Trustfall || Sanders Sides Equestrian AU

Chapter 19 - On the Edge

Logan strongly disliked impracticality. Almost as much as he disliked inefficiency, which no, in case you thought, were not the same thing. Shame on you if you thought they were. As Patton texted him that they shall meet at Daybreak, Logan only found more strength in his dislike towards impracticality. The plan was that the two of them would fix up a place for Puzzle to stay while the other two get him, and meeting at Daybreak first instead of at the place they were meant to go seemed highly inefficient as well as impractical. And that's exactly what he told him.

"Patton, meeting at Daybreak first instead of at the place we were meant to go seems highly inefficient as well as impractical."

Patton had his back turned to him, as he rummaged through his tack cabinet. He flashed around to face Logan and tossed him an old helmet. Logan did not like the smile on his face. The "I have a dumb idea" kind of smile.

"Tack up," he chirped.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We're going to Monty's barn, aren't we? Tack your horse up."

Logan stared at the boy as he latched the cabinet shut and proceeded down the stables' halls. "Patton, horses are no longer used as a means of transportation," he uttered, picking up the pace to follow. "We should take a car instead."

Patton marched into the stall of a school horse whose name Logan had never bothered to learn. "But what's the fun in that?"

"There supposed to be 'fun' in our plan?"

"Of course!"

"Well, in that case, I don't think I quite like it."

-

Patton walked with much more enthusiasm than Logan. Laura had agreed to let him take one of the school horses (which again, Logan never bothered to learn its name), and said horse now walked by Patton and swished his tail at the occasional fly. Nexus seemed to share the lack of enthusiasm with which Logan followed, but she came with them without blinking regardless.

"Alright," Patton said when they reached the gates. He climbed onto the saddle and settled on the horse's back. "Coming?"

Logan stared at him, then at Nexus, then back at him again.

"So I just... mount?"

"Yep."

"Here?"

"Where else?"

He hesitated. The idea of mounting a horse outside of an arena was so... bizarre. Four long seconds figuratively scurried away before he grabbed the saddle, placed his foot in the stirrup and hoisted himself onto the mare's back. Despite having been riding for years, Logan felt unnatural in the situation.

"Let's head out!" Patton declared and asked the horse to go forward. Logan didn't utter a word as he commanded Nexus to follow.

- - - - - - - -

The energy in the car was comfortable as it zoomed along the never-ending road. Roman kept one hand on the steering wheel and the other against the backrest of his seat, and at the corner of his eye he could catch Virgil eying him carefully as if contemplating whether to say something or not.

"Urgh, dude, could you please keep both your hands on the wheel?" he finally blurted.

The very corner of Roman's mouth curled up into a crooked smile. "Why?"

"It's not safe to drive with only one hand."

He waited three long seconds under Virgil's narrowed gaze, before widening his smile if only by a bit and letting go of the wheel completely.