is this a date? :: haddlebee

"You'd be lost without me," Hadley insisted, though he wasn't being serious. Not that he'd ever admit it, but Remy would probably be better off without him than he'd be without her. "You'd never date again because no man could ever compare. I've ruined you forever."

He let go of her, drifting away slightly. It was a little strange, having no surface to connect to while floating here. Without Nila or Remy he'd have literally no idea which direction he was even facing. But overall he was glad Remy had agreed to swim with him, it was a lot more fun than just standing on the boat. This whole day had just been a good idea.

"Oh, no," Remy laughed. "Ruined forever! Whatever will I do?" She smiled and leaned back so that she was facing the darkening sky. She floated on the top of the water, letting herself sort of bob there as she stared at the open expanse of space above them.

She sighed contentedly, happy that she was having this nice time with Hadley. After their initial first kiss she'd felt a little awkward ever acting like things had changed between them. This date had made her feel a lot more comfortable with their relationship--like she was able to act how she wanted, even if that meant randomly going up and kissing him.

Hadley let out a very fake, melodramatic sigh. "Well I guess we'll just have to stay together then," he said, as if that would be some big sacrifice on both their parts. "It might be difficult, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for your sake."

He slowly swam back towards Remy's voice until he straight up just ran into her, and took her hand again. "In all seriousness, though. Thanks for, uh, you know. Putting up with me." The more and more he had really started to understand his feelings for Remy over the past several days, the more he realized how hard he had been on her when her crush was still one-sided. Sure, he would never stop teasing Remy, but looking back he felt kind of...weird about being so mean-spirited about it.

As much as Remy appreciated everything that Hadley had done and was still doing, she still hadn't expected him to thank her for putting up with him. What an odd thing for him to say.

"You wouldn't be feeling bad about teasing me, would you Mr. Sterling?" she asked playfully, giving his hand a squeeze. She knew how much effort he had to be putting into this--how thoughtful he was being. It made her heart happy.

"Well, I mean..." Hadley said, trailing off because he wasn't sure what to say. Why were honest feelings so much harder to articulate than fake ones? This would be so much easier if he were just pretending to have feelings for Remy. But as it was, he really did care about her, and as weird and unfamiliar as it felt, he did feel bad for any times he might have hurt her feelings in the past. As well as for the times he would inevitably do it in the future, because let's face it, he was still him. "Just...Yeah. I guess I am. Sorry for being an asshole half the time."

Her lips curled up into a half smile. This side of Hadley was someone she had never seen before, but she was glad he was here.

She let go of his hand and put her arms back around his shoulders so that she could pull him closer. "Thank you," she said to him, looking into his eyes even though he would never be able to look back into hers. She leaned in to kiss him again. "And I'm sorry that I'm not always the easiest to put up with, either." As glad as she was that Hadley was admitting his faults, she had to acknowledge that she wasn't always the best clio, either.

"Eh, if we were both easy to put up with we'd be boring," Hadley replied half-jokingly, smiling even as she pulled away from kissing him. He was starting to tire a little bit from swimming, and thought that their hour-long time limit had probably been up a long time ago. "Wanna head back up on deck?" he asked Remy. He could tell where the boat was from the sound of the waves gently hitting the side of it, but had no idea where that rope ladder was.

"Yeah," Remy said in response, grabbing his hand and sorta half paddling over to the ladder. She sent him up first, and then followed behind him up the ship's hull. When she got to the top she grabbed the towels she'd set by the railing for both of them. She handed Hadley his and then wrapped her own around her waist, deciding to let her hair air dry.

Then the two kinda sat on a little bench until the helmsman drove them to shore. They said more cute things and maybe kissed a little more and then their perfect little date was over. All in all, it was a great day, and later that night Remy walked to her room feeling more confident in her relationship with Hadley, and happy with pretty much everything.