ELLE'S POV
Dougie. His name matched his appearance perfectly. He turned out to be a lovely guy, and I knew that I wanted to spend time with him. After the media lesson had finished, I packed up my stuff and waited for him to pack his. He stood up from packing his bag, turned around, and smiled. "Lead me to your noble steed then" he said, in what appeared to be a failed posh voice. I laughed and instinctively grabbed his hand to lead him out, but when I realized I dropped it quickly. We both froze for a second, but he gave me a reassuring smile and so we continued walking.
"We could walk there, but it'll take an hour. I normally get the bus, but I'll have to swing home first to get my stuff. You can borrow some of my dads wellies if you want, I can tell your shoes are new." He chuckled,
"That would be great,thanks."
"No problem, come on then, he'll be waiting."
We walked together, in silence at first, but it was soon broken by his phone ringing. He put his hand in his pocket and drew the phone out.
"Hello? Oh hey mum. Yeah it was fine. I know I was late, but I couldn't find my way round! I'm staying out for a bit, if that's alright? Just a friend, we're doing a project together. Yes mum, shes a girl. Shut it mum, not like that. Yeah alright, I'll see you tonight yeah? I'll bring us some food in. Bye."
He looked at me and smiled as he put his phone away.
"You know what mums are like" he laughed.
"Yeah, trust me I know. Speaking of mums, theres mine. " I pointed towards the direction of my house, were my mum was stood outside of, mowing the grass. We approached her, and she stood up.
"Hello darling, you come to get your stuff for Willow?"
"Yeah mum. We're doing a project for College, this is Dougie by the way, he's new."
"Nice to meet you Dougie" my mum said, holding out her hand. Dougie shook it.
"You too Mrs, er."
"Patrick" mum replied. "But you can call me Angela." Mum was about to take off into full blown conversation with Dougie and he looked understandably awkward.
"Come on Dougie, we need to get my stuff. See you later mum. Oh, and Dougie is borrowing some of dads wellies." And before she could reply, I'd ushered him into the house.
"Your mum seems nice, Elle" he told me as we were walking up the stairs.
"She's embarrassing, never stops talking!"
"Aw its nice, she obviously loves you"
I smiled as I opened the door into my room, dam. I forgot how messy it was, I pulled all the clothes out of my wardrobe in my morning rush this morning.
"Er, sorry about the mess." I said quickly, while trying to tidy everything up. He just laughed. "My dads boots are in the shed, you can go get some while I get changed?"
"Yeah, sure thing" he replied, and left the room.
DOUGIES POV
I found the garden shed easily enough and pulled on the nearest pair of wellingtons I could find. They fitted perfectly. I was about to go back inside the house but decided against it as I didn't want to scuff up the carpet. I only had to wait outside the door a minute though, because Elle soon appeared in the doorway. She was wearing cream jodphurs, and an oversized black hoodie "I see you found some boots then Doug" she said, as she entered the shed.
"Er yeah, I hope your dad wont mind" I replied in a raised voice, shouting into the shed.
"Nah don't worry!" she answered coming out of the shed again. "You ready to go?"
I nodded, and we both left. It was only a short walk up to the bus stop, which was mostly filled about Elle talking about her horse. I nodded along, and made the occasional 'ah' and 'yeah', even though I didn't really understand what she was talking about. We reached the bus stop just as the bus was pulling in, and got on it.
"2 singles to Park Lane please" Elle told the driver, and pulled out a £5 note to pay him.
"Elle you just pay for yours, I'll pay for me" I told her, trying to shuv £2.50 into the drivers hand.
"No Doug its fine, don't worry" and before I could say anything else the driver had taken the note and Elle was dragging me to the back of the bus. She was holding me by the hand again, but neither of us froze this time, it felt right. We plonked down on the back seat, still holding hands. She quickly let go, but I grabbed onto it again, just looking into each others eyes. I had known her half a day but it felt like a year. I leant in toward her, and she did so too. We locked lips, and kissed. It wasn't a long kiss, but it felt amazing. When we pulled away from each other, she just looked at me and smiled. The rest of the journey was in silence, but our hands were still interlocked between us. It took about twenty minutes to reach our destination and we got off the bus, still holding hands. I started walking but she pulled me back again.
"Dougie, that kiss. What was it for?" she asked me, looking deep into my eyes.
I didn't know what to say. It just felt so right at the time. She probably thinks I'm weird now, I'd known her half a day for Gods sake.
"Erm,I don't know. It just felt…"
But before I could finish my sentence, she finished it for me,
"Right." She said.
"Yeah. Elle, I know you probably think I'm just messing around with you, ive known you 6 hours! But im not, I promise. I shouldn't of done that, on the bus. It was wrong, im sorry!" I blurted out. I expected her to agree with me, tell me I was stupid and she doesn't think we should be working together. But instead, She just grabbed me by the hand and started walking down the lane.
"I like you, Dougie" she said, still walking with her back turned away from me.
"I like you too" I replied, still unsure of what she was getting at.
"But I think I need to at least know your last name before we can discuss this any further" she said, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
I laughed. "Poynter" I replied. "Dougie Poynter"
"Okay, Dougie Poynter" She said, turning around. "Meet Willow"
She pointed to a grey horse standing in a field. She clicked her tongue and the horse bolted over, and she rubbed his face and patted his neck. "Stroke him, Doug." She said. I timidly touched the horses neck and scratched It slightly, before removing my hand. "Lets bring him in" and with that she had already started walking into the yard. I trotted after her.
ELLES POV.
I had known him for barely 6 hours, but those 6 hours felt like a lifetime. They say that when you meet 'the one' you know straight away. I never believed all that rubbish until now. Until Dougie. That kiss we shared was the only kiss I've had that actually felt like it meant something to me, to both of us. I wanted to tell him how much I liked him, how much that kiss meant to me, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. I acted chilled, but inside all I wanted to do was tell him how I felt. We brought Willow in together and started brushing him. I passed Dougie a brush, "Here, you can brush him if you want." He took the dandy brush off me and started brushing his legs. I was surprised he actually knew what part of the horse that brush was for. We groomed Willow pretty fast and I tacked him up and got my hat out of my box. " You ready?" I asked Doug, who was standing by the gate to the paddock.
"Go for it!" he replied.
I rode Willow into the arena at a steady walk, and warmed him up. I did basic flat work at first, a trot on each rein, and then a canter too. I then progressed onto walk to canter transitions, which Willow was picking up on very easily. I brought him back down into walk, and then into halt. "Im going to put a jump up" I said, about to dismount.
"Don't worry, I'll do it" Dougie replied, and he quickly jogged into the right hand corner of the paddock, were the jump wings and pole were. He dragged the poles and wings into the centre of the school, "How big do you want them?" He asked me, while standing up the heavy wings.
"Just a small cross at first, thanks" I replied. He put the jump up in a matter of seconds.
"Try that" he said, walking backwards, admiring his handiwork.
I approached the jump in trot and Willlow popped over it no problem. I then picked up canter in the corner and brought him over it again, once again he popped over it easily. I was about to ask Dougie to put it up one more, but before I could open my mouth he was already putting it up. I rode it in trot again, and he went over it no problem.
"Could I have it on top straight please? He's popping over the smaller ones fine." I asked Dougie, while cantering around.
"No problem" He went up to the jump and placed one pole across the top dent of the wings, and the other pole underneath. I'd actually never jumped that height on him before, as he was only young. I know I didn't need to, but in a way I wanted to impress Dougie. I approached the jump in more foward canter, as it was considerably higher then the last two, but Willow, being the top horse that he is, carried me over it safely, with perfect striding.
"Good lad!" I praised him, patting his neck. "Good boy!"
Dougie walked over to me, and patted Willow's neck. "That was amazing!" he said, sounding pretty impressed.
"Aww thanks" I replied, "But it was all my horse mainly, he's a real man, looks after me!"
Dougie smiled at me, and we held the same stare as we had on the bus. Before anything else could happen I blurted out "Do you want a go?"
"Err, I don't know" Dougie answered, unsurely.
"Go on! Please! I'll keep hold of him!" I pleaded.
"Oh go on then" he replied, giving in.
I swung off Willow as quickly as I could, passed Dougie my hat and gave him a leg up onto the horse. Willows head perked up and his ears twitched, as he could sense a different rider on his back. I led him round, just in walk.
"He needs to get used to you first, he hasn't had anyone riding him in the past year except me" I told Dougie. You could see in his face that he was anxious, but he tried to relax all the same. After 2 laps he suddenly seemed much more confident, as did Willow.
"Could we maybe have a trot please?" Dougie asked, timidly.
"Sure!" I replied, and clicked my tongue to encourage Willow into a faster gait. As he picked up the trot, I started running next to him. Dougie was riding up and down with the rythym, without even being told.
"Hey, your good at this!" I told him, still trotting round. "You must of ridden before?"
"I used to ride my Aunts horse, before we moved away" he replied. He came across somewhat embarrassed by this. I brought Willow back down into a walk.
"I thought you said you didn't know anything about horse?" I quizzed him.
"Well I never used to tell people I could ride, it was never classed as a manly sport!"
I laughed. "Don't worry Doug, your secrets safe with me." I released my grip on the reins. "Go by yourself" I instructed him, and he did just that.
He picked up the trot in the next corner, and then a canter after that. It was a nice, steady canter and Dougie had a great position. "Take him over the jump!" I shouted, while running to put it down. He brought Willow over the small cross perfectly. "Your good Dougie!" I shouted with excitement, and he brought willow back down into walk, then halt.
"Er, thanks!" he replied, blushing. He dismounted Willow and patted his neck. I walked over to them both, slackened his girth and twisted his reins.
"Come down with me tomorrow!" I asked him, as we were walking back into the main yard.
"Yeah, I will do" he replied, removing Willow's saddle.
We quickly gave Willow a brush down and I turned him out into the field and watched him gallop all the way to the back, joining the rest of the herd. I turned to face Dougie. "So, Dougie Poynter, I think we should discuss what we were talking about earlier."
"Im sorry Elle, im an idiot. I rushed into things, im sorry!" he gushed, all in one breath.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" I laughed.
"Erm Elle, do you fancy coming round to my house tonight? We could get some Indian ready meals from Marks and Spencer, you can meet my mum and sister! Mum wont mind."
"Yeah, why not!" I replied "Can I meet you there though, I need to get changed out of this stuff and get a shower."
"Sure thing" he answered. He took out a bit of paper and a pen from his pocket and wrote down his address. "come whenever."
I nodded and took the paper from his hand. The bus had just come around the corner and we both got on. Dougie got off a stop earlier then me, insisting that he knew where his house was from there.
"Honestly Elle, its two minutes from here!"
I laughed. "If you say so, Doug. I'll be round about 7:30, yeah?"
He nodded and jumped off the bus. I was really looking forward to tonight.