Soaring Higher

Chapter 13

It's getting late to my concern, but I don't give up on Carrie.
I see her silhouette standing in front of the small barn.
'Hey!' I call out.
She waves and gestures for me to come over.
'Hey,' I repeat, coming closer.
'Hi..' she sulks.
'What's wrong?' I ask.
She shakes her head.
'Let's go inside.' She says, leading me inside of the small barn.
I nod, somewhat confused.

We sit on a hay bale, and she fidgets with the hem on her jean jacket.

Suddenly, instead of the sadness I'd expected to fill herself, a sudden anger bubbles up on her face.

'I- I- ugh!' She stutters. She buries her face in her hands.

I place my hand on her back, confused.

'I- mm. Ughhh.' She says, too angry to form words.

'Carrie?' I try getting her to talk.

'Yeah.. sorry.' She sighs. 'I'm just so angry. I- I don't even wanna talk about it,'

'That's uh fine, you don't have to talk.' I say, though I have an idea what it's to do with.

'No.. that's fine. I'll talk.' She says, running her hand through her hair.

I try to push away my interest for what's happening, replacing it with sympathy.

'So.. what happened?' I ask.

'Me and Laurie..' she scoffs, 'We're fighting. And I hate it. We've just been arguing a lot.. and um.'

'Oh.. yeah. Laurie told me.'

She looks up at me. 'Yeah I bet she did.' She says through gritted teeth. 'What did she tell you?'

'Only that you were fighting.'

She rolled her eyes, as if doubting every word I spoke.

'Sorry.. I'm just so mad at Laurie.' She spat.

I nod, wondering why she's so triggered.

'What happened?' There I go. Before I could stop myself, I became the nosy girl. Great.

She gives me a lingering stare, then smiled weakly.
'Do you really wanna know?' She sighs.

'I mean, only if you wanna tell.' I say, realizing how dumb is sounds only at the last minute.

She processes it through her head.
'It's gonna sound ridiculous- I mean it is. Promise you won't.. I don't know, well you get what I'm saying.'

I nod. 'Promise.'

'Okay.. well. We're fighting over a horse. Stupid, I know. But I love Poker, and so does she. Technically it is her horse, but she won't even let me go near her, let alone treat her like she's my own..'

I'm shocked, but try to hide the expression on my face, unsuccessfully judging by how she's looking at me.

'Well anyways,' she continues, 'I have been spending some time with Poker, I think I really like him. Like, favourite like him.. and Laurie doesn't like that. I guess there's always her side but.. I'm just mad okay?'

I nod, 'Well you're right, Laurie probably has a side too, so I'll ask about it, but are you alright? Want me to stay?' I say, glancing at my watch.

I hear Misty nicker, tied up to a tree. I see it's getting later.

'Yeah.. it's just stupid. That this is all over Poker.'

I couldn't really believe it either, a fight over the horse I was with just over thirty minutes ago.

'You can go if you need to,' she dismisses me with her hand, I guess we should both get back to our campers.

'I-' I'd feel bad about leaving her, but I do need to get back to my campers.

'You sure?' I ask.

She waves her hand, then wipes her face.
'I should be going too. We can go together.' She says.

I nod, as I give her a lift onto the back of Misty. I'm concerned about his back, but end up doing it.

We ride at a slow pace, a small jog, and within time arrive back at the stables.

'You should better go check on your campers.' I tell Carrie, and with that she heads off.

I start untacking Misty. I wipe the sweat off of his back, and leave the tack of at the side, deciding to put it away later. I lead Misty into his stall, letting him dive into his hay.

I find myself yawning as I head into my cabin.

That's enough drama for today.