Pebbles on the Beach (Riley)

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Riley and Kinsey were in Brighton. Brighton! She could hardly believe that they were finally here together. After missing him while he was gone on his family trip for weeks, Kinsey was so excited at the opportunity to spend some alone time with her boyfriend. She'd missed Riley and was looking forward to whatever he had planned. This was her first time in Brighton and she was excited to see the sights and go to the beach. 

It was the first thing on their agenda for the morning, going for a walk on the beach. Riley told her that last night before he dropped her off at her room. She could hardly sleep, she was so excited. She was in a new place, somewhere she knew Riley loved, and couldn't wait for him to show her around. She woke up as the sun rose, playing with her hair and trying to look especially nice. Even if Riley always thought she looked pretty- like he constantly said- she wanted to feel like she was cute today. Once she was ready, Kinsey sort of bounced around the room, waiting to hear him knock on her door. She picked up a book that she brought, then set it down on the nightstand. She looked out the window, smiling at the beautiful view, and then bean pacing around the room. She wasn't nervous, just ready to get going. 

@riley

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Riley grew up going to Brighton, England. His mom likes the simplicity of the muggle town. They spent a lot of time traveling, this parents always thought it was important for them to see the world and get properly acquainted with other cultures. But no matter where they traveled, they almost always ended up back at Brighton Beach. They would stay in a penthouse overlooking the ocean, but would rarely leave it. Riley wasn’t sure why they went to such amazing places just to stay in the room, but he was grateful that they got to go.

Being here now, in a place that he loved, with Kinsey, was amazing. Getting to go out and explore the lanes of the village and walk along the beach as they had done last night was incredible. And now they were going to go walk on the beach this morning before he took her to breakfast at one of the cute little cafes nearby. They were here for a few days and had time to do everything he planned, but also time to just be there without having to do something scheduled. He wanted to just spend time with her. Being home for the summer had been hard this far, and he missed her. He walked out of his own room and down the hall to hers, knocking on the door when he got there.

@kinsey

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Kinsey was smoothing out the blankets on her bed to keep herself from pacing when she heard a knock on the door. She squeaked as she jumped up, messing up the bed slightly, but she didn't care about that. She rushed over to the door and opened it, grinning when she saw Riley on the other side of the door. "Riley! Hi, good morning," she said, standing on the tips of her toes to kiss him on the cheek. She blushed a little, feeling surprised by that. Apparently she was going to have to get used to being around him again. Kinsey knew he loved her, but they'd been apart so much this summer that it made her just a little hesitant. She smiled up at him, "Are you ready to go?" Kinsey checked to make sure she had the room key in her pocket and then stepped further into the hallway, closing the door behind herself. She was just excited to spend the day with him here!

@riley

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Riley thought he heard a bit of a ruckus in her room before she came to the door, but he didn’t question it, instead, he just let a small smile creep onto his lips. He stood there as she opened the door, wearing a crisp button up shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He wasn’t trying to look nice or anything, but he wanted to look a little better than casual. He would be lying if he had said that he wasn’t trying to impress her a little bit. “Good morning.” he said as she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He loved that. It was the sweetest thing and she looked so cute doing it. “You look lovely this morning.” he told her, genuinely. “Yes, I am. Are you? I’m taking you to breakfast but I figured we’d walk along the beach a little first.” he explained again, even though he was pretty sure he already told her last night what the plan for today was.

@kinsey

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He was smiling at her when she walked out of the room, greeting her and telling her she looked pretty. Kinsey smiled back at him, "Thank you. You look really nice too." Of course he did. Riley always looked nice. Kinsey wasn't sure if he was dressing nice for her or if that was just the way he was raised. Maybe it was a bit of both? Honestly though, it didn't matter. She loved how Riley dressed and she enjoyed spending her time with him. She nodded and answered him in a singsong voice. "All ready!" She stepped a little closer to him, reaching for his hand and nodding as he continued talking about the plan for the morning. "Sounds great to me, Riley," she told him honestly. "Are we walking everywhere today?" she asked, starting to walk down the hallways with him. As long as she was with Riley, she didn't care what they did or how. She just wanted to be with him. 

@riley

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He took her hand and smiled down at her as they walked out of the hotel. It was a nice hotel, right across a small street from the beach. It was a nice day, but a little breezy as they stepped out into the English morning air. He put his arm around her to keep her warm as he lead her across the street and onto the stone beach. “Yeah i figured we’d walk so we can be on our own.” he explained to her, hoping that it made sense. “Though I’m happy to call us a car if you get tired.” he added, really meaning it, of course. He wanted to do anything and everything to keep her comfortable at all times. When they got a bit further down the beach, closer to the water, he stopped. “So what do you think?” he asked, looking around. The pier loomed in the distance, sporting the famous sign. The ferris wheel and other carnival activities were booming already this morning in the other direction. The colorful shacks lined behind them, and the benches sat periodically along the rocks.

@kinsey

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As they left the hotel, Kinsey looked around herself with interest. They arrived late yesterday afternoon and spent a little bit of time walking the streets and on the beach of the town, but it was different seeing everything so early in the morning, with the sun rising instead of setting. She was looking from side to side so enthusiastically that she hardly noticed the slight chill as they walked outside, until she felt Riley's arm wrap around her. Kinsey looked up at him and smiled. "Everything here is so pretty," she told him, going back to looking around. 

Riley told her that he was planning on them walking so they could be alone and she nodded, liking the idea. She wanted to be alone with Riley, wanted to enjoy the whole weekend with him without worrying about what anyone around thought of them. She shook her head, "No, I like the idea of walking around with you. Getting the real experience." Kinsey didn't think she'd get tired. Not when she got to spend the entire day with her boyfriend without other people interrupting them and such. 

The next thing she knew he was asking what she thought and Kinsey grinned. "I love it! It's so pretty here, and peaceful." She looked up ahead at the carnival, which seemed to already be in full swing. "Is this somewhere muggles go to have fun or to relax?" Kinsey asked curiously, looking up at him. Then she glanced to the waterfront. "Can we go closer to the water?" she asked, nodding in the direction where she was looking.

@riley

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Their conversation up until they got to the beach was lovely, but what he was looking the most forward to was what she thought of the beach during the day time. The night had been nice, but now she could see all the colors, which shone under the light from the only partly cloudy sky. She said she loved it and then asked about the carnival. He shrugged, “I don’t know, i’ve never been.” he admitted. “It’s open almost all year round though, I think.” he explained. It wasn’t exactly something on his mums list of approved holiday activities. Nothing really which involved associating with muggles was. They’d go to nice restaurants, and out to shop, but that was mostly because, as the customer, they were superior to the muggles waiting on them. They didn’t do many activities. “We can check it out though later, if you want.” he told her. She asked to go closer to the water and he nodded, “of course, though I don’t think you’d want to go in.” he said with a laugh. England wasn’t the place where you wanted to go into the ocean, at least not without a wetsuit to keep you warm. They walked down closer to the line where the waves cressed on the stones.

@kinsey

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Kinsey was a little surprised when Riley said that he'd never been to the carnival. Didn't he come here all the time with his family ... oh. Yeah, that definitely made sense. She remembered a conversation from the night when they really became acquainted with one another, where he told her that his parents were "real" purebloods. Of course they wouldn't want to go to a place where mostly muggles were. So she just nodded. "That could be a fun thing if we have time," Kinsey commented. She didn't know exactly what Riley had planned for the weekend, so she didn't want to make him do something that would ruin his plans. "What do you normally do here?" she asked curiously. He told her that he loved it here, but he never really explained what he did with his family here. 

Riley laughed, agreeing to take her to the water's edge, but telling her she shouldn't get in. She rolled her eyes, "I don't want to go in, I just want to see the pebbles in the water too." She smiled up at him. "It's so beautiful here!" Really, she loved the sight of the rocks and the skyline and the water. It was beautiful. Kinsey would probably be perfectly content spending her whole day here, but she wouldn't ruin Riley's plans for them. "Ooooh, look! The wet ones are even prettier!" She pulled away from him a little, squirming out from under his arm and taking his hand instead. "Do you see that one?" Kinsey asked, pointing to a specific rock and grinning. She loved this! 

A sudden idea hit her and she turned to her boyfriend, "Have you ever skipped rocks before Riley?" Kinsey quirked her head to the side, waiting for his answer. She felt the sudden urge to pick up a pebble and skip it across the gentle waves of the ocean. It could be fun, if Riley was game. 

@riley

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Riley nodded when Kinsey said it would be fun if they had time. He was sure that they could make time for whatever they wanted to do, but he wanted to make sure that they were doing things that she wanted to do. He wanted this trip to be fun for her, just being here with her was all he wanted to be doing. “We usually just shop around a bit and go out to eat. Mostly we stay in the apartment or keep to ourselves.” he explained. His parents would rent a whole penthouse suite for them when they were in town. They didn’t stay at a hotel with muggles. While muggles lived in the same building, they never had to see them.

Kinsey kept saying that he thought it was so beautiful here and he couldn’t agree more. It was fantastic to be here. He watched as she looked down at the water, drinking in the sight of her on the beach in one of his favorite places. It was so easy to be here with her, it almost didn’t feel real. It almost felt like a dream. Life was too good to be true. He had gone to the alps over the summer holidays, he had gone skiing and saw some incredible views, but this was the happiest he had been in weeks. This was the highlight of his summer. “Yes i see it.” he told her with a small laugh. “No I haven’t. Have you?” he asked, cocking his head to her a bit, wondering what she was going to do next.

@kinsey

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Kinsey's eyes widened when she heard Riley explain what he and his family did. She'd never really taken a big vacation anywhere with her family, but shopping, eating and staying in the apartment didn't sound like a lot of fun to her. Still, she didn't want to say anything that could upset Riley or offend him. She wasn't judging his family ... well, not a lot. She smiled, "Well maybe we could figure out some things to do here that you've never done! That way both of us are experiencing something new?" Like the carnival, or something else, if she could think of it. "Any ideas? Is there anything here that you've seen, but never had the chance to do?" Kinsey asked curiously. She loved the idea of experiencing something new for him with him. He saw her doing new things all the time, it would be nice to put the shoe on the other foot. 

Riley laughed at her enthusiasm and Kinsey really wasn't surprised. With them alone here, she didn't feel like she needed to hold anything back. She could be as excited as she wanted and no one would care. Besides that, she was pretty sure that her excitement was a good thing for Riley. He liked seeing her happy, she knew. When she said he hadn't skipped rocks before, Kinsey let her jaw drop dramatically, staring at him in exaggerated surprise. "You've never skipped rocks? What kind of high-society person are you? It's a sport for the most wealthy," she teased. She was fairly certain she'd seen Edmund Windsor skipping rocks semi-frequently at Hogwarts at least. He counted as high-society since he was a prince, right? Kinsey shrugged a shoulder, "You want me to teach you?" she asked, excited at the idea and hoping he would say yes. 

@riley

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She suggested that they figure out something to do that he had never done. He thought for a moment, what had he never done but he wanted to? “There’s a cinema in town. I’ve never been to the cinema.” he admitted. They had eaten once at the place across the street from it and he saw people staggering out with huge buckets of popcorn and laughing their heads off. He had asked if they could go but his mother refused to let them. Getting a muggle DVD player in their home was the closest he had ever come. “Oh yes, I’m sure it is.” he teased her back when she teased him about never having skipped rocks before. “Yes, I’d love that.” he admitted, bending down to pick up a rock from the sea line. “Do i just throw it?” he asked, literally throwing it into the ocean and watching it sink. “Guess not…” he laughed.

@kinsey

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Kinsey watched, interested at the thoughtful look she saw on his face when she asked to know something he'd never done that he wanted to try. He mentioned the cinema and Kinsey nodded. "Yes! That would definitely be fun!" She couldn't believe he'd never been to the cinema before, but Kinsey wasn't about to tease him for it. That was probably another something his parents didn't want them to do because there were too many muggles there. This trip was really widening her eyes to the kinds of things Riley never tried before. It was interesting. Besides that, she was now very excited to see his reaction to the huge screen and the loud sound. It would be fun going with him for sure. 

She fake glared at him when he teased her right back about it being a high-society activity. "It is! Haven't you seen the Windsor's at it? They do it all the time at the Black Lake," she told him. She wasn't certain if Riley actually considered they Windsor's high-society, since they were muggleborns, but at the same time they were royalty. Didn't that count for something? Kinsey's glare softened quickly into a smile, and then a laugh when Riley picked up a random rock and threw it in before waiting for her to answer. "There is actually an art to it," she told him, looking at the rocks and bending down to get a good one. "You want one that's flat and looks like this," she said, gesturing for him to find a rock that fit her qualifications. She'd show him how to throw it once he found one. 

@riley

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Kinsey got excited at his idea to go see a movie. He was sure that it was something that she had done before, and probably wasn’t a big deal at all to her, but he knew that she knew that it was a bigger deal to him, and he appreciated her enthusiasm. “Okay, we’ll see if we can’t make that happen then.” he smiled back at her. She brought up that the Windsors skipped rocks all of the time at the black lake back at school and he gave a nod. He hadn’t seen them do it, but it didn’t really change what he thought about it in his mind. He didn’t know any of them well, despite one of them being in his year and another having been in his house just a year ahead of him. “Good for them.” he said easily. She tried not to laugh at his attempt and then explained that there was an art to it and he needed to find a rock like hers. He bent down and searched for one, when he finally found it he stood again. “So, show me this art.” he teased.

@kinsey

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Riley's smile made it obvious to Kinsey that while he wasn't being as openly enthusiastic about going to the cinema, he was excited. He was a lot better at containing his emotions and making himself look all proper than she was. When she got excited about something, she had the tendency to let her energy about it spill out. At least Riley didn't seem to mind that. She nodded enthusiastically when he commented that he'd try to make it happen. "It'll be fun!" Kinsey answered easily. She wasn't entirely sure if Riley would enjoy it as much as she did, but she didn't care. It was just one more thing they could do together. 

She rolled her eyes, but didn't comment at his short reply about the Windsors. Obviously he didn't care that they skipped rocks, but that was fine. She didn't need to argue the point forever. She watched eagerly as Riley searched for his own rock and then nodded when he picked one up. He just happened to grab one she'd been eyeing for a few seconds, so she was pretty sure it was a good choice. "Okay," she started, ignoring his teasing. "Skipping rocks is all about flicking your wrist the right way. You don't want to just throw them. You want to make them spin as they hit the top of the water. That's what makes them jump. I do it like this." She showed Riley how without releasing her rock, emphasizing how she flicked her wrist before doing it for real. It was a good skip. Her rock skimmed the surface of the water four times before sinking. She turned to Riley, beaming. "You ready to try it now?" Kinsey asked, a bit of a challenge in her tone.

@riley