Untouchable (boyxboy)

Chapter 15

"Am I going too fast for you?" Isaac asks breathlessly, muscles straining. "We can slow down if you want."

"No," I gasp,  "this is fine. Let's...keep going."

We're several hundred yards from shore, paddling a rented two-person kayak through the gently rolling cerulean waves.

Isaac sits in the forward seat, and we'd barely started rowing before I'd had to admit that he is in much better shape than I am. His muscles flex and stretch beneath the tanned skin of his shoulders and back as he dips the double-ended paddles from side to side, and he sets a pace that quickly becomes difficult for me to match. 

He's already asked me several times if I want to slow down or rest, but for some reason, I'm having a hard time admitting that I do. I'll pay for my pride later, I can already tell, as the slight pain in my back, shoulders, arms, and hands has gradually intensified to the point of agony. After nearly an hour of non-stop strain, my muscles are starting to cramp, I can't catch my breath, and my heart is beating harder than it has in a long time.

I need to work out more.

Up until the point where it became torment, though, I'd been enjoying myself. It had been Isaac's idea, of course; he'd wanted to do a bunch of stupid, touristy things that either he or I had never done before. This morning, we'd rode in a glass-sided contraption hanging from a wire up the side of a steep ridge and had breakfast in a restaurant with a view of the entire lake, and this afternoon, Isaac wanted to take me to a famous sandy beach farther up the east shore.

Kayaking, too, was his suggestion. He'd picked out a long, red tandem sit-on-top, which he'd explained wasn't as fast or sleek on the water as the closed cockpit kind, but which had greater stability and was easier to climb in and out of. Good for a beginner, in other words.

It was fun, at first: feeling the easy roll of the waves beneath us, the heat of the sun on my bare arms and legs, the breeze on my face, the quiet whisper and swish of the paddles. Mostly, I'd enjoyed watching the shore slip steadily past. We were traveling along a wild stretch on the Nevada side, with few houses, lots of smooth white-gray granite boulders poking above the waves and piled along the edge of the water, and steep-sided hills clad in clinging pines.

Now, all I can focus on is forcing myself to keep paddling despite the burning pain in my arms and back. At last, my shoulders cramp, and I literally can't paddle anymore.

Isaac feels the increased drag on the boat as I stop contributing to its forward motion, and twists in his seat to look back at me, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.

"You okay?" he calls back to me, shielding his eyes against the sparkling glare of the waves.

I shake my head. "Sorry, no. I...think I need a break. Sorry." I can barely speak, and my hands and arms shake as I rest the bar of my paddle across my knees.

Isaac frowns and stays twisted in his seat, waiting for me to recover.

We drift for several minutes, the waves carrying us closer to the shore and a gentle wind pushing us along at a leisurely glide.

"How about we pull to shore for a bit?" Isaac asks when I have my breath back. "We can swim and rest a while."

"No, no—I'm fine," I assure him, forcing a smile. "Sorry about that."

Rather than reply, he merely faces forward once more, turns the boat with a few quick, efficient strokes, and paddles us quickly to the rocky shore. I barely help, and he has to give me a hand getting out.

He's landed us alongside a big, flat-topped boulder with one side level with the waves. It's in two-to-three feet of crystal-clear turquoise water a few yards from shore.