Hanging On

Nightmares

so it wasnt until just today( January 29th) that I realized I skipped ALOT of Hanging on when I last updated. I prewrite stories and then copy and paste them when I want, so I didnt realize I had skipped a ton. Sorry! Here's the actual piece.

The next morning, I groggily went about my chores, letting Tucker do most of the work. "Are you gonna help me, or not?" Tucker asked, irritated.

I didn't really blame him, but I just made a face at him.

"I am helping. Besides, this is karma." I said stubbornly, slowly picking up a bale of hay. We were making room in the hay barn for the hay we would be brining in soon, but I was tired, and grumpy, and moving especially slow.  

"Why don't you get over whatever is wrong with you and help?" Tucker asked, all traces of the nice guy he had been the day before gone. I scowled at him and moved another bale, rubbing my legs through my jeans where the hay prickled them. it was sweltering outside, but it wasn't worth wearing shorts and getting hay itch.  

My mom came into the barn, wiping sweat off her forehead and grease off her hands.

"Tucker, do you think you could give me a hand with the bailer? Something's wrong with it, and I'm just not strong enough to jack it all the way up." She asked, looking at him with pleading eyes. He put down the bale of hay he had just moved and nodded, brushing past me with a quick glance. My mom smiled at me before leading Tucker to the bailer. It always gave us problems.  

Left alone, I continued to move the bales, trying to ignore the heat that was pressing down on me like a heavy blanket. I rubbed my raw hands and wished I had remembered gloves, but was too lazy to go inside and get some. I started to sing to myself, a song I had heard on the radio was stuck in my head. 

I was in the middle of the singing the song a second time when someone cleared their throat. I whirled around, surprised, to see Tucker standing in the door way. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"How long have you just been standing there?" I asked, picking up another bale. He shrugged and came to help.

"You have a nice voice." He said quietly. I almost dropped the hay. This, coming from the boy who had not fifteen minutes ago been so rude to me? He had worse mood swings than anyone I had ever met. 

We continued our job silently, until the heat was too much for me, and I stripped my t shit off to reveal the tank top I wore beneath it, not caring if my arms became covered in hay itch. I caught Tucker staring at me out of the corner of my eye, and turned to look at him. I caught a glimpse of a strange look on his face before he turned away from me and continued his task. How odd. 

I noticed the way his dark gray t shirt clung to him in the heat, revealing just a glimpse of the muscles beneath it. I wondered idly what he might look like without a shirt, then literally smacked myself in the forehead. Tucker looked at me like I was crazy, which was very possible. 

"Why'd you do that?" he asked, raising an eye brow.

"Oh, um, because there was a...bug...on my face." I stammered, quickly looking away. I heard him mutter something that I didn't quite hear before moving two more bales.

We finished moving the bales, and I quickly left the barn, running towards where I knew my mother was.

"mom! Hey mom!" I called excitedly. A genius idea had occurred to me while we were moving hay bales and I was dying of heat. My mom appeared, wiping her hand across her face.

"What's up, Syd?" she called. I ran over to her. 

"I know we still have chores to do, and I know I'm not supposed to go anywhere without Tucker, but can I please, pretty please-"