Come Ride With Me (closed)

[SerenityInMyWoods]

Matt slowed his motorcycle to a halt as he parked it in the designated parking lot. He flipped down the kickstand, pivoted off the bike and removed his helmet. He stood next to his older model, black Suzuki 550 and looked about at the other bikes. He recognized most all of them. Almost every day, there were the same collection of motorcycles and scooters in this lot. Many belonged to students at the community college. The others were owned by staff and professors, such as him. Of course at the beginning of each new semester, there were changes as new students came with their bikes and others had left after graduating. By the end of each semester, he was familiar with them all.

That day an unfamiliar bike had caught his attention. It also was a Suzuki 550, about the same age as his, only red instead of black. He wondered who it belonged to. Probably a student, as he knew well all the staff and profs that rode.

He grabbed his rucksack and his helmet and walked toward the lecture hall to teach the first class of his day, Computer Science.

As he was walking, Matt kept thinking about this "new" bike. Probably because it was very similar to his own, an older model, very dependable like himself. Matt recently turned 34. He had been a professor on this campus for ten years. He was tall, slender and handsome. He had begun to feel that his life was in a rut. He taught during the day and rode his bike through the country side in the evenings and on weekends. He had had some girlfriends, but most of these relationships lasted only a semester or two. It seemed that everything in his life revolved around the campus, or his bike.

His train of thought about this other bike, and who the owner might be, was broken as he walked into the lecture hall and began setting up.

 

[Stackeydreams]

Ava was not having a good week. On the previous Friday she was coming home from work and her car died unexpectedly at a busy intersection. After an embarrassing twenty minute wait, the tow truck came and gave her a lift to the garage. Then the bad news came. The transmission in her old Corolla was shot. Ava spoke with her brother on the phone that weekend about her situation, and he told her it would cost more money than the car was worth to repair. He then suggested to her that she borrow his old bike, which was a red, 1980, Suzuki 550. He hadn’t used it since Spring, when he moved to another city for a better paying job. She knew how to ride as they grew up with them and they used to cruise the back, country roads together. They each had owned one then, but she had sold hers years ago to help pay for college expenses. Ava went over to her parent’s house that afternoon and got the bike out of the garage and cleaned it up. It started right up on the first try, which was a relief, as she didn’t need anything else to go wrong.

As if there had been no lapse in time since her last ride, Ava cruised down the road smoothly on the bike that Monday morning. She smiled underneath her helmet. It felt good. It felt young.

Ava was 33, and had been a Professor of Creative Writing at the college for 7 years. She lived in a quaint, little apartment complex only a couple miles away, as she was still single. She had almost gotten married once, but things fell apart after a couple years. After that, she dated another guy for about 6 months, but it didn’t work out as his job took him across the country, permanently.

Ava finished up her last class, loaded up her rucksack (thankfully she had one still), grabbed her helmet and headed out. On the way out she received a couple smiles and a “Niiice!” from some of her students, as they noticed her helmet. This made Ava feel even better about the situation. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, and living in the South she could ride all year long.

 

[SerenityInMyWoods]

Matt had finished his lectures, office hours, and meetings with other professors. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to unwinding. His rucksack was slung over his shoulder and his helmet was in his hand as he walked down the path toward the motorcycle parking lot.

Up ahead he saw an attractive woman with a helmet in her hand, talking to some students. She appeared younger than he was, but older than most students. ‘She must be another instructor’, he thought. He had a feeling that he had met her before, but couldn't recall her name. With that flashing red hair, you'd think he would have remembered.

He walked towards his bike and realized that the redhead had approached the “new” bike, the RED Suzuki 550. He turned and stepped in her direction.

“Hello there!” he spoke with a raised voice.

She turned to face him with a quizzical expression. “Do I know you?” she said.

Extending his hand to greet her he replied, “Matt, Matt Bower is my name. I teach computer science.” His elevator eyes more closely inspected the lovely woman before him. Even wearing her leather riding jacket, he could tell that she had large breasts. The tight fitting jeans left little doubt that she also had well toned legs and a curvy rear end. Yes, he wanted to know her much better.

She took his hand and noticed his firm grip. “Yes, I HAVE seen you around here. I’m Ava. We must not cross paths very often. I instruct in the art of creative writing.”

“I noticed that you have a 550, similar to mine.” Matt said, releasing his grasp of her hand and waving toward his own bike a few yards away. “I haven’t seen another one of these on this lot for quite some time. They are great bikes.”

“I just got this from my brother.” She said in a friendly tone while staring back into Matt’s jet black eyes. “He loaned it to me after my car died. Some years ago I had my own bike and often rode with my brother.”

Matt sensed a connection with the beautiful redhead, or he was hoping for a connection. ‘Hmmm, a biker chick’, he thought to himself, and then with a wink he said to her, “We should get to know each other better.”

The instant the words left his mouth he thought ‘What an obvious and corny pick-up line.’

She smiled, almost embarrassed at the awkward line.

Matt tried quickly to recover. He ran his hand through his long black hair. “Sorry about that. What a corny line.” He tilted his head and rolled his eyes, feeling a warm flush come to his face. “I’ve been around here for some years and I know all the staff that ride. When I saw this bike this morning, I was curious who it belonged to. Now I know.”

He paused. He was relieved that she had not immediately turned away. He felt his body relax. He sighed and continued, “May I buy you a coffee, or tea?”

“Yes Matt. Yes you may.”

 

[Stackeydreams]

"Great!" Matt returned. "How about Main Street Diner, sound good?"

"Perfect!" Ava fastened the helmet strap securely under her her chin and mounted her bike. She followed Matt out onto the road and they buzzed down the four blocks to the diner. It was late afternoon, so the place was pretty empty.

They claimed an empty booth and set their helmets beside them.

"This was a good idea. Thanks for asking me." Ava starts. "And just think, if my stupid car hadn't broken down, we may never have actually met like this."

"Well I guess there's truth to the old saying then...."There's a little good in every bad situation." Matt smilled with his reply.

The waitress came right away, taking their orders and rushing back with their coffees.

"I was hoping I didn't blow it with my corny remark back there. I know it was pretty lame." Matt laughed as his cheeks flushed again.

"Not corny at all, Ava replied, "refreshing actually. Some guys try way to hard, and others not at all. I'd rather you just be you."

Matts face revealed an obvious sense of relief with Ava's response, as if he were thinking, 'Whew! I'm glad I got that out of the way.'

After a half hour or so of chatting about work and their bikes, Ava glanced at her watch.

"I guess I should really get going. I need to get a couple things done before I hit the gym."

Looking at the clock himself, Matt agreed. "Ya, me too. Hey, not sure if you're interested, as I know you're just getting back into riding, but I'm going on a group ride with a bunch of friends this Saturday. We like to take the scenic ride West about an hour, have lunch at the BBQ Pit, and then make our way back. Would you like to join us?"

"You know, that sounds great actually! I havn't done that in years. It would be a refreshing change of pace." Ava was quick with her reply, thinking to herself, 'This should be fun. He's really cute too. I wonder where this could go?' "Hey, and thanks again for the coffee."

After agreeing to meet at the Town Park at 11 on the following Saturday, each pulled out of the lot on their bikes, this time in different directions towards home.

 

[SerenityInMyWoods]

Saturday morning Matt pulled into the parking lot at Town Park, the normal meeting spot for the rides of this group of friends. Most of Matt’s riding friends were men, but a few were women. Ava was already there chatting with some of the other riders. She even recognized a few as staff at the community college.

After sharing simple greetings, they all mounted their motorcycles and headed west, out of town along the two lane scenic road. It was a great road for a bike ride. There were long stretches of straight road with an occasional curve. Most of the trip passed through the rolling countryside of farms, but there were also some patches of beautiful trees to ride through. Best of all, there was very little traffic on this road other than the dozen of so bikers that morning.

Matt mostly rode next to Ava so he could point out particular sights such as an old farmhouse, a barn, or a terrific view down the valley toward the river, way off in the distance.

After riding about an hour the group arrived at the BBQ Pit, part country store and part restaurant located at the intersection of two country roads. The Pit had a simple menu, brisket and/or sausage with sides of slaw, potato salad, and beans. Each meal was served on butcher paper over a plastic lunch tray with the slaw and beans in disposable cups. Each tray also had plastic utensils and a paper napkin. Everyone picked up their meal and drinks at the counter. They sat and ate at the wooden picnic tables outside.

It was a great place to have lunch outdoors. The view down the valley was spectacular. Off in the distance could be seen a church steeple in the closest community. They talked about the weather, their bikes, and other interests. They all avoided talk about their jobs. The point of the ride was to leave those behind in the city.

Matt raised the question to the group about taking the river road back home. It was a longer, winding road and it would take a couple of hours to get back to the city by that route. But it was a different and more scenic road. Ava quickly agreed but the other riders bowed out. Most needed to get back to town sooner and the others felt that Matt and Ava might want some time alone.

After lunch Matt and Ava took off on their motorcycles down the valley road towards the river while the rest of the riders took the high road back to the city. Matt was pleased that the other riders caught his intentions of spending some time alone with Ava. He also knew a couple of great places to stop along the river road where they could spend some time together.

Soon the valley road became the river road, winding along parallel to the river. It was a more scenic road and Matt enjoyed the serenity of the views. It appeared to him that Ava also was enjoying the ride as well.

About forty minutes into their ride, they entered another large patch of trees. Matt motioned to Ava to pull off the main road onto a dirt road that headed towards the river. A few hundred yards down this road, the trees opened up to a bluff overlooking the river. Matt stopped his bike, as did Ava following his lead. They got off their bikes and removed their helmets. Holding Ava’s hand, Matt led her to the edge of the overlook.

“Matt, this is really beautiful.” She said, a bit awestruck by the spectacular view.

“This is one of my favorite spots.” Matt replied. “It is so serene here. Very relaxing.”

They sat down together on the rock outcropping and took in the moment. It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze. Nothing could be heard except the sounds of nature.

Matt was very much enjoying this time with Ava. She was interesting, a great conversationalist, and very attractive. He felt a growing connection between them and he hoped she felt it also. As she gazed out over the river and beyond, Matt was watching her face, especially those wonderful eyes, trying to read her thoughts.

He reached over with his hand and placed in upon Ava’s hand which was resting on the rock. In response, her fingers interlocked with Matt’s.

 

[Stackeydreams]

'Should I have done that?' Ava questioned herself, as she felt her heart begin to race a little. 'I hardly even know this guy. Ahh, what the hell, too late now.'

After a couple minutes of awkward silence and avoiding eye contact, Ava pointed out towards the rapids in the water.

"Did you see that brookie just jump?" Ava exclaimed, breaking the silence. "My Dad used to take my brother and I fishing in this stream when we were kids."

"Oh, really? I never pictured you to be the fishing type." Matt replied.

"Yes! We used to fish and camp all the time! What great memories!" Ava continued. "OK, if I tell you something, promise not to laugh."

Matt smiled, enjoying how Ava was letting go and sharing so freely about herself. "Of course not......I think." Matt chuckled teasingly.

"When I was about twelve, my dad taught me how to hunt. Not anything big, just squirrels rabbits." Ava looked at Matt, hoping he wouldn't be totally turned off by what she had revealed.

"Laugh! I think that's cool! You're like a real life girl-next-door." Matt replied, relieving her.

"Whew!" Ava smiled, relieved that she hadn't blown it with her awkward revelation.

Both had very outgoing personalities and had loosened up quite a bit. They now felt as if they had know each other for a very long time.

"Hey, you want to go wading?" Ava looked at Matt.

"Hell, why not. It's hot out here."

Realizing that they were still holding hands, they released each others sweaty palms. ln minutes they were navigating the flat rocks between the rapids. Ava playfully splashed a little water towards Matt.

'Damn, he looks good in those jeans' she thought to herself.

 

[SerenityInMyWoods]

'Damn, she looks great in those jeans' he thought to himself.

The day was getting warm and the cool water felt good when Ava splashed it on Matt.

“I used to camp along this river with friends.” He said as he splashed water back at Ava. “I haven’t camped out in years, but I miss it. We had loads of fun.” Matt remembered all those great adventures along the river. “We also used to fish here. At the end of the day we would build a campfire and cook the fish for dinner. Often we would camp under the stars without a tent.”

Even though the river was rushing through some rapids at this point, there was a pool of calmer water close to the bank, near the rock outcrop.

“How about a swim?” Matt yelled over towards Ava even as he turned his back to her and scampered over the rocks back to shore. He wasn’t sure how she would react to his behavior, but he wasn’t waiting for her answer. The memories of his past fun along the river were driving his actions. He pulled off his shirt as he kicked off his riding boots. Next he pulled off his socks and jeans, leaving him standing on the river bank in only his shorts. He thought for a moment of pulling those off as well and going skinny dipping, but realized that he didn’t know Ava well enough to judge her reaction.

Leaving the shorts on, he dove into the pool of water.