It took five tries to get Jared into the saddle. As he kept repeating over and over, he had never ridden a horse before.
Between his total lack of experience and his drunken state, he had a hard time lifting his leg over Lola's back. Then the first time he did manage to swing all the way up, he slid over and fell off the other side.
You could break something doing that, but Jared just laughed until he cried.
Finally, I got him up and reasonably steady. With some serious contortion, I climbed up in front of him, fully aware that my butt was directly in his face while I tried to position myself.
Burning with humiliation, I sat down and just hoped he was so drunk he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning.
"Hold on to me," I told him.
"Ooh. Now we're getting frisky," he joked.
I rolled my eyes and he hooked his arms around my waist.
This was not the best way to ride with a completely uncoordinated novice.
I had thought about riding behind him, Like I would do with a little kid who had no idea how to control a horse, but it was out of the question. I never would have been able to see past his bulky frame.
We were just going to have to roll the dice and hope he didn't loll of the back or slide off the side.
"Jared, just try to stay awake, okay?" I said over my shoulder. "I don't want to lose you."
"Who knew you were such a flirt, Gracie?" Jared asked, blowing his breath directly up my nose.
Majorly sour.
"Yeah. That's me. I love a sloppy drunk," I told him. "Come on, Lola," I urged, clucking my tongue a couple of times.
She grunted, irritated over the added weight, but started us on our way.
Suddenly the lazy clip-clopping of her hooves wasn't so soothing anymore. It was downright annoying. All it did was remind me of how slow we were moving and how far we had to travel.
"I like being this close to you," Jared said, slumping into my back.
My heart skipped a beat and my hands started to sweat, even though it was kind of a cool night.
How could I possibly be so excited and so grossed out by the same person at the same time?
He smelled like the basement of the VFW and was more limp than a new balloon, but still, when he said that, my blood started to race.
"That's nice," I said, wishing I could truthfully say the same.
"You hate me," he said, sounding like a little kid.
"No I don't," I protested.
"Yeah you do. You hate me 'cause I'm from the city", he said, lifting his chin. "And now you hate me because you think I'm a drunk. But I'm not normally like this. It was all my friends. They said we had to get drunk 'cause there was nothin else to do."
I sighed loudly. "And do you always do what your friends want to do?"
"Not always," he laughed. "But it seemed like a good idea at the time."
I smiled. I couldn't help it. There was something cute about the goofy way he was acting.
So unlike the "I'm too cool" demeanor he usually had going. Plus, it was a lot better than the angry or hostile drunk some of the guys from my class displayed when they had their drink on.
"But now you think I'm a jerk," he said, slumping again.
"Not really," I said, patiently.
"Well, I'm sorry you have to drive me home. Or horse me home or whatever," he said, causing me to snort a laugh. "You know you shouldn't be mad at me. If you wanna be mad at someone, be mad at my dad. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.
"Right. You mentioned that." I replied.
We turned off Town Line Road onto Murphy street, which was even darker and thicker with trees.
I gazed into the night and prayed that I wouldn't see headlights. Not that it was very likely.
The driveway to Jared's house was about half a mile up on the right. Lola and I were going to have to go back to a trot if I wanted to get back to bed before the hour became obscene.
"He's doing it 'cause they told him too though," Jared continued matter of factly. "Like me. I'm just doing it caue he told me too. No one does what they actually want to do anymore. You know?"
My brow creased and I glanced over my shoulder at him. "You do know you're not making a whole lot of sense right now, right?"
"No way! No! I'm making perfect sense," he said, gesturing with his arms. The second he let go of my waist, he almost fell off the saddle. He had to grab onto me hard to keep from going over. My insides lurched in fear, but we stayed upright. "Whoa. That was close."
"Yep," I said, trying not to betray my panic.
Just a little bit further...
"Well, anyway, he says he doesn't want to talk about it, so I said fine. But really it's not fine. Because if you do something that changes entire life and your whole family's life, you should be able to talk about it, you know?" Jared said.
Now I was thoroughly confused.
What the heck was he talking about? Who told his father what to do? And what had he done to change his whole family's life? So they were here for the summer and not in the Hamptons. Big deal. It was one summer.
"You know, Jared, maybe we should try to keep quiet the rest of the way home. It is getting kind of late." I suggested.
Jared looked around like he was going to wake someone up sleeping on the side of the road. "Oh, yeah. Shhhhhh!" he said in an exaggerated way.
I sighed and tried not to count the clip-clops of Lola's hooves all the way up the winding drive and around the circular fountain to the front door of the Kent mansion.
Aside from the old fashioned standing lamp at the top of the walk, there wasn't a single light on anywhere on the property.
"Oh, hey! We're here!" Jared said.
I felt him move and grabbed his wrist. "Oh no. Allow me."
I swung my leg over Lola's neck and Jumped down, face-first -a total no no, but it was the only way I could dismount with out Jared going first.
Then I reached up and helped him down, just like I had done with five year old Josh Locke the other day.
The moment his feet hit the ground he tripped forward, falling into me.
Once again, my heart did a dance, but when I smelled his breath again, I put a stop to the insanity.
"Thanks again," Jared said. "I'll call ya."
"Great" I told him.
He lifted a hand in an unsteady wave, and I took Lola down the hill as fast as we could go without endangering ourselves in the dark.
Jared Kent was cute. There was no denying that. But as of now he was on strike three.
Or was it four? It was getting difficult to keep track.
Either way, as Lola and I made our way home I felt that one thing was for sure.
My little foray into the land of the Invaders had officially come to a close.
* * * *
Hello everyone!!!
I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!!!
This was one of the hardest chapters that I have written. I had to re-write it a couple of times because it wasn't coming out just the way I wanted it and I only want to give y'all my best, so that is what I did.
I hope that this little interaction Cassie and Jared had felt natural and not forced.
Trust me when I tell you, that there is SOO much fun to be had in these upcoming chapters. I am so excited to share them with y'all!!!!!
Much love, Kylie < 3