Work Text:
“Not much farther now.” I groaned in response, my ability to speak still dormant during the early morning hour. Sara was bouncing ahead, and she still hadn’t told me where we were going. She pulled on my hand to urge me forward.
We had been out here for thirty minutes, hiking downhill along an almost nonexistent trail. Our dogs, Gary and Constantine, weaved between us and ran ahead at random. I had to watch for Constantine every time he ran back because he went straight for my legs. Damn dog.
I was so focused on my footing and Constantine that I didn’t feel her stop dragging me. I crashed into her form, knocking me backward on my ass.
“Ouch, that’ll hurt tomorrow.” I grumbled, wiping my hands off from my flailing attempt to catch myself on the ground. Gary was there within seconds, attacking my face with puppy kisses. A soft snort had me looking toward my girlfriend as it broke through the surrounding noise. Her eyes captivated mine, the deep pools of electric blue flecked with gold. They distracted me from any frustrations or thoughts I might have conjured.
She reached down and hauled me to my feet, steadying me on the noodles that had to be my legs. Her smirk removed me from my thoughts, reminding me to close my mouth. I could feel the heat rising up my neck to my cheeks.
“Well, you almost made it in one piece.” Her hand slid down my arm to intertwine her fingers in between mine. “Now take a look.”
I took the last few steps to the edge, standing beside her. As I looked out, I finally understood why this would be so important to the hyper Energizer Bunny alongside me. The view snatched the breath out of my lungs in a dissipating puff of smoke.
We were standing just above a river that sloped down into a pool of water below. The river bottom was a giant sheet of rock, the water flowing over it in a shallow pattern. On the opposite side, part of the rock stuck out like a cliff, the river cascading off of it.
Arms circling my stomach pulled my focus from the sight in front of me. I leaned my head into Sara’s and placed my hands over hers.
I sighed, “Wow, that’s worth waking up at 5 AM for.” Her arms tightened around me for a moment, and I turned in her grasp.
“Not as much as the sight I see.” My heart stutter-stepped at her words. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips to hers. Before my hands could reach her neck to deepen it, she was slipping away. She smirked at me.
“As much as I love that, I didn’t drag your ass out of bed to make out in the middle of the woods.” Her eyes crinkled when my lips formed a pout. She reached her hand out to take mine, leading me down the rest of the way to the river bank.
Sara dropped her backpack on the ground and started to strip. My eyes darted around, scanning for people.
“Sara, what are you doing?” Her shirt hit the ground as she paused her fingers skimming the edge of her pants.
“Going swimming?” A grin creeped up her face at my deadpan look. “Did I forget to mention that?”
I groaned, knowing that she deliberately forgot that detail. As per usual, I wasn’t wearing anything scandalous, but anyone seeing my underwear would definitely question it. I narrowed my eyes at her. The cheeky minx had the guts to grin wider and shrug. She probably planned on this happening.
Once I got my shirt off, I noticed Sara was done changing. She leaned down to scratch Constantine behind the ears, giving me a side view of her body. Dressed in a bright red two piece, my girl pulled it off better than I could have imagined. Her blonde hair and bright blue eyes contrasted the red number perfectly across her pale skin. Porcelain, she corrected me once.
“Are you gonna just stand there gawking at me? Or actually come swim?” The challenge in her eyes pulled at my will to win. Seeing my determined gaze caused her eyes to widen, she quickly descended to the top of the slope. My fingers fumbled to strip off my pants as I hurried after her.
Luckily, I had on blue boy shorts and a matching bra today, so I wasn't worried about sticking out too much if someone else showed up. Sara was already sitting in the water at the top of the slope when I reached her. The water was barely deep enough to cap over her thighs.
“Watch this!” My stomach flipped when she zoomed down the natural waterslide right into the pool below. She bobbed back up from the water and shouted.
“Come on, Aves!” I was nervous as I sat down on the slide. Barely pushing, I glided forward toward the water. I could hear Gary barking and the next thing I knew, he slid past me straight for the water. He hit the water, and Sara swam over to make sure he was alright.
About that time, I hit the water. When I came back up, I could see Gary back at the edge of the pool shaking the water out of his fur. Constantine was there licking his face. Reassured that the dogs were fine, I searched the water for my girlfriend. I started to panic, wondering if she got trapped underwater. I looked down into the murky water and saw a shape taking form. I squealed as Sara popped up out of the water. I knew my face reflected my irritation, but that didn’t stop her.
“Miss me?” I responded by giving my own sneaky grin. Before she had a chance to move, I jumped up so my arms landed on her shoulders and pushed her down into the water, head and all. After a few seconds, she came up spitting and sputtering. She narrowed her eyes at me.
“What the heck?”
I grinned wider. “That’s for not telling me about swimming.”
Sara smirked. “Is there no thanks babe for the date in there somewhere?”
I tapped my chin. “No, don’t think so. Oh wait!--Nah false alarm.”
I felt a little panic in my system as her eyes stayed the same, her body swimming closer. My reaction was to swim away, fast. After a few yards, her hand grasped my ankle, tugging me back toward her. I tried to contain my giddiness from her chasing and catching me. Two seconds later, I’m dunked under. As I came up gasping for air, Sara was laughing uncontrollably.
Two can play at that game.
I dunked her a few more times after that, and she did the same to me.The dogs barked and swam to us every few minutes to be reassured that we were fine. We laughed every time Gary followed Constantine back into the water, his short legs barely keeping up with the taller dog’s strokes.
When I came up for the last time with hair all over my face, she leaned in to tuck the strands behind my ears and kissed me soundly on the lips. My body took a moment to register the feeling. Her lips were a warm contrast to the cool water. I skimmed my fingers up her arms as they wrapped around her neck, pulling her closer.
She tucked her head near mine to move her lips down my jaw. When she reached my shoulder, she nipped it. Then she pulled me slightly on top of her, so she could propel us to the cascading waterfall.
The intensity of the sound and weight of the water had me closing my eyes. Once we passed the onslaught, Sara guided us over to a shallow ledge, dragging me to straddle her lap. I kissed her again lightly before breaking the contact to lean our foreheads together.
“Thank you for today. This place is amazing.”
Sara shrugged. “I’m glad you like it. My dad took me here as a kid. Seemed like a good place to take you away from the intensity of the city.”
I nodded. “It really is! And you set all of this up perfectly--well, almost perfectly.”
She smirked. “Aves, do you really doubt me? I’ve had this whole thing planned out, from getting you out here in your underwear to the PB and J and strawberries in my bag.” She raised her eyebrows at me. Damn, she knows me so well.
She tilted her face so her lips grazed my ear. “I even got those sweet little chocolates that you like.”
I leaned back and swatted her shoulder. “You’re such a goober.” Her grin was giving my heart more stutter-steps.
“Yeah but I’m your goober. And you love me.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” She rolled her eyes at my comment and curled her fingers in my hair to draw me in close. Our lips met in a rush, both of us done waiting for contact. I pulled myself closer to her, my mouth moving down from hers to trace her jaw. Just as I reached her ear, we both heard rustling from the shore. I tilted back to meet Sara’s eyes, and both of us knew what the sounds were.
Sara is the first break the silence between us. “Shit!” We swam out from our secluded spot to find the source of the noise. Of course, the two dogs had figured out the sandwiches were in the backpack. When we got closer, it looked like they had only gotten to one. Sara quickly snatched up the bag before they could go back for seconds,. Sheepishly, she met my stare and shrugged.
“Well, who would’ve planned for that?” I busted out laughing and tugged her against me for another kiss.
“No one, babe. That’s why you are perfectly imperfect just the way you are.”