Page 15 of Flowers To Give

“Ha!” Clark calls out after him.

Getting up on his own saddle, he gets in line with the other wranglers and Eneki. He instructs them all on the route they’ll take, finishing by telling them, “Guys, stick close to your partner. Remember: if they’re not in sight, something’s not right.”

Jeremy takes that warning to heart, continually glancing over to Clark beside him as they walk in a line of two down the town’s streets and onto the tropically forested trail. Somehow, the actorcompliments the thoroughbred so well that Haukea looks extra majestic. The handsome man and his horse look as if they were meant to ride together. As they make it past the gate of Kualoa Ranch, Clark looks over to Jeremy and catches him staring. He quickly looks away, readjusting on his seat and gnawing on a peppermint toothpick.

“Hey,” Clark gets his attention again.

Jeremy answers without looking back, “Yeah?”

“I gotta take a leak,” Clark says, moving Haukea out of line and into some thicket.

Following closely behind, Clark looks over his shoulder and scowls, “What are you doing?”

“Eneki said not to separate.”

“Well what do you want, to hold my dick while I piss? Just chill here, I’ll be right back.”

Jeremy rolls his eyes as Clark disappears behind some brush, calling out, “Alright, just hurry up! I don’t want to lose the group.”

But the group does travel on out of sight, Kau shifting her weight impatiently as the minutes drag on. Worst case scenarios tumble through Jeremy’s head and he begins to worry. Anxiously splitting the used toothpick in half and pocketing it, he decides to go look for Clark but panic starts to set in when there’s no sight of him in the first few hundred yards. Continuing to search, there’s the sound of rushing water up ahead and Jeremy hurries to the noise.

Following his instincts work, Haukea’s cream colored tail swishing in the distance. Jeremy trots closer, calling out, “Clark! The fuck?”

“There you are,” the actor looks behind his shoulder and smiles to Jeremy as if he’d been waiting for him, “Come check this out.”

Jeremy huffs, going over to Clark’s side at a cliff’s edge with a fat scowl, “What?”

“Look!” Clark gestures in front of them.

His gaze briefly shifts before he does a double take at the wide and awesome waterfall gushing downward into a the greenery below. Jeremy blinks and gazes in awe, “Holy shit.”

“Right?” Clark’s voice has a smile in it. There’s a long pause and Jeremy looks over to find Clark taking his picture with a small film camera. He tilts his hat down to hide his eyes and looks away again, blushing. Clark says, “C’mon, race ya back to the group.”

“Nah, we should take it slow,” Jeremy looks back at him seriously, “Who knows where the cliff’s edge is around here.”

Clark rolls his eyes, “Why are you being such a buzzkill today?”

“You asked me to come here with you, so just listen to me about this stuff, okay?”

“Fine,” he groans, turning Haukea around, “But let me tell you, you’re missing out. These thoroughbreds can really-”

Haukea neighs and throws her head, Jeremy looking down in a split second to see her back hoof sinking as the ground crumbles underneath her. Immediately, he pushes Kau closer to grab the side of Haukea’s headpiece and yank her forward as Kau trots backward. He tugs them away from the falling edge and back to the thick tree line.

Clark looks behind him to where the rocks are still falling, eyes wide and face pale as he glances back at Jeremy, “Oh my god.”

“You okay?” Jeremy asks, heart racing and eyes searching Clark’s closed off face.

He hands the reins back and Clark nods his head, taking a moment to breathe before answering, “Yeah. That was crazy.”

“Let’s just watch our step until we get back to the trail,” Jeremy advises, wanting to get as far away from the delicate cliff’s edge as possible.

They walk along side by side in silence for a bit, Jeremy keeping his eyes peeled on the thicket, when Clark suddenly says, “You saved my life.”

“Haukea was just spooked at first,” Jeremy deflects, “She was the one that carried you outta there.”

Clark, for once, doesn’t have a response. They continue on in contemplative silence, making it back to the group as they’re all sitting in a pasture for lunch. Clark puts on a happy face with his co-star, sitting with her and chatting. Eneki approaches Jeremy with a sandwich wrapped in foil, offering it as he asks, “And where did you guys run off to?”

“Clark went to hit the head and got lost. Sorry about that,” Jeremy answers simply and bites his lip. Eneki gives him a once over, puckering his lips and nodding as if he half believes him. Jeremy distracts by asking, “So, we miss anything?”