiled looking into her green eyes while motioning for her to sit.

“Shut up,” She chuckled, “This couldn’t be more perfect if you tried. So, is this our second date?”

Matt only nodded as he reached for the lunch boxes and handed one over to which Elise took with a smile.

“What’s in it?” She asked.

“Open it and find out!”

Her fingers pulled the zipper until she was able to flip over the soft lid. She couldn’t help but laugh at the sight; a Monster Zero Ultra was nestled besides a sandwich of some sort. A small carton of goldfish held everything tightly in place. As she removed the can, another surprise appeared.

“I had to get that from the gas station down the road. There was no way it would survive the trip from Huntington.” Matt smirked as he pulled out her favorite ice cream bar from his own lunch.

“Not with your driving, grandpa.” Elise stuck her tongue out. “So, this spread must have been inspired by Lee, yeah?” She made a mental note to give Leana the biggest hug known to mankind. “It all looks so good. Thank you, Matt.”

Between laughing through bites of food and seeing who could throw the most goldfish in the other’s mouth, Elise had never felt this carefree. Everything was going better than she could have imagined. She drilled him with questions about how he planned this out and was able to execute it. Elise was impressed at how sneaky he was from going to see her uncle, texting Brian, and asking Leana for tips. As much as she wanted to be playfully mad, Matt had never told any white lies to accomplish this.

“When you said the reason for today was to set something up for someone, you weren’t lying…” Elise raised her brow when the rest of his words played in her head, “And you also said it should pay off really well.” She rested an elbow on her knee, stroking her chin as she stared him dead in the eye.

He wiped his mouth of any stray crumbs and took a sip that lasted way too long. Never once did she break her gaze from him. She knew he didn’t mean it in any sort of “crossing the line” way and wanted to have some fun. What she didn’t expect was his truthful answer.

“I’m hoping this day will bring us closer together. There’s still so much I want to learn about you.” He seemed almost bashful from the way he answered and looked away.

“Well,” Elise had finished her food and was completely focused on the sweet man in front of her, “What would you like to learn?”

One hour, two hours, three hours passed and they weren’t even close to scratching the surface of each other. What they hadn’t learned about each other from that night in the hot tub, they were making up for now. They asked questions which branched off into silly stories that had nothing to do with the original question. He confessed his reaction at the fast food joint was from his worry of Elise not being hungry for the lunch he made for her today.

Elise currently held her vase of sunflowers in her lap as Matt rambled on, in the cutest way possible, about his music and dreams. She couldn’t help but smile from the subtle aroma of her flowers which caught Matt’s attention. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere giving Matt the perfect opportunity to study her face. The light makeup around her eyes really made the jade color stand out, especially when her thick lashes instantly drew his attention to them. He adored how her light freckles flowed over her nose and cheeks. Leana did an amazing job with her hair color and he admired how bold, yet natural, it looked. A pang of guilt hit him in the chest when he wondered how she would look blonde.

“She’s not her.” His mind began to betray him.

“It’s starting to warm up quite a bit here. Want to go for a quick drive then head back?” Elise questioned with hope in her eyes.

“Show me the way.”


.:.:.


Elise had just pulled into her usual parking spot before finally letting loose a wave of giggles that had been building. The past two hours were filled with Matt’s light snores and incoherent mumbles. As much as she enjoyed how peaceful he looked, Elise couldn’t imagine how messed up his neck would be if he stayed in his current position.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” She removed her keys from the ignition and used them to poke Matt in his muscular thigh.

“Sleeping Beauty was woken up by a kiss. If we’re not going to follow childhood fairy tales then we’re headed towards anarchy.” Matt grumbled from his seat not moving an inch nor opening his eyes.

“You can kiss my ass, how’s that?” Elise chuckled, hoping she didn’t come off rude.

Matt raised a single brow from under his hat and paired it was a devious smirk, “I’ll do more than kiss it.”

Her cheeks blushed pink, “You’re so bad.” As she reached for her purse behind the seat, she quickly leaned over towards Matt and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. “You didn’t say where the kiss had to be.”

“I’ll be sure to specify next time exactly where I want those lips to be.” He watched her face turn a deeper shade and couldn’t help but grin, “On a trumpet, duh!”

Elise couldn’t face palm any harder if she tried. A defeated groan from her was Matt’s cue to begin gathering his things to head home. “Ah, that reminds me! What’s better than a rose on a piano?” She bit her inner lower lip to keep from smiling.

Matt hung his arms over his driver side door taking a few seconds to think. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders, “I have no idea. What?”

“Tulips on an organ!” Elise busted into a fit of giggles until Matt’s confused face changed the tone. “You get it? It’s because… Ah, never mind. Any who, I can’t thank you enough. Today was amazing, I never had anybody do something like that for me.”

The muscular man rubbed the back of his neck, “You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it, I figured it would be a chill spot for us to hang out and be ourselves.”

Elise nodded in agreement and smiled. They were unsure of what to do next, neither had thought this far ahead after their date. She knew he must have been tired still and opted not to invite him in so he would get a better sleep at home. As much as she wanted to ask him in, she began her goodbye.

“Text me later when you wake up?” She shifted her purse over her body, reaching her arms over Matt’s shoulders for a hug.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and gently squeezed. They soon released each other at the same time. Just as Elise turned away, Matt grabbed the hem of her shirt. She stopped and turned back around, a little nervous of what could come next. His aviators were off giving her a look into his coppery-green eyes. His face was neutral as he said nothing. Elise’s mouth grew dry just as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She imagined this moment time after time but now that it was potentially here, she froze. She froze and wanted nothing more than to turn and run. Matt took a step forward to close what little gap there was between them. Her mind was racing as she instantly felt flushed. Elise knew she had to be hyperventilating but couldn’t hear a single noise or voice around. Just as his tattooed hand reached for the side of her face, she panicked. The last thing she remembered seeing was Matt’s eyes slowly closing as he leaned in closer towards her lips. Everything seemed black after that.

Hopefully this was all just some twisted simulation.

Notes

Working on the next chapter, hope you enjoyed!

Oh, Elise, what happened?