» we've gotta make this last

[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

The brown haired boy smiled at himself as he sat under a large birch tree. He held a guitar, which was positioned in it's rightful place on his lap, it's neck supported by an outstretched arm. His fingers moved swiftly and easily from cord to cord, his other arm resting on the top of his acoustic and his fingers strumming at the strings, creating sound. The song he played was his own acoustic version of Hawthorne Heights' Decembers. It was one of his favourite songs and his voice went along with it so magnificently.

"Let's try to remember these days back in December. Our lives were very different, I was lonely when we first met. A small upstairs apartment, driving through the darkness to get back home before they knew you were even gone." Toby started on the first verse, looking at a reference sheet for the lyrics that he hadn't quite memorized yet. His fingering was a bit faulty because he hadn't quite mastered the song yet. It sounded a bit off, but that was mostly because he was playing the song on the guitar from ear, making up his own notes.

Toby continued to the next verse, smiling as he looked up from the sheet of paper beside him on the soft grass under the tree to watch Jade, his horse, slowly move her way closer to where the boy was singing. "Hey babe." He said to the filly who nuzzled his head, blowing hot air out of her nostrils into his face as a welcoming. He grinned and laughed slightly, then looked back down at his fingers, adjusting them and then continuing to sing the chorus, his favourite part, of the song.

"Please slow down girl. We're moving way too fast for their world. We've gotta make this last." Toby sung, closing his eyes as he did, his voice raising in volume. The boy didn't care if anyone else was around to hear him. He loved to song, and he was sure that anyone else would enjoy the soft lyrics as much as he did. He went on to strum a few other cords, a slight instrumental in between verses.

open to all. 360 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e ;





<sub>the gate slowly opened and the bay mare pranced in and let out a whinny to any other horse. "oh hush!" the blonde said sharply. she stepped into the pasture and shut the gate behind her. the mare danced around happily, ready to explore. the girl quickly tossed the leadrope over her back and jumped on. if no one else was around, she was safe to ride around in the pasture. back home, she would get yelled at for being "unsafe".

a gentle breeze blew as the girl got adjusted. she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before gathering the leadrope and kicking the mare. "ya!" she said sharply. the mare let out a joyous squeal, and soon they were galloping around towards the back end of the pasture. she slowed the mare down to a walk and sat looking amazed at the lone tree in the pasture. it was an amazing work of art. she quickly got down and knelt on the ground, taking her digital camera out of her pocket and snapping a picture. she looked at how perfect it was, until she noticed something. there was a strange thing sticking out of the side. and on the other side, there was a horse. she put the camera back into her pocket and swung back up onto her mare gracefully.

she gently nudged the mare and let her walk out, and over to the tree. the mare snorted roughly, a bit surprised. she spooked lightly at the tree, but then made her way around to the other side. the girl halter her about 100 feet away from the boy and the tree. not only was the tree beautiful, but so was the boy sitting there. she sat motionless on the bay, just watching and listening. as the boy picked up sound, she gently tapped the beat on her mare's neck.

the girl slowly dismounted and tied the mare's lead rope to the other side of her halter so she wouldn't get tangled up and let her go. lucy went off to graze while jamie slowly approached the guy. "hey." she said softly as she got closer. she knelt down and smile. "your pretty good." she said with a kind smile taking over her face.</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby was too busy singing and playing his guitar to realize that a horse and her rider were coming up behind him. So he was a little spooked when he heard the soft female voice behind him. He turned to look at her and a smile creeped up on his face. She was pretty, what with her beautiful blonde hair, perfect skin, gorgeous smile, and angular face. "Oh, hey." He said to her in his normal tone of voice, not wanting her to know she had scared him a tad. A slighth blush creeped up on his cheeks as she complimented him. "Oh, thanks." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"It's my passion, I guess. I'm not that great." Toby told her, a slight sparkle in his eye. He didn't think he was that great, but people always told him his playing was amazing and that his voice complimented every song he played. But, he always thought there was miles of room for improvement.

Meanwhile, Jade was getting interested in the mare that had just appeared. The black filly was only about a year old, so unridable for the moment and obviously younger than the mare. She took a few steps closer to the mare who was grazing nearby the two humans, giving the horse a nicker in greeting, her ears pricked forward in interest.

Toby reached behind his neck and pulled the guitar strap over his head, setting the bottom of the guitar on the ground and leaning the neck onto the bark of the tree on the other side of him then returned his attention to the girl. "Oh, by the way, I'm Toby North." He said, reaching out a hand to shake her's. A little formal, but that's how Toby is. Plus, he wanted to get the name of the gorgeous girl sitting by him. "And thats Jade." He continued, pointing to the black freisian filly, who was closing the gap between her and the other mare, her head closer to the ground, trying to catch the other horses attention.

340 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;



<sub>the sat down on her knees in front of him and plucked a piece of the long green grass that grew in the pasture. she gently played with it, soon tying it in knots. it was one of her habits not to look people in the eyes when they were talking to her. she finally forced herself to look up at him. she started at the chin and slowly moved her eyes up, staring at his features. finally her eyes locked with his and she gave a small, embarrassed smile before letting her eyes dart back down to the piece of grass. he has the prettiest eyes... she thought as he continued.

"well i'm sure people think you are amazing..." she said softly, glancing back up at him. "at least i think you are." she added with a tone a bit higher than a whisper. she looked over at the filly who was edging towards lucy. she drew her attention back to the boy. "nice you meet you. i am jamie wood. and thats lucy. i have a stallion named goodie, too. is jade your only horse?" she asked. horses were an easy thing for her to talk about. they took her mind off of how stupid she acted in front of guys.

as the filly approached, lucy gently pinned her auds to let the filly know that this was her grass. finally, she picked up her head to look at the little thing. she snorted softly, letting her auds perk up and soon her nose was stretched out to the filly. she gently snuffled her neck and took in the little black creature's scent. the mare picked up her head and whinnied. it seemed as if she was calling out to jamie "i found a friend, mom!"</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

The boy watched Jamie play with a piece of grass, noticing when she looked up to scan his face. He put on a smile and shook the hair out of his eyes. He was glad when she looked away at the horses after she complimented him, seeing as his slight blush grew into a bigger one. Was she flirting with him? Just a little bit, it sounded like. He grinned at her, shrugging his shoulders once again.

"I try." Toby said before she continued to introduce herself and her two horses. "Likewise." He replied to her 'nice to meet you', his smile still displayed calmly on his face. He nodded his head at her question. "Yeah, Jade's my baby," Toby said with a small laugh, "I just moved here, and my parents bought me her as a gift. I'm actually quite new to horses, and I'm training Jade by myself." His little laugh came up again, slightly nervous but not really nervous at all at the same time. He knew training Jade by himself was going to be alot of work and mistakes would be made. But that's how you learned, so he was ready for the challenge. Toby loved trying new things, and this was something new, plus the company a horse gave was really quite comforting at times.

Toby looked over at the two horses who were slowly getting to know each other. He laughed softly at Jade's reaction to Lucy's whinny. The black girl picked up her front legs slightly off the ground in a sort of rear and pranced around in a circle with her head held high. "Weirdo." Toby said under his breath, grin still on his face. The horse was obviously delighted and excited to have found a friend.

301 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;




<sub>the girl smiled gently listening to him and nodding. she caught the tail end of a blush. she tried to stifle a wide smile that soon grabbed at her lips. she quickly fixtated her eyes on the horses and smiled. "i got lucy when she was three. i got to train her. its alot of work, but its worth in the end. she was my first real friend. i am kind of a nerd, and its hard for me to make friends. she means everything to me." she said before she could stop herself. she quickly closed her lips and watched the horses. when she was positive he wasn't looking, she caught a glimpse of toby. so maybe he was everything she dreamed of, but she had already made a fool out of herself. why would he continue to talk to her.

jamie was ready to get up and run off, but something was holding her down. maybe it was her heavy heart telling her to just wait. maybe things would be different this time. she took a small, but deep breath. "uhm." she started, not sure where she was going to go with this, but finally, she decided to finish what she had just started. "if you want, i can give you tips and maybe help you train jade." she said almost too quick. she tried to control her heart rate. she was in too deep now. it was impossible to turn back now. she bit the inside of her cheek, trying to control whatever was boiling up inside her. she quickly grasped the grass to hold herself down. the tore a few pieces and started playing with them again, trying to advoid his eyes. she knew they would be looking down upon her. so many people had. jamie sighed softly and tore the blade of grass and watched the mare. lucy pranced around with the filly before cantering off, giving a buck, then trotting back over to the filly as if to tag her before barreling off again.</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby listened to Jamie, watching her while she talked, looking away at the horses every once and awhile. He nodded his head when she said it was alot of work, but that was to be expected. It was sort of like raising a baby, if you did it right, your child would grow up healthy. If you paid no attention to it's needs and wants, your kid could turn out to be some sort of disaster. "I can see why." Toby commented about the horse being her best friend. Spending so much time with someone and getting to know them so well was easy with horses. And they never judged you by the way you look or what kind of clothes you wore. They were so much easier to get along with than humans.

Toby noticed Jamie tense up a little, but ignored it. She had said it was hard for her to make friends, so perhaps she was just a little frigtened, like so many people were when meeting new faces. Toby just smiled a welcoming smile at her, hoping he didn't look like some kind of freak. When Jamie offered to help him with Jade, his face lit up. So there was a few nice souls in this world after all. "Man, that'd be awesome!" He said, letting a grin form on his face. "Like, I've started reading alot of books and stuff about how to train horses and that sort of thing, but a helping hand would be way better than some retarded book." He said with another little laugh. Sure, Toby didn't mind reading, but books sometimes just didn't know how to explain things. Plus, every horse was different, so there really wasn't just one way to go about doing something new. Toby watched Jamie nearly the whole time, watching how she looked at the horses, slightly noticing the way she never really looked at him for longer than a few seconds.

Toby looked over at the horses, watching as Jade whinny as the other mare took off, turn around, come back, and then turn around again and run off. She was a little stunned and stood still for a moment. But only a moment it was before her smaller legs were working under her, galloping off after Lucy. The boy couldn't help but smile, thinking about how much fun he'd have with Jade in the future. He'd love to compete with the freisian, but he wasn't quite sure in which event yet.

417 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;



<sub>the girl's face lit up when he said that he would love the help. she was jumping for joy on the inside. she couldn't contain her happiness. a bright smile danced on her face and she looked at him. this time she actually held the gaze. "really?" was all she could say as she let the joy swell up, then gently melt. she took a breath and smiled. "well, i can't wait. she is going to be something." she said with a bright smile. the filly was an active one, and she knew they were going to have fun training her. she seemed like she could do anything. "if you want to later, we could go on a trail ride or something. you could ride lucy." she said. she wanted to put out a fun idea for them. she remembered getting dropped off here. on the way up to the barn, she had seen a lovely beach and woods around it. she was sure she had discovered the trail up to it. if he wanted to go for a ride, she wanted to take him there. it looked lovely.

it was getting slightly warm and if they could head to the beach, it would be nice to go for a swim. she looked over at lucy who was having a great time romping around the pasture with the filly. they seemed like they were becoming good friends with eachother. she pushed a loose strand behind her ear and looked over at toby. she wanted to tell him how much she liked him already, and how this was the first time she was really comfortable around a guy. she felt like she should tell him everything. but the last time that happened, it was torn away from her. but maybe this was good. and true. not too good to be true. she bit her lip, trying not to over smile. but maybe he was the kind of guy that didn't care if she showed all the crazy emotions in the world. maybe he was the kind she imagined that would do crazy, even stupid things with her. let the world see how happy they were. but maybe she was over jumping her thoughts again. she decided she would take it slowly. but also, she would be happy with whatever happened, because it was the way it was meant to be.

lucy snorted and slowed down to a trot, and slowly walked over to the humans. she let her head down and snuffled and the boys hair before standing in between them and dropping her head. she was annoyed that they paid more attention to them than to her. she rubbed her face again jamie's arm and was patted on the cheek in return.</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby nodded his head, "really really." He said, his large grin not disappearing for a moment. He couldn't help but have a slightly proud aura around him. He was proud of Jade, even though the horse hadn't really done anything yet. Jamie just saying that she had prospect was enough to make Toby feel as happy as could be. Or maybe it was just the fact that Jamie was complimenting him. Well, it worked either way.

If Toby's eyes could have gotten any brighter, they would have at the offer of going on a trail ride with this gorgeous girl. "Heck yeah, I'd love that!" He said, his insides nearly bursting. A trail ride sounded like alot of fun, expecially with his new found friend. He could tell they were going to be great friends, even more now since he noticed that the girl was actually looking at him for more than a few seconds. He loved riding, and had actually only started riding about a year ago at the local stable near his old town when his mom started thinking about sending him here.

Toby looked over at the horses, watching as Lucy came up to the two, and scruffed up his hair. "Thanks." He told the horse with a smile, patting the mare on the neck. He watched Jade trot over, her head held high with delight. The horse then lowered her head to sniff at Toby, his guitar, and then walked over to where Jamie was, sniffing at her hair then taking a step back and snorting, and then going back to inspecting her. Toby laughed, "I think she likes the scent of your shampoo or something." He said, laughing some more. The boy had a sudden urge to lean over and take a sniff for himself, but at a second thought, he realized that it might be taking it a bit too far, and he certainly didn't want to scare Jamie off right away with his weird antics.

332 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;



<sub>the girl giggled as the filly nuzzled her hair. she laid back in the grass and let it tickle her face. up in the trees, the light danced through the branches and it made her smile. suddenly, she sat up and smile. "wanna go now?" she asked with a bright grin.

the sudden movement startled lucy who picked her head up and looked at the two. "you ever gone bareback?" she asked with a smile. if they were going to go to the beach, she wanted to go swimming. and swimming was best done bareback. bareback meant they could ride the horses through the water up to their necks.

jamie smiled and stood up, holding her hand out for the boy. she shook her head, trying to get some of the grass and dirt out of it, with her free hand she brushed the back of her head, grabbing a strand of grass. she then grabbed lucy's lead rope and looked to the boy. she was feeling way more comfortable than before. it was time to show him her wild side. wild side of riding that was.

lucy snorted softly and nudged the girls hand. she was batted away with the open palm and she dropped her head to grab a scrap of grass. the mare snuffled the back of jamie's head and a few more peices of grass fell out, along with a small bit of grass put in buy lucy. the girl smiled and patted the mare.</sub>

_249
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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby laughed along with Jamie, watching the horses and her. She obviously didn't mind being around the bigger animals. He smiled, leaning back onto the tree when she lay down, his hands playing in the tall grass. He grinned as the girl sat up and asked her question. "Sounds like a plan." He said, watching her get up and then taking her outstretched hand and pulling himself up.

"Bareback?" Toby asked, then grinned, " 'course I have, let's do that." He said, using his hands to dust the dirt and grass off his legs butt and back. He'd only been bareback a few times, but it'd always been fun and he'd gotten pretty good at keeping his balance when going fast. But of course he hadn't quite mastered the skill yet, and sometimes still had to cling to the horses mane when he started slipping, but luckily it got less and less every time he tried it. Toby wasn't really one to give up on something very easily. If he couldn't do something, he'd try again and again until he knew it was either impossible, or he'd done it.

"Alrighty, let's boogey." Toby laughed when he said that, feeling a bit stupid, but he didn't care. He gave Jade a pat and then picked up his guitar and started walking to the barn. Jade followed, of course, wondering where the boy was going. Toby couldn't wait until he could break Jade and ride her, he could tell she was going to have good, smooth gaits by the way she ran. He wondered if maybe dressage was her sport, but he wasn't all that keen on it, he'd have to wait and see what her specialty was.

285 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;



<sub>the girl smiled and took the lead rope and led the mare up with her. she soon was in stride with the boy. she opened the gate and let him go before going out herself. she jogged the mare up to the barn and grabbed her bridle and the stallion's bridle. she traded the halter for the bridle and let lucy stand grazing while she ran off and grabbed goodie.

as the girl and the stallion rounded the corner from behind the stallion barn, goodie caught site of lucy and whinnied. she called back, but soon continued grazing. jamie smiled and led him over where they touched noses, but then continued on ignoring eachother. jamie picked up lucy's reins and held them out for toby. she had a bright smile on her face, and excitement danced in her eyes. the stallion nickered to the filly in the pasture, then snuffled at jamie's hair. she let him graze next to lucy. "be right back!" she said quickly, running into the barn. when she came out, she was in a black bikini top and black sport softee shorts. she didn't want to go swimming in her jeans and boots. she was barefooted as she came back and watched her toes for manure and sharp rocks.

"want a leg up?" she asked the boy as she gathered lucy's reins and circled her so she was standing parallel to goodie, but far enough away that they wouldn't get kicked as the humans mounted. goodie turned his head and snorted at lucy who pinned her ears in return. she looked back over at jamie and licked her palm, hoping for a peppermint. "you silly girl. after the ride, if your good."</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby walked with Jamie out of the pasture, going out of the gate, followed by her. He closed the gate for her and turned around to give Jade one last rub. "See ya, Jadey." He said to her, nuzzling her nose with his head before going off with Jamie to the barn.

Toby smiled as the two horses, obviously familiar with each other, greeted each other and then continued to ignore each other. He took Lucy's reins from the girl, holding them and waited for Jamie to come back. As she did and he caught a glimpse of what she was wearing, it took all his strength not to blush or look away or do some sort of cat call. Oh, what the heck. "Lookin' good." He said, winking at Jamie, laughing softly. So they were going swimming, huh? Good thing Toby had choosen today of all days to wear shorts. They'd be good enough to go swimming in. Usually the boy didn't wear shorts, so it was a good coincidence that today happened to be the day all his jeans were dirty and that it was nice outside.

"Sure." Toby said to Jamie's offer of a leg up, using her hands to help push himself onto the horses back. He leaned down over Lucy, patting her neck. "Good girl." He said to the horse, sitting up and taking the reins from Jamie. "So I take it you know where we're going?" Toby asked the girl. Either that or she just liked to go bareback riding in her bathing suit, which he'd find a bit odd. Usually people wore jeans and boots, not... nearly nothing.

274 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.

[j a m i e w o o d ;]

j a m i e w o o d ;



<sub>the girl blushed at the boys call and was soon by his side to help him up. once he was on she turned goodie around and walked a bit away from him. "whoa..." she said to him as she soon ran across the warming gravel. she grabbed his mane at last minute and jumped onto his back. the stallion snorted softly and sidestepped as she got adjusted, she wheeled him around and trotted him over to lucy and toby. she smiled brightly at him, now adjusted. she wiped her feet off on the stallion's side, then nudged the horse into a canter down the trail. lucy snorted and bobbed her head to follow and took a few hesitant steps forewards as if to let the boy know she was ready to go. then swiftly and smoothly, she picked up her left lead and gave the boy her smooth western pleasure lope and was soon caught up next to goodie and his lope.

the horses were side by side and the girl slowed goodie down to a walk, and lucy did the same. jamie looked over at the boy and smiled. so not only could he ride, but he was amazing. cute, and everything. what else could she ask for? up ahead, the woods opened up to a tan oasis which was soon the beach. the sound of waves coming in was soothing to her ears and goodie perked his ears up. jamie looked forewards quickly to make sure goodie would behave then she looked back at toby. "so..." she started. she wanted to ask something about horses, but she didn't want to seem a know it all. so she changed the subject. of course she chose an awkward one. "have you had a girlfriend before?" she soon regretted saying it. of course he's had a girlfriend before you idiot. look at him, i mean come on! she blushed slightly, and looked foreward again before her eyes slowly wandered back up to his face.</sub>

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[Toby North]

we've gotta make this last.

Toby couldn't help but let out a little laugh as Jamie swung up onto Goodie at a running leap. "Nice one." He commented, smiling as reached a hand up to move the hair away from his eyes. It always seemed to like to lie right on top of them, but of course that was his style and he'd gotten used to it, but sometimes it tickled, such as right at that moment. Toby let the mare know he was ready to go with a slight squeeze with his knee's and the four were off. He smiled as he adjusted to Lucy's smooth lope.

Slowing down to a walk beside Jamie, he adjusted his weight a little bit, and smiled at the girl. He could hear the waves very faintly, and couldn't wait to go swimming with the horses; he loved it. He then heard Jamie's question and his smile lost a bit of emphasis. "Ah, girlfriend?" He said, sighing a little bit, "yeah, I had one of those. Heh, about two years ago when I was 16 I went out with this cute little girl from my town back in Alberta. We dated for about half a year, and then we both decided it wasn't going to work and decided to be friends." Toby shrugged his shoulders, "we didn't really talk much after that." It sort of ruined their friendship, but at least he had had a good time with the girl. He wans't really all that sad when he broke up with her. They both knew it wasn't going to go anywhere and there wasn't a point in hanging onto what they didn't even have to begin with, so they broke up. "She was a good person and all, we just weren't into each other I guess. But it's all cool, what about you?" Toby returned the question, interested in knowing the answer.

The boy was actually glad that he had now moved, it gave him a fresh start and he had already met a new girl that he was interested in. It was then that he realized that he was indeed interested in Jamie. It spooked him a little, that he could have feelings for a girl he had just met. But hey, anything is possible. Before he moved here he said to himself that he could be anyone heh wanted to be when he got here, but it turned out he liked himself the way he was, and found out that there wasn't a thing he would change about himself.

423 words.
(c) mystifyingminds.