In the end, in desperate need of someone to talk to, I called Jordan. He said that he was coming over anyway to visit with his horse Wizard and fifteen minutes later he was there, pulling up in his mom’s car because she hadn’t let him get a new bike yet and his arm was still in a cast so it would be kind of hard to ride on one anyway.
“Still driving the mom-mobile then,” I teased him.
“Don’t even,” he said. “It is completely killing my bad boy image.”
“You don’t have a bad boy image,” I said.
“Thanks a lot,” he said. “So is the crazy girl still riding my horse?”
“She’s not crazy,” I said. “She just had a lot of stuff going on.”
“We all have a lot of stuff going on,” he said.
Suddenly I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to tell him about my mom. He didn’t know how bad things had been before she left because I didn’t really know him very well back then and to be honest I didn’t know him that well now either. I thought I did but there were times when I didn’t understand him at all. In fact I really didn’t understand any boys so maybe it wasn’t them but rather me instead who had the problem.
“So when does the cast come off?” I said as he slipped into Wizard’s stall.
His horse nickered under his breath and sniffed Jordan all over like he hadn’t seen him in months instead of days.
“Soon I hope,” he said. “It’s itching like crazy. If they don’t take it off soon I’m going to cut it off myself.”
“And chop your arm off in the process?” I said. “That will be fun.”
“You can watch if you like?” he said.
“No thanks. I don’t want to be the one who has to explain to your mom why I had to call an ambulance.”
“So you’d just let me bleed to death? Nice,” he said.
“Pretty much,” I replied with a grin.
“I think it actually is coming off next week though,” he said. “So Mom will be coming to pick Wizard up and bring him back home. That Dakota girl isn’t going to have some kind of major meltdown if I take him away, is she?”
“I hope not,” I said. “Her grandparents might be leasing her a horse over the summer so that would work out.”
“The sooner the better,” Jordan said. “You’d better make sure she doesn’t run off with him again before we take him home.”
Jordan still hadn’t quite forgiven Dakota for stealing his horse and taking him for a joyride and even though he’d let her ride him in the schooling show, that had been my idea and I pretty much guilt tripped him into it.
“So what is the matter with you then? What did you want to talk about?”
“Nothing,” I said, picking a splinter off the wood. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Okay.” He shrugged because boys didn’t really care about bleeding heart sob stories anyway.
CHAPTER TEN
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Jordan asked.
“Positive,” I replied.
We were sitting out under the old oak tree by the ring, watching people ride. I’d thrown an old sweat sheet on the grass and raided the fridge so we had a sort of mismatched picnic going on. Not that there was ever much in our refrigerator except carrots and baby food but I’d found some leftover slices from the pizza that Dad had ordered the night before, a mystery tub of something that was either potato salad or coleslaw and a few half squashed bags of potato chips with mostly crumbs in the bottom of them. Jordan didn’t seem to mind. He devoured everything while I gnawed nervously on a carrot. If Mickey could see us, she’d say that we were on a date only it didn’t feel like we were. It felt just the same as when I sat out on the grass with Mickey except when Mickey was there I usually wasn’t worried about whether I had food stuck in my teeth and with Jordan, it was all I could think about.
“We should do something fun,” he finally said.
“Fun?” I asked dubiously.
“Yes, you know. Fun? That thing you have sometimes when you get together with friends and goof off.”
“Oh fun,” I said. “Yes, I don’t get that.”
“What do you mean, you don’t get it?” Jordan said with a half-smile.
“My fun is here.” I pointed out to the ring. “And there.” I motioned to the jump field. “And at shows.”
“But that’s not really fun,” Jordan said, rolling his eyes. “That’s more like work, at least the way that you approach it anyway.”
“And what is wrong with that?” I said.
“Nothing,” he said, holding up his hands. “Unless you are some old person. Don’t you want to just let loose and tear things up? Go crazy?”
“I don’t think my father would like that very much.”
“He doesn’t have to know.” Jordan winked. “Come on, the fair is in town. We could go tonight. They’ll be rides and food and music. You’ll love it.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
Jordan’s face fell. I knew he was trying to be nice to me. Was he really asking me on a date? And if I said no, would that mean that we couldn’t hang out anymore? Besides, the fair did actually sound kind of fun. I needed something to take my mind off my mother and riding wasn’t cutting it. Maybe Jordan was right. I needed to tear it up and go crazy. Anyway, it was only one night. How much trouble could I get into in one night?
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go with you to the fair.”
“Awesome,” Jordan cried, a big grin stretching across his tanned face. “I’ll pick you up at six.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Standing in front of my closet later, I realized what a mistake it was to say yes. If Mickey wasn’t over in Paris chatting up cute French boys then she could have told me what to wear but without her help, I was completely clueless. Most of my wardrobe seemed to consist of breeches in varying states of decay and shirts that all had mystery stains on them, only they weren’t really mysteries because they all came from horse’s mouths or noses or sweaty bodies. I didn’t know what you were supposed to wear to a fair but I suspected it was supposed to be something casual and yet cute. After all Jordan hadn’t asked me out for no reason.
“Ugh, I hate this,” I cried, pulling on a top and then taking it off again when I realized I just looked ridiculous.
“Something the matter?” Missy said.
She stuck her head around the door and looked at the mess my room was in with a raised eyebrow. There were clothes everywhere, on the bed, the floor and hanging sloppily from hangers like some drunk person had hung them up.
“I have nothing to wear,” I cried, throwing myself down on top of the clothes on the bed. “And I don’t even know what I am supposed to wear anyway.”
“I think you are supposed to wear whatever you are most comfortable in,” Missy said gently.
“So breeches then,” I said.
“Or jeans? Maybe a cute top?” she suggested.
“I don’t have any cute tops,” I said. “If I ever need one, which I never do, I borrow one from Mickey but she’s abandoned me to go and fawn after French guys. This is hopeless.”
“I’m sure you have something suitable,” Missy said.
But after she’d rummaged around in my closet she conceded that I was right. I actually didn’t have anything to wear.
“We need to take you clothes shopping,” she said.
“Why? After this I’ll never be invited anywhere again anyway.”
“Is that the sort of attitude you go into the show ring with?” Missy asked, sitting down next to me.
“No.” I sighed. “But I’m not a girly, girl. I don’t get any of this stuff. It’s like some people don’t get horses, you know? Like literally don’t understand them at all. Well that is how I am with boys.”
“Nonsense,” Missy said. “I’ve seen how you are with Jordan. You get on great with him.”
“Because when we hang out it’s like we are just two friends and it doesn’t matter that he is a boy and I am a girl. We are
just two people who love horses and that is that. This is something else entirely.”
“Because there won’t be any horses to use as a distraction?” Missy said.
“Exactly and what if he wants to kiss me?” I said, feeling horrified. “I don’t even know where to put my lips or where he will put his lips and we’ll probably just mash our teeth together and he’ll never want to kiss me again.”
“I think your father would be happy about that,” Missy said, getting up and peering out the door before closing it. “As far as he is concerned, you shouldn’t be doing any kissing of any kind.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I don’t even know if I want to kiss him anyway. I’d rather kiss Bluebird.”
Missy looked at me and shook her head. I knew she thought I was a lost cause.
“Come on, I’m sure we can piece something together,” she said.
In the end that something was my least stained pair of jeans that were a little too short in the leg due to my current growth spurt and a top from Missy’s own closet. It was purple and lacey and had a low scooped neck which I kept trying to tug up because it felt like I was flashing the whole world with my boobs, even though Missy assured me that I wasn’t.
“Leave it alone.” She smacked my hand away. “Come here.”
She made me sit on a stool in front of her vanity and then she got to work on my face.
“I don’t need makeup,” I protested but she didn’t care.
“Of course you don’t need it,” she said. “But don’t you want it even just a little?”
“No,” I mumbled under my breath.
This whole go to the fair on a date thing was turning out to be a nightmare and Jordan hadn’t even shown up yet. Part of me was even hoping that he would change his mind and actually stand me up, which was really sad. If Mickey was there, she would have slapped me.
Missy applied a little mascara, which felt like someone was shoving a giant brush into my eyeball, and then dusted my eyelids with a glittery lavender powder.
“Pucker up,” she said, coming at me with a tube of lip gloss.
It tasted of berries and left a faint stain on my lips like I’d just eaten a raspberry.
‘Well?” Missy said, stepping back. “What do you think?”
I looked at the girl in the mirror and didn’t recognize her at all. She was tall and pretty and like someone who belonged in the popular group at school. Missy had even managed to untangle my birds nest hair. She had put some kind of special gel on it and tamed my mane into soft waves with her curling iron. I didn’t feel like myself at all but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
“Wow,” I said.
“Told you.” Missy crossed her arms with a satisfied look.
Dad didn’t have the same look when I finally went into the living room. His was more one of horror.
“What on earth have you got on your face?” he cried. “And that shirt? No. Just no. Go and take it all off now.”
“Honey,” Missy said gently sitting down next to him on the couch. “Your daughter is fourteen. In a few months she is going to be fifteen. You can’t keep her a baby forever. Did you think she would never go out or date at all?”
“I just thought she only cared about horses,” he grumbled, handing the sleeping baby to Missy.
“I do only care about horses Dad,” I whispered, feeling like a little kid.
“Then don’t go,” he said.
But the doorbell rang and I knew that it was Jordan and it was too late to back out now.
CHAPTER TWELVE
We all stood there staring at the front door like we were frozen in time and then there was a louder knock and Owen started to cry.
“Well someone answer it for goodness sake,” Missy said.
I went to the door with a lump in my throat and opened it. There stood Jordan wearing black jeans and a t-shirt with a band on that I’d never heard of before.
“Tell him to come in,” Dad yelled from inside the living room.
“You’d better come in,” I said.
Dad shook Jordan’s hand and made him sit down. I was so embarrassed. I just wanted us to slip out unnoticed but apparently that wasn’t going to happen because Dad was grilling Jordan about where we were going and who was going to be there and what time we were going to be back. If these were all the hoops we had to jump through to go out to one silly little fair, it hardly seemed worth it.
“I promise that I will take very good care of your daughter,” Jordan said.
“Will you.” Dad glared at him. “It seems that you can hardly take care of yourself let alone anyone else.” He pointed to Jordan’s broken arm.
“Dad,” I said through gritted teeth.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out with Jordan or not but I wanted to at least have the chance to do it once without my father scaring him off.
“You guys are still here?” Missy said after she came back from the baby’s room. “You are going to be late. Scram. Get out of here.”
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing Jordan’s hand and pulling him out of the house before my father could change his mind.
“I am so sorry about that,” I said as we got into his mom’s car.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a grin. “It’s not the first time I’ve been grilled by an overprotective father.”
“I don’t get it,” I said, as we sped down the drive. “He never cared about me before.”
“He didn’t know you before,” Jordan said.
And despite my reservations, it was exciting to be speeding through town, the sun sinking low on the horizon and splashing the world with pink and red. Jordan pointed out places he knew, where he’d climbed a tree and the spot where he and his friends had set up a lemonade stand. He had such a history and I didn’t have any of that. I’d moved around a lot with my mother before we settled here and even then I could only really show him the dumpster behind the Chinese restaurant where all the best cats hung out.
I wondered if Mickey was on a date with a French guy and hoped that she was having as good of a time as I was.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The fair was small but had drawn big crowds. It wasn’t often that anything like that happened in our town and so all the residents were out in full force. Jordan parked on the already flattened grass and pulled me towards the lights. It was dusk now but you wouldn’t know it thanks to the fairy lights strung up like a ceiling of stars.
“This is so cool,” I said, gazing up at them.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Jordan laughed.
There was a Ferris wheel and one of those centrifuge rides were you were spun around super-fast until you felt like vomiting. I didn’t know if Jordan was going to want to go on it but there was no way that I was going anywhere near it.
“Popcorn?” he said. “Or a hot dog?”
But I was already pulling him towards the cotton candy stand where a woman was handing out giant fluffy balls of pink sugar spun on sticks.
“Two please,” Jordan said and when I got my money out to pay he pushed my hand away. I guess he was trying to be a gentleman but it only made me feel like I owed him instead.
“I’ll get the next ones then,” I said, shoving the crumpled notes back into my pocket.
“Next ones?” he said. “Exactly how many to you expect to eat?”
“At least four,” I said. “Or maybe five. I’m not sure yet.”
“You’ll end up in a sugar coma.” Jordan laughed.
“I don’t even care,” I said, tasting the sugary sweet goodness with a happy sigh.
The scents and sounds of the fair were foreign to me, so different from horse shows and yet somehow similar. There was the same scent of crushed grass that hung in the air mixed with the hot dogs and burgers that were cooking on grills but there was something else as well, the smell of fear and excitement and sweaty people all rolled into one. It was kind of gross and yet exciting all at the same time.
“What
do you want to go on first?” Jordan asked. “The bumper cars? The tunnel of love?”
“Very funny,” I said. “How about this?”
We ran through the hall of mirrors, laughing as certain ones made us fat or short or really tall like a stretched out person. There was one that made my head really big and the rest of my body tiny. I knew Mickey would have had something to say about that. She was always telling me that I had a big head. Jordan didn’t say anything like that though because standing right next to me, his head was just as big as mine was.
He talked me into going on the pirate ship, which I did because it didn’t seem that scary, and then the bumper cars where we smashed into each other until we were laughing so hard that tears were streaming down our faces. Jordan was right. This was a different kind of fun, one where you didn’t have to win at something. Fun that didn’t come with any kind of pressure and I was having a really great time, so much better than I thought I would when Jordan’s friends showed up.
They strolled through the fair like they owned it, all leather jackets and chains despite the fact that the evening temperature was still in the eighties. They had tattoos and mean faces. Some of the guys had girls strung on their arms who seemed just as mean with red lipstick and pierced noses. Next to them I looked like a little schoolgirl. I tugged at my silly purple shirt, wishing I’d just worn the black t-shirt I was planning to until Missy talked me out of it.
“What’s up?” Jordan cried, high fiving the guys.
He was obviously happy to see them. I wasn’t so sure. When he invited me to the fair, I thought it was just going to be the two of us hanging out. I wasn’t expecting to be thrust into a group of people I didn’t know who had nothing in common with me and looked like they might possibly want to snack on my bones.
“Who is the chick?” one of the girls said.
“Emily,” Jordan said.
Chasing Ribbons (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 19) Page 3