Walking up the stairs and into Dakota's room, I don't know what I expected. All I know is this wasn't it.

"Holy..." I drift off, looking around the bedroom with wide eyes. "Your room is absolutely trashed." I mutter, kicking at an empty soda can on the floor.

Dakota shrugs, leaving the door open, as he walks towards his night stand and grabs a space gray laptop. "Sorry." He chuckles a little but I don't spot any sort of embarrassment in his expression as he stops in front of me, a smile on his lips. "Ready to go?"

My brows pull together. "Go where?" I ask him, confused.

He winks, leaning in a bit closer as he whispers, "On an adventure." Stepping past me, his shoulder brushes against me.

I watch him begin descending the staircase with a jump in his step. "What?" I call after him, "Dakota, that's not an answer." I sigh before following suit.

Twenty minutes later I'm buckled into the front seat of a white four door Jeep with, you guessed it, the doors taken completely off. It shouldn't surprise me that, in the heat of the summer, Dakota would prefer the doors off so he can show off being the showy person he is.

The half of my hair that's up is, thankfully, perfectly safe from harm but the half that is down is being whipped around furiously. I pull a few hairs from my mouth, squinting against the pressure of the wind as we drive down winding roads.

A loud song blares through the speakers as Dakota looks over at me, a pair or aviators perched on his nose as his brows raise once at me. "Ready?" He asks me loudly, turning the music down.

"Ready for what?" I holler back, my eyes widening in fear when he smirks and jerks the wheel to the left. The vehicle continues on a dirt road that I would have definitely missed if we weren't on it right now. Leaves and branches barely miss the side of the Jeep, my heart lurching every time I think it's been scraped. "You're insane!" I scream at him.

He replies with a wicked smile before speeding up, making another right turn. "Relax, it's fine. I know where I'm going, just trust me." His words do little to loosen my tense muscles, my hand gripping the edge of my seat and the other holding onto the handle overhead.

"You could be taking me into the woods to kill me for all I know." I lean closer to him as we turn again, the road getting narrower.

"Maybe." He winks, speeding up again. I'm about to smack him upside the head when we suddenly come out into a clearing, a huge patch of land spread before us. Ahead are hills and a field of sunflowers in the distance.

"Woah." I breathe as he stops the vehicle suddenly, the engine turning off. My ears ring in substitution for the loud sound of the wind as I unbuckle my seatbelt and slide out of the car, my mouth open slightly at the view. I look back at the drivers seat but Dakota is already gone. "Dakota?" I speak.

"Over here." His voice leads me to the backseat. I peak my head over, his eyes meeting mine. His sunglasses sit atop his head as he says, "I told you we were going on an adventure."

"So you did." I chuckle. "Need any help?" I ask him, watching as he grabs his laptop and a large basket.

"Sure." He smiles. "Come over here and you can take my laptop for me."

"Okay." I do as he says, walking around and stopping next to him and taking the MacBook from his grasp. "Now what?"

"Follow me." He smirks, walking off.

I watch him walk up the hill for a moment before sighing and staring after him. "Okay then." I breathe, forcing my feet to carry me up the steep slope.

"Come on, slow poke." Dakota says sassily as he stops on top of the hill, setting the basket down.

"I'm trying." I glare, stopping in front of him. "What are we even doing here?" I ask, looking around.

The heat of the summer is at the day's strongest point; about twelve thirty. Humidity sticks to my skin uncomfortably but the breeze drifting by brings a nice relief. My eyes soak in my surroundings; a large cluster of trees all around, a large pond, and that large beautiful field in the far distance.

"Sam, Winter and I found this place one day about a month ago when we were off-roading. I usually don't get too impressed by the views in this boring town but this one wasn't easily forgotten. I figured you would enjoy it." He responds to my question casually, squatting down until he's on his knees as he begins pulling a blanket from the basket.

"It's beautiful." I say quietly, my eyes not wanting to be torn from the psychedelic colors, the afternoon sun high in the sky providing warmth on my face.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Dakota grins, my gaze finally locking on him. I watch wordlessly as he takes out a container of strawberries, a can of probably melted whipped cream, two wrapped sub sandwiches, a container of lemonade with two glasses, and last but certainly not least a book.

"What..." I sink down into the grass and onto the blanket, my knees hitting the hard surface as I scoop the book in my hands, running my palm over the cover. "What's this?" My eyes meet His with a deep curiosity. "How did you know I liked poems?"

He shrugs. "I didn't. I saw it in my parents' library and I figured it was a nice touch to a picnic. At least that's what Sam said." His laugh is slightly nervous, his cheeks slightly red.

As I look around, the book held tightly in my hands, everything clicks together. The "adventure", the off-road driving to a place I can't run away from, a picnic...it all makes sense as I look into Dakota's cheeky face. "You tricked me into going on a date with you." I breathe, my agape.

He blinks at my accusation innocently. "I what? I would never do such a thing, Lillian." He gasps, pausing for a split second, "This is my birthday picnic how dare you make it all about you." Dakota says dramatically, opening the container of cut and washed berries, taking one out. "Now...shall I put the whip on the berry for you or straight into your mouth." He winks, eyes twinkling.

I glare but can't fight the smile forcing itself to my lips as I push the can away from my face. "Dakota, I'm serious." I laugh despite my words, whipped cream already being sprayed and landing on my shield of a hand. "Is this picnic for me or for you?" I ask him, resisting the urge to lick the sweet substance from my hand.

Dakota sighs, setting the can down and leaning back onto his hands, spreading his legs in front of him. "It's for both of us, Lillian. Don't worry, I'm not going to date rape you or something."

"Dakota! That's not something to joke about." I smack his arm lightly.

"I know, I'm serious. You look so jumpy. It's like you've never been on an extremely romantic strictly platonic picnic before." He snorts, hanging his head back as he the sun illuminates his perfect skin.

My eyes narrow suspiciously at his choice of contradicting words but I say nothing, picking up the can of whipped cream and hesitating before leaning forward pressing the nozzle, the whipped cream spreading onto the tip of his nose and then falling off onto the blanket beneath us. I hold my hand to my mouth as I fight a laugh.

He looks over in fraud annoyance, his face now white with cream. "You've started something you can't finish, Perkins. This is war." When he pushes himself to his knees and grabs the can from my grasp, I fight against it with all my might.

"I'm sorry." I laugh, "I had to do it, please don't spray this all over me or I'll get all sticky." I beg but it comes out as a whine, making me cringe.

"It's too late to apologize. Your doom has been decided." Dakota says as if he has no choice and soon I feel the lukewarm whipped topping hit my chest, nose, lips, and arms.

I squirm from his grasp, quickly standing with stiff arms in front of me. "Dakota!" I yell angrily, my brows furrowed tightly and furiously. "You jerk." I huff, a white clump falling from my face and onto the grass as I talk.

Dakota bursts into a fit of laughter until his face turns red. Tossing the can aside, be holds his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry I had to." He mimics my previous excuse.

"You had to my butt." My scoff, wiping the substance from my arms in annoyance, knowing very well I got what I deserved but there's no way I'm admitting that to him. "Do you have any water? I need to clean this off." I ask him, peeking into the basket next to him but I only spot a clump of white material of some sort.

He recovers from his burst of laughter, breathing deeply before clearing his throat. "Yeah I do. Hang on a second, I'll get it."

"Okay." I sigh, standing there stiffly. I decide pouting is completely out of the question considering I do find it quite funny. I watch as Dakota stands and brushes off his shorts.

I watch with an eery suspicion as he drops his phone on the picnic blanket and placed the sandwiches and food back into the sealed basket. "What are you doing?" I ask slowly.

"I don't think we'll be eating right away." He shrugs, walking towards me.

"Why?" I drawl out, backing up slightly as I spot a mischievous smile behind his innocent and nonchalant expression.

"Because we're going for a swim." He says smoothly before swooping me up swiftly. My eyes widen as I yank my phone from my back pocket and throw it as close to the blanket as possible but it's proving difficult to aim while being bounced up and down whilst a boy runs full speed with you clinging uncomfortably to him.

"Put me down!" I smack his back, watching the pond become closer and closer. "This is such a cliche." I whine, smacking him once again but he doesn't respond.

Accepting the inevitable, I plug my nose and close my eyes before I receive a sense of free falling and then the feeling of cool water hitting my skin. Dakota immediately releases me once we hit the water and I soon resurface sputtering and red faced with anger.

"You're so annoying!" I screech at him to which he replies by flicking water towards me.

"Loosen up, Lillian. Have some fun." He spits some water from his lips, his blonde hair flat against his forehead making him look completely ridiculous.

"I am perfectly loose." I seethe, swimming in place as I try not to think about all of the living creatures that must inhabit this small pond.

"Really?" He cocks his head to the side. "Because you look a little like my sister when I accidentally spilled coffee in her car."

"Somehow I find it hard to believe it was an accident." I deadpan before sighing in defeat. "I can't believe you." I sigh, my limbs moving to swim away but I soon hear him come after me.

"You're not actually mad are you?" A small smile slips onto my face when I hear the awkward this has backfired tone in his voice.

I don't reply on purpose, keeping my back to him as he approaches. As soon as he's directly behind me, I swim around and face him with a malicious grin. His eyes widen for a split second before my hands come up and I use all the force and strength I can muster up to push his arrogant head under the water.

He comes up coughing, shaking the water from his hair. I watch him with a satisfied smirk, his green eyes meeting mine. The huge grin that spreads across his face tugs at something in my stomach but I force it away.

"You're even hotter to me now, you know that right?" Dakota laughs when my face falls, my cheeks reddening.

"Shut up." I mumble, swimming past him. "Race you to the blanket!" I call behind me once I'm ahead, a smile on my face as I almost reach the shore.

"You're on!" He yells behind me.