What's up everyone? I'm back with another chapter of 'This Is Growing Up'. I hope I have reassured my readers and followers that there is no inkling in my mind of abandoning this story. Not when things are getting really good.
However, I will say that updates are not going to be as frequent as they were back in August and September. College, internship, homework, and regular life inevitably get in the way. But at the very least, I'll have a chapter up every few weeks.
I hope my guest reviewer is still reading. You always give great insight dude!
Anyway, hope you like this chapter because it wasn't an easy one to write. Any feedback is much appreciated!
Chapter 11. Of Threehorns and Longnecks
Longnecks, Threehorns. The two kinds of dinosaurs had little in common. Though they both ate leaves and various kinds of plants, not much else unified them. Longnecks were slow and easy going, Threehorns fast and impatient. One reached for the trees while the other preferred bushes. One favored prudence while the other favored direct action.
Yet on a warm, sunny day in the Great Valley, one from each herd walked with one another, hearts fluttering, feeling more affection for each other than anyone thought possible. Two friends that shared a history from the time they were mere hatchlings. Polar opposites in every way, fully in the midst of the great change and all the expectations that came with it: the time of the great change, pressure to lead their respective herds, pressure to marry quickly and produce the necessary offspring to continue the pattern that their forefathers had always maintained.
However, none of that mattered presently. At the moment, it was just a Longneck and a Threehorn operating outside of the normal realm of the dinosaur world. And not coincidentally, operating outside of the normal realm of romance.
As Littlefoot and Cera traversed the valley together, they inadvertently came across the same spot they had discovered years before when they had discovered Chomper by accident. It still held a tremendous view of the valley. And there was room enough for two.
"I'm glad you wanted to talk," Littlefoot said to his best friend as they made their way towards the plateau. "And thanks for helping us out back there."
"It's what I do," Cera responded with small smile. "Although maybe you should tell your genius step-brother to cut down on the pranks while he's here. It's a becoming a reoccurring theme."
"He needs to cut down on a few things," the longneck replied and Cera noted the bitterness in his voice. "Including lying to me."
"So that's what happened. You definitely didn't seem very keen on him back there."
"I'm not really happy with any of my family right now," Littlefoot admitted. "Except for my grandparents, even my dad didn't trust me enough to tell me why they came to the valley so early."
"So there was a reason then," Cera deduced. "You know I thought that herd looked exhausted. Didn't know if it was my imagination."
"It wasn't," Littlefoot said glumly. "Apparently, the world outside of the valley is getting a lot more dangerous."
He proceeded to tell the story of what he had just overheard, (Cera visibly shook her head in mild amusement at the spiketail tipping) and how Red Claw had been driving herds from their migrating patterns, turning them into refugees.
"So everyone here right now is here to escape that monster and his fast biters," Littlefoot concluded. "Only Bron won't let anyone tell the valley because he didn't want to worry the residents."
"Including you," Cera added.
"Yup."
"Sounds like that typical longneck trait of being noble," she teased.
"Whatever it is, it's not just the fact that they didn't tell me. It's that they either lied or avoided the subject when I asked them about it." He kicked a rock as an emphasis on his frustration. He turned back towards Cera as they hopped up the slope leading to the plateau.
"I don't appreciate being patronized. Especially not by my own family. My dad of all people should know that."
Cera could sympathize with that better than anyone, her own frustration creeping through her now.
"Dads usually think they know what's best even if it completely ignores what you might want," she spat sourly.
"I take it then you're not too happy with yours?" Littlefoot guessed.
"You'd be right. You should have seen the morons he tried to set me up with today."
She described in precise detail and how she nearly decided to crack their skulls open, while Littlefoot laughed.
"That Frank character sounds like he's dumber than a pile of rocks."
"He's basically everything I hate about bulls rolled into a giant, stinking turd."
Littlefoot was chuckling so hard, tears were forming in his eyes. But at the same time he knew Cera, and he remembered how Mr. Threehorn had looked when Pterano had mentioned the threehorn family that was due to arrive. He also recalled Cera's words from the last time they had a private walk together.
"I know myself and the others of my kind. It's one thing to be who you are, but I don't want to marry someone with those traits. It'd be too much to handle."
Which begged the question. What did she want in a guy? He wanted to ask, but felt an extreme sense of apprehension in doing so. Cera may be his best friend, but she was also very guarded and one couldn't be precise in what might set her off.
But he did share a sense of her outrage at being made to pursue, or rather be pursued, by someone she did not want. The mention of Frank and his brothers had set off an instinct he had not had much experience in before. Jealousy. Every fiber of his being rebelled at the repulsive picture of Cera forced into a marriage that would make her unhappy. And those reasons were more selfish than he had previously realized…far more selfish.
They finally reached the top of the plateau. It looked more or less the same as they had left it all those years ago.
"You remember this place?" Littlefoot asked his friend.
"How could I not?" Cera replied. "Although it's smaller than I originally thought."
"That's what happens when you grow up."
"And boy does it suck," the threehorn said with a hollow laugh.
"Haha just think, you called us up here that night so we could make the grown ups stop treating us like hatchlings. Those were your words, I believe."
Cera snorted. "And they still do."
"Those did seem like simpler times didn't they?" Littlefoot remarked as he looked towards the sky. "Just us laughing and playing games. Hitting pinecones with rocks or pretending to be the Lone Dinosaur."
"Yeah and no else got to be the 'Lone Dinosaur' except you."
"What can I say? I played the part well," the teenage longneck said with a cheeky grin.
Cera could feel an odd sensation in her chest as a blush simultaneously spread through her cheeks.
He was also quite handsome when he did it
This time she didn't bother pretending that thought had not just occurred in her head.
"Yeah, you did," she breathed softly.
Then they both took in the view before them. The afternoon sun was making its way west, sitting atop the mountain wall peaks like a jewel on a rustic crown. The tops of the trees glimmered with gold highlights and the vegetation that filled their stomachs was of the deepest green, as it usually was at this point in the warm season. Down below, the comings and goings of other dinosaurs could be witnessed. Spiketails grazed peacefully while the newly arrived longnecks foraged among the trees. Threehorns clashed with their mighty horns while a swimmer family splashed about in the river. Up above them, the small curved forms of flyers could be seen as the moved about the sky as gracefully as the wind that carried them. It was quite the spectacle to behold.
Cera moved a little closer to Littlefoot as they witnessed the beauty of their home.
"Amazing isn't it?" he said in awe.
"It really is," she agreed. "You know Littlefoot, I've never said this to you. To anyone really. But if it weren't for you well…we wouldn't be here right now sharing this view."
She was surprised at her own words and evidently so was Littlefoot. But they rung true nonetheless.
"You…you mean that?" the longneck said as if not believing his own ears.
"I do. Took me nearly ten years. But I've never properly thanked you. You were right about everything on that journey. I was too stubborn, too blind, too proud to even admit that…"
"That what?"
Cera paused. She had almost said "A flathead could be smarter and a better leader I was."
"That I was wrong. That you had the right idea from the start. And not only that but I insulted your mom and…"
"Cera?" Littlefoot cut her off.
She looked up at him not knowing what his reaction would be.
"It's okay," he said with a reassuring smile. "It's in the past. I forgave you for it a long time ago. And you can't give me all the credit for getting here. If you hadn't helped us push that rock on top of Sharptooth, well we would have died trying."
Littlefoot could feel his own face flush as he said his next words.
"That was pretty brave."
"Yeah?"
She was looking at him intently, but the smile was growing on her face.
"Absolutely."
Littlefoot's heart was pounding so loudly he was surprised all of the Great Valley could be deaf to its sound. There was a certain sweetness in the air and it was making his head slightly dizzy.
He took a deep breath and gazed directly into Cera's bright green eyes.
"Cera?"
"Yeah?" she replied softly.
"You know you're my best friend, right?"
"You're mine too, Littlefoot."
And suddenly, they both knew what was going to happen before it did.
Littlefoot leaned in closer, moving his head down towards Cera's, she reciprocated the action, allowing the longneck to place his forepaw over hers. Soon, their faces were only inches apart.
Littlefoot couldn't believe what was occurring, but he didn't question. All he could think about was Cera, and those pretty green eyes...
I'm getting lost in them again...were his last thoughts before he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Cera too was getting lost in the moment. He was the greatest person in her life, the one she admired above all else, the longneck that was about to...
Longneck?
Then the alarm bells exploded in her head and like a leaf in the dry season, the moment shattered into a million pieces. Whatever she was about to do was a bad idea and it had to be stopped for better or worse.
NOOOOO!
Without warning, she ducked her head, pulled her foot away from his grasp and bucked Littlefoot's body so hard, he fell over with a mighty crash.
It all happened so suddenly, Littlefoot barely had time to process why in a matter of seconds he was flat on his side and not embracing the girl of his dreams.
Completely bewildered, he managed to shake the dust off himself and get back on all fours before seeing the look on Cera's face. It was angry, angrier than he had ever seen it, but was that a flicker of fear he saw in her eyes? Was the threehorn frightened?
"What the hell are you doing?!" she screeched at him.
Littlefoot saw that her posture was largely defensive, as she bore her head low but did not look as if she were ready to attack. But then a rush of fury entered him and he forgot just how dangerous those pointed horns could e.
"What am I?!..I thought!..." he sputtered trying to come up with the right words. "What do you mean, what am I doing?! What did you hit me for?!"
"Are you stupid as well as blind?!" she continued to scream at him. "You tried to KISS me?!"
"But I...why did you..." Littlefoot continued to stammer. "You're insane you know that?!"
"Oh I'm insane?!" she yelled back. "Look at what you tried to do to me you dumb flathead!"
Littlefoot was more than a little confused, but at that remark, his anger knew no bounds. To use that word as a jest was one thing, to use it as an insult was beyond even his patience.
"Don't you dare call me that," he said, voice dripping with venom.
"I'll call you whatever I want, 'flathead'," Cera said arrogantly. "Why don't you get you and your pea sized brain out of here before I get really pissed."
It hurt. It hurt Cera to say this to him. She could see the pain in his eyes at her words and doing so destroyed her. But just as present in her mind were her thoughts of fear, of being outcast, of dishonoring her family. Fear of herself and her own feelings she couldn't admit. Pushing him away was the only way she knew how to get out of this situation.
But of course, Littlefoot didn't know this, and somewhere within him, a piece of him snapped.
"You know, Cera," he said quietly. "I've put up with a lot from you over the years. And I mean a fucking lot. The bragging, the bossiness, the arrogance, and just about every insulting name I can think of. Even with all of that, I thought you had changed. That you cared more about who I was than my species and that you'd always have my back no matter what."
Narrowing his eyes, he continued.
"But you know what? I'm done. I'm through with this little game I have to play with you called 'don't upset Cera's fragile emotions' because if I do, I get my tail knocked in the dirt or worse!"
His voice was cold as the ice during the Cold Time. There was no love or any of the usual sparkle in his amber eyes, only anger and resentment.
"There's no sense in trying with you anymore. Because underneath all that pride, is the same obnoxious, ugly, stubborn, scared little threehorn I met ten years ago. And I'm not putting up with it for a minute longer. So now, I'm going to end this my way for once. Get out of my sight, Cera. And don't speak to me again."
Littlefoot's words hit the female threehorn like a tidal wave. She was so shocked that he could be that cruel, that she almost didn't notice the tears welling up in her eyes.
"How could you say that to me?" she said, her voice breaking. "After all we've been through?"
"You don't get to be the victim here!" Littlefoot yelled. "Not this time!"
"But.."
"Threehorns never play with Longnecks, right Cera?"
He had used her own words against her. It was the ultimate trump card and Cera had no answer. In the deafening silence of the afternoon, the tension abated like the end of a storm rolling away into the sea. What was left, was merely the broken remains of hearts thrown into turmoil.
"Well if that's the way you want it…fine!" Cera shouted, the hurt echoing in her tone.
"Good! Because that's exactly the way I want it!" Littlefoot shouted back, the pain evident in his own voice.
Without another word, Cera turned and ran down the hill, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't even care where she ran or where she ended up. Anything to get away from the ordeal that just transpired.
Meanwhile, Littlefoot was left on top of the plateau, numb and completely at a loss. How could that have gone so badly? Just when everything seemed so perfect….
"AGHHH!"
He screamed so loudly a flock of nearby flyers flew up from the trees from which they were resting. In his anger, he flicked a rock with his tail with such force that he lost sight of it before it reached the ground. It gave him no comfort, as the full implications of his actions hit him.
There was no further point in staying on the tiny plateau any longer. With a heavy heart and more than one emotion jostling at the forefront of his mind, he headed back home.
I really screwed this up
It was late by the time he arrived back at his grandparents place. They had stayed up long past their usual resting hour. And he could guess why.
"Littlefoot, where were you?" his grandfather asked with concern as he approached them. "I know you're allowed to stay out later than usual but we still want you back at a reasonable hour."
He really wasn't in the mood to talk, but he remained stiffly polite out of respect to his grandparents.
"I was out," he said shortly.
"That doesn't answer our question, young one," his grandmother said a little more sternly.
Littlefoot's patience slipped a little at that.
"Does it really matter? I'm back home safe. What's the difference?"
Startled by such a sharp answer, his grandparents at first didn't know what to make of it. His grandfather was the first to respond.
"Littlefoot, why are you so upset? This behavior isn't like you."
"It's nothing," he again replied shortly.
"Littlefoot if this is something you want to talk to your father about instead of us we would be more than happy to…"
"He's the last dinosaur on earth I want to talk to," the teenage longneck said, cutting off his grandmother. He had betrayed his anger, but at this point he hardly cared.
Settling in his sleeping spot upon the grass, he disregarded any form of 'goodnight' and set his eyes down on the ground in front of him.
"I've had enough of being lied to for one day," he muttered quietly, but not quite low enough that his guardian's old ears couldn't hear it.
The old longnecks could only look at each other in considerable concern, having no knowledge about the pain their grandson was currently experiencing. Worst of all, they had no idea how to fix it.
The Great Valley had been turned upside down.
Well how bout it eh? You guys didn't think it was going to be that easy for our starcrossed lovers, did ya? ;)
Needless to say, we got a lot left of this story and things have only just begun to heat up. Stay tuned, dudes! Rock on!
~TheWasp