The Experience Buddy [Completed]

Chapter 6

The warm rays of sunlight peeked through the slit between the curtains and shone into the room. I stretched and lazed around on the bed for a couple more seconds before getting up. After washing up, I went outside of the cabin to breathe in the fresh morning air.

"If only every day could be like this." I muttered to myself.

"Good morning." Toby waved. I got myself a cup of orange juice and joined him at the bench as he was halfway through his cup of coffee. We made small talk while waiting for the rest to get ready.

Today we plan to kayak along the water trail of Lake Tahoe. Beginning at El Dorado beach, we will pass by other beaches like Regan beach and Pope beach. The endpoint for us would be D.L. Bliss State Park and with this, we would have conquered Emerald Bay.

Again, it was only me who hadn't kayaked before. So Cheryl and Nat asked Toby if he could do the two-man kayak with me. We all agreed Hugh would put in me further danger than if I would go alone. As for Hero...well, I don't think I trust the guy enough with my life.

Yet.

I could not take my DSLR along so Hugh passed me his gopro since he wouldn't be able to steer and video at the same time anyway. The whole experience was tiring but the views were so picturesque that it made all the rowing worth it. Honestly, I did not row as much as Toby did so he would probably be even more exhausted than I am.

From this, Toby and I had a lot of time to talk to each other. I learned that he has three sisters, two older and one younger. Perhaps growing up in a female dominated household made him more sensitive towards the opposite gender. At least, if you compared him with Hugh and Hero. It was very nice of him to offer to row the kayak more so that I can capture our surroundings with Hugh's gopro.

When we finally got to our destination, everyone was famished. Our muscles were aching but it wasn't until the next day when our arms were truly sore. It was close to three in the afternoon and our breakfast had fully digested by now. The table was fairly quiet throughout lunch as everybody was busy shoving food into their mouths.

After satisfying our stomach, we boarded a sightseeing tour bus to cover sights on the ground that we couldn't see when we were on the water. We managed to reach El Dorado beach just in time to catch the sunset.

"So, little miss scholar, have you collected enough new experiences for your writing?" Hugh asked as he put an arm around me without looking away from the view in front of us.

"Plenty." I smiled as I wiped away a tear that escaped from the corner of my eye.

"Awww! Ems! Are you crying?" Nat chuckled as she pulled me into a tight hug.

"Don't cry!" Cheryl joined in and it became a group hug.

Growing up as an only child made me very appreciative of my friends. Not that I don't have a close relationship with my parents, but no matter how close, it is a different kind of closeness with friends. It always felt good to be close with people around my age, growing up together, going through similar experiences together at around the same time. I am very grateful to have met Nat and her friends, who are now my friends too.

I didn't mean to cry but you know how when people try to cheer you up so that you wouldn't cry but then you wound up crying even harder?

A single tear dropped was followed by a few more afterwards.

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Time flies by when you are having fun. Sunday came and it was the last day of our trip. We woke up later than the previous day and had brunch by the beach. After we were done packing our stuff, we got one of the resort staff to help us take a group photo with the beach in the background.