Saving Grace

I Hate You

Chapter Six

Cali

Jay thought I was cute. He told me himself. And I tried really hard not to blush or smile. But it was hard. I didn't want for him to get to me. It was tough keeping back laughs and smiles, but I couldn't give him them. Hard to explain.

And apparently, he was out here because of a DUI. I knew all too well about those...and somehow, it had found me again and now it was on my mind. All thanks to Jay.

I got to the barn way before Jay. I knew a shortcut, so he was bound to lose. I took the saddle off the horse and started brushing her. I could tell she was fiesty. That was how Jerry had described her. But I liked it. She was going to be my horse.

I walked out of the barn, passing Jay. I gave him a smirk as he stood there staring at me, wide eyed. I brushed past him and headed up to the house.

"Hey Cals," Preston said when I walked into the kitchen.

"Hey. Did you get the stuff for the horses?" I asked, taking a seat at the table.

"Yeah. But some of it has to be delivered."

I nodded my head and stood up to pour myself a glass of water. I smiled a little when I looked out the window and saw Jay coming out of the barn, still looking confused. And I was very competitive, I didn't like to lose.

Preston came up next to me and nudged my arm.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

He looked at me and smiled. "Nothing. Never mind."

Jay came into the house and glared at me. I just stuck my tongue out at him. Loser.

"Grandpa went into town to get pizza for dinner. And Jay? I need your help with something," Preston said as he was about to walk out the door.

Jay sighed but then nodded his head and smiled at me before walking out the door.

I pulled out my phone and decided to check Twitter since the kitchen was the only place I got wifi or signal in the farmhouse. About twenty minutes later, I got hungry. I decided to cut up an apple before dinner. I washed the apple and was just about to cut it, when he walked through the door. Without a shirt on. Oh god. I knew he would look even better shirtless. He had very defined abs, a six pack, and his whole body was perfectly tanned. Not to mention his perfect V that was cut off by the top of his jeans. Jay looked very, very sexy.

I finally looked up and met his eyes. And suddenly, I forgot how to speak. This has never happened to me. But I could not let this guy get to me.

I just stared at him and then suddenly felt a sharp pain shoot through my foot. I looked down and saw blood all over my foot.

"Shit!" I screamed as I reached for a napkin and bent over my foot. I started trying to clean my foot but it was no use. Just then, Jay grabbed my hands and pulled them away from my foot. He had a towel and began dabbing my foot. He pulled out a band-aid and unwrapped it. I had no idea where he got it. He also pulled out a wet piece of paper towel and started wiping the wound.

"Ow," I whispered when he did that.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He asked as he put the band-aid on my big toe. I didn't even know that's what I had cut. I'm such an idiot. I dropped a freaking knife on my foot. Way to go Cali.

I felt my face blush, so of course, I bit my lip. He held out his hand to pull me up and I took it. His hand felt warm and rough from doing all the farm work. My hand looked so small and delicate compared to his. He noticed me looking at our hands and let go of mine.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I don't know why I did that..." I finally responded, once I got my ability to talk back.

He laughed a little. "You sure?" Damn him. He knew the effect he had on me and his smirk was not making it better. What a jerk.

What did that mean? But I soon figured it out. He thought it was because of him. Although, he was right.

"You're right. It's all your fault, way to go. I hate you."

I tried walking on my foot. It didn't hurt that bad. I found my flip flops, slid them on, and walked out the door.

"Wait. Wait, come back here," he called after me. It sounded like he was laughing. Asshole. I didn't turn around and just kept walking towards the barn.

Dale brought me up a slice of pizza for dinner since I told him I wasn't feeling good. But really, I was just embarrassed to see Jay. I shouldn't have told him that I hurt my foot because of him. That probably only made him more full of himself.

It was around nine at night and I was in bed reading a book when I heard a tapping against my window. I swear to god, if that was him on a ladder outside my window, I would push the ladder down. Not joking. I walked over to the window just as another thing made a tapping sound against it. I opened it and stuck my head out. I looked down but didn't see him. I looked around until I heard him whisper

"Up here."

I looked straight ahead and he was sitting on his bedroom window sill with his legs hanging out of it. I did the same thing. But where did he get the rocks?

"What do you want?" I whisper shouted across the thirty feet between us.

"I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Okay..."

There wasn't a lot of light, but I could see he was smiling. We probably looked really weird talking to each other while hanging out our bedroom windows.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I was reading."

"What are you reading?"

"The Notebook."

I could hear him making gagging noises. I started laughing. He could be the most annoying person on the planet, but he could also be really funny. And I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm glad my reaction to your awful book choice could make you laugh."

I just kept laughing to myself. I didn't laugh often so it took a lot to make me. Just then, my phone beeped. I read the text and looked back up at him.

"I gotta go," I said as I turned myself back inside and threw on sweatpants. I heard him saying something, but I wasn't listening. I hurried down the ladder and started getting a horse ready.