RP: By the beautiful sea

[rar_terry]

Date: 2 August 1999
Characters: Terry Boot, Lisa Turpin
Location: Clevedon, Somerset (Muggle Britain)
Status: Private
Summary: Terry takes Lisa to his favourite beach for an early-evening date.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[rar_lisa]

Lisa was so excited about tonight's date that her stomach had been in knots all afternoon. Not only was it their first real date since he'd kissed her at Harry and Neville's party, but Terry was taking her to a beach he'd frequented most of his life. She loved the beach, and had spent a lot of time during her summers at the beach in Redcar, near her home town of Thornaby-on-Tees. There was nothing better than a morning run on the beach. If they had a good time tonight--and she had no doubt they would--then she'd have to take Terry to see it sometime.

She had laughed and rolled her eyes a bit as he cautioned her to shrink down her beach items so that no one at work would notice. It was more likely that Hardy would pick up on her especially bright smile than it was that he'd ask why she had an extra bag; the smile was something she couldn't hide. Still, it was easier to shrink it all anyway, and so everything was neatly tucked away. The last few minutes of the day were torture, as was the time it took them to leave the Ministry.

And then Terry pulled her in for a kiss, and all the waiting hardly seemed to matter. She slid her arms loosely around his neck, smiling against his lips. "Well, that was worth waiting for."

[rar_terry]

Terry smiled back against Lisa's lips, then pulled away slightly. "Believe me, I could barely wait. Didn't think I'd make it through the last half-hour. I kept expecting Sibley to hand me a report to work on 'right now'." He breathed out a heavy sigh. "Thank Merlin she seemed as ready for the weekend as we are."

Letting Lisa go, he grabbed her hand. "It's just barely five now, and the sun won't set until almost nine. Lots of time for a picnic and a swim and a walk along the beach, yeah? We can go whenever you're ready. There are changing tents at the beach."

[rar_lisa]

"Absolute torture," Lisa agreed, leaning in to brush her lips against his one more time. "I had my hexes already planned out, just in case Hardy tried to convince me to file his case reports for him. Mine were already done by then, of course."

Readjusting her bag on her shoulder as they stepped apart, she slipped her hand into his, still grinning. "Are you barmy? I've been ready all day. It's been ages since I've been to the beach. Well, unless you count Beck's wedding, but it was way too bloody cold to actually enjoy in December."

[rar_terry]

"Good thing you were done," said Terry, feeling tingly as Lisa's lips brushed his. "Good thing neither of us is on call tonight." Terry hadn't planned it that way, but he was happy about it just the same.

"Dunno about that beach, but I can tell you that Clevedon's not a place you'd want to go swimming in December." The town was located among seven hills nestled on the south shore of the River Severn estuary, at the northeast end of Bristol Channel. "Fortunately for us, it's August 2nd, so the water should still be good for swimming." Squeezing Lisa's hand, he Apparated them to an alley behind a small hotel fronting the beach.

"It's a little walk yet to the beach," he explained. "I reckon there might be a crowd there on a hot evening like this. Seemed better to Apparate somewhere out of the way and then walk."

[rar_lisa]

"Believe me, neither is Redcar. I confess I surreptitiously cast a tiny little warming charm on the wedding party before we went out to the beach. Just enough to keep us from freezing our arses off, but I swear I was still cold. I blame the bloody dress." She grinned over at him. "This is the best month for swimming. I'll have to take you up to my beach sometime before it starts cooling off again."

Terry apparated them to an area a little way from the beach, but Lisa definitely didn't mind a walk. It was a gorgeous night, and even as much as she loved the beach, she liked being there with Terry more. "So this was a family thing, yeah?" she asked as they walked. "Coming here, I mean. We went a lot together when I was little, but later on it was just me and Beck and Dan, maybe some other blokes from the neighbourhood."

[rar_terry]

Redcar, apparently, was the beach near Lisa's hometown. Terry had never been to Lisa's house; none of their little group had, though Terry and his parents had once run into Lisa and her parents in Diagon Alley, before fourth year. Still, he wondered what Redcar beach was like. "I'll hold you to that. Maybe I can convince you to wear that dress again sometime?"

"Yeah, coming to Clevedon was a family thing," he explained. "Been coming here since I was ... well, I can't remember when we started. I must have been a baby. I remember coming here when I was about four, so Kate would have been 12 by then and already in Hogwarts or just about to start. I reckon we came two or three times every summer until right before sixth year. Haven't been here since then."

They made their way along the beachfront road until they reached the changing area near the pier. Terry counted four canvas tents, one each for women, girls, men and boys, where people could change in and out of their swimsuits. Clevedon's beach tended toward rocky, rather than sandy, so the hundred or so bathers sat on beach chairs, instead of sitting or lying on towels on the ground. "See you in a few minutes," he said, pointing toward the women's changing tent.

[rar_lisa]

"I know Beck and Colleen still go all the time. She's from right around there, so I'm pretty sure she knows some people who live on the beach. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to arrange an outing." Now she thought about it, getting a few friends together and heading to Redcar sounded like a great idea. Like old times. She'd have to mention it to Beck next time she saw him. Then she made a face. "Not on your life. It was this hideous, fluffy thing."

Lisa nodded as he talked about his family's trip to the beach. "Sounds about like us, except Mum stopped coming once she thought Beck was a responsible enough chaperone. I guess lugging half a dozen teenagers to the beach every other weekend wasn't her idea of fun any more." She laughed lightly.

They reached the beach, and Lisa could see that this was a little different than what she was used to, more rock than sand. Probably not good for running barefoot, but then she wasn't exactly here for running. But the water looked the same, and that was just as good as being on the shore. "Okay. Be out in a minute."

Popping into the changing tent, Lisa removed her shrunken beach items and set them right again. She hadn't worn a swimsuit in a couple of years, though she was glad she'd still had her old one tucked away. She realised belatedly that her scars would be visible, but found it hard to care. If anyone asked, she could always make up some nonsense about a bad car wreck. She transfigured her beach bag into a small pouch just long enough to hold her wand, then shrunk everything else to fit into it.

She stepped back out, towel slung over one shoulder, and looked around for Terry.

[rar_terry]

While Lisa was in the women's changing tent, Terry went into the men's. He'd brought only swim trunks and a towel, so he didn't have much changing to do. When he'd got out of his clothes and changed into his swim trunks, he wondered what to do about his wand. He wasn't about to leave it in his work bag next to some random beach chair. When the two other blokes in the changing tent had left, Terry shrank most of his clothes, transfigured his shirt into a long pouch, and stuck his wand and the shrunken items inside it. He hoped he'd have no use for his wand until he and Lisa got out of the water to dry off. Later on, in the changing tent, he could use a drying charm to dry out his shirt.

Stepping out of the tent, he saw Lisa standing there...in a bikini. His mouth went a bit dry.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said with a grin, trying not to leer.

[rar_lisa]

Lisa turned to see Terry in his swim trunks. "Hey, back," she said, grinning as she walked up to him. She rested one hand lightly at his waist and wondered for the first time in her life at exactly how strange it was to be socially acceptable to wander around in so little clothing. She wasn't complaining, certainly, but it was a bit odd to think it. "Looking pretty good yourself, Boot."

Merlin, was she blushing? "So where to now?"

[rar_terry]

"I reckon you look a lot better than I do, but thanks," he said. "I'm not too proud to accept a compliment."

"Well, you want to swim first or have something to eat?" he asked. "'m not really hungry yet, and there are some food vendors down the beach. Nothing really filling but it'll keep us from starving."

[rar_lisa]

She leaned in and kissed his cheek, feeling very tingly even as she teased, "It couldn't have anything to do with me being practically starkers, could it?"

"Swim first, I think. Then we can dry off as we eat." Lisa slung the long strap of her bag over one shoulder so that it rested against the opposite hip, then moved her hand from his waist to slip it into his hand. "Besides, I'm not hungry yet either. Had lunch with Lee at Merlin's Garden, and I think they gave me about a triple helping of Yorkshire pudding. Not as good as that--" She glanced around to be sure no one was in immediate hearing distance. "--Muggle place we went on my birthday, but not bad."

The beach wasn't at all what she was used to, but it was wonderful all the same. With her free hand, she pointed to the pier as they walked. "I bet everything looks gorgeous from up there, especially at sunset."

[rar_terry]

"Bugger, you've caught me out," he said. "'S nice, though, that there's a place where you can go almost starkers and I can admire you without seeming too much of a perv."

Lisa's day sounded twice as busy as his own. "How's Mr Jordan? Okay, let's swim first." She was pointing up toward the pier. "We'll have to wade out from the shore; there's no swimming access on the pier, unfortunately, though it really is pretty at sunset."

[rar_lisa]

Lisa just laughed. The idea of Terry admiring her like that was funny because it was so unbelievable in many ways. But she wouldn't be complaining, either about that or getting to do a bit of admiring of her own. Maybe even a bit more than admiring; it had been far too long, she thought. Even if he wasn't up for anything right now, she wasn't going to put herself off thinking about it.

"Lee's fine. Busy, but aren't we all?" Walking on the beach was a little strange at first, but after a minute or so she got used to the feel of the rocks under her feet. There were some nice sandy spots mixed in, and she took every opportunity she could to dig her toes into it. "It was just nice to chat with him at a time I didn't need cheering. We have this strange habit of running into one another when I'm having a bad day. Or a bad moment, at least."

"This looks like a nice spot," Lisa said when they'd reached an area that wasn't terrible crowded. Pulling lightly on his hand, she moved toward the water until it barely covered her feet, smiling. "Here's hoping I remember how to swim," she joked. It had been a long time, but she didn't think that was really the sort of thing one could forget.

[rar_terry]

"Good to hear that about Lee, he's a good bloke." Terry wondered about Lisa and Lee's previous encounters but, as he'd been the cause of at least some of those bad days, decided not to ask.

They made their way carefully between rocks, finding as much sand as they could, until they were finally walking in the surf. "I haven't gone swimming in a couple of years," he admitted. "So you might have to rescue me, yeah?"

[rar_lisa]

"I'm not even going to touch the mouth-to-mouth joke that is the inevitable response to that statement. It's far too easy," Lisa said, laughing. "Besides, I'm sure you'll do fine. At least, you better. I've not been since that last summer at home, so if one of us goes down, I'm sure the other's going, too." She shook her head, still chuckling.

"I'm glad you thought of this," she said, tugging him a farther into the water. When they were deep enough to float but still be able to touch the bottom if they wanted, Lisa paused, wanting to get used to the feel of the ocean again. "It's not something I'd missed enough to really think about all the time, but I do love spending time in the water." Lisa let go of his hand so that she could tread water a bit, grinning at him. "And well, I guess it's nice that you're here, too."

[rar_terry]

"Mouth-to-mouth joke?" Faking shock, Terry placed a hand over his heart. "If there's anyone I'd want pumping her air into my lungs, it would be you, love. Besides, if one of us goes down, it's the other's duty to try to make a rescue. We'll just have to remember to do it the Muggle way and not with a spell."

"'m glad I thought of it too," he said, keeping an eye on Lisa as they ventured, hand in hand, far enough out so they could get their sea legs without worrying about where the bottom was. "I like being in the water too, even if I'm not the strongest swimmer in the world. 'S just a good way to relax and cool off, yeah?" Not to mention a socially acceptable way to see Lisa Turpin with wet skin.