((Scarline's chapter))
I grabbed two halters and two leads so me and Badger could get all the horses back in the barn for the night. Even if sunset was a few horse a way, it was safe or sorry right? And I didn't hear Crystal telling us to stop, so I wasn't making any move to stop. I handed a halter and lead to Badger and he showed me how to set it up since I obviously didn't know how. I lead Spartan, at least that's what everyone called the black horse. So I assumed I got Spartan. And Badger got Copper. When we got back in Bear was out of his stall, again. That horse must get tired eventually. Hopefully Crystal doesn't overwork him.
Me and Badger gathered up the rest of the horse's, but it took allot of time, the sun was almost touching the tips of the trees, almost, there was still time in the day to have a little fun.
But just as I began to sigh of relief that I was done for the night, I heard Crystal call Badger, she was probably going to give us another job. He talked to her for a minute, but he seemed happy, which was confusing, I almost walked over when he returned to me with a grin. Why was he smiling?
"We've got to tack up Copper and Memphis." Badger said with a goofy grin. I was still confused as to why he was so happy about it, I looked back at Crystal to see if there were any hints as to what was going on, but I saw nothing that could possibly tell me what was going on.
"Why?" I asked finally as I opened Copper's stall and tacked him up like Badger taught me to as he tacked up Memphis.
"Crystal told me to." Badger said simply, as though he was hiding something. I furrowed my brows, which made him grin wider.
"Okkkkkkkkk?" I said after a long pause, he led Memphis over to where I was finishing up Copper.
"Hey, you know a easy way to see if the saddle is in properly?" He asked, I was all about taking the easy way out so I nodded, "Give me your foot then." He said, I laughed but lifted my foot into his reach, he put it in the foothold on the saddle. "Push up and if the saddle tips over, its not right, if it doesn't, you're good." Badger said, he put his hand on my back to stabilize me as I stood, one foot hovering over the ground, making no move to actually mount the horse.
Before I could blink, he took my other foot and shot it over the saddle, setting me up to sit on the horse's back. Then Crystal returned and put the new client's horse in a stall, she told me not to ride the horse she put away, and that Badger was going to teach me to ride, I looked over at Badger with wide eyes, he had gotten on Memphis already and was grinning at me. He winked and leaned over, putting a helmet on my head. He took the reins of the horse and handed it to me, then attached another lead to Copper and took off at a canter. I yelped as the feeling of being in a saddle was new to me. I took the reins and pulled up as hard as I could, making the horse stop suddenly.
"Hey, don't, you could hurt him. Pull up to stop, and gently kick his side to make him go. But be gentle." Badger explained as he came to a stop as well. Then he took off again, I yelped again but made no move to pull up again. When we disappeared into the woods on a trail I actually laughed. It was so pretty out, Badger let go of his lead, allowing me to guide the horse on my own. I pat Copper's neck, showing him he was doing a good job hopefully.
"This is amazing!" I said when we reached an opening, the sun was touching the trees, making it a little dark, but the sky was turning pink and purple, the field was turning gold thanks to the rays of sun, and there was a group of semi-wild horses. I had been living in the city for a while and id never seen a real good sunset, and id never seen a group of wild horses, and id never ridden a horse, and id never felt so alive. This was a whole new experience. "Can we go faster?" I asked, beaming brightly. He looked at me and blinked a few times, clearly not wanting to say no.
"Well, you cant go fast on Copper-"
"-Aw come on Badger!" I complained. He sighed.
"You didn't let me finish, you cant go fast on Copper, but, we can tie him up to a tree and you can ride with me and then we can go faster." Badger said. I grinned and he got off Memphis to help me off my horse, well, it wasn't my horse, but it was the horse I was riding, Copper was Mallory's horse. He quickly tied up Memphis and Copper to make sure they didn't run while I was getting off Copper, then he walked over to the side of Copper and put his hands up and grabbed my waist, I put my hands on his shoulders and jumped off the horse with ease, I had jumped a few fence's before to be honest, not on a horse of course, when I was running from some jerks from the group home.
I stumbled a little and fell forward slightly onto Badger, who was luckily there, if he hadn't of been, I would have gotten a face full of leaves, twigs and horse dung. But, it was also a bad thing at the same time, because we ended up only inches apart, my eyes darted from his eyes to his lips, which was another mistake because it urged him to look at my lips. I screamed inside slightly, not out loud. After another moment of just staring at each other it was pretty much up to me, I either needed to kiss him, or back away and play it off like it wasn't going to happen. This was probably my only chance, but before I could decide for myself, I gasped as there was a sudden warmth on my lips.
I was so sure he liked Mallory, he had even kissed her before, but who was he kissing now? Me. Yeah, no. I cant believe it either. My hands moved to the back of his neck and his remained in their place on my upper waist. I was the first to back away, I didn't want to get too attached or anything. He gave me a boost onto the horse without saying anything and climbed on in front of me, I wrapped my arms around him as there was nothing else for me to hold onto but him. He kicked Memphis gently enough to not hurt him, but hard enough to make him gallop. I laughed loudly as we took off down the trail, the group of horses took off and ran along side us as there was no other way out. They were so close I could almost reach them. I wish I knew what breeds of horses there were.
"We need to head back, its almost dark and Crystal would kill us if we stayed out after sundown." Badger said. I nodded in his back and he headed back to where Copper was tied to the tree, I got off Memphis myself this time and climbed back onto Copper after untying him. We rode back to the barn and untacked the horses.
"Alright, get in the truck! I need to get you two to the dude ranch before dark!" Jack called to us from his truck. Badger jogged over to the truck and I tried to find Crystal real quick.
"Thank you for asking Badger to teach me to ride. It was really nice." I told her sincerely when I found her. Then I ran over to Jack's truck and hopped in. We rode over to the dude ranch and me and Badger went into our cabin. He took the chairs and put them by the fire.
"I get the bed tomorrow night though, take turns." He said as her grabbed a spare blanket and tucked himself into his self made chair bed. I curled up in the bed and went to sleep with a smile.
