Message-ID: <58995asstr$1242407404@assm.asstr.org>
From: Jais Nereis <JaisNereis@yahoo.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 03:19:21 +0000 (UTC)
Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com
Injection-Info: d25g2000prn.googlegroups.com; posting-host=222.127.245.29; 
	posting-account=zCDutgoAAAAX_veBO7CzyGh9tPbfL63L
User-Agent: G2/1.0
Subject: {ASSM} Mornings on Horseback 18/22 by Rachael Ross (mmf, Rom, Cons, Bi,  Oral, Anal, Caution)
Lines: 975
Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 13:10:04 -0400
Path: assm.asstr.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Mornings on Horseback
by Rachael Ross

Chapter Eighteen



We'd found a book called "Backpacking New York City" at the bus
station in Albany, which was a small one. It had been like four in the
morning or something, but a little shop had been open and we'd found
that book in a spinning bookrack near the register. It was basically
for college kids who were looking for cheap food, cheap lodging, and
cheap thrills while they visited the city. It was perfect for us and
we'd used it to find our way to a hostel, which was a word I'd never
even heard of before. I just figured the book had misspelled hotel,
you know, like a hundred times. But they hadn't, and the place was
cheap and clean enough, and the guy running the hostel didn't even bat
an eye when we told him we all wanted to stay in the same room; and
just one bed? Perfect.

He thought we were from Holland at first, since I guess we had funny
accents or something, and he'd wanted to see our passports. I didn't
even have a driver's license though, so I showed him my library card
and he got a good laugh out of that. I didn't know if I should have
been embarrassed or not, so I just smiled prettily and he gave us a
room for twenty-six dollars a night and even knocked off ten percent
when we told him we could pay cash for five nights in advance. He
liked cash a lot, I guess, and even though it used up a lot of our
money right away, we figured at least we'd have a home for a few days.

The hostel, called the New Berlin for some reason, was in Greenwich
Village, which hadn't been all that hard to get to, since we had that
handy book. We took the subway, which was pretty fun but super crowded
since it was like seven in the morning by then. We'd had some
breakfast at the bus station, in a little restaurant there and I think
that was because we were just a bit nervous and wanted to think about
it before we actually hit the streets. We only got lost once when we
sort of missed a stop, but that was okay. I bet a lot of people get
lost in a big city like that, especially new people like us.

We'd picked the New Berlin mostly cause it was in Greenwich and the
book said everybody had to go there because it was the coolest place
in New York. So we figured if we had to go there, well, we might as
well stay there, right? It's in Manhatten anyway, and so that was
pretty cool all by itself. Like who wouldn't want to go there? I
didn't know much about New York, but I'd heard of Manhatten for sure.

We'd walked to the hostel, since it wasn't far from the train station
where we got off. And while a lot of people were staring at me, and I
did feel pretty self-conscious walking around in my cheerleading
outfit, I was busy staring at the buildings. I swear, if Mark and
Chris hadn't been holding my hands and leading me around, I would have
gotten run over probably. Or at least bumped into a lot of people. I
just couldn't stop looking up and we weren't even where the really
tall buildings were, they were like a mile or two up the street, but
they were still so tall it was amazing! I just wished the World Trade
Center buildings were still there, but I know everybody wishes that,
and it made me pretty sad knowing I'd never see those except in
pictures and movies.

So, we got our room and it was so cool, all of it, that I pretty much
forgot to be homesick. I mean, I was running away with my two
boyfriends, and now sharing a room with them, a bed and a little
bathroom, and nobody was going to bother us. We could do whatever we
wanted for the first time in our lives. Of course, the first thing we
wanted to do was go to bed. We were really tired, for one thing, but
we weren't going to sleep right away, either. I could count on one
hand the times I'd actually had sex with both of my boyfriends in a
real bed, and still have a thumb left over, so this was like heaven.

And now it was four days later, Sunday morning, and I'd woken up in
that room, in that city, and part of me really sort of wished I'd
opened my eyes and seen my own bedroom back home. I could have
stretched and smiled and thought to myself that I'd just had the
weirdest dream ever and I'd want to remember it so I could tell Mark
and Chris, but I'd forget, the way I always did. That would be okay
though, because even though I wouldn't be the Homecoming Queen, I
wouldn't have been raped either. Yeah, if only it had all been a
dream.

Another part of me though, maybe the bad girl part, cause I new I had
one, she was thinking it was pretty nice running away from home. I was
grown up now, a real woman and sharing my bed with Mark and Chris.
We'd had sex that first day, both of them with me, and then we'd
fallen asleep. We didn't have to pretend anything anymore. Mark and
Chris could be in love, I could kiss them whenever I wanted, and we
could just have fun and be in love and do all the stuff we couldn't
ever do back in Iroquois County. That wasn't a terrible thing to wake
up to either, except for all the little things...Like we were high
school drop-out runaways without jobs or friends or anything.

That was a little scary.

But the truth was that we knew we weren't going to be there that long.
How could we be? We weren't running away from our homes, we were just
running away from some trouble which wasn't really ours in the first
place. Once our parents sorted the problem out, we'd go back home and
doubtless face an orchestra full of music. I didn't even want to think
about the questions I'd have to answer about stuff like my birth
control pills. For the moment though, we were more like on a little
vacation than anything else. We were young and free and I'd probably
end up grounded for the rest of my life when I went home, so I was
going to do as much as I could before then.

I don't know if Mark felt the same way or not, since he really did
feel a need to take care of me. My need was more like I wanted to have
fun. Chris, what was going to happen with him? That was the big
question mark for us. We just didn't know what was going to happen.
For all we knew his mom and dad could get arrested. If we could come
home again, it would mean someone somewhere had figured out what was
going on, and that wouldn't be too good for Georgie and his wife, and
so it wouldn't be too good for Chris either. We hadn't talked about it
yet, but it was there waiting like a bad dream.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Whew! I feel better!" I giggled as I dried myself off and Mark was
frowning.

"Don't get the towel all wet!" he said.

"How am I not gonna get it wet?" I stuck out my tongue at him. "I
gotta dry my hair."

"Yeah, but..." Mark was standing in the shower, soaking wet and just
sort of brushing water off himself.

"You think I should cut my hair?" I wiped the mirror, which was just a
little fogged. "Would I look good with short hair?"

"No, don't cut your hair," Mark told me seriously. "I love your hair."

"Really?" I paused and looked at him because I didn't know that.

"Yeah, seriously," Mark nodded and we both looked at each other for
about ten seconds and then we laughed.

"Okay," I shrugged. "I guess I won't cut my hair then."

"Good." Mark finally got the towel away from me, but he was almost dry
anyway.

"What about Chrissy?" I asked Mark.

I was checking out my face in the mirror and we'd been eating so much
junk food I was getting a little worried about pimples. I didn't get
one very often, but when I did I totally hated it. I heard some people
never got any, but I found that hard to believe. Then again, I'd never
seen Chris get one, but I hadn't known him that long either, so it
didn't mean anything. Mark had a bunch of pimples when he fifteen, but
I think he just matured so fast that he zipped through puberty like it
was a week long or something. He didn't get hardly any now.

"He can't cut his hair either," Mark told me matter of factly and I
giggled.

"He can't?" I was looking at Mark's reflection in the mirror.

"Nope, I won't let him," Mark said. "He's seriously sexy with his hair
just like it is."

"Yeah," I had to agree with that.

"Sometimes I wish he was a girl," Mark said and that made me blink. "I
mean, I love him as a boy and everything, but..." Mark shrugged, "...I
dunno."

"He's afraid you think he's girly." I turned around so I could face
Mark directly. "You don't say that to him, do you?"

"What?" Mark frowned at me. "No! Of course not and I don't mean it
like he seems like a girl, I just mean...Uh, well, he seems like a girl,
I guess. Sometimes."

"So he does and he doesn't? What?" I stared at Mark and I'd never
known him to be confused about anything.

"Chris is a guy, yeah," Mark said, like he was talking to both himself
and me, trying to reason it out. "But when we're together, he's
Chrissy, you know? And he just..."

Mark couldn't find the right words and it was frustrating him. He
sighed and shrugged.

"He feels like I do?" I offered, thinking maybe I almost understood.
"I mean when you're with me, it feels the same as..."

"With him? Yeah, like that," Mark smiled and nodded. "He feels like
you do to me. That's pretty dumb, huh?"

"No," I made a face. "Not at all, I understand."

"You do?" Mark looked a little surprised.

"Of course," I giggled. "So does Chris, believe me. He knows he's not
like you."

"Yeah," Mark had finished drying himself and we just kind of stood
there.

"But he's definitely not a girl," I said.

"Yeah, I know," Mark smiled. "He'd be a good one though, wouldn't he?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "But he's better as a boy."

"Yeah," Mark sucked his lips for a moment. "He is. I really love him."

"I know," I said and this was real serious all of a sudden, but I
wasn't sure why. "I love him too."

"I mean, I...Sometimes I don't say it when I want to," Mark looked down
for a second. "I don't want to hurt you."

"What?" I rolled my eyes. "I know you love him. I want you too, okay?
You won't hurt me."

"Are you sure?" Mark asked me. "I love you both so much, sometimes I
can't tell you apart. Inside, I mean. I just..."

"Mark," I sighed, "would you leave me for him?"

"What?" he blinked at me. "No, of course not."

"Would you leave him for me?" I asked and he frowned.

"I don't know. I'd, um..." he started and touched his lips with my
fingers.

"No, you wouldn't," I said seriously. "That's why you can't tell us
apart."

"Steph." Mark had his eyes closed and I stepped close enough to kiss
his chest, his big strong heart.

"You know what that means?" I asked him softly, looking up and forcing
him to open his eyes and see me.

"What?" he breathed.

"It means you have to marry us both," I smiled. "Cause me and Chris
already decided were not gonna let you go."

"You did?" Mark was smiling again, finally. "When did you guys decide
that?"

"When I was getting my pills," I shrugged. "I don't know what's wrong
with you guys. He was more worried than you are."

"Why?" Mark had his arms around me, still holding his forgotten towel.

"I dunno," I giggled. "But I like watching you with him, okay? He
makes us complete."

"He looks good with you too," Mark sighed and then we were kissing and
our little crisis was over. Silly boys.

"Well, I'm glad we got that straightened out!" I laughed a few seconds
later and Mark just made a face and let me go.

"Hey." Mark was getting dressed and so was I, except I was mostly
eating a donut too, since Chris was nice enough to leave them for us.

"Hey what?" I stopped chewing.

"In the shower, you said something about, um..." Mark was all full of
strange thoughts today and I gave him a curious look.

Probably it was all the responsibility he must have been feeling and I
wished I knew how to make it easier. I wanted to take care of him just
as much as he wanted to take care of me, and it was the same with
Chris, I was sure. We were all trying so hard to grow up and I was
just starting to understand how young we really were.

"I said what about what?" I took another bite.

"...Getting pregnant," Mark was smiling at me. "What was that about?"

"Oh!" I giggled and maybe blushed a little, but I wasn't really shy
about it. "I just like it, sometimes," I shrugged. "I like to think
about having your baby."

"Really?" Mark looked so innocent suddenly, like a little boy and I
stared at him.

"Yeah, I can't wait." I felt soft inside. "We're gonna have kids,
right?"

"I never...Yeah," Mark smiled. "Wow."

"Wow?" I giggled.

"Yeah, I just..." Mark looked like something soft and heavy had just
landed on his head. "...Okay. Yeah."

"After we're married though," I drank some milk. "Or my dad will kill
us."

"Oh sure, right," Mark agreed.

"And I want to have Chris' babies too, a lot of them," I said. "Like a
dozen, yours and his. Ours."

"A dozen kids?" Mark laughed.

"Sure. What's wrong with that?" I stuck out my tongue a little. "Why?
How many do you want?"

"Ummm..." Mark scratched his head and he was all dressed now, except his
shoes. "...I want a donut."

"A donut?" I rolled my eyes.

"And you need to get dressed," Mark grinned at me. "Chris is in Derek
and Elsa's room, remember?"

"You think they're teaching him German?" I giggled.

"More like teaching him French, probably." Mark picked up a big cream
filled donut and those were way too sweet for me.

"Heh," I opened a plastic bag which was serving as my closet and dug
out some new panties. "Chris could give French lessons, believe me."

"Yeah, yeah." Mark gave me a cream-filled smile cause he knew exactly
what I was talking about. "I'm just saying, the way Elsa looks at him,
she might want some lessons."

"And the way Derek looks at me?" I pulled up my panties, little white
bikini underwear with a little pink bow. "You're not getting jealous
are you?"

"Me?" Mark knew I was teasing him.

"Chris wouldn't do anything anyway," I laughed.

"But if he did?" Mark asked and he'd finished his donut quick, so he
was reaching for another.

"I'd want to watch, wouldn't you?" I was pulling on some new jeans,
which were actually old and super comfortable.

We'd gotten most of our new clothes from a place that sold used
clothes, like a thrift shop back home, except this place was called a
Vintage Clothier and they charged more than the stuff had cost new.
But it was so comfortable though! I swear; those jeans fit me like I'd
owned them for three years, even better than that, since I'd grown
about a foot taller since I was thirteen. These jeans never would have
fit me then, or the top I was putting on, which was a real pink angora
sweater that my Grandma might have worn in high school, and I figured
I'd just never take it off again. It was warm and soft and, I don't
know, like wearing a cloud, and the way my nipples rubbed the fabric
was insane! I'd given up on bras mostly since getting to the City.

"Oh yeah," Mark said with his mouth full. "I love watching."

"Yeah, right!" I laughed, but it was mostly true, Mark did like to
watch, but he was pretty big on the doing part too.

"What? You think I'd get jealous?" Mark asked, misunderstanding me.

"I don't know," I said. "Would you?"

"Hmmm..." Mark grinned and shook his head. "No, not really. I have to
love him, just like I love you, so..."

"Yeah," I giggled and really wished I had that much confidence.

Mark had always been like that and I'd always struggled to keep up
with him. It was a trust thing and I believed him. I wouldn't want to
be jealous and maybe I wouldn't even have a right to be, since I
didn't own my boyfriends, but we were changed now. I could feel it.
Maybe we did belong to each other and I thought this was something
we'd have to talk about sometime. Mark and I had been pretty open
about stuff before, but people change. Relationships change and I
couldn't help being possessive, especially now that it was just us in
this strange city.

Still, seeing Chris with Elsa? Hmmm...That would be kinda hot,
especially if Derek was flirting with me the way he usually did and if
Mark was right there, watching...Oh!

Mark didn't say anything; he just ate donuts while I brushed my hair
and made myself pretty for him and Chris, which was a real pleasure.
I'd never had a lot of makeup and I didn't need it, except during a
pageant of course, but it was still pretty fun now that I could buy
whatever I wanted. I was experimenting, sort of, and once in awhile
I'd go a little overboard. Less was definitely more for me, I'd
figured that much out, and so a little lipstick and maybe a bit of
blush, a tiny bit of eye shadow, and...

"Are you done yet?" Mark had finished the donuts a few minutes ago and
he was trying to be patient.

"Sorry," I giggled. "How do I look?"

"Like you did ten minutes ago," Mark grinned at me.

"Heh!" I stuck my tongue out at him. I knew I looked pretty great,
even if he wouldn't say so. "Don't forget the room key."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Derek and Elsa were from Germany, which was way cool cause I'd never
met anyone from much farther away than Albany before. They were cool
too, like real bohemians kind of, doing whatever they wanted and just
traveling around for a year or so before they had to go back home and
start college. To hear them talk, it seemed like a lot of kids did
that over there in Europe. Maybe a lot of people did it in the States
too, but I didn't know of any personally, not like them.

Derek wasn't tall, but Elsa was. She was even taller than me, but only
by an inch or so, and thin with bony wrists and hips. She had blonde
hair, like white gold, and it was naturally curly, kind of frizzy
actually, and she just pulled it back into a short ponytail mostly.
Elsa was cute, mostly because of her smile, and she had deep dimples
and high cheeks. When she smiled it was like her face just changed
suddenly, as if she'd taken off a mask and you could see the real
Elsa, who probably should have been like six years old her whole life.
That's what she seemed like to me anyway, a little girl who got stuck
in a big girl's body.

Elsa's boyfriend, Derek, was kind of small actually, not a midget or
anything, but just...Small. He couldn't have been much taller than five
feet and he had darker hair, mostly brown, but with blonde in it too
and I didn't know if he dyed it like that, or if his hair just
couldn't decide what it was supposed to be. He looked kinda scruffy,
like he was in a rush or something, you know? Maybe he woke up late
and didn't have time to comb his hair or shave or anything. He had
kind of a beard, but not really. Just a long growth of hair on his jaw
and upper lip. Probably he trimmed it like that cause it never seemed
to get any longer or shorter. I thought he was pretty cute, actually.
He looked like a lost puppy and Derek was always laughing about
something. He made me giggle constantly just cause he had a permanent
good mood thing going on.

We'd met them the day after we'd arrived at the hostel and their room
was right next to ours. Elsa made a lot of noise when they had sex and
I'd been a little embarrassed about it the first time I'd happen to
bump into them; all of us leaving our rooms at the same time. Derek
had just grinned at us though and given Mark a thumbs up, which was
momentarily confusing until I realized our neighbors had probably
heard us having sex too. It wasn't like the place had real thick walls
or anything. We'd ended up sitting outside on this little veranda
thing, overlooking an alley in the back and drinking some wine that
Derek had bought. It was pretty fun and like nothing I'd ever
experienced before. Sitting around, drinking wine. Weird. And just
about one glass was enough to make me laugh at anything and we'd all
had a lot more than just one.

That was how we met our German friends and we'd been hanging out with
them on and off for the last three days, mostly at night. Derek and
Elsa sure liked their wine too, I swear; they always had a couple
bottles it seemed like. I'd pretty much stuck with apple juice after
that first night; I hadn't felt too good the next morning.

We all liked each other, but Chris got along with Derek and Elsa
especially well, mostly because they liked the same books. I'd never
read a whole lot, even though I liked reading okay, and Mark wouldn't
read a book unless you glued one to his face. Chris loved to read
though and I felt a little bad realizing how much Chris wanted to
share that with someone and he hadn't been able to with me or Mark. It
made me a little jealous too, you know? Just because he would get so
excited talking with Derek about something, and Elsa too, except she
would talk in German mostly and Derek had to translate.

They made us feel kind of dumb actually, Mark and me, but not on
purpose. I just wished I knew enough to say something without being
afraid I'd sound like an idiot. Mark too, I thought, and we'd kind of
sit there and smile and enjoy Chrissy's pleasure at discussing people
I never heard of before, like Bertolt Brecht. Who's he? They skipped
that guy in my English classes. Derek gave Chris a little book called
'The Three Penny Opera' and Chris was so excited he spent most of the
night reading it to me and Mark while we were laying in our bed. Mark
fell asleep and I just really liked cuddling up with Chris and
listening to him read. I couldn't tell you what the story was about,
but Chris enjoyed it and I enjoyed him.

Anyway, it was pretty obvious that Elsa liked Chris a lot, Derek did
too, but Elsa wasn't hiding her desires and I was surprised by how
little that bothered me. She'd say things to him in German and while
we didn't know what she was saying, the tone of her voice made it
pretty obvious, and Derek would laugh and refuse to translate for us.
It was a serious tease and Chris was really self-conscious at first,
but Mark and I just pretended not to notice mostly, and I even tried
to encourage him. Elsa and Derek had both enjoyed that and they knew
we were in love, the same way they were with each other.

Derek liked to give me a lot of attention too. Even as I sat close to
Mark or Chris, being wrapped up in my boyfriend's arms, the German
would smile and tease me with sexual innuendo. Being a little drunk
made it all okay somehow and I was looking forward to the night when
we'd finally push it to the obvious conclusion. The only question was
if it would happen before our new friends left for Canada. They were
planning on leaving in just a couple days and I think we'd all miss
them as Derek and Elsa were our only real friends in the City.

It was late when Mark knocked on the door, at least by what we were
accustomed to. Sleeping in until eight on a Sunday morning was pretty
unheard of in our families. But now that we were away from home, by
the time we'd finished with our fun and games, in bed and out, it was
almost eleven o'clock. This running away business was seriously
spoiling me.

"It is the dirty girl!" Derek opened his door wide and I blushed,
smiling back at him.

"Hi Derek," I echoed Mark and the German stood aside to let us into
the room he and Elsa shared.

"Did it hurt?" Chris was asking Elsa and they were sitting on her
unmade bed. I was a little surprised to see the girl had pulled her t-
shirt above her smallish breasts and I kinda stared for a second.

"Hurt?" Elsa smiled. "Nein...No...Is goot, ja?"

"What are you guys doing?" Mark walked over, probably just so he could
get a better view of Elsa's boobs, I figured.

"Check it out, dude. Her nipples are pierced," Chris grinned at Mark
and then nodded to Elsa. "Yeah, it looks real good. Very pretty."

"Pretty!" Elsa was licking her lips and making all kinds of eyes at my
boyfriend and I didn't mind.

"You sit down, Stephanie. Here." Derek was holding my arm gently and
he always liked to touch me. I didn't mind that either. "You want to
ride the horses today?

It always took me a few seconds to decipher what Derek said, even
though his English was pretty good. It sounded like he asked, "Oo vant
to rid ze horsies today?" and it made me giggle a little.

"Yeah, I do," I agreed quickly and I was sitting in the only chair in
the room while Derek knelt in front of me, digging through his big
backpack.

"I know the place," he told me. "In Central Park. But it is expensive.
It costs a lot of money to ride the horses."

"I don't care," I shrugged. "As long as they take a credit card."

Derek was digging through some brochures, a lot of them, fanned out
like a thick, awkward, and odd sized deck of cards. He was looking for
one in particular, the one that had information about renting horses
in Central Park and he grinned when he found it, putting the others
away and then opening it so he could spread it out over my thighs like
a small map.

"Oh yes!" he nodded and he was very serious about it, which was always
funny. "The credit card is always good."

On the bed Mark and Chris were both fondling Elsa's tits and I glanced
over at them, shaking my head as the girl giggled and my boyfriends
just smiled at each other.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, just to see if it was even
possible to distract them.

"Huh?" Mark looked at me and then Chris turned his head as well.

"Oh, uh, Elsa said it was okay." Chris actually turned a little pink
and I laughed at him.

"I bet she did," I nodded.

"You like to do that?" Derek asked me, sitting literally at my feet
with his hands on my knees, and I wasn't sure what he meant.

"What? Feel Elsa's, uh...boobs?" I blinked at the man and he laughed.

"No, no...How to say, uh...Poke the holes, you see?" He was trying to find
the right words, but I wasn't sure there were any.

"Oh, pierce my nipples?" I shook my head. "No. I like my nipples just
like they are."

"They are nice, yes?" Derek was staring at my chest and all I was
wearing was that tight pink sweater.

"Really nice," I giggled. "You should see them sometime."

"Now?" Derek asked and I rolled my eyes.

"No, not now! Tonight, okay?" I tilted my head. "We have to ride the
horses now."

"Tonight?" Derek licked his lips and I giggled cause he was smiling.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Or this afternoon. I don't know."

"Good! Yes, we have a date!" He was happy enough and he started
talking rapidly in German and Elsa squealed, which only confused all
of us.

"What did you say to him?" Mark looked at me.

"Uh..." I shrugged, "...I said he could see my tits later."

"Heh!" Chris gave me sort of a disbelieving look, but Elsa had pulled
him back to her breasts, pressing her own hands over my boyfriend's so
that they could massage her body together. She was seriously into
having her tits played with. Or Elsa was seriously into Chris, I
should say.

"You see? This is the place..." Derek was talking to me, drawing his
finger over the brochure, the cartoon like map of Central Park as it
sat on my legs.

Derek's left hand was sliding back and forth along my right thigh,
while I could feel his right hand moving across the glossy paper and
he was so cute, that small foreign man, smiling up at me and talking
in his guttural accented English. Mark had come over, bending behind
me, his hands on my shoulders and it hadn't made Derek uncomfortable
in his teasing at all.

We had to get going, I thought, because any second Elsa and Chris were
going to start making out and then we'd all be doing it, probably. I
could feel it in the air, like static electricity building up, making
the short thin hair on the back of neck stand up and I felt my heart
going a little quicker. It was fun, feeling that sense of
anticipation, knowing what was going to happen and feeling out of
control. Derek was going to kiss me soon, Mark watching and holding
me, and after that...

"We have to get going," I decided. "We have to go riding."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It was a nice day outside, early autumn in New York, and getting to
Central Park was pretty easy, especially since Derek and Elsa had
already been there. We just followed them, not going really fast as we
walked the narrow winding streets of Greenwich Village towards a
subway station. It was going to be a short ride up to Central Park,
since that was in Manhatten too, and it might have been a nice walk,
but probably a long one too. The place was kind of big, even though it
seemed small and claustrophobic the way everything was crowded
together.

I walked with Mark and Derek, holding their hands while Chris and Elsa
followed behind us. She just wasn't letting go of my boyfriend and
I'll admit to just a little jealousy, but only because I was having
fun experiencing the city and I wanted to share it with him. Derek was
great though, talking non-stop and making me laugh, Mark too as we
asked Derek what Germany was like and how it was different in Europe
than it was here. I kind of wished I could go there because he made
all the places he'd been sound so exciting, like Berlin and Paris and
Amsterdam. They all seemed pretty great the way Derek described them.

I'd never thought about traveling before, being content to stay home
for the most part and be a small town girl in the country. But there
was something intoxicating about being a part of the whole world,
cause that's what it felt like. Sometimes it was like we weren't even
in the United States anymore, we'd see a shop or a restaurant, and all
the signs would be written in some other language and they'd be
selling food or items that I didn't recognize. People would walk past
us, or we'd walk by them, talking in some language that I could only
guess at. Wearing clothes that I'd only seen on television or
magazines. It felt very much like going to a huge carnival and I loved
it.

Finally, on the subway, I managed to insinuate myself between Elsa and
Chris. It was crowded, standing room only on that little train, which
seemed strange cause it was a Sunday, but I guess everyone wanted to
go to Central Park or something. It made sense though, since it was
such a nice day and so far as I could tell, that was about the only
place that actually had some trees. The brochure had made it look
pretty nice anyway, plus there were a lot of museums and stuff all
around it and so I could understand why everyone would want to go
there. It made me realize how little I'd appreciated living in
Iroquois County, where I could walk out my back door and lie down
under a big oak tree anytime I felt like it.

I sorta missed that tree...And everything else, but I didn't dwell on
it. I never had the sense that any of this was permanent in any way.
Even the night we'd gotten on the bus, when I'd been scared and
confused and trying my best not to show it, part of me knew that I'd
be back. This was just a vacation, a romantic getaway for me and my
two boyfriends, and I needed to enjoy it as much as I could. I wanted
to see and do everything, you know? I'd have so much to answer for
when I got home. My parents would be happy and relieved and totally
mad at me, I knew that, and my dad would ground me forever. So I
really had to make this time count! I was in New York City with Mark
and Chris, and...God, I was so in love with everything right then.
Everything and everyone; like I was gonna burst open with all of it.

"What do you think?" I asked Chris softly, looking almost level into
his beautiful blue eyes as I stood close, pressing my body to his with
my arms around his neck.

"I think I want to stay here forever," he smiled and his hands were on
my hips, squeezing me.

Derek and Elsa were standing close to the doors, looking out the
window and talking. Mark was behind me, sandwiching me between my two
boyfriends nicely as the subway swayed noisily along the tracks. He
was the one holding Chris and me up.

"The place is like a circus," Mark said. "All it needs is some
elephants."

I laughed at that. "There's a zoo at the park," I looked over my
shoulder, smiling up at Mark. "They probably got a couple."

"Too bad the Yankees aren't playing. That would be fun," Mark sighed
and I didn't think he was impressed with the city as much as Chris and
I were.

"Yeah, Yankee Stadium," Chris nodded. "That would be great."

"Baseball?" I rolled my eyes. "Next time we runaway we'll do it in the
summer, okay?"

"There's gonna be a next time?" Chris giggled and I had to kiss him
for that. I loved the sound.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The Claremont Riding Academy was the place to get horses in Central
Park, except they didn't really have any for rent. It used to be a
riding school, until a couple years ago, now it was just a livery and
stable for rich people, because apparently you had to be rich to have
a horse in the middle of New York City. The good news was that even
rich people couldn't ride their horses all the time and so the rest of
the time they rented their horses out, at least some of them did. The
bad news was that you needed to make a reservation like a year in
advance or something. There were like ten million people in New York
and so I guess it made sense that a lot of people would want to go
riding on a beautiful autumn Sunday.

I know I did.

"I'm sorry, honey. We're just booked solid." A woman was looking at
her computer screen and shaking her head. She was kind of old and very
nice, but she couldn't do anything about it.

I was leaning on the counter, frowning and holding my chin in my
palms, propped up on my elbows like it was the end of the world. I
kinda bounced my right toe off the floor behind me and Mark was right
next to me, standing up straight. Chris to my left, his hand rubbing
my back and I knew my boyfriends felt bad about it, not cause they
wanted to ride, but because they knew I did.

"If you want to wait, I suppose someone might cancel," the woman said,
but her voice made it sound like that didn't happen too awfully often.

"Okay," I nodded sadly, and then remembered my manners and thanked her
before walking back outside.

I could smell all the horses, and the straw and the alfalfa they fed
them. I heard them too, and watched as people rode past us, adults and
children all smiling and happy. Some of them knew what they were
doing; some of them looked like they'd never sat on a horse before in
their lives. A lot of them were dressed like English nobles out for a
fox hunt or something. That was weird and I shook my head at them.

I didn't know why it was so important to me to go riding, but it was.
Maybe cause it was a little piece of home, you know? It wouldn't be
the same as riding out to Talbot Pond on Carmy, but still, not being
able to ride at all was making me really homesick.

Derek and Elsa had gone off for a walk, going to the zoo or something.
They weren't interested in riding and I wondered if they had horses in
Germany. I guessed they must have, but I'd never heard of any Germans
famous for riding horses. I'd never even heard of a German breed of
horse, but that didn't mean anything. I'd never heard of a lot of
stuff, I was sure. My mind was wandering. Chris and Mark sat with me
for a bit, but I wasn't much for talking and they weren't able to
cheer me up, so they decided to go find us something to eat, some
hotdogs maybe, since there were venders all over.

That just reminded me of home too. Not hotdog venders, but food, just
because my mom, like Mark's, always seemed to think that eating was
the best cure for sadness. Like if something was bothering you and you
couldn't do anything else about it, well...Eat something. It won't fix
the problem, but at least you'd have something to do. I know it
doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's true just the same and so Mark's
first instinct, after giving me some hugs and comfort, was to find me
something to eat. I missed my mom.

"What? No, I'm here already. Where are you?" a girl sat down on the
bench next to me, talking into a celphone. "What are you doing there?
Sailing? You said you'd go riding with me!"

The woman was older than me, but not old at all, maybe twenty or
something and dressed in her English gentry riding costume. I kind of
watched her from the corner of my eyes, not wanting to stare or
anything while she was busy being unhappy. Someone was standing her
up, from what I could tell.

"You promised me!" she was saying, crossing her legs and tapping a
foot impatiently.

She wore dark pants, so smooth I couldn't see any seams or anything,
not even buttons or a zipper on the front, although I didn't look
really close or anything, but you know. They were tucked into some
high black boots, gleaming leather and someone had spent some time
shining them up. The woman wore a blouse under a tight jacket, dark
like her pants with three silver buttons to close it. She had a funny
little hat too, with her brown hair pinned up beneath it.

"I hope you get seasick!" she finally said and turned off her phone.
"Bitch."

We kind of sat there for a few seconds and I could see Chris and Mark
a ways off down one of the wide paths. They were buying hotdogs from
one of the venders who had a big cart and a brightly covered umbrella.
I kind of wished they'd hurry up just because I felt sort of self-
conscious sitting next to this woman after listening to her
conversation.

"Sorry about that," she said, surprising me with her smile and I just
blinked at her for a second before my brain kicked in.

"Oh, yeah," I shrugged, not knowing what I was supposed to say.

"I was waiting for my girlfriend," she told me. "But some guy asked
her if she wanted to go sailing."

"Hmmm..." I nodded and gave her what I hoped was a sympathetic smile.

"I'm Reggie," she said, offering me her hand.

"Reggie?" I wondered about that. "I'm Stephanie."

"Well, my name's Regina, but I hate that name," she explained.
"Stephanie is nice though. You look like a Stephanie."

"I do?" I laughed a little nervously, wondering why she was talking so
much. Most of the people I'd seen in the city had pretty much stuck to
themselves.

"Oh yeah." She was holding my hand, not really letting it go and her
fingers were warm and dry.

"Okay," I said. "That's good, right?"

"Really good," Reggie agreed and then she let me go. "I go to
Columbia. Journalism. How about you?"

"Uh, I don't know," I giggled and her brown eyes were staring right at
me. "I'm sorta on vacation."

"Cool!" Reggie grinned. "My mom wanted me to go to Radcliffe, you
know, but Daddy is a Yaley, so..."

"Right," I had no idea what she was talking about.

"...It wasn't like I was ever going to make them happy!" Reggie laughed
lightly. "I figured you for Juilliard or something."

"Juilliard?" I wondered.

"Yeah, performing arts? Music or acting or something," she said. "You
look like one of those people."

"I do?" I giggled wondering who 'those people' were.

"You're amazingly pretty," Reggie smiled at me.

"Oh, um...Thanks," I smiled back and this was getting a little weird.
Amazingly?

"Do you like to ride?" she asked with a little gesture towards the
stables and I nodded.

"Yeah, that's why we're here," I said. "We wanted to get some horses
but they're all booked up. They got us on a waiting list."

"Oh, you're here with someone?" Reggie asked.

"My boyfriends," I smiled. "Chris and Mark."

"I see, hmmm..." Reggie shrugged at that, "...I was gonna say you could
ride with me if you want. Maybe we could get a little lunch
afterwards. I know a great little place up in Soho."

"Oh, uh..." I wasn't sure about that idea.

"We could hit some art galleries too," Reggie was kind of excited it
seemed to me. "Make a day out of it? Just me and you?"

The way she was looking at me, the tone of her voice when Reggie said
that, was a big clue. The way her left hand reached out to touch my
right knee was an even bigger one though. This girl was hitting on me,
pretty hard too, although I wasn't really experienced with that sort
of thing. It was just totally strange that this young woman was trying
to pick me up, you know? I guessed her girlfriend on the phone was her
real girlfriend, in the full sense of the word, and maybe Reggie just
really wanted to rebound quick.

"That sounds nice," I smiled, "but I really can't leave my boyfriends,
you know?"

"Yeah, sure," Reggie nodded and her hand was still on my leg, which
was making my face a little warm. I didn't know what to do about it
though and she was kind of stroking me through my jeans.

"Thanks for the offer though," I said sincerely. "We'll just hang out
here for awhile and see if anybody cancels."

"Okay, yeah," Reggie said and then she kind of shrugged. "They could
ride with us, maybe. We have three horses, so..."

"You have three?" I asked.

"Yeah. I have two sisters and we all got horses for our fifteenth
birthdays," Reggie made a face. "So if your friends don't mind sharing
or whatever...We can ride together."

"Oh, um, no," I shook my head, even though I really wanted to ride.
"We couldn't ask you for that."

"No," she gave my thigh a little squeeze. "It's no problem, Stephanie.
Nobody else is going to ride them. They need the exercise anyway,
right?"

"Um..." I sucked my bottom lip, wondering just what this girl might
expect in return for such a great favor.

"And I hate riding alone," Reggie said. "It's better with a friend,
right?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "You sure it's okay? I mean, if my boyfriends come
along and everything?"

"Of course," she smiled. "It'll be fun."

"Alright, that's...Great," I decided and if all I had to do was let this
other girl touch my leg a little, I could deal with it.

Reggie seemed nice enough anyway and she was kind of cute too, Mark
and Chris would probably like her okay. She was shorter than I was,
heavier too, but not fat or anything. Just kind of solid and I knew a
lot of girls like that back home. I wondered if Reggie was a total
lesbian or just sorta bisexual, or what. It didn't really matter
though, it wasn't like we were gonna fool around with the girl and I
definitely wasn't going to go on any dates or whatever with her.

"Hey! Guess what!" I grinned at my boyfriends and Reggie let go of my
leg finally. "We're going riding!"

"Cool," Chris smiled and he was eating a pretzel with mustard on it.

"You found a horse?" Mark asked me and he was handing me a hotdog with
a bunch of stuff on it. "I got you some sauerkraut. Since you're into
Germans and all now."

"What? Heh! No, listen...I found us some horses," I smiled and looked
at Reggie. "This is Mark and Chris, my boyfriends. This is Reggie,
she's going to let us borrow a couple of her horses."

"Reggie, okay. Hi. Nice to meet you," Chris said and I crooked my
finger at him. "What?"

"You got mustard on your chin," I laughed at him and wiped it away
with my finger, sucking it clean.

"Hi Reggie," Mark smiled at the girl. "Thanks. Steph doesn't know what
to do with herself if she can't ride."

"Oh be nice!" I rolled my eyes. "It's sort of a custom for us," I
explained to Reggie, "riding every Sunday."

"I'm just glad I can help," Reggie smiled at all of us, but mostly she
just kept her eyes on me and it was so weird seeing a girl ignore Mark
and Chris like that. If I was amazingly pretty, whatever that meant,
my two boyfriends were definitely amazingly handsome, but she barely
looked at them. Reggie wasn't even close to being bisexual, I
realized, but she was nice and friendly, and she had the horses, so it
was cool.


end 18
rache696@yahoo.com

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <story-submit@asstr.org>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-admin@asstr.org> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+