A Summer In Arizona || A Lady Gaga Fanfiction

Chapter 14 - I Will Be Right By Your Side

The wild west was already making me paranoid. Jacob had told me these stories about coyotes and wolves that really freaked me out, so I was extra on guard. 

Jacob looked at me. 'What exactly did you hear?'

I looked around me, because I heard it again. There was something out there, I was one hundred percent sure. 'I'm sure there's something hiding in the bushes.'

He broke into laughter, clearly not believing me. But then he heard it too, the rustling that was only a few yards away from us. 'Shit, you're right!' He took me by my wrist and ran towards the porch, dragging me with him. Once we were back inside, he walk straight to the hall and brought out a large gun.

'Fuck!' I exclaimed. I'd never seen a gun in my entire life and it really scared me. My heart was beating very fast and my hands were shaking. What was he planning to do with it?

In only one movement he loaded it. 'I don't know what's out there, but I have to end it, before it kills all of my cattle.'

'Calm down,' I said, very stressed. 'That thing is loaded.'

'Don't worry,' he said. He sounded calm and nervous at the same time. 'I know what I'm doing.'

With the gun in his hand he went back outside and even though that thing scared the hell out of me, I couldn't deny he looked hot with it. Like a real cowboy and he kind of made me feel safe. I was way too frightened to go outside, but I didn't want to leave him alone, so I stepped out on the porch, while he ventured out into the dark.

'Be careful,' I said, while silently coming closer to him. Eventually we were standing next to each other, staring into the thick darkness. 

'Do you hear something?' he asked.

I listened, but only heard the sound of the soft wind and leaves cracking. 'No, nothing.'

His eyes were fixed on what was hiding in the darkness and his strong arms tense. 'I'm sure it's still there. We need to wait. It'll come back.'

We walked back to the porch and sat down on the stairs. It was as quiet as it could be. Even I - with my musical ear - couldn't hear anything special.

He sighed. 'Maybe it was just in my head. It happened before. Especially now that I'm alone. I'm the one that's responsible and I really can't afford having something happen to the cattle.'

'I feel you,' I said. 'For as long as I can understand being a city girl.'

He smiled and as we we're sitting over there, I heard it again. I nudged him and saw in his face that he heard it too. He grabbed is gun and looked into the darkness, trying to calculate where it was coming from. I heard it was growing louder and coming closer to us. Jacob pointed the gun at it and I held my breath. I was really nervous, but at the same time felt attracted to the adrenaline. I stayed close to Jacob, because he made me feel safe. He put his finger on the trigger and at the moment he was going to pull it, I screamed: 'No!'

I was just in time, because a big black horse emerged from the darkness. We both relaxed.

'Jesus Christ,' Jacob said, while unloading the gun and putting it down on the porch. He walked over towards the horse and took it by its headstall. 'Rocky, you scared the shit out of me.'

I started to laugh. 'That horse has an amazing personality.'

'He's driving me crazy. This isn't even the first time. Let's put him back in his stable, before he changes his mind and decides to run off.'

After we put Rocky safely back in his stable, we went back to the kitchen to finish our dinner. About twenty minutes I put a freshly made penne al pomodoro on the table - just like my grandmother taught me to make it. We sat down opposite from each other and for a minute it felt like we we're a married couple. It was so strange, but at the same time it felt so familiar being around him.

'Are you religious?' he asked me.

I nodded. 'But I don't really say grace. Well, only when I'm at my grandma's place.'

He smiled. 'Me neither.'

'I do want to thank you though, for kind of saving my life and letting me stay.'

'That's fine. Things like that happen all the time around here. Well, not having a pretty girl staying over, but you know, taking care of each other. I want to thank you for making such amazing pasta, by the way. It tastes like it descended from heaven.'

I laughed. 'Thanks, I'm glad you like it.'

'LIKE IT? I freaking love it! I haven't eaten this good in ages.'

It made me really happy he liked my food. That's one of the greatest compliments you can give a woman, I guess. Before I'd even eaten half of my plate he took another one. 

'I'm really sorry,' he said, inbetween eating. 'Normally I'd have better manners, but it's so good. Please tell me where you've learnt to cook like this.'

I took a sip of my beer. 'It's from my dad's side. Every Sunday the whole family would come together and then we would make these large pans filled with pasta. Those days were amazing. I always looked forward to it because my grandparents lived on the other side of the city, so we never really saw them on weekdays. They were always so sweet to me and grandma made the best spaghetti of New York, I swear. I can remember when I was a little girl I'd peek into the pan and steal a string of spaghetti and lick the sauce of it and dip it back in, because it was so good.'

'I'm pretty sure you still do it,' he said with a smile on his face.

I chuckled. 'I can't deny it. Sadly enough, my grandfather isn't around anymore. After his death everything changed.'

His face saddened. 'That's a shame. Did you have a good connection with him?'

'Yeah, I adored him,' I said. 'He was a wonderful person. I know he's in a better place know. I'm happy I could say goodbye to him.' As I said that I realized he'd never had that with his mother and regretted saying that immediately. 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be,' he said. He grabbed his beer and held it up in the air. 'Cheers on the loved ones we've lost.'

I smiled and clung my bottle against his. 'Cheers.'