Hours later, I stood in my room frowning into my closet.  Harry had yet to tell me what we were going to do, so I had absolutely no idea how to dress.  When I had called him twenty minutes ago, all he had said was his usual, “wear whatever I wanted.”  While what he said was sweet, it was completely unhelpful.  After a frustrating myself by trying on too many outfits, I finally settled on black leggings and a light blue slouchy sweater.  I braided my long hair to one side and finished my make-up and decided I was ready. 

It was dark by the time Harry picked me up.  Always polite, he came to the door to retrieve me.  I greeted him with a hug, pressing a light kiss to his cheek as I did so.  He smiled at me as I pulled back, looking me in the eyes without the hindrance his glasses once again.  He must have showered as well, because his hair had dried naturally, sticking up in the front like he had run his hands through it as it dried rather than how it been carefully styled at school today. 

I noticed more and more often now, he wouldn’t wear his glasses around me.  I wondered if that was because I now knew they had been his dads, or if he thought I liked him better without them.  It wasn’t that I liked him better without them, because I really thought it was amazing that he wore them to remember his father, but I had to admit I loved being able to see his green eyes clearly.  It also didn’t hurt that he was so damn attractive, especially without anything blocking his face. 

“Ready?” he asked, gingerly taking my hand and tugging towards the door lightly.

“Yes,” I answered, intrigued as to what we were doing.  It was then that I noticed it wasn’t his black SUV that was waiting in my driveway for us.  Instead, a huge red pick up was parked there.  Searching my brain, I was fairly certain I had never seen it at his house before.

“Whose truck is that?” I asked, surprised he wasn’t driving his usual vehicle.

“It’s John’s,” he answered before clarifying, “Gemma’s boyfriend.  She lives with him, usually.”

I nodded, wondering what we could possibly be doing that required a truck. “So are you going to tell me what we’re doing yet?”

“You’ll see,” he said as he opened my door for me, offering me a hand to help me up into the ridiculously high car.

“Oh, so mysterious,” I said, rolling my eyes playfully and smiling at him.  “Thank you, sir.”

“Welcome, madam,” he grinned back, pretending to tip a hat before closing the door and jogging around the front of the truck to get in the driver’s seat.  As he started the truck, I couldn’t help but think how hot he looked behind the wheel of such a big vehicle.  He wore a black t-shirt beneath a red and black plaid shirt, and black jeans. I let out a quiet huff of appreciation as he looked at me, having noticed me staring.

“What?” he said, looking self conscious with the smallest of smiles still on his face.

“You look hot,” I said, trying to hide the quite tone of surprise in my voice.  He blushed, focusing on backing the car out of the driveway and avoiding my gaze.

“Um, thank you,” he mumbled, unable to suppress the tiny grin he still had on.  Finally, he looked at me and said, “You look beautiful.” 

I smiled widely at him, reaching over to hold his hand as he drove. “Thank you, Harry.” 

He grinned as he returned his gaze to the road, taking us out of our neighborhood and towards the direction of the huge lake we lived by.  That didn’t tell me much, however, because most of the town was centered around the lake.  No closer to learning what we were doing, I decided to just wait and see instead of trying to figure it out. 

Despite deciding to wait and see, I couldn’t help but grow more and more curious as he continued to drive further away from the main parts of town, taking us down a quiet road that wound around the lake, surrounded by trees on both sides.  When he took a right, we continued deeper and deeper into the woods until suddenly the trees cleared, opening up to reveal the lake, thirty feet below down from a cliff we now were on top of.  I gasped as I took in the view, which was spectacular despite being already dark.  Even from inside the car, I could already see exactly why we had come here; it was beautiful.

“Hold on,” he said quietly.  “Don’t look around too much yet.”

Confused, I agreed as he turned the truck around so the seats we were sitting in now faced back into the woods and the truck bed faced out over the cliff.  “Okay, let’s get out,” he said.

Excitedly, I pushed my door open and met him at the back of the truck, looking at his beautiful face one more time before turning to fully take in the view.  It was breathtaking.  The lights from all the houses around the lake glittered in a sort of halo, reflecting off the water.  A few boats dotted the lake as well, glowing in the darkness of the water.  About a two hundred yards to our right, the harbor glowed brightly, illuminated by the lights strung down all the docks, a few of the boats lit up as people hung out inside of them. 

The small restaurant that was located in the harbor also glittered, the outdoor tables adorned with flickering fire lamps.  It was too far away to hear anything, but not too far away to see the people, tiny from the distance, wandering around the tables, some eating, some dancing, some just meandering around socializing.  Aside from the beautiful view of the lake itself, the sky offered its own brilliance.  It was a clear, beautiful night, so the stars twinkled all around us, the only part obscured coming from the shadow of the trees behind and to the sides of us. 

The moon, just a sliver tonight, shined brightly none the less.  There were no lights around us to distract from the view.  In fact, I couldn’t help but notice how untouched the place felt; there was no type of road whatsoever, no furniture, no lights.  How Harry knew it was here was a complete mystery to me. 

“Harry,” I whispered, awe stealing the volume from my voice.  “This is amazing.”

“I know,” he agreed. “I never get used to it no matter how often I come up here.”

“How did you find it?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes from the astonishing view.

“I didn’t,” he started.  “My parents did.”

I instantly knew this place was very special to him; his parents used to come here, and now it was his place.  This was enough for me to avert my eyes and look at him.  For him to take me here must have been a big deal for him.  Looking up at him, I discovered he had been observing me as I took in the view.  I leaned into him and wrapped my arm around his waist, snuggling into him. 

“I don’t know how they found it, though,” he continued.  “Then when we got older and I’d go sailing with my dad, my mom and sister would come up here to watch us.”  It made sense- you could see practically the whole lake from here.   He squeezed me into his side.

“Am I… the first person you’ve brought here?” I asked.  I loved how he was slowly showing me parts of his life, parts of what made him who he was. 

“Yes,” he said honestly.  I could tell his mind was racing with the memories the place brought back to him. 

“Thank you for bringing me, Harry,” I said, heart fluttering with emotions.  This was clearly a important to him, showing me this place that was so close to his heart.  

“I just wanted you to see it,” he explained.

“I’m glad you did.”  I stood up on my toes to press a slow kiss to his lips.  It was a slow, meaningful kiss, and it made my heart pound.  When he pulled back, he grinned at me before releasing his arm from around me. 

“Can I show you something?” he asked, walking me closer to the edge of the cliff. 

“Of course,” I said, intrigued. 

He pointed down to the harbor at the docks.  “See that boat?  With the blue stripe on the sails and the yellow light on the dock?”

I squinted down to where he pointed, looking for the details he described.  “Yes.”

“That one’s ours,” he said.

My jaw dropped open.  Sure enough, the closer I looked, the more I realized it was the same boat from the photos in his room.  “Wow,” was all I could think to say.  Then, “I didn’t know you still had it.”

“Yeah, I just haven’t taken it out since my dad died,” he explained.  He had mentioned this before; I don’t know why I assumed when he said it that they no longer had it.  “My sister doesn’t know how and my mom won’t go so… I didn’t wanna go alone.”

“Do you miss it?” I asked, thinking about what he said.

He nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Then you should go sometime,” I said.  “I know it was you and your dad’s thing but that doesn’t mean you should never go again,” I said gently, not wanting to offend him.

“You’re right,” he said slowly, nodding.  “Maybe I will sometime again.”

“If you do, it doesn’t mean you’re forgetting your dad,” I said, just wanting him to hear it so he wouldn’t think the opposite.

“I know,” he said.  He didn’t seem sad- just thoughtful.  Pensive.  “Just thought it’d be cool to show you,” he said, smiling down at me now. 

“It was, I’m really glad I got to see it,” I replied, smiling back. 

He nudged me before walking back to the truck.  Jerking his head towards it and grinning, he motioned for me to follow him before starting to unroll the cover on the truck bed. 

“Help?” he asked, smiling sweetly at me as I stood on the other side of the truck to help him roll up the cover.  The darkness made it difficult to see what was under the cover, and once again curiosity took over.  Once we finally had the truck bed uncovered, I could clearly see the contents.  A huge smile overtook my face as I observed the piles and piles of pillows and blankets heaped into the truck bed, forming a giant, comfortable mess of a bed.  I had never seen anything so inviting. 

“What’s this, Harry?” I asked playfully, grinning at him across the truck bed.  I couldn’t help but have slightly naughty ideas at the situation.  He had taken me into the woods, where we were very much alone, and revealed a makeshift bed in the back of his pick up.  Surely it had occurred to him what I would think.  “Is that a bed?” I pressed further, taking far too much delight in how things had developed.

He swallowed nervously before grinning at me.  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Joey,” he teased.  “You wanted to go to the drive in, so I thought we could make our own.” 

Once he said it, I noticed him pulling out a laptop and a small bag of snacks from amongst the mess of blankets.  I didn’t think it was possible, but my smile grew even bigger. 

“God you’re perfect,” I said in awe, making him blush fiercely.  Walking around to join him at the back of the truck, I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips down to my own.  When I pulled away, I couldn’t stop smiling.  I bit my lip to try and reign myself in.  “Seriously, how did you even think of this?”

He just shrugged, smiling modestly at me.  “I thought you would like it,” he said simply. 

“I love it.  Seeing this place and knowing how important it is to you, the truck bed, the movie, all of it,” I said sincerely, arms still wound around his neck.

“Well good,” he said, leaning down to press one more quick kiss to my lips before I removed my arms from his shoulders.  “Shall we?”

“We shall,” I said, grinning as I climbed up into the truck bed, shocked by how soft the pillows had made the usually unforgiving metal.  “This is awesome.”

“I put floaties down before anything else,” he admitted, grinning sheepishly.

“No way,” I exclaimed, digging through the layers at the side to reveal a bright pink air mattress, one of those kind designed to lie on in the lake.  I let out a loud laugh.  “You seriously did!”

He just chuckled deeply as I snuggled into a blanket cocoon and he set up the laptop before.  I was thankful for the thick blankets.  Even though it was a nice night, and much warmer than the time I had taken a drunken stroll outside, it was still a crisp fall evening.  Once he had the DVD in and ready to go, he pressed play and leaned back next to me.  There we sat, each wound up in our own blankets, side by side.  I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of us, not touching in the slightest, sitting upright in a sea of blankets.

“What movie did you pick?” I asked as an afterthought.

“Cabin in the Woods,” he said, grinning widely, clearly pleased with himself.

I shot him a sarcastic look.  “You picked a movie about teenagers getting killed in the woods,” I said dryly, trying to hide my amusement.

“Yep, I thought it was fitting.  Since we’re, you know, in the woods,” he said smugly. 

“Oh you think you’re funny, huh?” I said, smile cracking through my dry facial expression.

“Hysterical, actually,” he said, grinning at me.  

“You’re hysterical, all right,” I laughed, throwing my blanket covered shoulder into his, attempting to tip him over.  He didn’t budge. 

“That was not very nice, Joey,” he said in mock seriousness. 

I formed an ‘O’ with my mouth, widening my eyes at him. “What are you gonna do about it?”  

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