is this a date? :: haddlebee

Remy ran a hand through her hair, pushing it off to the side. She pursed her lips in the mirror.

He's blind, Remy, Vex said exasperatedly from the bed. He had been hoping her endless primping would have ended now that she was with Hadley.

"You think this is for him?" Remy asked, standing up and looking at her whole outfit in the mirror. "When have I ever dressed for a man." Remy dressed for herself. She liked looking good. Always.

It took her just as long as usual to get ready, which was way longer than most clio needed, but she was pretty sure she was okay now. She took one last glance in the mirror. Yep. She looked good as ever. Damn, was she hot. She smiled at her reflection.

You are the most conceited clio I have ever known, Vex said, shaking his head and hopping his little quolly butt off the bed.

Remy knew it was true, but that didn't bother her. When you were this good looking it would be a shame to not show it off.

She and Vex left her bedroom and walked into the living room where it's possible that Hadley was waiting for her because he took much less time to get ready.

"I'm ready!" she called.

Luckily for Remy, Hadley was the type of guy who also cared about his appearance, at least when he was going out in public. He dressed well and did his hair, and didn't leave  his bedroom until Nila assured him that he looked good enough. Not to mention he had lived with Remy long enough to know that she took ten years to get ready, so he'd taken his own sweet time. Therefore he hadn't waited too crazy long before she finally announced her readiness.

He smiled when he heard her. This was going to be their first...er, date-ish outing thing, just the two of them, since they had...gotten together...sort of? Whatever it as that they were now. Not only was he excited just to get out of the house and do something fun for once (he was so fucking restless all the time), but he'd finally have some real alone time with Remy. Away from her asshole brother, at least.

"Let's go, then," he said, holding out his hand for her to take. He had fun things planned for today. If there was one thing he could promise, it was that he was never gonna let Remy get bored with him.

Remy smiled when Hadley held out his hand for her. Their relationship had changed a bit in the last week since their first kiss, but it always still surprised her when he did something nice like that. Good surprises--just like today.

"So, where are we going?" Remy asked Hadley as the two left the estate. When he'd told her he wanted to go out and do something fun, she'd been happy to know he had already planned something. As long as it didn't involve messing with clio, Remy knew she would enjoy her time with Hadley so she hadn't asked too many questions. Just what it would be appropriate to wear, since obviously that was at the top of her priority list.

"The beach," Hadley replied vaguely. Hanalei Beach was actually in walking distance of his estate, just a few miles away, so they didn't have to take a balloon, which was nice. He fucking hated those hot air balloons.

He was in such a good mood, better than he'd been in quite some time. Getting out of the house, spending time with Remy. This was gonna be great. "You know, I'm almost surprised you trusted me to plan this without asking more about it," he remarked. Remy knew that his idea of "fun" wasn't always, well, conventional. Luckily for her he'd actually put enough thought into this to figure out something he was pretty sure she'd enjoy.

"Well if you ruin my day I'll find some way to ruin yours, so I'm not too worried," Remy said with a smirk. Since Hadley had asked her to bring a swimming suit, she had figured it had something to do with the beach. Acceptable.

"Yesterday me n' Lysander took a walk to the beach," Remy said conversationally. "He'd never been before." Poor Lysander. He had never a lot of things. Remy knew how that felt--to be bounced all around and to have no real stability. But she had always had her mom to keep her grounded and make her feel safe and loved, even when things were rocky. Remy was determined to be that clio for Lysander now. They'd gotten ice cream (Remy's treat) and walked around the beach clio watching.

Well if there was one way to bring down Hadley's unusually good mood, Remy had found it by bringing up Lysander. Gods he fucking hated that guy. And it made him even more (irrationally) annoyed that they had apparently gone to the beach yesterday, since that was where he and Remy were going today. Oh well, he'd just make sure that Remy had a better time today.

"Huh. Well anyways," he said, changing the subject without actually really responding to what Remy had said at all. He did not want to talk about Lysander. "I think I picked something you'll like. A lot." He let go of her hand and put his arm around her. It was weird, being affectionate like this with Remy without her getting mad or embarrassed or whatever she would have done in the past. But in a good way.

"You think so, huh?" Remy asked playfully, leaning into him when he put his arm around her. This was definitely something she could get used to. And it was nice being able to openly admit to herself that she even liked Hadley at all. She'd been a lot less stressed and on edge than she had been in the past few months when she'd constantly been irritatingly embarrassed around him.

"Well I'm excited to find out what we're doing!"

Eventually they made their way to the beach. Once Hadley felt that they were walking on sand, he stopped to pull his shoes and socks off. It was his first time here since losing his sight, but the experience was still familiar. Feeling the sand, hearing the waves, the smell of the ocean. It was actually kinda nice, being here, even without being able to see anything.

"Okay, we have to go to the docks," he told Remy. He knew he was ruining the surprise a bit there, but he didn't know where they were so Remy was gonna have to lead the way, as usual.

When they paused to take off their shoes, Remy slipped her sandals off. She held them in one hand and then took Hadley's hand in the other.

"The docks, huh?" she asked. She'd never had a reason to be at the docks, but she knew where they were from her visits to the beach. She started leading him over. "What're we gonna do there?" she asked. Was he taking her on a boat? Remy had never been on a boat before. That actually sounded sort of exciting.

Orrr maybe he hadn't ruined the surprise. He kind of thought it would be obvious that they were going out on a boat, since why the hell else would they need to go to the docks, but whatever. Oh well, he kinda wanted to tell her now anyways, now that they were here. He wanted to hear her reaction. "Well," he said, "when we get there, there should be a boat that I rented waiting for us."

It sure was nice to have all the money in the world to spend on whatever he wanted whenever he wanted.

Remy's eyes got all wide. "Really?" she asked. It was what she had been expecting since he mentioned the docks, but it was still interesting to know that was what they were for sure doing. "I'm gonna kiss you now," she said through a smile. She leaned over and kissed Hadley's cheek. She figured trying to kiss a blind guy spontaneously while he was trying to focus on walking wouldn't be such a good idea.

They got to the docks and started along the boardwalk. "This is going to be so much fun," she said, looking around at all the boats that were docked around them. She read the name plates on each dock station until she found the one that was reserved for an Ov. Hadley Sterling.

"Thanks for the warning," Hadley said jokingly when she kissed him on the cheek. He let her lead him down the boardwalk and up onto the boat that was presumably the one he had rented. He hoped it looked as nice as the descriptions had made it sound like, and Remy seemed impressed, anyways.

"You've never been on a boat before, right?" he asked her, holding onto the railing that lined the deck of the boat at its perimeter as they started to move. He vaguely wondered why he'd never taken Remy out onto the ocean like this before.

Probably because you never cared about impressing her before, Nila said.

"No," Remy said, looking around. When she was growing up there had been no time or money for something like a boat ride, and in the past few years there had just been no time. Well, that and to be honest a boat had never really been on Remy's mind. But as the boat started moving away from shore Remy got a warm feeling of exhilaration in her tummy. "But this is amazing, Hadley," she finished.

The boat was beautiful, and she was excited to get to see Hanalei Sound from the water, versus just the beach.

"I aim to please," Hadley replied, feeling pretty happy with himself for setting this all up for Remy. He knew she'd like it. He might not be the most thoughtful clio in Amelia, but he could make nice, big gestures when he actually put the effort in for the rare few clio he actually cared about.

Cautiously, he reached out towards Remy until his fingertips gently grazed her cheek. "Hey..." he said so that she'd turn. When he felt her do so, he leaned over and kissed her.

"This is something I've never done," he said once he pulled away. He paused. "Not the boat. I've done that. What we're doing, I mean. Dating, if you'd call it that."

To be honest that had never really talked about what they were now, and Hadley didn't actually know. He sort of guessed he would call it dating. They were on a date now, right? So yeah. Dating.

Remy had been watching the shore grow smaller when she felt Hadley's hand come rest on her cheek. He kissed her and she melted. This was amazing. You know that feeling when your heart is just so completely full you feel you might burst? That was how Remy felt when Hadley pulled away from her.

It meant so much to Remy that Hadley was doing this. For most clio, a boat ride would be nice, but it wasn't like he was moving mountains. But Remy understood just how little Hadley did for others. The fact that he had taken his time to plan anything for her at all, and that it had been something so perfect for her--something she hadn't even known she'd wanted to do--it just made her so happy.

hadlebee wrote:"This is something I've never done," he said once he pulled away. He paused. "Not the boat. I've done that. What we're doing, I mean. Dating, if you'd call it that."

"Then I bet you're glad you're doing it with me," Remy said. "First time's the charm and all that," she teased.

She pulled Hadley a little closer to her, so that she was sandwiched between him and the boat railing. "You're doing a great job," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and leaning in for another kiss. She pulled away just to add, "So far," playfully, before kissing him again.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find some way to mess it all up sooner or later," Hadley said lightheartedly, in between making out with Remy. "Gotta keep things interesting, after all."

Although he was joking, sometimes the whole dating Remy thing did actually make Hadley a little nervous, mostly because of the thought of what would happen if he did fuck everything up. And considering this was his first relationship, he had no idea what he was doing, and he was himself, there was a very good chance of that happening eventually.

Remy got a knowing grin on her face and nodded her head. "Oh, I'm sure you will," she told him honestly through her smile. "Life with you is nothing if not interesting," she assured him. It had been interesting from day one, back when he'd hired her on as an adviser out of nowhere.

How long ago that had been! It almost seemed like a different lifetime. Remy poor and hungry trying desperately to save her mother. Hadley had seemed so intimidating back then. The force between life and death, it had felt like. Who would have known, years later, this is where they would be?

Remy shut her eyes and breathed in Hadley's cologne mixed with the salt air. What a perfect moment.

She slipped out from between Hadley and the railing and took his hand. "So, how long do we have the boat for?" she asked as they strolled along the deck.

"Technically an hour," Hadley replied, walking wherever Remy was taking him. "But in reality we could have it as long as we want." He'd paid for a certain amount of time, but if they decided they wanted more he could just offer more money. That wasn't an issue at all.

"We can also ask the captain to stop the boat for a little while and go swimming," he said, wondering if Remy was gonna object to this for being "too dangerous" for him. "We can pretty much do whatever the hell we want."

"Swimming would be nice," Remy said. But she wondered if it would be too dangerous for Hadley. They were in open water now, and she thought that it would be really disorienting for him. "But only if we stay near the boat." She knew that Hadley got offended sometimes when she thought he shouldn't do something, and she wanted today to be nice. Plus, even though Hadley wouldn't benefit from it, she had worn a brand new swimsuit and would love to wear it in the water. Maybe she'd walk by the captain on purpose.

"Well yeah, obviously we'd stay near the boat," Hadley replied. Why the hell wouldn't they? Whatever, at least she seemed okay with it. Usually when he suggested they do something fun like that Remy tried to talk him out of it before eventually relenting (although there were a few occasions when she'd outright refused). "You brought swim stuff, yeah?"

"You told me to, didn't you?" Remy said, answering with another question. In fact, she had worn her bikini underneath her clothes, so all she would have to do was pull them off.

The two tipped off the captain (helmsman) guy so that he could steer the boat to a safe spot, and then Remy started to strip down to her swim suit. It really was a shame Hadley couldn't see her. She did catch the captain stealing glances at her though, so that would have to do.

"So are we just jumpin' in?" Remy said, walking over to the side of the boat and looking over the edge. She'd never been this far out in the water before.

"Yep," Hadley said, pulling off his shirt. "Oh, wait. There should be a, um...somewhere around here..." He trailed off vaguely, until Nila called from several feet away, Over here! He wandered over to wear she was, where there was a gap in the railing to allow clio on and off. He knelt down and felt what he was searching for; a rope ladder.

He unfurled it so that they'd have a way back on board. "Now we can jump in," he said, gesturing her over. When he heard her get near he grabbed her hand and without warning leapt into the water with her.

Remy walked over to where Hadley was standing and was surprised when he suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her with him into the ocean, many feet below. Remy screamed as she fell, kicking her legs as if that would be enough to stop her from crashing into the water.

They plunged down, deep under the surface, still holding hands until it was necessary to start swimming back up.

"You little asshole," Remy gasped when they finally broke the surface. She looked over at Hadley who was a few feet away, possibly grinning. Remy swam over to him and put her arms around his neck. "You're lucky I don't just climb back onto the boat and leave you out here," she warned, grinning, herself.

And then, because it would never get old, she kissed him.

Hadley was laughing when he surfaced, mostly because of how Remy had screamed on the way down. He tread in place until he heard her call him an asshole, and turned her direction. He felt her arms wrap around his neck.

He was still grinning when she pulled away from the kiss she gave him. "You wouldn't leave me out here," he said. "You wouldn't know what to do without me."

He put one arm around her waist while using the other one to keep treading.

"Oh, you think that, but I'd actually be very well off," Remy said knowingly. She was making it up, of course. Where would she be without Hadley? Even if he wasn't her boss, if he wasn't in her life she would be very bored. How lucky was she to be doing this with her best friend?

It was such a lie, and she was so happy where they were right now, that she couldn't even draw up any examples of why she'd be better off without him. Oh well.