Blame It On The Love

Twelve

The 6 days took far too long to arrive. I mean Christmas kept me busy but I was longing for Grace, her smile and velvety hair that smelt like coconut. Everything. I think I had become addicted.

I pulled up in her drive and knocked on the door suing the big black knocker, mounted to the door. The door opened to reveal Grace stood in an over sized jumper with the sleeves rolled up and black and white shorts. I quickly noticed on her right arm was a cast and her legs were bruised with a few big wounds surrounded by small scratches on her thighs and calves. She wore a weary smile as she looked at me but her eyes showed the pain she was in.

"Oh my god what happened?" My body automatically ran up to her and looked her over again whilst she closed the door.

"I'll explain in a second. Want a drink?"

"No I'm good thanks"

"Alright." She turned and began to make her way into the kitchen before I grabbed her other arm to stop her.

"Woah wait, you look like your in pain. Darlin' let me get it, go take a seat on the couch." She nodded and asked for black currant juice, then we parted. I made her juice and brought it over to the front room where Grace was seated with both her legs up resting next to her on the sofa. I set it down on the coffee table and took a seat on the other sofa. "So what happened?" She had large bags underneath her eyes and was begging to look a little stressed.

"On Boxing Day I took Starbuck out so I could try and get to know the area a bit better when loads and loads of motorcycles came past without slowing down, which spooked him, causing him to buck and rear a lot. I eventually lost my grip and when I fell out the saddle he bucked again, kicking me and I went flying along the fairly muddy strip of grass that we were stood on, sending half of my into the hedge."

"Ouch Darlin... that really sucks. So I'm guessing you landed on your arm then?" I gestured towards the cast.

"Oh, no, ummm.. my arm hit a sign post and broke."

"Oh my god. I'm guessing that means we're not riding tod-"

"Woah woah woah. I'm not riding but you sure as hell are. We can use the fields. Please don't let this scare you... it's highly unlikely that anything like this will happen today."

"Yeah alright. So when you fell off, who helped you and who caught Starbuck?"

"There was a couple walking their dog and they passed a few minutes later. Luckily Starbuck hadn't wondered off, he was just trotting up and down the road from what I could hear. I couldn't move or see so I don't know exactly. The man caught Starbuck and the woman helped me and called an ambulance before going over to help Starbuck calm himself down."

"Awww Darlin'. Is he back here now?"

"Yeah all the horses are out grazing. Mum's had to do them for the past few days."

"You good to walk up to the stables?"

"I can try.." she shrugged.

"I really don't want you to injure yourself more.."

"Jonny I'll be fine, I promise. I'll sit on the gate whilst you're riding." I nodded whilst Grace drank the rest of her drink and going upstairs to get changed. She came back down in thick, black leggings and the same oversized hoodie and we left.

She managed to get down to the stables alright. I had to get Major out the field, which proved a difficult task as he didn't want to stop grazing but I got him eventually. Grace just stood by the gate and laughed. She helped tack him up and held him as I mounted. She also opened all the gates, which I appreciated a lot.

There were still jumps and poles left in the field so we decided to work with them but before that we did a few trotting exercises to 'warm up'. We did a couple of trotting poles and some really small jumps, every time I went over one I either came out of my seat or lost a stirrup so we decided to work on that next time.

I un-tacked Major and put him back out in the field before we went back to the house. Throughout the whole time since my ass touched the saddle Grace had been pointing out things for me to improve on like keeping my hands down and my back straight. There was always something...

We entered the house and immediately went over to the couch.

"Wanna watch a movie?" Grace asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me which made me laugh.

"Yeah sure Darlin'." We decided on 'Taps' because the television was playing it anyway. We were sat side by side and as time went on, Grace curled up next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I didn't realise until I heard light snoring that Grace had fallen asleep and my god she looked adorable. Her hair fell perfectly, framing her face. It almost didn't look real and it made me smile to myself. Eventually though, I turned my attention back to the movie.

----Grace POV----

I woke up on the couch and immediately noticed the smell of food being cooked, then I realised Jon had gone and the television had been turned off. I got up, stretched
, and made my way into the kitchen to see my mom stood cooking dinner.

"Hey sweetie, I got in about half an hour ago, did you have a good sleep?" She kissed my cheek before returning to what she was doing.

"Yeah, mom have you seen Jon." I asked whilst grabbing a carrot to snack on.

"Yeah, he was here when I got in, said he had to leave for a band practice but said he would swing round again soon to check up on you."

"Oh alright. How long will dinner be?"

"About 15 minutes ..."

"Perfect..."