Chapter 3.
Acting Like Kids
As we rode into town, my mind was wandering everywhere. I was wondering where we were going, if I was going to get in trouble when I got home- considering I just left Mama and Papa to do my work- and what Jason thought of me after I made that joke earlier. How stupid was that? I made a face. 'I need some new jeans' I mocked myself inside my head. Well Sophia, just forget about it. Jason knows it was a joke. I hope.
"So how often are you working down at Eddy's?" I asked.
"Oh, three or four times a week, sometimes more. Whenever they need me, really."
"Sounds good. You making a lot of money? Saving up for something special?" I asked, hoping to get ideas for future birthday gifts.
“Actually, no. No to both of those questions. Five or six dollars a day is about it. And there ain't much I want. Maybe I'll lend a hand and pitch in to help pay for the horse feed or something." Jason replied. He seemed upset.
"Oh.” Was all I could say. “Hey what do you want for your birthday mister? It's in..." I started counting days in my head. Wait. Were there 31 days in May?
"My birthday is June 15th." he said with a chuckle.
"No! I knew that! I was trying to count the days! You messed me up!" I yelled.
"Oh. See I thought you forgot my birthday!" he joked
"Ha. You're a funny kid. “ I shook my head. Now I’d have to start all over.
"Kid? Wait let's get this straight, I'm turning 17 in less than a month, you're turning 17 in like 5 months, and I'm the kid?" He asked, amused.
"I-" Great. He got me there. I hate it when he does that "Yeah. You're the kid." I said, oh crap. I sensed a play fight coming.
"Soph..." he said warningly
"Jason" I said back in the same tone. Two can play at this game.
"Soph." he said again, sharper this time. How long will this go on?
"What?" I finally said.
“I love you" Jason said with a cute smile and a wink.
"Love you too Jason. You're such a cute little kid." I think I just won.
"You asked for it!" he yelled. Oh crap. He's probably gonna start saying- my thoughts were cut off as suddenly he was pulling me off my horse. How'd he get over here so fast? He grabbed my waist and I took my feet out of Gracie’s stirrups so I didn’t get caught in them. He is really strong.
Then he started spinning me around not letting my feet touch the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist so I wouldn’t fall. Not that he would let me fall anyway. He flung me over his shoulder and I pounded on his back with my fists. “Put me down!” I screamed over and over, but it wasn’t helping, he was getting enjoyment out of this!
As usual, he overpowered me and pinned me to the ground.
He hovered over me breathing heavily and smiling wildly. Then he started laughing hysterically. "Um, Jason this kind of hurts. You do realize I'm pinned down on dead cornstalks."
"Deal with it, kid!"
"Get off of me!" I protested. He was straddling me with one hand on either side of my head.
"How do you like that? I'm not a kid anymore am I?" he bragged. “I pinned you down, and I win at just about everything, huh Soph?”
“Whatever Jason.” I said grumpily, letting him win the argument. He got off of me. I could make a run for it, but Jason smiled sweetly down at me and held out a hand to help me up.
"Okay. I'm done you can get up now. Let's go get some ice cream."
I placed my hand in his and stood up using Jason as support. Then I jumped back onto Gracie and started running her like we were in a barrel race.
“Sophie what the hell! Get back here, kid!” Jason yelled after me. I looked back. He slumped down and looked at me with a fake frown on his face. I slowed Gracie and eventually stopped her. Now I felt bad. I turned the horse around.
I trotted back over to him and just before he got onto Magic, I jumped off Gracie and gave him a hug.
"I'm sorry Jacie-wacie." I said in my cutest little kid voice ever. That usually gets him.
"You’re mean.” He said back in a little kid voice. He wrapped his big arms around me for the second time today and pouted.
"No you’re mean, you hurt me!" right after I said that, I regretted it.
"I did? How?" he said, worried again.
"Well the cornstalks hurt my back, but I'm okay." I said, looking down at my feet. I'm wearing flip-flops. Really? Flip-flops? I'm riding my horse in flip-flops?
"I’m sorry Sophie. Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay Jason. Thanks." I looked up at him and smiled. We were still hugging.
"Good, now how about we get going! Want some ice cream? I have money now!" he said, pulling out a wad of cash.
“Wow you must have been working there for a while!” I said, surprised. I thought he only made five or six dollars a day.
“Yep. So do you want ice cream or not?” He asked, waving the money around in my face.
"Of course." I said, grabbing the money, stuffing it in my back pocket, and heading towards town. He was the best friend a girl could have.
“I’m gonna need that back, Soph.”
“We’ll see.” I said with a smile.
We rode into town on Gracie and Magic, stopped to get them some water, tied them up under a big oak tree, and went to Louie's Ice Cream Shoppe. My favorite place in the world, besides Jason's house.
We were about to walk through the doors when suddenly Jason pulled me to the side.
"What are you doing Jason?" I asked, confused.
He leaned over me, his face only inches from mine. His hand moved to the side of my face and he brushed my bangs out of the way.
"Err, Jason? What are you- "
"Your hair is a mess. Let me fix it." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Leave it to him to point out that I look bad. I blushed. I stood there reluctantly like a little kid, with my hands at my sides, waiting for him to "fix" my hair.
"It's your fault it looks bad. You're the one that tackled me in a cornfield." I said, as he brushed through my hair with his fingers. He ignored me.
"All done" he announced. I shook my head and laughed a little before I followed him inside.
The smell of homemade ice cream and cookies and brownies and all kinds of sweets automatically filled my nostrils, and I sniffed the air to get a better whiff. I loved this place. I don’t get to come often, though, because money is tight right now, and of course, I don’t make an allowance.
"I'll order for us, you go find a table. Can you handle that?" He said with a smile. I gave him a smug look.
"Yes darling" I said jokingly, earning some strange looks from the townspeople around me.
I found a table near a window and sat down. Jason came back minutes later with a bowl of ice cream for us both.
"I got you vanilla, your favorite." He said, sliding the glass bowl across the table to me, followed by a silver spoon. “And strawberry for me” he added, with a hungry look on his face. He licked his lips.
"Yes! Thank you. Hey so you never answered my question. What do you want for your birthday?" I asked, spooning a small bite of the delicious ice cream into my watering mouth.
"A big bear hug."
"No for real."
Jason laughed.
"I’m serious! What do you want?"
"Soph, you don't have to get me anything for my birthday!"
"You only turn seventeen once, Jason, and I want to get you a present! So what'll it be? A radio? Oh, a guitar? Anything?"
"A new job would be nice!"
“Jason.” I whined. I hate when he does this. He is so selfless, he can’t even accept a present for his birthday.
“I really don’t want anything” he said, sounding serious.
"Oh my goodness Jason! Fine! I won’t get ya nothin’ for your birthday and you will be fine with it too, since you won’t tell me what you want. I jabbed my spoon into the bottom of my bowl of ice cream. For dramatic effect, of course.
"Sounds good to me!" he exclaimed with a smile.
“You think this is funny?” I asked, somewhat annoyed.
"Yes. That's why I'm doing it."
“Well it’s not, you’re being mean again.”
That earned a laugh from Jason.
"I'm just playing around bud. Anything you get me will be the greatest gift ever because it will come from you." he said. That was really sweet. He always says sweet things like that, I don’t know if it’s because he knows it’s what I want to hear or if he truly means it and he is just being really sweet.
"Thanks." was all I could say. I think I'm blushing. My face is really hot.
"You're so cute when you do that, Sophie!"
"Do what?" I snapped my head down, suddenly becoming interested in the small wooden table we were sitting at. "What are you talking about?" I unknowingly stirred my ice cream and examined my fingernails. Anything to avoid looking at him until I stopped blushing.
"You're blushing! I don't know why, but you are!" He said, giggling. He is the only guy I know that giggles. But it was a… Manly giggle, I guess.
I looked up at him. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Ha. Ha." I said. Why AM I blushing?
We talked for what seemed like hours after that, about anything and everything you could possibly talk about. We hadn’t seen each other in weeks, so there was a lot to say.
When we finished our ice cream, we decided to go back to Jason's place. When we got there, Jason said he had to show me something. He led me over to the stable. What could be so exciting here? I'd been in here a million times.
When he opened the barn door, we slipped inside. I waited right inside the door to let my eyes adjust to the light. Once I could see the silhouettes of the horses in their stalls, I walked over to one of the many horses named Willy. I started talking to him softly. Asking how his day has been. Like I said, I'm Cinderella, in a way. Not the glass slipper, fancy dress, prince charming kind of Cinderella, just the animal-friendly part of her.
Jason grabbed me by the shoulders and led me to the other end of the stable. I was sliding along in the dirt and hay in the dim barn, being careful not to trip over anything. My hands were outstretched in front of me to make sure I didn't run into anything. I probably looked like a zombie. Or Frankenstein. I smiled at the thought.
"Jason, I can't see a thing, why did you close the door? What are we doing?"
"Shh, there's a light over here. Don't move." he replied.
"Why are we being quiet?" I said, in a hushed tone. Then the lights flicked on. I looked around for Jason and found him at my side seconds later.
"Look" he said, pointing at the stall next to us. To my surprise, I saw a little baby foal lying in the corner of the stall that belongs to Gypsy. It was a little chestnut.
I gasped.
"Oh my goodness! Look at him! Jason, I didn't know Gypsy was pregnant!"
“Yep. She gave birth earlier this morning! His name's Chester."
"Chester the chestnut. How clever are you?" I joked.
"Sorry, but anyway, I showed him to you for a reason." He said, in a serious tone.
"Aww you’re so cute, aren’t you little guy? You’ve got a good mama" I cooed to the newborn.
"Sophie, listen to me." Jason said sternly.
"What?" I said, still gawking at the little foal.
"We can't keep him." Jason replied.
My heart sunk. And I was now paying full attention to the teenager standing next to me.
"Why not?" I asked. Jason looked down. What's with him today?
"Jason?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"We can't afford to keep him." he said suddenly. What? They can't afford it?
"Jason I'm confused." I said, puzzled.
"My dad got laid off. That's why I took the job at Eddy's. That’s why I haven't seen you in weeks. That's why I needed to see you today. That's why I'm not buying things for myself with my money. We need it here, for the farm. We can't afford the horses we have now, let alone have the time and money for this new addition to the family. We just can't." Jason began to tear up/ Shit shit shit, don’t cry, I begged inside my head.
It was all coming together now. It makes sense.
"Oh my God, Jason! What can I do to help! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize-"
"Take Gypsy and Chester for us." he cut me off.
"W-what? You love Gypsy, I-I can't!" I could never take his horse away from him. Never. He loved Gypsy a lot, I couldn’t.
"If I didn't need you to, I wouldn't be asking you. Please Soph. We are just barely holding on. If you don't take them, then we'll have to send them off somewhere where we will never be able to see them again. Or worse..."
I knew exactly what he was talking about. I knew all too well what happened to horses that don't have loving families.
"I- Jason I'm so sorry. I can ask Papa, see what he says. We'll do whatever we can to help." I reassured. What was Papa gonna say to this? Taking on two more horses? That’s a lot of feed, and pasture room, and they’re each going to need a stall. Would he say yes?
"Thanks sis, you're the best." I was suddenly engulfed in a third giant hug. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his chest. I wouldn't let go. Not in a million years.
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Picture of the Gypsy and Chester to the right --à everyone “awww” with me C;
~ LovingLife14
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