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Chapter Eleven

"Hey Mas?"

"Yeah?"

His hand was on my knee and we were driving back to the house. My knee was nice and warm...and tingly. But I had already decided I wasn't having a heart attack. I must have just been having a tingly night.

"Was there really a grass fire?"

Mason looked at me and smiled.

"You know me too well. I just really didn't want to be there with the drinking and stuff."

I nodded. That made sense. I was glad he had done it. My lips were glad he had done it.

"Y'know Shel, it's probably a good idea if we keep this on the down low," Mason said as he slowly pulled into the drive. He killed the headlights and turned to me. He was masked in shadow.

"Why?"

"If my dad knows, he'll call your dad and well..."

He didn't have to finish that sentence. I thought back to when Andy Parqay had kissed me. I had come home all worried and told my dad what had happened. The next day, he had tried to get Andy expelled. He failed, but he sure tried.

"No, you're right. Dad tends to...overreact."

"Right."

I saw Mason's pinky lift up in the air. I laughed and crooked my own around his. He leaned forward and kissed me softly.

There were those tinglies again.

Mason hopped out of the truck and opened my door. I let him this time. A straight guy should always be a gentleman. He stuck his hands in his pockets and we headed into the house.

Kevin and Addy were curled up on the couch watching a movie. It was kind of weird to see two old people all snuggled up like that.

"How was the party?" Addy asked. Mason's eyes darted to me and then back towards the parentals.

"Good. Larry says hi."

Kevin smiled. "I think that's the only word he knows how to spell---oomph."

Addy jabbed him in the side. Mason laughed...a little too loudly if you ask me. He was never going to be a good actor. Or a good liar.

At least around me.

"Dad's right. Larry's not smart, but he can throw a ball," Mason said.

Addy smiled up at us.

"You two better get some sleep. Shel, I still need you out at the barn by seven."

That was eight short hours away. By the time I fell asleep, my sleep ratio was going to be inadequate.

"Will do," I said, even though I wanted to stomp and whine like I did at home.

"Goodnight," Mason said.

"Night," Kevin and Addy said in unison.

Mason and I headed up the stairs together. Quietly. I reached for the doorknob to my room, but Mason's arm wrapped around my waist. The next thing I knew his lips were on my neck. He pulled away and I felt his warm breath on my ear.

"Goodnight," he whispered.

I decided right then and there that the air conditioner in this old house must be broken. Mason's hand disappeared. I turned. He was already walking to his room.

"Night," I whispered. I slipped into the room, closed the door behind me, and leaned against it.

"Wow," I whispered into the darkness.

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I thought I was going to die. I blamed the sun. It had decided to rise too early, which in turn triggered my alarm to go off well before I was ready. I hadn't even bothered to get into jeans. I stomped out to the barn in my green PJs and tank top, my feet in my steel toe boots, my hair uncombed. I was hoping that I might be able to do a sloppy ass job and catch some sleep in the loft.

I was playing a game of 'scoot the horse shit to the corner of the room with a shovel' when Mason showed up. He waved the package of Pop-Tarts. I dropped the shovel, shit be damned.

"Thank you," I said. I took the ladder rungs two at a time and fell gratefully onto our haystack. The blanket felt like heaven.

"Tired?" Mason asked. He sat down and pulled the package open. I stretched my arms out over my head and closed my eyes.

"Exhausted."

I waited to hear the familiar sound of Pop-Tarts being removed from the package. But it was quiet. All of a sudden I felt a shadow on my face and then Mason's lips on mine again.

Okay, so maybe I wasn't that tired. His lips tasted like spearmint mouthwash. Which, as I lay there enjoying and highly participating in this newly found kissing enjoyment, I realized that I hadn't even brushed my teeth this morning. I clamped my lips together.

"What?"

I didn't want to speak. Probably when I talked green noxious gas would float out. I pointed to the Pop Tarts and held out my hand. Mason looked disappointed.

"That hungry?" he said as he placed it in my hand. I took a deep bite. I hoped the fake cherry gunk would sweeten up my breath. It wasn't fair that I had to be out at the barn so early. I didn't even have time to...I paused. I hadn't even combed my hair.

"I look disgusting," I blurted out between chews. Mason laughed.

"Well, you definitely excelled at the 'just rolled out of bed' look. But disgusting? Nah."

Mason finished his Pop Tart in three bites.

"You haven't gotten much done this morning, have you?" he asked. I sighed.

"No."

He put a hand on my hip. My hip!

"Finish your Pop Tart," he said. He hopped off the haystack and disappeared back down.

I didn't know how he could be so...awake. He was hopping around like the Energizer Bunny. I nibbled on my sugary breakfast treat. I heard the sound of the shovel moving double time.

"What are you doing?" I called.

"Helping!"

"But you've got to work today!"

"So? It's fine!"

I felt bad. I was a bum. I swallowed the last bite and climbed down the ladder. Mason was already sticking the hose in the bucket.

"I've got it from here," I said, kneeling down. He stood up, but he didn't move. I glanced up. He was glancing down. Down. As in tank-top down. I pulled on the back to scoot the top up more. I smiled.

"Thank you," I said. His eyes sparkled.

"See you after work!"

I watched him go. I swear that he skipped a couple times on his way out.

"Boys are so weird," I whispered to myself. I blew a piece of hair away from my face.

I just wanted to get done, shower, take a nap, and then...

Who knew?

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"So I take it you're not offering your help with the kids today?"

I was back to my normal self after a nice nap. Mason wasn't going to be back from the diner for awhile and my paints were calling my name. I lugged my easel and a canvas out. My paint was safe and sound in a bag strapped around my chest.

"Not today Addy," I said with a smile. "I feel inspired."

Addy slid her fingers through her belt loops.

"Well, I can't wait to see what you come up with."

She headed towards the barn. She stopped at the treehouse. A second later Dan was climbing down.

She had found an alternate helper.

I set up my stuff right outside the fenced in riding area. I propped my blank canvas on the easel and shook out a little portable seat. I sat down and lined up my paints. Each one had an 'official' name, but I liked to name them myself: grass green, sunshine yellow, mane brown...all the colors announced themselves in my head as I pulled out the bottles and studied them.

Once I started to actually paint, I lost all track of time. The sun was beating down and warming every inch of me. Little drips of paint splattered on my old ratty pair of jeans that I always wore when I worked on projects like this. After awhile I got bored with my brushes and let my fingers do the shaping.

"What is that?"

Dan was looking over my shoulder. I turned around.

"It's the horses in the arena," I explained.

He tilted his head left. He tilted his head right.

"Is that what the brown squiggles are?"

I sighed. "It's abstract art. But, yes."

"What are the little dots above the squiggles."

"Students riding."

"Why are they different colors?"

I smiled. "That's based on their personalities."

"But you don't even know them!"

"I do by observing."

Dan looked at me like I had lost my mind. He glanced back at the picture.

"Do people pay for things like this?"

I laughed. "Some people do. Abstract art is popular in museums."

His eyes lit up. "Really? Cool!"

Just like that, he took off.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go make some money!" he yelled into the wind.

I laughed. People thought painting like this was just random squiggles and splotches, but everything held meaning. I smeared a blob of yellow on my finger and began to work on the upper right hand corner. It was a pleasant sun, not like the cruel sun that had woken me up far before I was ready to this morning.

I would call it my 'Mason' sun.