Not So Perfect

Chapter 8: Chats

Hey! Not sure if any of you [still? or have ever?] read this, but here's a new chapter. Yes it's short :/ I have ideas for the upcoming ones though, this was more of a filler! *********************************************************************************************

Chats

            Ryan somehow managed to sneak the spare mattress into my shack. It’d been a couple of days since the Hut outing, and everything’s been pretty normal. Well, as normal as it can be for a girl dressed up as a guy on a farm trying to get respect. I’d been working mainly with the chickens and their coop – painting the new fences, collecting the eggs, et cetera. Left all of the horse work for Trace, and the cows for Ryan and Kyle.

            I was painting the little picket fence for the chickens as I wiped sweat off my brow. Haven’t done that in a while.

            “Hey,” a voice said. I jumped, along with my paintbrush. The white paint splattered on my face as I bound backwards. “Whoa, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” It was Trace.

            I began wiping paint off my face with my hands. “It’s all right,” I said, trying to be calm about it. This was not Chloe, anymore. He smiled and offered me a napkin that was in his pocket. I graciously took it.

            “So, what’s up?” I asked, still smearing my face.

            He chuckled a bit. “I finished up with the stables, and, uh…I was wondering if you wanted to ride a bit?”

            My eyes widened. “Horses?”

            “Well, yeah, what else would we ride?” he laughed.

            I was shocked, yet honored. It was probably one of his favorite pastimes, and he was inviting me. One problem…I don’t know how to ride a horse.

            I was so taken aback that I almost forgot to talk in my guy voice. “Um, sure. I’m just not very good. Not a pro like you or anything.”

            “Oh, come on. It’s not that hard. You’ll be fine,” he reassured me. I looked into his eyes, then looked away in fear of recognition…or overall being too girly. I put away the paint quickly and stood up.

            We began to walk towards the stables. Once we got there, Trace did his whole introductory thing he told to me, Chloe, that one time.

            “And this…well, she doesn’t have a name yet,” Trace informed me. It was the white one I got for him.

            I pretended to play dumb. “Oh? Why?”

            He exhaled. “Long story. To make it short, she was a gift I wasn’t expecting I received not too long ago.”

            “You got a horse as a present?” I said, with a hopefully not-too-noticeably forced laugh.

            He slightly rolled his eyes. “Yeah. This girl – Kyle’s cousin, and Ryan’s sister – came here to supposedly live for the summer. She’s such a diva,” he began. Then, as he continued, his voice got softer and sadder. “She, um, let my horse free. Not on purpose, I don’t think. But still, she was mine.” The look in his eyes was devastating. How could I not have just downright wept before? He looked back up at me. “And so, as an apology, she got me a horse,” he said, with a little more drive in his voice. “A horse! As if that would ever replace Prairie.”

            “That’s…crazy?” I said, more as a question. Shoot, I’m going to give myself away!

            “Yeah.” He subtly shook his head. “I did appreciate the thought. People aren’t all bad. But she’s gone now, so there’s that. She somehow got her friend to take her back home.”

            The tone of his voice made me feel so much regret. I don’t know if it was his clear dislike of me, or him not caring that I left, or something else. I guess I just stood there and made things awkward.

            “So,” he said, trying to break the silence. “Sorry about putting all that on you. You can ride her if you want; she’s pretty tame. Even name her, if you think of something.”

            I just nodded. He shrugged, and took out a plain brown horse to ride. I opened the gate and took out the white one.

            Trace threw me a saddle and took one for himself. It was a good think that I was a quick learner; I watched him intently as he put it on his horse, then I just repeated the steps.

            We both mounted them and began riding off into the wide acres of land that my cousins and his family owned. The warm air was refreshing against my face, and it was actually nice to have hair whipping around everywhere like how it would have been if I…well, were still Chloe.

            Trace pulled up next to me. “Nice, isn’t it?”

            “It really is,” I spoke, honestly. Who would’ve thought that I would like to ride horses? Not me, for sure.

            “I’ll race ya,” he said with a smirk, then sped off.

            “Hey! I’m not that advanced yet!”

Later that night, Aunt Joyce invited me over for dinner, and I complied. Trace and his mom were also sitting around the table with us.

            “We really appreciate your work around here, Chris,” Aunt Joyce said, and then took a big bite of her steak.

            “Yeah, Chris,” Ryan said, mockingly. I sure hoped no one else picked out that tone in his voice.

            “I’m glad,” I replied. “I’m almost finished with the chickens’ fence.” Aunt Joyce nodded in response.

            “So all of you have heard by now that Chloe made it back home?” Kyle said, with a humorous, yet slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

            “Of course. Glad she made it safely…but that girl, I tell ya, is somethin’ else,” Aunt Joyce said while shaking her head.

            “I had a feelin’ she wasn’t gonna last,” Uncle Joe stated. Well.

            “She really hasn’t changed,” Trace spoke up. He’d been silent almost the whole dinner. I wanted to retort back, but that would be uncalled for, seeing my current identity.

            “Yeah. Only gotten worse since the last time you saw her,” Ryan replied. I must have glared at him a little too hard. “But, you know,” he added quickly, “she’s not all bad. She has a big heart…”

            Kyle actually laughed. He laughed. Trace cracked a grin, too.     

            “Well, she has her priorities straight, and that’s all I’ll say,” he finished. I suppose I couldn’t argue with that last one, although I was hurt at the other boys’ responses.

            “I’ll say,” Trace said.

            “Oh, Trace, cut it out,” his mom piped in. She was more silent than him during the dinner. He looked at her quickly, with a questioning look in his eye.

            “I remember back when she used to visit you’d come inside and talk about her –” his mom honestly stated. I saw a flash of vulnerability in his eyes, but all too fast he covered it up with annoyance, and slight embarrassment.

            “Mom, come on. I don’t even remember what I said when I was seven, I was a stupid little kid.”

            The only emotion on her was a tiny little smile.

            “Did anyone else hear that the fair is coming a month early this year?” Kyle piped in, changing the subject. I was so grateful. I wished they’d never talk about me again. Although, Trace's response did make me curious. What was his mom going to say? It couldn't have been bad, because her expressions were happy. I kept thinking back to that cute flash of vulnerability. Did I say cute? I meant...unusual.