Even in Twenty Years (ON HOLD)

Chapter 35 - Roxy

"Hey, there's a canoe in the backyard." Ryan walked in, using his thumb to point out back.

"Really? I wanna go. Who wants to go?" I asked, standing up from the couch and looking at the guys.

The guys all looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"Come on, please. Finn?"

"Sorry, Rox," he said, after setting his phone down on his lap and looking up at me.

"I'll go with you, Roxy."

I turned around to face Ryan. "Thank you."

We went out to the back and got the canoe. We carried it over our heads and made our way to the lake. I didn't have much arm strength as I thought so we ended up resting the canoe on shoulders until we reached the lake.

Ryan and I set the canoe down by the edge of the lake and slowly pushed it in half way. I got in first, while Ryan pushed it in more and then got in himself. We faced each other and rowed further out into the lake. We ended up just sitting in the middle of the lake, not rowing, slightly swaying back and forth.

"It's so pretty." I looked to my left. There were so many dark-green pine trees. There were some houses close to the edge of the lake. Some with wooden docks. I could see some smaller children, in the distance, skipping pebbles along the shore.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice," he commented.

"I kinda wanted to go swimming, but the guys didn't want to today." I turned my attention back to him.

"What about Finn?" he asked me.

"He said it was a little cold," I replied.

"A little, but not that much. It's still good to go swimming," Ryan assured me.

I took off the flannel I was wearing. I had a tank top under so I left that on. I also took off my shoes and socks.

"Don't worry," I told Ryan. "I have spandex under my pants." I slowly stood up in the canoe, making sure to balance myself, and I began to take off my pants, and he looked away.

I was just in my tank top and spandex shorts. It wasn't even cold. I could feel a bit of a small breeze, but not enough to give me goosebumps.

"Roxy, what are you doing?" Ryan asked.

"Jumping in," I said, as a smile crept up on my lips, and then I did just that.

My feet touched the water first, then my body was submerged, and I was under water. I admit the water was cold but the more I moved around, the warmer I got. I couldn't feel anything beneath me, so I guess the water was deeper. I made my way up to the surface. I wiped the water from my face and pushed my hair back, away from my face.

I looked at Ryan. He still sat in the canoe, dumbfounded. His gaze never left me.

He immediately began taking his clothes off. He stayed in only his boxers. He stood and jumped in the water as well. He jumped in, to my right.

Ryan soon came up to the surface.

"That was crazy." He shook the water from his hair. "Water is a little cold."

"Calm down you big baby." I laughed.

"Yeah, alright." He smiled.

The water felt so good against my skin. I laid my back against the water and just floated.

"So are we going hiking tomorrow?" Ryan asked, treading water near me.

"Yup, Finn's really keen on it," I said.