I hate clubbing. I never want to go again. No, that wasn't true – I only hated it because of Ajeel and the alcohol. The day after, I woke up with a terrible hangover. I'm just happy the girls haven't decided to go to a club any time soon.

Although it was Saturday, the weekend, and I should be enjoying my time away from studying, I felt sad. Why? Because it was the last day of March, the last day of the month, the last chance to have our beach date. Well, I mean, we could have a date at the beach whenever we wanted to but it was the promise that made it so special. Instead, I was spending the day studying.

As I was doing my work, my phone rang and I instantly picked it up.

"Hey Lucy," I said after checking the caller ID.

"Erza! Get over here now!" Lucy instructed.

I frowned as I tried to hear her clearly. Other sounds through the phone interrupted her speaking – sounds that seemed like other people talking and waves.

"Lucy, where are you?" I asked.

"I'm at the beach, of course. Didn't I tell you?" she answered.

"No," I sweat dropped. "But why are you at the beach?"

"Because it's the perfect day to go to the beach. The weather's so nice and warm – it's perfect. Also, it's a girl's day out at the beach today!"

"You never told me that!"

"Well, I did now. So get your ass over here."

"I can't," I replied. "I'm studying and doing homework."

"That is the lamest excuse is history. It doesn't even work for 15 year old boys cos they need to save the world. You, need to let loose and have fun at the beach with us. It's a Saturday."

She did have a point, or several. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go. Wait, I'm meant to go with Jellal to the beach, but he hasn't talked to me in a while and we haven't actually made arrangements to go. I guess we weren't going to have our date at the beach this month after all. 

"Erza?" Lucy called.

"Yeah," I replied, finally making a decision. "I'll come."

"Great! See you here soon!"

She hung up and left me to get ready in my empty dorm room. I hummed a happy tune as I slipped on my bathers. On top of that, I put on a pair of shorts and a casual t-shirt. Since it was just us girls, there wasn't a need to dress up.

I took the usual bus to the beach and headed to the sandy area where we were last time. As I looked left and right, I couldn't see Lucy or any of the girls anywhere. Maybe they were in the water...

To my right, someone cleared their throat loudly. I turned towards them and I was shocked to see Jellal there. There was none of our friends with him and he seemed to be alone. He stood in front of me with a small, hesitant smile and a beautiful, bouquet of red roses in his hand.

"Jellal?" I asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

I was meant to meet Lucy here but for some reason, Jellal was here. That was weird. Why wasn't Lucy here?

"I... I'm here for our beach date that I promised we would have by the end of the month and today is the last day of the month," Jellal said.

I couldn't believe it. Jellal remembered; he planned this all for me. My mouth turned up into a huge smile and I got slightly emotional, my eyes tearing up a bit.

"I know I just made the deadline but I hope you'll forgive me for the wait and my behaviour this month. I'm so sorry for the way I treated you; I shouldn't have said the things I said or done the thing I did. Now that things are better, I can finally explain to you why I ignored you and why I reacted so badly," Jellal continued.

"It's alright now. I forgive you. You don't have to-" I started.

"No, I do have to explain. You deserve to know. I was... ashamed of it but it's not a problem now. The thing is, I... I was having trouble with school. That's why I was always going to my classmates' house; they were helping me study. The work was just very hard and stressful but now, I've finally got it under control and I understand it better now."

I smiled at him and then gave him a tight hug, something I haven't done in a while.

"You never have to be ashamed. Everyone goes through problems but you always have someone to go through them with you. I'm always here for you, no matter what," I whispered. "I'm glad everything's alright now. I missed you."

"Thank you. I missed you, too," Jellal replied, leaning his head on my shoulder.

We stayed like this for a few seconds, basking in the presence of one another and just enjoying the feeling of holding each other. When we pulled away, Jellal handed me the bouquet of flowers.

"Some beautiful flowers, for a beautiful girl," he said politely.

"Thank you," I took the flowers gratefully.

"Now, if you would follow me, let me show you to our beautiful, beach-side hotel room."

He took my hand gently and led me along the sand. We stopped at a shady area under a tree that was on the sand far away from the water. It was at the end of the beach where far to our left was the ocean and to our right was a stonewall with the road beyond it and the big tree right behind the wall, providing our shelter. Since it was where the beach met the street, the noise of people playing on the sand and in the water, as well as cars honking, hung in the air.

There at our feet, was a picnic rug surrounded by colourful roses in the shape of a heart. On top of the rug, was an assortment of sandwiches, sushi, pastries, cakes, other tasty food, and some lemonade. In the very middle, was a vase filled with blooming flowers. Above our heads, streamers, flowers and paper lanterns decorated the tree.

I was speechless. It was absolutely beautiful and I was truly amazed that Jellal did all this for me; it made me feel special.

Jellal let out a small cough. "So, do you like it?"

I turned to look at him with a big smile on my face, which made Jellal sigh with relief because he was worried I might not like it.

"Jellal, I love it!" I exclaimed. "It's absolutely wonderful. I can't believe you did all this for me."

My fiancé still wasn't too convinced as he looked down and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I'm sorry; It's nothing like a beach-side hotel room – I was just joking when I said there was one before, by the way – did you know that?" Jellal said.

"Yes, I knew you were joking. But honestly, I prefer this over any hotel. This comes from the heart and it's something more special than a clean room with a towel dog," I reassured him.

"Really? You mean that? But do you think I maybe overdid it with the flowers?"

I looked at the flowers in my hand, the ones around the rug, the ones in the middle of the rug and the ones in the tree. With a shrug, I said, "Maybe. But don't worry – just relax. Everything's fine and amazing."

"Damn, I knew there were too many flowers. I'm so sorry."

I put my hand on his shoulder, making him be quiet.

"Stop apologising, you apologetic mushroom," I told him.

His mouth quirked up into a smile and he relaxed. He gently grabbed my hand and pulled me with him to sit on the picnic blanket.

"Alright. Let's start this date off with lunch," Jellal said, reaching for a ham and cheese sandwich.

I followed his lead and started eating a sandwich. As we munched our way through the food in front of us, we talked about life, the future, and just silly things. We would steal kisses here and there as we sat side by side with our bodies touching one another. Out on the beach around us, kids played in the sand and far ahead, many people splashed about in the ocean. It was a bright sunny day, but in our shady spot by the tree, we escaped most of the heat from the sun.

"Did you know that I actually made most of the cupcakes and the strawberry cake?" Jellal asked.

"Really?" I responded with disbelief. "You can't cook to save your life."

"That's not true. I've gotten much better. I spent the past few days cooking these desserts."

"Shouldn't you have been doing school work instead?"

Jellal sweat dropped. "Probably... Well, let's not worry about the past; let's focus on the future. Go ahead – try one."

We had eaten all the savoury food so I guess it was alright to move onto dessert, but I was still unsure about him cooking it. Last time he baked something for me, it did not taste nice.

Hesitantly, I picked up a brown cupcake in a pink patty pan. I peeled back the patty pan and raised the small cake to my mouth. As I bit into it, I was surprised when it actually tasted really nice. I put the rest of the cupcake into my mouth and moaned at the delicious flavour.

"I can make you moan like that anytime you want," Jellal said slyly, causing me to choke on my food.

"By making more of those cupcakes," he continued with an fake, innocent smile. "I wasn't thinking of anything sexual, of course. I would never."

"Sure, sure," I commented sarcastically, not believing him for a second.

Then I couldn't help but laugh loudly. He was the same old Jellal who made sexual innuendos and pretended not to realise. We laughed together for a while, leaning on one another.

After we stopped, Jellal looked at me and asked me curiously, "Did you really like the cupcake?"

"Of course I did, it tasted really nice. I can tell you worked hard on it and I'm really proud of you," I replied.

"Thank you. Now, you have to try the strawberry cake."

He pushed a slice of his red cake towards me. I was really excited to try it now since I found out he improved his cooking and because strawberry cake is my favourite food. I scooped up a bit of cake with a fork and put it in my mouth. Straight away, I spat it back out. It was the most disgusting cake I've ever tasted.

"Oh my god! That is horrible," I cried, looking for something to get rid of the gross taste.

I quickly grabbed a yellow cupcake and stuffed in my mouth. That proved to be a bad decision, as it tasted disgusting as well. I spat out the cupcake and reached for my cup. I tipped the contents into my mouth but there was only a few drops of lemonade left, so I resorted to taking the big lemonade bottle and chugging down all of it.

"Well... did you like my strawberry cake?" Jellal asked.

"Yes, I loved it very much -," I said sarcastically. "- No! It tasted disgusting!"

"Really?" he asked as he took a piece of the cake and tried it, instantly hating it. "Wow. Something must have went wrong."

"No shit, Sherlock. It tasted like peanuts and salt and garlic. What did you put in there? Did you even put in any strawberries or strawberry flavouring?"

"I put in the ingredients for a strawberry cake... I think."

"Oh, Jellal," I chuckled. "Good thing is – you improved your cooking a bit."

"Thank you, Gordon Ramsay."

The next few minutes were spent relaxing and just talking as we let the food digest. We made small sandcastles and sand angels, taking pictures of them to remember this moment.

After a while, we decided it was ready to hit the water. I was lying on my front while Jellal was getting ready to put sunscreen on my back since he insisted he did it for me before we went out into the sun. He shook the bottle of sunscreen and I prepared myself to feel the coolness of it on my skin. Instead, I felt soft kisses along my shoulder blade. I was confused when more kisses trailed across my other shoulder.

"Jellal, are you going to put sunscreen on me or not?" I asked.

"Soon," my fiancé replied, planting kisses on my back.

"Jellal," I whined. "We are in public. We shouldn't be doing this here."

"Fine," he huffed.

Then I felt him massaging my shoulders. It felt so good and I unintentionally let out a small moan. Luckily, there wasn't anyone close to us and the ones who were sort of nearby just minded their own business.

"I thought we were going to the water. By the time we get out there, it's going to be night-time," I said. "Either you put on the sunscreen now or I'm putting it on now."

In the end, Jellal put sunscreen on me and then himself. I stood up and waited for Jellal to walk with me but instead, Jellal walked to the side of the picnic blanket where there were two surfboards. I didn't really notice them before – then again, I probably thought they were someone else's so I didn't pay attention to them. Jellal picked up the two surfboards and handed me one.

"Are these yours?" I asked in disbelief.

Since when did Jellal have surfboards?

"They're actually my friend's. Today, I'm going to teach you how to surf," Jellal announced.

"Have you ever surfed before?" I questioned.

"Uh... no."

"Do you even know how to surf?"

"No."

I sweat dropped.

"But," Jellal said with an optimistic smile. "I'm sure it's very easy. I've seen people do it. You just lie on it, paddle a bit, then stand up and balance on the board. The key to surfing is balance."

"I don't think it'll be that easy, but I'm excited to see you try and then fail," I said. "Let's go."

We walked down the sand with our surfboards and stepped into the cold water. Once the water was almost up to our waist, we stopped walking.

"Alright, surfing sensei, show me what you've got," I said to Jellal.

With a determined look in his eyes, Jellal got onto the board but then fell off. He tried again and was successful this time. I watched as he paddled like a cute little dog. He moved towards a small wave and when it was about to reach him, he tried to stand up but ended up toppling off the board. A laugh automatically came out my mouth and I immediately felt bad.

When he resurfaced, he glared at me and got back on his board. I decided to join him now and paddled over with my tummy on the surfboard.

"The key to surfing is balance," I mimicked Jellal when I reached him.

"Yes, yes, I know," he grumbled.

"Don't worry. You'll get better. Let's try together now."

Spreading out so we had room, we moved to catch the next wave. I focused on the water in front of me and when I approached the wave, I tried standing up on the board but instantly fell off. A few metres away from me, Jellal was also in the water. When we met eyes, we burst out laughing.

We tried surfing again and again until we kind of did it an hour later. The sun was really beating down hard now so we headed back to our shade. Before that though, we took a detour to the ice-cream shop and bought some ice-cream.

Jellal and I relaxed as we sat side by side on our picnic blanket finishing our cold ice-cream. We moved the vase of flowers and the other things off the mat so we had lots of room. It was fun to sit back and just watch people have fun splashing about or doing cool surfing tricks. This date was truly amazing and I'm glad we got to do it.

"We should do something fun like this again sometime," I commented as we then laid down on the rug after eating the dessert, looking up at the tree and the sky behind it. "How about a cooking date? We can make nice, delicious, edible, tasty, safe-to-eat cakes."

"That's a good idea. I need lots of practise so I can be a good husband who can cook," Jellal said.

I blushed. In my head, I pictured us in a cosy kitchen both wearing aprons and cooking dinner together as we talked about our workday. Then two, cute little children come running in and hug us. What a beautiful family – wait, what am I thinking? I quickly shook the image out of my head, not wanting to worry too much into the far future but rather focus on the now.

I opened my mouth to say something but then I saw something that made my eyes widen. There, walking near the water of the beach to our general direction, was none other than Ajeel and his friends. If he saw me with Jellal, he would come over and things would not end well.

In lightning speed, I rolled to my left, off the rug and onto the sand. Then I lifted up the picnic blanket and rolled underneath it. If anyone saw us, it would look like Jellal was lying on one half of a picnic rug while the other half had a huge bump underneath it. It was probably suspicious but I panicked, okay? And why was Ajeel even here? Maybe he just likes sand.

"Uh, Erza?" Jellal asked. "What are you doing?"

"Shh. Pretend I'm not here," I replied.

The feel of sand against my whole body was annoying but I remained still. Even when the underside of the picnic blanket tickled my nose and made me need to sneeze, I didn't move a muscle. After waiting for about a minute, I rolled out from under the rug and rolled back onto it, acting like nothing happened. I looked around the beach but couldn't see Ajeel anymore. Phew, that was close.

"So... are you going to explain what that was about?" Jellal questioned curiously.

"Well... funny story..." I trailed off nervously.

How was I supposed to tell my fiancé that I could possibly end up being a stranger's boyfriend? It would be awkward. Don't worry though, I did think about that part when making the bet and I had a plan if I lost the deal.

I took a deep breath, preparing to tell Jellal everything. "When I went to the club with the girls, I met a guy named Ajeel who goes to Alvarez University and is part of their choir. Long story short, we made a deal that if their school won Regionals, I would be his girlfriend, and if we won, then they wouldn't destroy our school, literally."

Jellal's eyes widened. "You risked our relationship for a ridiculous bet? How could you do that? What if they win?"

"Hey, trust me a little, won't you? I already thought of that. Believe me, I would not agree to a deal like that if it could result in me leaving you forever. You see, he only said I would have to be his girlfriend but he didn't specify on how long. So, if they win – which won't happen because we sound really good now – then I'll be his girlfriend for a minute and then break up with him."

Jellal stroked his imaginary, long beard in thought for a while before he nodded his approval.

"That's quite good. You're still technically holding up your end of the bargain but you found a loophole to get out of being his girlfriend forever. Very smart indeed – as expected of my super intelligent strawberry girlfriend," my fiancé said.

"Strawberry?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. Because of your red hair."

I shrugged in response; it was a nice nickname.

"I'm still quite upset that you agreed to the bet," Jellal said with an exaggerated frown.

"You know me – I love a challenge and I can never turn them down. Besides, it's for the good of the school – unless we lose, of course," I told him.

"I know. But I'm just so sad and I feel like you should make me feel better."

He was now very obvious in faking the sadness. He gave me puppy dog eyes and kissy lips that were doing funny smooches. I rolled my eyes, getting his hint. I leaned over my fiancé and gave him a long kiss on his lips. My eyes widened in surprise when he pushed me back down gently and rolled on top of me. In his position on top, he bent down and connected our lips again. I took his face in my hands, bringing him closer to me. A warmth spread through my body and it wasn't because of the sun's heat.

We stayed like that for a while – making out on a picnic blanket under our shady tree, overlooked and unnoticed by the people on the sand or down at the water. 

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Again, I'm sorry for the long wait! Please VOTE and COMMENT! I hope you all have a great day!