Pleasant surprises
Elizabeth was quite surprised by his suggestion, but her surprise quickly made place for a gentle kind of happiness. She held the hand that he held out and joined him as they sneaked out without being seen by the others. Nick didn't really have a plan in mind, but he knew that he wanted to spend this day basking in the happy feelings he was feeling right now and not in the presence of his teasing friends. The first few minutes were spent in utter silence as Nick walked in front thinking about what to do and still wrapping his head around the shift in their relationship. He was followed closely by a slightly shy Elizabeth, who was in a daze and had her eyes fixed on the man in front of her. With the speed he was walking with it was almost as if he was dragging Elizabeth forward instead of walking with her.
He was awoken from his thoughts by a momentary stumble by Elizabeth, who was doing her best to keep up with him, but struggled to do so with the shoes she had been wearing. With a shocked expression he looked around to see the distance between them. He looked from her slightly damp forehead, her flushed cheeks and back to the hand he was holding tightly, and realized what he had been doing. "Oh Lizzy, sorry. Did I hurt you? I was elsewhere with my mind and didn't notice how fast I was walking. Are you okay?" Elizabeth shook her head and gave a nod in turn in response to his questions. He looked her up and down to be sure she wasn't hurt and got a proper look at what she was wearing, praising himself lucky once more. Elizabeth, who had dolled up for their date, was wearing a pretty summer dress and high heeled sandals. Though she knew these weren't the best shoes when they were heading on their date on foot, but she wanted to look nice for their first date. These were the only shoes she had brought along that matched her outfit. Luckily she had many years of practice of walking on high heeled shoes. Even the shoes of the school uniform had eight inch heels, because it was supposed to give them good posture and would make them look elegant.
Despite Elizabeth's assuring words that she was fine and she shouldn't mind her, he unconsciously started walking slower and slower to match the speed of Elizabeth. Once more Elizabeth's expression turned to a more gentle one as she watched the efforts he was making to accommodate her. Not knowing quite what to say yet, Nick turned back around and looked back to the front. By now they had reached one of the little towns nearby and he was looking around for somewhere they could sit and enjoy themselves. Considering the hot weather and the fact they had been walking the past 20 minutes, Nick decided they should start by sitting somewhere and order a refreshing drink or share an ice cream. He looked over at Elizabeth once more and asked her "I am sure you must be thirsty by now. How about we go over there to that little cafe. It seems like it has a terrace on the roof, we can have a drink and let the wind cool us off a bit before we look for something to do. We will have a much better view of this place from up there." "Sounds great." Elizabeth, who was indeed feeling quite hot after walking for so long in the hot sun, was happy with his pick and followed him in.
After about an hour, they had freshened up and were rested from their walk over. The tension had finally dissipated and they were having an enjoyable talk, but Elizabeth noticed that he was a bit distracted. He would turn away every few minutes and look at the shops and buildings down in the street, at his phone and back at her. "Nick, what has gotten you so distracted? Are you still trying to find something to do?" "..Yeah." Nick said guiltily as he looked down at the table. Elizabeth grabbed his hand, that was resting on the table, causing him to look back up. Once she had eye contact she said, "Why? Aren't we having a good time? Isn't that the purpose of a date? To have some fun, while getting to know each other a bit better. I don't need to do anything special, I am fine sitting here doing nothing and enjoying being out in the sun with you." Nick was quite surprised by her reaction. She was a spoiled little princess and a girl that any guy would classify as high maintenance. Never did he expect she would be okay with just sitting at some random shop, having some cold drinks and chatting. This proved that he too didn't know her as well as he thought and this was one of hopefully many pleasant surprises. He smiled as he relaxed and continued their talk with new found excitement.
They had been sitting there for anther half an hour when an idea popped in his head. They had been staring at it the entire time. He got up and held out his hand for her. "Come on, I know what we can do." Elizabeth saw the excitement in his face and grabbed his hand before getting up herself. They walked down and headed towards the beach. Nick jumped off the boardwalk onto the sand and held out both arms to help Elizabeth down as well. She took off her sandals and wrapped both arms around his neck. Nick lowered her gently and her feet touched the warm sand. He used one hand to hold her hand and the other to carry her sandals. Leaving one of her hands free to hold the corner of her dress to prevent it from getting wet by the small waves that were brushing past their feet. Once they were out on the slightly cold and wet sand, Nick pointed in the direction they were headed. In the distance she could see a crowd of people, flags and high figures in the sand. It seemed like there was a sand sculpture contest going on. This kind of event was perfect for a date. Enough to entertain, but not intrusive enough to leave no room for talking or distract. With a child-like enthusiasm they walked on as they chatted away!