The Weight of the World (12 page)

“That's
fine. Could I get a look at the place?”

Amanda
turned back to the horse she was feeding. He had just snatched the
apple core from her hand and finished disposing of it. She nodded.
“Sure. I have to put Midas back in his stall. You can come with me
and see the stables, and then I'll show you out back where we let
people set up lunches.”

She
lifted the latch on the fence and stepped slowly towards Midas. She
picked up a bridle that had been hanging on the fence post and looped
it around his muzzle. “This is Midas,” she said, introducing
Nick. “Dad rides him when he goes to cow cutting competitions. He
placed a few years in a row for a while but now we're looking to
breed him.”

“He's
beautiful,” Nick said, reaching out to stroke his nose. Nick had
always thought horses looked pretty cool, but he had never been one
of those kids with an equine obsession. That was usually a girl
thing.

Now
that Nick was touching the horse, the animal didn't seem like a
secondary factor in this equation. The horse looked straight at Nick
and Nick looked back into those doleful brown eyes and then he heard
a low voice in his head.
'Hi.'

Nick
blinked.

'Got
any food?'

Nick's
façade of composure melted away with confusion. The horse was in his
head. He might have doubted his ears, hearing the horse speak in the
way Diana heard animals talk, but the horse was
in
his head
.
It was hard to deny.

He
focused his thoughts back at the horse.
'No.
Sorry.'

'Too
bad.'

Nick
looked back at Amanda. Amanda stared back at Nick. She examined him
with curiosity. Clearly something was wrong with him. “Are you
okay?”

“Do
you have a treat I could give Midas?” Nick asked.

She
dug into her pocket and pulled out some sugar cubes. She handed them
to Nick. Midas looked alert.

'
Here
you go, buddy,'
he thought. He remembered from a farm field trip in kindergarten that
you could lose fingers if you weren't careful feeding animals. Nick
fed Midas with an open palm and then wiped the horse saliva from his
hand on to his cargo shorts.

“I'd
suggest you don't wear Crocs when you come for the party,” she
said, guiding Midas through the gate. Midas nodded what Nick was sure
meant '
Thank
you'
as he passed.

“So
tennis shoes?”

“Or
boots. Tell the kids closed-toed shoes.”

Nick
followed Amanda in to the barn. It was hard to see at first, coming
in to dim lighting from the bright summer sunlight. Dark spots danced
in front of his eyes as they struggled to adjust. He closed his eyes,
giving them time to focus, and felt the presence of other minds
brushing up against his thoughts. He could feel the other horses in
his mind. Nick had a goal being here, but the horse telepathy was
starting to freak him out.

“I'll
need to get an estimate,” he said, opening his eyes and steeling
his nerves so he could ignore his new equine affinity. “My mom
isn't sure how much she can spend on this party.”

“I
don't do the money side of things. But I can get your number and Dad
can call with that.”

“Email?”
Nick didn't want to be caught off guard with a call from her family.
He might forget to keep his facts straight.

“Email
will work.” She closed the stall behind Midas and went to the shelf
by the door to get a notebook down. “Just leave your name and your
email and he can do details with you. Or your mom's email, I guess.”

Nick
took the book from her. He feigned looking around for a pen. Amanda
pulled one out of a cup on the shelf. When Nick took it, he took
extra care to brush his hand against hers. Nick scribbled down one of
the email addresses he used for dishonest dealings and registrations
to embarrassing websites. Amanda set to hanging up tack that had been
left out, and Nick was sure to let her catch him staring.

“Are
you sure you're alright?”

Nick
looked down at the dirt floor, pretending to be shy. “Yeah.” He
said, smirking. He looked up, keeping his chin tilted down so he
might look extra adorable. “I'm just a little... distracted today.”

“Oh,”
she said. Amanda knew he was flirting and she blushed. Sure, Nick had
a reputation around the school, but it didn't make his attention any
less of an ego boost.

“So
how about that tour?”

Nick
had gone home and regrouped since the discovery of his horse
telepathy. He had shot off an email to The Pantheon about his ability
and then changed his plan for Amanda McAffrey to work with his new
talent.

He
ran through his hygiene routine-- shower, brushing teeth, and body
spray-- and dressed himself in blue jeans, a red polo, and the only
pair of closed-toed shoes he owned. He headed out to the McAffrey
Ranch just before eleven in the morning with a soft-sided cooler in
his passenger seat.

When
he hopped out of his car, Amanda was in the doorway of the barn,
petting a tabby cat. She stood up and put her hand across her brow to
shield her eyes from the sun. “Forget something?” she asked. She
didn't think her Dad had time to email Nick yet.

Nick
didn't answer until he had crossed the dirt lot to meet her. He knew
that he lost power when he had to shout to be heard. When Nick
finally spoke, his voice was soft and intimate.

“Sorry
if I'm interrupting something,” he said. “I just... well I kept
thinking last night after I left that I really should have gotten
your number.”

“I
thought I gave you all of the contact info...” she trailed off.

“Not
your Dad's number,” Nick said, “your number.”

“Are
you--”

“I'm
asking you out.”

“Listen,
Nick... I don't really have a lot of t--”

“Do
you have a lunch break?”

She
nodded silently.

“Then
I brought lunch. I just want to talk to you. You seem interesting.
Just have lunch with me and then you can reject me, okay?”

Nick
knew a lot about girls. He knew that most girls, especially girls his
age, weren't used to guys who asked for what they wanted. A little
assertiveness went a long way. He also knew that teenage girls tended
to like guys more if they knew for sure the guy liked them. Just the
validation of Nick's attention scored him points with Amanda
McAffrey, so long as he was confident and charismatic. Big blue eyes
and cute freckles were also a factor.

“Alright,”
she said. “I was going to fix something back at the house and take
it down the trail to eat with Midas.”

“I
have a little cooler with chicken salad and grapes in my car.” He
smiled. “If you still want to go on horseback, I'm up for an
adventure.”

Amanda
smirked in a somewhat wicked way. She was going to test him. “If
you're up for an adventure...” she turned and plucked a saddle off
the wall. “Go get your cooler and meet me back here.”

When
Nick came back she had two horses ready to go. Midas stood next to
another horse with a dark brown coat that blended into black along
the shoulders and mane. “This is Shadow,” she said. Nick could
tell from the way Shadow stomped his hoof in the dirt and the way
that Midas edged away from him that Shadow was a difficult horse.

Amanda
climbed up on to Midas, leaving Nick with a challenge. He handed her
the cooler to carry and then turned his attention to Shadow. Nick
took a deep breath. He opened up his thoughts and felt both Midas and
Shadow brushing up against his mind.

'
Easy,
boy,'
Nick though, reaching out to put his hand on Shadow's muzzle. '
See
that cooler? See that bag she has? I've got carrots in there. If you
help me get to our picnic spot, you can have a carrot.'

Midas
felt the need to interrupt. '
Any
more sugar cubes?'

Nick
nodded and looked at Midas with a smile. Midas nickered and closed
his eyes in a pleased way.

Nick
stroked Shadow's nose for a while before coming around to climb up
into the saddle. Shadow let him, and Amanda looked surprised.
“Ready?” he asked her.

They
headed up the trail to a small pond that was hardly fifty-square
feet. Amanda got off and hitched Midas to a post mounted in the
ground. Nick brought Shadow over by the reigns. He had a brief
conversation in his mind with Midas as he approached and when he
stopped in front of Amanda, the horse held up its end of the
sugar-cube and carrot bargain.

Midas
put his nose against Amanda's back and pushed. The slender girl
stumbled forward and Nick caught her in his arms. “Alright there?”
he asked. She stopped, knees still bent trying to catch herself, and
nodded. Nick pulled her to her feet but stayed close.

“Good,”
he said. He brushed a piece of hair away from her face and leaned
forward like he might kiss her before pulling away. He was pleased to
see disappointment on her face. She might have made a pledge to
Valerie's club, but he could tell she was a romantic at heart. Nick's
philosophy on girls was this: girls like to lie to themselves, so
help them.

He
set up a modest picnic by the pond. Amanda sat down with him and ate.
She talked about a leather-working class she was taking and he
bragged about his swimming trophies.

“You're
different than I thought,” she said as they finished off the last
of the grapes.

“How's
that?”

“Well,
I mean, the way people talk about you at school with girls-- you're
kind of a heart breaker.”

Nick
sighed. He shook his head. “I've learned that rumor is rarely the
truth,” Nick said. “I mean... do I date a lot of girls? Yes. I
know what I'm looking for and I'm not the type to waste anyone's time
if it's not working.” Nick knew that most of the girls he dated had
enough of a self-preservation instinct not to admit to their peers
that they'd slept with him. Most of the rumors only hinted at the
reality of his sordid dating history. “And I'm sure I've hurt some
feelings, but I think that's the nature of it, you know? We all get
hurt. Do I like breaking up with girls? No. Have I been hurt? Sure.”

He
took a deep breath through his nose and let the air go behind his
eardrums. He was overcome by the urge to yawn, but instead breathed
steadily through this. It was his surefire trick to cry and a little
glisten came to his eyes before he coughed and looked back at the
horses. What was simply a breathing trick came off to Amanda as a
hint of vulnerability. Nick was pulling out all the stops on this
one.

“People
like to talk,” Amanda said, giving Nick an excuse to stop talking.
She might have actually pitied him. Success. “But I've learned to
take everything with a grain of salt.”

Nick
nodded. “You can't believe everything, right?” He put the empty
paper plates away in his cooler and zipped it up. They stood up and
gathered up the blanket together. When they stepped close to fold it,
Nick grabbed her hand.

“I
know what I'm looking for,” he said. “Right now that's another
date with you. Will you let me take you to dinner?”

Amanda
took a deep breath and nodded. “The fact that Shadow didn't throw
you off has me curious,” she said. “I'm off this weekend.”

Nick
smiled. “Good,” he said. Nick kept hold of her hand. His other
hand rested on her lower back and pulled her close. The picnic
blanket fell into a pile between their feet. He tipped his head down
and kissed her. Nick had a few first kisses that he picked from,
depending on the girl. He had to choose carefully. Even though he had
already earned a great amount of Amanda's trust, he didn't want to
appear too driven by passion alone. The kiss he chose was a
passionate but safe one. He parted his lips only slightly, dropped
her hand, and placed his palm against her jaw.