Authors Note
Okay so the last chapter was totally stupid but I think every story needs a stupid, pointless chapter now and than, don't you? It makes it interesting. I hope you like this chapter though! Review!
Important: You've probably noticed that Amy and Ty are not really 'in character'. But as this story says on the summary page this is an 'AU' fanfiction (which means Alternate Universe if you didn't know). I am making Ty and Amy act the way I want them to because it is my story and because that is just how I think they should act. I don't mean to sound bitchy so sorry if it came across that way I just felt like it needed to be said.
I'm REALLY sorry I didn't update sooner like I said I was going to. You see I have the worst relationship possible with my 'dad' and he's constantly calling he names, telling me I'm depressed and saying every word that comes out of my mouth is a lie. I want to go to private school for high school and he doesn't want me to because some fucking stupid reasons that have nothing to do with it, my favorite is that he says because he had a bad high school experience and therefore I should to. Whatever, so anyway, long story short he came over here to talk to my mom and well… I heard EVERYTHING he had to say, from my spot down the hall, and well… it hurt a bit and I refused to go to his house. I went out with my mom and step-dad, who I have a great relationship with, and saw The Pink Panther, which was totally stupid but funny. When I got home I typed for the longest time to get this finished. Writing and listening to music always calm me down. So again I'm really sorry that it was not up sooner but I hope you like it anyway and I didn't mean to bore you with my fucking life so on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: Based loosely on characters created and owned by Lauren Brooke.
!#$&
Chapter 9
Still Friday
Turns out our fun was short lived because while we were still lying on the mat gasping for breath the Principal, Mrs. Pierce, came over to us, her high heels clicking annoyingly on the tiled floor.
"Ms. Fleming, Mr. Baldwin that is unacceptable behavior and this school will not tolerate it!" her voice echoed shrilly around the now silent gymnasium.
Uh oh…
Ty quickly stood up and reached a hand down to pull me up next to him.
"Our students do not conduct themselves like animals!" She continued.
"Aw come on Mrs. P," Ty began, "We were just goofing around, you know, getting into the spirit of the upcoming game."
"You could have seriously hurt yourself or Ms. Fleming! I do not call that 'goofing around'."
"Well we-we're okay," I offered boldly looking at Ty for support.
"Yeah," Ty quickly agreed, "We're fine, no one's hurt here!"
"I'm afraid this calls for a detention of both your parts," Mrs. Pierce said sternly.
Oh shit, I've never gotten detention before! It so figures that the first month at a new school I end up getting one. Ty didn't look too pleased with this turn of events either.
"Hey Eleanor," Ty's football coach, Mr. Jones, addressed Mrs. Pierce as he walked over to join us. "They were just fooling around, you know how kids are these days," he joked but received a stern look from Mrs. Pierce. "Besides," he continued, "You don't really want to give the star player of your school's football team a detention two days before a big game, do you?"
Mrs. Pierce held us under her scrutinizing gaze for a moment before she sighed and said, "I suppose you're right," to Mr. Jones. Than she turned to Ty and me and said, "You won't get a detention this time but if I ever see a stunt like that pulled in my school again I can assure you that you will."
Oh my god, I love you Mr. Jones! And before you say anything it's not like Mr. Jones is old and fat, he is only like 30 and quite fit if I may say so myself. But still, EW, he's a teacher! I think I'll stick with Ty, not that that's any real hardship.
I sighed in relief and glanced at Ty who grinned at me.
"But this pep rally is over. Mr. Baldwin you will go and get changed and Ms. Fleming you will wait outside," Mrs. Pierce said.
"That's fine," Mr. Jones answered. "We were just about to wrap it up anyway."
I followed Ty out of the gym. We exited to loud cheers and I waved. It was still fun even if we had gotten in trouble with Mrs. Pierce.
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed once we were safely out of the doors. "That was so much fun!" I laughed.
"Yeah it was," Ty agreed.
Than I hit him in the chest, "Why'd you do that? I almost got in trouble!"
Ty mock rolled his eyes, "Hey, I was just going to put you on my shoulders, you're the one who wanted to go faster! And you told me to do that jump," Ty reminded me.
"That's not what I meant!" I laughed again. "I meant why'd you even want me to come down in the first place?"
"Well because I thought it would be fun and I didn't really want to find out what would happen if I was left down there all alone with Ashley," he added quickly.
We stopped in front of the doors that led to the football team's locker rooms.
"So I guess I'll see you later on tonight than?" I asked him getting ready to say goodbye.
"Hold on, wait for me to change. I'll only be five minutes."
"Okay," I said as Ty disappeared through the locker room's doors. I leaned against the wall prepared to wait. It wasn't a long wait though because about 5 minutes later Ty reappeared by my side looking totally hot in a pair of jeans and his white and green football jersey.
He caught me looking at his jersey and just shrugged his perfect shoulders, "We always wear our jerseys before games."
"Cool."
"So are you going to wear yours?" he asked suddenly.
"Huh?"
"I mean are you going to wear the jersey I gave you to the game on Sunday?"
"Oh yeah, defiantly," I agreed.
We than set off down the hallway, leaving the gym that was still exploding with noise as the last few cheers were done, behind, laughing about what we had just done.
!#$&
Later that night, 6:30
"Amy!" my dad yelled up the stairs to my room. "Ty's here!"
I looked at the digital clock on my bedside table, 6:30. He's right on time.
"Coming!" I called back. I stood in front of the big, floor length mirrors in my bathroom. I looked at myself from all different angles, I hope I looked okay. (a/n: I don't wear any makeup so I have no idea what I'm talking about and that is why Amy hardly ever wears any! But you can give Amy whatever kind of makeup you want, doesn't really matter) I was wearing a midnight blue, velvet dress that ended at my knees and had tiny, little straps. I had on strappy, black heels. After messing around with my hairs for the longest time I finally decided to just leave it down and let it softly curl naturally around my shoulders.
Finally I stepped out of my bathroom and shut the light off. I grabbed my black pea-coat from my closet and slipped it on. Before I left my room I picked up my black Coach bag from my desk.
I walked down the hallway and down the grand, hard wood staircase. My heels clicked on the mahogany wood, I hope they didn't sound as annoying as Mrs. Pierce's had earlier today.
When I was about halfway down Ty looked up from where he had been standing in the entrance way talking with my parents. "Hey!" he said brightly and I felt his eyes running appraisingly over my body. "You like nice," he said as I came and stood next to him.
I smiled softly and said, "Thanks, so do you." He was wearing a pair of black slacks with a dark green button down shirt that totally set of his amazing eyes. So yeah… he looked pretty damn hot.
"You ready to go?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I agreed, I was a little nervous for two reasons. 1- I was about to meet the Baldwin's and 2- I really wanted them to like me. "Let's go."
"Well you kids have fun," my dad said as he opened the door and herded us out into the cool beginning of fall night. Boy he really sounded like a parent right there.
"Drive carefully," my mum called after us.
Once the door had closed behind us I groaned, "Sorry about them."
Ty looked down at me curiously, "What for? I thought they were nice."
I shrugged, "They're just… I don't know, parents."
Ty laughed, "You're cute with them. You get along really good."
"Do you get on good with your parents?" I asked curiously.
Ty paused for a moment before replying. "Generally yes, I have a very good relationship with my dad but my mom… well my mom is a bit set in her own ways. We're good though, but I suppose we've had our share of problems," he said thoughtfully.
"Oh," was all I said. Well I hope she likes me.
"Just the normal stuff though," Ty added.
"I hope they like me," I said worriedly as we reached Ty's black Cadillac Escalade EXT (a/n: that's the one with the truck bed in the back, I finally found out the name! I LOVE this car! It's SO hot! Just like Ty wink, wink).
As Ty opened the passenger side door for me he said, "I wouldn't worry about, I'm sure they'll love you." He helped me into the car before he closed the door and walked around the front of the car and slid into the driver's seat.
He put the keys in the ignition, backed up and soon we were on our way to Baldwin Ways, or Ty's house, which ever you prefer.
About 10 minutes later we were pulling into the circular driveway in front of Ty's house… ha palace is more like it. Just the size though because it didn't have a moat or towers or weird things on the roof… thank god. On one side of the house another drive branched of from the circle and Ty drove down there. We pulled up besides a garage, I use the term very loosely, that looked like it could house 15 cars, easily. Even their cars had their own house! When I mentioned this to Ty he just laughed loudly. Ty, however, did not pull into the garage but parked in the driveway like a normal person would do at a normal house. Ha-ha normal, that's a good one!
Ty shut of the car and quickly got out. I undid my seatbelt and just as I was about to open my door to get out Ty ran around the front of the car and opened it for me. He grinned at me and held out his hand to help me. "Ma'am," he said with a very fake and a very exaggerated English accent. I couldn't help but laugh as I took his hand and let him help me down even though I could have easily done it myself.
Ty's arm slipped around my waist as we walked to the front entrance of the house.
As we neared the front terrace I felt the butterflies return to my stomach. I looked down at my dress and absently smoothed it down with my hands. "Are you sure I look okay?" I asked Ty nervously.
"You look amazing," Ty replied. "Don't worry so much, they'll love you," he assured me again.
"Are you sure?" I asked doubtfully. "I mean after all they are…"
Ty laughed and cut me off, "Yeah I know, they're the Baldwin's, billionaires and the Bill Gates off horse racing. They've given horse racing a new meaning," he sounded like he was quoting a newspaper or magazine article. "But under all the fame and fortune they're just normal people, trust me. I've lived with them for 17 years."
"Okay…" I trailed off. Ty's words had helped a bit but I was still nervous! Who wouldn't be?
As soon as we stepped in front of the door it swung open and we were faced by a woman who looked like she was in her late 40's maybe. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a white button down shirt so I'm presuming she was a maid or a door person or whatever.
"Good evening Master Tyler," she greeted Ty as we stepped into the grand entrance way. Whoa, Master Tyler? They've sure got some help… "If I may take your coats." I handed her my coat and Ty did the same. "I'll take your purse Miss," she addressed me and I handed her my bag. "Master Bradley, Lady Elizabeth and Master Lee are in the main sitting room," she informed us before heading off down a hall to, I presume, put our coats in a closet or something.
"Who was that?" I whispered to Ty as he put a hand on my back and guided me down a different hall than the one the maid had just taken.
Ty laughed, "That was Lucinda, one of the maids." He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. I mean at Heartland we have people who clean for us and occasionally do the cooking because my mom isn't a great cook and we aren't exactly 'roughing' it if you know what I mean but we don't have the whole army of staff I'm positive the Baldwin's have.
"Oh okay." Than I added with a smirk, "Master Tyler."
Ty groaned, "Please don't. Lucinda insists on calling me that, I hate it but I've gotten used to it."
Finally we reached what Lucinda had called the main 'sitting' room. It was huge! The walls were painted an off white color and there were a lot of famous and expensive paintings of horses grazing in fields, running, being riding, you name it exquisitely framed around the walls. There was one of one of their horses winning the Triple Crown with the blanket of white carnations over his back. The Baldwin's were surrounding the horse and jockey and Ty and his brother Lee were proudly holding the trophy. There was also a bunch of different sculptures of horses in various settings and poses. In the middle of one wall there was a big, stone fireplace and the mantle was dotted with various photographs. Hanging over the mantle piece was a huge painting of Ty and his family, it looked like it had been done a while ago, Ty looked about 10 in it. Aw he was so cute! The floor was a dark hardwood and in the center of the room there was a dark green oriental carpet and on top of it was a black leather sofa, two recliners, and a mahogany coffee table with a glass top. The far wall held a huge sliding door that allowed you to see an extensive patio, sprawling green backyard and a very large, practically Olympic sized swimming pool. From the windows hung dark green velvet curtains, dark green was the Baldwin Way's color, like on their emblem that was the color so a lot of their stuff was dark green. However, I did notice that the room did not have a TV, but I suppose they have a TV room… or 20 as the case may be.
"Ah you're finally here!" a warm masculine voice exclaimed. I looked over and saw the voice had come from a man sitting in one of the recliners. I took this to be Ty's dad, Bradley Baldwin. He looked like he was in his 40's; he was tall and well built with thinning dark brown hair and vibrant green eyes. He looked like an older version of Ty. He was wearing a simple pair of khaki pants and a navy button down. He got up from his chair and walked towards us. He extended a hand towards me and said, "Hi I'm Brad."
I put my hand in his and he shook it firmly, "It's wonderful to meet you Mr. Baldwin. I'm Amy Fleming."
Mr. Baldwin smiled warmly and replied, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you to Amy, we've heard all about you. But you must call me Brad, I insist. And this," he took my arm and led me over to the couch where a woman was sitting. She got up as we approached. "Is my wife Elizabeth."
So this was Ty's mom, she was also tall and slender, just like her son and husband but she was skinnier, obviously. She had shoulder length light brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a simple, but I'm sure was very expensive and most defiantly designer, turquoise top that set off her eyes. She smiled at me revealing two perfect rows of white teeth, "Welcome it's so good to have you here!" she said brightly as her eyes ran over me as if appraising a horse she might but. She held out her hand and I shook it, "Call me Liz," she told me but unlike her husband I noticed it didn't come so freely but I tried to ignore it. She took a sip from her glass of red wine.
"Thank you for having me. It's so nice to meet you," I said sincerely.
Just that Ty's brother Lee ambled casually into the room, "When's dinner?" he yawned.
"Oh Lee," Mrs. Baldwin, er Liz, sighed. "I thought I told you to change for dinner."
"I did change for dinner," Lee replied and flashed her a smile. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black button down and a black tie.
"You look like you're going to a funeral!" Liz complained.
Lee ignored her and his eyes fell on me, "Oh hey Amy! You like really good."
"Hi Lee," I said back. "And thanks," I said awkwardly.
"You've already met?" Brad asked mildly surprised.
"Lee was with me when I took Chief to Heartland," Ty cut in.
Brad nodded but I noticed a dark shadow pass momentarily over Liz's face at the mention of Heartland.
"Ah yes Heartland," Brad said. "You'll have to tell me about that latter. You use herbal remedies there don't you?"
"Yes we do. We us a lot of the Bach Flower Remedies, they're great for a lot of different things and almost always show positive results," I answered.
"I find is fascinating; you'll have tell me more about them at dinner. But first thing's first, do you like horse racing Miss Fleming?" he looked inquiringly at me.
I smiled, "Yes I do, I've always loved it."
Brad smiled wide; even his smile was like Ty's. "Wonderful. Would you like to see the Triple Crown trophy?"
"I'd love to." I'd always wanted to see one close up.
"Dad always does this," Ty told me. "Everyone that comes into the house has to see the trophy room. I swear, even the plumber and electricians have seen it at this point!" (a/n: gah this is so annoying. My mom used to show this video we got when we went to Mexico of us swimming with Dolphins to all our guests.)
I laughed and Brad said, "Well I'm proud of my accomplishments."
"Dinner should be ready in about 20 minutes," Liz informed us. "Why don't we give Amy a little tour of the house before we eat?"
"Wonderful idea!" Brad exclaimed excitedly.
"I'm out," Lee said. "Call me when dinner's ready." He strolled out of the room and headed down one of the hallways.
So they took me on a tour of the house, well we only got through the first floor that's how big it is. To put it simply… WOW! I mean its ah-mazing! Everything is so big and lavishly decorated. Whoever decorated it has excellent taste. I saw the formal dinning room, the less formal dinning room, the family eating space, the kitchen bustling with all its staff, like three other sitting rooms, an office, a library, a theater room complete with rows and rows of leather recliners and a movie screen that took up an entire wall, a TV room with the biggest plasma TV I've ever seen and I don't even remember the rest. But the trophy room… I was blown away. It was this huge room and the walls were lined with shelves. On the shelves were all the trophies Baldwin Ways had won in racing, Kentucky Derby trophies, Preakness trophies, Belmont trophies, Triple Crown Trophies, Breeder Cup trophies, you name it they had it. There were pictures of every horse they ever had and photos of every winning horse and trophy. One wall was completely devoted to photographs of the horses and another wall was split between Ty and Lee's trophies and photos. But there was more still, there were photos and trophies and ribbons from the horses that they'd shown in jumping, dressage, halter, cross country and many other classes. There were even the gold medals Baldwin Ways had won in the Olympics! I've never seen so many trophies and ribbons and photos in my life! And because of the high value of the trophies in the room there was a touch screen on the door that scanned your thumb print to grant you entrance.
As we re-entered the main sitting room that we had been in before Brad said, "Can I get anyone anything to drink?"
Just than that woman, Lucinda, walked into the room, "Dinner is now served," she announced formally.
"Impeccable timing, as usual Luce," Brad said happily.
"Thank you Master Bradley. Shall I retrieve Master Lee?" she replied but smiled at Brad's compliment.
"That would be very nice Lucinda," Liz told her.
"Yes, right away Lady Elizabeth." She hurried out of the room to where ever it was that Lee was I guess.
"Lucinda's an angel," Liz remarked when Lucinda was out of the room. "Such good help is so hard to find these days. It's incredibly lucky we have her."
"That it is," Brad agreed.
Once we were all seated around the grand dinning table the kitchen staff brought out the food, heaping plateful after plateful of it. First was a delicious Caesar salad followed by turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing… it was like Thanksgiving dinner which is the greatest dinner all year. The sight of it all made my mouth water and it tasted even better! Dammit, I think I'm going to take the chef home with me! Think he'll fit in my purse? Hehe portable chef. (a/n: I have this thing with my brother where I say he's going to be my butler AND cook AND driver ((on occasion)) so he's my portable butler)
"So Amy," Brad addressed me once the food had all been served. "Tell us about yourself. You show in jumping too, you're quite good. Tell us about your horse, I always like to hear about other people's horses."
"Well my horse's name in Sundance, or Sunny for short. He's a 16.1 hand high gelding. He's 60 percent Buckskin and 40 percent Thoroughbred. Sunny is about 5 years old. I rescued him when I was eleven from a horse auction. He was a mean tempered 9 months old that was going to be sold for glue because no one could get near him. I begged my mum to buy him for me and worked with him until he accepted me and other people; I never thought he'd turn out to be such a brilliant jumper!"
"So does Heartland take in a lot of rescues?" Brad asked interestedly. He seemed genuinely interested in Heartland and the work we do there.
"About 85 percent of the horses we take in are horses that are owned but 15 percent are horses that we rescue from auctions, that we find mistreated in abandoned fields or such or that other people have found and send to us. We work with them until they are able to accept people again and we try to find a suitable owner for them who will match their personality and who are able to provide for the particular horses needs."
"One of the breeders we've purchased many a horse from had some very commendable things to say about you. He said he'd sent a few horse to your stables in England," Brad told me.
"Oh, what was his name?" I asked interestedly.
"Anthony Higson, do you recall the name?"
I thought for a moment, "Ah yes I remember him! Sent us a few horses, a dapple gray gelding last year, he was lovely!"
"Dapple gray gelding you say? Was his name by any chance, Summer Storm?" he asked looking intrigued.
"Yes, that was his name." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "How did you know that?"
Ty grinned at me and said, "We bought him, he's a hopeful contender to make the U.S Olympic team for us in a few years."
I gasped, "You bought Storm? Oh I'd love to see him again! I loved him; he was such an amazing horse."
"He sure is," Brad said appraisingly, "You'll have to come back sometime to see him."
I smiled wide, "I'd love that." I remembered Storm, he was my favorite horse at Heartland at the time, well second, Sunny is my favorite. It would be wonderful to get to see him again.
"So Amy," Liz cut in. She'd hardly said anything to me so far. "What do you plan on doing in your life? Any thoughts for college?"
I was a bit taken aback but replied, "Well I've always wanted to go to Arizona State University, it's just such a lovely campus and a wonderful school, and I was planning on majoring in business management and maybe getting a minor in veterinary. But for the long run I've always been planning on taking over Heartland one day."
"I see," Liz said.
"I want to go to ASU to!" Ty said from next to me.
"Really?" I glanced over at him.
He grinned and said, "Always have."
"Ty's already applied for early admission," Liz told me. "He to is going to major in business management and is going to run Baldwin Ways someday," she looked at her son affectionately and you could clearly hear the pride in her voice. "He'll get in easy, stellar grades, plenty of extracurricular activities, Ty is most likely going to be his class's valedictorian and of course he's got a good, respected, powerful name. We bought him a private luxury jet as an early graduation gift so he can travel back to Virginia every weekend to help running Baldwin Ways."
I smiled politely but felt a little awkward, it was like she was purposefully trying to accentuate her own wealth and at the same time compare it to my families. My family's pretty wealthy too, not anywhere close to the Baldwin's but still.
Ty seemed to notice my discomfort and quickly changed the subject. He turned to face me and said, "Tell them about what you've done with Chief at Heartland," he suggested.
"Yes how is Chief doing?" Brad asked. I noticed Liz's face darken at the mention of Chief and Heartland.
"Uh well Chief is doing great," I said uncertainly.
"Have you found out what's wrong with him yet?" Liz asked briskly.
"Um well not exactly. You see he's been fine, perfect in fact. I've had the chiropractor and vet check out his back, I've ridden him, switched his saddles. He's perfect, no trace of any problem. Ty's going to bring the saddle he rode him with at the show over to Heartland on Monday, it might have just been the saddle that was pinching him or something."
"So you haven't found anything wrong with him?" Liz asked.
"Well no but I…"
Liz, however, cut me off and said rather snippily, "Well than why is he even at Heartland?"
I felt my face heat up and the butterflies return to my stomach. "Well he's only been with us for three days. It may have been the saddle or it may have been something he ate that didn't agree with him. But three days is still too soon to draw any definite conclusions," I said carefully.
"Mom," Ty said warningly. "Chief is my horse and you gave me the chance to treat him the way I wanted," he reminded her.
"Alright fine, I've given that horse one more chance and you've dealt with it how you've seen best fit. I accept that," Liz replied.
"I think Heartland sounds like a wonderful place," Brad said from his seat at the head of the table. "I think I may stop by during the week to look around if you don't mind Amy."
"Not at all, we'd love to have you," I said happily. At least Ty's dad seemed to like me.
Just than a segment of The All American Rejects song Dirty Little Secret (a/n: LOVE this song!) started playing from the opposite side of the table. Everyone looked over to see Lee pulling his silver RAZR out of his pocket and snapping it open. "Hey J what's up?" he said into it.
Liz glared at him. "Lee you know there are no phones at the table!" she reprimanded him.
Lee waved her off with one of his hands and got up and walked out of the room. As he exited the room I could faintly hear him saying, "Yeah, dude she is so hot! You should be here!" I looked down at my plate and blushed after determining that Lee was talking about me.
Well Ty's dad likes me, his brother likes me… granted not in the way I'd prefer but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Ty's mom's the only one who doesn't seem to like me much.
A minute later Lee rejoined us at the table and shoved his RAZR back into his jeans pocket. As he sat down he looked across the table at Ty and me and exclaimed, "Dude that was SO fucking awesome at the pep rally today!"
"Language Lee," Liz said sternly.
"What happened at the pep rally?" Brad asked his sons interestedly ignoring his wife's comment.
"Oh god it was so cool!" Lee exclaimed. "Ty goes up in the stands and makes Amy come down. Than he puts her on his shoulders and he starts running around the gym, like a horse. Than two of the guys on the team bring out a poll and Ty tries to jump over it but he falls and Amy lands on top of him. Than Mrs. P goes over to them and gets all mad but Mr. J talks her out of giving them a detention. But it was so awesome! I can't wait till tryouts next year so I can finally be on the team!"
Brad threw back his head and laughed. "Nice one guys."
Liz, however, didn't look too pleased with this. "You're lucky you didn't get in trouble Ty, you've never gotten detention before. You don't need to start in your senior year."
"Jeez mom," Ty groaned. "We were just having some fun!"
"Be that as it may I…"
Brad cut her off, "Come on Liz they're kids. Let them have some fun while they still can."
"You should have seen Ashley's face!" Lee said gleefully. "It was priceless!"
"I don't see what's wrong with Ashley!" Liz said indignantly. "She's a very nice young lady from a respectable family."
"Liz, Ashley wasn't that great," Brad said from the head of the table. "Personally I didn't like her very much. Amy here is much better than her, more suited for Ty to."
I smiled at his praise. I was so happy that that is how he thought of me. I just wish Liz could see me the same way.
!#$&
After dinner
"Here is your coat Miss," Lucinda said as she handed me my black pea coat. After I had put it on she handed me my bag and preceded to hand Ty his coat. It was around 11 now. After dinner we had had the most delicious desserts I've ever tasted and than went back into the sitting room and talked some more.
"Well I'm very glad you could come tonight Amy," Brad said warmly. "It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again."
"Thanks it was great meeting you to. And thank you again for having me," I replied.
"You're welcome here anytime," Brad said and than he stepped forward and gave me a fatherly embrace and a kiss on the cheek.
When he let me go I turned to Liz and said awkwardly, "Um it was really nice to meet you to."
"It was lovely to meet you to." And than she stepped forward and hugged me also though I suspect she only did it out of politeness. "You should join us again for dinner sometime soon," she added.
"Thank you," I said graciously. Liz smiled but I noticed that it didn't reach her swimming pool blue eyes.
"See ya later Amy!" Lee called from behind his parents.
"Um yeah see you later Lee."
Once we were safely outside in the cool fall night air I sighed as I felt Ty's arm come around my waist and pull me into him.
"Your mom hates me," I said softly.
"She doesn't hate you," Ty said. "She just… she just needs time to get used to things and get to know you. Once she gets to know you she'll love you. But I could kill her; she acted like such a bitch tonight."
"She hates me," I said again in despair and Ty rubbed my arm comfortingly. "But at least your dad seemed to like me," I said hopefully.
"Are you kidding?" Ty exclaimed. "My dad loved you! He was never like that with Ashley or anyone."
"Oh, well that's good I suppose."
"Hey," he said as we reached his black Escalade EXT. "Don't worry about it."
"I just wanted them to like me," I said as he opened my door for me.
"Well mom's stupid. Don't take any of it personally she's always like that," he assured me as he helped me up into the comfortable leather seat and closed the door.
10 minutes later we were back in front of my house at Heartland. Ty helped me out of the car and took my hand as we walked up to my front door. I dug my key out from my bag because everyone in my house was already be asleep seeing as there were no lights on.
When we stopped on the porch Ty turned me so that I faced him. "Thanks for coming tonight, I know it couldn't have been easy, especially with the way my mom was acting," he said softly.
"It was fun," I said truthfully. "Your dad's really nice."
Ty smiled softly before saying, "So we're still on for the boat ride tomorrow right?"
"Definitely," I agreed, I've been waiting for this all week!
"Great. So I'll come pick you up at 11 tomorrow morning? So we can be out on the lake by noon."
"Okay," I agreed.
"Wear a bathing suit," Ty told me. "You never know what night happen but bring a jacket because sometimes it gets cool out on the lake."
"Okay," I replied. Than truthfully I said, "I can't wait! I've never really been on a boat before."
Ty looked shocked, "You've never been on a boat before? Well we'll just have to fix that now won't we?"
"Definitely," I said again.
Ty leaned down and kissed me gently. When he pulled back he smiled down at me and said, "So I'll see you tomorrow than."
"At 11," I added with a grin.
!#$&
Saturday morning
Today's Saturday! I'm going sailing with Ty today! Ooooh I'm so excited!
I woke up at 8:30 and went down to the stables to help out with the horses for a little while. I took Sunny on a trail ride because I feltl like I'd been kinda neglecting him the past few days what with all my energy being focused on Chief and all.
At 10:30 I went back up to the house and took a quick shower so that I didn't smell like the barn when Ty got here.
I put on a cute bikini I got from American Eagle that was blue seersucker. I put on a pair of naturally faded and very comfortable pair of jeans from Abercrombie and Fitch and blue polo with tiny light blue strips from American Eagle. When Ty got here I quickly grabbed my black North Face jacket shoving my cell phone, a pair of sunglasses and some money into the pockets before going down to let Ty in since everyone else was down at the stables.
"Hey!" I greeted Ty as I opened the door.
"Hey, you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said as I followed him out of the door. "Let me just call the office to let Lou know I'm leaving," I said as I took out my cell phone, which was a tiny Nokia that I loved. I went to the stored numbers and scrolled down until I found the one for Heartland's office.
"Hello this is Heartland Stables. This is Lou Fleming speaking how may I help you?" Lou answered the phone using her 'business' voice.
"Hey Lou it's me," I said quickly.
"Hey Amy what's up?" she asked switching to her non-business voice, her normal voice.
"Nothing much just calling to let you guys know I'm leaving now."
"Oh right you're going sailing with Ty right?"
"Yep."
"Okay well I'll let mum and dad know you left. Have fun!"
"Oh I will!" I assured her before clicking the phone off and putting it back into my pocket. I turned back to Ty, "Okay now I'm ready."
Ty had been looking down towards the stables but turned back to me as I spoke. "Great! Let's go. I'll see Chief later when I bring you back."
"Okay cool. He was fine this morning," I assured him.
"That's good I just miss having the little devil around all the time."
"Yeah I get that. That's how I was when Sunny was shipped over here a few weeks before I came," I recalled from personal experience.
"It sucks," Ty agreed. "I just parked over there," Ty gestured to the driveway. I looked for his car but couldn't find the black Escalade EXT. There was a black Audi which was Lou's, a yellow Hummer H3 that I didn't know, a dark blue convertible Corvette that had the top down, a silver Land Rover and a black Mercedes.
"Where's your car?" I asked Ty curiously as he led me over to where the cars were parked.
"Oh I brought my other car. The Vet," he said affectionately, pointing to the midnight blue convertible Corvette.
"Nice, I like it," I commented.
"Thanks. I just figured it was so nice out today so why not bring it? I'll put the top up if you want though," he offered.
"No its okay, leave it down!" I said eagerly, I LOVE driving with the top down (a/n: man it is SO awesome!).
"Are you sure?" Ty asked looking at me quizzically. "You're not worried it will mess up your hair or anything?"
"No," I laughed. I hadn't done anything special to my hair that morning anyway and it was so sunny and warm out that it would be stupid to drive in a convertible with the top up.
Ty grinned at me and said happily, "Just another one of the many reasons you're so much better than Ashley."
I laughed and soon we were in the car driving out of Heartland. When we were on a rode that not many other cars were driving on Ty would step on the gas and go a 'bit' faster than the speed limit, it was SO much fun! But when we were around a lot of other cars Ty would slow down and go the speed limit.
After 20 minutes of pure fun in the little convertible we arrived at the Fairgrounds Marine Port, it was near the place where the horseshows had been. Ty pulled into a parking space and we got out and headed towards the docks. There were a lot of people milling about in outfits that literally screamed "I'm a tourist! Where are the bathrooms?" there was a board walk that had those binocular things that you put a quarter in and look through and benches and an outdoor café where parents were enjoying lemonades or ice teas while the kids ran up and down the boardwalk or were looking through the binoculars. In front of the docks where the boats were tied there was a bronze statue on a yacht and a man in a sailor's uniform looking through a telescope.
"Come on, my boats down here," Ty said as he led me down to the docks entrance. There was a main dock that branched off into a bunch of other little docks. There were a lot of really nice yachts and sailboats, some that weren't as nice as others and some were big and some were small. We went down a dock that rocked gently in the calm water. There were a few people standing on the dock in front of the most gorgeous sailboat I've ever seen. It was long with a glossy white paint job and mahogany wood trim, the masts stood tall and proud.
On the side it said 'The Commander In Chief' in green letters and under that it said 'Baldwin."
"No way," I gasped as I read the side of the boat. "That's your boat?"
"Yep," Ty said proudly. "She's pretty new, under a year. I just got her for my birthday."
Why do people always refer to their boats as a 'she'?
"It's gorgeous," I breathed as we got closer.
"She is," Ty affectionately.
I giggled, "You named your boat after your horse?" I asked as we reached the boat. The group of tourists stopped talking and looked slightly startled at my words. Guess they didn't expect this magnificent boat to be owned by someone so young.
Ty just laughed and in response he said, "Of course. My boat and my horse, the two best things in my life." He paused and than said, "Before you came along that is."
I felt my heart flip in my chest and I looked at Ty who just grinned that famous grin of his at me. I smiled back.
Ty took a set of keys out of his jeans pocket and dangled it in front of my face. "Ready?"
"You bet!" I said excitedly.
As Ty walked over to the side of the boat and pulled down a little ladder thing, one of the tourists said, "Is this your boat son?"
Ty turned to face the man who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and said, "Yes it is sir."
"Tis a fine boat," one of the man's companions said appreciatively.
"I'm quite partial to her," Ty agreed.
"I'm James Alles," Hawaiian shirt man said and held out a hand to Ty.
"I'm Ty, Ty Baldwin," Ty said as he shook the man's hand.
"Baldwin you say?" one of the women said. "As in Baldwin Ways?"
I bet Ty gets this all the time when he introduces himself, it must suck. But if Ty felt this way he gave no indication of it. "Aye, that's me."
"Wonderful to meet you!" Hawaiian shirt man… er I mean James said and clapped Ty on the shoulder. "This is John, Ethan, Nick, Suze and Mallory," he said, pointing out all of the people he was with.
Ty smiled and said, "Hi, nice to meet you." Than he pointed to me and said, "This is Amy Fleming."
I waved, "Hello!"
One of the women than said to me, "Is your father Tim Fleming the famous gold medalist Olympic show jumper by any chance?" she asked curiously.
"Yes he is," I smiled. People don't usually recognize my name as fast as they do for Ty.
"Brilliant!" one of the men exclaimed, "We've met a Baldwin and a Fleming in the same day!"
Hawaiian shirt man turned to Ty and said, "So do you have any horses looking good for the Triple Crown this spring?
Ty grinned again said, "Well I don't know if I'm really supposed to tell you, but you can keep a secret right?"
"Course we can!" Hawaiian shirt man exclaimed looking excited that he was talking to a Baldwin and was going to get the inside scoop on their horses.
"Well I'll tell you this, look out for a horse by the name of name Baldwin Prince," Ty told them.
"We'll be sure to do just that!" one of the men, I think it was Nick, exclaimed.
"So wha…" Hawaiian shirt man started but was cut off by a high pitched voice.
"TY!" I heard a familiar voice call out to Ty. I felt my heart sink as I recognized who the voice had come from. Oh this was so NOT good.
Ty slowly turned around to see Ashley Grant waving wildly to him and walking down the dock towards us. The groups of tourists awkwardly moved on to the next boat in the line but were close enough so that they could still hear what was going on.
Ashley was wearing a tiny black bikini with only a swishy light pink sarong tied around her skinny waist. She was wearing a pair of big tinted beach house sunglasses and her blonde hair fell down her back. She was perfectly tanned; she was probably at Hollywood tans yesterday.
Ty sighed, "What do you want Ashley?"
Ashley pushed her sunglasses up to the top of her head and looked up at Ty through her big baby blue eyes. "We always go out on your boat on the weekends," she said matter-of-factly. Than she turned to face me, "What's she doing here?"
"I think the more accurate question is, what are you doing here Ashley?" Ty demanded.
"I already told you why I'm here baby, we always go on your boat on the weekend," she said as she tried to but arms around Ty's neck.
Ty wrenched her arms off of him and put them firmly by her sides. Boy did he look pissed off. "Okay one; never EVER call me that ever again. Two; you can't come on my boat anymore because we're not going out anymore. I broke up with you, remember? Three…"
Ashley snorted daintily and cut him off by saying, "You weren't serious. I mean why would you ever break up with me for the poor little farm girl from Germany?"
"I'm from England," I reminded her inwardly bursting with laughter.
"Whatever. Same difference, they're both in France," she replied oh so 'intelligently'.
Ty met my gaze and he shook his head while I was still inwardly bursting with laughter.
"Well guess what Ashley? I did break up with, we're finished so I suggest that you…"
"You're just going to use her until you get bored with her." Well that certainly stopped my laughing.
Ty's face changed so drastically right than, he was thunderous. "ASHLEY GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME AND MY BOAT AND MY GIRLFRIEND!" Ty roared, attracting the attention from A LOT of people. If you could have seen Ashley's face when Ty called me his girlfriend, it was hilarious. Hmmm… cat hat your tongue?
"Ty…" she whined.
"I'm not kidding Ashley! Do you want me to file a restraining order on you? Because I can get one like that," he snapped his fingers to prove his point on how faced he could do it. He pulled a silver RAZR from his pocket and flipped it open, fingers poised and ready to start dialing.
"HMPH!" Ashley exclaimed before turning on her heel and marching back up the dock.
"I'm so so so sorry," Ty said as he turned to face me.
I just shrugged, "Its okay. At least she's gone now," I stated the best part.
Ty smiled weakly, "Yeah I guess but she ruined everything. I wanted to have a nice time with you today."
"We still can," I softly reminded him slipping an arm around his waist.
"Yeah I guess you're right," he said before he quickly kissed me. "Now let's go! Before she comes back! With enforcements," he shuddered.
I giggled, "Good idea!"
Ty pushed me forwards towards the small ladder and I carefully climbed up it, Ty's hand on my leg 'spotting' me. I swung my legs over the side of the boat and landed on my feet on the deck. Ty was soon standing next to me.
"So what do you think?" he asked me as I looked around.
"It's amazing!" I gushed. Near the front of the ship there was a little room that had the controls and steering wheel. There was a little door that I'm guessing led down to the cabin. On the back of the ship there was a lot of comfortable looking chairs and different methods of seating built into the deck and there was a little chrome refrigerator.
"She's one of the new automatic pilot boats," Ty told me as he pulled the ladder back over the side. "I just have to steer out of port and that's it."
"Cool," I said as I looked over the side of the boat into the dark water lapping its sides.
Ty pointed to the door, "Cabin, bathroom, kitchen, TV, computer blah blah blah is down there."
"Okay."
Soon we were ready to set off.
"Have a good trip!" Hawaiian shirt man waved from down bellow on the dock.
"Thanks! Have a good day!" Ty called back and waved.
I waved as Ty started the boats engine and pulled away from the dock slowly and skillfully. I waved to the group of tourists down on the dock. They waved back while they enviously watched us sail away on this big, beautiful sailboat. Which reminds me…
"Hey Ty," I said as I walked over to where he was seated in the control box. "Don't sailboats use the sails to sail?" I am so completely clueless when it comes to boats, but I do know one thing about them though and that's that I LOVE them!
Ty laughed and said, "Yes but I can't let the sails down until we're out of port. And the engine is used for if you're sailing on a day that doesn't have much wind."
"Oh," I nodded in understanding. "Right."
I went and stood by the side of the boat as Ty skillfully and deftly headed the huge ship away from all the other boats.
On the way to getting out in the open lake you have to sail past the boardwalk. A bunch of people, both tourists and locals, took in Ty's boat enviously. Probably wishing they could be on it right now. There was a lot of chatter and pointing as the read the side of the boat where it said 'Baldwin'. I looked over my shoulder to see if Ty had noticed this and sure enough I saw him shaking in laughter.
I turned back to the boardwalk just in time to see Ashley standing at the end of it glaring at me. I smiled widely and waved to her. She spun around to face her group of friends that always seemed to be following her.
Now we were away from the dock and all that was ahead of me was mile after mile of open lake.
A/n: sorry if you don't like the ending but I have 2 things to say about that. 1) Its practically 4 a.m. and I think I have the right to sleep a few hours, right? 2) Its already 16 pages and it's already 8,845 words! Don't expect an update this long anytime soon! I hope you enjoyed it, it was fun to write and if you want to her about what happens on the boat or at the football game tell me in a review. But I don't know I might save a boat scene for latter. Review!