Music - manic drive
Friday dragged on and on. Hope had been filled with nervous excitement all day knowing that Ethan would be back tonight to take her on a drive. And although she had been pretty comfortable with him last night, she hadn't really been alone with him, for an extended time, in close quarters, in his truck. Oh, gosh, oh my gosh.... She got more nervous as she thought about it.
Even though she didn't bother setting her surf meeting alarm, seeing how Will would not be there, her body woke her up anyway. This annoyed her to no end, the morning she could have slept in was ruined. And who knows how late she would be out with Ethan, late I hope. Wait, what? She was soooo nervous but also soooo excited to spend time with him. Hope figured at that point she might as well get up. She also decided to go down to north beach anyway with her coffee and think through her day and the highly anticipated evening.
The rest of the day was less eventful. The beach was fine, relaxing. She seemed calmed by the waves and weather there, although there was something missing, some intangible element that had washed over her when she had been there on previous mornings. Hope laughed, out loud, at herself when her brain told her it had to do with Will. Ridiculous, he's a friend, but that's it. How could he have that effect on me...
Her work on the grounds was similar to the day before, very busy, due to the arrival of the weekend campers. She was exhausted and a mess when she finished. Hope showered and dried her hair, then spent at least 15 minutes figuring out what to wear. She settled on her favorite black skinny jeans, a long sleeve light grey t-shirt and a dark grey long sweater. She felt cozy in that sweater. She put her little rocks, which she still carried with her anytime she had pockets, in the front pocket of her jeans. Not the most comfortable spot, but she went with it anyway.
Diane had offered to make dinner for them so she stayed at the trailer to eat. Baked chicken and salad, and 40 minutes later, Hope now had to figure out how to occupy her time until Ethan got there. She knew he wouldn't be there til at least 10 that night and it was only 7:30. Hope went back to her room, lay down on her bed and grabbed a book to keep her mind off of the clock.
The next thing she knew, her phone was ringing. Hope had fallen asleep but she wasn't sure when. She reached for her phone and answered it, still a bit disoriented, "Hello?" She said with a gravely voice.
"Hope? Are you okay?" Ethan said with concern in his voice.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine, just here, um, yeah." Hope was desperately trying to form a coherent thought in her half asleep mind.
"Are you sure? If you're too tired we can do this another time..." He sounded disappointed.
"No! I'm okay, really. I just fell asleep but, no, let's go tonight. Where are you?" Hope really didn't want to postpone this after waiting 15 hours (well more like 24, she had been looking forward to it since he asked her the night before).
"Okay, good," there was a smile in his voice, " I'm about 10 minutes away so I'll see you soon."
"Okay, see ya in a few" Hope replied, then ended the call. She glanced at the time on her phone and was surprised when she saw that it was just a few minutes after 9. He was early, that put a huge smile on her face.
Hope got up and checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Great, bed head. Napping had done a number on her "do" so she quickly brushed through her hair and put it in a messy side bun.
By the time she was done with her hair, there was a knock at the door. Hope's heart leapt up into her throat so she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror. You are enough she thought. Then she stepped out of the bathroom and over to the door.
As she pulled the door open, Ethan looked up at her and smiled, "hey, you look... great". He looked back down and seemed to shuffle his foot, "sorry, I was gonna say amazing but... Well, you do look amazing"
Hope blushed, not only at his compliment but also at his obvious nervousness. "Thank you" she decided to be bold, "I'm so glad you wanted to come out here tonight, I've been looking forward to it all day. And you look pretty amazing yourself". Whew, she got it all out without passing out. She actually felt pretty good.
"You keep surprising me, Hope. You seem...different, more confident. It's really nice." Ethan seemed to be more at ease as well, Hope was glad.
"Well, I'm working on it. That's kinda why I'm here."
"So, would you like to get going?"
"Yes" she answered definitively.
Ethan took her hand and led her to his truck. She felt a jolt of electricity at his touch, a warmth that spread through her and made her catch her breath. They walked quietly to his truck and he opened the door for her, helping her up to the seat. While he walked around to the drivers side, Hope took another calming breath and smiled, I can do this.
When Ethan got in he gave her another quick smile and started up the truck, pulling out of the campground. Hope figured they would be driving in silence but Ethan kept the conversation going. "What kind of music do you like? I can find a station to listen to."
"Um, I really like Taylor Swift, that's kind of my speed", Hope figured he wouldn't be into that type of music.
"She's pretty good, at least she's a real musician, and writes her own songs. I'm a classic rock guy, well I like hard rock too. I'll find something we can both stomach"
Ethan adjusted the radio to a station playing some rock song Hope didn't know. "Is this a song you know?" She cringed at the screechy voice.
"Um, yeah, don't you? I thought everyone knew this one, TNT. You know, AC/DC?" Hope shrugged her shoulders. Ethan continued, "You gotta listen to Angus' guitar solo. He is unbelievable." He had an excitement in his voice that caused Hope to listen along attempting to find something she liked about it. Huh, the music isn't so bad, but that voice, sheesh!
She commented, "I see what you mean, the music isn't too bad." She decided to leave it at that.
The drive continued on as Ethan took them through a residential neighborhood which led up the hillside. "So where are you taking me?" Hope requested as she glanced over at him.
Ethan peeked over at her with a smirk, then looked back at the road, "you'll see."
Okay...The song changed to one Hope was more familiar with, but she didn't know the song title. She started humming along. Ethan noticed and hummed along with her. "Looks like we found something we both like" he said.
Hope looked right at him saying quietly, "yes, yes we did." Huh, check me out, being all flirty
At that point, Ethan took the truck around a bend and up a steep road. As he followed the curve further, Hope could see that they had come to the peak of the hillside. There was a slight turnout which Ethan pulled into and then turned the truck around, facing away from the ridge top view. "Hang tight, I'll be right over there."
Hope waited as Ethan came around and opened her door, offering her a hand to help her down saying, "Come on, hop out and we can see the whole town"
They walked to the bed of the truck and looked out over the edge. Hope was awed by the twinkling lights of the town casting a slight glow onto the ocean water. There was a nearly full moon so the rock was still quite visible. For a few minutes they looked on in silence, taking in the motion of the waves and wind. Hope spoke first, "I bet the sunset is amazing from here." she said quietly.
"Yeah, it really is." Ethan responded, his voice laced with reverence. "Do you want to sit in the truck bed and talk? I have some blankets we can sit on."
"Sure".
Ethan helped her up and they sat next to each other on a blanket. They spent another few minutes quietly enjoying the scenery, then Ethan asked, "So, what made you come back up here this year, and by yourself?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story..."
"I've got time."
"Okay. So, my parents got divorced after the last time we came up here, and it was kind of a shock to me at the time. Now I can see that things hadn't been good for a while, but then...I felt blindsided. A while after that, I figured out that we wouldn't be going on this trip, which bothered me a lot. I always looked forward to our time here and I knew missing it would be terrible.
"I tried getting one of my parents to come with me, I even asked friends. But I couldn't make it work. That's why we didn't come last year. So, I decided that I was coming this year, no matter what. I'm not exactly sure why, but I just felt this need, like it was calling to me or something. Anyway, I ended up lying to my mom, which of course she figured out, and came up here by myself. Your mom has been great, really helping me work through things with my mom, and offered to let me stay longer, so I took her up on it and here we are."
Hope felt no butterflies, her heart was beating normally, she was breathing just fine and had no sense of passing out. Miraculous, I can't believe I did that.
Believe in yourself, I always have the voice in her head seemed to respond to her thoughts.
And you're back, at least you're encouraging me.
A look crossed Ethan's face that Hope couldn't identify; sadness, worry, guilt maybe. Why would he feel guilty? "Wow, I had no idea. I'm really sorry about your parents, Hope"
"It's okay, it happens. I know so many people have gone through so much worse, but I guess I've been caught up in my own issues so long that I haven't been able to see the positives. I'm starting to see them though, in my family and in myself" Hope's confidence was skyrocketing at this point. She felt elated at her ability to talk to Ethan about the things that have been on her heart. And although she didn't know him well, something felt right about sharing this with him.
Ethan spoke up then, "I know what you mean. My dad was a fisherman here. We've lived on the campgrounds a long time, even when my dad was fishing. But when I was about 10, he left to fish in Alaska. He thought he would make a ton of money there and be able to send some to us while he was gone. That lasted about six months, then he stopped communicatinfpg with us. At first my mom thought something had happened, like he died. But then she got a letter from him that he wasn't coming back. We haven't heard from him since. I was really mad at him for a long time. But recently I can see how life gets difficult and I guess we all deal with it in our own way."
Hope was silent for a breath or two. Then she looked over at Ethan and spoke quietly, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. That's what I meant, my problems aren't that awful compared to what other people have gone through. It must have been so hard."
Ethan didn't say anything in response. He just put his arm around her shoulder. Then Hope looked back out at the amazing view and put her head on his shoulder. They sat that way for a while.
Later, as Ethan drove her back to the campground, they talked about easier topics. They played 20 questions about trivial things like favorite foods and movies. They found that they had a lot in common which made Hope smile.
Ethan walked her to the door, saying "I have to work tomorrow, but can I call you?"
"Of course, I would love that" Hope said with a smile.
Ethan gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, which brought a blush and gave her another smile. "Until tomorrow then, sleep well, Hope."
"Bye, drive safe." Hope went inside and once again watched as he drove away.
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Author's notes -
So...is this too sweet or just the right amount? I don't know but I'm really rooting for Ethan right now. I think Hope is feeling it, too. There's more to this story, so keep reading!! If you like it, don't forget to tap the star, thanks!
Notes on chapter title - music
This amazing song is upbeat and has a party type feel. I chose it to match the mood of the chapter. The song is really about the way music touches us "take the words, take the music, take the melody, take the beat, but no one takes the soul out of me" The first conversation they have alone to get to know one another on this date is about music. They have different tastes but are open to what the other likes. By the way, the song Hope recognized but didn't know the name of was "Sweet Home Alabama". That will come up in the other book from Ethan's POV - "Waiting for Hope"