I took a deep, steadying breath of the cool and salty air. I checked the small folding rig I used to wheel the kayaks across the main road and over to the parking lot near the large, popular beach one last time.

All right, this should hold.

This was a rare still morning, the early sun shining bright on the smooth, glassy sea. I started down the ramp towards the area where the river met the ocean, nearly empty, save for a few lone figures in the distance out for early morning walks. Making my way slowly across the soft, fine sand, I glanced back over my shoulder towards the sound of a vehicle pulling into the parking lot. A sleek, silver Mercedes slowed to a stop in one of the parking stalls. I’d paused to watch it briefly, and was about to turn back around and head towards the bank of the river when a familiar figure stepped out of it.

Xander…?

I shook off the momentary surprise and waved, leaving the kayaks behind as i strolled back towards the ramp to the parking lot.

Why am I even surprised? He lives in Glenn Grove, the houses there are crazy expensive... Of course he has a nice car…

“Hey Xander!” I called out as I half-walked, half-jogged up the ramp.

“Man, I thought I’d get here early and help you out, but of course you’re already here.” He grinned at me as he locked his car and slung a small backpack over his shoulder.

I chuckled. “I thought I’d get here early and set up before you got here… guess we kind of had the same line of thought.”

He gestured towards his bag. “I wasn’t sure how long we’d be out here, so I packed some lunch for both of us too. Just some sandwiches I made.”

My heart thumped a little harder in my chest.

He made… Am I seriously getting flustered over sandwiches right now?

I sped up my gait a bit, striding towards the kayaks. “Awesome, thanks man. Much better than my plan of wasting money over at the pizza place when we got hungry.”

Grabbing the handle of the rig, I took a deep breath and started back towards the riverbank again.

“Want some help with that?” Xander smiled and gestured towards the kayaks.

“Oh, it has wheels so it’s not too bad, it just struggles a little on sand. We’re almost there, save your energy for once we get started, yeah?” I did my best to return his natural, easy smile.

“All right, I’ll go scout us a good spot for our stuff then.” He jogged ahead a little towards a huge gray chunk of driftwood. What had once been a tree was now a smooth log, the surface worn flat by the countless people who had used it as a bench over the years it had sat there. He reached into his bag and grabbed a large blue towel out, laying it over the log. “Now we won’t get butt-splinters.” He chuckled as I arrived at the log and began to unstrap the kayaks from their rig.

I couldn’t help but chuckle in return. “Yeah you gotta watch out for those butt-splinters, good call.”

He grinned endearingly as he settled on the other side of the rig, unstrapping the second kayak from its harness.

“So I was thinking we’d start slow, i’ll stand in the river and hold your boat while you practice oar movements. Sound good?”

He straightened and jokingly bowed. “I’m yours to teach, kayak master.”

My face was definitely red. I cleared my throat and focused on removing the rest of the supplies from the boats. “You got your swimsuit on already or do you need to change?”

“It’s on, I didn’t want to have to deal with changing down here.”

“Yeah another good call. Go ahead and get ready then, I’ll get this in the water.”