Hey! I wanted to get to this chapter, so I updated! i need 35 reviews bfore I update next! Sorry to threaten! Again, I need ideas for a new story, it'll be idealized by you guys, written by me! Pleeeese review this and my other story! -Ally
Diclaimer: Well, as much as it pains dramatic sigh me to write this, I do NOT own Heartland another dramatic sigh and you bloody hell bet if I did write it, Will wouldn't be there, but I do think he adds a certain trwist to the storys. I like those.
Recap:
"It's not just that. Ty loves Dylan, and it was so stupid for Mr. Baldwin to get drunk. I mean, on a race day. That probably killed Dylan." Amy put her head in her hands. She glared at each of the stable hands in turn and said, "We are going to cure him. I owe that much."
The stable hands nodded diligently. "Good. I'm happy we had this talk. Thank you and you may go." Amy said after taking in a deep breath."
They fanned out and left. Amy sat on top of the window seat and sighed heavily. She rubbed her temples and thought. I'm in way over my head. Amy thought. If her dad were here right now, he'd tell not to hesitate and face the problem head first. Okay, I'll do that... tomorrow
Amy hopped up and went to find her dad. Where has he been lately? He hadn't shown up for dinner yesterday night, but Amy wasn't suspicious. It's just that she hadn't seen him around the barn like she usually did.
"Mom?" Amy asked while knocking on her office door. "Where's dad?"
"He's in California." Marion replied, not even glancing up from her papers.
"California? Is he there to check out the new land you bought?" Amy asked.
"Yep, he'll be home Saturday night when you're out. But, listen, Amy, can you make dinner tonight? I let Helga go home, along with the chefs. I have a reception to go to at eight tonight; Lou won't be home, so it's just you and Alex. Can you handle that?" Marion asked.
"Yeah, mom, it's no problem. As long as I'm not going to the social party, I'm happy." Amy remembered the time her mouth ached from smiling so much as a social event like that.
"Okay. You can even invite one of your friends over. But, remember, Soroya's in D.C. for the afternoon visiting her aunt. Oh, and Amy," Marion called to Amy as she turned to leave.
"What?" Amy spun around.
"Sunday evening we have a meeting with The Dandridges. They have a son who's a senior, Jesse, I think his name is. Don't book that day, okay?" Marion asked.
"Okay. Thanks, mom. Love you." Amy left.
Marion came slowly down the stairs draped in a pearl colored, silk gown from Oscar de la Renta. Her Manolo Blahniks clicked against the hardwood flooring. "Bye, kids. Be good." Marion called as she slipped a matching shawl around her shoulders.
"When have we ever not been...?" Amy began. "Don't answer that." She finished with a smile.
Amy tried her hardest with spaghetti and meatballs and it didn't taste too bad. She rewarded Alex with ice cream after dinner for not throwing up while eating.
"Hey, Al, I'm going to call Bridget and her boyfriend Eric to invite them over. (a/n: I',m reading the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and I couldn't help but add this!)What are you going to do?" Amy asked while scrolling through her caller ID.
"I'll just hang out upstairs and play some Guitar Hero on my Xbox 360. I'll see you." Alex bounded along the right wing hallway and into the game room where his Xbox 360 was.
Amy pressed the call button and could hear the line ring.
"Hello?" Bridget said.
"Hey, Bee, what's up?" Amy asked.
"Amy! I'm good how about with you. But, anyway, why are you calling?" Bridget was always one to get down to the point.
"Oh, my mom said I could invite someone over and so I thought that you and Eric could come over." Amy said. She remembered talking the same way when she would call a friend to sleepover in fifth grade.
"Um, sure, hold on, let me ask Eric. He's here now." Bridget could be heard murmuring... Amy's, hang out, you and me and her. "Hey, Amy, Eric says yeah. We'll be there in fifteen minutes. But, he's kind of tired from soccer all day, and I am too, so can we just, like, play pool and watch a movie?"
"Yeah. I'm tired, too. New boarder and American History homework all in one day. I'm wiped." Amy teased.
"'Kay. We'll see you." Bridget hung up.
Bridget "Bee" was one of Amy's older friends. She was now twenty. Bridget's dad had a partnership with Heartland and Amy and Bridget got to know each other a lot. Bee was a soccer maniac, and so was her boyfriend Eric. They met at a soccer camp in Baja, Mexico the summer before Bridget turned sixteen. Eric was nice and cute and funny. He was also three years older than her. Amy never minded having him around.
Amy changed out of her polo and into a Powe[RED cut off tee shirt. She had got out the chips and soda and had cleaned up the in-home movie theater. Just as she gulped down a last sip of water, the door bell rang.
"Hey, Bee!" Amy hugged Bridget. "Hey, Eric. Whoa. You look toned. Soccer everyday?" Amy asked while giving him a hug.
"What else?" He laughed and put an arm around Bridget's waist.
"Okay. So, we brought the new 007 movie. I haven't seen it before and Di says it's a great movie, although Bond isn't as cute as he used to be." Bridget said.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Eric grabbed the movie from her and a bowl of Kettle Korn from the counter top. "Come on." Bridget rolled her eyes.
Bridget grabbed the Coke and Sprite and a bag of Doritos, and Amy carried in the Lays and the Cheetos. Eric handed Amy the movie and she popped it into the projector. Eric and Bridget snuggled up and Amy pulled a quilt over her jeans.
Fifteen minutes into the movie, Alex came in. Amy patted a spot next to her and he slid in. By the end of the movie, Bridget was asleep on Eric's shoulder. He carried her out and thanked Amy.
"She had a tournament game today. I can see why she's tired. Thanks, Amy. I'll tell Bee to call you." He hugged her with the remaining hand and left with Bridget and the movie.
"Bye, Eric." Amy called after him as he slipped Bridget into the passenger seat of his BMW X5.
Amy glanced at the clock: 9:30. There was still time to go out to the barn. Alex was in bed, and Amy snuck out. The cold air felt crisp and it sent an icy chill through her body. She crept back into the house and got a scarf.
Maybe I should go see Dylan. Amy thought. No, I'll deal with that tomorrow. She went into General's barn.
The horses looked up from they're late night awakening; it was long past they had been put to bed. Just a glance at Gen. She silently spoke.
She looked into the darkness and her eyes adjusted. The upper half of the half door had been secured in, but Amy could still see him through the vertical metal bars.
General had his head down, almost touching the straw bedding. He fidgeted massively after every breath. A couple of times he even threw his head up, yet, he was still asleep.
Amy glanced at his feed bucket. All empty. Amy quickly unfastened the bolt and slid in. She felt his heart: a little fast, but not life-threatening. His breathing seemed to be okay, but the fidgeting and head shaking seemed a little odd.
Amy had read about this before. She let herself out and jogged to the tack room. An article of a magazine raced through her mind. She found it in a copy of Vet Set: Horses. The snipped of the article that Amy needed read:
Does your horse have a tendency to move around a lot while sleeping?
You know he's asleep, but what's all the head-throwing for?
Your horse could be experiencing Caput Capitis Infirmo.
This happens when the horse has too much energy left over from the day; he must get this out somehow.
So, at night, he will show symptoms like shaking of the head, throwing up the head, fidgeting, twitching, and if you check his heart-rate, it will be slightly faster than usual.
The only way to cure this is to take away the thing that is causing him so much extra energy.
His food may be the problem, or if he is a rambunctious horse, and has been locked up all day, he has energy to spare.
Change his feed-plan, let him roam out doors, do anything you can thing of to collapse all that extra energy.
Watch Vet Set: Horses on RFD at seven p.m. nightly.
Amy knew it must have something to do with his killer feed plan! Then, she remembered that Don said they had some already mixed up for tomorrow. Breaking her promise to her mom, she turned into the feed room and saw his buckets filled with grains.
She poured the bucket out on the chopping table covered with wax paper. She took a quarter of each of the servings of his regular food and added in Marion's recipe for jittery horses: Ramfaw mush at the bottom.
The name Ramfaw came from all the ingredients in it. Amy also poured in a quarter cup of natural herb pills. They looked exactly like the Body Boost caplets.
Satisfied, she added two drops of Red Chestnut and Crab Apple just to cleanse out the unwanted energy. She shook around the bucket a little just to make it appear normal. Once happy with that, she did the same to the rest of General's pre-made feeds. She planned to sneak in every night and change the feed if she had to.
Amy walked up to the house and collapsed into sleep on the L-shaped sofa without even changing into her pajamas.
At school there was a teacher meeting day, which meant no school. Amy used those extra hours to sleep in. Even though she got more than nine hours sleep usually every night, horses were a big job and, so, she accepted sleep graciously.
After wakening at about twelve, Amy changed into a bikini and picked up her cell phone. She dialed Soroya who should have gotten back from D.C. a couple hours earlier.
"Soroya, do you want to go for a swim? I need a little down time." Amy said.
"Yeah, sure. Visiting my grandparents was so boring. I mean, I love them to death, but the only thing my grandpa likes to watch on TV is All My Children. And they live, like, in the middle of nowhere in D.C. There's the White House. Why couldn't we have gone there?" Soroya complained.
"Meet me in ten?" Amy asked, laughing at Soroya's rants.
"You bet." Soroya said before a faint click could be heard and Amy hung up the phone.
Amy went outside and turned on the Jacuzzi heater. She felt the temperature of the pool and thought it as okay. Soroya came in time and met Amy in the kitchen.
"Hey, Amy. What happened to all the chips?" Soroya asked, searching through the cupboards.
"Bee and Eric came over last night when Mom went out. What can I say? Eric loves his Kettle Korn." Amy and Soroya laughed. Soroya wasn't really good friends with Bridget and Eric, but they got along nicely.
Amy and Soroya sat on the pool chairs outside. Soroya seemed to be miles away. Amy realized why.
"I'll jump in if you do." Amy turned to face Soroya who was looking longingly out at the pool. Soroya smiled and nodded. "Go!" They landed in with a splash.
Amy rose to the surface and flipped her hair back. She sighed. "That was just what I needed." Soroya signaled her to sit on the steps with her.
They swam races and relaxed on top of floating chairs. As they were sitting in the Jacuzzi talking abut Soroya's trip, Amy looked at the clock above the pool house: 4:00.
That gave them three and a half hours to get ready for the date. Amy and Soroya laid out they're towels and tried to get a tan. It was around five when Soroya announced, "I'm about as prune-y as a raisin, so, let's go, Amy."
Amy and Soroya hung their towels on the heated metal dryers and went inside. Soroya pulled on a knee-length Calvin Kline skirt, and left her O' Neil bikini on.
Amy slid into an eyelet summer breezy dress. "Well, you need an hour and a half to get ready, so we have half an hour to kill. Let's play pool." Soroya said.
Amy was solids and Soroya stripes, and Amy creamed Soroya. She did have the home court advantage... well, sort of.
"Amy. Time to get ready, Amy!" Soroya ran up the right side of the double stair-case and straight into Amy's room. Although she couldn't see it, Amy knew she probably ran straight into her closet.
Soroya couldn't stop fidgeting as Amy tried on the dress with the leggings and the heels for the first time. "Omigosh!" Soroya screamed when she saw Amy. Amy sashayed and twirled.
"Well, if the glove fits, wear it!" Amy declared. The dress did look absolutely stunning on her.
"It's time for make-up and hair." Soroya ordered Amy into a swivel chair in front of Amy's vanity mirror. Soroya attacked her with a curling iron and when she was finished, Amy looked at herself in the mirror.
The curls were free and bouncy, not over doing it; they framed her face and drew attention to her cheeks. Amy's hair looked like a more relaxed version of Farrah Fawcett, well, maybe that was over doing it. Her hair wasn't as wild and out there as that. More like Michelle Trachtenberg in the article "What's your Curled Style?" of Seventeen Magazine.
Soroya swiveled her around again and applied light make up. A little, thin line of eyeliner above her eyes and smoky, gray-opaque-blue eye shadow brought out her gray eyes. Soroya swept a blush-brush across her cheek bones. After a smooth touch of mascara, Soroya put on Hebe shade lipstick and a hint of Marzipan Estee Lauder lip gloss over that to make it shine.
Amy turned to look at herself as Soroya snapped on a gold chain Chanel necklace around her neck and a black-with-white polka dots Chanel barrette. "Amy, you look stunning." Soroya said to Amy.
"I know, right!" Amy teased. Amy glanced at her Police Belle Glamour Watch to the time, which was nearing eight o'clock.
"One last final touch..." Soroya's voice drifted away as she searched Amy's vanity for something. She held out a perfume bottle of Hermès' 24 Faubourg, an expensive perfume, and Amy's favorite. It had to be flown in from New York especially. But, she didn't get it that often. Soroya sprayed a spritz of the rose, iris, and orange flower-smelling perfume.
Amy's nails, which Soroya had pained black to match the dress, were wet when Amy's phone rang "Dance, Dance."
"Hello?" Amy asked, holding the phone in an awkward position so her nails wouldn't ruin.
"Hey, Amy, I'll be there in five minutes. I go off the freeway on exit 22, right?" He asked.
"Chris, you don't now you're way around Virginia...? Oh, right, you just moved to this county. Yep, you exit on the 22nd exit. See you." Amy said and hung up.
"That was him. He'll be here in five minutes, if he doesn't get lost..." Amy said.
"Well, hopefully he carries a Thomas Guide." Soroya said and she and Amy laughed, because they didn't make Thomas Guides in this section of the United States.
About fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang and took a while to reach Amy's room. "That's him!" Soroya screeched.
Amy positioned herself at the top of the right side of the double staircase and told Lucy, the housekeeper, to open it. Amy smiled as she saw Chris' look of surprise when he saw it was Lucy opening the door, not Amy.
"I'm up here." Amy called. Chris looked up and smiled.
"You look great." Chris said.
"Thanks." Amy blushed.
"Sorry I'm a little off schedule, I got lost and exited at the wrong time. Plus, it's easy to get lost around here." Chris motioned to Heartland.
Amy smiled. "You like?" She asked.
He nodded. "Impressive. Well, of course, not as great as my place, but, you know, it's okay for you." He teased.
"That's nice." Amy said sarcastically.
"So, you ready to go? I have something nice planned for us." He said.
"Oh, really?" Amy asked.
"Really." He replied.
She grabbed her coat and tucked her scarf into her LV purse, just incase she'd need it.
As they walked out the door, Don came running towards them. "Ms. Fleming, we need you!" He called, out of breath.
"What?" She asked.
"General is acting up; I think something must be wrong." He said.
"Uh oh..." She said, knowing what the problem would be. "Come on, Chris." She dragged him off to barn three. "Sorry, but I have to handle this. Oh, my shoes!" She cried. "Never mind, horses come first." She said to herself.
She came up to his stall and watched him prancing about. "Well, if this happened to one of our horses, it would probably be from a change of feed rapidly. Like, you know, not gradually adding and taking different feeds, but adding and taking all at once." Chris said. Amy wished right now that he hadn't had said that.
"Um, look, he's just prancing because he's happy, we'll see how this progresses, and when I come home, we'll see what has happened, okay? Fair deal? Great! Bye. Come on, Chris." Amy dragged Chris to his car.
"Whoa, Amy, hold up. Did something happen?" He asked.
"No, just, um, his owner said that, um, something like that might happen and a vet's, erm, checked him out already and said there's, um, nothing wrong." Amy said.
"Well, if you say so..." He ran a hand through his dirty blond, wavy hair.
God, he looks great when he does that. Amy thought and shook her head as if to clear the thought.
"Come on." Chris slipped his hand through hers and led her to his car, a vintage Bentley.
"Your car?" Amy asked, curious.
"It's my dad's. I only get to take it out about every time Halley's Comet flies, so good for us." He joked.
He opened the passenger door for her and she sat down. He ran around the back and slid in himself. He turned the radio up and Amy glanced at his profile. He caught her in the corner of his eye.
"What? Is there something on my face?" He asked, wiping off his mouth.
Amy smiled comically and shook her head. "So, where, exactly are we going?" She asked.
"You'll see soon enough." He said and slyly smiled.
Amy pretended to pout, but when Shiny Toy Guns' song, "You Are the One" came on, she couldn't resist singing along, and Chris joined in.
After about ten minutes of driving. Amy asked, "Are we, like, going to Tennessee, or something? Because this is taking an awfully long time. You should know now that I'm not very patient."
"I'm the same way. I totally understand, but hold on just a couple more minutes." He said.
He clicked on his right blinker and turned into a branching road. A big, wrought iron gate could be seen as an archway and he pulled up to one of those small boxes with buttons to call a resident. He pressed button number three and the gates swung open with a monotone groan.
They went up at a slight angle and finally Amy saw it. A great big Spanish-styled mission building glittered with those Christmas-like lights that you hang up, except these were all just plain yellow-whitish bulbs. They were on a promontory. But, Amy looked to the east and saw an amazing view: glistening water, bright against the sunset. Gulls were flying in the distance and two male surfers were checking out the waves.
Amy cast a glance at the surfers. One of them looked about ten or eleven. The other guy was probably about eighteen, Amy guessed. He was helping the littler guy onto his surf board.
"Hold on a second, Amy." Chris broke her out of her thoughts.
"Okay." She said, and turned back to the surfer dudes.
The older boy had blondish-light brown hair and square shoulders. And, phew, did he look hot in that wet suit. Amy watched him, apparently showing an example to the other boy, paddle out to sea and turn around. Amy kept watching him and he caught her eye. Amy desperately wanted to turn away, but she locked eye contact with him. He smiled. A great, sexy smile... The younger boy turned to sea what he was looking at and rolled his eyes. They kept watching each other for a while. All of a sudden, the wave he had been waiting for came and washed him off his board. He had been too preoccupied looking at her to notice it. The younger guy got off his board and helped him out. That had broken the contact between Amy and the mysterious guy. Amy looked at the ground.
Note to self: get the address here and find out who that guy is. Amy thought. A tap on her shoulder surprised her and she squeaked a small, high-pitched scream. "Oh, sorry." She said, blushing, to Chris who had come over.
"No problem. Out table is ready." He said he walked up a dirt path and indicated for her to follow. A small iron table for two was set up near the edge of the cliff.
"This is amazing." She said, and meant it.
"Yeah, well, this is our beach-front house. I like it up here. It's great for a break on the weekends." Chris said.
"Yeah, well," Amy teased, "my favorite thinking house is my house in Aspen."
"We have one up there." He said, and was totally serious.
A short, lean waiter came up and said, "Master Wilson, Missus, your menus." He bowed out. Amy quickly skimmed the menu and chose a Fillet Salmon salad. Chris had a roast pork chop. The mien was dense and awkward. Occasionally Chris or Amy would say something and they would start a short conversation or laugh a bit. By the time Amy was full, the air was crisply cold and stung Amy's eyes as they walked along the boundary of the cliff.
"Well, Amy, I think we should get you home." Chris announced.
Amy smiled and nodded. "I had a great time."
"Me too, it was fun. I got to know you a lot better." He said.
On the ride back, Amy ran the daily events over in her head. No chemistry. We could be great friends, but I don't feel anything...
"We're here." Chris said. He came around and helped her out.
"Well, um... thanks, Chris. I had a great time and you're a great guy, but, I, I don't... you know?" She asked, hoping he'd understand.
He nodded. "Yeah. Friends?" He held out his hand. Cheesy. Amy hugged him.
"Yeah. And I know, out there, is some girl who will love you. Bye, Chris, and, well, you know what they say: 'You'll never know until you've tried.'" Amy said.
"We gave it a shot and, well, thanks, Amy. I'll see you on Monday." Chris headed back to his car and they waved as he drove down the driveway.
Amy was glad it all worked out. Goodness, she didn't know what she would've done if it hadn't. And, this took off one more of her burdens, the race. Now she knew who she was going with and there were no conflicting dramas. She went to her room, knowing Soroya would be waiting, pretending to be all nonchalant, but really bubbling with questions since seeing the come home.
She flung open the door and Soroya ran at her. "OMIGOSH! What happened?!" She screamed.
Just so you know, ending it with Soroya opening the door screaming OMIGOSH!, nothing bad happened to Amy. Soroya was jsut excited to know what happenedas all best friends are... REVIEW (35) -Ally
P.S. And just so you know, the surfer guy does not represent Amy flirting with every guy she sees, that part will have a point in later chapters... can you guess???