“I told you it’s a surprise. But we are almost there.” She looked at the clock. 4:30. She sighed and looked out the window. She was lost in her thoughts when the car finally stopped.
“We’re here!” Nick said. He jumped out of the car and ran to open her door.
“The beach!” Jess yelled, “I haven’t been here forever!”
“I have to be by the ocean, and I think I would have died if I wasn’t near it sometime soon, so I brought you today,” he said.
"If you would have told me, I could have worn my bathing suit! Now what am I supposed to do?” He laughed.
“Come on, there’s a store down there, we can get you one.” He said getting a bag out of the back seat. It was a hot day and there were many people already there. They walked into the store and went to the suits.
“Oohh, I like this one!” Nick said holding up a black bikini.
“Ha! You would,” Jess replied rolling her eyes.
“Go try it on,” he said.
“No way,” she replied.
“Ah, come on! Please? For me?” he said giving a puppy dog face.
“Ohh, not the face! Ok fine,” she took the bikini and went into the dressing room. Nick stood outside the door.
“When you’re done, I want to see it!” he said.
“Come on, Nick! I don’t wear this stuff!” she yelled back.
“Oh please?” he asked again. Just then the door flew open. He looked at her and whistled. She hit his arm and slammed the door.
“You look great! And don’t worry! I won’t hold that slap against you!” She got dressed quickly and they paid for the suit and left. They went to the beach house to get ready and found a nice spot on the beach to put their stuff. Jess sat down on her towel and found some suntan lotion in Nick’s bag.
“Would you like some help with that?” Nick asked.
“Sure,” she smiled. The minute he touched her shoulder she felt a spark. She smiled at the feeling.
“Thank you,” she said after he was finished.
“No problem, now...let’s go swimming!” he yelled jumping up.
“Can’t I just tan for a while?” she whined.
“Nope!” he said taking her hand and running into the water. He fell after going a little to deep. She laughed. The swam for an hour and Jess went back up to their spot to tan. A few minutes later, there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a little girl who looked about 5.
“Well, hi there!” Jess said.
“Hi! I’m Stephanie! Who are you?”
“Well, I’m Jess, nice to meet you! Does your mommy know you are over here?”
“Yep! She’s over there! I told her I wanted to say hi to the pretty girl and she said ok!” Jess smiled.
“Well you are very pretty too!” Jess said.
“Thank you!” Stephanie giggled. Just then the girl’s mother came over.
“HI, I’m sorry is she bothering you?”
“Oh no, we were just chatting. She’s so cute!”
“Mommy! Lauren says I’m pretty like her!” Steph yelled. The mother laughed.
“Well I guess you are. I’ll be over there if you get sick of her. By the way, I’m Carol.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jess said shaking her hand.
“Well, I’m going to get back to my book. Be good Stephanie,” Carol said smiling then walking back to her spot.
“Hey Jess!” Nick yelled running toward them.
“Hey Nick,” Jess said.
“Who’s this pretty little lady?” Nick asked sitting down.
“Nick, this is my new friend Stephanie, Steph this is Nick.”
“Hi Nick! You’re cute!” Steph said. Nick laughed.
“Well thank you, but you’re cuter!” he said tickling her, “You coming back in Jess?” Nick asked.
“Yeah! Jess will you take me in the water?” Steph yelled. Jess laughed.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Mommy! Jess is gonna take me in the water!” Carol smiled and waved.
“Let’s go!” Nick said taking Steph’s hand and running.
“Hey! Wait for me!” yelled Jess. They all played around in the water for a while when Jess decided to go talk to Carol. She left Steph to play with Nick while she went.
“Your daughter is so cute!” Jess told Carol.
“Yes she is,” Carol laughed. They talked for a while and discovered that Carol had just moved in down the street from Jess.
“That’s so cool!” Jess said.
“You know, I’m always looking for a babysitter on the weekends, and Stephanie seems to like you, what do you say?” Carol asked.
“I say great! I’m never really doing anything on the weekends!” Just then Steph ran up to them dragging Nick behind her.
“Mommy! Mommy! This is Nick. He’s a singer, he sang a song for me!”
“Hi Nick, I’m Carol,” she said shaking his wet hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he replied.
“Honey guess what! Jess is going to be babysitting you sometimes!” Carol said.
“Really? Cool! We will have fun Jess! I can show you my dolls and barbies and my new puppy!”
“Ok, ok,” said Carol, “It’s time to go for today. Say goodbye to Jess and Nick.”
“Bye!” Stephanie said running away.
“Here’s my number,” Jess said handing Carol a piece of paper, “Call me when you need a sitter.”
“Will do! Bye Nick, Bye Jess, nice talking with you!”
“Bye,” Jess said. Nick waved.
“Cute kid,” Nick said as they walked to their spot.
“Yeah, she reminds me of me when I was little.” Jess said.
“Phew, I’m pooped!” Nick said falling to down on a towel.
“Yeah, it’s 6:30 already,” Jess said.
“You ready to go?” asked Nick.
“Ready when you are,” she replied. On the ride home, Jess turned the radio on.
“And here’s a new group. 5 guys called the Backstreet Boys and their song, ‘We’ve Got it Goin On’!” The DJ said.
“Never heard of ‘em,” Jess said. Nick laughed out loud.
“What?” she asked.
“Um Jess...that’s us,” Nick said.
“That’s you guys?! Oh my God, Nick! This is awesome!”
“They have played it on a couple other stations we’ve heard and after that, people didn’t really like it so they stopped playing it. It’s number one in Europe though!”
“Yeah well I like it!” they listened to it with Nick singing the words to himself.
“You hungry?” Nick asked.
“Kinda,” Jess replied.
“How bout we just stop at McDonalds or something and eat on the way home?” Nick asked.
“Sounds good,” she replied.