2. Rainout
As much as I tried to focus on the conversation of the cruddy cafeteria food, I really couldn't. Applejack had this odd but cute way of sitting on her chairs, and it always distracted me. When we would go to sit down, she would always pull out the chair first and spin it around to the back was against the table, then she'd step right over the seat and sit down with it between her legs. It often became more than just simply distracting for me, as she often sat beside me, and her knee would be pressed up against my thigh. Then she would inadvertently rub her denim clothed leg against me every time she leaned forward and crossed her arms over the back, or when she tipped the chair back and forth absent-mindedly. I couldn't help but steal glances when I was supposed to be eating my lunch, and every time my eyes would trail down her toned body and wonder what it felt like to be between her legs.
"Rainbow Dash," I jerked away from the thought and pretended to have been listening to the conversation, shoving a forkful of pasta into my mouth as an excuse to not reply right away. Everyone was looking at me now, the group of us who always sat at this table despite our respective cliques. I think it was Rarity who had said my name, so I looked at her, "I had all first period with you and you didn't mention that Applejack had joined your baseball team!"
"Didn't I?" I teetered on my seat a bit, of course I didn't mention it. I was still daydreaming about it, well, more like actually dreaming about it since I was asleep most of the class. Rarity gave me this really irritable look, like she was angry at me for not giving her the scoop sooner. Just because I had a huge, overwhelming crush on Applejack doesn't mean this will be some new development, right?
"It ain't no big deal or nothin'," Applejack fooled around with all those negative words as she tipped her chair back and forth, driving me mad with the way her leg rubbed against mine. I just wanted to grab it and pinch it, or run my hand along it, or something even worse I should not even begin to think about.
"No big deal?" I smiled at her natural modesty, but loved to tease her even more, "You're like the first pitcher to strike me out, be proud of that." I nudged her with my elbow, letting my palm subtly graze her thigh as it dropped back to myself. She didn't even notice, just blushed a bit at the compliment.
"Shucks Rainbow, you're embarrassin' me," She murmured as she shook her head and pulled her brown leather cowboy hat down over her eyes. Usually she didn't mind attention, but her humility was sometimes astounding.
"Well I say, congratulations!" Pinkie Pie's voice could probably be heard from here to the gym and beyond, it was shrill and nearly deafening when she got excited, "So, should I throw a welcome-to-the-baseball-team party? Can I even do that if I'm not on the team myself? Oh, oh! We can have a piñata the shape of a glove and hit it with bats, there could be jawbreakers the size of baseballs inside!"
"That sounds a bit dangerous, Pinkie Pie," Twilight Sparkle reminded her, always the voice of reason. "Besides, they haven't even played a game yet, shouldn't we save the party until then?"
"Or we could have two parties!" She responded in an even more jubilant tone, a gasp making its way through her wide mouth.
"Thanks anyway Pinkie," I cut in, knowing exactly where this was going. It was going to be like that time that she had a party for her creepy toothless lizard, and then had a party right afterwards, like seriously the very next day. She had spiked the punch both times, and Fluttershy had drank too much and ended up throwing up in the bushes behind Pinkie's place, twice. "But A.J. and I will be practising a lot in the next few weeks, so we wont have much free time."
"Is that so?" Rarity spoke slowly, and I could tell that she was trying to hint something to me about how I shouldn't indulge myself, but I didn't return any acknowledgement. After all, I was not looking to screw up my friendship with Applejack just for the potential to actually participate in my active fantasy life. No matter how tempting it was; no matter how tempting she was.
"That's, um, that's really good for you, Applejack." Fluttershy said in a hush, her hands folded up in her lap as usual and her eyes darting between the table and her friend.
"Thanks, Fluttershy, it sure is kind of you t'say." Applejack pleasantly responding, giving her a warm and friendly smile.
"So, since when did you play baseball, Applejack?" Twilight inquired with a tilt of her head. That was Twilight, always asking questions and stuff.
"Well my farm's plenty big enough for playin' around on, though we ain't got time to do it usually," Applejack chuckled a bit to think about it, and she works so hard and so often I couldn't even imagine any time she would have to spare, "But when them reunions come 'round or just after harvest season, we of'en times celebrate with our favourite pastime." I didn't know any of that either, oddly enough. I was her best friend, and even I didn't know that she liked baseball so much.
"You play with your family?" I asked, and for some reason it kind of hurt me a bit that she had never asked me to join in. Granted her farm was a little ways out of town so I didn't visit much any more, and lately I had been avoiding sending too much time around her in case I slipped up and spilled the beans or something.
"Granny's always playin' umpire since she ain't too mobile any more, Applebloom's full'a energy so she's in the outfield, and Big Mac's a slugger if I ever saw one." She explained, though I don't know if the rest of the girls understood much of what she was saying, "You kinda gotta learn how to pitch right if you wanna avoid losin' balls in the orchard to his big ol' hits."
"So I guess you do really like baseball, huh A.J.?" I wondered as my eyes softened on her, I could tell from the way she smiled when she discussed it that it was special to her.
"O'course sugar cube, why else do you think I was at every one'a your games last year?" Applejack tilted her head at me, and I stiffened as I realized it had been true, "Even though y'all were only a softball team back then."
"You were at every game?" I found myself repeating, and in my head I could see her in every crowd around me, standing out even amongst the hordes of fans. "That's really cool of you."
"Shoot, I hardly ever saw you otherwise Ms. Big-Shot athlete, I was gettin' as much screen time as I could." She snickered as she elbowed me playfully again, knocking me a bit off my chair.
I felt my face contort into an unstoppable grin as I looked at her, and realized that though I had been brushing her off a bit too much, she was not about to let me slip away. I wanted to grab her and hug her again, but it was not good for my image to hug anyone. It wasn't cool. I felt Rarity's gaze on me, and met it easily. She tipped her head at Applejack and raised her eyebrows a bit, maybe reminding me of what she had said in the drama room, about how maybe I wasn't the only one with feelings. I didn't want to get my hopes up though, so I just slowly and subtly shook my head.
"Oh, my fingers are twitching!" Pinkie Pie said as she looked down at her left hand, which was twitching just as she said, something she referred to as the Pinkie Sense, "That means the bell is going to ring any second now!"
"Pinkie Pie, your fingers don't predict—" Twilight tried to argue, but the bell rang anyway, and everyone started to get up and go to class, "You can't honestly think that stuff is real. You're wearing a watch on your left hand, so clearly you just looked at it."
"My watch is broken, Twi," She grinned as she hopped up out of her seat and grabbed her bright pink shoulder bag, "It's only right at noon and midnight. The cupcake times!"
"The what?" Twilight followed her by taking her book bag, which was stuffed to the seams as usual, and following after her. The other girls were getting ready too, though Fluttershy always waited until everyone left the table before she did.
"The cupcake times! The times of day where I just absolutely have to, have to, have to eat a cupcake!" Pinkie Pie continued as she nearly skipped through the cafeteria, and her voice was fading away with distance.
"Okay I understand noon, but do you seriously eat a cupcake at midnight every night?" Rarity was the one who spoke up next as she hurried after the two, since their classes seemed to all be in the same direction. I grabbed my dufflebag and waited for Applejack.
"It's like a warm glass of milk to me, puts me right asleep!" She continued, and I shook my head at how ridiculous that sounded. That was probably one of the reasons she had gained a little bit of weight around her midsection, but that didn't bother any of us. It made her hugs a little more difficult to squeeze out of, though. "Milk with sprinkles and icing and sometimes even gummy bears!"
"Gummy bears? Look Pinkie, perhaps you've conditioned yourself to think that cupcakes help you sleep better, but all that sugar right before bed—" Twilight's voice faded out as she turned the corner through the door of the cafeteria.
"You don't hafta wait around for me, Rainbow," Applejack spoke somewhat quietly as she gathered her things and shoved them into her bag before hoisting it over her shoulder, "What class do you have, any who?"
"English, west wing." I said casually, even though I knew it was no where near where her class was. I had learned her schedule pretty quickly, faster than my own for that matter. I shrugged my bag uncomfortably as she bent over the table and gathered the garbage a bit, helping Fluttershy clear it up so it wasn't such a mess. It was nice of her to do, she didn't like to make anyone work more than they had to if she could help it, even just the lunch ladies.
"Well I'mmin the east wing next block, so I s'pose I'll see you after school at practise, won't I?" It didn't seem like much of a question, but she still looked over at me with those adorable green eyes, drawing a response out of me anyway.
"Yeah, looks like it might rain though," I tried to make conversation as I glanced towards the windows past two or three more tables.
"A little rain ain't nothin' to fret about," Applejack said politely as she finished up and waved goodbye to Fluittershy, who held her bag over her chest and scurried quietly away. She stood back up straight and looked back at me once more with a smile, going her separate way, "See ya."
I couldn't help but watch her as she left, those curve-hugging jeans too awesomely faded in the right places to look away from. Her hips had this alluring sway to them too, another component of her southern charm that roped me in like a damn lasso. I never understood why I liked it all so much, but it really worked for her and she really worked for me. I bit my lip as I groped her with my eyes, checking her out had become second nature to me by now. It was distracting, and I had to be careful about it too because if anyone noticed, my reputation might be at stake. I turned abruptly on my heel once she was out of my sight and I lazily swaggered to my class. I really didn't care if I was late, my teachers already expected as much so really it would be rude of me to let them down. Soon enough, I was back in my baseball uniform and staring at the field.
"Nothing to fret about?" I found myself repeating with a condescending and otherwise stoic tone, standing in front of something that seemed like a wall of dripping water. I blinked blankly as Applejack took the last step to reach my side, peering out across the field and inspecting it. I glared back at her, already knowing just how easily it flooded out there. It would be stupidly muddy and cold, and the entire team would whine and complain about it all practise.
"What'cha waitin' for partner, an invitation?" Applejack laughed as she pushed me forward a step, nearly forcing me into the rain. I gawked incredulously at her as she swung around me and stepped backwards right into the downpour. I could feel my face heating up as I watched the water slide over her body, turning her white uniform shirt something more transparent. Her legs moved faster as she broke into something of a jog, "C'mon Dash, I'll race you to the dugout!"
I didn't move right away, too otherwise enticed by her movements. She really didn't mind the weather I guess, and I sure as hell was not about to complain. I felt myself smile as I broke into a sprint at the sound of the challenge, "You'll need that head start to compete with me!"
I heard her laugh even through the rain as our steps sloshed through the slippery puddles, splashing all about and dirtying the bottoms of our pants. I caught up to her and we must have both decided simply to run together instead of break ahead, because as we approached the dugout we slowed simultaneously. The brisk run certainly served to get my blood flowing and warm myself up, but we soon noticed that we were entirely alone. I looked around for the rest of the team, but they were no where to be found on the field. There wasn't even any equipment pulled out yet, which was odd because I was always later than the other girls.
"Rainbow Dash!" I heard a quiet shout under the raspy growling of the rain, and turned to look back at the school. There, standing under a protective overhang from the roof, was our catcher. She wasn't fully dressed up in her gear, and she sort of hesitated before going on, "Is practise cancelled today? Some of the girls didn't even bother showing up, and the rest of us don't want to catch a cold!"
"Of course not, we don't cancel our actual games for a little rain, do we? Now get your sissy asses out here already, we're losing daylight!" I called back loudly, angered that they would even think a little weather would mean not coming by at all. Sure, it makes it difficult, but if they had so much of an issue with it I could have moved us into the gymnasium or something. Now I was already out here and soaking wet though, the worst was over for me.
"Yes, captain!" She called back, though she didn't sound half as motivated as I would have liked.
"Well," I sighed as I put my hands to my already soaking hips, heavy due to the amount of rain water was was still absorbing into the fabric of my pants, "How about you show me how well you can do your wind-up in the rain?"
"You got it, boss," Applejack bowed her head in compliance, probably a habit she picked up that worked better when she wore her cowboy hat. I didn't know why the title of boss made me feel so good to hear from her lips, but I couldn't help bit enjoy it as I followed her to the mound. Like I thought, she had brought her own ball along.
The other girls didn't last long, but I guess I had to give them credit for coming along in the first place. Our catcher was very upset about having to kneel into a puddle that formed behind home plate, and once or twice balls and bats slipped out of shivering hands. The team waned out quickly at first, but sooner or later the rest of them came up with some excuses and left. I was expecting a little more from my team, it was kind of disappointing how little loyalty to the game and the group there was, but then again I couldn't blame them. I'd rather them not be there at all than have them staying there unwillingly. But all in all, I think it was a productive exercise in diligence and sportsmanship, even if it only served to show me how little the majority of my team could demonstrate those values.
After less than an hour the field was once again left only to Applejack and myself. It became a lot more difficult to practise a game like baseball when there was only two of us. Before the catcher left we were going over the signs and testing out her accuracy under certain weather conditions, which I had to admit was remarkable. Then we had tried to simulate circumstances for picking off runners on bases, seeing how quickly she could turn and toss before our fastest runner, me, could make it back to the safety of the base. Even I had trouble falling back safely, her precise movements and fast reaction time constantly getting the better of me. Of course, the slippery mud had something to do with delaying me, and I made a point of blaming that aspect one too many times. We didn't get much to the batting, but we certainly made some notable progress.
I was rather exhausted from hauling around extra weight in the form of soaking clothing, and my body was beginning to get numb and unresponsive from the cold. The weather blew harder around us, and I could even hear distant rumbles of thunder and flashes in the distance, warning me of what was to come. At this time of year it still got dark rather early, and I could see the signs of night edging eagerly closer. Applejack had quite a drive home still, so I knew that it would be cruel of me to make her drive home both in a storm and in the darkness. So, after only a few more simple exercises, I called it a day.
We ran back to the school and stopped in front of the rear door, they usually kept it open for us until a bit later than usual for the teams to make it back to the change rooms. They locked the doors past the change rooms though, so the rest of the school was quiet and vacant. We rung out our clothes under the slight overhang above the back door, hoping not to drip too much all over the change rooms and hall. Finally, I pulled the door open for her and stepped in right after.
It was just as difficult to keep from looking at her while she was sopping wet as it was to steer clear from lingering when she was wrapped up in those tight jeans, but still I made an effort. The light was off in the hall, but we could still find our way easily as the light from the change room shone out from under the door. I hardly ever needed to use the change rooms since I walked around in athletic gear most of the time, but for uniform-donning sports I always had a change. The change room was reasonably large, with lockers on either wall and benches just beneath them, complete with a large vacant aisle between the walls leading to the front entrance and the showers. My stuff was shoved into the corner as usual, but I couldn't even touch it until I had pulled off the heavy uniform that clung to my body. Applejack was on the other side of the room from me, and the two of us kept our backs to each other as we did what needed to be done.
"Criminy Rainbow," Applejack's voice echoed around me, followed by a few aggravated grunts, "I reckon I'm carryin' half a gallon of water in my britches."
"Yeah, I know," I chuckled at her turn of phrase, it certainly was interesting, "And to think, I have to ride home in this." Applejack knew that I rode a motorcycle, considering I was just bad-ass like that. Just kidding, it was cheaper than a car and cooler than the bus, besides, my parents had left me a good chunk of cash with my apartment when they died. It was a long time ago, so it didn't really bother me to cite any more.
"You what?" She perked up, and I could tell she looked over at me when she did. I felt a little nervous pulling my weighted tank top over my head with her eyes on me, but I also kind of felt invigorated. "No siree, you ain't ridin' home in this storm, 'les you like the idea of bein' pulled out of a burnin' wreckage."
"You worry too much, A.J.," I snickered as I looked back over at her. I met her eyes first, but couldn't pull myself away when I noticed she was standing there topless. Sure, her back was facing me and she was still wearing her bra, but it was enough to make me choke on my libido. Damn, she was even more attractive than I had imagined her in my head, and it drove me mad with excitement. I stood there with my mouth open for a few seconds too long and hurriedly ran into my next sentence, "I've got home through hail and snow and worse, and hell, I've even crashed before. It's not nearly as bad as everyone worries about."
"That ain't the point," She argued, her voice sort of hoarse with irritation. She turned further away from me and began pulling her pants off, letting the water drip over her already bare feet and onto the tile floor. I bit back a fascinated and aroused whistle as she went on, "I'll drive y'home no problem, and even pick y'up tomorrow mornin' before school if that's what it'll take to convince you."
"You'd do that?" My voice came out quiet and shallow as I continued inspecting her while she wasn't looking, and I even felt a bit bad about it too.
She suddenly stood up straight and dropped the bundle of water and fabric that she once called her britches onto the bench before her. I turned away hastily before I heard her turn back and look at me, the silence filling up the space that parted us. I didn't move much as I finished bunching up my uniform shirt and shoving it into a plastic bag, leaving my terribly wet pants on for a moment longer. There was some rustling before I could hear some pitter-patter on the tile that sounded different than the fall of rain from our bodies, and bit at my lip nervously. I suddenly felt her presence again, and it was close behind me. I blinked as she leaned her arm out on the lockers in front of me, stepping right up beside me and coming around to look me in the eyes. I didn't return the gaze right away in fear she might have seen the poorly hidden infatuation written all over every aspect of my face, but her lingering attention forced me to look at her. There she was, in nothing but her underwear and barely done up plaid blouse, which hung low enough to obscure any sight of her underwear.
"Rainbow I wouldn't be able to drive on home knowin' you could be out there in a storm with nothin' but a helmet 'tween you and the pavement," Her words were odd but her expression and tone were sincere. She tilted her head as she watched me, her wet hair moving across her nearly bare shoulder and framing her. God, it took every ounce of self control not to take her right then and there, but I managed somehow. "Now get dressed already, you're shiverin' somethin' fierce and you look like a drowned mouse."
She was right, my whole body was shaking, and I had to attribute at least some of it to the cold. In contrast, her tanned body seemed to ignore the cling of rain and she pushed off the locker, walking back across the room to the rest of her clothes. Her skin was even flushed after all the work we did, but still it looked so irresistibly warm and soft. I wanted to slam my head against the locker over and over until those horribly tainted thoughts went away, but I didn't want to worry her any more. The change room had never even been close to sexual for me before, in fact I was in and out without instance every time until now. Now I had to imagine all the loud, useless banter of those other girls who usually occupied the change room just to block out my primal urges.
Despite what most guys seem to think about women, it was a very rare occurrence for us to see each other in less than usual attire. I didn't know if that was just because I was something of a tomboy or what, but when I went over to my friends houses we never, like, changed in front of each other or walked around in our underwear or anything. Sorry to ruin the fantasy, but I honestly had never seen Applejack in such little clothing as I just did. Sure, when we were kids we used to spend a lot of time horsing around roughly, and things like hugs and tight clothing gave us an idea of how the other looked, but her skin was a new sight to me. And yet she did not seem all that weird about me seeing, I had pegged her as somewhat shy about that stuff, but maybe she didn't care what I thought about her.
I merely chewed on the thoughts as I continued getting changed, though it was difficult as my black shorts clung to my still damp skin as I pulled them on. Besides that, my bra was soaked through and it made my shirt wet to touch. By the time I had finished up, Applejack had her clothing all packed away and was just feeding her belt through the loops on her jeans, which were wet at the bottoms of the legs and at her knees. Her plaid shirt was soaking through in some areas too, but she didn't seem too bothered. Working on a farm, I was sure she's had to spend days out in the rain if it meant getting her chores all done right. She grabbed her bag and looked back at me, a smile spreading across her face as she noticed I was finished too.
"Well come on then," She turned around and walked towards the door, taking for granted that I would be following her. She was right, of course, "We'd best be gettin' you home."
It was already getting on to dusk by the time we made it outside, that or the clouds were so dark the sun seemed to disappear into a mere dull glow. Applejack hurried us over to her truck and opened my door first, such an old model she had to unlock each door manually. I pulled the door open and climbed inside, which took one hell of a step as it was quite a ways off the ground.
I knew the truck well, her brother used to pick her up in it after school when we were younger, before she could drive. Well, before she could legally drive. I knew for a fact that her brother had taught her how when she was just a kid so she could get around the farm easily. She didn't brag about it though, not even when I started getting a big head about how cool my motorcycle was. It was a small sporty old model, but ran well enough and made an awesome noise when I revved it up.
I reached over and unlocked her side before she had to waste time putting the key in it, I knew that the keyhole on that side could sometimes be a bit persnickety. Applejack had to yank her door open anyway, it had been sticky and rusted for a couple of years now. She claimed those little faults gave the old thing a certain allure, some kind of character as she put it. She grabbed the handle that hung just by the window and pulled herself up, I had known her to usually either just jump in or grab the roof of the truck instead, but since it was so wet and slippery that was probably a bad idea. She closed the door and it all fell silent, the smacking of rain against the wind shield much more calming than I anticipated. Perhaps it was not just the rain, it was the faint scents of dust, gasoline, and her. I never wished more that we could just remain parked in the truck, and the truck would only gently rock as we intertwined inside. Now that, that was a ravishing but crude thought.
"All right, fastest way is—" I started, but she just started laughing a bit and cut me off with the sound of the ignition starting up, it was loud and rough, and she loved it that way.
"Rainbow, I've been to your house before, I know the way." Applejack smiled as she wrapped her arm around the back of my seat, leaning towards me and glancing over that shoulder as she reversed out of the parking spot. Though most of her scent was washed away by the rain, I still breathed her in quietly and relished in the scent. She had to turn the wheel around like five times to get the wheels to turn adequately, and then proceeded to pull out of the school, "The heat should kick in pretty soon here." Her eyes passed over me as she brought her outstretched hand back to the steering wheel and she must have noticed my continued shivering.
"Sounds good to me," I muttered as I leaned back against the aged seat, feeling it gracefully accept my weight.
The wind shield wipers were darting back and forth in front of us, and even at their fastest speed the rain was nearly impossible to clear. We pulled out onto the main road and she turned in my direction, again her steering wheel shifting greatly. She grabbed again at the stick-shift without difficulty, moving between gears like it was second nature to her. I liked the manual transmission actually, each time we changed between the settings my body jerked lightly with the vehicle: like Applejack was physically pulling me along side her, like she was moving my body with her will, like the intense roughness of how I imagined lying in bed with her might have been. It was so mechanical and yet intimate, and each time she reached down to grab the stick again her fingers would brush against my leg so lightly it almost tickled.
"I can hardly see the lines on the road." Breaking my affectionate thoughts, Applejack's voice came through above the sound of the heater, which I had just now realized was on. She was leaning forwards a bit in her seat, squinting to see through the rain. We were already a good portion of the way there, and I clearly had not been paying enough attention, "This sure is a mess."
"Hey, uh, Applejack? Looks to me like the storms getting worse. It's kind of dangerous to be out on the road, you know," I found myself fantasizing about an idea, and couldn't help but bring it up. I licked at my lips trying to put it eloquently, "So, well, driving back home on those dirt trails like you do, it probably isn't the best idea. So I mean, I wouldn't mind or anything, if you need to, you could like," Here it was, the moment of truth. I tried to dull it down so I did not sound quite so much like I was pleading, "Stay over at my place?"
"I couldn't put you out like that Rainbow, besides, my family'd be worrying all night if I didn't come home." Applejack simply responded, polite and selfless as usual. But I would not let her win this one, not now that the possibilities flooded into my lust-stricken mind.
"You could call them from my place, no problem," I said too quickly and eagerly, but decided to pin it on something less embarrassing than desperation, try concern, "Look A.J., you didn't let me drive home in all this, so," I reached out suddenly and put my hand over hers on the steeling wheel, feeling the way she twitched a bit at the touch but otherwise didn't move. Her hand was warm and smooth, and I wanted to hold it forever even though I was certainly clammy, "I won't let you do it either. Deal?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about little ol' me?" Her eyes briefly flickered over to mine under the light of the recently illuminated passing street lamps, and even as she looked back to the road a pleasant smile sat on her lips.
"Whatever," I growled as I reluctantly pulled my hand off hers, keeping it trapped behind my head in case it wanted to wander and find its way back.
"Well, I just might take y'up on that." Applejack agreed as she ran a hand through her still damp hair, ruffling it a bit. I watched her intently beneath the shifting street lights, and from the way she kept on facing the road, I was not certain she noticed.