Beauty on the Beach

Beauty on the Beach
Chapter 3 - Parting ways

The next morning found us in almost exactly the same position as before. Cheerilee had fallen asleep within a few minutes, despite her insistence that there was no point to going back to sleep. She had just wrapped herself up in my arms, head resting on my chest and she was out like a light.

I had dozed off a little myself. One moment I was just resting my eyes for a moment, the next the sun was streaming in on my face and it was past the time we had to be getting up.

I gently shook Cheerilee awake, and she blinked up at me, clearly groggy. "Mmm, morning, Mac," she said before groaning and clutching a hand to her belly. "Sore."

I had imagined she would have been, especially being her first time. "It won't hurt as much tha second time," I assured her.

"Good," she replied, hugging herself tighter into me, "because I want there to be a second time."

We got up after that and packed up our things as best we could. Cheerilee was moving a little slow and bow legged, but after she had a shower she seemed a little better. I washed as quickly as I could and within another few minutes we were ready to go back to the train station.

Roseluck and the others were already waiting for us there, along with a small crowd of the other people who had been stranded. Roseluck's skin had calmed down a little bit from the angry red of the previous afternoon, but she was still in for an uncomfortable few days. Up on the platform,the station master was trying to maintain order as people were jostling each other to get to the ticket counter. It looked like those who were going to be disembarking in Baltimare were being put in a separate carriage to those who were going all the way through to other places.

Daisy was the first one to notice us. "Hey, Cheerilee!" she called out, waving us over. As we got closer, she paused and noticed Cheerilee's stiffness. "Are you alright?"

Cheerilee nodded, but it was Roseluck who noticed how close she was standing to me, and put two and two together. "Oh, no way. You two totally shacked up last night. Cheerilee, you slut!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cheerilee replied in a tone that suggested she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Big Mac and I just had a nice evening together re-establishing an old friendship. Isn't that right, Mac?" Cheerilee relaxed back into me while I wrapped my arms around her.

"Eeyup."

Roseluck looked like she was going to press the issue a little further when the whistle blew on the train. It was finally fixed up and ready to go. The crowd started surging towards the passenger cars, dragging Lilly and Daisy along with them

"Whatever," Roseluck said, "we'll just have to work it out of you later." She turned and tried to merge into the crowd, clearly hoping to meet up with her friends before all the good seats were taken.

Cheerilee and I hung back for a moment. She turned to look up at me. "I guess this is where we part for now? I'll see you back in Ponyville, right?"

I put my hand under her chin and looking down into her eyes. "Ya could come with me, ya know," I suggested. "Ah'm sure ah could work somethin' out with tha hotel."

Cheerilee gave me a weak smile. "I'd love to say yes, really I would, but I can't. The school year isn't going to wait just because one teacher found love."

"Ah'll miss ya," I assured her.

"When you get back, I might be ready for that next time we talked about," Cheerilee said, reaching up on her toes until she was closer to level with me. "But until then, here's a little something to remember me by."

Our lips met, and Cheerilee poured herself into me, reaching up and clasping her arms around my neck. I could vaguely hear a muffled 'Woooo' from one of the train cars, but I didn't care. It didn't matter.

I had a special someone, and that was all that mattered.