Chuck never had to set an alarm. It was one of the benefits of being a morning person. He usually just woke up around the same time every day, no matter what.

This morning though, when he woke up the events of the previous day felt a bit like a strange dream. It wasn't until he went downstairs for breakfast and saw Ellie that he realised it had all really happened.

"How was your date?" Ellie asked him.

"What are you talking about?" Chuck replied, without turning to look. Chuck was headed to the coffee pot. He needed this morning fix before he could handle his sister's questions.

"With the pretty blonde tourist?" Ellie explained.

"That was not a date," Chuck corrected.

"It was definitely a date."

"Was not."

"Was so."

"Why are you so sure she didn't just want a tour?" Chuck asked.

"Because she was checking you out the entire time," Ellie replied. "I think she followed you into the store and just stood there and listened until you showed up."

"She was browsing," Chuck countered.

"I've worked in that store enough to see the difference between an actual browser and an eavesdropper," Ellie scoffed. "Trust me on this. It was a date."

"We did kinda hold hands and walk on the beach," Chuck admitted. "That is, unless I dreamed it."

"See, date!" Ellie said, gleefully. "How did it end?"

Chuck shrugged. "We walked back to the store and said good night," he said. "That's it."

"Okay, but you know where she is staying," Ellie continued. "And she knows where you work. I bet you'll see her again."

Chuck sighed. He poured his coffee and took a few large gulps.

"Hmm, why is coffee so great first thing in the morning?" Chuck asked no one in particular.

The creak in the stairs announced a new arrival and Chuck turned to see his future brother-in-law come down the stairs. He and Ellie had just graduated from medical school and were home studying and waiting to sit their board exams.

"How far did you get with the blonde last night?" Devon said by way of greeting. Ellie replied by hitting him on the shoulder. "Ow, sorry, I meant how was your romantic date with the blonde last night?"

"My not-a-date was fine," Chuck answered as simply as he could before refilling his coffee cup and escaping to his room.

Chuck loved his bedroom. Ever since he was a teenager he'd always been able to hide in here with his computer. Over the years, he'd invested quite a bit in his tech set up. Today he had three monitors, a glowing gamer keyboard and a high-end graphics card. Ever since he got the graphics card, Chuck had noticed an increase in Morgan's visits. If he didn't know better, he'd say his best friend was using him to play high-def video games.

Unfortunately, Chuck didn't have time for video games this morning. On the off-chance she hadn't been joking, Chuck had decided to show up to the kayak rental place this morning and see if Sarah was there.

He'd left a little bit out when he'd answered his sister. Sarah had said she'd meet him tomorrow for kayaking, she just hadn't mentioned an exact time. He figured being early was better than being late.

Chuck knew she was a tourist and likely to leave town in a couple days. It was hard to imagine a woman as beautiful as Sarah actually being interested in him. He didn't want to set himself up for disappointment. Chuck was going to go kayaking, but he was going to remind himself that he shouldn't be looking for something real with her. This was just going to be fun and besides, it wasn't like he had any other exciting plans for his day off anyway.

Finishing his coffee, Chuck put on his swimming trunks and a t-shirt and then left the safety of his room.

"Going swimming, brother?" his sister said as she saw him leaving by way of the front door.

"Yep, swimming is a thing people do," Chuck told her.

"It's a thing most people do," Ellie called after him. "You mostly play video games."

"I'm allowed to change things up," Chuck yelled back.

"Ah uh," Ellie said at a normal volume. She probably thought Chuck was out of earshot by now. He could tell by her tone that she did not believe he was merely changing it up.

Chuck rolled his eyes. He knew his sister just wanted him to be happy - or in other words, wanted him to get over his high school girlfriend and move on already - but even his parents weren't as meddlesome!

Exiting the house, Chuck put his earbuds in and started his walk to the kayak rental place he and Sarah had been to yesterday. He was about half way through his podcast episode when he reached the shop. No one was here, apart from the guy who ran the place, so Chuck decided to walk along the beach.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was actually shining and the sky was almost completely clear of clouds. The sand under his feet was warm but not hot. The sound of birds filled the air, mingling nicely with the rhythm of the waves. Chuck could not have asked for better weather.

He walked until the rental stand was almost out of sight and then turned back again to walk the other way. Once again in the other direction when the rental stand was out of sight he turned again. Chuck didn't want to miss her if she came, but he also didn't want to just stand around. He'd arrived far too early for that.

It was on his third walk back that he saw her. Sarah was standing beside the kayak rental place leaning against the building as if waiting for him.

Pulling out his phone and pausing his podcast, Chuck took his earbuds out and put them back in their case. The small task helped calm him down. Just the sight of her had his heart racing.

Sarah wasn't wearing a bathing suit, but otherwise she'd dressed in beach appropriate attire. She had on a pair of jean shorts with a skin tight orange tank top. She was wearing a white little shawl thing draped over his shoulders and her long blonde hair was in a ponytail.

Chuck was suddenly wishing he'd worn a different shirt. Looking down he saw the Star Wars logo with a wookiee beside it. Why had he just grabbed without looking! Stupid, stupid.

"Hi," she said, smiling at him.

Chuck felt rather like he was looking at the sun, too dazzling to stare at for long without going blind.

"You're here," Chuck stated.

Sarah laughed. "Don't sound so surprised," she said. "I said I'd be here, didn't I?"

"Um yes, yes you did," Chuck replied. "It's just I- well I was kinda expecting you to um… nevermind." He'd been about to tell her he'd been rather expecting to be stood up, but decided against it.

Their conversation was interrupted by Sarah's huge yawn. "Sorry," she said. "It's just that I don't remember when I last woke up this early."

Chuck smiled at her. "You know the best part of the day is over by noon," he said.

"So I've been told," Sarah replied. "In my experience the day usually starts at noon." She smiled and then added, "But I wanted to go kayaking with you today, so I set an alarm… and then snoozed it about a billion times."

"Well I appreciate the effort," Chuck told her kindly.

"Thanks," she said.

Just then, the guy running the kayak rental kiosk came out and offered them two kayaks, two life jackets and two paddles.

"Do you need a lesson?" he asked.

"I think I can show her," Chuck said. "I may suck at surfing, but a kayak I can manage."

"Kayaking is just sitting and moving your arms," Chuck explained as they walked with their kayaks to the water's edge. "Surfing is standing on a tiny board and hoping it doesn't throw you into the ocean. Way worse. I don't know how Awesome does it."

"Did I hear you wrong," Sarah said. "Or did you just call your sister's boyfriend awesome?"

"Fiancé," Chuck corrected. "And yeah, that's what we call him because he's awesome at just about everything."

"Don't you find that annoying?" Sarah asked.

"We would, but he's kinda cool about it, you know," Chuck continued. "It's just who he is."

Sarah was laughing. Chuck hoped it was in a good way, and not at his strange family.

They reached the water's edge and Chuck placed his kayak down half in the sand so it wouldn't float away. Sarah followed his lead. He then put on his life jacket and made sure his pocket was zipped shut to keep his phone and earbuds safe.

"Okay first thing you need to know is how to get in the kayak," Chuck said. "Though I guess that was obvious, anyway so they can be kinda tippy. You have to use the paddle against the ground to brace the kayak. Like this."

He turned his kayak so it was parallel to the water's edge, then placed his paddle across the little boat with one end against the sand.

"This helps give you some stability while still making it easy to push off from shore once you are settled," Chuck explained. "Then to get out, you kinda do the same thing in reverse. See."

Now in the kayak, Chuck used the paddle for support in the same way to get out again. Looking down while he got out, Chuck noticed something.

"This method is the easiest, but your feet do get wet," he said. "If that's an issue, I bet somewhere around here sells water shoes."

"I don't mind getting my feet wet," Sarah replied.

Chuck made the mistake of looking up. Sarah was smiling at him and he totally forgot what he was saying.

"Umm," he mumbled. "I- umm… what was I saying again?"

She smiled again and even giggled a little before answering. "You were teaching me how to get into a kayak."

"Oh right! Okay so that's how you get in and out, and once you are in we can go out," Chuck babbled. "Out on the water I mean, not like out out or… yeah."

Sarah didn't reply to his ridiculous nervous babbling, but she wasn't upset either. She was just smiling which he supposed was a good thing but it didn't exactly tell him what she was thinking.

"I'll try it," Sarah said.

Chuck watched as she got into the boat with grace and dignity. Neither of which he felt like he had when he'd shown her how to do it. Did this woman have perfect balance or was she just naturally good at everything like Devon? Either that, or she had definitely been kayaking before.

"Great," Chuck told her once she was sitting in her kayak.

"Did I do it right?" she asked.

"Perfect," Chuck told her. He then got into his kayak again, feeling like a gorilla asked to follow a ballerina's act.

"Once in the kayak, it's all about posture," Chuck started talking again when they were both in their kayaks and floating a few feet off shore. "If you lean back and slouch you'll hurt tomorrow, not that I've really done enough kayaking to call myself proficient in the sport, but anyway just kinda sit up straight and make sure your foot rests are set to a comfortable length." He paused as he watched her get herself situated. "Yes, like that. Great. Now we can start paddling."

"Is there a trick to paddling?" Sarah asked.

"Probably," Chuck replied. "But I don't really do the 'for the sack of exercise' type kayaking. I tend to lean towards the 'float on the water and admire the view' type of kayaking."

Sarah giggled lightly, and said. "That works for me."

"The paddle motions I use are basically just the forward, back and turn ones," Chuck continued. "The paddles curve into a scoop so you want to use that to push the water back when you move forward and vice versa when you want to move back."

"What about turning?" Sarah asked.

"Then you just go against the flow of water like this," Chuck turned his paddle and used it to swerve his boat. "Or at least that's how I do it. Not sure if it's the right way."

"Hey if it works, then that's all that matters," Sarah added.

"Yeah I guess that's true," Chuck replied.

He started paddling in no particular direction and he heard Sarah's paddle contact the water behind him.

For a while he led them out on the water. This area was part of the Pacific Ocean, but the water was calm and shallow here, making it feel more like a lake during low tide. It would be hours before they'd have to worry about high tide making the water more turbulent. Chuck made sure to keep the shore in sight on his right so they didn't get lost. When they were ready to go back all he'd have to do is keep the shore in his sight on his left to return to the beach.

Despite his general distaste for exercise there was something about kayaking that Chuck really enjoyed. The air smelled like seaweed, salt and seagulls. There was even a little seaweed floating nearby as they kept moving. Chuck warned Sarah not to get it tangled into her paddle as they moved through it. Right now it was all clumped together but when the tide came in it would stand tall.

The shore on their right changed as they moved through the water. The beach turned into woods with far off mountains behind them.

"It's been a long time since I felt so out in the open, and yet being on the water feels very private, too," Sarah commented after a long time went by without either of them talking.

"That kinda sums it up," Chuck agreed.

The sun was high in the sky now and shining down on them. Chuck realized he'd forgotten his sunblock. If the clouds didn't show up soon, he was gonna get burned.

"The weather isn't usually this nice," Chuck explained while their boats were positioned side by side with just enough room between them for the paddles. "Most of the time, it rains."

"So I've heard," Sarah replied. "I must have gotten lucky with the timing of my vacation."

"Either that or you brought the good weather with you," Chuck laughed.

They didn't talk again for a while as they paddled down the shore. Chuck decided to go out a ways to make sure the water didn't get too shallow. At this distance the shoreline seemed almost as much like a beautiful view as the horizon.

"It's breathtaking," Sarah sighed. Chuck agreed with her but said nothing more.

Even someone as chatty as Chuck could recognize the need to stop and smell the roses, as it were. With scenery and weather like this, words weren't needed.

Water splashed onto the kayak as he paddled. Just small drops usually, but every now and then a bigger splash would cool him off. Absently licking his lips, Chuck could taste the salt from the ocean.

He stopped paddling for a moment as the sun moved out from a cloud and bathed them both in sunlight. Holding his paddle perpendicular across his lap, Chuck leaned his head back and closed his eyes, soaking in the sunlight.

Chuck didn't often spend the day out on the water like this. He couldn't remember the last time he had. It was a very touristy thing and hardly ever something he bothered with. Chuck preferred to spend his time when he wasn't working at home on his computer, but today out here with Sarah the sun suddenly felt wonderful.

He turned to look and saw that Sarah had stopped to take in the sunlight as well.

"I'm gonna have such a tan," she laughed.

"I forgot my sunblock," Chuck added. "So I'm expecting to be burnt tomorrow."

Sarah laughed. "I thought it was a tourist mistake to forget their sunblock," she said. "Aren't you locals supposed to know better?"

"We are," Chuck agreed. He didn't really want to admit he'd been too nervous about their meetup to think of such trifles as sunblock. As it was, he was still unimpressed that he'd accidentally worn his Star Wars shirt.

When they approached the big rock with the funny notch in it, Chuck suggested they turn around.

"How come?" Sarah asked.

"Well, it will take us at least as long to get back as it took to get here," Chuck explained. "And I've never been past this rock, so I don't really know what we are in for."

"I supposed that's fair," Sarah replied but she seemed disappointed.

"If we get back and still want to keep going we can always go in the other direction," Chuck said.

"Alright," Sarah agreed. Her tone told him he'd said the right thing. She was happy again. He wasn't sure if she was trying to extend their time together or if she was just enjoying the kayaking. He supposed it was probably the latter.

But whatever the reason, when they returned to the place they started, Sarah wanted to head in the opposite direction. Chuck didn't want to complain and say he would have eaten a bigger breakfast if he'd known she wanted to be out on the water all day.

Instead, he kept the shore on his left side as they continued kayaking well past noon.

So this chapter was actually longer but then I realized it was too long so I decided to split their date into two chapters.

Also do you like the name? For this story I've been picking the chapter title using a clip from the chapter and 'Star Wars' seemed like the least relevant phrase to describe it so, of course, I had to pick it. lol. ^_^ Next chapters almost done so it shouldn't be much of a wait for another one, unless life throws me a major curveball.