Chapter 143: First Official Date
** Eli **
Eli had a destination in mind. A perfect place for just the two of them to enjoy their time together and forget about all the unromantic hassles of the evening before. But as they cruised the coastline, winding through the postcard-perfect landscape that had Harper gasp in wonder at every turn, he wished that their destination was farther away. He could spend a lifetime watching her in high spirits like this, eyes gleaming and full of interesting chatters:
"That must be the fiftieth chicken I’ve seen in five minutes. Are chickens the state bird of Hawaii or something? For how many of them there are, I’m surprised I didn’t wake up to one calling outside my window in the morning!"
"Wait, is that a pineapple field? That’s what a pineapple plant looks like? How could such a huge fruit just sit like that on top of such skinny leaves? How does it even balance?"
Eli laughed the entire way at the unconventional wisdom behind all those curious questions. He told her in turn about the Hawaiian state bird Nene, among various other colorful ducks and songbirds that he saw the last time he visited a different island. He also told her about the overrated and tourist-trappy pineapple whip at a particular famous plantation. Upon hearing that judgment, Harper protested skeptically, insisting that he’d need to demonstrate the standard for true quality ice cream by getting her some that didn’t count as tourist-trappy.
He shot her a sharp glance and made her promise that she’d eat it like a good girl, without putting on the kind of show she did at the amusement park and at the book fest. Which resulted in Harper giggling for the whole duration of eating a Hawaiian shaved ice, all the while throwing him foxish looks that actually turned out even more effective than the licking show.
He loved it though. Her teases, her jokes, her bright laughters that danced in the wind along with her wild hair, he loved it all. They awakened so many memories both old and new, all of which were beautiful.
To take her on this trip was probably the best decision he had made in months.
As they continued detouring along every small road following the shore — something that Eli did on purpose to lengthen this precious drive — the sun had begun accelerating its descent toward the horizon. The blue sky and white clouds from when they started had slowly changed, turning into a golden canvas stroked through with wispy patches of pink. The warm light gave the verdant landscape in front of them a slightly different hue, tinting the emerald mountains a lighter shade of lime green, and when they rounded a big bend in the road to emerge on the west side of a valley, Harper gasped.
"Wow, this looks just like Jurassic Park!" Her voice was pure awe and delight. "Those mountain ridges really look sharp as knives. The movies didn’t exaggerate at all! If only there’s a waterfall too ..."