Snapshots

Riding Horses

"Pick a horse," Lucas says using his hand to gesture to all of them as he keeps his other hand in mine. I point to one behind the stable doors and he smiles. "That one's mine," he says putting the reigns on and bringing her out to the main walkway.
"She's beautiful," I say coming up to pet her. She was a deep golden-tan color with a brown mane.
"This is the one I birthed all those years ago," he tells me going to get the saddle. He puts it on her back and strokes her mane. "Her name is Blue Jeans, but around here people call her Blue for short. She's super calm and doesn't really run. She's almost like a surfer dude."
"Looks like I picked the perfect on to learn on," I joke grabbing her reigns and following Lucas down two stable stalls.
"She's absolutely perfect. For now, I'll ride Rebecca's horse, Snowball." He brings out snowball and I take in all of the white horse's glory. Snowball's taller than Blue Jeans and has little to no color. She's breath-taking. Lucas saddles her up and looks at me.
"Ready to go?" he asks. I nod and take his open hand in mine, the other tight around Blue Jean's reigns.
"Who's Rebecca?" I asked as we walked out of the barn.
"She's my cousin on my dad's side. You'll meet her tonight," he says. Me and Lucas were out in Texas to visit his family. We'd been dating for a year and a half and I've only ever met his mom. Shawn was coming out for a trip to write about a local festival going on, so Lucas, my mom, and I all tagged along. There was a huge road trip that we took two weeks out of our summer to go on, but that's a different story for a different day. Plus, we're only halfway through.
Tonight I was joining Lucas at his family's ranch for what they called the Friar fest. Whatever that is. We got here at ten this morning, and Lucas said I had to learn how to ride a horse before I met anybody from his family. That's where I currently was.
"So do you know anything about horses?" he asked me as we walked into the big open field.
"I would like to say yes, but you're the Ranger, Rick."
"Well first you have to get on," he says smiling at my comment. He interlocks his fingers and bends down. "Step on," he says. He helps me up and I get settled on the horse. I watch as he easily mounts his without any trouble. That was hot, not going to lie.
"Oh real quick, I almost forgot the finishing touch," he says putting on his old cowboy hat on my head. He already had his on. He said we had to dress for the experience and took me out to buy boots before we left. I already had the flannel and jeans. Apparently he did too.
"Okay so fix your feet so that they sit in the stirrups like this," he says looking down at our feet showing me. "And then you grab the reins like this." Same thing except he was looking at our hands now. "Good job, Short Stack. Now there are three commands. They are the only ones we're using today. The command for walking, the command for turning, and the command for stopping. To walk, you click your heels in, squeezing the horse like- yeah you've got it," he says smiling at me. I laugh and look back at him.
"Now, pull on the reigns a tiny bit," he says from behind me. I do as I'm told and Blue Jeans stops. I lean forward to pet her as Lucas gives me the last instructions. "Just pull the reins to the side you want to go on. And that's it. How's it sound?"
"Good," I says giggling. "I know I made fun of you all that time for being a cowboy, but this is really fun."
"I'm glad you like it," he says. "I'll lead you around the field a couple of times, but then I'm taking you on my favorite trail. I nod and Blue Jeans falls into step behind Snowball.
~
We've been out for 25 minutes on a trail. It's beautiful, but I have no idea where we're going or how long it's going to be. I pause in the middle of my sentence of my story I was telling and ask.
"It's only about 5 more minutes away," Lucas promises and I nod before going back to my story.
He keeps his promise as about exactly 5 minutes later we ride up to the back of a waterfall. "This is my favorite spot to be," he says as we tie the horses to a tree.
"It's beautiful," I say. "I wish I brought my sketchbook," I say sighing. Lucas sits down behind the waterfall and pulls something out of his bag.
"I took the liberty of packing it for you. Also, these," he says pulling out the new pack of color pencils I had been eying in the store for weeks.
"Oh my gosh Lucas, you didn't."
"Oh but I did my dear."
"Thank you Lucas, I love it," I say holding it close to my chest. "And you," I say leaning over to give him a kiss.
He blushes and smiles at me. "I love you too short stack."
I smile back and get to drawing. When I'm drawing I'm in a whole other world. No one can talk to me, no one can get to me, I see whatever I want to see. Lucas knows this and lays down beside where I've set up camp and closes his eyes. I would assume he's asleep, but he's laying too still to be asleep. I don't care about him though, honestly. I just let my hand direct my strokes and my heart direct my hand.
About an hour later, I turn to Lucas. "Huckleberry, I finished," I say shaking his shoulder.
"Let me see," he says in return. "Maya, this is beautiful. You're amazing."
"I just drew. I didn't know what until I got there."
"Well, I love it. Can I keep it? Please?"
"Of course you can Ranger Rick. I wouldn't want it anywhere else." I look down and it's true. The picture is of the waterfall and Lucas sitting behind it on his horse with me on the back. It's deep into the summer and I can see the silhouettes of our cowboy hats on our heads. Lucas puts it in his bag with my book and pencils and we sit there for a while in quiet.
"Whatcha thinking about?" he asks.
"You. Shawn and my mom. Riley and the Matthews. Even Farkle. My world might be small but it doesn't feel that way. What about you?"
"You. And... you," he says.
"That was cliche and bad," I say back laughing.
He laughs too. "I know, but it was the perfect set up for this." He pulls out a long blue box and hands it to me. I open it to see a beautiful long gold chain, a golden heart the only thing on it. "It opens you know," he says, pushing a little button on the side that opens the locket to reveal a picture on either side. One of me and him on our first date, and one of me and him a while ago when we were caught sleeping on the couch.
"Okay, I'm not normally like this, but wow. This is the most amazing thing," I say putting it on. "Thank you." I give him a hug and he hugs me back. When we pull away he looks at his watch.
"We should probably get going," he says standing up reluctantly. I knew he was right, especially since I definitely had to go back to the hotel to shower and change, but I didn't want to leave this place.
"Promise we can come back?" I ask mounting Blue Jeans.
"Cross my heart and hope to die," he says back, giving me one more kiss on the cheek before leading me back to the path.