She Ain't From Around Here

15 | when secrets reveals

I ON INSTINCT SCAMPER towards clint and hide behind his back. "Get your abomination away from me!"

"Relax, he's fine." I hear Clint say, then he calls the mutt towards him.

"What are you doing?" I say cautiously as the pooch draws closer to Clint's arms.

He ruffles the dog's fur affectionately when it was closer to him.

"See," Rosie responded. "Dingo is good a doggie."

"Yeah, not to me a couple of days ago," I muttered, bitterly.

Rosie crouched to her knees as the mutt-Dingo licked her face like it was a plate of food.

"You let it lick you?" I said, I tried to hide the disgust in my tone but it was still evident so I gave up.

Rosie giggled. "He's not licking me. He's giving big kisses."

I blinked.

Children's perspective of things was very fucked up and slightly disturbing.
Because confusing slobs of saliva plastered onto your face with kisses wasn't very sane.

Clint fed some hay to the cow while I stood watching Rosie and the dog's odd bond.

The mutt-Dingo barked as if telling the girl something.
Rosie giggled. "I love you too, Dingo."

And then the dog barked again like it was replying to her statement.
Rosie then, got up and away from the barn and Dingo followed her in pursuit and the last I heard was loud chuckles from the little girl.

"Not fond of dogs?" Clint inquired. He was making small talk.

"I don't particularly like the licking and energy," I admitted.

"Cats?"

"I don't like their fur and they all hate me."

"Birds?"

"Hate the constant poop."

"Is there any animal you could at least tolerate?" Clint asked. His lips curled to an amused smile.

I thought for a moment.
I had no use for animals in my life. I needed human companions, not animal ones.

"Nah."

Clint stared at me incredulously and I shrugged.
I was about to say something when Rosie opened her mouth, back from her tag with her dog. "Ashley-Anne arrives!"
She tried to mimic a British accent which she did very terribly and I couldn't help but feel very offended.

But because she was just a feeble-minded child, I let it go.

"With Cheerwine!" Rosie added in glee.

I didn't register the cowgirl in front of me because my eyes were nestled on the box of bottles.

Finally, some alcohol!

"I didn't expect you to be here." The cowgirl's voice was low but sharp.

"Right," I muttered, hurriedly. "The wine."

"Excuse me?"

"The wine." I prompted. "It can't finish itself can it?"
I beamed a smile at her hoping she would be a nice fellow and hand me some wine.

"It's for Rosie." She admitted, rather harshly.

My smile dropped. "Why would you give alcohol to a child?"

Cowgirl furrowed her eyebrows before she then rolled her eyes in realization. "It's not alcohol. It's a soda."

I suddenly became irritated. "Who the fuck names a soda wine?"

Cowgirl placed the box of soda on the ground. "How would I know."

Rosie cooed. "C'mon, Elaine. It's really good."

She removed two bottles from the pack and handed me one.
I stared at the cap of the glass bottle. "Bottle opener?"

Before my question could sink in, Rosie had already popped the cap off with her teeth and instinctively barred mine together.

I stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" She shrugged and her eyes light up at my unopened bottle. "Oo, want me to open it for you?"

I handed it to her and she just popped it with her teeth.
"Didn't it hurt?" I asked, in curiosity.

"Nope. Clint does it all the time."

Before anything could happen, Dingo came back into the barn. "Gotta go!"

Said Rosie. She sped out of the barn and the dog followed in pursuit.

I took a sip of the soda. Enjoying the sweet yet arty flavor of blackberry.

In content, I look at Cowgirl who was a bit irritated at my presence.

"So, Andie." I cooed. "Let's chat since we're girls and you know-have the same interests."

I drag the cowgirl out of the barn and caught a glimpse of Clint shooting me a skeptical look.

We were out of the barn and bounded by the large green fields and below the hill of green we stood upon was Rosie playing with the mutt.

She scowled. "First of all, my name is Ashley-Anne. It's not that hard, just pick one."

"I pick none." I candidly said. "Anyway. Let's get to the introductions; I am Elaine, and you are."

These always irked people. Always.

Cowgirl sighed in exasperation and muttered something like 'I can't believe this'

"Ashley." She responded. "My name is Ashley."

"Cool." I beamed. There was a small silence before I asked. "Can I just call you cowgirl? Cause you don't look like an Ashley."

She sighed again. "Whatever."

"Tell me, are they any nearby pubs around, you know hypothetically speaking"I ask.

"What's a pub?" Cowgirl asked. Her eyebrows knitted together, genuinely confused.

Right. Americans.

"A bar." I prompted.

Her blue eyes widened in recognition. "You do realize that I know you're not allowed to take alcohol right?" She quirked her eyebrows in disbelief.
"You're here because of some trouble back home or something."

Shoot. I think. But I didn't answer the last part but my silence has already confirmed it.

There was a small silence before cowgirl asked the question of the very reason why I had to leave Landon.

"Why did you even decide to date a guy who's nine years older than you?"

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