Once inside the barn, Niall disappeared around the corner. I chased after him, finding him just as he entered a stall. I jogged up to where he was and stood outside, peering in to see what he was up to. He had grabbed the halter, which was basically a collar for a horse, and was placing it over the horse’s head. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Going on a ride.” He hooked his fingers under the halter and pulled the horse out of the stall. I stood to the side as to not get ran over. Niall wouldn’t look at me, he just continued on his mission of getting the horse saddled up. He worked hastily with the horse, throwing the saddle on almost immediately after the horse was out of the stall. He yanked on the buckled and put everything in place before standing back. His face was red again and his chest was quickly rising and falling.

“Why don’t we just go sit down and relax?” I urged Niall to just go sit down on the haystacks that lined the barn’s interior. Hell, I was willing to sit on those scratchy things as well. He had to give me credit. “Maybe we can go see Tricia?” My heart ached because of the baby’s name. “How does that sound?” I was trying, but my words didn’t seem to reach Niall.”

“Riding calms me down.” Niall muttered. “You have no idea.”

“Then show me.” I blurted out. I grabbed the knob on the front of the saddle, placing my foot in the little hook thing at the bottom and hoisted myself up. I sat awkwardly on the horse in my skinny jeans, but it worked for the most part. I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing, but I wasn’t going to let Niall do this on his own. “Okay?” I looked over at Niall and saw him gaping at me. I guess me on a horse was quite the sight. I wasn’t even sure how I got on the horse so smoothly, I had only seen Niall do it a few times.

Niall began to laugh and it was music to my ears. “If you want to.” He began to pet the horse’s neck. “Nelly here is a wild one, though. I hope you’re ready for him.” I immediately regretted my decision to get on that horse. “I’ll go get Patches. Just sit tight.” He patted the horse once more and then slid his hand over my thigh. My face heated up instantly and I was left in the barn hall on a horse that may or may not like me.

What was I doing?

I waited for Niall to return with the other horse. During that time I had two near death experiences where Nelly started to move and I almost fell to my death. I clutched onto the reins and when Niall returned from the other part of the barn with Patches I was relieved just to see him. “So how do I work this thing?” I asked nervously, trying to laugh off my anxiety.

“Well first you’re going to get down and then get on Patches. Then I’m going to ride Nelly with you tagging along behind me on Patches.” Niall offered his hand to me and helped me off of Nelly. Though, the action was less graceful than I thought it would be. My foot somehow got stuck in the saddle and I tumbled forward into Niall. He grabbed me just before out heads could smash together and got my foot out of the step on the saddle. He was stronger than I had originally thought. He was able to hold me up and get me out of that sticky situation without breaking a sweat.

“I got it. I got it.” I steadied myself on my feet and then stood proudly as if I didn’t almost fall to my death for the third time off a horse.

“You sure?” Niall questioned.

“Yeah, I’m good, man.” I patted off some dirt from my jeans and then looked over at the other horse.

“Sure nothing hurts? Nothing I need to kiss better?” He was playing with me at that point. I rolled my eyes when he looked at my lips. I walked away over to Patches before he could steal another kiss like he did late the night before. She snorted and shook her head. I liked that horse a lot better than I would ever like Nelly.

So for the second time that morning, I climbed on top of a horse and sat proudly. Niall attached a rope from my horse to his and then climbed on his own. “Where are we going?” I asked, not sure if there were any trails around or anything.

“Just out in the fields. Not too far.” He hopped onto Nelly and then made this clicking noise with his mouth and the horses started to move. I had a mini heart attack when Patches started to move and the saddle would sway with her. It felt like the thing was going to fall off the horse, but I had faith in Niall and I knew that he wouldn’t do anything like that to hurt me.

After a few minutes of silence and walking, we were out in the fields, heading towards a tree line off in the distance. I hadn’t noticed it before because the barn blocked the view from my room’s balcony. “So this is calming for you?” I asked Niall. He merely nodded and stared off into the distance. It was cheesy to say that, yeah? But that was how it was. My life was basically Brokeback Mountain.

“I’m glad to see you’ve calmed down.” I continued on. Our horses stopped to graze on some grass. Niall petted his horse softly down its hairline. “You’re okay now, aren’t you?” It was like the table’s had turned. Just the other day, Niall was soothing me and talking to me about my problems. Now it was my turn to help him.

“Yeah. I think I’m okay. It’s just that I had a lot of things running through my head at the time.”

“I don’t doubt it.” I chuckled lightly. He smiled and I felt like he was actually telling the truth and that he was better. “And about your parents fighting-“

“Chris is not my parent.” Niall said sharply.

“Okay, so about your mom and Chris fighting… I wouldn’t worry about it. Couples fight, it’s the natural order of things.” I would have talked with my hands to better explain what I was trying to say, but I was currently locked into position on that saddle and I was not letting go. “Hell, my mom and dad fought all the time.”

“What happened to your dad?” Niall asked. I never talked about my dad. It was always about my mom, because well-

“One day he just walked out. I don’t know where he went. And when my mom died, they couldn’t find him so I came here.” I shrugged. My dad was a deadbeat. I didn’t care about him, so I figured it wasn’t such a big deal that he was still out there somewhere. He didn’t want me and I didn’t want to go be with him. Done deal.

“I’m glad. I mean, about you coming here. Sorry your dad’s gone.”

“Thanks. I mean, I’ve had years to get over him being gone. I think I’m okay with it. But what I’m trying to say is that trust your mom and Chris. You never know when you won’t have them around.” I’ve had times where I wished I spent more time with my mother, but then I realized that I couldn’t have done anything about her dying. “Sometimes the natural order of things will help you, but then it could also screw you over. It’s life.”

“Yeah.” Niall patted the heels of his boots into his horse’s side and we began to move once more. We were out there all day and thankfully Niall packed some waters for the horses and us.

“Ready to head back?” I asked, my butt completely numb from sitting ontop of a horse the entire day.

“Just want to do one more thing.” Niall hopped off his horse and I was shocked by his action. He walked up to my horse and then held his hand out. “Don’t give me that dumb look. Get down.”

“My legs are jell-o. I’m not getting down. I won’t get back up.” I huffed, staying on my horse.

“I’ll be your Life Alert.” He held another hand out as if he were motioning for me to jump off the horse.

“That was a terrible pick up line.” I shook my head and laughed. He kept his arms up and I finally gave in, swinging a leg over to the side and hopping off the horse. Thankfully this time I didn’t get my leg caught in the saddle. I was able to successfully get of the horse with no foul.

Once I was off, Niall hooked his arms around me and pulled me close. Damn, he sure is working this. I thought, while staring at his lips as they approached my own. They pressed softly to my own. His lips were slightly chapped from the dry air, but I didn’t care because they were perfect against mine. When he pulled away he gave me this look as if he were asking if the kiss was okay.

“You’re getting better.” I smirked, turning back to my horse and trying to get my jell-o legs to work correctly. After failing several time, I huffed in annoyance and Niall laughed behind me, already on his horse and ready to go. “Please help.” And he did just that, stealing a kiss in the process. I could get used to that. We would just have to watch ourselves around the house.

Not that it would be frowned upon, since were not related by any terms. But it sure would make things awkward for Chris and Maura.

Oh boy.

A/N: I had fun with this chapter. Also, I have thought of more things for this story so it will be longer than I anticipated. I'm hoping that I will be able to write three  stories at a time though, because I will have this one, Here We Are, and Blonde to write in October. This is going to be rough! But please bare with me. 

Much Love

Jachxx