The morning was long, cleaning stalls, feeding and putting horses out to pastures wasn't his idea of fun, but it was a job. Quinn Miller was tall and skinny, with dark black hair the color of coal. He had just moved from the west coast to a small town in Massachusetts. A week ago he would have been hanging out with friends and having a good time, today he was sweaty and tired and all he wanted was to rest, but the morning hours moved on and so did he.
"Quinn, can you come give me a hand?" It was his boss, who was old, and he didn't get along with people well. He had heard that he had an eighteen year old daughter. Quinn was yet to see her.
"Yeah, sure." He put down the pitch fork he was working with and walked out in the stable isle, he stopped dead in his tracks. Next to where his boss was standing there was a girl, looked to be around eighteen, with blonde hair the color of sunflowers in the summer, her body was sleek and smooth, her clothes tight, but hanging loosely. Her skin the color of buttermilk. She was smiling, her smile was bright and full. He couldn't see the color of her eyes, but he knew they were beautiful. She was wearing a Beatles t-shirt, and was talking to his boss, her father, about a new foal that was just born. They were discussing names for it.
"Dad I think we should name him, Mars something."
"Give it a couple days, find out his personality. Quinn, will you go out to the back pasture and get Bingo? Thanks."
He didn't even say yes, he just grabbed the halter and lead line that was hanging from the stall marked, with a gold name plate, Bingo, and kept walking. As he got farther out, he could still hear her arguing with her father about the name of the foal. He couldn't get the image of her out of his head. He wasn't the kind of guy to fall for a girl like that, but she wasn't just any girl, she was, like a goddess, and she was also the boss's daughter. Off limits to stable boys.
On the way in from getting the old horse that could barely walk, Quinn watched all the new foals play with their mothers, and sleep in the mid-morning sun. It was hot outside already and only going to get hotter. He reached the stable, not only to find her by herself, but she was smiling at him, like she was waiting for him.
"I told him I could go out and get him myself, but he insisted that you could do it."
"I don't mind, here. He's a little stiff today, might want to help him stretch before you ride."
"I'll make sure to do that, thanks for the warning," she smiled again, "You're the new stable hand right, the one from Oregon?"
"Yeah, my names Quinn," he extended his hand, to give her the lead line, "I take it you're the boss's daughter."
"Thanks," she took the lead line, "Yeah, no one special though, my name's Aleise." She let out a laugh. He was so cute, tall, tan from working out in the fields, and his hair was like the color of the tail of her buckskin, black as coal. But she couldn't get over the color of his eyes, they were intense, bright blue, the kind where it seems like you can see through them if you tried hard enough. His lips were thin and plump, his eyebrows were thick, and shapely, light colored compared to his hair.
"Nice to meet you. Do you need help getting him ready?" now that he was close enough to tell her eyes were the color of the sky right after sundown. Dark blue on the rim and light blue-green in the middle, with a light blue ring around the pupil. They looked sad, as if she was hiding something, but happy at the same time. Her lips were full and lively.
"You too. No I got him, he gets moody. You should get back to work though, before my dad catches me talking to you. See you around though." And with that she turned and walked down the isle. He watched her walk down the isle, watching her bum as she walked. He noticed that with every move it jiggled just a little bit. It was shaped just the right way, fit from riding horses. Her legs were muscular, and long, she was still shorter then him, he was six foot two inches, she came up to about his shoulders, putting her at about five foot seven maybe eight.
She was what her father called a "free bird". She didn't want to be tied down by anyone, especially a guy that worked for her dad... but it was a possibility. As she groomed out her horse she watched him work. She knew he'd watched her walk down the isle. She had felt his eyes on her the whole time, and now, it was her turn to stare. She couldn't help it. She saw what little muscle he had in his arms flex as he picked up the buggy he just filled. How his bum filled his jeans, and how he walked. He was graceful for a guy, and she admired it.
When she got tacked up and walked out she ran into him. Not on purpose, but by accident. She felt his sweaty body on her for just a split second, and all she wanted to do was jump on him and take him down on the ground and kiss him like she had never kissed before. Sadly she held herself back.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He looked so innocent.
"Neither was I. Isn't it time for you to take a break. You've been out here for hours."
"After two more stalls, I get to go home." He smiled then scuffed back a laugh.
"Yeah, well if I'm not back by the time you are gone, see you tomorrow, when you come to clean stalls again," smiling she added, "but before you go clean more stalls, feel like giving me a leg up?"
"Sure, why not." He helped her up and sent her on her way. Once he finished the last stalls and some various chores, he gathered his things and drove home, thinking of her the entire time.
By the time he got home it was after five o'clock. He was exhausted and smelled of the stables. He walked into his house to see all the boxes still needing to be unpacked, boxes he didn't want to touch. From the kitchen he could hear his mother bustling around. His dad was in his office on the phone, while his younger sister sat at the table doing what appeared to be math work.
"Hey Ash, whatcha doin'?" He patted her on the head and kept walking.
"Quinn, you smell! And I'm doing homework so go away." She went back to work.
"Nice to see you too. Mom, do you remember what box the bath towels are in?" he leaned against the counter and waited.
"No, I don't. Check in the living room, and if it's not in there check my room. Sorry sweetie." She went back to making dinner.
"It's okay. How was your day?" He stood up straight, "And where is Dad?"
"My day was good, how was work? And Dad is in his office fighting with the insurance company."
"The day was pretty long. So..." he trailed off, "is Dad going to grace us with his presence at all today?" Quinn and his father had never really got along. They wanted to do different things and his dad worked too much.
"Quinn, he's been working hard today, would you just TRY to get along with him. Please? And yes he's going to sit down and have dinner, and if he doesn't I'm going to make him tomorrow."
"That's what you said the last four nights." He started to walk out of the kitchen, and then stopped. Turned around, "I'm sorry, but the whole reason for moving here was so he would change, and he hasn't changed. He will never change." Then he walked out.
"Quinn, come back here!"
But he kept walking. He hated watching his mom be so unhappy. He went and found the towels then headed up stairs. He took his shower then walked across the hall to his room, which was also full of boxes. These, however, were empty boxes, as he had already unpacked his clothes. He had already arranged his posters on the wall and had set up his radio.
"QUINN DINNER!" his sister had the biggest mouth he had ever heard.
"Be down in a minute!" He got dressed then headed back down the stairs. All he was wearing was a pair of basketball shorts, no need for a shirt, only at home right.
"Gross! Don't you know what a shirt is?" asked Ashlynn as she was setting the table. His mother was putting out the food, while his father sat there waiting for dinner to be over; most likely so he could go lock himself away in his office again.
"Shut up midget. Nice to see you dad." He sat down
"How's the new job going? I heard that barn has a really good riding program, maybe you can put in a word for your sister, so she can start riding again. Would you like to do that Ash?" His dad smiled at his sister like she was an angel.
"I would love that. Can you ask for me Quinn?" Ashlynn smiled at him, it made him want to throw up.
"How about you go there and ask yourself. I have work to do, I don't have time to ask my boss for favors to help out my brat sister." He started to get back up to leave, he didn't want to deal with his father and his sister.
"Don't you get up young man." His mom was the only one in his family that understood how he felt. "You're going to have dinner with the rest of us, and Ashlynn we'll go find a barn for you to ride at, one where your brother is not working. Okay?"
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to deal with him more then I already have to," Ashlynn gave him a smirk, "Plus I heard that barn isn't very good anyway." She gave him another smirk.
After dinner Quinn helped his mom with the dishes while his dad and sister sat at the table talking about all the old riding shows she had been in, and how they missed their old house. Quinn looked at his mom who seemed to be ignoring them. He didn't know how she did it. When he was done he walked back up to his room and turned up his radio. He took out his old electric guitar and started to act like he was playing along with the band coming out of the speakers. Soon after that, he turned down the radio and went to bed. The whole time, thinking of the blonde hair girl he had met just that day, wondering if she would be there the next day.
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