Oak Valley Stables

Chapter ten

The week couldn't have gone slower. Gale couldn't wait until the Saturday night but she was also a little nervous. She was in the process of brushing her hair when Victoria came back from meeting with Jake.
"Hey," Victoria went to sit on the bed and turned the TV on. Gale looked up and smiled.
"Hi," She went back to brushing her hair. She took a hair clip and pulled back the front pieces of hair so that it was half up, half down.
"What are you doing?" Victoria asked.
"Brushing my hair," Gale replied.
"Yeah, but why?" Victoria flicked through the channels with the TV remote.
"Did you forget? I have a date with Jackson!" Gale throw the hair brush at Victoria and laughed. Victoria caught the brush and sat up.
"Right; I knew that," She smiled. "What are you wearing then?"
"Don't know..." Gale stood up. "I've got some nice clothes in here-" She pulled her suitcase out from under her bed and looked through the clothes. There were a few fancy shirts and stuff in there. Gale pushed her show jumping attire to one side; it included her best jodhpurs, riding jacket and shirt.
"I like this one," Victoria, who was now lying over the bed, picked up a little black dress.
"I was thinking this one..." Gale stood up, holding a red, tartan skater dress.
"I love it!" Victoria smiled "I'm sure Jackson will do too!" She wiggled her eyebrows, which Gale responded to by throwing the hair brush at her again. Victoria laughed as her friend went into the bathroom to get changed.
She appeared again, in the dress. She had even put some makeup on, although it was only a bit.
"You look beautiful!" Victoria gasped and went to hug her friend. "So when are you going?"
"Jackson was going to text me when I should meet him outside of the dorm block," Gale picked up her hand-bag and phone. With that, her phone vibrated. She checked the text.
"Jackson's outside. I'd best be off," Gale smiled.
"Okay, have fun!" Victoria smiled back and went to go and watch TV again. Gale closed the door behind her and went down the corridor to the stairs. Once outside, she met with Jackson.
"Howdy..." Jackson appeared, wearing a blue checked shirt with a beige jacket. He had a pair of brown leather cowboy boots on, lapping over his dark blue jeans.
"Hey," Gale stepped forward, in her short swayed boot and dress.
"Come on; I've got a place for us to go-" Jackson started walking so Gale followed. They headed to the front of the school grounds and to the reception where they signed out.
"Oh, come on, Jacks, where are we going?" Gale laughed as the headed up the long driveway out of Oak Valley.
"It's a secret," Jackson's smile widened.
"Come on!" Gale smiled, excitedly.
"Alright, alright!" Jackson finally gave in. "I took a walk around the town here the day before term started. I saw a couple of nice shops and stuff there..."
"And...?" Gale grabbed a hold of Jackson's arm.
"There were some cafés and I saw a little pizza restaurant not far from here," Jackson added. Gale lit up. "It's called the Blue Moon, if I remember correctly. I hope you like pizza," He finished.
"I love pizza!" Gale laughed. They both walked down the streets, beaming, grinning from ear to ear.

They found a table toward the back of the restaurant. It was only small, with a few of tables but the place had a special kind of charm. The outside sign had been painted with a dark blue and had white writing and a pale blue full moon on it. The inside of the restaurant was decorated with pale blue lights.
"Whadda ya think?" Jackson sat down and gestured around him.
"Looks great!" Gale replied as she picked up a menu.
"All to pieces," Jackson replied.
"What?" Gale asked. "You're not speaking 'cowboy', are you?"
"Balled up, Galee~?" Jackson laughed, holding the end of Gale's name.
"What do these things mean?" Gale giggled.
"Well, 'all to pieces' sorta means completely," Jackson explained "-and, 'balled up' means confused."
"Huh," Gale nodded. They made a decision on a pizza and then ordered. They spent the night laughing about how Gale thought Jackson sounded like a cowboy and how he thought she sounded like a farmer.
"Just because I come from Devon doesn't mean I live on a farm!" She laughed.
"Just because I come from Tennessee doesn't mean I live on a ranch!" Jackson laughed before pausing. "I mean, I did live on a horse ranch but..." Gale burst into tears of laughter.
"Oh, and now she's laughing again. You're the one who sounds likes the guy from War Horse!" Jackson smiled. Gale was, at this point, almost in hysterics.
"I'm so glad there's, like, no one here," She laughed as she tried to calm herself down. "And, just for the record, you sound like Owen Wilson."
"Oh, whatever-" Jackson smirked and went to pay for the pizza. Gale smiled again.

They walked back together, in the dark. After signing in, they went back to the dormitory block. Once they had gone up the stairs, as quietly as possible, they parted ways.
"So long partner..." Jackson tipped an imaginary cowboy hat, as he wasn't wearing his real one. Gale smiled at him.
"Take care now," She joined in with her Devonian accent. Jackson shook his head, smiling, and went into his and Jake's room. Gale opened her door. Victoria was already asleep. She'd tell her friend about her and Jackson's date in the morning.