Save a horse, ride a Cowboy (Charliesweb7 & pnw2013)

He sounded like he was pissed off. But hey, he made the deal! He could have told her that she couldn't sleep at all. It was like telling someone "You can eat the last cookie" and then getting pissed off for them actually doing it. She rubbed her eyes a bit and nodded her head. "Yeah, I was just tired." She replied. Now she knew why he went to be at 8pm. She yawned a bit and looked to him. How long was I asleep?" She asked.

"A few hours," he answered fairly bluntly. "We're almost late for dinner." Wanna finish up this row and we'll head in?" He said as he turned the wheat grinder down to the last row. He scooted over and motioned for Katherine to sit in the drivers seat and finish the rows. He gave a little smile and told her, "C'mon, try it. Just this row, that's it."

Whoops. Well, he got more sleep than she did! She nodded her head and then she moved into the seat. "Okay but if I mess it up, it is all your fault." She teased, smirking at him. She followed his instructions, it kind of being like a car... just a little bit. Once they were done, he helped her out of it and she looked around. Where was the house?

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He teased her, tousling her hair. "The house is over here. If you're ever lost, follow the smell of food. You'll be able to smell my mama's cooking a mike away." He led her through the darkness and showed her the way back to the house. Along with his advice, there were also little signs on the dirt path that pointed him back to where the house was.

"Hey, what am I, some kid?" She asked when he tousled her hair. "How old are you anyways, 17?" She teased. She would turn 19 while at the farm. That is, if she lasted until July. She was sure her father would break by the end of May and bring her back home. She stayed close to him as they walked back. She did trip over some rocks, grabbing onto his arm to avoid falling. "Sorry." She replied.

"I'm actually 20, I just look young for my age." He retorted. He didn't mind it, he just loved making her mad. As she tripped, he caught her in his arms. "I got you," he said. As he caught her, he finally got a look at her eyes. Wonderful, he thought. They were a rich blue, almost like the sky on a clear day. He was entranced by them, they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his entire life.

"No way you are 20. I am only 18!" She replied to him. She looked up into his eyes and saw that he was continuing to stare at her. She noticed he had very nice hazel eyes. But then she moved away. "Thanks." She said, blushing a little bit and looking away. "So do you go to college around here?" She asked him. Maybe a community college?

He blushed brightly, the night thankfully hiding it. "No, I stopped going to school after my senior year. And no, it's not 'cause I don't need no good-fer-nuthin fancy book learning, neither," he mocked, "I just don't see the point in going when everything I want and need is right here." He looked out to the acres of farmland, the one thing he felt he was truly destined to master. "Everyone goes out in life, looking for their true purpose. That's why they go to college, to have someone help them find out why they were put on Earth. Me, I found out why a long time ago. And goig to college would just reinforce my belief, so why waste the money?"

Katherine laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "And to think, I just thought you were some redneck that couldn't tell left from right." She joked. She then continued to walk with him. "Well how to do you know that? Or are you just scared to find something that interests you more and makes you question if you really want to work on a farm for the rest of your life?" She asked him. Katherine was blunt. For all he knew, he was limiting himself. "We have the opportunity to learn and explore so much more. I don't understand why you wouldn't at least want to see what it is about." She replied to him.

He laughed with her, "Some days I still have trouble. Then I hold out my arm and make an L, then I remember." He figured he would be funny, he had been irritated all day, and he didn't like to be in a bad mood. "I'm not scared to find out anything beyond this farm. Out there, life's a piece of shit. Don't even try to argue with me about that, you know it just as well as I. But to answer your question, I want to tell you what I want out of life." He paused for a moment, stopping them both and now facing her.

"I want a peaceful, meaningful existence. I want there to be a tangible, definite reason for why I'm here. I also want to be able to do what I want and be happy. How many people do you know can do both? If I were to do something tangible, I could be a doctor, or an architect, sure. They have definite, tangible results. But are they happy? The former deals with sickness and pain on a daily basis, and often from within as well as from patients. Architects can build huge buildings, sure, but the suicide rate and satisfaction rates among architects are the respective highest and lowest in a large number of careers.

"And if I wanted to be happy, I could easily become anything. An actor, a waiter, an artist, a writer, all these could easily help me be happy. But what would be the point? What am I doing for the world? Sure, I'm entertaining someone at that moment, whether it's a movie, a painting, a book, or even singing happy birthday for a kid in the restaurant, but that's the keyword: at that moment. What happens after you're done? Nothing. I want real results to come from my work.

"That's why I choose to farm. I can produce real, tangible results that can instantly be seen. I can feed hundreds of people with a simple few hours of work. And being in the fields, working with the land and the livestock, it's calming. Peaceful. Almost therapeutic. I live doing this because it makes me happy, and I know what results I get from my work." He almost had to catch his breath. "Sorry about the speech, I'll get off my soapbox now."

Katherine never understood why some people seemed to have such a hard time with the left from right now that she thought about it.... She stopped as he stopped her and looked to him. What he was...was rather profound. And honestly, she did not expect it to come out of his mouth. He seemed to be a simple country boy who didn't exactly know what geopolitics and things like that were. Then again, that was rather easy to figure out by the name.... And most things you could figure out if you knew the roots in latin.... but not the point.

"Interesting..." She replied to him. "I guess I have never thought of it that way. The way you have grown up and the way I have grown up are obviously evidentially different. I was raised that college is the goal and you should do something meaningful in your life. Just never thought of farming as a way that is something of super great importance or such." She said, not dissing up but she just never thought about it. How was it that this man was opening her eyes?

"Never expected a country bumpkin to spout philosophy, didya?" He laughed and cocked his head towards the house. He started walking with her again towards the house. "We have been raised completely different ways. But don't take that to mean that I think my way is the only way, and everyone should be farmers. God forbid, that'd be a lot of animals to take care of." He joked. "Seriously, if going to college is your goal, by all means go for it. Do what you love to do, and get good at it. Find what you're really looking for in life, and direct your life towards what you're looking for." He felt very pretentious at that moment, he didn't like telling people what they should and shouldn't do. He felt that was better left to people who needed to feel like they were in charge.

"So, if I can ask, what do you want out of life?" He asked Katherine as they stood outside the door to the house. "What do you feel is your reason for being on this Earth?"

"Honestly no." She replied to him. "And just because you said that doesn't mean that I am going to go and drop out of college either." She told him. She felt a little weird that he was almost giving her like a pep talk. It felt very strange to her. She then looked to him when they stopped at the outside of the door. "Medicine. I have been interested in it for a long time." She replied to him. She then gave a gentle smile before heading inside the house.

He smiled back at her. At least today wasn't a complete disaster. "And just to set the record straight," he quickly added, "I wasn't trying to lecture you or anything, I just get carried away sometimes when I talk." He beat himself up, cursing himself for talking too much when normally he is quiet and reserved. He pulled out her chair for her and sat down next to her. They had arrived just in time, as luck would have it. Everyone else sat around them and waited for the honey ham to finish cooking.

"I know. Just letting you know that even if you do have a good point, I am not swayed so easily." She explained, walking into the kitchen. She was surprised when he pulled out her chair for her. Maybe he wasn't all that bad. Maybe....maybe he could prove her wrong and be a total ass again in the morning. She sighed, feeling her muscles sore. Thank god she had some ibuprofen. "It smells amazing Mrs. Beaufort." She complimented. She might have her moments with Ben...but Katherine still had manners.

"You're quite welcome. And what great manners you got. You were raised right, young lady." Mama told her. Katherine blushed and started staring down at her plate again. The family once again had it's daily ritual of going over the events of the day. The table circles all the way to Katherine. Ben's dad asked her, "So Kate, how was your first day of real farm work? Not like everyone says it is, huh?" Ben froze. He knew that he had let Kate sleep away all the chores, and now both of them were going to get it. Her for not doing chores, and him for not letting her go through her punishment. "Well..." Ben started, hoping Kate would come up with something.

Katherine blushed a bit and looked at her plate. It was nice to receive a compliment. And his mother seemed to like her. Once the conversation came around to her, she looked to Ben. he looked petrified! Was he going to sit there and say she did no work for half of the day? "Well, it was a rough morning. Ben warned me to go to bed earlier...I didn't realize what time we had to get up. So I was not exactly in the best mood this morning." She replied with a laugh. "But it was a lot of work! I am very exhausted." She replied, hoping that was a good answer to give them. "My favorite thing was grooming the horses. I love horses." She added, hoping Ben would shut up.

"She really did," he added on, "I think Cinnamon already made a friend today. If it's alright with you, Dad, I'd like to try and teach her to ride sometime soon." His father gave him an approving look. "We'll see," he said, with a smile on his creased face. Ben let out a quiet sigh of relief, just loud enough for Katherine to hear. They finished the meal and headed back downstairs. Ben opened the door for her and clicked on the light. "Phew, that was close," he sighed to her.

"Oh I know how to ride." She replied to him. She had rode more than a few times and even trained for competition a few times. The rest of dinner was nice, just calm and peaceful. When they headed down the stairs, she looked to him. "What, have you never lied to your parents or something?" She asked him. He sounded like a goody two shoes. Even she had lied to her parents! Of course it wasn't anything big like "No, I am not pregnant or having unprotected sex" or "No, I didn't try cocaine" or the likes. But everyone had lied before.

"Of course I have, who hasn't?" He replied, a bit offended. "But the thing is: I'm supposed to make sure you do all the chores by yourself. Both our dads came up with those rules, and he expects me to enforce them. If not..." He hesitated, "I don't get to be around you anymore. My dad takes over for me, making sure you get punished. And he's a taskmaster, you'd hate him. That's why I wanted you to at least help out, so you don't end up being worked to death." He wanted to be around her, and didn't want to see her slave away like he did when he was younger. She got the easy stuff today, back when he was a kid and they had just bought the farm, Ben had to help with literally everything, often taking over for his father. He was worked ragged, and hated growing up with him.

He couldn't bear watching him to that to Katherine.

"Well, how am I supposed to know?" Katherine replied to him, taking her hair down and shaking it. She took off her shoes, setting them to the side and then letting out a sigh. Did he...actually like being around her? "Well, thanks for the concern. But honestly, I know my father will bring me home in like a few weeks. I am his only daughter." She replied to him. She then stepped out of her "room" to go look at him. "Besides, I didn't do terrible! I mean I kept up most of the time. That has to count for something." She said, looking to him.

He was laying in bed shirtless, his back to her as he put up his clothes. "No, you weren't half bad today." He winked at her. He went over to her side, into the closet. He grabbed another set of clothes to lay out and told her, "By the way, I wouldn't wear a lot of those while your out there. They'll get ruined pretty fast. Plus the weeds and brush'll scrape your legs if you don't wear jeans." He closed the door and set his flannel shirt and jeans down beside his bed.

She had to admit, her eyes trailed over his body. He was in shape. She shook that feeling out of her mind though. She would be out of here sooner than she could get comfortable. She sighed and then stood up. "But it is hot!" She replied and then went over to look at him. "Besides, all of this is old stuff anyways!" She replied to him. "I was already sweating out there!" She added, fanning herself just thinking about it.

"Good," he answered, "the more you sweat, the more of my mama's cooking you burn off." He grabbed a towel and started to head upstairs. "But if you don't want to wear jeans, then fine," he shrugged, "But don't come crawling to me when the rattlesnake bites you because you wanted to wear your sexy shorts." He gave her a wink, "We've been trying to find it for almost a month now, it keeps scaring the horses."

Katherine went pale almost, looking down at her feet. "Rattlesnakes?!?!" She asked him. "You have to be joking!" She added before he went upstairs. Well now, she didn't even feel safe in the house! What if it crawled into the house? She pulled her sheets back, checking just to be on the safe side and in her pillows. She didn't want to be bitten by a snake! Snakes scared her. She looked petrified as he came back down the stairs. "Please tell me you are kidding about the snake..." She begged.