*Branden*...ride...

[Branden Devereaux]

He watched as she quickly mounted and then took off at one of Ozzie's fastest gaits. His canter was more like a normal horses trot but it was just because the horse was hold. He'd been told that when Ozzie was young that he used to be really fast. After she tagged him he looked over at Star, he could tell that the horse really wanted to go after Ozzie. "Come on boy, if she wants to play tag then we'll play tag." He said and then once again mounted Star and set off at a quick gallop toward Katie. Riding at fast speeds was what made riding fun for him, sure he enjoyed a leisurely ride every now and then. But he couldn't stand to go slow for hours on end like some people could. Soon they were next to Katie and Ozzie and he quickly tagged her before moving Star away. "To be fair, I'll try and keep Star at a slower speed since I know that there's no way Ozzie could run as fast as Star just did." He said and then patted Star's neck before sending him at a rather slow trot down the beach once again.

If she could already maneuver Ozzie the way she was he knew that she would pick up riding rather quickly. Since some people didn't even get as far as Katie was now until they had lessons a few times. Then again he knew that the instructor here wouldn't have let Katie move out of a walk with Ozzie if she hadn't ridden before. Maybe that was why his father had decided that he wasn't going to pay for lessons and that he was just going to be taught by him. Since now that he thought about it, after only riding for a few weeks he was competing in a show with kids that had been riding for months and he'd been farther along than they had and he'd won the show. He didn't compete anymore since he found it really boring for some reason. The last time that he'd probably ridden in a show was most likely when he was seven or eight, perhaps even younger than that. He then looked back to where Katie and Ozzie were, with him being off in his thoughts they were bound to be catching up.

[Katie Clark]

katie lauhed and watched them, she was quite content with ozzies slow trot afor now, bouncing in the saddle and trying to keep her seat but hse was laughing and having a good time all along. She watched Star come running and She thought that ozzie was going fast. She guessed that it was just because hse wasnt used to it oh no you dont, ozzie's a champion she said laughing urging ozzie a bit quicker. The horse took the que with pleasure usually used for walking and it seemed to be fine with him either way though. True he realy wans t as fast as star, but katie thought so as she was on his back an drode him proudly.

She was getting the hang of things and was ery happy that she'd come out here. She could have never thought of doing this, she probably would have never tried it without him. She looked forwards at him and began to catch up seing that his mind was elsewhere at the moment anyways. She grinned and caught up beside him grinning " whats on your mind" she said bright eyes watching him as she slowed ozzie down to match stars slowing pace. you know its like a whole nother place out here, i could have never imagined it......" she told him grinning. At one point she wanted to tell the whole team about it, telling them every detail, ti was so cool. But at the same time, she knew she couldnt tell about a thing like that...... people would ask and it would be hard to make an excuse about not horseback riding out here...nothing good coul d come from ..."just going out in the woods"

[Branden Devereaux]

He laughed when he heard her say that Ozzie was a champion the horse really didn't look like one now that he was older. He had the backyard riding horse image going for him since he was starting to show signs that he was getting old, but not too badly. Now that he thought about it one of the younger kids at the stable had won a championship at the county fair with him a year ago. He'd been at the fairgrounds that day watching the horse show just because he hadn't felt like going to the auction with his uncle. He still couldn't believe how fast the horse had went during the barrel racing competition, maybe the horse had been feeling good that day since he'd gotten third place. But what the horse really excelled at was the pleasure and trail classes. Of course he certainly had the disposition of a good trail horse. "I was just thinking about when I used to ride in shows many years ago. I haven't in like ten years or so. For a second I thought of doing it again, but that idea is gone now." He said and then looked over at Katie. "I was also thinking about how fast you're actually going with riding. Most people wouldn't be breaking out of a walk their first time on the trials." He said and smiled at her.

He knew that she was right, this place was like in a whole different place. People probably didn't think that they would find a lake around here that didn't have a dock on it. "Yeah this place is pretty different than what you're probably used to. But if you're into the quietness of being out by a uninhabited lake then I could take you out to my grandfathers lake." He said and then looked out at the lake again, he'd always wondered why the lake seemed to always be warm no matter how cold it was outside the lake was still as warm as a heated pool would be. "But if you really wanted I've got a couple of strings I could pull if you're more into the whole romantic dinner type of thing." He said and knew that he'd probably just gotten her really curious now. But he wasn't going to give up any information.

[Katie Clark]

Katie grinned and thought about it. She could picture him in a horse show actually. It seemed the more she saw and talked to him the more that it just seemed to fit. Of course before that she would have NEVER thoguht that he'd have ridden. HE just didnt seem like the type of guy, but he turned otu to be great around the horses and they loved him too.She admired watching him ride. awwwwwwwww you should, you'd have a great time, and im sure youd blow the competition away she said grinning. He seemed to excell at everything that he did. And according to her.....not according to his brother.

She grinned and listened to him ohhhh both of the choices he just told her abot sounded amazing. His Grandfathers lake? quiet? secluded? that sounded pretty romantic to her. Of course Katie was quite versitile when it came to all of that and she usually was up for anything....She even went on a date....cow tipping...yes cow tipping last year. She was enthusiastic aobut it actually and ended up having a great time.....romantic dinner.....ohhhh that sounded good though too....she could picture everything...the dates she could usually find ended up sticking with clubs, bars, or pizza joints.... actually that s BOTH very tempting, im up for ANYTHING she told him grinning, that curious glint was in her eye. And she looked at him questioningly just waiting for him to tell her more

[Branden Devereaux]

He didn't know if he was so sure about the "blowing away the competition" part. Since he knew that there probably was several riders around here that were better than he was. Of course, he didn't really watch other people ride so he couldn't be sure about that. "Maybe, but there's one tiny little catch to all of that. If I did that then people from school would find out that I rode. Not to mention, I haven't really did anything besides ride the trails for years now." He said and then looked at her, he knew that there was the possibility that people wouldn't really care about him riding. But there was the fact that he knew that people would probably bother him about it. And he did not like getting laughed at. He knew that Katie probably thought that he was worrying too much about that but, he had an image at the school and riding would certainly tarnish it.

"Well then, I suppose that we could do both not on the same day of course though." He said and then tried to think of a way to describe his second option without giving it away. Of course, that should be easy enough since he really wouldn't tell her where they'd be going he'd just tell her about the place. "Well, at this second place there's this deck that overlooks a river and there is no other houses around it to obstruct the view." He said and then wondered what the chances were of there being a nice sunset the night they went out there. Since that probably was the best part, sitting there and watching the different colors that appeared in the sky as the sun went down. "There actually is a third option, I could get us into the country club using my dad's membership. But honestly, there's always a ton of old people there. Although if you wanted a good laugh you could watch me golf there." He said laughing slightly at the thought of golfing again, that was something that he did once a year just to see how far he could hit the ball.

[Katie Clark]

She grinned Well if you ride...which you do, and I surely didnt expect anything like that then i can only imagine what the other guys do that no one knows about she said laughing But she had a point there probably were a bunch of guys in school that did wierd things...not that horseback riding was wierd it was just out of the ordinary for what everyone thought that he did in his spare time. awww shucks you sem like a Great rider, besides anyone can do anything that they want to she told him One of her strickt theories that anyone could do anything they set their mind to...she hadnt been proven wrong yet.

She grinned well that sounds nice she said smiling She listened to him talk about it and looked excited. She was quite enthusiastic about things and this only set her imagination wild. She could see them there now When he spoke of another option though she was a bit surprised because There was another choice? She was amazed by his imagination. They had plenty of time to do plenty of things though stop gettin me so excited she said laughing. Especially about the golf thing, she knew that sean was more of a golfer and she'd heard that he'd drug branden out there a few times before

[Branden Devereaux]

He knew what she didn't expect him to ride, she probably thought that he was the kind of person that thought that horses and riding were girly. Now she knew that wasn't true but she didn't know that he thought that people walking around with furry little lapdogs was girly. It was the number one reason why you'd never see him with a dog that was under thirty pounds or so. Unless that dog was a puppy of course and the dog would grow up to be bigger. Since Toby was a Labrador Retriever and even though he only weighed about fifteen pounds at the most right now. He would get bigger and there was no way that the dog would even qualify as a "lap dog". "You are right about that but I know of one person who really has no secrets from me. But he does from you but they're not bad ones, Sean. And those secrets are some things that are just between the two of us and some of those are embarrassing stories that I can't tell you." He said and then looked over at her as he waited for her reaction to that. Then he heard what she said about anybody being able to do whatever they wanted to. He wasn't so sure if that was true or not. "Maybe, so I could ride in shows but I don't want to because nobody is going to find out that I do ride." He said before turning Star away from a patch of grass that the horse had been heading for.

If given the choice between three of those places he'd probably go with the second one just because if she really wanted to he could turn things into a romantic dinner just by asking for a favor. Sure he could do the same thing at the lake but it he didn't feel like bring a table and chairs out there with them, even if they were plastic. Sure he could just do that ahead of time but still, he'd hate for a bear to smell food and then come out. Since he figured that Katie would be afraid of a bear because he was getting the impression that she wasn't so used to going out into the woods. "Ok, well I'll try and not get you so excited then. But you know we'll probably have to double date with Sean and Cassidy whenever he asks her out. Since hasn't done that yet and I honestly don't know why he's waiting to." He said and knew that Sean probably was waiting because of the same reason he had. Because he either couldn't figure out how to ask her out or he couldn't get the nerve to. But he didn't think that he was waiting due to the second option.

[Katie Clark]

Katie herself was into big dogs, but she liked elegant dogs a lot such as her dobermin. Though she wasnt a poodle person in the least, she was a muscle dog person. Kind of like sean and his car. she looked over to Branen and grinned ok....you might have a point there.......I think that'd be the reason i'd never show or do something like that either she said grinning She was liking riding so far....for her first time doing it....but she'd never show. It wasnt who she was and everyone knoew that. She planned on keeping it that way. hmmmmm i may just have to have a little chat with you two, ill get some of 'em out sooner or later she said smirk playing on her face. Her eyes as bright as they ever were.

Katie was just thrilled to have the chance to be with Branden more let alone be all over the place. She could imagine a romantic dinner with him and she bit her bottom lip grinning. In such a short ammount of time things were going so good for her and she couldnt believe how quickly lately her luck had turned on her. When he mentioned doing a double date she thought it as good an idea as any. sure she'd like being alone with Branden but she liked being with sean and Cassie too and she knew that the four of them always had a blast together. that sounds good to me... oh i know, Cassie knows he wants to, everyone does, now everyones just waiting she said grinning. Of course knowing sean he could just be building suspense. He seemed to be like that, always looking for another piece of the action to take and something like that was a perfect chance.

[Branden Devereaux]

"I'll have to show you some of the videos that I've got of when I used to show though. You'd probably be like aw, look at how cute Branden looks on the pony. I didn't stay on a pony for long though I graduated to an old horse when I was five." He said and then grinned at her, if there was one thing he knew about females it was that they loved to see old home videos like that. Maybe he'd show her a couple with Sean in it too so that she could get the whole experience. There were a lot with Mike and Marissa in them too but he couldn't bring himself to watch them just yet. Talking about them openly was about as far as he could go yet. But he knew that he'd probably be watching those videos in no time at the rate that he was going at after what happened at the cemetery. "You could try that but I don't think he'd tell you certain things. And if he did, well he knows that I could tell her some stories about him." He said, that was the good thing about knowing somebody for so long. You had so much stuff on them that you could keep them from telling embarrassing things just by saying "if you tell then I'll tell so and so that..".

"I know, maybe after I tell him that I asked you out I'll give him a little pep talk and he'll actually ask her out. I don't think he's scared of being rejected or anything. Since I think he knows how much she likes him. But as for that double date it's a deal then." He said and then patted Star's neck he wondered what the chances were of getting the four of them to go riding together sometime. He knew that Sean was a decent rider, and Katie could ride. So the only person that might need a few instructions was Cassidy, then again maybe she knew how to ride. It wouldn't surprise him if she was better then he was.

((Short but I've got to go in like..4 minutes))

[Katie Clark]

katie smiled. She'd been shown plenty of guys family videos, and knew that all men used it as something they "knew girls liked" she thought they were ok, but she was usually more interested in the present instead of the future. She laughed awwww ponys are adorable i used to ride my dog when i was little but that was about as far as i got riding she admitted laughing if there was a dog riding competition i would have blown 'em away. She had pictures all over the house that her parents had taken of her dressing up her dobe and riding him around like a horse, it seemed to be her "nanny" when she was a kid.

She looked at the lake adn before going to turn the horse around she got down. She normally didnt walk barefoot she just idnt like it, but she took her shoes off and made her way towards the edge of the lake tying ozzie close by at a tree as he grazed as contently as ever she walked along the lakes edge at a part where it was a sort of mud mabey some sand...or clay? mixture. Enjoying the waters touch it was cool, but for the temp out it wasnt "cold" it felt good at a nice temperature. She looked over at him im sure they'll be together soon, i wouldnt be surprised if by the time we got back to the barn one of us got a phone call saying they were she said smiling waving him over to her as she went to a spot where the lake went straight down from the bank but there were rocks or more or less a few boulders there that she sat on letting her feet dangle into the water.The sun would be starting to go down soon but they had some time...

[Branden Devereaux]

Well, he never would have thought that somebody could ride a dog, sure he'd seen pictures of people on Great Danes and things like that. But he'd just thought that the people set the child up on the dog for a quick picture and then put him back down. It turns out that wasn't the case now, or at least not for Katie. "Really well, I never rode a dog before and I don't think that I ever will now. But it would have been fun I suppose. I wonder if there is a dog riding competition somewhere though." He said and then watched as she got off of Ozzie and tied him to a tree. What surprised him was the fact that she was walking around barefoot in the lake now. He'd thought that she'd be afraid of "icky" things in the water or something. Which meant that she wasn't afraid of thing that most girls would be. Ok, so he didn't have too much experience with girls lately but it always seemed as if they were afraid of getting dirty or having something slimy touch them.

He watched as motioned for him to come over. He rode Star over close to where Ozzie was and dismounted before tying him to a tree. "I'll be back don't worry. You can have a nice chat with Ozzie while I'm gone." He said and then patted the horse's neck for a moment before making his way over to where Katie was. He knew that the chances were that he would end up in the water somehow so it probably would be best to take his shoes off. Since he didn't feel like riding back in wet shoes. He quickly took them off before walking over to where Katie now was. "I agree with what you were saying before it really wouldn't surprise me if something like that happened. But then again, he'd probably try and keep it a secret for a few days. And I don't think he'd be able to keep something like that a secret for very long." He said before looking over at her and taking her hand.

[Katie Clark]

Katie grinned looking up at him. He looked a bit surprised that she was over in the water but she could only chuckle. She wasnt a girl that was totaly into what all the guys did, in fact she realy was a girly girl...she was just different. She was very diverse in all that she did and that was just fine for her, she enjoyed life and lived it to its fullest. She chuckled well i would hope you wouldnt ride a dog now, your jusssttt a little big she said smirking and shaking her head. im not sure....but with everything else there is today im sure theres one somewhere She watched in the water as he tied star up, looking over as he talked to the horse.

So katie was a normal girl in teh fact that that was pretty darn cute. A kodak moment as some would put it. Branden there with the horses talking to them . Seh watched him take his shoes off and let her foot kick at the water a bit as she got up peeking into the clear blue as far as she could I wonder if theres fish in here she said almost falling in a moment she went so close but she caught herself laughing. Aww he couldnt keep it that long, he loves to tell things right when he finds out. If he could hold it all in that long he might just have a meltdown she said laughing, holding his hand as she wandered nearer smiling over at him. She stayed close walking down the bank. You could tell that thered been animals there probably coons or cyotes, just some tracks in the mud. It was only a lake, but the waves rolled up onto the mud in small bursts.

[Branden Devereaux]

"Yes, there is fish in here. But it's mostly just bass and things like that. Nobody really fishes here though because they don't allow trucks back here. So you'd either have to backpack everything in or ride in. So the fish are supposed to be really big in here since they never get taken out." He said and hoped that didn't scare her because it wasn't like a fish was going to come and take a leg off or something like that. Then again, he didn't think that anybody believed something like that or at least he hoped so. But somehow thinking about that made him think of the one time that he'd been fishing out here with his dad. They'd just been on the shore but the fish that they'd caught were huge. Although they hadn't kept any of them and had released all of them back into the lake. Normally his dad wouldn't do something like that but the day before he'd went out and caught a ton of fish at another lake so their freezer had already been packed full with fish. It made him wonder why his dad had insisted on coming out here that day though.

She was right, he couldn't remember a time that Sean had been able to hold something in for a couple of days, or even a night in some cases. Of course, one time it had been rather important and he'd ended up leaving his house late at night to tell him something. But he wasn't going to think about that anymore because that would bring bad memories back. "I'd hate to see him if he had a meltdown because it would probably be a really big one. He's only had one of those in his life and that wasn't pretty. He just kind of layed around the house for three days straight and refused to do anything. I don't know if you would have known him then, maybe since it was around freshmen year I think." He said and looked around, he really hoped that Sean wouldn't have another one of those meltdowns where he was basically lethargic for days on end. At least now he could probably send Cassidy or Katie after him.

[Katie Clark]

Katie watched him as he talked, a grin just beginning to play on her face she kissed his cheek we'll have to go fishing sometime then of course........you may have your horseback riding, which i think is very fun.....but no one knows i love to fish too she told him. And it was true, Thats what katies dad did, it was his hobbie and she'd been on bit boats, yachts, and fishing steamers since she was a kid. If she could she'd probably live on a boat. She'd grown up doing everything from backpond fishing to deep-sea fishing. She guessed thats how she'd learned to swim at such a young age, and why her dad thought it was wonderful when she got a job lifeguarding. She loved to do it, though not as much as she did dancing.....it sure made her list and nobody within a ten foot distance of us right now needs to know that she said grinning. She'd get so much heat if someone found out that she was big in the fishing scene......And that was all she needed to be known as.....The fisherman cheerleader.....

She shook her head and grinned as she walked closely to him stopping to throw a stone into the water and let it skip a few times. aww well he's so passionate about things i think thats why.....no i met Sean at the end of my freshmen yeat....i had this huge crush on him and a few of the cheerleaders tried setting us up......We ended up meetinw ehrever they'd told us to on like a quad date and it ended up just being a hangout......i think we egged a house that night, i dont remember, but we went dancing and lord only knows what else, we found out we were destined to get into trouble together she said laughing. It was true when they'd met it was like the switch...well it went off, but another one went on and they were laughing within ten minutes of talking

[Branden Devereaux]

Ok, so that was a bit unexpected never in a million years would he have expected her to like going fishing. Although, he didn't think that she would have expected him to go horseback riding. "Well, that was a little unexpected but I guess that we both have things on each other that nobody else knows about. Well, actually I bet that nobody else here knows that you like to fish. Unless you made Sean swear on his life not to tell or something like that." He said and smiled, that was one of that ways to get him not to tell something since he took swearing on his life very seriously. "I guess that I could take you out fishing sometime just as long as you promise not to push me off of that boat." He said and knew that she probably wouldn't try something like that. But he figured that he'd just add that in since he knew that there were plenty of people out there who wouldn't mind pushing him off. "Your secret is safe with me, and Star's twenty feet away. It's a good thing that horses can't speak English or the things that I've told him wouldn't be safe and that wouldn't be a good thing." He said and wondered if she'd ever confided things in animals, probably not to the same extent as he had but still.

He listened to what she said and he tried to remember hearing about how Sean had met Katie. But now that he thought about it it just seemed as if the two had known each other all along since he had forgotten how the two had met and now that he thought about it he could remember Sean telling him all about that night. "That's right, I forgot about that night. Mike and I kind of teased him about going out with a girl. And now that you mention it, he did mention egging a house." He said and then laughed slightly, he wasn't going to tell her that Sean had liked her too, at one time but he definitely was going to remind Sean about the whole egging thing. "Now that I was thinking about that I can't really remember how I met you. So feel free to refresh my memory." He said and wondered just how, and when he had met Katie. It was strange that he couldn't remember.