I was sitting outside the house, on the small wall, facing the beautiful sea spreading in front of my eyes, stroking the shore with its waves. I was making my legs bounce, as they were not touching any kind of ground. I was smiling widely, and my eyes wandered on the landscape, hidden by the dark lenses of my sunglasses. The sun was up this day, and it shone over the coast in a very pleasant way. It was warming cheeks, warming arms, and warming hearts. Sunny days definitely were my favourite kind of days.

I heard slow footsteps behind me, and I immediately knew who this was. I could recognise this way of walking, even in a huge crowd. The footsteps stopped next to me, and I felt two little butterflies landing on my neck. Of course, those weren't real butterflies. Those were his lips. My love's lips.

I grinned and slowly turned round to place my lips on his, making them stroke one another. Then, he sat next to me, making his legs bounce just like mine. He was staring at the sea with a small smile, his dark sideburns shining under the sun, and despite the temperature, he was wearing his dark green beanie, as usual. He also was fully dressed, with a blue long-sleeved shirt tucked in his striped grey pants. I could see that he didn't remove his leather boots either.

“Mike, dear, aren't you hot like that?”

“I know I'm hot!” he chuckled lightly, winking at me.

His lips stretched into a beautiful smile, this that he used every time he teased me. He wasn't the last to know that I melted every time I saw it.

Mike scratched his cheek before taking my hand, entwining our fingers. I jumped lightly, not expecting that his fingers were fresh. After four years of taking his hand, I never got tired of it. I never got tired of him. We had a few arguments during those four years, but it never was that serious. We knew that if we worked it out, we could grow stronger together.

I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes as I felt a kiss on my forehead.

“What have you been doing all this time?” I whispered to him.

“Oh, I took a short nap. I was tired because of yesterday's show. But now, I'm fine. I also tried to fix the fridge, but I think I'll simply ask Davy to call someone for that.”

“That's why your fingers are cold.”

“Indeed.”

We both chuckled, and the silence fell upon us. I felt his cheek resting on the top of my head, as he started to stroke my long chestnut brown hair. The sound of the waves crashing on the sand and on the few rocks sounded like a lullaby for us. We were both relaxed, almost as much as when we were asleep.

However, it was not on the waves that I was focused: it was on Mike's breath. It was so slow but so deep, that my heart filled with joy, knowing that he was alive. This was the best feeling in the world for me: seeing him and feeling him. I didn't know what I would be without him, and I knew that he wouldn't be just a boyfriend to me. He was more than that. What? I couldn't tell.

Mike slowly sat up, stretching his back. He turned to me and grinned, his eyes blinded by the sunbeams.

“Would you like to go out for a walk on the beach, Nicky?”

“Sure! But only if you promise me one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Don't throw me at the sea like you did last time!” I laughed, remembering how I struggled to free myself from him, before he threw me in the water.

“Okay, I promise! But you were like a cute mermaid!”

“Stop pulling my leg, Mike!”

We shared a laugh, before I stared into his eyes. His face was perfect to me. His dark eyes could be so mysterious, but I knew that it only was a protection that he used so people wouldn't mess with him. His nose was a perfect straight line, and he loved when I kissed it. He had a small mouth that wasn't used to smiling a lot. But when he did, he would give you the most heart-warming and sweet smiles that you could ever see. Never had I seen such a beautiful grin.

I rubbed the tip of my nose against his, making us smile. Then, I briefly kissed him and stood up, walking up to 'our' room. I opened my suitcase and rummaged through it, looking for my striped white and blue swimsuit. When I found it, I undressed quickly and put it on; I put my clothes in the dirty laundry basket, and searched for a light white dress. I quickly put it on, and brushed my messy hair. I walked down the stairs and found Mike, coming out of the bathroom, wearing a lighter shirt that he kept unbuttoned, and his short shorts.

He smiled at me and picked up a picnic basket on the table, which was carefully looked after by Micky's red-haired dummy. He coughed while putting on his blue flip flops, and made sure that he had put everything in the basket.

“I took some biscuits and sodas, just in case” he said, focused on the basket. “I also took your sunscreen. I don't want you to get burned!”

“Thank you, Mike, you're a jewel” I smiled, kissing his cheek. “We can borrow Peter's ball, too, do you think he'll mind?”

“No, he told me we could use it. We'll just have to be careful not to lose it or anything. If we do, I'll buy him a new one.”

I nodded and smiled at him. I grabbed Peter's multicoloured ball and held it against my hip. Mike gently took my hand and made sure that the front door was locked. Then, we sneaked out on the patio and closed the door, walking down the wooden stairs that led to the beach. We carefully climbed on the few rocks that separated us from the sand, and we walked on the beach.

Luckily, the part of the beach situated in front of the boys' house was never full. People would usually go where the ice-cream seller had his stand, for the children. The beach was quiet, and there were only a few people walking there or swimming.

Mike was stroking the back of my hand with his thumb, and he frowned, as he didn't take his sunglasses. I smirked and cleared my throat.

“Don't you think you forgot something?”

“Like what?”

“Something that you put on your nose!”

He sighed with a grin and shook his head.

“My sunglasses are broken. Davy accidentally broke them by walking on them. No more lenses!”

“I'll buy you new ones.”

“No way, I'll buy new ones tomorrow. Would you like to come with me to choose nice ones?”

“What do you mean 'nice ones'?”

“Well, sunglasses that won't make me look like a clown.”

“Michael Nesmith, you never look like a clown. You always look like an angel, and it's not the first time that I tell you that!”

Mike smiled and leant in to kiss me. I closed my eyes and felt the same thrills as the first time that he did that to me. It was already four years ago... I didn't really remember how we met, and sometimes I felt ashamed of it. But he didn't either. Perhaps it was too beautiful to be remembered, who knows?

We heard someone shouting our names. We pulled away and looked all around us, trying to find who called us. Then, we caught a glimpse of a tall man waving at us. I smiled and waved back, as I recognised Micky. He ran to us, his unbuttoned orange shirt floating behind him.

“Hi Micky!” I said happily.

“Hi, lovely! How are you doing today?”

“Quite good, thanks! You?”

“I'm alright!”

He hugged me tightly and hugged Mike. Mike was rubbing his eye, which seemed to hurt a bit because of the light. Micky wasn't wearing sunglasses either and had the same expression on his face.

“What are you doing? Going out for a walk?” he asked.

“Yeah, we just got out” Mike answered with a grin, “were you going home?”

“Yeah, I'm a bit tired, I think I'm going to take a nap or something. Did you close the back door?”

“I did. Do you have the keys or do you need mine?”

Micky shrugged with an embarrassed expression. Mike chuckled and looked inside the basket, taking his keys out of it. He handed them to Micky, who thanked him.

“Have a nice walk, you two! By the way, Davy won't be here tonight, I just met him at the ice-cream stand, he was with a bird!”

“As usual!”

They laughed, and Micky ran to the house. Mike was shaking his head and rolling his eyes with a grin. We kept walking along the sand, making our hands bounce between us. He was humming a song, and I listened to him attentively, though I was looking all around me. The sun looked like it couldn't be brighter, and it was a cloudless sky. The sand was warm, and incredibly soft.

When Mike stopped humming a song, I elbowed him gently, smiling at him. He turned to me and blinked.

“Is there anything wrong, love?”

“No, it's just that I could listen to you all day.”

He smiled and shook his head. He looked down at his feet and chuckled lightly.

“I wanna hold your hand, walk along the sand, laughing in the sun, always having fun!”

I laughed and rested my head on his shoulder, before we sang the rest of the verse together, staring lovingly at each other.

“Doing all those things without any strings to tie me down...”

We stopped walking, and Mike slowly leant in to kiss me, wrapping his arms around me, tenderly parting my lips with his tongue. I tightened my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, deepening the kiss. We pulled awy slowly, with smiles pinned to our cheeks.

“Would you like to stay on this spot and have a drink?” he whispered to me.

“Sure!”

He smiled and briefly pressed his lips against mine again. He put down the basket and took out a blanket, which he spread on the sand. Even though there wasn't any kind of breeze, he removed his flip flops and put them on the corners of the blanket to keep it on the sand. Then, he helped me to sit down. I removed my white dress, rolling it into a ball, and put it aside.

Mike's eyes were focused on the basket, from which he took a plate and a box of biscuits. He opened the box and carefully put them in the plate. Then, he took out four bottles of soda.

“What will you have? Coke, or lemonade?”

“Lemonade for me, please.”

He nodded and handed me fresh lemonade, and a blue straw. He kept a bottle of lemonade for him too, putting the two bottles of Coke back into the basket. He took a green straw, and opened his lemonade, slipping it into the beverage.

“Give me your dress, Nicky, I'm going to put it in the basket.”

I nodded and handed it to him. As he said, he put it into the basket and closed it. I opened my bottle of lemonade, gently hitting Peter's ball with my toes. He raised his bottle with a grin, hitting it against mine.

“To the loveliest girlfriend I could ever dream of.”

I blushed and shook my head.

“To the most adorable man I could ever meet.”

He wheezed and stuck his straw between his lips, drinking the fresh lemonade. He closed his eyes with satisfaction. I stared at him, feeling all the love I had for him boiling in my chest. His forehead was shiny because of the sweat and the light of the sun reflecting on it. His adorable wavy fringe parted on the side was tickling his eyebrow, and he removed it with a finger, scratching his forehead. He stopped drinking and sighed happily. He crossed his long legs, tapping his fingers on his knees.

“I can't understand you, sometimes” I laughed. “Even during the very sunny Summer, you keep your beanie on your head!”

“Look, Nicky” he said, imitating Ringo Starr in Help!, “I've had some great time with this beanie!”

“Relax, Texan Ringo!” I laughed. “You're really cute with this beanie, I can assure you that! But in Summer, aren't you dying with the heat?”

“No, I'm okay. I'm used to it.”

I giggled and took two biscuits on the plate, taking a bite in one of them. I noticed that Mike had more and more troubles keeping his eyes open. With a grin, I removed my sunglasses and handed them to him.

“Put them on, my love. Don't be blind!”

“Nah, I'm okay, really.”

“You can't see a thing!”

Mike sighed and took them, putting them on. He sighed, in relief this time, and laughed, looking all around him.

“Thanks to my Nicky, I have my eyesight back! But I must look like an idiot with girl's glasses.”

“Of course not! You look good with absolutely everything, my dear Mike!”

“Yeah, yeah, stop pulling my leg.”

We shared a laugh and we quietly ate our biscuits, drinking our lemonade. Now, it was me who was blinded by the sun, except that I didn't care. Tired of sitting in front of Mike, I stood up. His quizzical eyes followed me, and I saw him blink under the dark lenses of the glasses. I slowly walked on the warm sand, until I reached him. Then, I sat next to him. With a wide smile, he welcomed me with an arm outstretched, which pulled me closer to him. I rested my head on his shoulder, smelling his sweet perfume. I always loved how he smelled like lemon and mint, and he perfectly knew that he could drive me wild.

Suddenly, two warm hands covered Mike's eyes. I jumped and turned round, before seeing Peter, grinning like a child.

“Who's it?” Mike said.

“Guess!”

“Peter, only you do this joke!”

Peter laughed and patted his shoulder. They smiled at each other, and Peter played with Mike's beanie.

“The weather's nice today, huh?” he said, looking at the sea. “What a great time to have a swim!”

“Indeed!” I nodded. “Are you going to the beach?”

“No, I'm coming back from it. I'm going back home and have a snack.”

“Hey, mate, do you have a pair of sunglasses?”

“Sure, Mike! Take it!”

Peter handed Mike his sunglasses; therefore, he gave me back mine. We said our good-byes, and Peter went home.

I took one of the last biscuits of the plate and ate it. As for Mike, he picked one too and stuck it between his teeth, before looking at me with a grin. I chuckled and leant in to get the other edge of the biscuit. When we pulled on the biscuit to break it, Mike had a larger bit, and the majority of it fell on our thighs. He chuckled and leant in to kiss me, before taking the bits of biscuit and throwing them in his mouth. He stretched his arm on his right (I was sitting on his left), and opened the basket, taking a look at what was inside.

He started to tap his fingers nervously on his thigh, as he held something without taking his hand out of the basket.

“Mike? Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah.”

He let go of what he was holding and closed the basket with a wide grin. He kissed the tip of my nose and scratched his chin.

“What did you hide in that basket?”

“Nothing, I was... making sure that the sodas were still fresh.”

I gave him a quizzical look, and finally shrugged. I finished the plate of biscuits, and sighed, wrapping an arm around my lovely Mike. He kissed my hair and looked at the waves.

“The colour of the sea is quite pretty isn't it?”

“Oh yeah, it is!” I replied. “Fancy a swim?”

“Mmh... Not now, if you don't mind. But I fancy a game with this ball!”

I smiled at him and nodded, kneeling on the blanket to help him tidy all our stuff in the basket. Then, he took the blanket and shook the sand out of it, before folding it and putting it next to the basket. I grabbed Peter's ball and threw it at Mike, who laughed as he caught it. We ran hand in hand by the water, letting our feet bathe in the waves. They tickled our toes, as the foam came and went.

We laughed, throwing the ball at each other, missing it from time to time. Mike removed his shirt and threw it to the basket. Then, we kept playing, looking at each other with childish grins. The more we played, the more we started to get crazy. Just like kids, we started to come up with new rules, counting the points that each won. We threw the balls backwards, with our feet, with our knees... But when we decided to play as if the ball was a bomb, Mike went crazy. He was acting silly, just like Micky loved doing. He was jumping up and down, pulling faces, just to make me focus on it instead of the ball.

“Cheater!” I laughed, as he blew up his cheeks and crossed his eyes.

“What? Where? Who? When? Why? How?”

He spun round, making me laugh even more. I felt tears coming to my eyes, and my stomach hurt. However, I did not throw the ball back at him.

“Hey! Give me the ball!”

“Come and get it!”

With a cunning grin, I spun round and started to run away with it. I heard Mike running after me. Sometimes, I looked over my shoulder and saw him run with a finger raised and crooked, as if he imitated the hook of a pirate. Then, he stretched out his arms and ran faster. Suddenly, I felt his arms wrapped around my waist.

“Got you now!”

I laughed and felt myself being pulled on the right. I lost my balance and held my breath, as I fell right into a wave. When my head got out of the water, I rubbed my eyes and gasped for air, looking at Mike with a smirk.

“Silly Mike!”

He was bursting out laughing, and slowly made his way through the waves to reach me. His hair was now all flat, and his beanie turned a darker shade of green. Pearls of water were rolling down his chest, making it shine. He tenderly wrapped his arms around me and removed the hair that was stuck to my face. Then, he pulled me closer to him and leant in to press his lips against mine. His lips were wet, a bit salty, but still so soft. I let my left hand run through his dark hair, slowly massaging his scalp, as he deepened the kiss. As for him, he placed a hand on my cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb.

When we pulled away, we stared at each other with tenderness, and we could almost smell, hear, see and touch the love floating all around us, like a shield. He kissed me briefly before taking my hand and letting himself slip in the water. I followed him, wrapping an arm around his neck. We swam for an hour or so, looking at the few fishes that came to us to tickle our calves.

We came out of the water and walked back to the basket, hand in hand. Mike opened it and took out two towels: he handed one to me, and I took it, wrapping it around me. Meanwhile, he took the blanket and spread it on the sand again. He invited me to sit on it, and I did. He sat close to me, our thighs touching, and wrapped his towel around his shoulders after he dried his hair a bit. He showed me a bottle of Coke, but I refused. He opened it for him and took a new straw, sliding it in the bottle. He stuck it between his rosy lips and swallowed some gulps of soda. He digged a small hole in the sand and put his bottle in it, so it would stand still.

I closed my eyes, snuggled against him. He wrapped his towel around me, resting his cheek on my head. Then, he lifted me up and sat me between his legs, so he could hug me more easily. I put my towel aside and let Mike wrap his around us. With our sunglasses resting on our noses, we stared at the sea, watching some kids play with a ball.

Mike coughed quietly and drank some more gulps of his soda. He opened the basket and kept his hand in it, obviously holding something.

“Mike, you're obsessed with this basket, what's going on?”

“Nothing, honey.”

“Michael, I know that you're hiding something from me. Didn't we promise to tell each other everything?”

He nodded and started to blush. I sat with my legs below me and pulled him into a warm hug. I kissed his neck and his ear.

“Tell me, love.”

He nodded again and finally removed his hand from the basket. Indeed, he was holding something, but his long fingers were hiding it. Mike cleared his throat and knelt down before me. He was twisting his hands nervously.

“I took something with me, but I don't feel like I'm brave enough.”

“Mike...”

He pursed his lips and removed his fingers from what he was holding. It was a small purple velvet box, which obviously contained something like a ring. He opened it, and showed a gorgeous golden ring with a diamond was resting on its velvet cushion. I covered my mouth with my hands, gasping loudly.

“Nichole Moore... Or my Nicky, what do you prefer?”

Mike seemed so embarrassed that I could only fall for him. He shrugged and cleared his throat.

“My Nicky, as you may know, you've shared my dull life for four years now, making it brighter and happier. I've never stopped loving you ever since, and... uh...”

He scratched his head with a frown.

“I'm sorry if this isn't the proposal you dreamed of, but I'm not good at telling how I feel. The thing is, I'm deeply in love with you, and the fact that you're leaving in a few days to go back to your house breaks my heart into pieces. I don't want to let you go, because I feel alive when I'm with you. I feel like I don't need to hide anything, and that I have the support I need when I do something. I know that we argued sometimes, but those arguments mean nothing to me. Nothing. That's why, me, Michael Nesmith, you cute little Mike...”

I giggled, as I felt a tear rolling down my cheek. I removed my sunglasses, wanting to admire him with my bare eyes. He was trembling, and searching for his words. When he found them, he started to speak again.

“I would love to have you as my wife. My sunshine. My everything. You're more beautiful that the first sunbeams of the morning, you're even brighter than all the stars. And I love you. So, Nichole Moore, will you marry me?”

I burst into tears, nodding happily.

“Yes, Michael! I will marry you!”

He sighed in relief, his rosy lips stretching into a wide smile. I threw myself in his arms, crying on his shoulder. He was still shivering, and I could hear him hiccupping. He gently took my left hand and slid the ring around my fourth finger... The finger.

I quickly wiped my tears away and admired the ring. It was so beautiful! Mike hid his face away from me, and I noticed it immediately. He was looking down, almost leaning in. I got closer to him and cupped his beautiful face with my hands. I lifted up his chin and made him stare at me. The smile of a contented man was pinned to his cheeks, and his nostrils were lightly dilated. I looked into his eyes and felt my heart leaping in my chest. It was the first time that I saw tears in Mike Nesmith's eyes.

“Nicky? Nicky?”

Mike was shaking his hand before my eyes. I blinked and shook my head, before looking all around me. We were sitting on the patio, our legs bouncing. I looked down at my left hand and noticed that there was no ring. I looked back at Mike, who was wearing his blue long-sleeved shirt tucked into his striped grey pants.

“What did you say?” I asked innocently.

“I asked you if you wanted to go out for a walk on the beach, Nicky.”