Desiderio 1
#1 of Desiderio
Life is amazing, isn't it? The many twists and turns that you can take, whether it's your choice or not, makes everything interesting. I mean, look at me; I went from being a kid who couldn't help but rely on my parents for everything, to an adult who can provide for himself with his own place. I could never tell you what it's like to be able to have the freedom of laying back after a long hard day of work, without having two people to constantly breathe down your neck. And yet, even though it may seem like I have everything, something felt missing. Something that needed to be filled. But what?
"Griff!" I felt my ears twitch at that familiar loud voice. I grinned, knowing full well what the old man would be wanting.
"Alright Ian. What is it this time?" Ian was the owner of this place, so I guess you could say he was my boss. I've worked with him for a good while on his ranch. He needed an extra hand around the place, so I thought it could be some easy money. After so many years, he would always come running to me with problems. And now was no exception.
"The new kid tried to handle a horse and needs some help. He's down by the training ring." He sounded rather panicked, so I guess I should at least take a look. I ran past Ian down to the steel ring a while away from what we called "the Square". And I could easily see why Ian was worried.
This "new kid" he mentioned was doubled over on the dirt ground. Looking at him, it was easy to tell he was an otter. I could tell from the marks around the ring that he was dragged around. But the horse was over in the far corner, standing there. Guess he must've done something wrong. Why do I always get stuck with the new guys? I hopped over the fence and walked over to the kid. I got on my knee and patted his shoulder.
"Hey, kid. You alright?" He turned his head to look me, but his face suddenly turn to surprise. His eyes shifted off to the side, avoiding any eye contact with me. Was he embarrassed? But why?
"I guess the boss sent y-you here?" He still wasn't looking at me, but that stutter...
"Uh, yeah he did. Are you hurt at all?" I kept a slight grip on his shoulder, looking over his body for any scrapes and rug-burn. I could only see a small scrape over his hand. But immediately the kid hid his hand.
"No...I'm alright, really." The kid was rushing his speech, hiding his hand under an arm. But I knew from how I looked at it that it had to sting a lot. I jerked his arm from him, getting him to show his injury. His hand shook, fingers twitching as I gave it a good look over.
"Yup, it's got plenty of dirt in it. We're gonna need to get that cleaned up." I had spoken in a stern but calm voice, letting him know that I was serious. Reluctantly, the kid finally got up and decided to follow me.
We made the trek back up to the square I mentioned earlier. All it was was a collection of houses, barns and stables crammed together. I led him to the locker room and dragged out a first-aid kit and a washcloth. I kept a careful eye on the boy, watching to see if he would bolt for the door. But he just sat at the table, looking the other way from me with his hands fidgeting. All the while I wet the cloth over the sink, I kept thinking about his behavior. Fidgeting hands, avoiding eye contact and reserved speech were all the signs of embarrassment. But what was he so shy about? I guess it didn't really matter, all I wanted was to get this kid cleaned up.
When I got the washcloth warm and wet, I sat across from him on the table and asked him to hold out his hand again. Still keeping his eyes down, he showed me his scrapped hand. It was a little worse than I thought, but it wasn't too bad. I held his hand again and gently dragged the washcloth, wiping up the blood and dirt from his cuts. Soon as I was sure that it was clean, I popped open the kit and pulled out a long bandage wrap. I didn't like to use the sticky bandages, since they usually rip some fur off. I slowly and gently wrapped it around his hand, still holding it in my comparatively big palm.
"There you go." I said, snipping off the excess and tying off the bandage. "It should be alright over the next few days." He looked at the bandage, still not looking at me.
"...thanks. Sorry I was so much trouble." He rubbed his covered hand, seemingly unsure of something.
"So uh...could you tell me your name?" I was sort of getting fed up with this reserved attitude, so I wanted to try to get him out of his shell. But he had a surprised look on his face.
"Um...it's uh, Trey."
"Trey huh?" Not exactly the name I had pegged him with, but I was making progress. "Well, I'm-"
"Griff." He interrupted. I have to admit, I was a bit blindsided.
"You...know my name?" Trey just nodded in response.
"Ian told you about me." His body shifted. "Said you were the best here." Typical of Ian to put me in the spotlight like that.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." I humbly replied. I didn't want him to get the wrong image of me.
"Well, you are pretty cool." He kept shifting around in his seat, almost as if he was a kid who needed to pee.
"...and cute..."
My ears perked straight up, catching that little whisper Trey thought he was saying to himself.
"Did you say 'cute?" I leaned forward, anxious to hear an explanation for the comment. But Trey immediately reeled back, scrambling out of his seat.
"Um...I uh..." He kept stuttering, trying to find any excuse he could. "I didn't say that..."
"No, I'm pretty sure you-" Before I could say anything, Trey was already gone. He pushed frantically on the door and bolted like running from a fire.
"That is the weirdest thing..." I spoke to myself, scratching my neck as I pondered this strange attitude. I heard of timid rookies, but he's way past the word "timid". He certainly was a strange one.
A couple of hours later, as the bright sun slowly setting over the far mountains, I was locking up the horses for the night before shipping out. And all the time I couldn't help but think about Trey's flighty behavior. What could really make him act that way? No matter what answer I tried to come up with, it just didn't seem right. What on earth could it be?
"Hey Griff. Checking out, I see?" I looked over to the barn door, and there was Rose, the old new kid. A pureblood leopard, I still don't know why she came here. But she's been quite helpful as of late, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
"Yeah, I just uh, needed to finish up a few things here." Not that I was really focused on my job that much. But maybe... "Hey Rose, do you know Trey at all?"
"The cute new otterboy? No not really." She shrugged and came in, grabbing a bale of hay and setting down on it. "He doesn't really talk all that much. But that's what makes him cute." Woman talk, something I've never been good at.
"I tried talking to him, all I got was his name. But...he knew an awful lot about me." Apparently this caused a spark in Rose, as she stood up in surprised.
"Wait, 'you' actually talked to him?"
"Uh...yeah?" Why was she so surprised? Is he really that hard to talk to?
"That is so weird. He told me he wouldn't dare to talk to you." I cocked an eyebrow and twitched an ear.
"...and why would he say that?"
"He doesn't talk much, but he asks about you a lot." I could feel my jaw sinking off to the side. Now this was getting stranger.
"What did he ask about me?"
"Quite a lot. How old were you, how long you've been here, if you had a girlfriend." She named off a bunch of other stuff, but what caught me was the girlfriend question. Why would a kid like him be concerned in my love life?
"But you shouldn't really ask me about this." Rose commented, shrugging as usual. "If you wanna know more about him, you should ask Tessa."
"Wait...Tessa? 'The girl who has the same two jobs as me' Tessa?" I know that was a cruddy question, but I wanted to be sure.
"Yeah, she talked to the boss to get him here." I wiggled my jaw, even more complexed.
"That old lion is against hiring friends. Why the exception?" Rose scoffed at me.
"Besides you, Tessa's the most experienced. Maybe Ian trusts her enough for it. Or maybe he's gone soft in his old age." I seriously doubt that. But either way, maybe I could finally get some answers.
I head out of the barn, the orange light shining down on my sweaty gold and black fur, as I walked over to my truck. I wasn't planning on visiting the bar, but my instincts as a shepherd told me to go with the plan. I knew Tessa was working tonight so if I'm lucky, I can catch her by herself. And maybe I can get some answers. Maybe even to why he's so interested in me.