With The Labels

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The sound of the birds chirping and the sunlight coming in through the windows wakes me up the next morning after the game. My body is tangled with Blake under the covers and I have a massive headache. His legs are intertwined with mine and his arms hug me closely as if I was a teddy bear. Blake's breath is even and slow, and I know he is still asleep. I try to wiggle out of his grasp without waking him up. I needed an Aspirin and a tall glass of water.

As soon as I move, Blake's arms tighten around me. He groans, sleepily opening one eye. "No. Stay." He whispers in my ear groggily.

"I'll be right back." I respond, twisting out of his grasp. He loosens, and I quietly make my way downstairs for a glass of water and something for my headache. After chugging a whole glass, the headache slowly starts to fade. I make my way back upstairs and into the bathroom where I can brush my teeth and wash my face. I needed to wake myself up.

When I reenter the bedroom, Blake is standing on the carpet, shirtless. He stretches his arms straight up in the air, groaning, dirty blond hair matted down after a long night of sleep. I can't help but stare at his perfect washboard abs.

"You're staring." Blake smirks at me.

His comment causes me to blush and look away. I can't believe he caught me. It will only encourage his cocky behavior.

"You don't have to stop. Besides, you look cute when you blush." Blake sits down on my bed, staring at me straight in they eyes.

That causes me to blush even more. I roll my eyes and avoid eye contact. I sit down next to him on the bed. "Thanks for staying with me last night and driving me home."

"Anytime, babe. You were a nice teddy bear." We are sitting so close to each other, our shoulders and thighs are touching. "What are you up to today?"

"Probably just riding Penny. Homework. Studying." I shrug, not quite sure what the rest of the day will have in store for me. Besides, I have the whole weekend to study.

"Well if you are free this afternoon, I'd like to take you on a trail ride." Blake stands up and walks over to the door, quickly adding, "And on one of my horses. Not one of your fancy English horses."

He leaves my room and shuts the door softly behind him. Sighing, I flop on my back and stare up at the ceiling. My cheeks get red at the thought of Blake and I can't help but smile to myself.

~

After Blake left, I took a long, hot shower and read some of my book for English. I finished my bio and psych homework for the the weekend and was feeling pretty accomplished.

"Time to ride Penny." I tell myself, slowly rising out of the chair at my desk. Turning off the radio, I walk over to the closet to change into riding clothes. I pull on a pair of grey breeches, a white tee shirt, tall socks, boots, and a Charles Owen helmet. I head down to the barn to go and ride Penny. I decided not to jump her today, just a quick hack in the arena should be enough. I also had to bring the horses in from turnout, feed them, and feed the dog.

Entering the barn, Jack jumps on me, wagging his tail. "Hey, boy." I pat him on the head, filling his water and food bowl. Jack excitedly runs to his food and devours it. I lead all four horses inside at once, putting them in their appropriate stalls. Since they were really only in for feeding and they would be put back out in turnout after, I didn't have to clean their stalls. For each horse, they get two flakes of hay and half a scoop of sweet feed. I refill their water buckets and wait for Penny to finish eating before I took her out on the cross ties.

Once finished, I clip Penny's halter to the cross ties. Her coat is already shiny, so I just quickly run a soft brush over her and pick her hooves. When she is clean I walk into the tack room to fetch the tack. On her back I place a white saddle pad, then the saddle, and finally secure it with a girth. Before bridling, I put on her pair of flat front boots and I secure on my spurs. Since it was kind of buggy out, I decide to use a white fly bonnet. I quickly bridle her and lead her outside and into the arena. She only needed a quick ride. I didn't want to over work her since I haven't ridden in a couple of days. I check the girth one final time before sticking my foot in the stirrup, swinging up onto her back.

We walk a couple of laps both directions around the arena before I ask for a trot. The weather was perfect for a late morning ride, besides the few bugs. I slide my outside leg behind the girth and squeeze. Penny picks up her trademark trot, huge stride and floaty. She was a dream to ride.

I trot her around for a solid twenty minutes. Froth and sweat is forming on her slick coat. We work on sitting trot, serpentines, leg yields, half passes, shoulder in, and haunches in. When we work on movements like that it makes me feel like I am on a fancy grand prix dressage horse and not a jumper. After I am content with her trot work, I let Penny have a walk break. I give her a pat on the neck, lengthening the reins. She stretches her neck down to the floor, catching her breath.

I pick up the reins after a few minutes, sliding my outside leg back, asking for left lead canter. She leaps into a huge, rocking horse canter. If I had to chose between her trot or canter, I don't know if I could decide. They were both amazing to ride. We canter one loop on left lead before I asking for a flying change into right lead canter on the diagonal. We canter one loop the other direction before I am happy with how my ride went. Slowing to a walk, then a halt, I loosen the girth and free walk around the arena. When Penny's sweaty coat is dry, I pop out of the saddle and wrap up the stirrups. Taking the reins over her head, I lead Penny back into the barn.

I strip her of the sweaty tack and take it into the tack room. In the tack room I also take off my helmet. It was wet and disgusting and I decide to let it dry in there on a hook. Replacing the bridle with her halter and rope, I lead Penny into the wash stall. I use the hose to get ride of all her sticky sweat. This helps her feel less itchy and cool off faster. Once she is soaked and sweat-free, I scrap the excess water off with a squeegee. I walk her into the paddock for the rest of day turnout after coating her in fly spray. Before bringing the rest of the horses out, I spray them with fly spray as well. The bugs really enjoy annoying the horses. Since they didn't finish all their hay, I toss them a couple of flakes outside.

When I am positive the horses are happy and getting along, I go inside to change into clothes to ride with Blake in. He didn't tell me an exact time to meet him, so on my way in I would just shoot him a quick text:
Me: Hey I'm done w/ Penny. What time do u want me over to ride w/ u?
Once inside the house, I change into a pair of jeans, cowboy boots, and a tank top. I cannot decide whether to wear a baseball cap or the cowboy hat Blake gave me. Finally, I settle on the cowboy hat. Blake still hadn't texted me back and with my stomach grumbling. I wanted a quick snack. In the kitchen I fix myself a bowl of cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, and pineapple.

I browse my phone and eat at the dining room table until receive a text, but not from Blake:
Bella: OMG guess wattttt, girly!!!!
Smiling down at my phone, I text back:
Me: Watttt!?!?
I wonder what she is talking about. Something must have happened at the party last night. The screen shows that she read it and is typing back:
Bella: Soooo I talked and danced w/ Zeke all night at the party. We are hanging out tonight again. I am kinda freaking out. Help me plz!! Idk wat to do.
I internally freak out. I am so happy for her! I cannot believe my plan for them is actually working.
Me: U go girl! :D So it's like a date then!?
She responds within seconds.
Bella: I guess... Idk wat to think/do, Care. We are going to the drive in movie theater in town.
Me: Don't freak out! He is prob just as nervous as you are. Have fun, be urself, and don't do anything rly stupid. Sounds v fun, u will be fine! Trust me!!
My phone vibrates with a text from Blake, so I quickly finish typing to Bella.
Me: GTG, B, but have fun and txt me after your date w/ Zeke! ILY

I scroll down to my text from Blake:
Blake: Come over anytime, babe ;)
I roll my eyes. Maybe going on a trail ride with Blake wasn't such a great idea. That would give him time to get on even more of my nerves. But it was too late to chicken out. Besides, if I cancel Blake would give me crap about it for weeks. I reply with a simple 'Ok' then clean up my fruit bowl. I take my time getting out of the house because I didn't feel like rushing. It was only Blake after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ughhhh I feel like this chapter really really sucked, but whatever. I have written 9 chapters of WTL and five chapters of my other book, Rebound, in the past three days and I think I need to take a break. My brain is on overload.

Thanks for reading! Promise it will get better.

Just a shirtless Daniel Sharman appreciation post <3 ;)))

Question:
Who is your favorite character so far?