Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! Going out of town today for my family reunion, so I figured I'd update before I leave for the weekend.
This one's pretty good, I think.
Enjoy!
Stepping through the back door of the house and out into the backyard, Grant looks over the large expanse of his property, looking for a certain brunette. He figured he'd give her a few days without hassling her to do any work after what happened when they came back from town, but now he's thinking it wasn't the best idea he's ever had.
"Kebo," he calls out when he sees his best friend already at work out in the yard. He steps down off the porch and makes his way over to the other man. "Have you seen Skye anywhere?"
Kebo looks up at him and shakes his head. "No, mate, I haven't. Sorry. What's going on?"
Grant's brows furrow in confusion and slight frustration and he lets out a huff of air. "I don't know. I went to wake her up and let her know that breakfast was ready but she wasn't in her room."
Kebo's eyes go wide. "You actually went in there?"
"Only after I knocked a few times and didn't get a response from her. I have no idea where she is."
"Did you look around out here?" he asks.
"No."
"Why not?"
He quirks a brow. "Seriously? Have you met her, Kebo? Do you honestly think she'd be out here willingly, before either of us, doing yard work or cleaning up after the animals?"
Kebo shrugs. "I don't know. It was just a suggestion."
Grant sighs, running a hand through his hair. "No, it's fine. I'll uh, I'll look around out here, I guess. Keep an eye and let me know if you see her anywhere."
"Will do." Kebo gives him a curt nod before going back to the work at hand.
Making his way across the field, Grant keeps his eyes and ears trained for any possible sign of Skye out and about, even though he doesn't quite believe that to be a possibility. He honestly wouldn't be surprised if she found a way to leave without him knowing. But all of her stuff was still in her room when he looked in there, and she told him before that she wouldn't leave without her things. So he's not really sure where she could be.
At this point, he doesn't even care if she does any work, he just needs to know where she is or he's going to drive himself insane. He's technically in charge of her while she's staying on the farm, even though she's a grown woman. But she's a grown woman who has a habit of making questionable decisions.
Hearing odd noises coming from the barn as he nears it, his brows furrow together and he turns toward it to see the doors partially open.
Pulling the door open a little more and stepping inside, he freezes in his steps at the sight before him. Skye's dressed in the same pair of jeans and t-shirt she always does while working, her hair pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head; she's standing in the middle of the barn floor, struggling a bit to move hay into the different cow pens.
"Skye? What the hell are you doing out here?"
"I'm not worthless," she says back, not missing a beat in answering him as she continues to toss hay into the stalls as best she can.
His brows furrow deeper in confusion at her words. "What?"
"I am not worthless," she repeats, shoveling faster despite how much he can see she's struggling. "I party, and I drink, and yes, I do some pretty stupid stuff, but I'm not worthless. I'm a good actor. And that's not just me being conceited either. That's a fact. If I wasn't a good actor, then I wouldn't have booked so many roles over the years. It's not because of my parents. It's because I'm a good actor. But now I'm here on this farm in the middle of nowhere shoveling hay into cow stalls because nobody will hire me and it really sucks because I love what I do but now I can't get a single job because everyone thinks I—damn it!" She angrily throws the pitchfork she'd been using off to the side, the metal tool clattering against the cement. Her hands shake as they come up to her face and wipe furiously at her eyes.
"Who said you're worthless?" he asks quietly.
"No one," she replies. "But someone's thinking it. I just...I know someone is. People don't like who I am anymore, now that I'm not playing some naive little teenager on the Disney Channel, and I just...I'm sick of it. They all think I'm worthless now. Including you."
"Whoa whoa whoa, hey, no." He rushes to lessen the distance between them and rests his hands on her shoulders, ducking his head to look into her eyes. "I do not think that you're worthless."
"But you said—"
"I know what I said to you," he tells her with a small nod. "But I never once uttered the words 'you're worthless'. And I'm sorry if what I said was hurtful to you. I guess I was just frustrated with how you were acting and I said a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have."
"It was kind of mean," she admits. "But I think...I think I needed to hear it. It just took me by surprise at first. No one's ever said those kinds of things to my face, they didn't want to offend the actress and risk being sued or something, I guess. And my parents, well, I think that coming from my parents it didn't seem as harsh or whatnot because they're my parents and they were always so busy. But you're a virtual stranger and you had the guts to say this stuff to my face. So thank you."
His brows furrow in confusion. "Wait. You're actually thanking me for telling you off?"
She nods. "Mm-hmm. What you said...it made me realize...that I don't want to be that girl anymore. The one who parties all the time and gets drunk and does stupid stuff which causes her not to get roles. I want to be somebody that production companies are fighting each other over to have in their movies. I think I was taking advantage of what I had but didn't exactly realize it. I guess I needed somebody to give it to me straight to wake me up."
"Is that why you're out here mucking out and refilling the stalls?"
She tilts her head. "It's called mucking?"
"Yeah. So you being out here before me, that's because you want to change?'
She nods. "Yeah. It is. And I really do."
He nods once and takes a small step back. "Okay. I think we can help you with that, then. I'm not going to hold back, though, just so you know right now. I'm going to work you to the bone. I've been going pretty easy on you with the chores around here. You might get pretty mad or upset with me as we go."
"I can take it," she tells him.
"Are you sure?"
She nods curtly. "Yes, I'm sure."
"Alright. Let's get to work, then. I'll help you finish the mucking and then we'll move onto something else."
"Sounds like a plan. Just don't break me, okay? I'm still fairly young and have my whole life ahead of me."
He laughs quietly. "I promise I won't break you. Now come on." He gestures with his head toward the large pile of hay and they both get to work on refilling the stalls.
.
.
.
Skye leans forward and rests her hands on her knees, breathing heavily and glancing up through her eyelashes at the man in front of her. He looks like he's hardly broken a sweat since they started working and she hates it. Completely.
"Wow. You really weren't kidding when you said you weren't going to hold back on the chores."
"I told you I wasn't going to," he reminds her.
"Yeah, I know. But I think I'm going to be sore for weeks after today. That wasn't fun. At all."
"Never said it was going to be fun." He tilts his head. "Though, I have to say that I do enjoy what I do here. So I guess I consider it to be fun."
She shakes her head. "Figures you would be the one to consider manual labor to be fun."
Grant chuckles quietly. "I guess I consider it fun because I've always been out here doing it. From the time I could walk my Gramsy and Grandpa had me out here doing chores. At first, it was just the little stuff, like collecting eggs and refilling food and stuff. But as I got older I started taking on more chores, doing some of the heavier stuff."
"Wow. Really?"
He nods. "Yeah. This farm has been my whole life. I honestly can't imagine not being here doing all of this."
She tilts her head as she thinks. "I guess that's kind of how I feel about acting. I've been doing it all my life. Whenever people ask me what I'd be doing if I wasn't an actor, it's really hard to answer because I've never thought about it before."
"You've really never thought about it?" he asks.
She shakes her head. "Nope."
"Well if you had to pick right now," he says. "What's something you'd want to do if you weren't acting?"
"I literally just told you that that's one of the hardest questions for me to answer."
He smiles and shrugs. "I know."
She scoffs playfully and shakes her head. "Wow. Okay. Um...I don't know...maybe...computers?"
"Computers?"
She nods after a quick pause, thinking about it some more. "Yeah. I think so. I mean, I've always kind of been fascinated by them, in a way. I know the basics of how to use them, obviously, since I'm all over social media, but I guess there's another part of me that's curious for knowing more about them and how they work."
She shifts on her feet when she notices him watching her with a smile. "What?"
He shakes his head. "Nothing."
"Grant, seriously. What?"
"It's just...that's probably the first honest thing you've told me about yourself since you've been here. And that doesn't include your breakdown in the barn earlier. It's kind of nice to see a different side to you."
"I was caught up in the moment," she tells him, waving it off. "Don't expect me to keep opening up to you. I barely know you. Now, I'm going to go inside and shower. And don't tell me that I can't, I've worked up such a sweat out here, I really need a shower."
He shakes his head. "No, it's fine. Go ahead and shower. You worked hard, you deserve it. Just don't stay inside forever, okay? There's still plenty of work out here to do. I mean, you'll probably have to shower again, but it's up to you."
"Oh, I'm showering now," she tells him, already moving in the direction of the house. "I don't mind showering again later. I just need to wash off this layer of gross before I get another and it starts to build up."
He chuckles. "Alright, suit yourself."
.
.
.
Stepping out of her second shower that day, Skye secures the fluffy towel around her as she wipes the fog from the mirror. She takes a moment to look at her reflection, warped from the water still on the glass.
She lets out a breath before unwrapping her towel so she can dry herself off completely. She gets herself dressed into her pajamas and then steps out of the bathroom, switching off the light as she goes.
Making a detour to the kitchen on her way back to her room, she grabs an apple out of the bowl on the county.
"I take it you're feeling better?"
She nods and turns toward where Grant's sitting reading a book on the couch in the living room.
"Much better, actually."
"Glad to hear it."
"Thanks."
"No problem. But I guess now this means I'll be seeing you in the morning on time with no complaining."
She sighs. "I guess so. Damn, I really didn't think this thing through all the way." She lets a tiny smile crawl across her face at the remark.
Grant gets a similar smile on his own face. "Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a busy one."
"As opposed to any of your other days here?" she questions.
"Busy for you," he amends.
She nods. "Ah, right. Got it. See you in the morning, then."
"Yeah."
She gives him a small, tight-lipped smile before turning around and making her way to her room. She closes the door behind her, immediately falling down onto her bed.
Reaching to the nightstand, she pulls out her notebook and leans back against her headboard. She opens up to the next blank page, quickly scribbles the date at the top, and then starts jotting down her various thoughts from the day.
Things are starting look up out here. I mean, I'm still not completely happy that I have to be here, but I think Grant and I are sort of on the same page now. So I don't think I'll be as miserable anymore. Only slightly.
Cause farms still aren't my favorite place to be. But the company I have out here isn't the worst.
Except Kebo. I think he's one of those people who's an acquired taste. He's a bit strange.
As much as I'd like to, I don't think mom and dad would want me to come home just yet. Being here less than a month probably isn't enough time to learn my lesson, or whatever, in their eyes.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
So? What do you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!
