As they got nearer to the bay, the conversation got easier between the two of them. The awkward date jitters began to wear off, thanks in large part to Daniel. He had a way of making her feel at ease. Or at least he had a way of teasing her until she forgot to be uptight.
The beach was packed, but not unbearably so. They checked out the booths that were set up on the grass first. Most of them sold food or beer, and Daniel offered to buy both for Harper, but she declined. He did buy her a glow-in-the-dark bracelet, even though she insisted it was silly, though she secretly wanted one.
They stopped to watch a juggler. He wore a black-and-white harlequin getup, and he juggled color-changing light-up balls. In the fading light, this became more impressive, especially when he kept tossing more up into the air.
Harper clapped along with the crowd when the juggler threw the flashing lights even farther up into the sky, but she caught a glimpse of something else when she looked up. Three birds were circling above them.
In the dim light, it was hard to make them out precisely, but their wingspan appeared much larger than that of an ordinary bird. She couldn’t tell exactly how high they were in the sky, but as Harper squinted at them, she was certain they were too big to be regular birds.
“What’s the matter?” Daniel asked. He leaned down, almost speaking in her ear, so she’d hear him over the crowd and the nearby band.
“Those birds.” She pointed up at the sky, and glanced back at him. “Do they seem too big to you?”
“Are they ravens?” Daniel asked.
When Harper looked back, the sky had filled with a small flock of black birds. The three birds that she thought she’d seen before had either flown away or gotten lost in the flock. Either way, she couldn’t see them anymore.
“Never mind.” She shook her head. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
“That does sound like you.” He smiled at her, then took her hand in his. “Come on. Let’s go find a place to sit before there aren’t any more places.”
As Daniel led her away, weaving through the crowd toward the beach, Harper tried to still the butterflies in her stomach. She’d held hands with guys before, and this wasn’t even the first time Daniel had taken her hand.
But something about this felt different. It was knowing that this meant something more. He linked his fingers through hers, and her heart nearly skipped a beat. She felt like a silly little girl again, but she couldn’t help it.
She was too busy thinking about how rough his skin felt against hers to pay attention to where she was going, and she nearly tripped over someone sitting on a blanket. To squeeze by the people, she had to walk among a few cypress trees, letting her free hand run along the bark of a tree as she walked by.
“Be careful,” Daniel said, apparently assuming that she was using the trees to steady herself. “That’s why I got you the glow bracelet. So you can see where you’re going.”
“Glow bracelets don’t give off as much light as you’d think. They’re more decorative than functional.”
“Ah, I understand now,” Daniel said, taking her wrist in his hand. “That makes so much sense.”
She turned to smile up at him, leaning back against the tree behind her, and he let go of her wrist. She thought they’d start walking away, but he moved closer to her. One of his hands was on the tree trunk next to her, the other rested warmly on her waist.
A strange smile played on his lips, and he shook his head.
“What?” Harper asked.
“I just wish you weren’t so beautiful,” he replied simply.
She laughed. “That’s a strange thing to wish.”
“Well, it’s true.”
“And why is that?” she asked. She could feel him leaning down to her, his body pressing against her.
“Because I didn’t want it to happen like this. Or at least not here, like this, with people swarming around us, against a tree,” Daniel said. “But you look so, so beautiful, and I just can’t resist.”
“You didn’t want what to happen like this?” Harper asked softly, but she already knew.
His lips were nearly touching hers when he said, “The first time I kissed you.”
Then he was kissing her, and everything else went silent. Harper put her arms around his neck, pulling him to her, and he kissed her deeply, pushing her against the tree behind her. Daniel had a bit of stubble, and it scraped against her skin as he kissed, but she loved the way it felt.
It ended far too quickly, with Daniel pulling away, while Harper leaned against the tree, struggling to catch her breath. It was probably for the best, since there were people everywhere, and she didn’t want to make out in front of everybody.
But she was still sad when it was over. Nobody had ever kissed her like that before, and she actually felt weak in the knees. She’d always just assumed that was a figure of speech, but Daniel made her feel that way.
“Should we head down to the beach?” Daniel asked.
“Uh, yeah.” She smiled and nodded.
He took her hand again. She stayed close to him, but this time it was because she was afraid she might fall. She hung on to his arm, and he made a joke that she couldn’t really hear over the music, but she laughed anyway.
“Is here good?” Daniel asked.
They were at the top of the beach, right where the grass turned into sand. It appeared to be one of the few places where they could sit without being right on top of someone else.