Stride

{Third Person}

Tom was taking Kayla on their first official date, but Kayla insisted they do something privately.

Tom pulled into Eagle Park.

"This is perfect!" Kayla said. "A picnic in the woods?"

"Not quite." he smiled and got out, grabbing the shopping bags from the back seat.

Tom went to the concession stand near the lake's edge and Kayla went over to the shore while she waited. The lake was placid today. It almost looked like glass, reflecting the surrounding woods in a near perfect image.

When Tom came up to Kayla's side, he had a key in his hand.
"What is that for?" she asked.

"We're taking out a canoe."

He went to the row of canoes locking to a railing. He undid the lock on a blue canoe and shoved it in the water with an oar.

"Get in."

"A canoe?"

"Is that okay?" He took off his sunglasses and slipped them over the collar of his shirt. "We could do something else..."

"No! I love it."

With Tom's help, Kayla climbed into the wobbly canoe and slowly made her way to the front. Tom got in the back end and pushed it through the water.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Let's go around the bend." He steered and Kayla kept paddling, switching sides every few minuets.

A few swans swam off to the left side of the canoe. A motorized boat trolled the lake in the distance, a few fishing lines extending out from the boat's side into the water.

Tom and Kayla rounded the bend in the lake where the land jutted out like a thumb. They were on the other side, Eagle Park disappeared from view and they had total privacy.

"This is so nice," Kayla said, resting her oar on her lap. "I've never been out here on a canoe."

"You haven't?"

She shook her head. "Never even thought about it."

Over head, smoky clouds blew in, covering the blue sky. A breeze kicked in, disrupting the placid lake and tossing wispy strands of hair around Kayla's face.

Tom paddled until they were about thirty yards away from the lake's edge and still hidden by the mass of the land between them. He set his oar in the back of the canoe and stood up.

Kayla shrieked as the boat rocked "Tom!" she clutched the canoe's side.

He laughed. "It's all right." He sat down on the middle seat right behind Kayla. "See, we're not going overboard."

She set her oar down and turned to face Tom.

"I don't want to go in the water."

"Yeah, but then i could be a hero and rescue you."

Kayla grinned "Well, when you put it that way..."

He set the shopping bags between them.

"I brought something chocolaty, something salty, and something healthy. you can choose."

"Yeah, because i'm really going to turn down the chocolate for the..."- she looked in the bag- "for the grapes."

She pulled out the bag of M&M's. Tom twisted open a bottle of water then scooted off the bench of the canoe and sat on the cool fiberglass bottom. "Come here."

She did she same, turning again so that they sat shoulder to shoulder, their backs against the middle of the bench. Water lapped at the sides of the canoe, pushing it through the lake, further from shore.

Tom wove his arm around Kayla, his thumb rubbing circles over her bare shoulder. Goosebumps popped, racing from his finger tips clear down her forearm.

With his other hand, he touched her cheek, brushing hair from her eyes. He kissed her, softly and slowly, using only lips on lips, his fingers on her flesh. And then his tongue grazed hers.

A misty rain fell from the smoky clouds as the breeze shifted again. It wetted Kayla's face, cooling her cheeks where the blood pooled from Tom's touch.