Ride of Her Life

by Laura Stone

  Ride of Her Life

  by Laura Stone

  Three and a half hours.

  Three and a half hours on a plane with screaming babies, entitled businessmen, and people so completely clueless they really shouldn’t be allowed to travel at all has put Jasmine in a very, very foul mood.

  It was supposed to be a quick two hour flight, but after sitting on the tarmac for ages before take out, instead of landing on time they’d then spent ages circling the airport because of turbulence backing everything up. And then when it came time to deplane, not a single other passenger seemed to know which luggages was theirs or how to freaking move.

  She emerges from the gangway with her carryon clutched in a tight fist, a headache forming in her temples as she sees that the airport is just as jam-packed as her flight had been. Swell.

  As she marches forward, weaving through people and luggage, she reminds herself that everything will be worth it once she gets to the music festival. The music festival she wanted to attend with her girlfriend, Brooke, considering music festivals aren’t really Jasmine’s thing. She’d bought the tickets as an early birthday gift, and had been planning to give them to Brooke upon returning from the bakery with her girlfriend’s cake.

  Unfortunately, walking in on one's girlfriend knuckle deep in your cousin really puts a damper on a relationship.

  Jasmine had cried for days after throwing her cheating EX-girlfriend and her BITCH of a cousin out of her apartment. She demolished Brooke’s stupid cake with a fork and several glasses of wine. They had been talking about marriage, for fuck’s sake! Jasmine’s been saving for a mortgage on a house for both of them! All those years together, building memories and a life together, giving up amazing career opportunities, all for nothing.

  Honestly, even two months later, she’s not sure she would’ve been able to recover from the heartbreak if not for her best friend AJ. He’s always been there for her, and he’d really stepped up in a big way after he heard about what had happened. AJ has been her best friend since their first semester in college, where they’d met because they were trying to date the same girl, realized they were being played and decided to drop her and be friends with one another.

  AJ had been the one to convince her to still go on the trip to the music festival, rather than burn the tickets along with every single other reminder of Brooke left in their apartment.

  “You deserve to have a good time, and prove to yourself that you’re over her!” he’d told her, gazing at her intensely with those bright green eyes. He’s a sweet guy, with soft, wavy brown hair, and a smattering of boyish freckles across his cheeks. Even though she’s a lesbian, Jasmine has always known that AJ is hot as fuck, and if he was a girl, she’d absolutely have snatched him up. Since he isn’t though, she did the next best thing and claimed him as her best friend forever.

  She’d begged him to come with her, but he couldn’t get the time off for it. He had, however, helped her to cancel her hotel room, saying he has a sister out in Tennessee who would totally let Jasmine stay in her spare room.

  Robin. Jasmine has heard a lot about this sister of his but has never actually met her before. She doesn’t have high hopes of getting along with her the way she has with AJ though. For one, Robin is apparently very, very country. As in, her job is literally tending to horses and leading trail rides and giving riding lessons. Jasmine is… not that. She doesn’t like to think of herself as prissy, but she is certainly rather particular about how she wants things. And she doesn’t like to get dirty.

  AJ has said multiple times that he doesn’t recognize his sister without at least a thin layer of dirt on her.

  At least Robin probably won’t be home much. They’d texted a little bit before Jasmine’s flight, just to iron out the details of when and where to pick her up, and Robin had told her she’s going to be working a lot. Jasmine will pretty much have the run of the house. Not that it matters either way. The music festival starts early and ends late; she doesn’t plan to be home much either. Especially if she finds someone to help her put all the crap with Brooke behind her.

  Finally, after what feels like years, Jasmine is free of the crowded airport terminals and has emerged into the baggage claim. She feels a certain kinship for all those salmon that swim upstream every year.

  The baggage claim is still busy, still crowded, but it’s bearable. She hunts down carousel 5 and waits at the very front, where the bags will come from, staring at the dark hole in the wall. Heavy footsteps approach her from behind, but she doesn’t move a muscle. No one is bullying her out of this spot. She’s going to get her luggage first, come hell or high water.

  “Uh… are you Jasmine?” a voice drawls behind her.

  Jasmine turns, then looks down to where the voice came from. For a moment, she thinks she’s looking at AJ, but quickly realizes he’s not shorter than her, and neither are his lips so plump. The woman in front of her looks just like him though. Intense green eyes, a smattering of freckles across her cheeks, her hair brown and wavy and cut in almost the exact same style as her brother, though topped off with a cowboy hat.

  In fact, from head to toe, she’s done up in a way that Jasmine has rarely seen outside of TV. Her shirt is a western-style button-up, her jeans are tight, dusty Wranglers, and her boots… Well they look almost like hiking boots actually, but they’re clearly well worn

  “Robin, I presume?” Jasmine asks, turning to face her fully. Irritated as she is, she still remembers to at least extend her hand for a handshake. Robin grins broadly and accepts, pumping Jasmine’s hand with enthusiasm.

  “Nice to meet ya,'' she says. The drawl is definitely noticeable in a way that AJ’s never was, but Jasmine finds that her accent isn’t actually all that jarring. In fact, she kind of likes the sound.

  “And you,” Jasmine says, her heart thumping like a rabbit in her chest.

  The orange light above the baggage claim wall goes off, and the belt starts moving. Jasmine snaps back around immediately, hand out to grab her bag the moment she sees it. At her side, Robin chuckles, though at what Jasmine can’t be sure.

  Several bags pass by on the belt. Big and red. Little and yellow. A tiny backpack with a doll hanging from the front pocket. At last, she spots her own bag, bright blue with a pink ribbon tied to the handle. She goes to grab it at the same moment as Robin. Jasmine is a touch faster, and Robin’s calloused hand simply covers her own on the handle.

  “Let me grab that for you, darling,” Robin says. Taken aback, Jasmine’s grip loosens, and the bag is hauled off the belt with little effort.

  “Are you sure?” Jasmine asks, distinctly uncomfortable asking her host to carry her bags for her. Not that Jasmine likes asking for help from anyone. “I can get it.”

  “Nonsense. Come on, we’ll get you to the truck. Are you hungry? There’s a diner on the way to the house.”

  Robin’s not nearly as fast-paced as Jasmine, strolling along at her leisure. It drives Jasmine a touch batty, though she does have to admit it affords her a very nice look at how Robin’s jeans cup her ass.

  Cheeks flushed, Jasmine chastises herself. How would AJ feel if he knew she was scoping out his little sister?

  Once in the truck, they drive home, pausing for a quick (very late) breakfast as a small diner. Robin orders the special, which includes waffles, hash browns, sausages, bacon, grits, and scrambled eggs. Jasmine opts for just a coffee and mixed fruit.

  “That’s it?” Robin asks, aghast. “You’ll be starving before noon.”

  “Not everyone has a black hole for a gut like you, Rob,” the waitress, whose name tag says ‘Mandy’, teases as she refills their mugs. Robin winks at her.

  “C’mon, you gotta try the pancakes at least,” Robin says, then turns to Mandy. �
�Bring us a short stack, would ya’ sweetheart?” Jasmine sighs, and relents, thinking that they’ll just go to waste.

  Mandy brings her a plate with three pancakes with a pat of butter melting on top. Jasmine can’t help but think about all the carbs and sugar in them, but when Robin looks at her expectantly, she picks up a fork to try a bite. To her surprise, they’re so good that she cleans her plate. Even more to her surprise, Robin cleans all of her own plates too.

  They pay and leave, and the truck idles in the gravel driveway when Robin pulls them in.

  “I’ve gotta get to work, but you feel free to make yourself at home,” Robin says with a winning smile, handing over a house key on a carabiner. Jasmine takes it.

  “Thanks,” she says and lets herself in.

  The house is small but neatly kept, aside from the laundry basket overflowing with dirty jeans and t-shirts. There doesn’t seem to be any distinct ‘style’ of decor beyond leather and cheap. It’s all clean though, and Jasmine isn’t so rude as to turn her nose up at free lodging.

  She takes the spare room, which has clearly seen more cleaning in preparation for her arrival than the rest of the house. Quietly touched, Jasmine moves to unpack. Though she’ll only be in town for a few days, she has never liked living from her suitcase.

  The rest of the day passes peacefully. She unpacks, takes a nap, and starts to take her lunch outside on the beautifully constructed deck, but decides against it when she sees the dark grey clouds outside stirring.

  Frowning, it only then occurs to Jasmine that her music festival is an outdoor event; if rain is on the horizon, she might not get to go after all. She anxiously watches the weather channel while she eats a ham sandwich on the couch. Surely her luck can’t be that bad, can it? As she watches the TV though, it does not seem to be going to her favor at all.

  The plan was to call an Uber to drive her out at 6 p.m. but by 1 p.m. the rain starts. Jasmine worries her lip and stares out the window, silently willing it to go away.

  No such luck. Lightning splits the sky, thunder quick to follow, rattling the windows of the small house. The rain falls harder with every passing minute. Raging wind howls as it rips through the big evergreens outside.

  A roaring engine precedes Robin returning in her truck, running up to the porch in muddy boots.

  “Hey,” she says when Jasmine lets her in. She’s soaking wet, and shakes her shaggy hair, flinging water everywhere.

  “Hey.”

  “The damned rain washed us out. Boss-lady told us all to get on home once we got all the horses back in their stalls and taken care of. There’s been some sort of flash flood warning-”

  “-Until 8 p.m. tonight, yeah,” Jasmine finishes dejectedly, turning and walking away. The weather reporter is still chattering endlessly in the living room.

  Barely another word passes her lips for the next few hours. Eventually, her worst fears are confirmed when her phone gives a cheerful blip blip! She checks, and there’s a message from the people running the music festival that the first night has been canceled, and the rest is very likely to be canceled as well due to inclimate weather.

  She spends the next hour curled up on her borrowed bed, sulking. Of course this would happen. The first vacation she’s taken in years, just as she’s trying to get over her no good cheating ex-girlfriend, and it gets rained out. All that money and effort and time, and she’s just going to spend it with her ass on a couch.

  Eventually, the smell of Mexican rice cooking draws her into the kitchen, where Robin is whistling away as she works the stove. She’s changed clothes, and her hair has dried a little curlier than it had been earlier. Jasmine watches her cooking for a long moment, before letting out a deep sigh. The noise draws Robin’s attention, and she pauses moving her spoon in the skillet to look at Jasmine.

  “Well, there’s Eeyore,” Robin says with a smile. Jasmine’s eyebrows scrunch.

  “The music festival was canceled,” Jasmine says, a touch more ire than she really means. Almost as soon as she says it, she feels bad; it’s not like it’s Robin’s fault.

  Robin doesn’t take offense. “Yeah, I heard. I’m sorry about that. Want to help with dinner? We can still have a nice night in, you know?”

  Jasmine, still a little embarrassed to have been caught pouting like a child, says, “Oh no, you don’t have to worry about that.”

  Robin shakes her head and gives Jasmine a smile that makes her wonder if the sun has come out after all.

  “AJ made me promise that I’d send you home with a smile on that pretty face of yours,” Robin says with a wink. Jasmine’s blood races in her veins. “I intend to keep my word. Now, how do you feel about dessert?”

  For the rest of the evening, Robin keeps Jasmine busy, first by roping her into helping finish up cooking dinner. Jasmine is far from a whiz in the kitchen, but Robin manages to keep her from burning anything, and heaps praise on her for managing to saute some onions and peppers.

  “These are easily the finest peppers and onions I have ever seen,” Robin declares grandly. Jasmine just shakes her head, cheeks warm. It’s nice to be teased so kindly though.

  After dinner, they bake brownies and Robin blasts music (country, of course). It reminds Jasmine keenly of all the sleepovers she had with friends when she was a teenager. Of course, quite a few of those ended in her and whichever friend she had over kissing behind the couch.

  Before Jasmine can muse on that too deeply, Robin brings out a popcorn maker, proclaiming a movie night is in session. She can’t help but giggle at how overblown and hammy Robin is. No doubt it’s a ploy to entertain Jasmine enough that she doesn’t think about how disappointed she is over the music festival. Ploy or not, it works.

  They end up on the couch with a huge mixing bowl filled with popcorn between them, and brownies plated with napkins balancing on their knees. Robin finds a truly heinous movie on one of the streaming services she’s subscribed to and puts it on for them to watch.

  “They can’t be serious with this,” Jasmine says, shaking her head as the leading man basically stalks his love interest to a bar after being told repeatedly to shove off.

  “Aw, it’s all in good fun,” Robin says, waving her off.

  “I’d be horrified if someone did that to me,” Jasmine says, wrinkling her nose in distaste. It has happened before, in fact, and it was entirely horrifying! Robin nods gamely.

  “Sure, but this is real life, darlin’,” Robin drawls. Jasmine finds herself leaning towards Robin as she speaks, her voice warm and rich and enticing. “That’s the thing, isn’t it? The movie isn’t real. We know that’s just an actor and an actress playing their roles. She’s not in real danger. We know that they’re supposed to fall in love. Even if it’s stupid, it’s harmless.”

  “Well…” Jasmine scoots closer on the couch, careful to not spill the popcorn. “I suppose. It just seems to be a bad example.”

  “Yeah, but anyone who takes examples from movies needs help to begin with,” Robin says with a shrug. Jasmine sees her point, and settles in just a bit closer, shifting the popcorn bowl to her lap so they’re sitting side by side. Robin stretches out and yawns, extending her arm so that it’s laying along the back of the couch behind Jasmine.

  It doesn’t take long before Jasmine has her head on Robin’s shoulder. Robin seems to know exactly what her game is too, but they both politely pretend to be watching the movie.

  Jasmine hasn’t slept with anyone since Brook. She’s spent all her time after the break up just drowning herself in work to try and keep herself from even thinking about relationships.

  Maybe her problem has been just that; assuming she needs a relationship to have sex. That’s how she’s always been, but maybe there’s a better way. She likes Robin, sure, but they barely know each other. They have some basic chemistry, and Robin’s very attractive, and maybe that’s just all there needs to be between them.

  As the movie hits its dramatic peak, Robin’s arm drops over Jasmine’s shoulders. Jasmin
e holds her breath as Robin’s hand cups her upper arm, stroking over it gently. There’s no missing that signal.

  She glances over and sees Robin already looking at her with a curious half-smile. As sort of ‘is this what I think it is?’ look, and Jasmine gives her a sticky slow smile in return.

  The background music hits a frenzy on TV, just as Jasmine and Robin surge towards one another. Popcorn spills as the bowl is dislodged by their movements, though neither of them pay it any mind at all. Their mouths meet just off-center in their rush, and they realign with a brief laugh shared between them.

  So much of Robin is hard, from her calloused hands to her firm musculature, but her mouth is soft and yielding against Jasmine’s. They kiss one another fervently, grasping at one another like they’ve been holding back for far longer than a single day.

  Jasmine’s definitely been holding back for a while. She pushes at Robin, who happily flops back against the couch cushions. She crawls on top of her, their legs tangling, and she leans down to kiss along the alluring line of Robin’s neck. Robin tilts her head to make it easier, her strong hands running up and down the dip of Jasmine’s waist before sliding down to grip her ass hard. She groans when Jasmine scrapes her teeth along the soft flesh of her neck before biting.

  “You want me to get in trouble at work tomorrow?” Robin asks playfully. Jasmine purrs.

  “Maybe I’m hoping you’ll have the day off,” Jasmine replies. To her delight, Robin’s cheeks go pink.

  “Well…” She grins. “I assume that means you’re okay with where this is all going?”

  “If it’s going to your bedroom and taking our clothes off, then yes. Very.”

  They sit up then, still eager in their arousal, but a touch awkward too. After all, they can’t even say they’re friends yet, despite having just been necking on Robin’s couch.

  It could just be projection on Jasmine’s part though. She hasn’t ever really done ‘casual’ sex before. She’s thought about it! She’s thought about it a lot. Every time she’s tried though, all the desire fizzled out before the first piece of clothing came off.