A long way south

Chapter 2

...

"Still working with the run away are you?" Colten asked with a grin and a raised brow, leaning against the rails of the round yard, looking through the gaps of the fence at Kodi and the Big black gelding who hadn't been named yet.

"What do you want?" She asked bluntly, still annoyed at him from the few nights prior at the dance, that she quickly left after his comments. She slung the saddle pad around the gelding, having bagged him out for the past week and she felt like he was ready, as long as no men tried to do stuff with him again. The gelding made it very clear he chose Kodi. He made it very clear he only liked Kodi. He made it clear he'd tolerate women, but if some man came near him the gelding would flick a switch, which was something Kodi was determined to figure out.

"I wanted to say sorry. Also to offer you help." Colten said, raising a brow after his offer. He hadn't meant to come off as Bitchy as he did at the dance, that was meant to be her special night, which she was meant to go to with Savannah. He had just wanted her to know she wasn't alone and that Savannah would've wanted her to enjoy her night.. It didn't come off like that.

She held the felt pad in her hand, looking over her shoulder at the tall blonde who in the last few weeks was getting on her nerves.

"Apology accepted. I don't need a man's help though. Everyone around here already thinks I'm some piss weak girl." She said, a slight edge to her voice. As much as she loved Matthew's friends, Colten always had a way to get under her skin.

"C'mon Kodi, i don't think that. Nor does your family-" He started, quickly getting cut off.

"Exactly. You don't. Everyone else does though." She gave the big black stock horse a scratch, rolling the sleeves up to her elbows on the light pink work shirt that was untucked from the pair of mid wash ariat jeans she was wearing. She had a khaki coloured circle L placed on her head, which had a white ribbon on the trim and as a hat band. Her trusty dark brown hobble belt was secured around her waist, a grey neck scarf around her neck keeping the hot sun off it and to finish it off she had some QUAY sunglasses covering her eyes and a pair of steel cap blundstones on her feet.

"C'mon kodes. I'm trying to help." He reasoned. He'd always tried to help her, always tried to let her let him in, but she always blocked him away. He didn't know why. 

"I told you. I don't need your help." She decided she was done with the black gelding, so she dropped his lead on the ground to ground tie him before she walked over to the fence to grab the PVC mesh rug.

"If you wanna do something, go tell Matt I'm taking the baldie bay out to check the front dam considering no one else will." She said over her shoulder once she finished doing up the buckles on the rug, letting the gelding wander around the yard she let him into.

"Right, ok. Then I'm coming with you." He said, giving her no time to complain as he walked away. She of course could have just tacked up quickly and left, but there was a bit of a rule you don't check the front paddocks unless someone is with you, mainly because of the fact the country was unforgiving, and it wasn't easy going. Also because of the fact that it followed along one of the main highways towards broken hill if you head south, and there had been one to many incidents of things happening to girls on that road, so Kodi wasn't let out there on her own, even though her parents had trust she could deal with it.

...

"Sooo-" Colten started, the awkward silence was just to thick. The two geldings walked along on a loose rein, snatching moutfulls of grass as they walked along, just the sound of their steady hoof beats plodding along breaking the silence.

"Dont talk to me. I didn't ask you to come."

"Kodi. I was just trying to help-"

"Yeah well I dont need your help! I dont know how many times i have to tell people I'm not some damsel in distress! My best friend Killed herself! Do you all really just expect me to act like its all sunshine and rainbows cause guess what? News flash Colten. It's not." She snapped before she shut her mouth, moving the bald faced gelding into a trot. She knew it wasn't fair and that he was just trying to help, but she was sick of being treated like glass, she was sick of being treated like she'd break at any second.

"That's not fair Kodi" Colten said, taken aback by her words.

"Yeah well lifes not fair. Is it."

The rest of the ride to the dam was silent. Kodi was filled with guilt over what she said but she knew if she said something she'd cry again. She was not going to let him see her break down again. She was annoyed enough Matthew saw her in her most vulnerable state once already.

Truth was she was drowning, she was alone and she was confused and she didn't know how to deal. Her bubbly smile was mostly now a frown and her swing in her step was now more of a trudge. She wasn't happy with the world. She wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve her best friend dying, then her heart horse dying, the both of her grandmas dying in the span of one month. She was just mad with the world. 

It wasn't fair.