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Post by Adam Tyler on Aug 31, 2015 22:48:48 GMT
It was hard to decipher exactly that he was feeling on the trip out to the Hamptons. He was thrilled to finally had an opportunity to spend a weekend outside of the city with Riley, but this particular trip came with a lot of additional baggage in the form of the rest of the Upper East Side. And while the idea that he could spend the long weekend on the beach with her was appealing, Adam couldn't help but feel as though there was something threatening to come to the surface, some sort of drama that was threatening to appear. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head but after spending so much time away from his former classmates, all he could feel around them was just this odd sensation of being seventeen again. It was uncomfortable and he wasn't terribly fond of it.
But, he kept reminding himself, this was different than things used to be. For starters, he wasn't the same person he used to be and he was old enough now to realize that he needed to let it all go. And secondly, he had Riley. This amazing, beautiful, and intelligent woman who wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. He held her hand and squeezed it comfortingly as they got to their rented house.
"So what should we do first?" he asked with a grin, "Should we head down to the beach or should we unwind here for a little while?"
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Post by Riley Tyler on Aug 31, 2015 23:02:31 GMT
Riley liked to think that she was good at a great many things. She was a good cook, she was an excellent and dedicated worker, a passionate lawyer, a great debater, she was a heap of laughs at karaoke - she didn't even have to be drunk, and she was even considering teaching herself to learn to be good at chess. But if there was one thing she was woefully abysmal at it was taking a vacation. She wasn't sure if she had overpacked or underpacked at this juncture, but she was certain it was one of the two. Every time her phone buzzed, she was convinced it was work - every time it went too long without buzzing, she was convinced something was wrong and someone was waiting until the last moment to tell her. She was bad at relaxing, so she'd brought a fair amount of reading material in one of her bags, and when they'd arrived at their rented beach house for the weekend, she couldn't help but go a bit slackjawed. "It's beautiful here," she acknowledged.
When he grinned at her, she smiled back, squeezing his hand. "I'm fine with whatever you'd like - but should we unpack first?" she asked, her need to be meticulously organized nagging in the back of her mind. "Or if you're hungry, I could make us something to eat?"
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 0:10:20 GMT
Adam laughed at her, pulling her closer to him. "You're beautiful," he complimented, suddenly realizing that this was their first weekend away not only as a couple but their first weekend away as a newly engaged couple. There was probably a list of things that they needed to do to mark this occasion, but first he felt like they needed to shake out whatever tension was still lingering from the city. "We can unpack later," he told her, "We can do any number of things now. This is your weekend away as much as it is mine, what's the first thing that you do to unwind on a vacation?"
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 1:03:44 GMT
Riley blushed at his compliment, wrapping her arms around him and laughing softly. "I don't know," she admitted. "When I was younger we only really went camping. And then in high school, my dad took me to Washington D.C. but that was to visit campuses. But I did get to tour the White House, we didn't get into the West Wing and I didn't meet the president or anything, but it was still pretty amazing," she nodded. Tilting her head to the side she looked at him, "I really haven't travelled much outside of that. So, to answer your question, I have no clue."
She grinned sheepishly at him. "So, you might actually have to walk me through this," she laughed. "Do we sit on the beach or go somewhere and order drinks with those little umbrellas in them? Oh! Or we could go swimming."
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 1:21:57 GMT
He was reminded by how different their childhoods had been once again as she talked over her former experiences vacationing. He was much more familiar with this type of trip than a camping trip. His parents had been much more comfortable with all-inclusive resorts, ski lodges in Colorado, and trips to anywhere his mother could find a beach. He wanted to show Riley all of the places that he had had grown up loving to visit, he just needed to first convince her to allow herself a little more vacation time.
Adam kissed her quickly before grinning at her, "All of the above? I mean, I'm okay with any scenario that gets you into a swimsuit out on the beach. Though who can say no to a fruity cocktail with a little umbrella?"
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 1:42:17 GMT
Riley laughed, kissing him softly. "But the end goal is me in a bathing suit?" she asked. "All right, I'll get changed. But I just need to reply to a few emails," she nodded. "After the weekend is over, I've got a few interview scheduled. I could have my first employee in just a matter of weeks," she nodded, moving to grab her phone and open her inbox even as she lifted her tote bag onto the kitchen table in the vacation house and rummaged through for her bathing suit, looking for the one she'd been convinced to buy by Amber and Maddy on their little shopping trip. Retrieving it, she flashed a grin at Adam. "I'll reply to these and get changed?" she nodded, "Once I do maybe you can help me with my sunscreen so I don't burn?" she suggested lifting an eyebrow and giggling at him.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 2:15:52 GMT
Adam sighed and shook his head at her. He knew that the upcoming interviews were probably important and whatever else she was emailing about at the moment was probably important too, but the whole point of this weekend wasn't to give her new scenery to look at while she typed away at their emails. And truly, he had started to really enjoy the idea that this could be their little post-engagement celebration weekend full of over-the-top drinks on the beach. "Riley, just leave the emails. Whoever it is can live for a few days without you."
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 2:38:31 GMT
Riley glanced up from her phone, "Adam, it's just going to take a few minutes. There's just a couple of things going on..." she tapped out her last response and placed her phone down on the counter and then smiled. "See? Done. I won't even have to check it again until later." Of course, as luck would have it, it chimed again, vibrating loudly against the counter. She looked at it for a moment and then glanced back up at him, taking a deep breath she nodded before going to go get changed.
When she emerged a few minutes later from the bathroom, she poked her head out the door. "I don't actually know why I let them convince me to buy this," she announced before stepping out, a towel wrapped around her. Her eyes drifted to her phone on the counter again but then she smiled at him. "So, you and me and the beach?" Riley had never really thought of herself as the kind of person who could sit on the beach for extended periods of time.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 1, 2015 15:33:06 GMT
There were still a lot of things that he knew they needed to work on. In all reality, they hadn't been together for very long, and no matter how long they had been friends and spent time pining for one another, there were a lot of things that he supposed they needed to compromise on before they got married. And without a date being set, he wasn't sure how much time they really had to figure everything out. He had started to feel the tension after their fight over money, something that he was sure was going to come up gain throughout the course of wedding planning, and now it was her inability to separate her work life from her personal life. Since they had been together, this was the first time that he had ever actually seen what her life was like with a full-time job, and he wasn't sure if he had known what he was getting into.
She had ignored the alert to a new message before going to change and he tried to stop thinking about how much he was sure it was killing her not to check it. He had even caught her looking at it briefly when she emerged in her towel. Adam smiled at her, ignoring the feeling nagging in the back of his head that they were going to fight about it soon if things didn't change her priorities. But for now, she was making a conscious effort to be here and so he figured he could do that for her too. "To the beach," he nodded. "I'll grab us a couple of drinks and some water, too. And you know," he smirked at her, "You're going to have to lose the towel sooner or later. It's not like I don't know what's under there."
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Post by Riley Tyler on Sept 2, 2015 0:25:51 GMT
It took a split second, but Riley was making the conscious decision to not look at her phone for the remainder of the afternoon, though she knew she couldn't promise all weekend. She knew that it frustrated Adam, that he wasn't used to seeing her when she was in work mode, but now it was even worse because she was self-employed and taking on new client at a rapid pace. In a few weeks when she was able to staff out more of the work, it would be easier. But she wanted so desperately to prove that she could do it on her own - just like she always had.
Riley laughed softly and then, reluctantly let go of the towel, folding it over her arm instead. "I wouldn't normally...I went shopping with the girls," she shook her head. "I feel silly," she admitted. Normally she probably would have bought herself a one piece, never having been one for wearing a bikini due to never finding herself in a position to need to do so. And, yes, he'd seen her in less, but something about it still made her feel even more exposed than if she'd just been naked.
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Post by Adam Tyler on Sept 2, 2015 0:52:56 GMT
Adam smiled at her, stepping closer to her, kissing her softly. "You look beautiful," he commented. "You are beautiful." He reminded her.
"Should we get a couple of drinks and get our vacation started?"
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