The next weekend date came along. I had a bunch of them planned out. Like usual I would pick Cat up and take her wherever we would be going. So around 3:30 I went over to Cat's house and picked her up. She opened the door and hugged me then we left.
"So where to today?" She asks me.
"Western Trails." I say.
She just smiles. Cat has always had a thing for horses. She loves them. We were both in jeans and a t-shirt with sneakers.
"I made a reservation for a private trail tour for 6 o'clock. So it's kind of a long ride…" I explain to her.
"So am I going to get an amazing Date every weekend?" She chuckles and smiles at me.
"As long as you can come, it will be waiting." I smile at her.
"You are unbelievable, you know that? I have to be the luckiest girl in the world. How the hell did I end up with such a romantic like you? Thanks Robbie."
After a good time in the car, we finally pull up to this ranch. Horse stables were everywhere and there were some animals too. We park the car in the designated parking spot and get out. Cat just stares in awe at this place. It was surrounded by green forests and dirt paths. It was beautiful.
We both start heading towards the main ranch. A tan, lean man with gloves and a cowboy hat come over to us. He had on a blue plaid shirt and jeans and his hat was black with a leather strip around it. "Robbie Shapiro and Cat Valentine?" He asks.
"Yes sir." I answer.
"Hey. I'm going to be your guild today. Are you both over the age of 18?" He asks us.
We both nod. "Ok good. You don't have to wear a helmet if you don't want to. Before we go, I'm going to need both of you to sign a waiver. All it says is that if you do get injured in anyway, whether it be poison ivy or you fall off, you won't sue us." He chuckles. "But don't worry. Our horses are very well trained. They shouldn't be kicking you off." He smirks.
Cat chuckles and so do I. we both sign the waiver and follow the man to the horses. "Oh, my names Caleb by the way. So we have a good verity of horses here. You of coarse can pick which one you want. I'm going to guild you on which you should pick by your height and weight. So Follow me." Caleb continues to walk showing us some of the horses.
Cat wanders over to this black quarter horse with a white diamond on his forehead. She stares at the horse daydreaming until Caleb walks over to her. "This here's Buck. He's a really good one. Do you want him Miss?" Caleb asks. Cat just nods yes. Caleb opens the gate to the stall and puts the bit in the horse's mouth with the headpiece on. He grabs the horse's reins and pulls him out then shuts the stall gate behind him.
"Ok and for you?" He asks me.
I look over to a brown quarter horse in the middle of the right line of stalls. "That one." I point.
Caleb smiles. "That's Maverick. You'll like him." Caleb walks Buck over to Maverick's stall and gets him out and ready. He guilds them over to the barn and helps us get ready.
"Ok. So what you want to do is get on the right side of the horse." We get on the right sides. "Ok now put you left foot in the stirrup. If you put your right foot in you'll end up backwards. So put your left foot in and bounce off of your right. Like this." He shows us. He puts his left foot in the right stirrup and bounces off his right foot swinging it over the horses back.
"See. Now you try it." Both Robbie and I get on them the first try. Caleb seemed surprised. I could see the look on Cat's face for the first few minutes on the horse.
"This is high up…" she whispers.
"Yes it is. You'll get uses to it. But most people can't get up on them the first time. Nice job." He smiles. "So, now pull the right rein and the horse will go right. Pull the left and he will go left. If you want him to stop pull both reins up and towards you. If you want him to go, tap him on the side with your foot. Not too hard though. If you want him to go faster tap him again. Now… this doesn't usually happen but if the horse just goes off running don't panic. Just pull up on the reins as hard as you can and hold on. I'll come after you."
"Ok." Cat and I say.
Caleb taps the horse and starts forward. We follow. Once we were out of the barn, the beauty sank in. There were trees everywhere and some of the most amazing wild flowers. We followed the trail for a good 5 minute before coming us to a big grassy plain. On one side of us was a big hill covered with trees and the other side was all plains. We walk along the open area until we come to a small hill. We go up it and back down to a rocky area. There was a small creek in front of us. It was crystal clear and you could see the smooth stones on the bottom.
"I hope you don't mind getting a little bit wet." Caleb laughs crossing into the creek.
"Oh trust me, I don't." Cat laughs. "It's so hot out."
"Yes it is. But it's supposed to be a beautiful night." Caleb says looking back at me.
"Yea, I hear it's supposed to be too." I smile.
"So, I assume this is a date?" Caleb asks Cat.
"Yea. Robbie's leaving for MIT by the end of the summer so…" Caleb understands.
"Across the country so you're getting in as much time as you can. I get it. My girlfriend is in Florida right now. It's killing me." He explains.
We get across the creek and onto dry land. Half of our legs are soaked and some parts of our bodies from the high splashing.
By this time it was around 6:30. "So our destination is up ahead." Caleb explains. Cat looks a little bit confused but decides to push it aside.
We continue along a dirt trail through the trees, hills and valleys until we get to a large plateau. It was big, really big. The trail continues up a rock ledge going around and up to the top. We followed up the spiral. When we go to the top you could see for miles.
We got off of our horses and walked them over to a hitching post. Caleb helps us tie up the horses and he gets out 2 blankets from the bags on his saddle.
He hands one to me and I lay it out. Cat looks at me confused. "Ok. So Caleb and I have been friends for awhile. His parents own the ranch and they are very good friends with my parents. So I asked him for a favor. He gave us a private tour up here for the sunset. Which by the way is happening right now." I explain and point over to the glowing sun.
Cat and I sit on the blanket, her in my arms, and Caleb sits by the horses to give us some space.
We watch the sun fall into the ocean. The sky was a dark orange color for a good amount of time and the clouds were yellow and red. The palm trees on the water, the city and the towns around it were all silhouettes and the sun was a dark yellow. As it went further down the colors started to chance to blues and pinks.
Cat looked over at me in awe. "I don't even deserve a guy like you." She says giving me a kiss. I pull her closer and deepen the kiss but she eventually pulls back. "I don't know what I'm going to do when you're gone."
"You better miss me." I smile.
"I don't want you to go… but I do in the same way… I'm going to miss being that girl, the one who get showered with love, with perfect dates. I'm going to miss being with you." She explains and the tears form in her eyes.
"I know. But it's only for a few years. I'll come home on breaks, we can video chat all the time. It won't be as hard as you think." I try to calm her down.
"Yea but it won't be like being in your arms every night. I won't be able to lean up and kiss you for no reason. You're leaving in 3 weeks and you're going to be 3000 miles away. Maybe we should just end it here. And then in a few years if we still feel the same way… you know… Relationships like this never work out for normal people." She finishes and looks away from me.
"Cat…" I tilt her head toward me. "We're not normal people. And yea, 3000 miles is definitely some distance but I know that the way I feel for you will never ever go away. Especially not because of long distance problems. And I am not willing to lose you because you may or may not feel the same way in a couple of years. You're mine forever, remember?"
"Ok… I love you Robbie." She says cuddling into my chest.
"I love you too Kitty Cat." I'm not going to let her slip out of my hands like that… I got the girl and I'm not going to lose her.