No Sense of Direction

Chapter Nine

I was laughing so hard and Milan was glaring at me, “What happened to that ‘hockey players aren’t afraid of anything’?”

“Shut up!” he grumbled and I pet Lola’s head.

“I totally had to rescue you,” I said and he scoffed and shook his head.

“All right, you had your proud moment, now what?”

“Now we ride, it’s really not all that hard,” I said and then gave him back Lola’s reins, “Just watch me.”

“Oh that won’t be a problem,” he said with a cocky grin.

I smirked and then looked back over towards him and laughed, “Trust me, it’ll be easier said than done.”

“Yeah, I can handle this,” he said and I shook my head.

“Don’t underestimate them, as you found out before,” I said and his smirk went away, ‘…Another win for me…’

“Where are we going?” he asked and I pointed towards the trail in front of us.

“We’ll follow it, my family owns a lot of acres, and most of them are wooded, so be careful,” I said and he nodded his head and followed after me.

-Milan-

‘…My ass is killing me…’ I thought as we’ve been riding for about an hour. I was riding next to Kat and looked to see her petting her horses’ neck, “So you really like it here?”

“I’ve missed Pittsburgh to tell you the truth,” she said and I frowned.

‘…Does that mean she’s gunna be moving back?...’ I thought and then heard something ahead of us on the trail, it was getting dark, so it was kind of hard to see, but I looked over towards Kat and saw that she wasn’t worried.

“It’s probably just Poppie,” she said and I was confused, “He’s the neighbor’s dog that roams around here a lot; I haven’t seen him in a long time either.”

“So who’s gunna take care of the horses now that your parents aren’t here?” I asked, afraid to find out her answer.

“I don’t know, I mean, my parents have someone who comes in the morning and feeds them and lets them out, and takes care of them when they couldn’t, but it’s really hard because I don’t know if Balto lets her touch him,” she explained and I sighed, “What’s wrong?”

“Are you coming back to Boston with me?” I asked and she stopped her horse and then looked at me.

“Of course I am,” she said, but I wasn’t happy enough.

“Are you gunna stay in Boston with me?” I asked and she sighed and looked at the ground.

“That’s a tough one,” she said and I knew that she wasn’t, “Zach wants me to finish the season with you and then come home. I need to take care of the house and Chris.”

“Chris is twenty years old, he’s an adult!” I said, maybe a little too harshly, “Sorry.”

“He might be twenty, but he’s also going to school, he has a job and he plays on a hockey team! He doesn’t know how to take care of the horses, the house or this land, Milan!” she said and I looked at her, “I wasn’t there for my family before, now’s my chance and I don’t want to give it up!”

“So you are leaving Boston?”

“I guess I am,” she said and I shook my head and moved my horse to go, “Milan! Come on, wait! Don’t be like this!”

“No, Katrina!” I said and then looked to see her flinch at me using her full name, “You’ve obviously chosen, so why bother?!”

“You’re being ridiculous! Would you honestly think that I would choose you over my family?!” she asked and I looked back towards her, “Would you choose me over your brothers and parents?”

“I-“ I started and then looked towards the ground and sighed, “No.”

“There, so why are you getting upset with me?” she asked and I shook my head.

“Sorry,” I said and she rode up next to me.

“Just because I’m not going to be in Boston, doesn’t mean that we have to stop seeing each other.”

“It’s gunna be tough,” I said and she nodded her head.

“Of course it is, but we’ll get through it,” she said and I nodded my head and leaned in, pressing my lips against hers.

I felt like I was slipping and then looked to see that I was, “Oh shit!” I said as my saddle turned and I grabbed onto Kat’s horse. She was laughing and then got off of her horse and looked at me, “Help.”

“Not so easy is it?” she asked and I sighed, “Guess you didn’t strap your saddle tight enough.”

“He’s moving,” I said as Balto started to move forward and I didn’t know what to do because I was holding onto his saddle so that I didn’t fall to the ground.

“Balto!” Kat called and the horse stopped moving.

-Katrina-

After I had helped Milan up, we finished our ride and walked over towards the stables. I got off of Balto and walked him over towards his stall and closed the door. I helped Milan down and I saw how he groaned when his feet his hit the sand. I laughed and then leased Lola up and started to take everything off of her.

“You good over there?” I asked as Milan was bent over, he just held up his hand, which only made me laugh even more, “Why don’t you come over here and brush Lola down and I’ll work on Balto.”

Once I had stripped Balto of his saddle, I walked over towards the empty stall and hung up the riding harness and saddle. Milan walked over with Lola’s stuff and hung hers up.

“How come you don’t leash up Balto?” he asked and I looked back to see that Balto was waiting outside the stall looking at us.

“Because when I’m here, he sticks to me like glue,” I said and then smiled, “He’s my good boy.”

“He’s loyal,” he said and I nodded my head.

“He was my sixteenth birthday present,” I explained and then placed my hand on his nose and ran my fingers up his head, “My boy turns nine this year.”

“He looks pretty good for nine,” he said and I nodded my head.

“I got Lola when I was nineteen, and her mother and father are over there,” I said while pointing towards the two horses on the other side of the stable, “Those are my mom and dad’s horses.”

“Which one’s which?” he asked while walking over towards them.

“Blaze is my dad’s, be careful, he’s a hateful horse,” I said and was right because when Milan got too close, Blaze started to kick his stall, “Yeah, he does that a lot,” I said and then walked over towards the tan horse next to Blaze’s stall, “And this is Care-Bear, she was my mom’s.”

“Do you think that they know that they’re gone?” he asked and I looked over towards him and sighed.

“I think they’ll figure it out. They’re smart animals,” I said and he nodded his head, “We’re gunna brush them down.”

“What about Blaze?”

“He’s just like Balto, he’ll only let certain people touch him,” I said and Milan nodded his head, “We have to put Lola and Balto back in their stalls though or Blaze won’t come out.”

“He afraid?”

“No he’ll start something.”

“Just like on the ice.”

“Everything is hockey to you, isn’t it?” I asked and he laughed and started to walk Lola over towards her stall, “See, you’re getting the hang of it,” I said and then quickly grabbed my phone and took a quick picture and then looked at it to see that it came out pretty nice.

-Zach-

Chris and I were looking out the window of the back door and over towards the stable. It was dark out, but I could see the bright light shining from inside the stable.

“They’ve been in there a long time,” Chris said and I nodded my head.

“She’s probably brushing down mom and dad’s horses too,” I said and he sighed.

“What are we going to do, Zach? I don’t know how to take care of them,” he said and I nodded my head, “Kat might kill me if I sell them.”

“You might not have to worry about that,” I said and he looked at me confused, “Kat’s gunna be moving back here to stay in Pittsburgh.”

“Really? Why?”

“She’s gunna take care of you,” I said and then felt his eyes on me.

“I’m twenty Zach! I can take care of myself!” he growled and I shook my head.

“Calm down, we’ll figure everything out tomorrow!” I said and he nodded his head and we continued to look out the window like creepers, “I don’t like this Lucic kid.”

“Same here.”