rated *
Chopping Wood
By Moon-Spinner
Trixie yawned sleepily as the bus idled, waiting for the straggling students to board. She looked up and smiled as Jim Frayne made his way to the back seat where she was sitting. He sat down beside her and gave her a fond look. Trixie smiled happily back at him, but inwardly sighed. Would he ever stop with the fond looks and actually kiss her? She was the only girl her age who hadn’t yet been kissed. Mart and Diana made out all the time, and even Brian had gotten up enough nerve to kiss Honey. Why hadn’t Jim kissed her yet? Was she just not kissable?
Trixie caught her breath as Jim moved closer to her. Was he going to? Then she sighed again in frustration as he just caught her hand in his and held it shyly. His palms were even sweaty. This boy was too nervous to even touch her; at this rate she’d never get kissed.
Wearily, she settled back against the seat and decided not to think about it until later. She had gotten up entirely too early this morning to exercise Susie and she had stayed up late last night to study for a History test. Just before she closed her eyes she noticed Dan sitting across from her and Jim. He was flipping through a magazine and looking bored. She wondered what magazine as she drifted off to sleep, her hand still held firmly by Jim’s.
~~~
She was riding through the preserve at dusk. She made her way towards the thumping sound she could hear in the distance. It was the steady rhythm of Dan’s wood chopping. She didn’t know why she felt such an irresistible urge to find him, but she continued moving towards the sound.
Suddenly she came into a clearing. There he was, shirtless and glistening with sweat. She looked in amazement at his well defined chest muscles. Must be all that wood chopping; does a body good.
Dan stood watching her, leaning against his ax. He didn’t seem surprised to see her. In fact, it was almost as though he was expecting her. Trixie hurriedly dismounted and tied the reins of her horse to a low hanging branch. She turned towards Dan and stopped, watching him. He looked steadily back as her eyes roved over his low cut jeans, six pack, and broad shoulders. She looked up into his eyes that were watching her intently, and slowly moved towards him. He held out his arms and she stepped into them. He cuddled her gently against his bare chest and bent his head towards her...
~~~
Trixie was rudely awakened by the bus jolting to a stop. Jim looked at her worriedly when she gasped in surprise.
"Anything wrong," he asked, concerned.
"Oh no, I’m fine. I must have drifted off there." she said, still slightly disoriented. She noticed Dan gathering his things and making his way to the front of the bus. "I need to get off here, I forgot that I need to go see Dan about something," she was speaking before thinking. She let go of Jim’s hand, wiped her palm on her jeans, grabbed her stuff, and bolted off the bus before he could even blink.
"Hey Dan! Wait up," she called as she hurried to catch up with his longer strides.
"Hey Trix, what’s goin’ on? Not heading up to Manor House with lover boy," he winked at her. It was fun to tease Trixie because she was such a good sport. Today, however, she frowned and muttered something about not wanting to talk about Jim. Dan raised his eyebrows in surprise, but said nothing more about him.
"How’d you do on your history test this morning?"
"You knew I had a history test? I don’t remember mentioning it to you."
"Yeah, that’s why you said you left the lake early last night." Dan glanced over at her to see if something was bothering her that she wouldn’t want to talk about Jim. She looked fine, however.
"Oh yeah, I guess I’m just surprised you remembered. Not even Honey remembered it. I did pretty well, I think I’ll get an A. There was one question that I couldn’t remember reading about, though, something to do with trench warfare in WW1. But it was a bonus so I’m not worried." Trixie stopped as she realized she was chattering on about something Dan probably had no interest in.
But he surprised her, "World War 1 is one of my favorite things to study in History. Especially the Romanov dynasty in Russia. That’s where the Anastasia myth comes from, right?"
Surprised, Trixie nodded and said, "Right. That’s my favorite part of it too. It’s a real mystery."
Dan smiled at her and said, "So what do you need to see Mr. Maypenny for?"
"Oh, um, I don’t. Actually I was going to ask you a favor," she gulped.
"What do you need?"
She resisted the urge to say "You" and instead blushed as she said, "I wondered if you could teach me how to chop wood. Brian and Mart never have the time or patience and it looks like it’d be a really good work out. My arms are a little weak." Dan nodded, but remained expressionless. He was good at that and it drove Trixie crazy. She could always tell what the others were thinking, but never Dan.
By this time they had reached the cabin and Dan ran inside long enough to drop his books and bag and grab some cookies for himself and Trixie. She followed him and put her stuff next to his on the floor.
"I need to run upstairs and change. I don’t want to deal with messing up a nice T-shirt. Do you want to change?"
"I don’t really have anything to change into except my halter top from gym class. Would that work?"
Dan paused a moment as he pictured her in the skimpy shirt and said a very hurried, "Yes."
"OK, I’ll change in the bathroom."
~~~
When Trixie came out of the bathroom Dan was already outside choosing an ax. When she walked out the door, he almost dropped the big one on his foot. The halter top had been a very good idea.
"You can use this light one," he said, trying not to be obvious about checking her out. He quickly handed her the tool and pretended to study the selection to choose his own. He picked up a heavy one and began walking towards some felled trees in a clearing a few yards away. Trixie tried to pick up the ‘light’ ax and nearly fell over. This would be interesting.
"I think the best way for you to learn would be to watch me awhile, Trix. The trick is keeping all the weight balanced on the head of the ax and having a broad swing," he said as he set up a block of wood. Trixie stood back and watched appreciatively as Dan neatly splayed the piece of wood. Not that she had her eyes on the block of wood. He had very nice form, indeed.
"See?"
"Oh, um, yeah. Nice form, Dan. Can I try?"
Dan set up a block of wood and stepped back so Trixie could get in place. She nervously shifted her weight and swung the heavy ax behind her. Her eyes widened as she felt herself tip over backwards and land on the dusty ground.
Dan stepped over her and looked down, "You OK?"
"Doin’ great, thanks. Think I need to try that again."
He smiled and helped her to her feet. This time instead of leaving her to do it by herself, Dan stepped close behind her and positioned his hands on top of hers on the ax. She gulped nervously and felt her face grow warmer at his nearness. He gently guided her hands and supported most of the weight of the ax and they brought it cleanly down on the wood, splitting it in two.
"Like that," he said softly. He paused with his hands on hers.
"Oh," she said in a small voice. They both stood there, unmoving and nervous.
"Try again?"
"Uh, sure. It really helped with you supporting some of the weight."
Dan moved away from her and set up another block of wood. Trixie shivered and watched him.
"There, now you try it without me."
She nodded and fought down the disappointment. She focused her attention on the wood and copied what Dan showed her. This time she hit the wood, but it didn’t completely split.
"Better. You just need to put more muscle behind it so it goes all the way through the wood."
Trixie smiled at him and tried again. This time she split the wood, if a little crookedly.
"Go Trix! I better watch out or you’ll push me out of my job," Dan joked, winking at her.
"Yes, next thing you know everyone will be calling me Trixie Bunyon instead of Schoolgirl Shamus."
Dan laughed and took her ax. "That’s enough for today, we can do more tomorrow if you want. Mr. Maypenny has tons of wood saved up. I’m not in a rush to finish this pile."
Trixie stacked the few pieces of wood they had split in Mr. Maypenny’s wood bin while Dan returned the axes. They stood looking at each other a few minutes, uncertain of what to say, but both subconsciously sensing the slight nervousness in the air.
"Well, I guess I should go and let you get back to work now," she finally said.
"Oh, um, I guess."
She tried not to look disappointed as she walked towards the door to get her stuff.
"Hey Trix, you want to go for a walk or something?" Dan finally blurted out.
She smiled at him happily and felt her stomach flutter nervously. "That sounds like fun."
He smiled too and they both stood there looking at each other and smiling goofy grins.
"Well, shall we?" Dan finally asked, shaking himself out of the trance.
"Yeah, of course."
They both started down a path, walking side by side, sharing a nervous silence. Dan shook himself mentally. Why was he acting so ridiculous? It was just Trixie for goodness sakes. But that was just it. It was Trixie. But good grief, she was still considered Jim’s property. Even if he had never officially asked her out, everyone still knew it.
"Dan, do I have bad breath or something?"
He jerked out of his thoughts and looked at Trixie like she had suddenly grown two heads. "What?"
"I just wondered," she muttered.
"Why?"
"Well, I just wondered. Jim never makes a move to kiss me or anything. And no other guys ever ask me out either. I just wanted to know if there was something wrong with me that I know nothing about."
"Oh, I see," he said, trying not to let his emotions show. "No, Trixie, your breath is fine."
"Well, is it something else? Am I just not kissable?"
Dan stopped walking and turned Trixie to face him. "Trixie..."
She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and he forgot what he was about to say, standing there staring into their depths.
"Dan?"
He mentally shook himself. "Is the only reason you’re with Jim because you want to be kissed?"
She blinked in shock and didn’t say anything. Dan waited, looking at her.
"I don’t know. I never really thought of it. I like Jim."
"I see," he said, beginning to walk down the path again.
Trixie reached out and grabbed his hand. "Wait. It just seemed like it was always expected that I should be with him. Honey and Brian, Mart and Di, me and Jim. I never even really thought about it before."
"Maybe you should."
She looked at him intently.
"If you’re involved with someone romantically it should be because you want to be. Not because you want to be kissed or because it’s expected of you. You should just really want to be with the other person, regardless of whether or not there’s any physical connection, and regardless of what your friends and family think."
Trixie looked down at the ground and Dan watched her silently.
"Trixie..." He stepped closer to her and tilted her face back up to look at his with his hand on her cheek.
"Dan?" They were lost, staring into each other’s eyes, when the sound of a horse galloping along the path behind them broke their mood and they both moved apart and turned around.
"There you are!" Honey called happily. She was followed by Di, Mart, Brian and Jim, leading Susie.
"We thought you might like to go for a ride. What’ve you guys been doing?" Jim asked.
"Dan was teaching me how to split wood and then we decided to go for a walk," Trixie answered, hoping no one would notice the flush on her cheeks.
"Well, get on Trix, we’ll go back to Mr. Maypenny’s and get Spartan, Dan," Di called, then turned her attention back to Mart, giggling at some joke he was making.
Trixie turned to look at Dan. He swallowed and said, "No, you guys better go ahead without me. I have some homework and stuff that I need to work on. I was planning on turning around and heading back to the cabin here anyway."
Trixie looked at him a moment, then walked quickly to her horse and mounted, no longer willing to meet his eyes. Dan looked at her uneasily then smiled at the rest of the group, who were talking animatedly, oblivious to any tension between Trixie or Dan.
"Well, OK Dan. We’ll see you tomorrow in school."
"I need to get my bag out of the cabin," Trixie said.
"I’ll get it Trix," Jim said, galloping off back towards Maypenny’s.
Trixie looked after him guiltily and then gave herself a shake.
"Well, I’m going to head back, bye guys," Dan said.
"Bye Dan!" The others chorused.
He walked back and nodded to Jim as he passed him on the trail. He went back to the wood pile and thought awhile, staring moodily at the pile of logs.
Trixie sat silently in the saddle, only thanking Jim for bringing her bag. She had a lot of things to think over.
The End