Viruses & Romances
How could life possibly get any better?
I wondered this as I lied on the warm ground, my hands folded behind my head, the sun beating down on me comfortably as I watched the clouds move and take various sizes and shapes. One looked like a really skinny dragon, the other like a two-tailed kitten, and one even looked kind of like a Stetson hat. Huh.
Ace grazed contently beside me, pawing the ground every once in awhile in a comical way that made me laugh every time he did it. I sighed; looking back up to the sky and blinking when I accidental looked at the sun, and a dark spot appeared in my vision. I groaned mildly, stretching my arms out wincing when a slight tinge when through my arms for being folded so long. I felt a tickling in my hand, and I looked over to see Ace sticking his nose into my palm.
"Don't you bite me. I'm not grass," I told him, and his brown eyes flickered up to look at with an amused air, and then nudged my hand out of the way as he ate the fresh grass.
I flicked my wrist, and then looked at the time according to my wristwatch. According to it, it was around one o'clock in the afternoon, and I sighed, getting to my feet and brushing some of the dirt off of my jeans, and then picked up Ace's reins.
"C'mon, pretty boy, time to head on home." I said, taking a hold of his mane with one hand and setting the other on the back of the saddle, and swung myself up onto Ace's back. He snorted and took a step forward, but I pulled the reins a bit and made him face home, and then allowed him to go into a steady trot. Meanwhile, my thoughts were elsewhere.
It was the beginning of summer, and school was now out, which made me immensely happy, despite the fact that the chores were going to load up again. Oh well, at least I could ride Ace more now. In a few weeks it would be my sixteenth birthday, and that was another thing I was looking forward to.
Ace pulled on the reins and started to canter, jarring me out of my thoughts, and that was when I relised that the ranch was once more coming into view and getting closer and closer. I squinted and saw Witch, Jake's Quarter Horse mare, in the paddock with the other horses, off to the side and grazing. I pulled Ace back into a walk once we were crossing over the bridge, and the only sound I heard was the steady rhythm of my horse's hooves hitting wood.
"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" I asked him once we had reached the house, and I swung my leg over the saddle, dismounting. Ace bobbed his head, and I took that to mean that he agreed. I smiled, scratching him behind the ears and then peeled off the saddle and pad and then the bridle. I gave him one last pat before turning him out to the pasture, where he trotted off to meet his horse buddies.
I heard a whinny coming from the barn, and I smiled once more, hoisting the saddle and bridle and then setting off for the barn. Inside, I saw my filly, Tempest, in one of the stalls, looking at me expectantly. I laughed.
"Be right there, Tempest," I informed her, and then hung my saddle on the rack and hung up the bridle, and then went over and opened the door and went inside, receiving my hand being nudged by her muzzle. She was pure black, just like her father was when he was a colt, and I liked that. She was kind of like a female version of the Phantom, but the Phantom was one-of-a-kind. It panged me to think of him, since I hadn't seen him for a while.
"Hey, Brat," Said a voice behind me. I whirled, peeking over the top of the stall door, to see Jake standing in the doorway, watching me with those calm, brown, "mustang eyes."
"Hi, How'd you know I was in here?" I asked, since I had been sitting down and had been hidden by the door. Jake shrugged. "I dunno. I saw Ace out in the pasture and figured you'd be in here."
"Wow, you mean you go calling my name to just see if I'm there all the time? I feel special." I teased him, and Tempest got in on it, whinnying at him. Jake snorted, rolling his eyes heavenward, reminding me briefly of a horse. I grinned at the thought, and Jake looked at me suspiciously.
"What?"
"Nothin'." I said, giving Tempest a scratch behind the ears like I had done with Ace, and then got up and walked out of the stall, closing it firmly behind me.
"Well, wanna help me put new straw in the stalls, then? That way it'll be done when we bring the horses in?" Jake asked me, moving towards the neatly stacked piles of straw. I shrugged, agreeing, and then started helping him with it, breaking apart the strings that held it together and then going inside the stalls and scattering it around, making sure it went everywhere.
When I was on the third stall, I saw Jake out of the corner of my eye. But when Jake cut the string and started to scatter it around in the stall, his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed a hold of the wood, his hand clenching over it and closing his eyes tightly.
"Jake?" I couldn't keep the worry out of my voice, even though I tried. My hand paused in mid-air as I stared at him, and I was going to go to him, when he opened his eyes and his grasp on the stall slowly loosened.
"What was wrong?" I asked, and relised my hand was still holding the straw, and quickly released it, letting it fall and scatter in the stall.
"Nothing," Jake answered shortly, and then continued to spread the straw. I shrugged, following suit and continuing also, but I couldn't help notice that Jake worked slower than before, but still managed to go faster than I was. I tried not to think about what had happened, but a little nagging voice inside of me wondered if Jake really was all right.
Authoress Note; Well, I decided to take a break from my Twilight fanfic, and let myself start a new one so I could go back and get interested in it again. And of course I read the Wild Horse Island book, and wanted to read/write Sake fics. XD
Anywayy, the POV is in Sam's direction, if you haven't already noticed. Tehe.
Read and review! It isn't that hard to type a few lines, so wanna make my day and gimme a review? –Puppy dog eyes-