Chapter Five: Questions and a Lesson
Jessie awoke the next morning to the sun streaming into her window. Today was a Sunday, so Woody wouldn't be as busy as he usually was. The vet would come today, so the only real work that needed to be done was to look over the herd and see if any of the cattle had problems. They would then be brought in so that the vet could provide the necessary treatment to them.
Feeling ambitious, she got out of bed, put on her robe, and made her way down to the kitchen to make breakfast. She remembered the recipe for her mom's infamous home-made pancakes, and started to prepare that. The redhead dug through the fridge looking for eggs and bacon to put on the griddle as well.
Fifteen minutes later, breakfast was on the table and her brother had come down just in time.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise!" He said as he sat down and began to fill his plate.
Jessie joined him. "Well, I'm no 'Bo' when it comes to the kitchen, but I know a little."
"Looks great, Jess."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, only the sounds of forks clinging on the plates filling the room. "So," began Woody. "Things seemed to go good with you and Buzz last night."
Jessie blushed a little, before replying, "Yeah, we had a great time."
"That's great. Hey Jess, can I ask you something?"
"Sure!"
"Well..Bo and my seven month anniversary is coming up in two weeks and-"
"Wow, you planning anything special?" interrupted Jessie.
"Actually yes..Well..can you promise not to tell her?"
"I swear!" promised the redhead.
"Well, I was going to ask her to marry me, actually."
Jessie stopped chewing, her mouth full of pancake, and stared at her brother. "Proposing? OHMYGOSHWOODY!"
Woody laughed. "I take it you think it's a good idea?"
"Well, yeah, but, do you even have a ring?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Well? Let's see it!" Jessie said, bouncing up and down in her seat.
"Okay, okay! It's up in my room," said the brunette man, getting up out of his chair and heading to the stairs.
While he was gone, Jessie wondered if she and Buzz would ever be like that. Back in high-school, they were inseparable. But now he seemed reserved around her. Almost like he was afraid that she would disappear again. Well, she thought. I'll just have to make him believe that I'm here to stay.
Woody came back downstairs, carrying a little blue box in his hand. "Don't lose it," he warned, handing it to her.
Jessie rolled her eyes and opened the box. In it was a ring whose band was white gold,with little intricate designs of loops and swirls. It surrounded three beautiful diamonds, two smaller and one bigger one in the middle.
"What a rock!" yelled Jessie. "Bo's gonna be soooo surprised!"
"You CAN'T tell Bo, Jess!"
"I promise I won't!"
"Okay, I'm holding you to your word."
The vet arrived around noon, and left around 3. Buzz got off of work at 5, so Jessie had two hours of free time. She decided to go for a ride on Bullseye down to the pond. Jessie put on his riding equipment and let him run most of the way. She took the familiar trail through the woods, taking in all of nature's beauty. Once there, she took off Bullseye's saddle and tied him to a tree near the water.
The redhead walked out to the end of the little dock. She sat down and took off her boots and socks and stuck her feet into the water. She sat watching the trees surrounding the back of the pond.
Jessie must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew, she was being picked up and thrown into the pond. She felt the water go over her head and emerged to find Buzz laughing so hard, he was clutching his stomach and nearly falling over. Revenge is a dish best served cold..She thought as she climbed out and attempted to push Buzz into the water. After a few minutes of struggle, Jessie won, and they were both in the pond, splashing each other.
"I'm glad I took the time to change out of my work clothes before I came over!" he said, making his way to the ladder on the dock.
"What exactly do you do?"
"Oh! I work at the astrology lab in Houstan," he explained.
"Really? That's awesome!"
The blonde chuckled. "You'll have to come up some time."
The two climbed out and started to dry off on the dock. Fifteen minutes later, they stood up and decided to go home to get towels. "I think it's time for your first riding lesson!" Jessie suggested.
"Um..."
Jessie laughed. "Come on Buzz! Bullseye wouldn't hurt a fly! Or we could use Buttercup..whoever you want."
"Bullseye would be fine."
Jessie nodded and put Bullseye's saddle back on. She climbed on and looked down at Buzz, who was giving her a look of confusion.
"Well, hop on. Unless you plan on walking all the way back."
"I walked here so I'll just-"
"Come on Buzz. It'll take forever to walk back. Bullseye promises he will be good, won't ya boy?" She asked, patting the brown horse's neck. As if he understood her, he bobbed his head up and down, getting excited.
Buzz took one more nervous glance at the horse, and climbed on behind Jessie on the saddle. She clicked her tounge and nudged the horse's sides and the horse took off at a slow trot.
Buzz held on to Jessie tightly, which made her smile. They made it back to the house and dried off completely, and Jessie asked if Buzz would stay for dinner. He accepted, and Jessie went off to the kitchen to search the freezer for something to throw in the oven. Finding a frozen pizza, she shoved it in, set the timer, and went out to find Buzz. He was outside talking to Woody about something near the barn. She ran over and said that dinner would be ready in about twenty minutes.
After dinner, Buzz and Jessie went out to the porch to say good-bye. It was already almost seven, and Buzz said he had some things to write up for an online class he was taking. Once they were out, he asked if she wanted to do something on Tuesday. He had the day off work, and suggested that they could go out to dinner or something.
"I'd love to," came Jessie's reply.
"Perfect. I'll come over around three. Where would you like to go?" he asked.
"Um..well..New York didn't really have any good Mexican restaurants so..."
Buzz nodded his head. "I know just the place. I'll pick you up around 5. Sound good?"
Jessie nodded eagerly. "Will I see you tomorrow, then?"
Buzz nodded. "I'll have to come over later, though. Around eight."
Jessie narrowed her eyes and pretended to act suspicious. "Why? Have a hot date with a girlfriend?"
"Yes, she's got these beautiful green eyes and bright red hair. Tall, outgoing, funny.." he said trailing off.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Well that's fine, my handsome blonde-haired, blue-eyed, short boyfriend will be over most of the day anyway."
"Hey, I'm not that short."
"Um..Buzz...I was at least three inches taller than you until sophomore year."
"Freshman. And it didn't help that you wore heels at homecoming that year. Made me look like a midget.." he said.
"Hey, for the record, Bo made me wear them."
Buzz laughed and leaned down to kiss Jessie. "Adios, mi armor." he whispered.
"Bye.." she replied.
For some reason, Buzz speaking Spanish always made her stomach flutter. In high school, she planned on taking it, but decided against it and took French instead. So even though he always tried to explain the meanings of the words he would whisper to her, she always forgot most of them. This one, however, she recognized as love, and blushed at the thought.
She stood there for a while, just happy to be outside and to be able to see the sky. Thinking back to this morning's conversation with Woody, she wondered if she and Buzz would ever get married. The small romantic, girly part of her bubbled with excitement and hoped so.
Author's Note: Well hey readers! Apparently you have to clean out your outbox before you can send more docs...heh..silly me didn'tknow that, and sent this a few weeks ago, only realizing yesterday that it never sent...stupid docx XD
Just a heads up, school starts tomorrow (:[) so I'm gonna be super busy as I have cross country AND band things to deal with now on top of school. Sophmore year is gonna suck. I can't even take drivers ed till winter because it's after school and so is cross and my coach is an ass about people missing practices and he says that it's not neccicary and that it can wait. Um...let's see...I shaved NINE MINUTES off my time last race and you won't let me miss a few practices so I don't have to run/walk/ride my bike/bug friends for rides any more? Jerk. K I'm done ranting.
You know the drill! Reviews make me happy!
Thanks again to everyone who reads this! You don't know how much it means to me that people like the story!
~Blue:)