Chapter 19: Final Friday

Neil let his hand trace lazy circles on Harriet's bare hip, running his fingertips along the hem of her panties and down her outer thigh. He wasn't particularly aroused, or even interested, but he still found that any opportunity to explore female flesh was difficult to resist. Harriet moved occationally, either through normal sleep or thanks to his pestering her. Neil was still weighing whether or not to become more assertive when she suddenly smacked his hand.

"You are out of your mind." she grumbled, rolling away from him and burrowing deep into the covers.

"Who, me?" he asked innocently.

"No touching the ladies. I'll call the bouncer on you" Harriet grumbled, pulling even more blanket over her head. Finally there was only a lone tuft of brown hair peeking out from between the pillow and blanket.

Neil got up with a groan and started to get dressed. He was scheduled for a long ride today and had planned to return to the mountain top to finish their interrupted ride. Normally he'd look forward to it, but the cold ride on Wednsday had left him saddle sore and another six hours atop Arnoss would do little to help. He packed his bag with extra cream, wondering idly when he'd have a chance to strip down and apply it. This led to a brief fantasy involving Leah helping him with the creme. Fighting the monster's mental movie actually dampened his mood further, the last thing he needed was to give in on that front.

He finished packing his day bag with his hoodie jacket and his dusty first aid kit. Flipping it over revealed it contained one of the flimsy foil emergency heat blankets. It would have been very helpful on his ill-fated ride. Neil wondered if the trail guards carried the same kit, not that it would have helped. The guards on Wednsday had been miles away with the rest of the group by the time he wound up alone with Leah.

Harriet actually waved goodbye when he opened the door. "What are you up to today" he asked.

Harriet emerged, blinking in the light from the door. "Uh... we have prep for the show tomorrow. Barrel racing, I think"

Neil nodded and waved back, heading out to grab an early breakfast.

Neil ate alone, grabbed a few extra apples to take along for the ride and headed down to the mess, where he helped load one of the large carts with lunches. He kept an eye out for Dave to no avail, although given the early hour Neil really didn't expect to spot him. He arrived at the stables and met up with Carol and the two ride guards, both of who gave him a weary look.

"Here comes trouble" one said, a lady he recognized but couldn't put a name to. She was perhaps forty wiry with dark hair in a bun. She wore the bright orange shirts the full time lifeguards and trail guards always had and stood next to a pile of gear.

Neil grinned back at her. "Me? Trouble?" he teased.

The other guard, a heavyset black man named Glen laughed and tossed him a radio. "You should see the betting pool back at the guard shack" he joked.

The girl elbowed him. "Hey, no jinxing the bets."

Neil laughed and strapped on the radio. "What good's this piece of crap? You barely get any signal on the far side of the trail."

Glen shrugged and keyed his mike, causing the other radios to sqwak in response. "I don't make the rules."

Neil helped Carol finish the horse assignments until the riders arrived. She volunteered to take the lead group and began calling names. The girls scattered to get their horses from the stablehands in the paddock, shouldering packs and trying to run without running so they could be first on a horse.

As they filed out Neil glanced down at his list for his standard group leads. When he looked up, Gail and Leah were both in the front. He grinned and looked back at his clipboard, but a twinge in his mind caused him to look back up. Leah was dressed in a halter top and jeans, which was distracting enough, but Gail was stunning. She was wearing a light red jacket over a white shirt that clearly revealed her middrift and had a very low cut to the front. She was also wearing tiny denim shorts. They didn't quite qualify as daisy-dukes, but on the horse they would ride up, exposing a lot of leg. When she saw Neil noticed her outfit, Gail winked at him.

For the first part of the ride up, Neil flowed from the front of the group to the back, simply riding slowly to the side and checking the riders. This late in the summer riders would begin to get complacent, forgetting safety regulations, ignoring ride procedures or trying to get away with little things on their last real ride. Neil was firm, although he tried not to give the girls much grief, they'd had a busy summer and were at the point where you could almost feel the end of camp racing toward you.

When he finally reached the end of the line he found Gail with her jacket now draped over the horse's withers. Her shirt was now fully exposed, revealing her shoulders, arms and middrift, much to Neil's delight. When he slowed beside her, Gail smiled without looking over, giving him an excuse to examine her in profile. She had small, perky breasts that barely jiggled as her horse plodded along. She was thin, although not as waifish as Leah and Neil discovered he was humming appreciatively to himself watching her sway in the saddle. He managed to draw his attention to the front and made some small talk with her.

Gail was friendly, smiling and chit-chatting with him about her plans for the remainder of the summer. Neil was distracted, though, losing the point of the conversation as his eyes drifted downward to her thighs or breasts. The only solution was to ride slightly ahead or behind her, preventing him from gawking without making himself obvious.

For her part, Gail seemed to be encouraging him to look. At one point she stretched and leaned her head back, forcing her breasts forward. She was clearly wearing some kind of strapless sport bra underneith, and Neils unfamiliarity with women's undergarments started a line of mental speculation that was unlocking a lot of doors he'd rather have left alone. The beast, as always, was more than helpful in suggesting what Gail's underthings looked like, how they might work, the physics of breast jiggling and, worst of all, how they might be removed one handed or while entangled in various poses.

The ground elevation increased steadily as the pines thinned and Neil urged Arnoss forward.

"Leaving me all alone, Neil?" Gail asked, tilting her head and batting her eyes.

"I need to check on the rest of the line." he answered, taking the opportunity to look back and take a few mental snapshots.

Gail's pouting expression was both playful and honest. "Well, anytime you want to come back to me, let me know" she said with a giggle.

Neil felt a flush at the invitation, barely trusting himself to grin in response. He urged Arnoss forward until he reached Leah, midway up the line. "Spending a lot of time back there." she said flatly.

Neil started to argue, but couldn't really find an honest defense. He simply shrugged and tried to shut down the beast's urges. It took a few moments, but when he'd cooled off he finally gave Leah a smile and took in her beauty. Which was a mistake. She had rolled up her sleeves, exposing her shoulders and had somehow ditched her bra. Neil tried to imagine how she'd done it on the ride, which was like throwing gas on a fire. The beast was more than willing to help again, and Neil cursed his active imagination.

Leah shifted and smiled at him. Each step of her horse sent a ripple through her, rolling up through a shift in her hips through her taut stomach and up her torso, causing all manner of jiggles and movements under her light shirt.

Of course her nipples would be perky, Neil thought with a mental sigh. Clearly whatever gods the beast prayed to were being kind to him today. "So what are you doing for the rest of the summer?" he managed to ask.

Leah gave him a raised eyebrow and shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I'll probably hang out at the mall with my friends"

"Oh... that's..."

"We go to the lingerie store there all the time."

Neil's mind blanked at the interruption and he forced an image of a baseball game into his mind. "Well... yeah... " he muttered.

Leah smiled a bit. "I'm thinking of switching to thong underwear. It looks uncomforatable, but everybody says..."

Neil knew she was messing with him, and as much as he enjoyed the possible entertainment value of her clumsy seduction, he had to clamp down. "Leah..." he finally interrupted.

She gave him an innocent look and waited.

"I don't need to hear about your... shopping trips."

"Oh? Maybe Gail will tell you about hers." she snapped.

"I don't know what's up with Gail." he said honestly.

Leah huffed at him. "She's throwing herself... '

"I didn't mean that." Neil interrupted. "I don't know why she's doing it. I haven't encouraged her and she's a..."

"A student." Leah finished with a tone of frustration.

Neil nodded and let her seethe. When her mood stayed sour he gave up, riding forward along the line to Jill, one of the youngest girls in the class. He'd given her the lead position instead of Gail or Leah because she was the youngest and hadn't had any opportunities. With Carol's group ten minutes up the trail there wasn't much she could do wrong and it had been a thrill for her to call out the trail commands. Neil spent a few minutes checking her skills, making a few notes on his clipboard. She spotted him and got nervous, though, so he put it back in his pack, gave her a satisfied nod and slowed down. Jill fought down a small grin and continued up the trail.

When they reached the tennis court Carol's group was already setting up lunch. The rode past the line of horses at the tie posts and slid off, taking the horses along the outer edge of the fence and woodline to cool them down. The girls rushed off into packs toward the fence to eat with a view down the hill.

Neil found Carol and Glen sitting on a huge log near the middle of the court. Glen flashed him a bright smile and looked up at the sky. "No storms yet, maybe your bad luck will hold off".

Neil pulled a water bottle out of his pack and dropped onto the log. "So far. I expect its building up for tomorrow."

"Earthquakes?" Carol asked.

Neil shrugged and laughed. "Mom'll have a box on the application next year that says parents want to opt their kids out of my classes"

Lunch went smoothly until Carol's group left. Neil found himself alone on the log when Gail came up and sat near him. "Avoiding me?" she asked.

Neil glanced over briefly, then tore his eyes away. She was gorgeous and had pulled her hair back, exposing a lot of neck. It just emphasized the lack of shirt, the tight shorts, the endless skin on display for him to imagine touching, licking, fondling. Neil did a few mental exercises to relax and shook his head. "I do have other students." he said, emphasizing "students".

Gail grunted dismissively and was about to say something when Leah stalked up. "Why don't you leave him alone, Gail?" she sneered.

Gail glared back at her. "I'm not bothering him. Just because you're all bothered by him doesn't mean the res..."

Leah took a step toward Gail and Neil interrupted. "Stop it. Both of you." he growled.

They gave him a surprised look and he sighed. "Look... Gail, I've pretty sure I already had this conversation with BOTH of you. I can't have any sort of relationship with a student. Period."

Gail started to argue, but looked over at Leah and stopped. "Its the last day... " she started lamely.

Leah bristled and Neil groaned. He was tired of the teasing, the frustration, fighting the beast simply wore him down and he found himself getting angry. "Just go away, OK? Both of you. Just... just leave me alone." he said harshly. Leah gave him a shocked look, started to say something then turned suddenly and jogged off. Gail went the other way with a similar expression.

Neil considered following them for a moment, but let it go. There wasn't anything he could do, and he felt pretty justified in his anger at that second.

Neil's mood improved when they broke through the woods on the far side of the mountain and got their first good look at the huge valley. It was a beautiful day and they could see for miles down the Blue Ridge mountains. The trail followed the edge of the mountain along a long arc around its northwest face, then dropped down into the valley again. Once under the trees, there were several more miles of gorgeous trails until they'd go through a long loop that marked the end of Cardinal Trail and would double back. Neil assigned himself as the trail tail, letting everyone else go ahead of him. It gave him time to cool off and meant that he didn't have to deal with either girl for several hours.

When they got back to the tennis court the entire ride group was tired, sweaty and covered with pine sap and trail dust. Neil stayed mounted on Arnoss, walking the big horse slowly around the court to cool him down and passing him a few chunks of apple. He was sore, but staying high let him track all the riders and it kept Leah or Gail from bothering him. He really wasn't ready for another discussion, and staying up on Arnoss made it impossible for anyone to talk to him for long.

He assigned Leah to lead them down the hill and Gail to midposition with a clear shout and the girls mounted up. When they reached the flat ground at the bottom, though, Neil spotted Gail stopped at the side of the trail. She was checking her horse's foot. Neil started to dismount, but she was back up before he could, riding next to him.

"Rock in his shoe?" Neil asked, dripping with disbelief.

Gail frowned and looked down. She'd put her jacket back on, covering herself up. "I wanted to... talk" she said.

Neil rubbed his neck. "Look... Gail."

"I'm a student." she said in response.

"Yeah. Just like Leah, just like all these other girls."

Gail nodded. "Jennifer's been bragging about how good you kiss."

Neil groaned and Gail noticed.

"Sorry." she said with little feeling. "Jenns' been so full of you, and then got you to..."

"make a huge mistake" Neil countered.

Gail frowned and nodded. "I know, I just... you seemed to like me and I wanted to end the summer... with someone. A little... summer romance to take back to school"