It all started at the beginning of the spring, when my girlfriend Leigh and I moved into a new neighborhood in our southern town. Both the house and the neighborhood were definitely a step up for us. We were just out of college and moved from a small town home next to campus on the other side of town to a pretty affluent neighborhood with larger lots. We were both on starter salaries but my parents had funded the new purchase. We were definitely the youngest people in the neighborhood by a good 10 years.
I had designs on proposing soon, but I wasn't necessarily in a rush.
I'm Ted, I'm pretty tall and lanky at around 6'3". Good friends describe me as "goofy". I was a decent athlete in high school, but I'm definitely not in the shape I was in back then. Leigh, on the other hand works out relentlessly. She ran track in college and could still easily be a fitness model. Some people drink 4-5 beers to unwind, she runs 4-5 miles. It doesn't matter if she's sick, if she's on vacation, or if she's completely slammed at work. She always makes time to work out. It's almost annoying.
Leigh has a great body. As you'd imagine from all the working out, her ass is damn near perfect. She's got a flat, toned stomach, but not really a six-pack. Her boobs are small C's and are as perky and flawless as the day we met when she was 19. Her looks are stunning, green eyes, auburn hair, and tan skin. She's incredible.
She's smart too, book smart at least. She's not exactly what I would call "street smart." It's not that she doesn't have common sense, but she can be gullible at times, and her desire to always see the best in people make her very trusting of almost everyone. She tends to take what people say at face value. As you'll see, that leads to some of the misadventures described in this story.
We'd met in college, and Leigh was always a "free spirit", but never a slut.
A few days after we moved in, we were outside doing some yard work. The new neighborhood seemed to have some pretty high standards for landscaping, and the previous owner had neglected this aspect a bit. While we were working, 2 cyclists rode by that looked like a couple. They stopped to talk to us, and we found out their names were Jim and Steph, and they lived on our street at the top of the hill. It was great to meet new folks, and they were "young" for this neighborhood, I estimated mid 30s. Before riding on, they invited us to a bbq at their house the next evening, an invitation we gladly accepted as we were eager to make friends.
When we arrived the next night, there were three couples there including us, plus Nick, a single guy who lived across from Jim and Steph, and looked to be about their age. The third couple was older, maybe late 40s. I'm terrible with names and don't even remember their names- they were nice but didn't say a lot. We got drinks and then went outside on the patio where Jim was grilling.
Leigh, being so into fitness, was curious about how Jim and Steph had gotten into road cycling, and much of the conversation centered around that. It turns out that both Jim and Nick competed in triathlons. This if course fascinated Leigh, and she was asking all kinds of questions about it. I could see she was interested in the idea.
"It's the ultimate test of will," Nick said. "Your only opponent is yourself, and you have to stack 3 intense disciplines, swimming, cycling and running. It's all about stretching your body to the limit and seeing how much you can take." My first impression of Nick is that he was a good enough guy but a little full of himself.
"That's right, and this is the year I catch up to you, buddy," said Jim.
"Yeah right, Jim has never beat me in a tri in about 10 attempts." I could see that these two were good friends but very competitive with each other.
"How long are your races?" Leigh asked.
"Well, we've built up over the past 3 years. We started with shorter races, but we are going to do a full Iron man for the first time this year. It's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, and then you run a marathon- 26.2 miles."
"Wow," said Leigh, "do you train with them?" she asked addressing Steph.
"Hell no, I'll go cycling with them sometimes, but I hate running."
Jim smirked, "Steph's 'assets' are a little much to run around with." Steph blushed, and I found myself blushing too as my eyes involuntarily went to her chest, which I'd already noticed was quite impressive in the skimpy tank top she was wearing. Steph was very pretty in fact, dark brown hair with a cute button nose and breasts that were definitely larger than Leigh's. She slapped Jim's arm somewhat playfully but I could tell he'd gone a little over the line because she looked genuinely embarrassed. It made her look cute.
"Well you've convinced me, I want in. I want to train and compete with you guys," said Leigh.
"Not sure that'll work," said Nick. "We're pretty experienced and when we go at it on a workout, we go a long way, and we go fast. We can't afford to have a newbie slowing us down."
I braced myself, knowing what was coming. The best way to ensure Leigh would do something was to tell her she was incapable or afraid to.
"I'd never expect you to wait on me. Just let me train with you, I'm a former D1 athlete and probably in better shape than you think. It will make me better to train with people who are better than me."
Nick gave her an appraising look, seeming to somehow notice her killer body for the first time. "Well we could give it a try. We're doing a swim at the gym tomorrow, if you want to come."
"I'll be there!" she said.
"Great, you can ride with us," said Jim. "Pick you up at 7:30."
