Wild Horses

Christmas morning had finally come. For Treva, the night was spent lying wide awake in bed for many hours. She was always excited Christmas Eve, though she didn't always know exactly why. But the night before, she spent hours lying awake in her dark room, thinking.

Upon what had happened with Brian and the mistletoe the night she, Zach, and Brian had gone out to get the tree, Treva knew she had to at least tell Zach about it. He was particularly livid upon hearing of the situation -- once more Brian was trying to take something of his away. He'd tried leaving Treva's room in a hurry to go talk to Brian himself but Treva stopped him with a kiss, telling him that she'd handled the situation. She also told Zach that Brian definitely knew they were together; the chances of him trying to claim her again were unlikely.

And so a rather unpleasant situation had been avoided, but that didn't keep Treva from running the whole ordeal over and over in her head that restless night.

Honestly, she'd really not had much of an idea that Brian liked her, or was at least attracted to her. He was often suggestive with the thing he said and the way he acted toward her, but Treva had been so blinded by her growing infatuation with Zach that she really hadn't given Brian much thought. She figured that was just the way Brian was.

But then he kissed her, and Treva realized that whatever Brian felt for her was strong enough for him to kiss her. She'd been completely baffled when it happened. She couldn't say she really enjoyed it; Treva was too used to Zach's kisses, to his pouty lower lip, that anything else seemed rather foreign. But at the same time, it wasn't exactly...unpleasant for her. Treva was just thankful that Brian had only kissed her once, and when he had he didn't try to completely ravage her. And she was even more relieved that, in the days following, Brian had seemed completely normal toward her. The last thing she wanted was to lose the friendship she had with Brian.

When the dawn finally broke, Treva groggily awoke, realizing that she must have finally dozed off in the wee hours of the early morning. But instantly, it seemed, she was wide awake, glancing out the frosted window of her bedroom as the snow fell softly from the sky. She jumped from her bed and quickly made her way down to Zach's room, wondering if anyone else was awake. Slowly opening the door she could see Brian's shape, sprawled across his bed; he was dead asleep, she was sure of it. Opening the door wider she noticed Zach was asleep as well.

Top-toeing over to his bed, Treva crouched down beside him. She couldn't help but smile at how innocent he looked when he was asleep.

"Wake up," she whispered, gently prodding Zach's shoulder. When he made no response, she smiled and slowly leaned down to him, pressing her lips lightly against his own.

"Wake up," she whispered once more, right against his lips. Feeling him twitch slightly, Treva kissed him again, staying there as she slowly brought a hand up to gently touch his jaw. After a few moments she felt Zach's lips move underneath her own, pressing back on hers.

Pulling away, Treva smiled as she looked down into those tired green eyes.

"It's Christmas morning, and I can't sleep," Treva said with a quiet chuckle, leaning back a bit more as Zach slowly sat up. She waited a moment, allowing him to fully com awake.

"Do you want to go down and wait for the others?" Zach whispered, taking heed of the fact that Brian was still asleep. Catching Treva's smile as she nodded her head, Zach slowly got out of his bed, taking Treva's hand and leading her downstairs.

The house was colder on the first floor. The fire had long been extinguished, allowing the icy winter air seep its way through the cracks in the house, settling along the floor. Treva shivered when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I don't remember winter being so cold," she chuckled, teeth rattling as she rubbed her arms to keep warm. Zach had crossed the living room to the fireplace, throwing a few log of wood on and getting a fire going to warm them.

"I believe Montana is just naturally colder than New York," Zach replied, grabbing one of the hand-knit afghans off the couch. "Could be the mountains or something." Turning to Treva Zach held his arms out, the blanket wrapped around him. Smiling, Treva stepped into his embrace and they both took a seat on the couch in front of the crackling fire. In no time at all, it seemed, their combined body heat had worked it's magic an both Treva and Zach felt content once again, just sitting there with each other in silence. It seemed things couldn't get much better than that.

Later that morning everyone was situated around the living room, laughing and smiling and talking amongst themselves as presents were opened. Not too much longer after Zach and Treva had gotten the fire going, their parents and Brian had ambled their way down the stairs. The adults had left the children alone while they fixed a warm breakfast for everyone, and not too much later Treva couldn't wait any longer and had asked if they could begin opening presents. The excitement and anticipation was growing to be too much for her.

Treva hadn't received much; her parents had gotten her a pair of riding gloves, which was thoughtful considering she'd started to get blisters on her fingers where the reigns always rubbed against her skin. And she was shocked to see that Maria and James had also gotten her a gift: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. They'd noticed how much she read and knew soon she'd be running out of books that were available in the house, considering she didn't go out too much because of the colder weather. They also weren't sure what kind of books she liked to read, but Treva assured them it was wonderful. She couldn't wait to begin reading it.

Looking up from the book she couldn't help but already start reading, Treva's eyes fell onto Zach and Brian. Brian had received a new rifle and had been spending most of the morning cleaning it, despite the fact that the rifle was brand new and spotless. But Treva could see the light in his eyes when he continuously looked over every inch of it--she knew he couldn't wait to get out and shoot it as much as she couldn't wait to fully delve into her new book. And Zach had receive a new hunting knife, since the blade of his older one was wearing dull and chipping in a few places.

Treva's gaze stayed longer on Zach. She could se that he wasn't all there, that he was busy thinking. She just didn't know what was running through his head.

"You okay?" she asked him quietly. Looking up, Zach smiled and nodded, slowly putting his knife aside and standing. He took Treva's hand, mumbling for her to follow him. Seeing that everyone else was too preoccupied to notice they would be missing, Treva followed Zach to the stairs, where he then led her up to his room.

"Sit," he ordered gently, making sure Treva complied before he opened the drawer of the bedside table. Treva tried to see what Zach was getting, but even as he settled on the bed next to her she couldn't see what he was hiding in his hands.

"Close your eyes," Zach whispered, and Treva grinned before slipping her eyes shut. Hardly able to contain his own smile, Zach took what he was holding and gently placed it in Treva's hand. Brow furrowing, Treva tried to figure out what it was.

"Okay, open them."

Glancing down to her hand, Treva's breath caught in her throat. Zach had handed her a wooden figurine of a horse. It was attached to a thick wooden bottom so it could stand upright, and the wood was so smooth and intricately detailed that she was speechless.

"Did you make this?" she finally asked, eyes still scanning the little wooden model.

"Yes. It was hard to do with you and everyone else coming in unannounced so often," Zach answered with a smile.

"It's beautiful," Treva smiled.

"Now you can have them with you...all the time," Zach whispered, and Treva knew without asking that the little model in her hands was that of one of the wild horses they'd seen in the fall.

"Thank you."

And with that, Treva leaned up and pressed a hard kiss to Zach's lips. She tried to show him how much she really, truly appreciated the gift. No one had ever made anything for her before, and she found it rather touching.

That was the day Treva knew she couldn’t live without him.