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By some miracle, you’d convinced born-and-raised country boy Clyde Logan to accompany you to Miami Beach for a week. A whole week, you couldn’t believe it.
And...he actually bought a pair of swim trunks. Sure, they were a West Virginia Walmart buy, but hey, he bought a pair; you’ll take what you can get.
Who was this man and what has he done with Clyde Logan?
He’s never really been to the beach before, Mamma Logan didn’t like bein’ in the sun too long and Pappa wasn’t about to cross her, so this was his first time.
Your family used to vacation here every year, so you were relatively familiar with the notoriously rowdy town. The first evening and night consisted of you showing a wide-eyed Clyde around Miami’s bustling night life. But, when the sun came up the next morning, he was revving to get down to the beach.
You had to talk him down a bit there at first, convincing him to eat somethin’ for breakfast before spending a whole entire day in the sun ‘cause if he passes out, he’s on his own getting back to the condo.
“I’m gon’ go get changed fer the beach!”
He says excitedly, clapping his hands together and doing a little jog over to the dresser the second you two get back from your sidewalk cafe breakfast.
You smile at his enthusiasm, trying to remember the last time you saw him so openly excited and smiley. After only a few moments of thought, you realize that you’ve never seen him quite like this before. But, you’re certainly taking a liking to vacation Clyde.
Both Mellie and Jimmy requested plenty of photos of, and this is a direct quote, “Clyde’s long, pasty-ass legs in swim shorts”, and you’re nothing if not accommodating...
As soon as he steps out of the bathroom, you quickly say “Smile!” and snap a picture of him in his leaf-pattern hunter green trunks. He frowns, striding over to where you’re standing.
“Hey now pumpkin, who’re ya sendin’ that off to?”
You giggle, typing out his sibling’s contacts into your messages.
“Nobody...”
His eyes widen when he sees Jimmy and Mellie’s names. He tries to grab the phone away from you, but as he takes it, his palm accidentally nudges the little ‘send’ icon.
“G’damnit! I fuckin’ sent it to ‘em!”
You’re cracking up as he frantically tries to somehow un-send the message, despite you trying to repeatedly convince him that there’s literally nothing that can be done at this point; the message is permanent.
Almost immediately, the replies begin to pile in and Clyde quickly puts a hand over his face as your phone chimes continuously.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
“‘m never gonna hear the end ‘a this when we get back home.”
He groans.
“Now they got that picture forever and they’re never gonna stop showin’ it...Oh ma god, they’re gonna put it in our weddin’ slideshow, a-and our future kids ‘re gonna see it, and it’s gonna be shown at ma funeral...”
You laugh, shaking your head as you put your hands on his bare, freckle-painted chest.
“Hon, I really wouldn’t worry that much about it. It’ll all blow over in a little bit, I promise. Plus, I now have evidence that you actually came to the beach with me. I have a feeling our future kids won’t believe me when I tell them this story someday.”
Clyde starts laughing, running his hands down the curve of your body before landing on your hips. He pulls you in for a kiss, moving his lips gently against yours.
Your face scrunches when he starts licking into your mouth and the bitter taste of zinc overwhelms your taste buds.
“Mmmm, mmm, Clyde?”
He pulls away, brows furrowed.
“Did you put some zinc on your lips?”
His cheeks turn pink and he looks away bashfully.
“Oh, yeah, I did. ‘m sorry, I forgot ‘bout that.”
“It’s alright, no need to apologize.”
You chuckle, shaking your head.
“I love you.”
He smiles, placing a kiss on your forehead this time, rather than your lips.
“Love ya too, pumpkin.”
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Clyde’s like a kid at a candy store when he gets down to the beach, quickly putting the cooler down on the sand and dropping his chair down next to it. The sunglasses sit just above the bridge of his zinc-whitened nose as his head moves around to drink in the sights unfolding before him.
You giggle to yourself as you watch him, setting your beach bag down with the cooler before beginning to set up your chair. But your man quickly jumps in and insists on unfolding the chair for you even though, as you’ll soon find out, he has zero idea how to operate a folding beach chair. To be fair, it was one of those older-fashioned ones that had sustained quite a bit of rust.
“Now, how in the world...?”
He grumbles, trying to unfold the stubborn thing. He tries just about every method he could think up, at one point he was trying to use his flip-flop equipped foot to aid in the unfolding process, but he still cannot get the damn chair open.
Eventually, a curious (and very entertained) bystander comes over and helps the two of you out with your chairs, and both of you thank them profusely before finally beginning your day at the beach. Clyde remains standing, continuing to look around at all the things happening on the beach while you lay back and open your book to begin reading.
After a bit of sunning time, you and Clyde head down to the water. You keep your feet in the cool water while he stands further in, little waves crashing mid-calf. He finds a nice shell and runs up to put it back at your little setup while you stay and watch as the natural push and pull of the ocean slowly buries your feet in the sand.
Suddenly, a flesh arm comes on your back and a metallic arm scoops behind your knees, lifting you up as you squeal.
“Clydeeee!”
He laughs, rushing into the water while holding you bridal-style, water splashing up all over both you and him with each of his massive strides. As soon as he knows he’s deep enough, he starts swinging you back and forth.
“One...Two...”
You’re in a fit of laughter, playfully hitting his chest.
“Noooooo! Stooopppp!”
“Three!”
Clyde tosses you into the blue-green water of the Atlantic as you screech, a big splash accompanying your collision with the surface.
You emerge a moment later, quickly rushing up and jumping into his arms, causing him to fall backwards into the water. He laughs when he resurfaces and splashes you in the face teasingly, to which you respond by doing the exact same thing.
“No more splashin’!”
He says, chuckling to himself at the irony of his exclamation.
You laugh, splashing him one more time.
“You’re the one that started it, you goof!”
“Now, let’s not play the blame game, pumpkin.”
He smiles jokingly, then wraps his arms around your torso, head nuzzling into the crook of your neck.
Both of you spend a bit more time in the water before heading back up to your chairs to dry off in the sun and re-apply sunscreen. Clyde ends up falling asleep, a few shells he found in the water spread out on the top of his thighs as he snoozes.
Only about fifteen minutes later, you look over and put a hand over your mouth to cover the giggles that come when you see that one of the shells has sprouted some legs in preparation for an escape attempt. The creature begins crawling and he starts squirming a bit at the ticklish sensation, clearly beginning to re-awaken from his early afternoon slumber.
When his eyes blink open and he looks down, he gasps, launching backwards in his chair. Unfortunately, the old-school beach chair already struggles to hold his massive form, so when he jumps back, the chair gives out and breaks clean in half, sending Clyde back into the sand.
The poor crab is thrust into the sand, but it’s alright, quickly crawling back towards the ocean. You immediately stand up, trying not to laugh too hard until you know he’s completely alright.
“Oh my fuck...Clyde! Are you okay, hon?”
He nods, chuckling softly.
“’m alright, though I can’t say the same for this here chair, though.”
You giggle, helping him sit back up in the sand. When he’s fully sat up, he’s still smiling and laughing, shaking his head.
“Well, I suppose I owe the condo owners a new beach chair.”
--
A full, active day at the beach has you pretty fucking exhausted when you two finally head back up to the condo around four in the afternoon. You take a quick cat nap while Clyde showers, then you hop in and wash off the day’s sunscreen and sand.
While you’re in the shower, Clyde rifles through his duffle and pulls out a little velvet box, popping it open to expose the glittering diamond ring that sits on a little pillow. He smiles at the sight, knowing that tonight’s the night he’s finally gonna ask you to be his forever.
He’s been waiting for the right moment for a short while now, and after the fun y’all had at the beach today and the sunset beach walk he’s planning to take you on before your fancy dinner reservations later this evening...he can’t think of a more perfect time to do it.
You step out of the bathroom and Clyde scrambles to quickly tuck the ring box into his khaki pants pocket. He smooths his hands over the fabric before standing up, face breaking out into a wide smile when he sees the beautiful sundress you’ve got on.
“You’re so beautiful, pumpkin.”
He says, smiling as he walks up to you, hands on your hips.
“Always so, so beautiful.”
Your expression stretches into a bright, genuine smile as you get up on your tiptoes for a kiss.
“Thank you, Clyde. You look awfully handsome yourself this evening.”
“Oh, well, thank ya, darlin’.”
His cheeks grow red as he looks down for a moment, shoving his hands down in his pockets.
“So, do ya wanna go on a sunset walk ‘fore our reservations?”
You agree, and the two of you head back down to the beach. His fingers fiddle with the little box in his pocket as you walk along the beach. Soon, you reach an old lifeguards stand, painted in brilliant mint green and flamingo pink colors. The ‘No Lifeguard on Duty’ paint is still visible, even after some seeming wear and tear to the outside of the building.
The sun’s touching down on the horizon line as he guides you up onto the old structure’s small front deck, and you lean over the railing together as the sun sinks down.
Your head turns to look over at your beloved boyfriend, admiring the way the sherbet sky reflects off of and compliments his alabaster skin.
God he’s beautiful, you think to yourself for what has to be the millionth time in your three years of dating Clyde. He’ll forever be the most beautiful man in your eyes.
He turns to you then, standing up with a shaky hand reaching out to take yours.
“Uh, Y/N, there’s somethin’...somethin’ I wanna do ‘fore we head off to dinner.”
You nod, eyebrows furrowing.
“Sure, hon. Are you alright, though? You’re shaking a bit.”
“’m alright, pumpkin.”
Clyde nods and then, he sinks down onto one knee, wobbling a bit as he adjusts to the new position. He steadies shortly after and then, he pulls the box out of his pocket and opens it up, exposing the ring he spent hours picking out for you.
You’re in shock, hands over your mouth as he smiles up at you, tears already forming in his eyes.
“Y/N, I-I knew when I first met ya that you were gon’ be the woman I wanted to s...spend the rest of ma life with. Y-Yer so funny ‘n kind ‘n so, so beautiful; yer just...yer perfect, p-pumpkin.”
You feel the tears beginning to spill out of the corners of your eyes as he continues, tears now running down his cheeks as well.
“I love y-ya more than life itself, Y/N, an’ I...I wanna spend the rest of ma livin’ days on this planet by yer side. Will ya...will ya marry me?”
Time seems to stand still for Clyde, then, his nerves overwhelming and overtaking his entire being. The seconds between his final word and your response are some of the longest and most anxious seconds of his life, but damnit, they were well worth it.
“Yes, Clyde, yes. O-Of course I’ll marry you.”
You say, smiling as he stands to pull you in for a passionate kiss.
He’s overjoyed, really, heart racing but in the best possible way. You said yes. You’re gonna be his wife, his Mrs. Logan.
“God, I love ya.”
Clyde whispers against your lips, pulling the ring from its place on the delicate pillow.
“I love ya so, so much, Y/N.”
“I love you t-too, Clyde.”
You smile, holding your left hand out for him to slip the ring onto your finger. It’s a perfect fit, and you immediately pull him in for a hug.
“I can’t wait to marry you, hon, can’t wait to become Mrs. Logan.”
He grins widely, pressing another few kisses onto your lips.
“Mrs. Y/N Logan, ma beautiful wife, ma forever partner.”
You nod, sniffling softly.
“Your forever partner.”