Hey guys,
I am so sorry for not updating in months! I've had a few things go on and then I heard about the deleting M stories so I didn't want to post then and get mine pulled off. I'm going to be updating my stories a lot more from now on.
Hope you guys can forgive me.
Love you all, hope you all enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to review!
- Sky x
Star's bright blue eyes gazed into mine. He seemed so calm and loving for such a huge animal. I haven't ever been this close to a horse before. I had been too scared when I was younger, to even get up or near a Shetland pony.
But there was just something about Star, which made me relax around him. They say horses could feel what you could feel, so if you were scared and nervous, they would be too, but in this case, it seemed to be the other way around. Star, was calming me.
"So, do you still want to go riding with me?" Jacob asked, patting Star down the neck as he looked at me in question.
Taking in a deep breath to calm myself, I nodded. "Alright, but what do you ride? Or what do I ride?" Turning around quickly, I searched for another horse for Jacob or me, but I couldn't see one. Hearing Jacob snickering lightly, I turned around to see what was so funny.
"You didn't notice there was something wrong with the saddle, Bella?"
"Uh," I fell red once again in the cheeks as I looked at it. . . "I don't know. I've never seen one before."
"Seriously?" Jacob stared at me in disbelief. I nodded, embarrassed. "It's a double seat, western saddle. I can ride up front and control Star while you just hang on if you want, or you can ride up front?" he smiled. "It's your choice."
"Uh, I think you better, ride up front first, Jacob. I've never ridden before," I answered in a nervous tone, stuttering slightly while running my hand over my arm, trying to distract myself.
"Okay. That's fine. Just take a step back for a second," he said and made two clicking sounds with his mouth. I watched Jake, wondering what he was doing and then stared at Star as he lay down before our feet. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened.
"Is he okay? Why is he doing that?"
Jacob chuckled. "I taught him to do that. My dad, he can't really get around that easily lately, so I taught Star to lie down so dad could still go riding, too."
I shook my head, still looking down at Star in amazement. I didn't even know horses could do things like tricks, other than carry people on their back and rearing into the air, let alone something like this on command. "You're like an Animal Whisperer, Jacob."
"Thanks," he smiled another one of those bright, knee weakening smiles of his. My nerves had felt like mush before that smile. . . They were non-existent now. . . "Come over here, and I'll help you get on."
Carefully walking around Jacob, he showed me how to get on Star as he stayed still while lying down. Jacob got on after I did and peered over his shoulder to me. I was biting my lip hard, hating only having a horn of a saddle to hold onto. I felt safer after Jake had gotten on, too, though. Somehow, even know we were still strangers, I did trust Jacob completely. I had never trusted a stranger like I trusted Jacob. I wondered what it meant . . . How could, I trust someone so quickly, like I had? And how, when they hadn't really proven to me they deserved my trust?
"Wrap your arms around me tightly, Bella. He's going to stand up now," Jake said, looking over his shoulder again.
My eyes went wide. "Stand up?"
"Relax, it'll be okay."
Closing my eyes tightly. My arms wrapped around Jake's waist in an iron grip. I wouldn't have been surprised if Jacob told me to loosen up a bit, just so he could breathe, but he didn't.
Instead, he made another clicking sound with his mouth and Star rose to his feet. I screamed and held Jacob tighter, like my life depended on it. It felt like hours until it was over, but it had been second. Thank god, I thought, sighing silently.
"See, wasn't so bad," Jacob chuckled.
"Uh yeah . . . not that bad at all," I murmured sarcastically glancing down at the ground for a spilt second. My grip tightened around Jacob's waist again. Star was too tall for my liking.
"Relax Bella. He's not going to do anything," Jacob said confidently, running his hand over the back of my own. "We're going to go only as fast as you want to go. I promise, I won't push you," he smiled softly, making Star walk out as I nodded.
"Okay," my voice squeaked, peering over Jacob's shoulder to where we were going. Star had already walked past the house and was lazily walking down a small hill into a paddock. The once green grass, now a dusty brown, crunched loudly under his feet. The flies buzzed around us and would have landed on my shoulder, if I didn't wave them away. I never knew bugs could be so annoying. . .
I could hear Star's tail swishing behind me as he walked, shooing the flies away as well. I sighed contently, leaning into Jacob's back. I had to say, this was kind of nice and relaxing. At least Star was just content to walk slowly for us. The last thing I wanted was to go fast, on an animal I didn't even really know. I still felt like I was sitting up too high though. I hated heights. Whenever I told someone that, they asked how I could stand flying in a plane. The answer was simple: I didn't look out the window often. As long as I knew that I couldn't fall, I was usually okay with heights.
I felt Jacob cover my hand with his own, as I leaned into him more. "You okay, Bella?" he asked, twisting his fingers with my own. I smiled. "Yeah I'm fine. Maybe we can, go a little, faster?" I swallowed, thinking I was going to regret saying that the second I had spoken it.
"Alright," Jake smiled. "Don't worry, Star is a slow trotter. Just tell me when, okay?"
I nodded, my grip around Jake increasing slightly. I hardly even felt Star pick up pace until I felt a stronger breeze flowing around my face and hair. My eyes opened to see a flat paddock around us as Star slowly and softly trotted. It like he was running on air then on the ground. I didn't feel any jolt as his hooves hit the hard dirt of the paddock. It was just slow and easy moving – almost like, trotting was more than Star's second nature.
I started giggling, actually enjoying myself. I could see Jacob was smiling too. The sun was shining down upon us strongly, along with the heat. The warmish cool air flowed around Jake and I as we went a little faster yet again. I couldn't stop laughing for some reason. Everything just felt perfect. I could hear the birds in the trees as we passed, see kangaroos look up at us from eating grass and some cockatoos fly off from the trees overhead and into the blue sky above.
For once, since we had started riding, I leant my face into Jacob's back and hugged him instead of just holding on for dear life. I felt safe around Star now. I didn't feel like I was going to fall off or that he was too tall. I wondered if that was because of Jacob or if I had just gotten used to Star, very quickly. I smiled to myself, thinking it was most likely the mix of them both.
"Where are we going?" I laughed, looking over Jacob's shoulder again to see a small river ahead of us.
"Anywhere you want Bella," he answered cheerfully. I could tell he was smiling.
I pointed towards the river. "It looks pretty."
"Alright," Jacob nodded, slowing Star's trot to a quick, jig-jogging walk. Even from metres away, I could see the crystal clear water sparkling in the sunlight breaking through the gumtree shadows. Rocks and trees lined most of the river's banks. I could hear crickets and frogs singing around the river and red-brown butterflies flying through the glass nearby.
I stood up in the stirrups of the saddle and closed my eyes, smiling as I took in a deep breath of the fresh and crisp air. It smelt like summer. I loved the smell of the hot grass in the heat of the sun. Everyone back home didn't understand what I meant when I said I loved the smell of the burnt summer grass. They all thought it would be a horrible smell, like what you got when you mowed the lawns, but they had to be here to really know what I meant and what it smelt and felt like.
I could feel Jacob's eyes on me as Star slowed his walk again. I sat down just as he stopped and pulled his head down to graze on the grass. Jacob jumped off with ease and offered his hand to me. Taking it, I swung my leg over the saddle jumped down; almost falling once my feet had hit the ground, if Jake hadn't caught me in his arms. I looked up at his face and smiled with my cheeks flushed once more. He smiled back, making my knees turn to jelly again. I would never know or understand how he had that effect on me.
I giggled for no reason what so ever, standing on my own. I looked down at Star grazing on the grass. "Will he be okay here? Won't he run off?"
Jacob had begun heading down towards the river. He stopped hearing me and turned towards where I stood. "Yeah he won't move much. He's a good boy doing that when I'm out. He's content just to stand around."
I smiled looking back at Star and started following Jacob down to the river. I froze where I stood when I heard what he spoke next.
"Just watch out for snakes."
"Snakes?" I echoed with a shriek. I hadn't even thought about them. Jacob looked back at me, hearing my squeak of a scream.
"Bella, relax. You can see them around this grass. It's just around the rocks you need to watch out. Here," he offered his hand to me yet again. Sheepishly and hesitantly, I took it and nodded, staying beside Jacob as he led the way.
Just near the rocks I cool feel the hot temperature cool down about, five degrees. It felt so nice under the shade of the trees, as I sat up on a bolder of a rock beside Jacob, looking up at the branches of the gumtrees hovering over us. I could hear the soft and relaxing trickle of the water flowing over the small rocks downstream and near us.
Carefully Jacob stood on the boulder and went down beside the river, peering down into the crystal clear water. He offered his hand to me once more as I crawled over the slippery rock. I could see the waterweed growing around the sides of the river where fish swam out of hiding and down the river in a blink of an eye. I didn't even really get a chance to see what kind of fish they were.
I could see a bubble nest some frog must have made where the water was stiller in a V shape, between two rocks. In the bubbly white nest, I could see some little black dots that must have been the tadpoles. Looking closer into the water, I could see more black dots with black tails, swimming around. Some of the eggs had hatched the tadpoles and they were staying close to the nest. I smiled seeing them and looked to Jacob, who was also staring down at the scene.
"Cool huh?" he murmured quietly.
"Yeah, very," I whispered. "How long, until they'll be frogs?"
"It appends on what species they are. Could be anywhere from days to months. Going by the size of them right now, I say about three months or something like that."
"That's so cool," I smiled, noticing how the nest of bubbles had been built on a small clump of weed, half in, half out of the water. I hadn't seen anything like it before, back home. I guessed there were fewer frogs in Forks due to the cooler weather.
Sitting back against the warm boulder, I started up at the sky and trees hovering over us. I could see dragonflies flying over us and down to the river's edge before they disappeared again. A cockatoo flew out of its perch and into the distance. I could see out north, the sky was turning dark with clouds. No doubt there was a storm coming. I sighed seeing it. I didn't want to go home. I was enjoying my time with Jake. It was so relaxing by the river and cooler without been cold.
I hadn't noticed when Jacob had gotten up and had begun slowly and carefully walking off, over the rocks further up the stream, until I heard him quietly though excitedly say, "whoa cool! Bella come and have a look at this."
I sat up on my elbows, looking at him staring into a hallowed out hole in a gumtree. "What is it?"
"Come have a look. Quick though or you'll miss it."
I stood to my feet and watched where I stepped so I wouldn't fall into the water. I was sure it would be cold, even on a boiling day like today. Reaching Jacob's side, his arm wrapped around my waist so I couldn't fall back if I lost my balance while standing on one narrow rock holding the two of us. He pointed into the hallowed out hole of the tree. I gasped and smiled widely seeing it and looked back to him.
