I am swimming in a secluded pond when a hiker happens upon me. He stops and stares and says, "That looks refreshing." I told him it was and he was welcome to join me. He said he didn’t have anything to swim in. I just shrugged and said that’s too bad. I could see the disappointment on his face. So I felt sorry for him and told him it was a big pond and he could join me. I turned around and asked him to let me know when he was in the water and it was safe to look.

I barely heard him enter the water, but he was being a gentleman and he told me I could turn around. The water glistening off his bare chest was a delightful sight. I tried really hard to not stare at him. I enjoy looking at the human body though, and I’m afraid I didn’t succeed. He dove under the water and I was nervous wondering what he was going to do. However, he remained the perfect gentleman and never came too close to me. We both started laughing at the same time, we had both realized we hadn’t even introduced ourselves. I said, "Hi, my name is Ginni," as we shook hands. At exactly the same time he said, "My name is Hap." He had very warm hands and a strong grip. I looked into his eyes the whole time. He had beautiful eyes, so blue you could drown in them. He had a great smile and his laughter was very infectious. He seemed to make the place brighter. A moment of awkwardness occurred as he wondered if he should move away, and I wondered if I should ask him too. We just kind of each took one step back and smiled at each other. We complimented each other on our looks and on our personalities. Then we started to laugh again, we both agreed this was worse than a first or a blind date. We swam around and just enjoyed each others company for about half an hour. I had been in longer and was getting a little chilled despite the warmth, so I started to walk out of the pond. I picked up my towel that was laying nearby and wrapped it around me - laying down on the blanket. I was just getting comfortable when he asked me if I had another towel. I told him no - but hang on and I’d let him borrow this one. I walked down and put the towel on a branch, and then turned around. He waited for me to turn around and then swiftly got out of the pond. I went back and sat down on my blanket, and told him I was going to lay down for a spell. He said, "Okay," and actually came and lay down beside me. We didn’t touch - we just lay there - enjoying the calmness. I think we both drifted off to sleep, because we turned to look at each other at the same time. He got up and walked over to where his clothes were, went behind the bushes and when he came back out, he was dressed. I had taken the time to put on my shorts and t-shirt. We thanked each other for the good time we’d had and admitted there were few people we could feel comfortable with. We exchanged names and numbers and agreed to meet for lunch or dinner soon.

I won’t say there wasn’t chemistry between us, because there was, we just didn’t act on it. Sometimes, just knowing the feeling is there is enough, and sometimes it is not. I know that if we had chosen to act on our attraction that it would have been very exciting.