Rural

Chapter 15: The Dangers of the Trail. And Of Love.

Chapter 15: The Dangers of the Trail. And of Love.

       The past couple of days have been brutal for me. Okay, not really brutal but I haven't spent any time with Sawyer recently so it was close enough to being brutal.

       Since his friends were back in time, he had been spending basically all of his free time with them. I didn't blame him and I definitely wasn't mad about it. It wasn't like I expected him to only spend time with me. He hadn't seen them in months. Of course he would want to spend all of his time with him.

       I just felt extremely bored and lonely since I didn't really have anyone to hang out with. Well, I did have Lulu and Beau but I wasn't too lazy to actually leave the plot of land to hang out with them and to be honest, I didn't want Lulu over here because she would probably end up talking about my feelings for Sawyer the whole time and the last thing I needed was for the Birch family to overhear.

       Monica was the only one who knew I liked Sawyer and I intended to keep it that way.

       One one particular day I was never looking forward to, Sawyer was home for once, unloading a bunch of hay bales from his truck. I walked over to him, resting my arms across the edge of the trunk, placing my chin on my arms. "What'cha doing?" I asked.

       Sawyer looked at me amusingly. "I'm doing the polka. What does it look like I'm doing?"

       "Certainly not doing the polka," I said. "So want to go on the trail today after you're done?"

       I was really hoping he was free today. I just needed to go do something to take my mind off of today.

       Sawyer sighed, his smile faltering, which in the end made my mood only worse as I awaited the answer I didn't want to hear. "I can't. I'm going to Zach's place after. Sorry."

       "Don't be sorry," I said, trying to mask my disappointment. "You've got months of catching up to do. I'll just go on the trail. All alone. Nobody to talk to. Just me and my horse."

       "You're making me feel guilty," Sawyer said.

       "I'm only teasing you," I said. Though, admittedly, part of me was hoping I would be able to guilt Sawyer into coming with me. 

       I know that sounded horrible but I couldn't help it. I was feeling pretty miserable today and Sawyer was one of the few people who could brighten up my day just by spending time with me.

       But unfortunately, I didn't think I could just tell Sawyer why I was feeling down today. I should but I couldn't.

       So I had to just accept that I wouldn't be able to hang out with Sawyer today.

       "Is there any day soon you're free to go on the trail?" I asked.

       "Tomorrow, for sure," Sawyer said. "We can go there for lunch. Have another picnic there."

       I smiled at him though I still felt a bit lousy. "Sounds good. I'm actually going to go there right now, though. I am extremely bored and would rather go on the trail alone than do nothing in the house."

       "I really am sorry I can't go now," Sawyer said.

       "It's okay," I said. "You already made plans. As long as we get to hang out tomorrow, it's a hundred percent fine."

       "And we will," Sawyer said. "I don't break my promises."

       "Technically, you didn't even promise that we will go on the trail tomorrow. All you said was 'tomorrow, for sure'. Nothing about promising."