Cue the "awwww" for this one!

Happy holidays, dears ღ

❄❅❆❉❊☃❄❅❆❉❊

Nova's POV

"What the hell! You took the wrong exit!" I slap Blake's arm and start to rub my temples.

"I know," he says with a cheeky grin on that stupid face.

"You.. but the map? The next pack? The box of clues?" I say desperately.

He shakes his head, "we have been driving and staying with strangers for months now. We deserve a break."

"Our break comes through a wrong exit?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Yes." The asshole just nods. "Shut up and enjoy the ride. You'll enjoy this, I promise."

His hand wanders over to mine and our fingers interlock. I smile and watch the road which becomes ridden with cars and people and large buildings. After some more driving, I look to the horizon and see a darker shade of blue cutting through the sky halfway. 

"You're taking me to the ocean?" 

"Smart girl," he ruffles my hair.

~~~~

"It's freezing!" I hiss as the tide draws away from my feet, running like a baby giraffe into his arms.

"That's why it was so easy to find parking," he chuckles and wraps an arm around me. 

"Yikes!" I screech as the water comes to meet my feet again where I thought I'd be safe. 

He laughs and pulls me in closer. There was nobody on the beach today as I expected there to be. Beaches like this were usually packed at all times of the year. If not by suburban families, then by Asian tourists with pink vests, selfie sticks and those huge sun hats.

After some time, more water spooks and some light splashing, we do some rock climbing that no lifeguard in their right mind would ever allow. Climbing was fun too especially with rocky, billowing depths and crashing waves below us. Once we got closer to the top, we scaled over to the fence thing and jumped over to the surprise of some Asian tourists. 

We both just nod and start walking the other direction as they whisper in their language. The only word I can make out is "Americans", so I can't assume it's good.

We get away from prying eyes and sit down on a bench.

"So, are you hungry? I know a great place nearby." He looks at me and then at the ocean.

"How?" As little as I knew about his past, I had no idea how he ended up here at whatever point. 

"Well, Google told me it was a great place nearby," he smiles and gets up, pulling me up with him.

I roll my eyes and gesture for him to lead the way. It is within walking distance, so he puts his arm around me and we walk a few blocks to this run down, hole in the wall joint. Those are always the best places. 

The inside brags of catching fish every morning and displays some food porn worthy images. The smell of the ocean combined with fried fish would have drawn us to this place even if Google hadn't. Oldies music comes from the kitchen and is quite loud, but it gives the place its atmosphere which all the reviews on Google talked about.

We order the fish n' chips which the owner's wife suggests. Blake goes to sit down at a table, but I see a far better seating arrangement and have him follow me outside to the best view of the ocean this area had to offer. Wrought iron fencing surrounds a private cobblestone plaza type thing that you only see in movies based in Greece or Italy. I take a seat and pat the seat across from me. 

Our food is placed in front of us still sizzling. I smile at the owner's wife who tells us to enjoy and goes back inside.

Blake brings a piece of fish to his mouth and I try to warn him about the fact that his mouth was about to be burned. 

He does not heed my warning and drops the fish back in the red, plastic basket, desperately trying to blow on the food in his mouth, looking and sounding like a dragon trying to breathe fire for the first time. 

"Is it hot?" I ask with the most 'I didn't want to tell you so, but I told you so' tone ever.

"Uh huh, it's hot," he nods, talking with his mouth still full. 

I suck my lips into my mouth and look away, trying not to laugh. 

He swallows when it is cool enough, "what?"

"Oh, nothing." I look up and take a small bite of one of my fries.

The breeze cools off our food and we talk about how good the food is as we finally get to eat. It really was amazing. I always order fish n' chips when a restaurant has it, but with this as the new standard, I expected to be disappointed a lot. The batter was just perfect, compliments the flavor of the fish. And the fish itself was tender and flaky, falling apart in my mouth. Sometimes, the fish will be great and the chips part will be less than great, but these in particular were just as good as the fish. 

I told all of this to Blake as we ate. "I didn't know you were a food critic," he laughs and steals one of my fries.

"It isn't my fault I have a refined palate," I shrug and take the last little piece of his fish.

He finishes first and steals a few more of my fries. I get up and start to clean the area, humming the song coming from the kitchen, muttering a few words. Blake takes the baskets inside and sends our compliments to the chef and owner.

My body begins to sway to the music. The whole scene is just too perfect. A full belly, a beautiful view and such a good song. 

Blake's arms wrap around my waist and he sways with me as the music picks up. He grabs my hand and twirls me away from him and back into his arms as we review some of the swing moves we learned as Elvis's voice comes from the kitchen.

When I get dizzy, I take the lead for a minute until he steals it back. 

We shimmy until the song is over and fall over on each other laughing, talking totally breathlessly about how much fun that was and the memories it brought back of Mr. Gad and high school dance. 

There is a collective sigh and then we thank the kitchen crew once more and leave, walking back to the car. The parking spot is still nearly empty, allowing us to have a view of the horizon as the colors changed with the sinking of the sun. I climb to the roof of the truck and just zone out into the colors.

He joins me and wraps a blanket around both of us, pulling me into his lap. I lean my head back onto him and smile at him every so often. There was nothing that could not be enjoyed about this moment. He was here, and that was more than enough for me. 

Sometimes, the questions are complicated, and the answers are simple.

He kisses my head and jumps down as the first stars begin to appear in the sky. 

He is my answer.

"We should get going," he offers me his hand and eases me down and up into the truck.

I immediately miss his lap. 

As the beach gets farther and farther away in the rear view mirror and eventually disappears, I burn this memory into my head. 

We talk nonstop for the next few hours and go back and forth playing songs, laughing over some things, having reverent silences over other things. 

We find a rest stop and decide to stop to sleep until the next morning. I was tired too, so I agreed. We were both blissfully asleep within minutes.