Trevor flicked his ears a few times and shook his head before craning his neck down to grab another mouthful of oats. He chewed on them while he thought about it. As much fun as going to the arena sounded right now, he was becoming increasingly aware of the fact that drowsiness and exhaustion were coming on fast. In fact, whether Rita had noticed or not, his head had nodded a few times ever since they got in line to go in to the barn.
After swallowing the tasty oats, he sighed through his nostrils and looked back at Rita out of his left eye. “Actually, maybe we can do that some other time. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t about to crash right here, right now. I think I’ll head back to the stables and check out my roo— I mean, my stall.”
A shallow whinny escaped Rita’s lips and she flicked her tail up and down behind her in amusement. “Don’t worry, it took me a little while to get used to calling it a stall, too. Anyway, I totally understand. I might head over to the arena for a bit to see if any of my friends are over there, and, like I said, maybe work off some of tonight’s supper, but I’ll probably be hitting the hay – which is a literal term around here, by the way – soon enough. So what do you have planned for tomorrow?”
“I don’t know,” Trevor said. “Even though I planned to stay a week here as a horse all along, I didn’t exactly put much thought into what I’d be doing once I was on four legs. I was just going to kind of wing it until my time was up. Why?”
Rita tossed her head back and forth a bit, surprising Trevor at seeing the human gesture on a horse. “I don’t know. I just kind of hoped we might meet up again.”
A flutter of excitement raced down Trevor’s spine. He tried to contain it, but he still felt his tail twitch across his backside anyway. “I’d be fine with that,” he said coolly. “Maybe after you get done with your training session?”
“It’s a date,” Rita nickered, stamping a hoof in excitement. Before Trevor could react, she leaned over and rubbed the end of her muzzle against his.
Taking a deep breath and feeling his face get hot under the fur, Trevor bashfully bent his neck down and took one last mouthful of oats, relishing the lingering scent of Rita’s muzzle for a split second before it was replaced by the heavy accent of the oats.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you then,” he said before turning and walking out the barn. His tail flicked excitedly behind him as he tried to suppress the urge to gallop and, if possible, leap into the air and fly.