Plié and Clout

Epilogue 6

happy 50k reads here's the next epilogue that i've been struggling to get through for like 2 weeks

yes it's long shush

-rabid

***

STEPH

"Do you know why they sent us out here? We seriously could've helped with the dishes and stuff." I push open the passenger door and nod at the massive staircase headed down to the shore. "Want to go walk?"

"It's going to be freezing." August laughs, her light giggle bubbling right out of her.

"That's why I have you," I wiggle my fingers at her. "You can hold my hands to keep them warm."

That puts a pretty deep blush on her face and it's all I need to know she's going to walk with me.

"It's been a really gentle winter out here, the beach probably isn't that snowy and the tide should be gentle." I reach out for her hand and when she takes it we start to walk toward the stairs. "So why didn't we stay?"

"Uh, well," August pulls her hood up, hiding from the cold bite of the ocean breeze. "If it's anything like what happened when Ben brought Tay home, they're doing a family meeting to decide if you're trustable enough."

That puts a little icicle of fear in my heart. "Damn, okay, that's scary." I pick up our hands and tuck them into my jacket pocket, keeping her fingers out of the cold.

"It seriously won't be that bad, and we still have tonight to go and if I need to explain anything after you have to go tomorrow, I will." She says.

I look over at her, feeling absolutely nothing but pure adoration. "What the hell did I ever do to deserve you, huh?"

She blushes again, bumping her shoulder into me as we mosey our way to the stairs and then down all four flights to get from the top of the dune to the bottom. Impressively enough, they're not snowy or icy. Someone must've come out here with a shovel or something of the like.

"That is quite literally an entire tree." August mumbles from next to me. I'm watching the surf from the bottom of the staircase, but she's not.

"Hm?" I look at her first, then to where she's looking. "Wow, yeah, that's a whole tree."

I should be more precise: driftwood. It's an entire driftwood tree. "Race you." I say, taking off, she's not far behind me, but I jokingly sprawl out in the sand four or five steps before the tree to let her win.

"That wasn't fair, you fell over on purpose!" She laughs, hopping up onto the trunk.

"Who says?" I sit up in the cold and rather damp sand, tipping my head at her to joke around. "Maybe there was a rock I stepped on, or the sand gave in a weird way."

She hops off the tree and tackles me back into the sand before I can get very far out of it. I land softly, her weight draped gracelessly across my center. In moments, we're rolling around and batting at each other. It's adorable that she thinks I'm not humoring her with this.

She flops me onto my back, her hands holding mine above my head. I lie there, gazing up at her like the starstruck idiot I am. "You're cute when you think you're winning."

"I am winning, I'm on top." She grins, her hair falling in curtains around us.

"Mhmm, and it's cute, but-" I lock my hand around hers on the right and then toss a leg up and over her hips, knocking her to the side, then rolling so I'm on top. Now she's the one laying in the sand, looking up at me.