Gravity

Chapter 2

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Soundtrack

Budapest – George Ezra
And baby if you hold me
Then all of this will go away

***

            We spend the next few days exploring the area that I'll be living for the next four years, hiking some of the nearby trails, visiting museums, and eating way too much takeout. Far too quickly, our time starts to come to an end and we decide to spend our last day together at the barn.

            "Do you think they're settling in okay?" I ask, glancing anxiously out of the passenger window as we drive along the coastline of the wildlife reserve our barn is nestled beside.

            "Christine said Alice has been a little antsy, but that's probably because she has abandonment issues. I'm sure she'll settle down as soon as she sees you," he says honestly, bringing our entwined hands to his lips and placing a kiss on the back of my hand.

            "What about Scarlett and Rhett?"

            He chuckles. "Those two keep each other entertained- I doubt they even realized I was gone."

            I laugh along with him, excited as we pull into the driveway of the barn our horses are boarded at.

            "The drive wasn't too bad," I say thoughtfully. "I was worried that we wouldn't be able to come out here enough but- it wasn't that bad."

            He smiles softly at me, putting the car in park. "It wasn't."

            The relief from our conversation the other day was short lived, and my worrying has returned tenfold during the past couple days. Tyler, perfect boyfriend that he is, has tried in every possible way to assure me that we're going to be okay even living apart. Despite his persistence to make me feel better, the idea that we'll be an hour apart rather than ten minutes has been driving me crazy.

            "Stop overthinking," he says, noticing my retreat into my mind.

            "I'm not!"

            "Likely story," he teases.

            "Oh, come on," I say, swinging open the car door. "I'm ready to see my horse."

            I bound excitedly towards the massive white archway leading into the cobblestone courtyard that the horse stalls are built around, tugging Tyler behind me by the hand. I glance around at the various stalls, trying to remember which one belongs to Alice.

            "Um, Grace?" Tyler says, calling my attention to him.

            "Yeah?"

            "I think someone wants to see you," he chuckles, gesturing behind us.

            I turn to find Alice poking her massive head out of her stall window, ears perked in our direction.

            "Alley-Cat!" I say excitedly, dropping Tyler's hand to throw my arms around her. She begins to nose at my pockets after a moment, searching eagerly for treats.

            "How sweet," I chuckle wryly. "I haven't seen you in almost a week and all you care about is food."

            I obligingly pull out the bag of horse treats I shoved in my pocket before leaving the dorm and hand her one, which she happily scarfs down.