An Unwitting Discovery

I did some checking, online, and found that the October temperatures for Myrtle Beach would be quite pleasant, overall. The water might be a tad cooler it would be, if we drove farther south, but this was an optimization problem that I figured I could solve. Going farther south, we'd be swapping the extra driving time for warmer temperatures, which didn't come at a very favorable exchange rate. For one thing, with the warmer water temperatures, there also came a greater tourist influx, thus creating higher demands for hotel rooms - thus upping the cost per night, of a visit. It would also cost us extra in gas, there and back, plus cut down on the time that we had, to enjoy being at the beach. All in all, we'd get a much nicer room for our money, at Myrtle, and have more time to enjoy our stay - which was my primary reason for the trip.

I made tentative reservations at a place that had good reviews on the Internet, and then it was time to tell Suzan of my plans. I decided to wait until after Suzan and I had completed our normal Thursday evening pre-lab study session, to suggest the trip to her. She'd be busy, much of the time between Sunday night and Thursday evening, so I wouldn't be seeing much of her, anyway, except in class. And, if I brought it up first thing, on Thursday evening, and she was at all enthusiastic about it, we'd most likely lapse into discussing the trip and never get any studying done.

This week's lab looked to be pretty simple. We had become quite an efficient team in preparing our setup. At times, she would always show me something I hadn't seen or thought about. At other times, it was the other way around. When we were done, I decided it was time to spring my little surprise on her. I cleared our books and papers from the table, out of the way, refilled our sodas, and returned to sit across from her.

"Hey - so - it looks like this lab write up is going to be pretty easy. I was thinking maybe we could - - um - I don't know, say - um - finish it up at the beach. What do you think?" Of course, I waited to do so until she was taking a sip from her soda.

"What do you mean, finish it up at the beach?" she coughed and sputtered, catching me - and the table - with the spray of carbonated liquid.

"Well, you've commented a couple times on how my car simply 'screams' to be taken on a road trip, so I figured that it was about time. Myrtle Beach is only about a three-hour drive, from here, and it'll still be really nice weather, there, for another three weeks. I was thinking that we might go this weekend, if you're at all interested.

"I love the beach! That'd be great!" she chortled with glee. "But, can we get any kind of decent hotel reservations, on such short notice? It'd be a real bummer, to plan a trip and have no place to stay."

"That's why I already made the reservations," I told her quickly, as felt my smile trying to break through. "Seventh floor, perfect view of the ocean. We could leave tomorrow night, right after the lab and be there by about 11:00 PM."

"Sunrise at the beach? Hmm, I'm SO glad you told me after we saw how easy this lab was going to be. I might have turned you down, otherwise," she said, as she tried to conceal her glee.

"Yeah, I can tell!" I couldn't hold back any more and I laughed. "You would've had zero interest."

"Yep, you sure do know me - all study - all the time."

Her giggling was suddenly unrestrained, and then she burst out laughing. It was contagious and I loved to hear her laugh. We were both in knots for the next couple of minutes.

When we regained our senses, I said, "We should leave right from the university. I could pick you up, in the morning, so you don't have to leave your car on campus."

It was all agreed. After I saw her off, I came back into the apartment, got on the phone, and confirmed the deal I'd booked on a condo rental right on the beach. Room rates for the second weekend in October were pretty low. The ocean-facing room was on the seventh floor, so we would have a great view. I spent another hour or so, loading up a thumb drive with tunes I knew we would both like. Finally, I packed a duffel bag with swim trunks, underwear, socks, shorts, a couple polo shirts, and then a decent pair of pants and dressier shirt.

The next day flew past. I met her at her apartment, early enough to get her to her ethics class. She had a small suitcase, which I put in the trunk. She was nearly giddy with anticipation, when I dropped her off, and a few of her fellow ethics students got a good chuckle out of the passionate, extra-long lip-lock she laid on me before sliding out of the passenger seat. We met back at the BIO class, and then went to do our lab. We stayed a little later than we usually did, and actually turned in our lab books at the end of the lab, we had been so prepared. The great thing about that was that there would be no pressure to work on anything, over the weekend. We were free.

We started out for Myrtle Beach at just after six-thirty. The first part of the trip was on highway 147. Suzan played the part of copilot, managing the music and GPS. Turned out she'd brought her own thumb drive of music. She'd picked a fair portion of it just for me, based on my tastes, and she had way more than three hours' worth. There was lots of beach music, like the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett, and several Kenny Chesney songs - like "Guitars and Tiki Bars" and "Key's In The Conch Shell", that had a "beach" feel. There was also a random mixture of rock that she liked, and country that she knew I liked. There was one song that came up at least twice before we got on I-95. I knew she liked Coldplay, and I had started to enjoy their music, as well. The song, 'One I Love', seemed to carry extra meaning, and I caught her glancing over at me several times, when it was playing.

Not too far down I-95, I pulled off to get a fast food meal and use the facilities. We were about an hour out from Myrtle Beach, when I noticed she'd nodded off. I let her sleep; she was just lovely. I hoped things would work. I was pretty sure we were ready, but how do you know? It felt right and it didn't feel like the little guy was speaking. When I arrived at the place, we had to go through a guard gate to get registered. I left her in the car and locked it with the fob.

Back in the car, I found the parking deck. Yeah, I had to find it; it was pretty dark, and I hadn't been to this place, before. It was a complex with lots of little houses away from the beach and then a long tower that faced the beach according to the map they gave me. I hadn't ever been to the beach on the Atlantic only the Gulf of Mexico. I found us a decent spot in the parking deck and got one of the luggage trolleys. When it was loaded, I opened her door and woke her gently.

"Mmmm, I'm sorry." She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "We're here?"

"Yes, ma'am. May I assist you?" I asked holding my hand out to aid her out.

"Thank you, Tommy."

She held my arm as we found the elevator and I rolled the trolley in front of us. The room was older, but very well kept. Entering, we found a very nice one-bedroom apartment. There was a fold out couch, a kitchen, laundry closet (bigger than mine), and a very nice recently remodeled bathroom with a big walk-in shower.

"What do you think?" I asked her.

"This will be perfect!"

In the bedroom was a king size bed. We dumped the items off the trolley.

"I'll be right back," I told her.

Taking the trolley back meant I had to roll it all the way back outside. I took it back down to the elevator, waited for it to arrive, rode it down to the ground floor and put the trolley back in the corral. Then I had to wait again for the elevator to come back. I must have been gone nearly ten minutes 'cause, when I got back to the room Suzan was in bed with her nightgown on. She was stunningly beautiful, and I couldn't believe my luck in having met her. I went to brush my teeth and get ready to join her. I knew she was serious about seeing that sunrise at the beach, but I wondered if she was having some of that hibernation thing I was experiencing.

Morning came quickly. Suzan was shaking me gently awake.

"Let's go down on the beach," she coaxed me.

"Okay."

We both got up and dressed. This morning, Suzan only partially hid herself from me. She dressed with her back to me, but in the room with me. I followed suit. We were down on the beach before the sun came up, walking hand in hand at the water's edge. The water was pretty chilly and I suspected that we might not swim in the ocean this weekend.

She found the spot she wanted, to await the sunrise, and we sat hand in hand on the cool sand. She would periodically give me a kiss or hug, but was intent upon seeing the sun break. The sun crested very slowly. Once it had pushed about half its disk above the horizon, Suzan sang a little of a Cat Stevens song 'Morning Has Broken'. Her voice was so clear and beautiful, it nearly brought tears to my eyes as I sat there, just listening to her. She stopped after the first verse and hugged me close.

"Thanks for suggesting this. I know I keep saying the same thing, but it it's just perfect."

"I'm glad we came. I don't know if we can swim in the ocean or not, but they have several pools here and a few hot tubs."

"It's fine, Tommy. I just love the beach, any time of year. It clears my mind and relaxes me."

After the sun was fully up, we strolled on the beach, stopping occasionally to collect a few sea shells exposed by the tide, as mementos of our trip. Suzan's swimsuit was more revealing than I'd realized in the dimly lit bedroom. The angle of the rising sun revealed a lovely figure. The cool morning air had stiffened her nipples and they had me staring, periodically. Suzan caught me looking several times, but just smiled a very knowing at me.

When the sun had gotten much further into the sky we ventured into the ocean to our knees. The water was just too cool for us. We decided to try later in the afternoon, but for now we'd go to the pool. The pool was lightly heated and used salt water with just a bit of chlorine. It reminded me of Dad's, although it was much larger.

There was only one couple in the pool area when we arrived. There were older but they looked happy and in decent shape. I noticed Suzan studying them as we waded and played.

"What is it?" I whispered when we were on the opposite side of the pool from them.

"Nothing, they just look happy."

"Yeah, they do."

The message to me was clear despite the fact she hadn't spoken her thoughts. She was imagining us, like that, some day in the future. I wondered. It was really too far off for me to fully comprehend. We both had school to finish. I kept thinking I might want to go to graduate school. We just needed to take it slow, a day at a time.

Around noon, we went to the little restaurant bar at the resort. We got some crab dip and crackers that was pretty good, and some virgin strawberry daiquiris. As we ate, at a table by the pool, more people began appearing. It never really got crowded, but there were more folks than I'd expected. When we finished eating, I suggested we might want to get some sunscreen. I didn't have any, and Suzan hadn't brought any, either. We went back up to the room and put on shorts and shirts over our swimsuits.

I drove us to one of the many beach stores along the main drag. Inside I got a can of spray-on sunscreen and four really big beach towels. Suzan picked up a few souvenir items with lighthouses on them. As we headed back to the resort, I spotted a nice restaurant.

I asked, "Can you remember that name for me?"

"That restaurant?"

"Yes. I want to take you some place nice for dinner."

"That place is too expensive. You're already spending too much."

"I am very thrifty. The room isn't nearly as expensive as you think. I've actually been doing better than I'd expected, in my little efficiency. Not eating on campus is saving me money. Their meal plans seem like a deal, but I can make things cheaper. I only splurge occasionally, for takeout food." Mostly when Suzan came over. I wasn't a great cook.

"Okay, you win, but I want to contribute to the trip financially, somehow," she insisted.

"We'll see," I said. I was grinning ear to ear. There was no way I was letting her pay or know what I'd spent. But maybe I could let her buy lunch tomorrow before we drove home.

Back at the resort, we went directly to the beach. I locked my wallet in the glove compartment. We had towels and sunscreen and our bathing suits on underneath our clothes. It was nearing the hottest part of the day. The sand was nice and warm, on our feet, as we came off of the boarded walkway over the sand dune.

I found a nice spot and spread out two of the large beach towels. Then I stripped off my clothing. Suzan did the same.

"Okay, stand here and I'll spray you," I said. Suzan had a funny little smirk on her face. "You're bad."

"I can't help it. Your words often have these cute little undertones in them."

"It wasn't intentional, that time," I said unconvincingly.

I liberally sprayed her down so she wouldn't get burnt. Then I hit the high spots on myself. I tanned pretty easy. In spite of my blond hair, my skin tone took more after my Dad than my Mom.

"I'm going in no matter how cold it is," I told her. "You don't have to come, but it's the beach; I've got to go."

"I'm coming, too," she said with another grin forming on her face.

We took each other's hands and started out into the water. It wasn't all that bad, after the initial shock wore off. The water had warmed, some, from earlier in the morning. There were kids and some adults wading so, it had convinced me we could do it. I was glad we did. The water over the sandbar was almost warm. Suzan and I spent the next few hours trying to ride waves. The waves here were much larger than in the Gulf. It was making me think of a summer trip, a trip that would include Suzan.

Several times in the water we held each other and I could feel the tension growing. We were playing, swimming, talking, kissing, and groping. It was wonderful. As the afternoon grew on, the groping went over the line several times. She'd had her hand in my pants, and I'd had mine inside her top, several times. Of course, we were out chest-deep, so there was nothing that anyone would be able to see, but they could probably guess.

Before things got out of hand I said, "Let's go and get changed for diner."

Back in the room I let Suzan go first in the shower. She went in with her clothes. I heard the water turn on and decided I'd look up the restaurant. I phoned them up to make reservations and they told me I didn't need them, but took my name anyway. Just as I got off the phone Suzan reemerged in a nice skirt and blouse.

I took my turn. I quickly showered with the nice soap and shampoo they had in there. Suzan's scent was strong in here and I wondered how far we might go tonight. I dried, shaved and got dressed.

When I reappeared with my nice pants and collared shirt she commented, "Don't you look handsome!"

"Well, you look just gorgeous, so I think we make a nice pair. You ready?"

With that, we were off. The restaurant had a nice deck, and the hostess sat us right next to the railing so that we could hear the ocean waves crashing in. After the waitress had handed us our menus and gone off to fetch our drinks, Suzan took a look at her menu and her eyes got really big. The prices on the meals were a little high, but they were well within the range I'd expected. When the waitress reappeared to take our order, Suzan ordering lightly. I ordered some appetizers and got a platter.

When the waitress left, I told Suzan, "Look; I planned on this. It's your turn to stop worrying."

She relaxed and smiled at me lovingly. "Thank you. I love you."

And there it was. "I love you, too." I reached across our table and took her hand. "I mean that, with all my heart."

The meal was delicious, and the portions were actually fairly large, and Suzan ate some of mine. Suzan's whole 'financial worry' issue was bothering me, until I suddenly remembered what she'd told me about her parents. Suzan's father was a pastor. Pastors get paid out of whatever is left from the weekly offering, after the building expenses are paid. I guessed that, unless he was the pastor of one of those huge mega-churches, with several thousand members, the paychecks might be kind of slim.

I didn't know how poor her family had been, but I'd obviously experienced a bit of both poverty and modest comfort in my lifetime, so I had a bit of understanding. My dad had taught me how to budget for things, and I used a finance program to plan for things and keep track of my spending. I'd put in an estimate of $700 for this trip and, thus far, we were well under budget. I didn't want Suzan to worry about all this so much that it ruined the trip for her.

We finished before the sun went down and headed back to our room. There, we perched out on the balcony to watch the last of the daylight disappear and catch the moon's rise. Standing at the railing on the balcony, I gazed into Suzan's eyes. I heard myself saying those words, again, and they never felt truer.

"I love you, Suzan."

"I love you, too, Tommy," she answered, stepping into my open arms.

A moment later, we were locked in a deep, passionate kiss. My arms went around her back and my hand dropped to her bottom.

Suzan broke the kiss and whispered, "You better tone that down, mister. Today has been absolutely magical, and you have no idea what your kisses and hands are doing to me, right now."

"I was thinking that I actually did have a pretty good idea," I smiled. "But, why don't you tell me, so that I can be certain."

"They're making me want to rip your clothes off, throw you onto that king-sized bed, and make mad, passionate love to you until the sun comes over the horizon again."

"Would it surprise you to know that that's exactly what I was hoping for?"

Suzan's breath caught in her throat, for a moment. "Are you sure, Tommy?" she asked me.

"As sure as I've ever been, of anything," I nodded firmly. "There's just one little problem..."

"What's that?"

"Believe it or not, in all my planning for this weekend, I forgot to pack any condoms..."

"You won't need them, baby," she laughed quietly into my ear. "I've known all along, what I felt for you, but I was ready to wait until you saw it, too. In the past, I avoided any form of birth control - except with one guy. I know my moods, and I've never trusted condoms, because they can rupture too easily. And I've heard too many horror stories, about IUD's, to feel safe using one of those. That basically meant that it wasn't safe for me to be with any guy, and that was my big 'safety net'. There's no way I wanted to risk getting pregnant - and blowing college and my future down the drain - just for the sake of a roll in the hay."

"That doesn't tell me why I won't need a condom, honey," I said, as I touched her cheek.

"When I met you, I knew in my heart that you were THE ONE. There was just something about you. A couple days after we had that talk about waiting, I went to a doctor and got a prescription for The Pill. I didn't know when you'd finally see the light of reason, about us, but I wanted to be ready - and I didn't want to have anything come between us when it happened - least of all a silly piece of latex..."

"So...?"

"So take me back into the room, and make me your woman, Tommy. Now, and forever..."

We moved into the room and pulled the drapes. All my worries faded away as we resumed our kissing. Suzan began unbuttoning my shirt. Once done, she pushed it off of my shoulders and ran her hands across my chest. I finally had to break the kiss, so that I could assist her out of her blouse, and discovered that she'd worn a sheer black lacy bra. It was the ultra-sexy sort that I'd only seen in the Victoria's Secret catalogs that kept coming to the apartment. I'd guiltily kept the current month's edition since it was addressed to the former occupant but included or Current Occupant and those don't get forwarded. Her pink nipples pressed pertly against the transparent silky fabric. I searched for the expected hooks in back, but failed to find them. I fumbled with the front, for a moment, but was once again stumped. Suzan finally giggled, with a trace of amusement, and came to my rescue.