Dirty Swan-Dancing

Chapter 3

AN: chapter 3... hope you like it... slowly building up to them actually starting to talk and be more together... (def. more of that in chapter 4 ;) )

And again thanks to timberwolf0108 for the pretty awesome cover photo she made for me... 

Enjoy...

Chapter 3

The next day was filled with family fun and activities. Emma was surprised to find that she enjoyed herself being with her family like this. In the morning, her brother had convinced her to join him by the lake and go kayaking. Their parents went in search of some alone time, probably something sickly romantic; they were still lovey-dovey romantically in love, sometimes to the point of them being embarrassing to be with. But now she walked with her brother to the lake, and when they got close, he sprinted off towards the place they kept the kayaks.

Emma watched him greet the men in charge of the outdoor activities; he had obviously talked with them the day before. Emma smiled at this; her brother was a talking machinegun at times, especially if he was excited about something. Leo was practically bouncing up and down as he waited for Emma to join him.

"Emma!" He shouted and waved his hand to her, "Come on, hurry up!" Emma grinned at him and gave an apologetic shrug to the man Leo had talked to.

"So, this is the slow sister, I imagine." The man in charge grinned down at Leo and winked, then turned to Emma and introduced himself. "I'm Graham, and my buddy over there is August. We are in charge of any outdoor type of activity, so anything you might want to do, come to us. We can make almost anything happen."

Emma gave a polite smile. It all sounded so rehearsed, but she shrugged it off and offered her hand in greeting. "I'm Emma, and yes, this little ball of energy is my brother. I think he wants to go kayaking with me. Though I've never done anything like that before, so...?" Emma looked at him hoping he would be able to help her.

"No worries, we can help you out. Let's go find some gear for you first." Graham nodded towards a shed that held all the lifejackets and paddles needed for kayaking.

Emma tried to pay attention to the safety instruction Graham gave her and Leo—well, Leo had heard it all yesterday with their father-but Emma made sure he paid attention again. While they worked on getting their life jackets on, she could not help but notice that Graham might have been slightly too eager to help her get into hers. He shot her a charming smile from time to time, and sometimes a hand lingered a bit too long on her arm as he spoke. Emma shook it off as being overly-friendly, but she did appreciate his good looks and, in a way, his charm. But she really wasn't going to pursue any love interest.

When the time came to get into the kayaks, Emma felt her nerves hit with full force. She looked to her brother; he had tried this before, so he jumped in the vessel far too quickly for Emma's liking. But she pulled herself together and sat down in the kayak. She kept it steady, and Graham suggested she go for a solo ride first just to get a feel for how it moved through the water. After several minutes, Emma actually enjoyed herself. She shot her brother a big smile, paddled over to him, and held on to his kayak so Graham could link the two of them together.

Over the next hour, Emma had a great time with her brother. Though there were 11 years between them, they still had a pretty good relationship. When they finally came back to the dock, August helped them get out of the kayaks without falling into the water.

"There you are Miss, back on dry land." August smiled at Emma and held her hand a second longer than necessary.

Emma pulled her hand away with a smile and said, "Thank you. We had fun, didn't we, Leo?" She turned to her brother who had gotten up onto the dock by himself.