Chapter Ten: Hold Your Horses

"A horse?" Maya's voice was disbelieving. "Like a 'giddy-up' actual horse?"

Positioning the phone to her opposite ear and using her head to hold it still on her shoulder, Riley stacked a couple of pillows up in the crease between the wall and the mattress and settled in against it. "Yes, Peaches, a real horse! Wait until you see him, he's so adorable. He may very well be the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes upon." She wished she had the picture on her own phone so that she could quickly send it over to Maya and together dote on her new addition. "Lucas said that he got him for me so that I'd have some company out here while he's busy with work and school."

"He got you a horse…?"

"YES, Maya, a horse! H-o-r-s-e, horse. I really don't know how else to explain this to you." the younger girl was completely confused how her friend was not getting this.

Maya sighed and then mustered up the best "Well that's great, Riles" that she possibly could.

Catching the tone being off immediately, Riley's eyebrow cocked, not understanding why the other girl wasn't nearly as excited as she was by the news. "What is it, Maya? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, honey, I'm excited to see what he looks like."

"You're lying. I know you better than anyone; you don't think I can tell when you're lying? Now why don't you tell me what you're really thinking."? She was stern and not going to let this go.

"Riley, this isn't my business. Come on, can we drop it? Tell me about the rest of your day."

This was getting ridiculous, never had she had to work so hard before just to get her best friend to say what was clearly on her mind. It was almost offensive that the girl was being so stubborn. "Maya Penelope Hart, I swear to Feeny I will hang up this phone right now."

Defeated, Maya obliged. "Okay fine, you win…Look, I know you're excited about it, and I know how much you love horses. But do you even have any idea how to raise one? And how much work he will be? This isn't just some gold fish you feed twice a day."

"Lucas does," she replied instantly. "He can teach me."

"Lucas isn't going to be there, girly. You've already told me how busy he will be, and just yesterday you were saying how overwhelmed you've been feeling with trying to get the house in order—that you didn't have any time at all to even think about starting your book. How is adding a living, breathing, animal into this equation going to help any of that?"

Riley fell silent, taking in the girl's words. It was true, with everything that had been happening recently, she'd had zero time to start her book. Just thinking about it made her panicky—first draft was due in only one year, and not a measly single word had been typed. Not to mention her knowledge about horse-care was close to zero, only ever knowing how pretty they looked.

"Honey, are you still there?" It was hard not to feel guilty; she didn't want to discuss it in the first place. Disappointing Riley was never something Maya would willingly put on her 'to-do' list, and being over a thousand miles away didn't make it feel any less brutal. "Hey, I'm really sorry…Like I said, it's not my business and I'm sure you guys will figure it out. It just caught me off guard is all…" the blonde lingered on the other end of the call, waiting for a response.

"No," Riley spoke up faintheartedly. "You're right…I guess I just got too excited and didn't think it through." Her sadness was obvious as the words were leaving her mouth. "But you're completely right. I need to focus on getting my life together before we add more to that equation." Pressing two long fingers against the temple of her head, she respired. Look, I'm going to go, okay? I've need to break the news to Lucas."

"Okay," the older girl responded apprehensively. Everything felt off, as if their brains just weren't in sync that night. Distance sucked. "We're okay, right? I mean you're not upset with me?"

"I'm not upset with you, Maya. I love you, and I appreciate you being honest, I promise. We'll talk more tomorrow, I'm just super drained." Waiting until the other girl agreed and they could say their goodnights, Riley hung up the phone and sat for a couple minutes collecting her thoughts. Realizing how naïve she had been, she mentally kicked herself for getting so attached to something that she'd only known about for an hour. Shoving the comforter off, she got up and exited the undecorated bedroom in search of her boyfriend.

He was easy to find, as it's hard to miss a six-foot-three-inches tall boy standing in the middle of a relatively small living room. Each time she saw him, it stopped her in her steps seeing how handsome he was. She'd always thought he was particularly good looking when they were younger, but as the years passed he only grew into his look more, referring to him often as her own southern James Dean. Lucas was slicing his pocketknife across the top of another box, making a much-needed dent into the mountain that crowded their home. "Sweetie," she removed the distance between them and took hold of his arm, "you don't have to finish all of this tonight. We can start again in the morning?"

He wiped his brow, and set the toaster he'd pulled out back to the spot he had just retrieved it from. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were off of the phone already." Lifting his wrist, he checked the time. "Wow, quicker than normal. Is everything okay?" He was used to his girlfriend spending at least forty-five minutes on the phone with Maya, so taking note that only twenty had passed, he couldn't help but be suspicious.

Riley lowered herself onto the ledge affront the fireplace and patted her hand down so that he'd do the same. "We can't take the horse." She felt a tug at her heart just verbalizing it. "It's just too much right now, and isn't a good idea. Maybe in the future we can get one, but now is just not the right time."

Perplexed, he doubted if this was even Riley next to him. It surely didn't sound like her. "Wait, what? Why isn't this the right time? You've always wanted one, so how is this not a good time for the thing you've always wanted?"

"Lucas, I was just talking to Maya and she brought up good points—we just moved here, and are still settling in together, and honestly, look around," she motioned out towards their surroundings, "we have so much still to do, we can't possibly take on more responsibility right now." The girl could feel his stare. "And besides, I needto start my book. I mean I am clueless of how to even write a novel; all I've written up until this point have been tiny children's book. But now I have this chance to do more, and that's what I should be focusing on…not a horse. Try to see it from my side—can't you recognize how important this could be for my future?"

There was a shift in the mood of the room, and Lucas wasn't quite positive how they'd arrived here in only an hour's time. "Babe, forgive me here for being slow, but I don't understand how just a little bit ago you could be over the moon about this, and then have a twenty minute conversation with Maya, and suddenly everything has changed…Why does she care, anyway, she wouldn't be the one taking care of it."

"Neither would you," she snapped, though not intending to. "First of all, you'll be gone all of the time, so it would essentially be me here—unpacking, redecorating, cooking, cleaning, doing all of the laundry, trying to figure out how to do my own job amongst all of that, and now tending to this animal. It's insane, Lucas." Uncomfortable and aggravated, she stood and stepped away from the young man."And secondly, don't do that, don't throw Maya into this like she's the bad guy. She only has my best interest at heart, and I'm glad she actually said something before we followed through with it."

Arguing was not something the pair did often; he couldn't even remember the last one they had, it had been so long. It was not an enjoyable feeling, by any means of the word, and he wanted only for this to pass as quickly as possible. "I'm sorry…" Remaining seated, he propped his head upon a stiff hand held up by a knee. "I'm sorry for mentioning Maya…and I'm sorry for the surprise…but I have your best interest at heart too, you know? I'd never do anything to intentionally upset you. I just wanted to make you happy, Riley." His eyes were glazed over. They'd only lived together for two weeks, and here he was already messing everything up.

She could hear how regretful the boy sounded, and just as rapidly all aggravation faded away. Lucas didn't have a bad bone in his body, this kind man who just wanted to give her the world. How could she ever fault him for being generous? How could she be upset by something that she herself had been thrilled for in the beginning of the evening? Hating herself for taking her own stress out on him, Riley returned by his side and turned his cheek, matching their eyes. "You don't need to apologize. I know you meant well, and really it was the sweetest thing you could do for me…" She placed a kiss just to the right corner of his lips. Still butterflies. "But this was a big decision, and maybe in the future these kinds of decisions we could discuss together beforehand?"

"Are you sure you still want a future with me?" He was nervous and felt like he had let Riley down, for not ever considering what the implications of his choice would be…for not once realizing the extra burden it would bring this perfect person that he adored.

"Lucas, don't be silly," she smiled, interlocking their fingers, "the only future I want is with you."

A/N: Keep reviewing, I love to read them! I know there are a lot of people on both sides of the "ship" but I honestly think that by the end of this, everyone will be satisfied. So be patient with me, I appreciate all of you that devote your time to actually reading anything I put out into the world. I'll try and do my best by ALL of you!

-Lauren