August 2, 2018

"M'lady," Jonah drawled as he opened Eliska's car door. She stepped out, smiling a little and shaking her head.

"Dork," she muttered. She shared an excited glance with him before turning her head to take in the sight of Santa Monica Pier. Her eyes roamed over all of the attractions, the crowds of people, the foam of the ocean waves rolling in on Venice Beach.

"It's gorgeous," she said. Jonah refrained from saying the same thing about her and settled for just watching her for a moment.

"Well," he finally said, holding his hand out to her, "ready to go?"

She nodded and placed her hand in his. They began walking toward the pier idly.

"Jo, what if someone sees us?" she asked quietly, thinking about how many people lived in L.A. who would recognize him.

"I don't care if they see us."

She stepped closer to him and he gladly pulled her in.

Two months had passed since he had asked her to be his girlfriend, and even though they were able to talk over the phone, being together in person meant so much more to each of them. They were able to see each other's smiles and weird facial expressions and hold hands and hug at random times.

"Alright, pop quiz," Eliska said when they entered the ice cream shop next to the pier. "What would I order?"

Jonah hummed as he looked over the menu.

"Chocolate chip cookie dough. In a cup."

She nodded, grinning.

"Correct."

He proceeded to make a loud whooping noise that made several heads turn in their direction. Eliska smiled apologetically until they looked away.

"You are out of control," she whispered to her left.

"Your turn," he said in the same tone. She tried to hide her smile as she looked away from him.

"Something coffee in a cone."

He laughed and put his arm around her shoulder. That was when she stopped trying not to smile.

***

"Competition time," Jonah said. They were leaning against the railing of the pier, ice cream having disappeared a long time before.

"Okay," Eliska said, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's see who can spit the farthest out in the water."

Jonah Marais kept surprising her. She never would have thought him to be the spit competition type, but there they were, surrounded by people and faced with the proposition of a stupid idea.

"That is disgusting and incredibly immature."

He just looked at her.

"I'm in."

And so they prepared to have a spitting contest off of the Santa Monica Pier.

Eliska stepped up on one of the steel bars of the railing, only to have Jonah stop her.

"Hey, what're you doing?'

"I'm shorter than you, which results in my automatic advantage."

"Alright," he allowed, trying not to laugh. "You go first."

She reared back and shot with all her might, but despite her efforts it didn't go very far at all. No matter how much Jonah laughed and teased her about it, however, his trial ended up landing in the same area.

"That was a tie," she said, tone displaying her elation in a second chance. Jonah was not doing very well with not laughing because she was taking the competition very seriously.

"Okay, okay, you go first this time," she rambled. He placed his hands on the rail, leaned back dramatically—which made Eliska snort despite herself—and shot forward, spitting out into the water. He let out a laugh, shaking his head.

"This is so gross. Why are we doing this?"

"Your idea," she said, rearing back like she did the first time.

"I feel like I should video this for the boys; your focus is so amusing—"

He was cut off by her shot that clearly went farther out in the water than his did.

"Yes!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, jumping off the railing with her arms held high in the air, forgetting about all of the people around them. "Yes, I freaking won!"

She was hopping around like an idiot, cheering and drawing so much attention to herself, but Jonah didn't care. All he saw was his girlfriend, the girl he cared about, the girl he craved to spend time with, the girl whose hair was messed up from the breeze blowing in on the ocean, the girl whose face was lit up with sunlight. And he just couldn't help himself.

He grabbed her, pulling her off the ground for a moment to lift her in the air, causing her to yell more and laugh harder. When he finally set her down, she became acutely aware of how much attention she had drawn to them.

"Jo," she got out, "there are so many people look—"

"I don't care," he cut in.

And then he kissed her, on the edge of the pier with the sound of the amusement park nearby and the waves crashing against the beach below flooding her ears.

He pulled away and she realized he had once again succeeded in making her feel flustered. She was breathless and grinning and so happy, it didn't feel like reality at all.

As she was trying to compose herself, tucking a strand of lose hair behind her ear, she made eye contact with a girl that didn't look much older than her walking by. She was holding hands with a young man, but pulled away from him for a second to clap her hands lightly in Eliska's direction, who let out a laugh and nodded.

"Well that was fun," she said, looking at Jonah again.

"That was something," he agreed with a chuckle. "Do you want to head down to the beach?"

"I'd love to."

***

"I wish we had more time together," Eliska said, messing with the sand beneath her. She was referring to the fact that the next morning she and her father would be leaving L.A. to return home.

"I know, I wish we did too. But... tour's coming up soon and there is still so much that the boys and I have to get ready."

Eliska hummed in response, looking out over the ocean and the sun beginning its descent in the sky.

"Well," she said after a period of silence, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you too, El."

They sat together. And time passed and it was quiet, but it didn't feel awkward.

Jonah looked over at Eliska, who was leaning back, her hands keeping her body up in the sand. Her eyes were closed, her hair was hanging carelessly over her face, her facial expression looked peaceful. She was so incredibly beautiful, he didn't understand it.

"El," he said in a soft voice.

She opened her eyes. Several moments passed before he finally spoke up.

"I love you."

Her gaze somehow softened even more and her head fell to the side a little.

"I love you too."

She leaned into the crook of his shoulder and they gazed at the view before them long after the sun sunk below the horizon.