“Ok,
fine. Maybe it wouldn’t kill me to learn how to use a gun, but does it have to
be him? Why can’t you teach me, I mean he’s such an ass.” I said to Lucas, as I
stood from my seat on the forest floor.
With a
small laugh Lucas replied, “Believe it or not but Daniel is a better shot than
I am.”
Picking
up the clean pan off the grass, we both walked back around, to the front of the
cabin.
“You
ready?” at the question, Lucas and I both turned around in the direction of the
voice, and saw Daniel, leaning on one of the hundreds of trees that surrounded
the cabin.
“Ready
for what?” I asked Daniel, as I tried to contain the annoyance in me, he seemed
to invoke whenever he opened his mouth.
“For
your first lesson.” Daniel casually answered, lifting his hand and showing me
my grandfather’s gun.
Looking
over at Lucas, the amused expression on his face quickly died as he caught the
glare I threw at him. Using my gun Daniel pointed to a tree more than a couple
feet away, with a bull’s-eye carved about 5 feet up, into the thick dark bark.
“It’s
ok. Lucas said he’d teach me.” I said with a feigned confidence.
“I said,
what now?” Lucas asked in surprise.
“Lucas
has other obligations that need his attention.” Daniel said to me, his gaze locking
onto Lucas’ “I said I’d teach you, let’s go.”
Shifting
between them both, I watched as they traded intense glances until finally Lucas
walked off into the cabin, without a word.
“What
the hell just happened?” I asked, confused about his sudden behavior.
“Nothing.”
Daniel replied before walking over to me.
Holding
out my gramps- my gun in front of me, I took the revolver from him and watched
from my peripheral vision as Daniel walked around to stand at my back.
“Do you
know how to clean a revolver? How to take the safety off and put in the
bullets?” Daniel asked, as he reached for my arm from behind.
Pulling
away from his touch I answered, “Yeah, gramps showed me a few times, not really
rocket science.”
“Good,
then we don’t need to start from scratch.” He added, before grabbing my arm
once more.
Lifting
my right arm up from behind me, Daniel held it out towards the tree’s carved
target. Leaning in close I felt his left hand lightly rest on my waist, “Don’t
be so stiff, relax.” Daniel softly whispered in my ear.
Taking
a deep breath I let my body soften and adjusted my hold on the gun’s hilt.
Focusing
on the middle of the target, I held firm and pulled the trigger. The loud crack
as the bullet fired, along with the slight recoil made me step back into
Daniel.
“Not
bad for a first try.” Daniel said as his arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me
balanced.
Looking
over at the trees target, I saw that not only did I miss the center of the
target but the entire target itself and hit the tree a few inches to the right.
“My god
I suck.” I laughingly said, as I turned to Daniel and saw he had the same
amused smile on his face.
Looking
up at him and those beautiful dimples, his arms still wrapped around me from
behind and his face so close to mine, I was thankful for the sound of someone
clearing their throat.
My head
snapped across to the right to Lucas, as he turned away from me and Daniel
towards the missed target. Stepping out of Daniel’s arms and putting some space
between us I said “I think you were right.”
“As I
usually am about most things,” Lucas smugly replied over his shoulder, “but to
what in particular, would you be referring to?”
“About
me learning to shoot, if you hadn’t persuaded me to, we would have never known
how truly bad I am at it.” I laughingly said to him.
“Ahhh
yes, well your welcome then.” Lucas said with a small smile, facing me.
“Ok,
breaks over. Gear up for round 2. Don’t stop after you fire the first shot this
time, keep going till there’s no more rounds.” Daniel sternly said, as he took a step back from me.
