Free Clover by Braxton Cole

hard he couldn’t hear himself yelling Clover’s name. He climbed down as quickly as he could, and his grip slipped twice from trying to move too fast. R.J. beat him to the bottom by several seconds and he shook Clover. Her body was limp.
    Jake yelled her name a couple more times, close enough to her ear that she would have smacked the crap out of him had she been awake. She didn’t respond. What should he do? He inhaled and tried to calm his mind. R.J. was too young to be useful and Clover definitely needed one of them to figure this out.
    “She won’t wake up.” R.J. shook Clover again.
    “Stop shaking her.” Jake knew that much from watching TV. If you shake a person too much, her brain could end up completely scrambled.
    “What do we do?” R.J. released his sister and grabbed Jake’s arm. His fingernails dug in.
    They needed to get help and the longer Jake waited, the worse it could be for Clover. Should he send R.J.? He could probably find the house, but what if he couldn’t find his way back? That meant Jake had to go. Clover would kill him for leaving R.J. alone, but what choice did he have? One of them had to get help and one of them had to stay with Clover so she wouldn’t wake up alone.
    “I’m going to run to my house,” Jake said with as much confidence as he could manage. He wanted R.J. to trust his plan even though he himself had huge doubts about it.
    “I’ll go with you.” R.J. stood up and brushed off his pants.
    “No. You have to stay here and take care of Clover.”
    “I don’t want to. I don’t like the way she looks. It’s scaring me.” R.J. wiped his nose on the back of his hand.
    “It’s scaring me, too. That’s why I need to get help, but we can’t leave her here by herself. Do you want her to wake up all alone?”
    R.J. sniffled and shook his head.
    “I need you to be brave. For Clover.”
    “Okay.” He shook his head again, but at least he agreed.
    Jake placed his shaking hands on R.J.’s shoulders. “I’m proud of you.”
    And then he ran before R.J. could change his mind, Jake ran as fast as he could. When his lungs and his legs started to burn, he kept running. Clover needed him.

Chapter 13
    Present Day
     
    Jake ran his comb through his hair again, trying to get it to do anything besides just lay there the way it always did. He’d been so embarrassed when R.J. pointed out the hay in his hair yesterday, and absolutely mortified when Clover pulled out that first piece. She’d looked amused, and slightly turned on as she’d finger-combed the rest out, but he’d felt like a baboon waiting for its mom to finish grooming him, clumsy and unkempt and totally outclassed.
    Clover had finally looked at him like he was something other than a little kid and he’d smelled like a barnyard and had evidence to confirm it sticking out of his hair. Still, she’d climbed in over the top of him, then left again the same way.
    Then last night had happened. He couldn’t believe he’d kissed her. More than kissed her, really. If he’d been a little more confident, and a little less of a sexual idiot, he could have done a lot more. She’d been willing and he’d blown it. What kind of guy stops a hot girl like Clover just so they can talk about it?
    She hadn’t seemed to mind, though. She’d sat with him, talked about his concerns, kissed him some more, and even eaten the silly sandwiches.
    Jake gave up on his hair. Nothing he could do was going to persuade it to do anything beyond the normal. He spritzed himself with body spray and did a breath check. Clover had agreed to let him give her a ride again today. He wasn’t going to show up smelling like work again.
    Maybe he’d get lucky and her dad would delay getting her car fixed until summer was over. He’d take whatever excuse he could get to spend time with her. He tossed a towel and his bathing suit in a bag and headed out.
    His aunt Tammy exited the barn at the same time he left the house. She met him at the truck.