I had made my way to the beach, Lory had not shown up yet, I arrived earlier than we had agreed upon. I looked at the shipwreck in the ocean. In the warm shallows of a mild sea lies the wreck of the Moselle, a ship without any known records dating back hundreds of years ago. She has stood the test of time quite well, although damage at the hands of the sea starts to appear more and more. She belongs to the salty waters now, and they’re far from kind, but she’s in the company of various aquatic beings who see her as their home.
They’re usually out in the open and are regularly spotted. They’ve given her a new purpose without even meaning to, which adds a certain beauty to her fate. The Moselle doesn’t make for the prettiest of sights from a distance, she seems more like a scar on the otherwise pristine, sandy floors. She has fallen over on one side and not much remained of the little details that once made her stand out. A wide range of possessions and many crates are scattered across the floor and half buried under sand. Nothing’s inside those that have broken open. No bones or other human remains can be found, but it unfortunately doesn’t mean they made it out alive.
This is the place where I met Lory, she just, fell out of the sky, into the ocean. I jumped in and dragged her out. Since then, we have been coming back here quite often. Two hands appeared before my eyes. “Hello darling.”
I turned around and looked at Lory, she was wearing a beach dress with a flower pattern. “You look good today.”
She smiled as she tilted her head, “Only for you.”
I stepped out of my shoes and Lory handed me a bag to put them in, along with my socks. “What would you do without me?”
I laughed, “I would probably get sand in my socks and shoes.”
Lory put her sandals in the bag too. Of course, I had to carry it, but I did not mind. We walked towards the sea hand in hand and we enjoyed the breeze.
As we walked with our feet through the water, I saw Lory wiggle her tail a little. It meant she was enjoying herself. She removed her dress to reveal her bikini. She gave me the dress along with a kiss. Then she jumped into the ocean. It made me happy to see her just enjoy herself. As she swam, I walked along with her. There were some other people walking on the beach as well. Most of them had a significant other, or a dog.
Lory did not mind dogs at all, they steered clear from her. Lory did not like pets at all. It might be because she is part wolf, at least she told me that. Lory came back on shore and shook the water off her. She ran over to me, “The weather is nice today.”
“Yeah, we have a warm sun.” We walked over some rocks and came onto a different part of the beach. People always looked strange at Lory, we both did not bother with it anymore.
“Lory?”
“Yes?”
“I want to ask you something,” I walked out of the shallow water and onto the beach.
She followed me, “Yes?”
I cleared my throat, I was nervous as fuck. I went down on one knee and pulled out the ring I had bought. “Lorraine Moon, we have been together for a few years now, and to be honest, my life has never been better. We take care of each other, and whatever I do, you support. If you fall, I catch you, and vice versa. I love you with my whole heart. Will you, marry me?”
Lory looked at me, she had a massive grin from ear to ear. Her tail started to wiggle, that must be a good sign. “Yes Steve, I want to marry you, you know that I would like to stay with you forever, I love you.”
I put the ring around her finger, and pulled out the other ring, and she put it on my finger. They are both a perfect fit, thank god I got that right. It would have been horrible if I had screwed that up.
Lory helped me up, and then she screamed in joy, and boy, she could scream loud. She jumped in my arms, I kissed her. “I think we have a wedding to plan. I have already put some money aside.”
Lory nodded, “Is this why you wanted to go to the beach?”
“Yes, it is, as well, that I just like being around you. Do you like the jade?”
She looked at her ring, “It is beautiful. What is the plan for the rest of the day?”
“We can enjoy the beach for a while, afterward we can go to our favorite restaurant.”
Lory gasped, “The spaghetti tiger!?”
“Yes, we are going to eat spaghetti. Why don’t I make sure there is a place tonight?” I pulled out my smartphone, while I started putting in the number, I saw Lory jump back into the ocean again. Filled with joy, I pushed the call button. After a few seconds, I had someone on the line.
“Hello, this is Johnny from the spaghetti tiger.”
“Hello there, this is Steve, is there a place tonight for two? By the window if possible.”
“Please hold while I check, sir.”
“Alright, take your time.”
After a few minutes, Johnny answered, “There is room for two near the window at four PM.”
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“Yes, that is perfect, put it under the name Steve Rockwell.”
“Alright, your reservation is placed, see you later.”
“Bye Johnny.” As he hung up, I put my smartphone in my pocket and looked at Lory. I gave her two thumbs up.
She swam my way and walked onto shore, “How late is our reservation.”
“It’s at 4 PM. That means we still have some time to kill, it is barely 1 PM. I thought, if we head to the town in an hour, we can visit the game store and check out the latest released games.”
Lory hugged me and I got water all over my clothes, again. Not that I mind.
We enjoyed our time at the beach, talking about what we wanted our wedding to be like. Lory had dried herself by using the sun, and she put her dress back on. We made our way to the car. As I pulled the keys out of my pocket, I looked at Lory, “Who drives?”
She smiled, “You can drive today.”
“Alright.” We made our way to the town, I parked our car in the parking garage near the shopping street. We made our way through the busy street to find the game store called the Fortune Entertainment. It had video games, board games, even card games, oh, and those trading card games. Lory loved role-playing games. Yesterday a new game came out, it ran on the new Mania engine. It is called Moon Fantasy. Something about a wolf girl stranding in a different reality and having to fight monsters to save the world, it promised sixty hours of gameplay for the main story. It did not surprise me that Lory wanted this game badly.
As we walked inside, we immediately saw a statue of the new game, it is of the main character. Lory ran over to the shelf and grabbed the game to read the summary on the back of the cover. I walked over and grabbed my wallet, “Take it.”
She looked at me, “What? Seriously? We are short on cash.”
I smiled, “Who the fuck cares, I just want you to be happy. If this game makes you happy, then we are getting it.”
Lory hugged me, “Thank you.” We looked around some more, Lory did not let the game go, she must be afraid that someone else would take it. It is not like there are a dozen more on the shelf. However, the people who came in all went straight for that game. After looking around for a while, we made our way to the cashier.
Lory slid the game on the counter, “Just this one, please.” The cashier is a young man, I would be surprised if he could grow a beard.
The cashier looked at Lory, “Oh awesome, you dressed up for this game.”
I sighed, “Mate, those ears, and her tail are real.”
The cashier turned as red as a tomato. “Oh, sorry, really?”
Lory nodded, “Yes, genetic defect.”
“I am so sorry, madam, I did not mean anything bad by it. You look pretty.”
I chuckled, “It is alright mate, No harm done, right Lory?”
“No, not at all.”
The cashier let out a sigh of relief. I paid for the game, seventy dollars. I just hope Lory is going for all the side quests, that would crank those sixty hours up to at least one-hundred. We walked away, and I looked back to see the cashier stare at Lory. I shook my head and took Lory’s hand. As we left the store, Lory started giggling, “It is always fun to see people react shocked.”
“Yeah, I am just glad you don’t feel insulted fast. It is about time to head to the spaghetti tiger. Shall we?” Lory nodded.
We quickly made our way to the restaurant. From the outside, it looks inviting, pleasant, and enchanting. Clay and marble stones make up most of the building’s outer structure. It’s tough to see through the curtained windows, but the warm noises from within can be felt outside. As we entered through the automatic door, we got met by a receptionist. She looked up our reservation, and we got led to a table near the window. The restaurant itself is packed. Locals seem to be the primary clientele here, which often leads to exciting evenings. Several long tables are occupied by a few smaller groups of people.
The other, tables are also occupied by people who seem to be close with the owner, though they happily welcome others among their midst. This place is always filled with many people early in the evening, or well, actually it is not evening yet.
As Lory and I sat down, we could see the shopping street from this window. We got a menu. We both already knew what we wanted. Lory smiled, “I am glad we could still get a place, there are many people.”
“Yeah, I think we got lucky.” Once the waiter came by, we ordered our spaghetti tiger, along with some water. “Lory?”
“Yes?”
“We have talked about it a lot, are you interested in having a baby, once we are married?”
“Of course, I am, I wonder if it will have the same traits, if you know what I mean, I hope that is not a problem for you.”
“No, not at all, I love your genetics. Even if people stare a bit.”
Lory looked around, “A bit?”
We both laughed. Soon a big plate got served, spaghetti with meatballs, in the form of a tiger. Lory and I both attacked the spaghetti. We ended up grabbing the same spaghetti string and, well, you all know where this is going. A cliché kiss when we both reached the end of our spaghetti line. Lory tilted her head, which also tilted my head. Lory backed off and chuckled, “That was also our first kiss, do you remember?”
“Yes, I remember it clearly, the shock and blush on your face was astonishing.”