A ride among friends
The morning air was crisp as the group gathered in front of the stables, excitement buzzing through the air like the few early-bird insects that were already pestering the horses. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a warm glow over the rolling hills and verdant pastures that stretched out before them.
After the breakfast that filled their bellies and patched everyone up from their hangovers, the group gathered in front of the stables, ready for another day full of whatever was planned. James, with his usual enthusiasm bottomless pit of energy, took charge of assigning the groups for the day's ride.
"Alright, everyone, listen up!" he called out while climbing on top of a table and drawing the attention of the assembled riders. "For today we'll be splitting of into two groups. Today's ride is a long one, about five hours, but halfway through we'll meet up and stop for lunch. I'll be leading one group, and Alexi will take the other. Lily, Mary, Peter, Pandora, Regulus, and Dorcas, you're with me.” Alexi, next to James, snorted in amusement and raised an eyebrow. “Classic, James, real classic.” James chose to completely ignore that comment. “Natuarlly, the horse you ride today is the same as it was yesterday."
Lily couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement, looking forward to not only spending the whole day in the saddle and in the same group as Mary, but maybe also to spending the majority of the day with James and thus having a chance to get to know him more. Mary definitely caught onto that, because she shot Lily a teasing look. Glancing over at Mary, she caught her friend's mischievous grin and rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what was coming.
"And Sirius, Remus, Marlene, Barty, and Evan, you'll be with Alexi," James continued, his voice carrying easily across the courtyard. "Remember, safety first, but let's have some fun out there!" Alexi was already off to the stable of her horse. “Everyone in my group, be ready in twenty minutes, or I'm leaving without you, and you can spend the rest of your day mucking out the stables!” She called over her shoulder.
As the group split off into their respective teams, Lily found herself falling into step beside James, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "So, what's the plan for today, fearless leader?" Mary chimed in as she caught up to them. Very purposefully, she nudged Lily, causing Lily to stumble a little and accidentally brushing against James’ side, much to Mary's amusement.
James grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Oh, you'll just have to wait and see," he replied cryptically, shooting Lily in particular a wink that sent her heart fluttering.
After they got their horses ready for the ride, they mounted their saddles and set off down the trail, Lily couldn't help but steal glances at James whenever she thought he wasn't looking. There was something about him that drew her in, something magnetic and irresistible.
Mary, ever observant, caught on to Lily's lingering stares and couldn't resist teasing her mercilessly. "Looks like someone's got a crush," she teased, nudging Lily with her shoulder as they rode side by side.
Lily felt her cheeks flush pink, but she couldn't deny the truth in Mary's words. “So what if I do? We can definitely talk about your last crush. What was his name again? Darren?” Lily shot back, knowing that Mary was a little ashamed of that one because he hadn't exactly been the sharpest tool in the shed or very good-looking at all. She flipped Lily off. “I was possessed by the devil when that happened.” She defende herself while flicking her dark curls over her shoulder. “Besides, I don't even like men anymore.”
Meanwhile, at the back of the line, Lily could hear Pandora, Regulus, and Dorcas striking up a conversation as they rode along together. Much to her surprise, Regulus seemd to get along just fine with those two.
"So, Regulus, tell us more about your horse back at home," Dorcas prompted, casting a curious glance in his direction. "I heard you had quite the scare with him a while back."
“Who told you?” Regulus asked after a while. “It was Barty, wasn't it? He can never keep his mouth shut, I'm thinking of taping it shut.” He grumbled a little. "But yeah, he got spooked by a passing car and bolted. Luckily, he wasn't hurt too badly, but it was definitely a wake-up call for me. If you don't fall for a long time, sometimes you just forget that you can do that."
Back at the front of the line, Lily couldn't shake the feeling that James was sneaking glances at her every now and then. Of course he had to pay attention to everyone, but he seemed to look at her a little more often than the others.
She, however, decided to just shake that off her mind for a while and to enjoy the ride while listening to Mary rant to Peter about how she wasn't sure what the best way was to approach this new girl she liked. At the same time, James called the group into a trot. There were no bucking horses this time, but that was probably because they had all the easier tempered horses in this group. That had to be what Alexi was annoyed about earlier when James called the groups. A bit of a sneaky move, if you ask Lily. Then again, James and Alexi seemed to just do that to each other.
“So, who is the new girl we're talking about?” Lily asked after a while, getting a little bit curious now.
“Well, I don't want to say that I like like her yet, because I don't know her that well..” Mary sighed after a while as she patted her horse's mane absentmindely. “But I just feel like we'd get along so well, and she's very beautiful.”
“Just talk to her, she'd be nuts if she didn't want anything to do with you.” Lily assured her.