"So did you have anything else in mind for tonight?" I asked as we continued to walk, and she shrugged.
"Oh, I was thinking we could rent one of the rowboats. I'm sure you'd be excellent at rowing, what with those big strong arms of yours," she said, running a hand along my bicep and giving it a squeeze. "Mm, just look at those muscles."
"You know, flattery isn't going to get you anywhere," I grumbled, trying to hide that I was in fact very flattered, and she pouted.
"It won't even get me into a rowboat?"
I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "Alright, it'll get you into a rowboat. And that's as far as it's getting you," I said, trying to have a spine while also wanting nothing more than to be putty in her delicate, long-fingered hands.
She made me feel ways I had never felt before. It was like I was bewitched, that every move she made hypnotized me further and further. I was falling for her, hard and fast and far, and there didn't seem to be any sign of me hitting the ground anytime soon.
"You're too sweet," she said, standing on her toes to kiss me on the cheek, and I melted faster than ice cream left in the summer sun.
It didn't take long for us to find a rental spot for rowboats, and I paid for one, accepting the oars the man handed me. Beatrice walked across the row of boats on the gravel shore, stopping in front of a green one.
"I like this one," she said, and I smiled, helping her into the boat before pushing it just far enough into the water that it was floating before carefully clambering in myself.
"I've never done this before," I admitted, putting the oars into the docks, and she grinned.
"I haven't either. But I mean realistically how hard can it be?" she asked with a shrug, and I shrugged back.
"I guess we'll find out."
As it turned out, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. A sheen of sweat was covering my face, my shirt starting to stick to my back as I did my best to propel us through the water. The humidity and heat seemed to get a million times worse since I was doing a physical activity now, and not at all the kind I liked to do with women. But Beatrice seemed to be enjoying herself, staring at the city that towered up around Central Park. It was a peaceful silence, and I was doing my best not to ruin it by breathing too loudly, despite being winded.
"Has there always been this much water in the bottom of the boat?" she asked suddenly.
"Hm?" I asked, taking advantage of the pause to wipe sweat off my brow.
"Has there always been this much water in the bottom of the boat?" she repeated, tapping her foot lightly, splashing in the quarter inch or so of water that was covering the wooden boards.
I frowned, trying desperately to remember. "That's a great question," I said, lifting my head and looking at the shore, which all of a sudden seemed very far away. "Maybe we should head back?"
"I think we're sinking," she said, but I shook my head.
"No, we're definitely not. Probably not," I said.
"Are you sure? I think there's more water in the boat now," she said.
"I think I'm going to take us back to shore," I said, doing my best to maneuver the boat.
As I began rowing again, the boat slicing through the water, it was slowly but surely becoming more of a struggle, the quarter inch of water turning into a half inch, then three quarters, then one inch, then two, and then--
"We're sinking," Beatrice said, looking at her feet, which were halfway submerged in water now. "Can you swim?"
"I was a lifeguard in high school," I said, still trying to row us to shore, but it was a lot harder to get through the water now that we were slowly starting to dip further and further before the surface. "Can you swim?"
"Yes, but usually I'm not wearing all of this," she said, gesturing at her outfit, and I grinned.
"Well you could always take it off," I said, and she responded by kicking me in the shin. "Hey!" I whined, and she laughed.
"You pig," she said fondly, splashing some water at me with her foot, and I responded by using one of the oars to splash her much more effectively.
She let out a gasp, water soaking her shirt and revealing just how little she had on underneath, and I froze, terrified I had gone too far, before she began to laugh, scooping up a handful of water and throwing it at me. It didn't take long for us to devolve into a water fight, acting very much like children as we did our best to drench each other before we were inevitably soaked by the sinking ship. I had gotten us almost halfway to shore by the time water was well past my ankles and we conceded it was a lost cause.
"Abandon ship," I teased, shoving her out of the boat, and she tumbled into the water with a yelp, surfacing a moment later, hair plastered to her face.
"You asshole!" she cried, reaching up to grab my shirt, yanking me into the lake with her.
Laughing, I scooped her hat out of the water, starting to swim to shore. "Come on! It's still early enough in the evening that I can take you out to dinner. You can tell everyone that it's a new fashion to show up to a restaurant drenched in lake water," I said.
She swam after me, laughing herself. "I should've flattered you more, I got myself a rowboat and a trip halfway out into the lake. If I had known I'd have to swim the other half I'd have picked a different activity," she said, doing her best to swim in her layered outfit.
"Oh, there's still time for different activities," I teased, waggling my eyebrows, and she splashed more water at me.
"You are an absolute menace, did you know that?" she said, but she couldn't seem to shake the smile off her face.
We finally made it to where the lake was shallow enough that we could stand, and I placed her hat back on her head, pouring more water over her as I did so.
"Well now don't you just look lovely?" I teased, and she shoved me, sending me tripping over a rock and splashing back into the lake.
"Lovely enough to knock you off your feet," she teased right back, and I smiled up at her, not even caring I was ruining my clothes by sitting on the muddy bottom of the lake. I would've happily sat and stared at her for hours.
