(Lester's Pov)
This time when I pulled into the open field of the Hayride area, there were a bunch of cars all parked in neat lines in the field and two long green wooden wagons attached to two huge industrial farming tractors. I fell in line and parked our truck at the end of the row, Steph and I got out ad followed the throng of people that congregated at the wagons.
"Wait here" I told Steph as I went up to the small house where a lot of the people were gathered
After standing in line for a few minutes, I eventually saw what I was standing in line for; it was to pay for our rides on the Hayride. Seeing the pricing chart when I moved up in the line, I grabbed my wallet from my pocket and was thankful that I had visited the ATM last night when we had gone to the grocery store.
"Two for the ride" I said when it was my turn at the window
"Six dollars please" the girl said and I slid a ten dollar bill through the little slot and received two tickets and four dollars back in change
"Here you go" I said returning back to Stephanie pooping a ticket up in front of her face so she could see it. Taking the ticket, I placed my arm around her while she held the quilt with one hand and the ticket with the other.
I guided Steph over to the rear of one of the wagons and helped her to get up into it. The wagon's bed was covered in layers of loose hay; Steph walked in a few feet and then sat herself down on the side of the wagon in the middle.
"This gonna be our spot?" I asked sitting down next to her
"Yea its just right" she said "I thought if we sat right up front we would get the exhaust of the tractors and if we sat in the back I would feel like I was going to fall out, so here seems the best of both to me"
"Ok" I said as I stretched my legs out in front of me
Over the next few minutes Steph and I watched as the wagon we were on filled with people. Everyone that came into the wagon and sat around us had smiles on their faces and laughed with each other as we waited for the ride to begin. I looked over at Steph who looked back at me and smiled at her linking my hand around hers. Steph looked down at our hands, turned hers upward and entwined her fingers with mine fusing our hands together.
"Ready?" an older man asked as he secured the wooden planks at the back closing it off
"YEA!" everyone in the wagon cheered as the tractor started up and the first jerk was made as the wagon began to move.
"Here we go" I said leaning in and whispering into Steph's ear as we pulled out in front of the second wagon. As we passed it some kind of song broke out that everyone of that wagon began to sing.
The tractor sat out on a slow and steady pace, the hypnotic rocking of the wagon could cause you to relax and fall asleep. Looking over at Steph since this was one her things she did when we were driving, I was surprised to see her wide awake and enjoying the ride. For the first thirty minutes of our ride we went by some historic old churches and cemeteries, when we went around a really sharp curve and then came to a large field everything came to a grinding halt.
"What is it?" Steph asked when we saw everyone starting to stand up on their knees and all move to the side of the wagon that faced the field.
"I don't know?" I said lifting myself up to see what all the commotion was about. I was looking over the field reminding myself that I wasn't looking for snipers when I felt someone move next to me, I looked over to see Steph had followed me.
"OH MY GOD ITS DEER, LOOK LES" she gasping and pointing
I looked back at the field and saw the deer standing there in a large group, some were grazing and the rest were standing guard watching our every move just waiting to run for their lives. I heard Steph start to count and turned to wait to hear how many she had counted.
"Forty two" she said all breathy "There are forty two deer there in the field"
The tractor started to move again once the people in the cars in front of us went back and moved. Everyone climbed back into their seats, Steph settled herself back in next to me, took my hand, and smiled.
(Stephanie's Pov)
I watched when the wagon stopped, everyone moved to the side that I was facing. They hung to the rails pointing and the others behind them stood on knees peering over their heads. I had a terrifying thought that this wagon would not hold so much weight on one side and would tilt over, not wanting to add to that, I sat perfectly still thinking my hundred plus pounds were the only thing that would keep up from falling.
"What is it?" I asked looking over to Les. When I saw him he had placed his RangeMan no nonsense face on and was searching the crowd and beyond for the possible threat.
"I don't know" he said lifting himself easily up onto his knees to see what the commotion was all about. I watched as he eased up to the crowd and looked to where everyone was staring and pointing.
Usually when I saw the guys look the way Les did, I knew there was danger somewhere. I sat there and waited on him to let me know what was going on and to give me the all clear, but then the thought came to me that we weren't in Trenton and we weren't doing any kind of bust, there was no threat to us here. Having that bit of knowledge come through, I now wanted to know what had everyone's attention. Slowly so not to rock the wagon, I crept on my knees the way Les had and came to sit next to him. Sitting there looking out to the field, I spotted what everyone was looking at.
"OH MY GOD ITS DEER, LES LOOK" I said pointing. New Jersey has deer, but I never really took the time to stop and look at them like we were here. I don't know what I was about seeing them here in this area or in the field, but they were beautiful and majestic looking. I began to count them because there were just so many, I could feel Lester looking at me as I took my finger and counted the deer.
"Forty two" I told him surprised and shocked there were that many "there are forty two deer out in the field"
Right after I had counted them the traffic began to move and the wagon jerked causing everyone to climbed back into their seats. When I made it back to Les, I sat back next to him, placed my hand with his, and smiled up at him. Lester Santos bad ass smiled back a handsome smile while running the back of his hand and fingers over my cheek. His hands rough and callused with all the stuff he had done with them but soft to the touch when he was attending to me. As we moved along in the ride the mountain wind blew through my hair and I turned placing my back to Les in a catty corner way. As I watched the things go past me, I was lost in thoughts of Stephanie the mountain woman looking for deer and maybe a bear. When we stopped next we were in a large clearing that had a public bathroom and a large building with a large rotating wheel on the side of it.
(Lester's Pov)
When the wagon stopped a second time we all were allowed off to use the restrooms and explore the grounds. I jumped off the wagon and then turned around to help Steph. I slid my hands onto her hips and she jumped down to the ground and stood right in front of me.
"I uhh should really use the bathroom" she said looking everywhere but at me "The soda we had with our pick nick is calling"
"Yea"
"You have to go?" she asked me
"Yea I'll go as well"
Steph pulled out of my arm and began to walk up the wide concrete path to the bathrooms, when she go halfway up the path she turned back and looked at me. Even though she was a little ways from me, I could tell there was a war of emotions going on in those eyes of hers. I have a strong feeling that Steph has feelings for me like I do for her, but she just doesn't know what to do with them. I'm not going to push her to be with me, but I do want her to know that I am here and how I feel. Ultimately though she has to be the one to make the decision and be comfortable with the choice that she makes. Walking up the path, I went into the men's side of the bathroom to answer as Steph put it the Sodas call.
When I finished in the bathroom, I came out to see Steph was standing waiting on me. As I walked up to her a warm smile came across her face "you ok?" I asked her taking her hand in mine
"Yea I'm ok" she replied
Stephanie and I walked from the bathrooms down to the old house that was on the property. We walked across the old dusty two by four porch and cupped our hands around our faces to peer into the windows of the house. It was decorated how they would have lived if it was back in the olden times and it had a large spinning wheel sitting in the middle of the room.
"I can't imagine living back in those times" Steph said looking over the room
"Yea but people did"
"You think it's haunted in there?" she asked and I looked at her giving her a grin. Steph always had a thing about boogie men under her bed and things that go bump in the night
"Uhhh no… I don't know"
"Kinda spooky if you think about it. It looks like the people who lived here just left for the day to return later tonight sometime" she said as we left the house going up to the old mill
"Ok maybe a little" I told her
Steph and I walked into the Mill and saw that even though it was still a working Mill grinding corn into corn meal, most of the structure housed a souvenir shop. I walked around looking at everything letting Steph do the same, I picked up a book that was the history of the Smokey Mountains and began to look through it, after I few minutes I thought of Steph and looked up to see what she was doing and saw her walk out the door of the Mill. Sitting my book down on a stack of quilts, I quietly followed her as she went down the steps and started down a small path that some of the other Hayriders were walking up and down. I followed Steph to a small observation deck that looked out over the river and at a waterfall; I watched as Steph looked over the water for a few minutes then closed her eyes tilting her face up towards the darkening sky.
"Tell me what do I do? Is it ok?" I heard her say. Stepping up behind her, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me.
*A/N Rating for this story will change with the next update. It will be in the Lester S/Stephanie P. M section