Alright here we go, third chapter.
I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock going off. I slapped the thing in anger that it had disturbed my sleep but it was time for me to get up anyway. It was 5:45 in the morning and it was still dark out due to the shortened days of winter. I usually got up early every morning to go run and then weight lift but I didn't want to leave Applejack alone so I decided to just lift the weights. I put on some workout shorts and left my room not bothering to put a shirt on. I peeked into the spare room to see Applejack still sleeping. I silently shut the door and headed down to my basement. I went to my weight set and set up for bench press, my current max was 315 pounds so i put 235 on the bar for reps. I sat down on the bench and out my hands on the bar. I lifted the bar off the bench and held it over my chest. I inhaled as I lowered the bar to my chest and exhaled as I pushed it back up, my pecs contracting in the process. I did several more reps before racking the bar an taking a quick break. I did three more sets then I went to the pull up bar. I began pulling my body over the bar repeatedly until I couldn't anymore. I then did shoulder press, deadlift, squat, power clean, and abs. After I was done I was drenched in a layer of sweat and I smelled like death. I went back up the stairs not looking where I was going and found myself bumping in to someone.
"Good morning Applejack, what are you doing up so early? I asked. Applejack was eyeing my body up and down and I could see the blush on her face meaning she liked what she saw.
"G'morning Tom." She replied.
"What are you doing up so early?" I asked her. It was 6:30 A.M on a Saturday which was why I was surprised to see her up.
"Ah always get up this early to work on the farm." She said. Shit, here comes the pony stuff again.
"Well the early bird catches the worm." I said.
"Come again?" She said with a cute puzzled look on her face.
"Never mind." I said.
"What were you doin up so early?" She asked.
"Working out." I said. "I'm going to shower than I'll come down to make breakfast."
'Okay." She said as I headed upstairs. I walked up to my shower stall and turned on the hot water. The room soon became riddled with steam as the temperature of the water increased. The hot water felt good as it relaxed my fatigued muscles. I rubbed body wash over my body to quell the stench that was emitting from my sweat pores. I washed my hair with shampoo and I was out all in a matter of five minutes. I never like taking long showers, in fact I hated taking showers in general. I opened the shower curtain to see Applejack right there.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" I yelled as frantically tried to find a towel or anything that could cover me uo "What are you doing?!"
"Ah was just comin to check on you." She said innocently. Well I just couldn't stay mad at that.
"Well just don't do it again." I said finding a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I darted to my room and thew on some jeans and a long sleeve sweater since I was going out today to buy AJ some clothes. Luckily I found some of clothes that my sister had left after her last visit. They were going to be a little big on AJ but they would still fit. I came out of my room and saw AJ downstairs on the couch.
"Here, we're going out to buy you some clothes today. Put these on." I said tossing the clothes to her. I went into the other room while she changed and it took her about ten minutes because she struggled to get the clothes on. It was really cold to day so I gave her my spare jacket and hat. I opened the door and led her outside as I locked the door behind me. We walked to the driveway where my pickup truck lay waiting to be used. I opened the door for her and she went inside intrigued by everything in there. I shut the door and went around to the driver side and got in. I put the keys in the ignition and the truck roared to life. She was startled at first by the noise but she calmed down.
"AJ put you seatbelt on." I said.
"Mah what?" She asked.
"This thing." I said pointing to my seatbelt.
"Where is mine at?" She asked looking for the seatbelt not thinking to look behind her. I leaned over to grab it from behind her head and pulled it around her waist and into the buckle. I felt like a damn mom buckling her six year old kid in.
"Why do ah gotta wear this thing?" AJ asked.
"So I crash you won't go flying through the windshield." I said a little meaner than I meant to. She looked a little pale at the thought of going though the windshield but she shrugged it off. I rebuckled my seatbelt and pulled out of my driveway and onto the street. I would have to go to a Kohl's, shoestore, and *gulp* Victoria's secret for underwear. I decided to get the worst over with so I drove towards the Victoria Secret. She didn't say a word as I drove, she was too interested in what was outside which was alright with me. I didn't like talking while I was driving anyway. After fifteen minutes we arrived at the famed lingerie store and I still can't believe I was about to go in and buy a bra and panties.
"Come on AJ." I said as I unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door for her. I took her hand as she stepped out as she still had a little trouble walking. As she stepped out she fell but I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. She smiled at me as I helped her back and walked her to the store. We walked in almost immediately people began staring at me awkwardly, fuck me. I walked over to an employee for help.
"Excuse me uh." I said nervously, this was the most awkward moment of my life. "I need some bras and underwear for the lady here."
"I see, ma'am what is your cup size?" The employee asked.
"Mah what?" AJ asked.
"Your cup size." The employee asked.
"Excuse me AJ." I said as I went to the employee and whispered in here ear. "She has some really bad amnesia so you think you could y'know help her?"
"Alright then, come with me Ms." The employee said taking AJ's hand. AJ looked at me with worry in her eye as the women led her to the dressing room.
"It's okay." I said as I comforted her. The employee led AJ to the dressing room while I stood there trying to avoid all eye contact with everyone there. After about fifteen minutes the two came out with four pairs of bras and underwear. The male part of me couldn't help but notice how large the bras were. I handed the cashier my credit card and after making the purchase. Aj and I left the store.
"Uh Tommy?" She asked.
"Yeah AJ?" I said.
"The woman in there said ah had a large chest is that good er bad?" Aj asked. My body froze at the awkward question.
"Well, its not a bad thing." I said nervously. "I mean, I guess its good."
"Do you think ah have a big chest?" She asked innocently. Fuck me I saw this one coming.
"Uh-I-uh-uh-We still have stores to go to, lets get goin!" I said as I helped her back into the car and shut the door. I got into the drivers seat and headed towards Kohls to buy her some clothes. I got her two pairs of jeans and some undershirts. I also got her some sweaters and socks along with silk pajamas. I asked her if there was anything else she wanted but she was very polite and didn't ask for anything more than I brought her. I went to the shoestore next to buy her gym shoes and some boots for when it snowed. She had a pretty small foot, a size eight compared to my size fifteen. All this shit cost me about six hundred dollars but I didn't care too much. We arrived home at bout two in the afternoon so we still had a whole day ahead of us. I helped her back into the house and I let her get changed into the silk pajamas I got here. As she changed I tried to figure out what I was going to do when I went to work tomorrow. I obviously couldn't take her with me to Marine Barracks so I would have to trust her on her own. She came downstairs dressed in the silk pajamas looking very comfortable.
"Feel better?" I asked her.
"Mmhmm." She replied. "Tommy ah really appreciate all yer doin fer me, is there anything ah can do to repay you?"
"Don't worry about it." I said. She actually had already paid me back. Despite her odd behavior I really did enjoy having her here. She was a very pretty young woman who was also very kind and innocent, something that was a rarity in today's world. She had filled up the void I felt when coming home and secretly, I wouldn't mind her staying her forever.
"Tommy whats this picture of?" She asked pointing to a picture of me in my dress blues.
"That is me in my Marine dress blues." I said.
"Marine? You mean like the ocean scientist?" She asked. I knew this was going to come up eventually. she seemed so innocent and naive to the evil in this world. How would she react if she found out that I had killed before?
"No a Marine is a guardian." I said not wanting to reveal the truth of war to her.
"Like the Royal Guard?" She asked.
"What royal guard?"
"The stallions who guard Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in Equestria." She said. Dammit, we had gone almost a whole day without this pony crap now she was starting it up again. As always, I just went with it.
"Yeah like those guys." I said. "We protect the people of America."
"Thats mighty nice of you." She said. "Spending your days helping people."
"Yeah helping people." I said remembering all the dead bodies I saw on the battlefield. Marines certainly did help people though, I had participated in the Toys for Tots program numerous times and when I was deployed alot of Marines would play with the afghan kids and help the afghan adults with various tasks.
"Hey AJ you want to watch a movie?" I asked her.
"Sure, a movie sounds nice." She said. I sighed a breath of relief since she finally was familiar with something. I scrolled down my DVDS in the shelf: Saving Private Ryan, good but too violent. Full Metal Jacket, a classic but way too violent. Human Centipede, why the fuck do I own this? All the movies were too violent or too inappropriate save a few cartoon disney movies I had for when my nieces and nephews visited. I eventually wound up picking out Home Alone. I freakin loved that movie when I was younger. I remember literally peeing myself when the two robbers were hit by all the traps the kid set up. It was Christmas time after all so I figured this would be a good one. Funny, not too violent, and heartwarming. I put the DVD in the TV and I sat down next to AJ and we watched. She was giggling at the infamous house traps that Macauly Culkin had set up around his house to stop the two robbers but I noticed towards the end she was crying. I thought it was just because of the heartwarming ending but these were tears of pain.
"AJ?" I asked. "Are you okay?"
"Ah'm sorry, ah just miss mah family." She said sobbing. Seeing the large family in the movie must have reminded her of her own family. I never was good at comforting crying people so I just did what I thought was right and I hugged her. I rubbed my hand through her hair as she cried onto my chest.
"Sshh, its okay." I said. "I promise I'll get you home."
"Really?" She asked.
"You bet I will." I said smiling as I wiped a tear from her eye. She sniffled as she smiled back. I decided to put on Will Ferrel's timeless classic Elf on next. I figure she would enjoy the humorous movie and did she ever. I have never seen someone laugh so hard in my whole life. She didn't get some stuff due to her lack on knowledge on culture but she still found the movie funny.
I was really starting to like having her around.