Dave Stamey- At a Truck Stop
A wild-eyed prophet from the desert wanders in
bible verses painted on his hand
there's a girl in cut-offs, hunting a ride
got a tattoo of a flower on her hand
and there's coffee strong enough to take the paint off your chevy
magazines on the rack by the door
the bright smear of neon and the warm desert nights
where coyotes don't howl anymore...
Maggie's was... homey, in a word. The outside was sided with wood to give it a more western feel and on a big sign, it said 'Maggie's Diner, Feed, & Tack'.
'Sounds like my kind of place,' Kace thought before entering the double doors.
A bell rang signaling her entrance as she was hit with a cacophony of different smells and noises. Leather was the first thing she recognized and she immediately scanned the area for tack. It was over in the corner and Kace had to use every bit of self-control to not run right over to where her obsessions were laid.
She looked away from the eye candy to where the coffee was no doubt housed and then she slid into a little bar stool chair and waited for a server. There was a blonde behind the counter that wore the outfit of an employee but by the way she ignored the red head, she wasn't sure that she actually worked there.
The blonde was enamored by a young man with hair that curled up by his eyes. The would-be server dipped forward exposing her cleavage and then smirking a sultry smile towards the charmed boy, it was obvious Kace would have to intervene if she wanted anything. Kace had timed it to where she could try the coffee and check out everything that Maggie's had to offer before she needed to be on the back of a horse. The blonde was interfering with that immensely.
There was a little bell ringer by the napkin dispenser and it seemed to have been placed there for that exact moment. Kace wasn't a rude person. In fact, people knew her for her kindness, but there was something about girls that had the same aura as the server, that really got her goat. So it may have been a little out of character for the red head to tap the bell three times loudly while staring straight at the blonde, but she was, after all, a red head.
Ashley was the server's name. Her fake smile was as bright as her dull, brown name tag, pinned to the right of her dress. Kace's face lit up with her own grin, though she was positive it looked as if she were baring her teeth. She leaned forward onto the counter with her to go mug tightly clenched in her fingers. Her hat brim obscured some of her vision from the position she was in but Ashley's annoyed stance was still visible.
"What can I get for you?" the blonde tilted her head to the side causing her high ponytail to bob.
"Coffee to go, please. Black." Kace handed the brown to go cup to the server, keeping the lid to herself.
Ashley turned and walked to the pot and filled her cup to the brim. Steam swirled past the servers face as she made walked back to her.
"That'll be a $1.00."
Kace reached into her denim jacket's pocket and pulled out her wallet before fishing through it for the cash. The redhead handed it to the blonde and then she screwed the cap back on, enjoying the smell of black coffee that wafted in swirls straight into her senses.
"Will that be all?" the server asked in a bored tone as she handed her her receipt.
Kace's eyes narrowed as the fake grin finally fell from her face. "I'll let you get back to your flirting," without waiting a minute longer she crumpled the receipt into her pocket and began walking towards the tack section.
The smell of new leather washed over her like a wave and all her frustration disappeared. Kace scanned the shelves with her green eyes before heading towards a particular bridle she thought was pretty. With hands red from the sun and calloused from work, she ran her short nails along the stiff leather.
Kace didn't need any new headstalls but that split ear was just calling her name. She had thought to buy some new conchos to put on the bridle she had now but she had little self-control and was easily enamored by pretty things. Especially pretty things that would make her pretty paint horse look even prettier. That was why she grabbed the headstall and separate conchos with pretty flowers worked into them.
Completely taken with her new find she failed to notice the yelling of an angry man at the front of the store. Then later, when she failed to notice that said man behind her, it was because she was completely concentrated on the nutritional facts of a bag of grain for her horse.
"I get that one for Shorty."
Kace let out a startled yelp before spinning around and proceeding to knock off her hat as she hit the rack above her head.
"Ouch," she muttered while rubbing where she had been hit as if it would relieve the pain. It didn't but the man behind her was all the distraction she needed to forget about the throbbing.
"Sorry," the blue-eyed cowboy cringed visibly before bending down and picking up the dirty black flat top. "Here."
"Thank you, Caleb."
Kace was suddenly then overtaken by self-consciousness. She hadn't bothered to put on any makeup that day. The red head could just imagine how terrifying she must've looked to him with her light eyelashes and eyebrows. Not to mention how crazy her hair probably was from having her hat being an almost permanent accessory.
A blush lit up her too pale cheeks as she mashed her hat onto her hair and looked anywhere but at the handsome man. Rank horses? No problem. Attractive men? Big problem.
"What'cha up to?" He asked, albeit a little awkwardly.
Kace held back a groan and shuffled her feet instead. She hated small talk, loathed it. Not because she wasn't polite but because she didn't have time to waste with idle chatter and because she was awkward. Well, mostly because she was awkward.
"Just checking out Hudson. I had some free time so I decided to spend it here before I started working." Kace said all the while looking for an end in the conversation before she could embarrass herself.
And she wondered why there was no romance in her life...
"Oh," there was a pause that seemed to stretch, "That's cool."
No, not really, she wanted to say. Instead, she gave a tight-lipped smile while he stared at her with his cool blue eyes. Why was he wasting his time with her? It was not as though she was entertaining? Why was it so much more simple to speak to him from the back of a horse than in a little store?
"How long have you been in here?" He was suddenly embarrassed and that was when Kace realized he was trying to pry something out of her.
"Around fifteen minutes," she watched his cheeks color. "Why," she drawled in suspicion.
"So you heard me yelling then," he rubbed his neck and his face was obscured from her vision by the top of a black hat as he looked down.
Kace looked at him in confusion. When did he yell? What was he talking about? Apparently, Caleb saw her befuddlement because he was stumbling for an explanation only a few seconds after.
"Ashley, the blonde waitress, she's in my trailer and I've been trying to get it back," Kace waited for him to continue with raised eyebrows, "Well, I got a little carried away and I lost my temper. The whole thing has just spun out of control. She won't leave and it's really starting to piss me off."
The young cowhand knew she must have looked silly with her slightly ajar mouth and deer-in-the-headlight appearance. She was truly at a loss. Drama was not her forte and she tried to shun it at all costs. She didn't understand why a man she barely knew was explaining himself to her and enlightening her on his issues. They had only had one conversation and while she enjoyed it, it wasn't really a cause to talk about private affairs with one another. At least, that wasn't the way things happened where she was raised.
"Look, Caleb, I just came here to look around and I was in the middle of getting some grain when we started talking. It's none of my business as to what's going on in your life. I'm practically a perfect stranger. You don't have to explain yourself to me."
This is why she didn't have friends.
Caleb gave her a weird look before clearing his throat awkwardly and apologizing. Kace knew that she had surprised him and she wasn't sure if it was in a negative or positive way. She wasn't sure why she cared either, but she did. A lot.
"You said this is the one you give Shorty? Is Shorty your horse?"
The conversation was dropped and the two began to submerge themselves in a more comfortable topic which was horses. Something that Kace never tired of and from what she could see, Caleb was the same way. Later that day she would realize he was the first person her own age she had ever met that was excited to talk about horses too, but at that moment she was just enjoying it.
"I get this grain because it doesn't get him too hot but it keeps him in the shape he needs as a working horse." Caleb explained while leaning on the shelf next to her.
"I think I'll try it out," Kace finally decided after a conversation of what grain to feed and what not to. It was only one of the many topics they had just stormed through. Kace looked up at the clock on the wall and realized that she was about a half hour behind what she wanted to be which meant she had spent about an hour talking to Caleb right in the middle of the store. She smiled as she realized she had just inadvertently done something her Father always had. The young woman also hoped that no one had needed into that particular aisle because they had fully occupied it.
"Good, because my word is highly recommended." the man smirked and set his eyes on her with a light that hadn't been there at the beginning of their socializing.
"Is that so?" Kace moved her almost empty coffee into her left hand along with the headstall and conchos before proceeding to squat down so she could grab the bag. Before she could even attempt to try and balance it in her right arm, though the bag was gone and placed into Caleb's large arms.
"I'm not going to have a pretty lady have to carry something when I'm right here and available."
Once upon a time Kace would have argued and told him that she was perfectly capable of doing such things on her own but not anymore. She appreciated that he was willing to do something for her even if it was as seemingly simple as carrying something for her, she didn't see as being simple. It made her heart warm and a smile light her lips. It might have been because he called her pretty too.
"Thank you," she blushed as he led the way to the register.
She paid for her things and thanked the cashier, a girl with the name tag Soraya, who gave Caleb a funny look when he placed the bag down for her. Kace tried not to even wonder about the silent communication that was happening in front of her. Instead, she thanked her and grabbed the tan plastic sack which carried her new treasures while Caleb grabbed the bag of Grain and threw it over his shoulder.
Kace ignored the heat of a glare from a blonde waitress as Caleb held open the door for her in a true gentlemanly fashion. Though she felt a little guilty because he was already helping her. She thanked him and began walking towards her grey Chevy Silverado which had been made in 2000. One of her prides and joys, really.
The walk was silent and it wasn't until after Caleb had thrown the bag into the bed of the trailer that it was broken.
"Look, I didn't mean to throw all of that on you, in there. I don't talk to anyone about it and I don't want you to think I'm trying to complain to you."
He rubbed his neck in an endearing way as he tried to explain what was eating at him.
"It's not that I don't care to hear about your problems, I just don't want you to feel obligated to tell them to me either," she leaned on her door and stared at him in all seriousness, "Well, anyway, thank you for your recommendation on the grain and thank you for packing it around. I hope you're not screwing me over with it though and actually giving me bad information."
Caleb's seriousness went away and a mischievous smile took its place as his sparkling eyes looked at her own green ones from under the brim of his hat.
"Nah, my word is gold, I promise," he said in a mock serious tone.
"We'll see," she exclaimed as she opened her door and hopped in.
His reply was a chuckle and the shaking of his head. "See you later, Kace."
"See ya, Caleb."
He drummed on the side of her truck twice as a concluding farewell before walking backward a few steps to the sidewalk. Kace put her empty to-go cup up on the dash along with the other ones and she put her new buys in the passenger seat. She waved at Caleb and then left towards the real world which involved nothing but a day in the saddle, miles to ride, and cows to check. Not where handsome strangers had heart, to hearts and long drawn out conversations with girls like Kace. That wasn't the real world. Kace didn't know what the hell it was, but she knew for certain it wasn't the real world.
Hey :) thank you so much for reading if you've made it this far! I'm really enjoying writing this! I know my writing sometimes doesn't make any sense and if there is anything weird please let me know and I'll be happy to try and fix it the best I can. I really want this fanfic to turn out well because it's a lot more close to heart than anything I've ever written before.
Sorry if anyone was too OOC or if mine was too Mary Sue. I really want to be able to have a likable OC that people can relate to and the characters portrayed in the show I love so much to be accurate :)
Those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving I hope you had a wonderful time :)
Reviews:
LK(guest)- Thank you so much! I'm glad you are enjoying it :)
Bemabound- Thank you for your very kind review :) it really makes me happy to hear that you enjoy the style of writing I'm trying to figure out! Sometimes I swear I'm just dribbling out words and they don't make any sense at all so it really means a lot! Hopefully, I don't disappoint.
GKB- Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter too :)
