“Dammit!” I slowly try to pull myself back up, knowing it’s worthless to sneak out now. He knows I am here—sure enough, he is walking out of the stall and fixing those big brown eyes on me.
“Eavesdropping, I see,” he says.
“I have the right to be here. You, on the other hand, are on private property!”
My inability to read him makes me unreasonable and immediately angry with him. I hold his gaze, expecting him to look away, but he just stands there, continuing to stare with curiosity.
“Here, let me help you up,” he says, extending his hand. I wave it off.
“I don’t need a hand. I need you not to leave things lying around in the middle of the floor.”
“It was not in the middle of the floor. It was leaning against the wall.” There is a grin on his face, his hand still extended.
I pull myself up, brushing my clothes off with my hands. “Whatever,” I mutter, letting a breath out and shaking my head. “What are you doing here?”
He rakes his fingers through his hair and turns to walk back into the stall. “Alo asked me to come and check on Aphrodite.”
I follow him into the stall. “He was going to come, but he got an emergency call over one of his horses.” He’s currying Aphrodite; I run my hand over her soft coat as he asks, “Do you have any experience riding?”
“Since I was nine; not on an everyday basis, but often enough.”
“Good! I’ll be the one training Aphrodite and helping you with lessons. She’s almost done with her training, so if you actually know what you’re doing, it shouldn’t take long.”
I pretend I didn’t understand his insult and I get closer to Aphrodite. She is a beautiful horse; she seems so delicate and serene. I pet her between her eyes and down to her nose. I can feel Adam’s gaze on me, watching my affection for his—now my—horse. It doesn’t take much to understand his love for the animal.
“I’ll take good care of her,” I say. “You don’t have to worry.”
“Aphrodite has the power to make anyone fall in love with her. I assume it won’t be any different with you.”
“You just might be right.”
The corner of his mouth curves into a smile and it looks genuine. I wish I could read him—just this once, just to know.
“So, are you excited to start school next week?”
Is he trying to make small talk? “Not really.” I say and he chuckles. “How big is the high school here?”
“Not big; only about seven hundred kids.”
“Does it offer many sports?”
“There’s something for everyone, I guess. I play football and I’m on the wrestling team.”
That explains his muscle tone. Even now his sweater finds some flattering contour of his body to hug.
“Well, Aphrodite is good and cleaned up. I gotta go before I’m late for work.” He heads out of the stall and out of the barn.
“When are you coming back?” I call after him, and Adam looks at me, a smile tugging at the side of his lips.
“Missing me already?”
I chuckle and decide to add conceited to his personality traits. “No, I just don’t want to depend on you to be able to ride.”
“You do have a saddle and a horse.”
“I thought she wasn’t ready—”
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he cuts me off, “if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s fine.” I say, a little irritated. I walk past him on my way back to the house, leaving out the usual parting pleasantries.
“Hey, Livia!” He calls out. I don’t remember telling him my name. I turn around to face him.
“Yeah?”
He puts one hand in his pocket and scratches his eyebrow with the other. He looks at me for a moment too long without saying anything, and his gaze makes me feel self-conscious, so I look away. I run my hands over my ponytail just to make sure it’s still in place.
“What are you doing tonight?” he finally says.
“Uh, we’re coming over to your parents’ house for dinner.”
“After that?”
I think of the party Kyle told me about. I’m leaning toward staying with my parents and brothers for family movie night. They always watch some funny movie on Saturdays before bed. I usually stayed until the popcorn is gone and then head out with John and Alyssa; this time, I might just stay for the whole movie.
“Family movie night,” I say.
Adam messes with his hair and then shrugs his shoulders. “I guess I’ll see you later, then.” He walks behind the barn and, a moment later, reappears on top of a horse and heads into the woods. Even from a distance I can see he has a natural comfort with being in a saddle.
Back in the house, Mom is in the kitchen. “Did I just see the Cooper boy talking to you outside?”
“Adam.”
“Did you have lessons today?” Mom feels like I shouldn’t be allowed to do something I enjoy today, as punishment for our argument last night, but she would never bring herself to punish me. She feels that life has already been punishing me enough.
“Nope, tomorrow.”
“About Adam, were you able to…?” Mom trails off.
“Nope.” I grab an apple and I escape to my bedroom before the conversation can unfold. I need to check my e-mail, anyway.
As predicted, I got a bunch of junk, and some from Alyssa. I open my Facebook page, and I find myself typing Adam’s name on the search tab. His profile comes up. It’s private and I can’t see his wall unless I add him as a friend. I browse through his pictures, which are public. Most are from wrestling, football, and time with friends. I see Kyle in lots of the pictures—they must be close. I see a blond girl, too, on top of Aphrodite with Adam.
The girl has her arms wrapped around his waist and her face is leaning on his shoulders. She must be his girlfriend. My jaw immediately clenches. So other girls are allowed to ride her, but for me, she isn’t ready? I get off of his page and shut my computer down.
I head downstairs; when I enter the kitchen, my brothers are licking cake batter off the mixer. “I want some of that!” I say.
“There’s nothing left,” says Ian.
“There are only two beaters,” Mom says. “You’ll have to wait for the cake, and I have a feeling that it will be a good one.”
“Is that Annette’s recipe for the gooey chocolate cake?” I stick my finger inside the dirty bowl.
“It is! I’m taking it to the Coopers’ tonight.” Mom smiles. “Maybe you can help me and wash the dishes?”
“So you want me to wash the dishes but you don’t save me any chocolate batter?” I joke. “I see how it works.”
“Next time, I’ll save you some.”
I wash all the dishes by hand and put them up. The beeping of my phone startles me—a text from Kyle.
Address is 1005 Crestwood Cove Ct., Freeland. Passcode to gate is ‘sidekick’. Text and I can meet you at the gate. Hope to see you.
Maybe I should go. It would be nice to make some friends; otherwise I might end up staying home for movie nights every Saturday for the rest of my life. But the thought of being around so many people weighs heavily in the “cons”.