Southern Boy Charm | ✓

Chapter 7

I wake up at six since I fell asleep so early. The sun is just rising, and it draws me outside. I change from my towel and change into more comfortable clothes, shorts and a t-shirt, trying my best to fight the heat outside. I'm still not used to it. The sun seems to beat down fiercer here than in Ohio, but this morning is nice and cool. I make my way to the stables, the beautiful white horse from earlier drawing me. I have still yet to ride the horses, but to do so I would need Nick to teach me, and that was obviously not an option. Maybe Kelly and my mom will go one day, and I can tag along.

Nick is already there when I arrive. No matter what I try to do, it seems as if I can never escape him. Annoyingly, he's everywhere I look. I knew that the farm was small, but I never anticipated it to be like this.

I want to spin on my heels and dash straight out of the stables, but I stand my ground. The last thing I need is for him to think he's finally gotten to me, despite how much satisfaction I know it would give him. No, instead I am going to stay strong, and as I approach the pearl-toned horse I hold my chin up a little higher, brushing right past him.

The horse is just as I remember it, its soft charcoal eyes focused on mine. I run my hand up its snout and it lets out a loud huff. The sound of it causes me to jump, and I turn bright red, knowing that Nick is probably casting me a judging stare from behind me. He lives for these moments, I'm almost sure of it. The moments where he can prove to himself that his treatment of me is justified.

"Don't touch her," he orders, leaving the pen that he was previously cleaning and stalking towards me. I don't think that my eyes can roll enough. Here we go again.

"What now," I groan. The desperation and overall exhaustion from the past day piles up, and I;m shocked as the raw emotion pours out in those two words. He seems to still for a minute, and when I look back at him from my peripherals, his blue eyes seemed to have softened.

My sight must be deceiving me. There's no way that Nick, the boy that nearly chewed my head off over a baseball game, could feel any type of sympathy.

"Snow ball doesn't warm up to people very much," he says, stopping by my side. He places a hand over its head, and it responds with a contented sigh. "She's pretty shy."

I look at him in bewilderment. This niceness must be a trick; some type of plan he concocted make me let my guard down. I cautiously respond. "Kelly told me something like that."

He lets out a soft laugh, and for some reason I feel as though I'm left out of an inside joke. "I figured she'd say something like that." His eyes seem to be elsewhere, as if he's recalling something. A memory? His eyes glaze over, and my instincts tell me that it's not a particularly happy memory. But what is it?

He recovers before I can ponder too long on it. "I can take you riding sometime if you want." And just like that, he's snapped out of it. I attempt to nonchalantly nod my head yes but my eagerness fails me. Despite my current weariness of Nick and overall suspicion of his sudden tolerable behavior, the idea of riding a horse made me feel like a kid on Christmas.

"Not so fast," he warns. "We still have a lot of work to do today. Especially if we're going to make it to baseball on time." Baseball?

"Did you just say we?" I ask crossing my arms. "Because I vividly remember you telling me last night just how much you didn't want me there?"

The slight smile on his lips is instantly replaced by a scowl, and I can tell that I soured his good mood. "Are you coming or not?" he says exasperatingly, making his way back to the pen that he was previously cleaning with me at his tail.

Well, on one hand I could stay home on the farm, alone with only my mom and Kelly, which at this point wouldn't be so bad, or I could go with his friends to baseball, and while I wouldn't know anyone, I would finally have the chance to play ball for the first time in what feels like forever, even though it has only been a few days. I can practically feel my hands twitching for a bat. Honestly, it's a no brainer.

"Since you insist, I guess I'll go." I lean against the stable gate, watching him work. His mouth quirks up in its usual fashion, and I can tell that by some struck of luck his good mood is back. And baseball with his friends? That's the biggest breakthrough there is.

"Not to push it," I ask, hoping with all my might that his normal demeanor wouldn't reappear. "But what's with the sudden change in attitude?"

He pauses for a second and it takes everything in me not to facepalm right here. Of course, I had to go pushing my luck! He barely likes to talk to me, let alone answer questions.

"I don't know," he says scratching his head. A response at all is enough to shock me. I expected him to be storming out by now, screaming about how useless I was. Maybe I think a little too poorly of him.

"I guess I just kind of felt like a dick for when we talked last night." I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Kind of?"

He shoots me a glare and I back off, but I still can't hide the remnant of a smile on my face. I can't believe it. He is actually admitting that he is wrong? I could tell that this was the closest thing that I was ever going to get to an apology for him, but I didn't mind. If things kept up this way, maybe this summer wouldn't be that bad after all.

"Well, if we're on the topic of last night, I guess that I may have possibly been somewhat of a dick as well." My previous reference of his mood springs and his mention of his dad goes unspoken, yet we both understand what I'm referencing.

He raises his eyebrows mockingly. "Somewhat?"

My smile is full out now and so is his. I've never seen him like this, so happy, and it truly is a sight to see. His eyes light up, and I'm reminded of the little boy that I used to know so long ago, playing tag in my backyard and pretending that we were defending my swing set from pirates. Those days seem so far away now, so unattainable, and I take a mental picture of this moment just in case his usual bad demeanor returns, which I'm almost sure it will.

"Okay, Mr. Comedian, let's hurry up and do these chores so that I can school you in baseball."

He hands me a broom and I begin to sweep the empty stall beside him.

"You really think that you're going to school me?"

"I don't think, I know."

He laughs to himself. "Then you're even more delusional than I thought," he says, which earns him a light thump on the head with the handle of my broom.