I waved to Jake and Quinn as I watched their truck bump over the bridge. Jake told me he would bring me my clothes tomorrow--since I had forgotten them. I hopped up the porch steps and shucked my shoes by the door. They would be meeting my little friend Frebreeze later.
I opened the screen door and stepped into the kitchen, it smelled like apple pie and I could feel myself drooling. My bag landed on the floor with a thunk next to the coat rack and I tip-toed over to the oven to peek inside.
"Ah, decided to come home finally?"
I slammed the over shut and spun. "Jesus!" My finger grazed the inside of the oven door and I stuck it in my mouth. My hand just couldn't catch a break.
"Watch that mouth missy." Gram warned coming over to peek in the oven herself.
She pulled the pie out and stuck it on a cooling rack. She turned to look at me and froze.
"Child, where are your clothes?" She asked scanning me up and down. "And why is your hair wet? What did you do to your hand?!" She asked each question flooding out without a pause.
"It's ok Gram. I had a little...mishap...at school and missed the bus, so Jake drove me home. But we stopped at his place first so I could shower and he gave me some clothes," I explained lamely.
Just don't ask me what happened. Please, oh, please.
Gram pursed her lips and shook her head. "You are just one big accident waiting to happen," the corner of her lip turned up and I breathed a sigh of relief. So long as she found my mishap amusing...
She brushed my hair out of my face and smiled at me. "You look like you could use a slice of nice warm pie."
Gram always knew when I needed some TLC. I could always count on her and pie. I smiled and nodded. "More than you could ever know."
x-x-x-x
It didn't take long for Jen to call me sounding very annoyed. I had just finished my last bite of delicious pie when the phone began ringing. Gram had answered it and gave me the 'uh oh, it's Jennifer and your in trouble' look. I got that a lot.
"Hello," I grunted into the phone, stretching.
"Well hello, old man. Thanks for ditching me on the bus," Jen said sarcastically.
I sighed. As if I preferred a dumpster dive over riding the bus with her...well I guess there were some days I would...
"I didn't ditch you. I got...tangled in some...trash," Sam said searching for the right words hoping they weren't sounding like an excuse. They were true after all.
"You mean you ran into Rachel? Did you get in trouble?" Jen asked her annoyance gone, replaced by worry.
"No, not really. She decided to take care of means her own way," I snorted sarcastically, not amused at all. I spun in a circle twirling the telephone cord around me, and then twirled again unraveling it. It was one of my favorite games when talking on the phone; otherwise I just got so bored.
"Oh boy. That doesn't sound good. I want to hear all about it," Jen said the phone crackling a little in my ear. "Can you come over?"
I untangled myself from the phone cord once more. I turned to see if Gram was still in the kitchen; she wasn't. I heard her shaking out one of the kitchen rugs on the porch and took a breath.
"Gram!" I yelled. "Can I go over to Jen's?"
"Thanks for the warning...," Jen grumbled.
"Shut it."
Gram peeked her head in the screen door. "It's rude to yell...do you have homework?"
It's the first day...of course I don't have any homework. "Nope."
She pursed her lips and nodded. "Dinner's served at seven. Be back by then."
I nodded and smiled. "Thanks Gram," I put the phone back to my ear. "You hear that?"
"I can't hear much of anything after you yelled...but yes." Jen said, I just rolled my eyes.
"Quit whining you baby. See you soon," before she could retort I hung the phone up. Grabbing my Stenson and boots I ran out the front door, not bothering to change out of the clothes Jake had lent me.
I skipped to the barn and grabbed all of Ace's tack. I learned to carry it all because I hated making more then one trip. You may call that lazy--I call it time saving. Setting my saddle and the rest of my tack down I headed towards the paddock. Taking a deep breath I let out a shrill whistle.
"Ace!" I called whistling again. He lifted his head and looked in my direction, then went back to eating. I glared at him--or more like his butt--and climbed over the fence. "Brat," I mumbled snatching up the lead rope and marching in his direction.
Luckily, today he wasn't into games. So I was able to catch him...after I walked across the whole dang paddock. Grumpily, Ace followed me and I shooed the other horses away as I tried to slip through the gate. That was the thing...none of them ever wanted to come to you, but if you catch one horse and start taking it away, everybody wants to come. Difficult little beasties.
It didn't take me long to brush and tack Ace. I took him towards the fields behind the house, there were trails there that led me to both to Three Ponies and Gold Dust, depending on which way you turned. I took a left and Ace started jigging excitedly. Usually, I wouldn't give into his little bratty attitude, but today I smiled as I sent him into a lope. He pulled on the reins, asking to go faster, giving him head we did. He galloped, his short legs surprisingly covering much ground.
It was a perfect remedy to any bad day. I yipped and Ace gave a playful buck, tossing his head, feeling his rider's happiness.
x-x-x-x
I found Jen loitering in the barn, much to my disappointment, Ryan was there also. He smiled upon seeing me and led Jen out of the barn to where I stood with Ace. Ryan waved over one of the passing stable hands and nodded to Ace.
"Be a good fellow and take care of this one, please." Normally, something like that would sound snooty, but with Ryan's smile and smooth British accent it merely came off as a request.
"I don't mind taking care of him...," I protested weakly but let the reins slide through my hands anyway as the stable hand took them.
Still smiling, Ryan waved her off. "Nonsense, you are a guest here, no need."
For some reason I felt like she was attending a tea party instead of just coming to visit a friend. Remembering my too big sweat pants, I blushed and pulled them up.
"Er, thanks." I said awkwardly, and then looked to Jen for help hoping she would notice my discomfort. She didn't, her vision was a little blurred by a British pretty boy. I wonder if they could make glasses to correct that...
"Besides, you have to be home by seven anyway right?" Ryan said, his smile never faltering. I gaped at him then glared at Jen who shrugged, smiling sheepishly.
Babble much?
Not that I cared, I just wondered what else she would be tempted to talk about with this little brainwashing beauty.
"Well then, shall we?" He started leading the way up to the mansion and I paused. Ok, not only did I want to talk with Jen alone...but wouldn't Rachel be up there? She was Ryan's evil, demonic twin sister after all. Hey, every twin had to have one right? Besides, I don't know if I would be able to contain myself if I saw her and it would be rather unfortunate if I choked Jen's hopefully, soon to be, boyfriend's sister. Talk about lowering the odds for her.
"Um, is your sister home?" I blurted stupidly. Jen giggled and I just glared at her once again hoping that she would get the message that she was dead later.
Ryan gave me an understanding look and shook his head. "No, she's with...Daisy? Lily? I don't know some girl whose name goes with a flower."
Jen looked down at her boots to hide her smile, she probably felt happy that Ryan couldn't remember the name of Rachel's attractive Barbie doll friend. I smiled too, relieved.
"Oh, ok. Party," I followed Jen and Ryan up to the house, feeling only slightly uncomfortable. How was I going to get Jen alone to talk to her? That was kind of the whole point of my visit. I sighed and kicked off my boots at the front door. Ryan led us into a large sitting room with leather couches, a huge flat screen TV, a fancy complicated looking sound system, and even a pool table.
I managed to pick my jaw up off the floor and keep the drool in my mouth. "Wowza." I said immediately regretting it. Wowza? Who said that? Stupid, stupid.
Ryan was clearly trying not to laugh, Jen did though. She was starting to slowly crawl onto my dark list. You didn't want to be on the dark list.
"Yeah, my dad probably went a little overboard," Ryan shrugged and motioned for them to go ahead and sit on the couches. "I'll be back," he left and I turned to Jen, glaring.
She held up her hands in a protective manner, all I knew is she was going to need more than that to protect her.
"Really, Jen?" I hissed. "I came over to talk to you and now I'm stuck having a spot of tea with Billy Britches over there."
Jen's eyebrows shot up. "Billy Britches?"
I groaned. "God, don't be like me it's annoying." I said angry that that was all she had gotten out of what I said, something that I would do of course.
She snorted. "No kidding," when my glare didn't let up she sighed. "I'm sorry, Sam. Really, I am ok? I was in the barn waiting for you and he came down...well we started talking. I couldn't just ditch him...besides, he uh, well...," Jen trailed off nervously and my glare turned into a look of confusion.
"What?" I asked urgently. But before Jen could answer, Ryan handed her a Coke.
He handed one to me too and I took it, suppressing the urge to push him out the window, possibly throwing Jen out after him. But I really didn't want to pay for the damage.
"So I heard my sister was giving you a hard time today," Ryan said sitting on a couch opposite of me and Jen. "I'm sorry; she can be quite...difficult."
For a lack of better words...
I glared at Jen finally getting what Ryan...well, uh. Yeah, he, well, uh, knew about our disagreement. Mentally cursing Jen, I took a large gulp of Coke, almost choking.
I coughed and nodded. "Well," I shrugged not sure what to say. "It's no biggie." I felt like I was lying a lot today.
Jen sighed. "It doesn't help when you poor a drink all over her head."
My glare was set now; it wasn't going away any time soon. "You heard about that, huh?"
Ryan surprised me by laughing. "Regardless, I'm sure she deserved it."
Jen and I both gaped at him, what a non-brotherly protective reaction. He coughed, sobering, and looked up at me and Jen. "Look, she is my sister, but I do understand she is difficult at times, so I want to offer my help. Don't take that the wrong way...I just want her to be...humbled," he handed me a coaster to set my drink on since I had just set it on the glass table.
"Er," I scratched my head, not sure how I was supposed to answer that. He wanted to help me sabotage (ok, well maybe not completely) his sister? To be humbled. "You know, thanks. But, I don't think that's the best idea." I could not start teaming up with Ryan.
He shrugged. "Let me know if you change your mind."
I doubted that I would.
x-x-x-x
I was grumpy as I rode Ace home. Sensing my agitation, he too was getting pissy. I sat deep into the saddle and tightened my abs as he tried to jig once again--he wanted to gallop, I wanted to walk. Ryan's offer to help me 'humble' his sister was weird and on top of that, I never got to talk to Jen alone. She was getting the silent treatment on the bus tomorrow.
Finally back at River Bend, I tied Ace to the hitching post, quickly untacking him and rubbing him down. I had fifteen minutes till dinner; if I was a minute late Gram wouldn't let me have dessert. I really wanted some more apple pie.
As soon as I turned Ace loose he spun and darted away from me, bucking and crow hopping. I guess he was still mad at me.
"Little turd." I shook my head and gathered all my stuff up to put away, then headed inside to wash up.
I kicked my boots off on the porch and pushed the screen door open with a creak. Gram and dad were huddled over the table again, I groaned making them both glance up.
"I was home on time the least you could do is put that thing away," I said a little disgusted. How much time could they spend bent over The Book? The kitchen smelled like roast and I breathed in deeply, my mouth watering with hunger. I peeked into the crock pot to see the beautiful roast in all its delicious glory.
Dad sighed and shut The Book with a snap making me turn away from the roast. He looked tired and rubbed his face, which looked worried. Gram frowned and patted his shoulder before going to set plates.
A little suspicious as to what was going on, I went to get the silverware. What had them all worried? I wanted to know, but by the look on both of their faces I knew now wasn't the time to ask. So silently, we all sat with our roast, unable to enjoy it completely. Dad wasn't even eating.
Something seriously fishy was going on...and I intended to find out what.
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