The Perfect Frame

6

"Show, tomorrow. Everyone, I expect you all to be here by six!" Lynn yelled out, walking out of the arena. 

The weekend came fast. Summer did that to you. You forget what day it is, the time, and what you have to do next week. It's all the same. Time. It all passed by in a blur. 

I put Jett in a pasture with Ebony who were with Eden and Amy's horses. They all seemed to get along well. We all had decided to take my trailer to the show. They would be driving there because I couldn't fit them in the truck with all the tack. 

Right now, I was in my tack room, gathering supplies. My saddles needed to be washed, my horse needed a bath,  and I needed to put together all of the things I would be taking with me. This includes all of my horse's food, my emergency things, food for myself, clothes, grooming supplies, and everything else I may need. 

"Skyler,"

I jumped a foot into the air, throwing the brush I had in my hand up and landing a few feet away from me. While trying to get my heart back to normal, I turned around. 

Jacoby stood there, a smirk on his face. "Jumpy today?"

I sighed, trying to take lightly to my situation. It's not that I wasn't happy to see him, it's just I had a lot to do and it's stressful. "Yeah,"

He did that face. The one where he looks at me, like he's searching for something. He even tilted his head a bit. His studying face. 

"Can I help?" He asked.

I looked around, "Um, if you want, you could put all these," I pushed my brushes, "Into the bag."

He walked around and sat down on the ground, his back against mine.  He worked without a word. I didn't like not hearing his voice. In fact, it kind of made me stress even more. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy him being here, I did. Was he angry at me?

"Are you going to the show tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yeah. I have to take pictures for the town paper." Jacoby said. 

"Town paper?"

I could feel his nodd, "Yeah, the teams are a pretty big deal around here.  Baylor's team usually goes pretty far, not that I really understand it all. It's the beginning of the season. We already have some points racked up from the winter session. "

"Wow," I said. 

I actually got some things done with the help of Jacoby. I think he figured out that I wanted him to talk because he kept the conversation going. He asked about me and in return, I'd hear about him. 

He would tell me about his experiences. We didn't get into deep things, just the things that sucked that were kind of funny. Like when he had to go to a funeral, someone he didn't know. He was only tweleve and put his leather shoes on the heater. A few hours later and his shoes warped. He wore his grandfather's shoes that were way too big for him.

I learned things about him. He loved his photography. He lives with his mother and grandparents. He met his father a total of four times.  He liked music.  He had no pets of his own but loved animals. 

I told him about me. The story of why I'm here. About me. The boring things...

"Okay, so all we have left to do is give Jett a bath and actually pack the trailer. Everything's out," Jacoby said.

I wish I had a camera. He looked so cute right now. He had his hands on his hips, looking all of my tack, his bottom lip curled into his mouth, and his eyebrows pulled together. 

It didn't take us long to get the stuff packed. What took us so long was catching Jett and Ebony. Ebony was a real easy horse to bathe. She didn't hate water, she didn't love it. She stood there, took it like a man, and was happy to be done. Jett, on the otherhand, was more than happy to see water.  He wasn't bad but his constant moving made it hard to get the soap off of him. 

I was working on getting the soap off of Jett's side. Jacoby was hosing him off where I was working the soap off. 

The water shot on my face and I moved back, shocked.

Jacoby's laughter was loud and deep. I playfully glared and ran to him. He sprayed me until I got to him and grabbed the hose. I tried to bend it towards him. 

"My hand slipped," Jacoby yelled out.

We were both laughing and trying to get the water on the other. In the end, we were both soaked and engolfed in each other.  There was water all over me, if my hair, on my clothes.  

"Hmh,"

I jumped farther into Jacoby who held onto me. 

My mother stood, arms crossed and a nasty look on her face.  She didn't look too pleased to see me, drenched to the bone and in the arms of a guy. I didn't mind. 

What I did mind, was the look of Carter's face. It wasn't the normal look he'd give me if I was ever found in the situtation. No, he was smug. Smirking, arms crossed and looking at me with a gleam in his eyes.  He was behind mom.

"It's getting late, don't you think you should be sleeping instead of being all touchy-touchy with the trainer's son?" 

She was pissed. After her snide comment, it wasn't long before Carter was too.

"She's a teen. She's a good kid. Trainer boy don't seem too bad."

I rolled my eyes and dragged my horse and Jacoby back to the barn.  It was quiet. All the horses were sleeping or eating. No one was out because of the show tomorrow. The barn was clean and the lights were still on. The chilly air rushed by and it made me realize how much I liked the summer weather here. 

"Trainer boy...." Jacoby said, on the otherside of Jett.

I chuckled, "Yeah. Sorry about him. Actually, you're the first guy he hasn't abosolutely hated. Not that I bring around a lot of guys, but, even my friends he hates. My gay friends."

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

I should get that tattooed to my forehead. 

"Well, that's good. My mom really likes you. She thinks you're gonna take the team all the way to finals,"

"Really? I'm not sure. My horse isn't a twenty-thousand dollar horse or anything," I said.

"With your training on him, he isn't far from it." Jacoby said, waiting outside the stall. He put his right shoulder on the door. "Skyler,  you're good. I wish you could see your face when you ride, You just look so, so, happy. Perfect. Beautiful. You get so focused. All that matters is you and that horse.  He loves you and you can tell. People want that. They want that passion and raw emotion."

He stoped his rant there, not taking his eyes off mine. I let my hand run across Jett's back until it had ended and I was right in front of Jacoby. I reached up on my toes and put my lips on his. 

"Thank you," I said.

Jacoby and I kissed a while longer in the barn before he decided we should get to bed. We did have a good morning ahead of us.  He walked me to the house and gave me a kiss and goodbye.

I went to bed that night, a smile on my face, butterflies on cocaine in my stomach, and a perfect image of tomorrow.