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Chapter 7: Hold Your Horses

The last time I checked, there was a difference between the term 'dare' and the term 'public humiliation'.

~Starlight24

"My face feels so naked," I remarked as I starred at myself in the mirror. I'd gotten my braces removed, and my contacts had come in today morning. I laughed at my reflection of the child-like girl staring back at me.

"I kind of miss your old look," said Mom, nostalgia tinging her words. "You looked so cute!" I rolled my eyes mockingly.

I was wearing bulky clothes, because Deeds' surprise was a horse-riding getaway to a nearby ranch. I was wearing an old t-shirt and jeans, my hair tied back and a sports cap to flank the top, along with a pair of sneakers and sunglasses hiding most of my face. I pecked Mom on the cheek when I heard Deeds' car's impatient horn for the fourth time (yes, I'd counted) outside my house. "COMING!" I screeched as I flapped towards the door.

Deeds and Marie were already there, and we had to pick up Hailey on the way. Marie was wearing a high-low dress and a floppy hat, so I guessed she wasn't horse riding. No shocker there, she probably thought they were too disgusting. Deirdre was wearing a cute jumpsuit and a hat that cast a shadow across her face. Her hair dripped onto her shoulder blades and she smiled at me in acknowledgement.

We drove to Hailey's in around ten minutes, and she was already there and well equipped. She was frantically pouring sunscreen onto her palms and her hair was tied in two high ponytails (Haha, get it? Ponytails; and we're going horse riding?) Cowgirl style. She looked like a bug with her Rhine-rimmed sunglasses and bandana.

"Hi!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, waving happily. "I bet you're really excited, huh?" she asked, sitting with me at the back. The convertable had been opened, so Marie had taken off her shawl and was holding it out in the wind, allowing it to bellow behind us.

I nodded in response. Deirdre chuckled from the front seat, and cocked her head slightly so she could see us in the rearview mirror. "Let's make things interesting," she began, and I suddenly had the inkling of doubt that it was going to be good. "Let's give each other dares."

This was immediately followed by a chorus of approval from Marie and Hailey, but a half-hearted one from me. I wasn't a good girl, but I wasn't a bad girl either. And I didn't think this was going to be good.

"Marie," began Deirdre, pausing thoughtfully. "I dare you to go horse riding."

"No!" shrieked Marie. "I don't wanna be anywhere near those disgusting creatures. They've got such huge teeth, and flies all around and they smell so bad—" she started rambling.

"Come on! It won't be that bad. Plus, you can borrow some jeans there and it'll be fun. I promise!" Hailey gave Marie a beaming smile, which made Marie sink into her seat but she didn't say anything. Deeds decided to take that as a yes.

"Hailey," she smiled. "I dare you to go on a horse, and not a pony. I dare you to go on a really tall horse and do the whole obstacle course." That didn't seem too hard.

"No! I'll die up there... you know how acrophobic I am!" she exclaimed, seeming distraught.

"Exactly! Conquer your fear, Hails. I know you can do it." Deeds gave her a reassuring smile.

So far, the dares hadn't seemed too bad. I guess I wasn't going to get something that bad either.

"Day," said Deeds, enthusiastic that she was going to get a chance to pick on the new kid. Oh joy, I was tingling with excitement to get publicly humiliated. Note the use of the mental monotone and overly thick sarcasm. "I dare you to flirt with your instructor."

"What!" I asked, my eyes literally popping out of their sockets. This wasn't fair at all. "What if it's a girl? Or a fifty year old man?" I asked. Why did I get something like this!?

"If so, then we'll change it there," replied Deirdre coolly, laughing at my discomfort. Ah, my friends were sweeter than honey. "My dare is that I'm going to pay for this entire thing." She'd gotten off pretty easily. They were just targeting me.

We parked at the ranch and stepped out, stretching and allowing the pure, fresh air to fill our lungs. The smell of freshly mown clover and rain hung in the air, and a cobblestoned path led to a plush looking lobby at the front.

In the lobby, there was a grand TV screen that projected the different horses and you could take your pick. We had to sit on faux-leather sofas and read magazines until our turn came. We got to pick our horses as well, and I was really hoping my instructor was a girl so that I wouldn't have to do this ridiculous dare.

I'd been to a couple of ranches before, but none had been as swanky as this one. A manmade stream gurgled under a bridge to walk towards the stalls where the horses were kept. A worn looking man who was shoveling out some manure smiled at us, his gold fillings glinting in the sun.

I'd chosen a beautiful chestnut pony that just stole my heart when I saw it. If milk chocolate and white chocolate ever had a baby, that would be its color. It had a rich brown tail and a light fringe covering one of its eyes like a hairy eyepatch.

A young boy was standing by the horse, and I groaned inwardly. So I had to perform the terrible deed anyway. When he turned around, however, my heart dropped to my feet with a thud.

Jase was holding a whip and resting his elbow against my horse. His riding breeches and cap really transformed his look, and he looked much younger with it. My luck was brilliant.

"Day!" he greeted; I could hear Hailey giggle behind me. I walked towards him, keeping my head bent.

UGH.

"You are a little dipshit, you know that?" he asked as I neared him. I looked up, and I remembered my dare. I was just going to have to do it, and I really wanted to puke. Life was so unfair.

"How?" I asked, trying to sound foxy but failing. I stroked the horse's mane, and tried to not think of our close proximity.

"I tried the number, doll. I wanted to punch your little face." I chuckled.

He hoisted me up, holding my waist for longer than necessary. I turned towards Deeds, mouthing the word: Help. She shook her head and motioned for me to continue.

"So... What brings you to the ranch?" I asked, leaning down so my face was only a bit higher than his. I glanced at Deeds, and she gave me a thumbs-up in approval.

He grinned, but he didn't seem as creepy as he was last time. In fact... he almost seemed uninterested. I don't know why, but it stung for no apparent reason. "My dad owns it," he said, rubbing the nape of his neck. He actually moved away from me and went to the front of the horse, so that there was a good few feet of distance between us. He was making my dare so much harder to perform.

"Really?" I asked, trying to continue this small talk. "So what do you do here?" I asked. He had been so flirty the other day. What on Earth possessed him to act civil now, just when I needed him to be like himself?

"Yeah." Which wasn't really an answer. "So you have to hold the reins here—" he continued.

"So," I cut him off. "What's the name of this horse?" I asked. I draped my legs across the side of the horse and held the rein that he was holding. Surprisingly, this horse smelled pretty good. Almost like mild boy deodorant, mint, grass, and a dash of cinnamon. A weird combo, but they all balanced each other out pretty well.

He looked perplexed. "Day," he asked, a questioning tone in his voice. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked, looking at me leaning into the mane of the horse. I was such a bad flirt.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked, blushing. Okay, this wasn't working. "So what's its name?" I asked. The weird tone to my voice had significantly dropped and I sounded normal. Well, as normal as Day Winters could get, that is.

"Well... what do you wanna name it?" he asked, and I could see a slight blush in his cheeks. Things were getting seriously awkward now. What was going on?

"Me?" I asked, not bothering to hide my confusion. He nodded. "The first thing that hit my head was Melody. When I see the horse, I think of music. The mere swish of her tail and the creamy color in her fur just reminds me of a song. Not a pop song, just a country song or a soothing song." I looked at his wide eyes and blushed. "I'm sorry, I can get a tad bit carried away."

"No, it's okay," he said, shaking his head. "Melody it is, huh? She's yours." I felt my heart lurch.

"What?" I asked, looking at him as he was unwilling to look me in the eye. "Hold your horses, I don't get this!" He laughed heartily at the 'hold your horses'.

"I'm serious. I've got a ton of these, and I've raised this one myself. Now don't ask any more questions, as you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth." He smiled at me. I couldn't believe creepy Jase was being so incredibly sweet. "I mean, we'll keep her here, but you can adopt her. If it's okay."

I could feel my eyes growing wider by the second. "Uh, yeah," I said, blushing.

"Okay, now your friends are gone." Jase huffed suddenly. I looked at him with a confused expression on my face. Deeds had left, and she was with her female (note the jealousy) instructor. Hailey was doing an obstacle course alone somewhere far away and Marie was screaming at the little boy who was trying to help her out.

"They obviously wanted you to do something, right? So I just decided to play along." He gave me his normal wolfish grin, and I rolled my eyes. Of course this had been too good to be true.

"So you lost your nerd look, huh?" he asked, hoisting me up better again. I nodded, still feeling crushed that he'd not actually been that nice. Oh, well.

"Look, you can let go of me now," I said sternly as I thwacked his hands away from my waist. "I know I'm awesome, but you needn't be that obsessed with me."

He smirked. "Oh, get off your high horse," and I giggled. Holy crap, it was the flirty giggle. Of course it needed to make its appearance when I least needed it. He looked at me like I was making a move. Well damn him, because he was going to be disappointed.

"Oh horse feathers," I muttered, and he grinned. This was actually kind of fun.

"You're lucky I'm your instructor, because I rarely come here and when I do, I'm usually bored to death," he continued. "You got someone straight from the horse's mouth."

"By trying to engage me in conversation, you're flogging a dead horse." I informed him. "So you might as well stop now."

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." He grinned at me and slung an arm over my shoulder. I was about to push it off, when I saw Deeds come over. Oh, this was going to be funny.

"Deirdre," acknowledged Jase as I nuzzled into his shoulder. He smelt like his horse, except more overpowering. I wanted to gag, but the look on Deeds' face later would make this whole thing worth it.

I heard Deeds' amused laugh as he pulled me closer, and I hopped off, still in his strong grasp. In fact, he hadn't even put me down, and my legs were kind of flailing in midair. "What are you doing?" she asked, a bemused smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, you know," I said, trying to sound cool even if my heart was thudding so loudly that I bet he could hear it. "Just horsing around." I added a flirty giggle just to make things more realistic. He chuckled and dropped me down, his arm still around me.

Deeds laughed. "Well, if you two lovebirds are done, then we're heading out." She walked away, and I sighed and pushed myself away from him.

"What was that all about?" he asked, cocking his head. Oh my, gosh he looked adorable.

Wait, what?

"I was supposed to flirt with my instructor." I sighed, and he laughed quite heartily. "It was a dare."

"So that explains your sudden niceness towards me!" he laughed, and then shook his head. "I wasn't kidding, though." He looked down at me (literally, not figuratively. I was just short) and his eyes were wide and innocent. I had never seen anything more sparkly in my whole life.

"About what?" I asked, and I was shocked to find my normally high pitched voice a wee bit huskier than usual. He didn't seem to realize it, though.

"About being able to keep Melody," I looked at him, my eyes wide.

"Thank you so much!" I gushed, and I flung my arms around him. It was something that I regretted two nanoseconds later, because I lurched back, blushing.

"Dammit. I was enjoying myself there." He grumbled, and I laughed. "By the way, your whole act back there with Deirdre would have been a lot more convincing if your heart wasn't thumping so loud and your cheeks weren't so goddamn red." He winked, and I recoiled.

I heard Hailey cough behind us; a loud ahem that was meant to get our attention. I blushed and turned around, by hair slapping Jase lightly. He muttered in weak protest, but I was too busy trying to avoid Hailey's triumphant expression to care.

"Keep this one on a tight leash," Jase pointed at me. "She's an incredibly huge flirt." He winked at me, and I gave him a grateful expression. Dare: Complete.

Jase asked Deeds to 'Pony up' before we left. Puns are the new in things, I guess.

Marie laughed and we walked away, with me turning around and waving a slight goodbye before joining the others.

"You're so lucky," grumbled Deeds as we sat in the car with me in the front this time. "Jase is so hot." Well pardon me for thinking she was a good girlfriend who didn't check out any other guys. She was just as bad as Dylan.

I rolled my eyes and glanced back at the ranch. I'd gotten absolutely no horse riding done, which sucked. But I wasn't going to revisit for a while.

Jase was just going to have to hold his horses before he met me again.

A/N:

Hope you liked that chappie as much as I liked writing it haha ;)

Please Vote/Comment/Follow/All of the Above if you liked this!!

Pic of Jase!!

Teaser: Day takes a trip down memory lane and reads through her old posts... hopefully it'll give you a better reason to love Starlight and understand why everyone is obsessed with her!

The song above is called Of Mountain Sound ;P Not related, of course, but there's just that line where she says: 'Hold your Horses' which made me flip lol ;)

Question: So who do you ship?

1) May [DAY+MAX]

2) Jay [DAY+JASE]

3) Dylay [DAY+DYLAN]

Song of the day Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men

Best comment gets a dedication :D

Love you all,

~Lexi