by Ann Hunter
Alex bounced against Pepper’s side until the filly tolerated it better. When Pepper finally stood quietly, Alex called it good.
“Who’s next on the list?” she asked.
Dejado grinned. He took off the halter, and headed outside wordlessly.
Alex patted Pepper in parting, wondering what had Dejado so chuffed. She followed him to the end of the barn, gradually realizing whose stall they were approaching.
Venus Nights whickered to her as soon as Alex was within snorting distance. She broke into a grin.
“Really?”
Dejado simply entered the stall, haltering the midnight filly. “Would you care to do the honors, Ishmael?”
A shock of thrill raced down Alex’s spine. “Hell yeah.”
Venus Nights arced her neck, nibbling Dejado’s navy blue t-shirt. He placed a hand over the bridge of her nose, then leaned to offer Alex a leg up. “I have a feeling she’ll take a shine to this.”
Venus raised her head alertly, licking her lips. Alex grinned as she stepped to her side. “How’s it goin’ sis?”
She gave her ankle to Dejado in order to get more of a boost. Venus Nights was leggier than Pepper, and required a little more umph. When Alex leaned against her side, Venus danced away. Alex made another attempt, but Venus did it again.
Alex took a step back, glaring at her. Venus didn’t acting skittish like Pepper. She swung her onyx head toward Alex, gazing at her with soulful eyes. It wasn’t the first time Alex wished she could swim in them. She felt that way about Promenade too sometimes.
Venus stamped her hoof and sneezed. Alex shook her head. “You’re such a goob.”
“Again?” Dejado asked.
Alex nodded, re-approaching the precocious filly. She gave her ankle to Dejado again, feeling sure she could pull herself up with Venus so close to the stall wall.
Her hands went on Venus’s back. “One.” Bounce. “Two.” Air-time. Alex didn’t have to count to three. Venus tossed her head as Alex planked across her back. Her heart swelled with emotion.
She was so proud of Venus, and all at the same time she couldn’t help but remember watching Brooke do this in the past. How she had always made it look so easy. Now Alex had done it, too.
And that’s when Venus did the most time-bending frog hop, effectively dumping Alex in the straw.
“Are you alright?” Dejado blurted.
Venus Nights pulled away, snuffling Alex in the face. Alex hadn’t even had time to register that she was on the ground. She pushed the filly’s nose away, not sure whether to laugh or be irritated.
“How’s it going?” Joe asked, peering into the stall. “Why you sitting around?”
Alex pointed at Venus Nights who simply blinked at Joe innocently.
“Well, get up then,” Joe said. “One more time on her, then move on to the next horse.”
Dejado offered Alex a hand up while Venus Nights nabbed the lead line in her teeth and swung it around like a toy. Alex hurried to the stall door before Joe could leave.
“I’m happy to do this all day long, but will meet me tomorrow for jockey training?”
Joe scowled at her. “Not if you’re just gonna sit in the hay, girl.”
Alex swallowed. Sometimes conversation with Joe required decorum. “No sir.”
His jaw shifted side to side as his eyes narrowed. “You best be there, then. I don’t have time for slackers,” he finally said, shuffling off.
Alex grinned over her shoulder at Dejado, who had reclaimed the lead from Venus. “Again.”
***
“Lower. I said lower,” Joe snarled. “Curl up into a damn ball, would you!”
Alex huffed, sitting back on falling-apart Speedy. “This would be easier on a real horse.”
“I’ll put you on a real horse when you deserve to be on one.”
“Brooke lets me ride for her,” Alex muttered under her breath.
“Brooke’s too soft on you,” he shot back.
Alex rolled her eyes. She got back into racing position, as low as she could.
He growled, “Now get down low. On your belly.”
“That’ll take too much energy to hold.”
“Learn to do it right, kid, and it will be nothing at all.”
He reached for her knee and pulled it forward, forcing her body to get lower. Her knees practically tucked into her armpits. Alex’s eyes widened at the shift, and she grit her teeth about how he’d been right. Once she fixed her stance in the irons, it was gravy.
“You listen to me, and I’ll make you stronger,” Joe said. “You’ll be somethin’ they ain’t never seen before.”
By the time their lesson was over, Alex’s hip flexors were screaming at her. Joe told her to go for a run, but Alex was convinced she couldn’t do more than waddle— even if she called Katie over to cajole her into it.
“Fine,” Joe grunted. “Be sore, then. Don’t whine to me about it tomorrow.”
Tomorrow. Oh, geez. Alex wondered if she’d still have to put up with him like this after she got her license. She silently counted the days til October as she trundled out to the paddocks to see Venus Nights, feeling like some too-stiff cowboy.
She found the filly grazing in the middle of the field, standing off a ways from the rest of the herd. Alex went to her, giving a low whistle. Venus flicked her ears, licked her lips, and ambled towards her. Alex wrapped her arms around the filly’s neck, only to get her hair tussled by a curious nose.
She buried her face in Venus’s mane, trying to blow off Joe’s gruffness, and how her joints complained.
“I’m not certain I feel more sorry for you, or the filly you’re head-desking,” Dejado said.
Alex lifted her head, squinting against the mid-June sunshine. “What are you doing out here?”
“Checking all the waterers to ensure they’re functioning.” He wiped his brow with the back of his wrist. “It’s getting warmer these days.”
Alex sighed and leaned her cheek against the filly’s neck.
“Are you alright?” Dejado asked.
“Some days he seems alright, other days… I can’t stand him.”
“Allow me to guess. Joe.”
Her frown must have said more than she could.
“You know what you need?” He stepped over to her, rubbing Venus Night’s face. “Down time.”
Alex raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve been through so much these last few months. I wouldn’t blame you for being stressed out. I think we need a night off.”
She wasn’t sure she could let go that easily. Not when North Oak was pretty much everything she lived for these days. How could you run away from that? In a place like this, was it possible to be a regular teenager?
Dejado offered his hand. “Trust me.”
Alex reached for it, then pulled her hand away to rub the back of her neck. “I’m kinda, sorta grounded.”
Dejado’s hopeful smile faded.
“But,” she added quickly, “I’m going to a friend’s track practice Friday morning. If you happened to be there, and I was there….”
The mirth returned to his face. “I see.”
“It’s not breaking the rules if, by coincidence, we bumped into eachother. Right?”
He headed out toward the sprinkler system. “I know not what you speak of.”
Venus Nights ambled after him.
***
Alex realized asking Laura for a ride to the high school track was probably a bad idea the second Laura saw Dejado.
She jabbed Alex in the shoulder. “You are so busted!”
Alex rubbed her arm, grimacing. “What?”
Laura shoved her car keys into her clutch. “Don’t think I don’t see what’s going on here. You’re supposed to be grounded.”
Alex shrugged. “How was I supposed to know he’d be here?”
The stormy looks they exchanged were ridiculous enough to break them into laughter. Laura tussled Alex’s hair. “Go, McFluffle Pants.”
Alex mouthed a silent thank you to her as she jogged over to join Dejado on the lowest bench. Laura scaled the stands, and took a seat several rows behind them.
Dejado leaned toward Alex, asking aside, “Would you like to get a cheeseburger after this?”
Alex gawked. “I just got here.”
“Well, I’m hungry.”
She folded her hands between her knees. “We’ll see what Laura says. I’m still grounded, and us meeting is purely coincidental, remember?”
The softest smile on his face told her how much it amused him. “It’s not a date, Ishmael. It’s a cheeseburger.”
Alex glanced over her shoulder to Laura, who wiggled her fingers hello at her. “Either way, I’m being chaperoned.”
She rubbed her face. Though it was mid-morning, the sun was already beating down on them. Briefly, she was reminded of the last time she was here, with Carol. More and more big words were finding their way into Alex’s repertoire, and Carol wasn’t even around to appreciate it. A strange pang of homesickness struck Alex in the chest. She glanced to Dejado, remembering how he had said at Belmont Park that he’d find her where her heart is.
Would he ever realize how she felt about Carol? And how long could Alex deny how she felt about him? Then there was Katie to add to the mix, and all of a sudden Alex found herself fighting anxiety. Sweat formed at her temples, her heartbeat skittered like Pepper the other day. In an effort to stave off a racing breath, she gripped the edge of the bench.
Alex closed her eyes, focusing only on what her mind’s eye could sense. Four things she could feel; warm metal, her toes in her paddock boots, the sun on her back, Dejado beside her. Three things she heard; the banter of the track team across the way, gulls overhead, someone coughing to clear their throat. Two things she smelled; freshly mowed grass from the football field inside the track, and a tingly mix of cedar and appley fly spray. If only someone could bottle that! A smile coaxed its way to the corner of her mouth, and her breath evened. One thing she tasted; victory over an impending anxiety attack.
Inside, Alex was grateful Laura had taken time in the past to teach her 4-3-2-1. The world was as it should be. Or was it? She opened her eyes just as Katie blazed past with her team.
Alex would wait as long as she needed to. The determined look on Katie’s face echoed the determination in Alex to reach out to her, to find out why she hadn’t been answering her calls. Dejado attempted to make small talk, but Alex remained too distracted by her mission.
“There she goes,” Dejado respired on one of Katie’s later circuits. He probably wondered why Alex had agreed to meet him here, then mostly ignore him. She hoped he didn’t feel like a third wheel.
When Katie was done, Alex absently made her way across the field to her.
“Katie!” She waved, hoping to be noticed.
Katie glanced her way. There was a brief glance of brightness to her expression that abruptly went cheerless. “What are you doing here?”
“Where have you been? I keep calling, but you never answer. What is going on?”
Katie stared into the distance as if Alex weren’t even there.
She followed Katie’s gaze, squinting against the sun. The unmistakable form of Brad Hopkins rose in the stands. “Has he kept bullying you? Is he— ”
“Can’t you take a hint? I don’t want to see you anymore,” Katie snapped.
Alex grabbed her hand. “We had a deal.”
“Deal’s off.” Katie yanked away, and rejoined her team.
Alex was almost too stunned to notice Dejado’s hand on her shoulder.
“Everything alright?”
Alex glared over at Brad Hopkins. Who ever the girl was that she’d just been talking to wasn’t Katie. Not the one that she knew anyway.
Laura caught up to them. “Yeah, I saw him too. Creep.”
If he was still hanging around Katie, Alex wasn’t about to let her alone. Not yet anyway.
ONCE UPON A SUMMER
Alex hated the fourth of July. Every year, the whole North Oak crew would go down to Boyd’s Branch and shoot off fireworks. In years prior, Alex would huddle in her room, shaking apart at every boom that went soaring. Carol had been there before with her, but now her best friend was gone.
Last summer, Alex had felt betrayed when Carol told Hillary and Cade about the problem. They had wanted Alex to seek help. Now she was grateful they understood why she didn’t want to be around them at this time. It was better to be alone, rather than falling apart in public. There were still parts of her she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to shake off. When would anything resembling a gun shot fade from memory?
She called Katie before Cade, Hillary, and Laura headed out for the evening. Maybe they could watch a movie together. Distraction would help a lot.
Inside, Alex begged her to pick up. If she could get Katie away from Brad, she knew everything would be alright. Katie needed to know North Oak was as much a safe haven for her as it was for Alex.
Alex’s heart skipped a beat when someone picked up, only to be crushed when Katie simply said, “Please stop calling.”
And hung up.
Why? Why was Katie being like this? You didn’t go from really liking someone to telling them to buzz off overnight. Was it something Alex had done or said? Should she keep trying?
She found herself questioning everything that had happened between them the last few months. Every conclusion only lead to Brad. He had to be involved somehow. Was he still trying to use Katie to get to Alex?
Alex wondered if she should keep going to Katie’s practices. Maybe simply being there for Katie would prove she was willing to be a safe place for her.
Shortly before sundown, a knock fell on the Showmans front door. Alex went to answer it, and smiled when Dejado met her on the other side.
“I noticed you weren’t at the beach with the others. Cade told me you don’t like loud noises.”
A blush flustered Alex’s cheeks. “Or people,” she admitted.
“I thought we could watch a movie.”
Alex stepped out of the way and invited him in. “I’m grounded, remember?”
“Cade said this is special circumstances only.” He made his way to the den, and started looking through the Showmans’ movies. “What should we watch?”
Alex stuck her hands in her back pockets and shrugged. “You pick.”
He filed over each title with his finger, tilting his head this way and that. Finally he pulled out a case that didn’t look like it had been watched in years. He brushed away some dust. “Have you ever seen Breakfast Club?”
“Why would I watch something made in the eighties?”
“You’ve seen The Black Stallion, haven’t you?”
Alex gave him a wry smile. “Duh.”
“That’s it.” Dejado pretended to be miffed. “I’m buying us a pizza, and we’re going to watch the greatest teen film ever made.”
“Shh.” Alex pressed her finger to his lips. “You had me at pizza.”
Dejado’s mouth curled behind her fingertip. The look in his eyes got those lightning bugs flitting around her belly again. Gah, why did he do that to her?
She playfully shoved his forehead. “Go get us a pizza, Dorkface.”
He pretended to lose his balance, reeling back with his hands over his heart. Then he winked at her, heading to his apartment. “Back in a flash.”
She hoped he would return before the fireworks started going off. A spell of forty-five minutes passed before she answered the door again. Dejado grinned at her with a box of pizza, and a two-liter of rootbeer.
“Not all heroes have capes.” He winked.
Alex smirked and let him in, then got a couple of cups for the soda.
Dejado got the movie going on the TV. He set the pizza down in front of the couch. “This alright?”
Alex plunked down beside the box, with her back against the base of the couch, and filled their cups. “Yup.”
As the movie played, Alex didn’t
think she could get into it. Ten minutes on, and it was still pretty boring. But at least the pizza was good, and, as she glanced at Dejado totally lost in the movie himself, the company not bad.
She didn’t realize, even while the pizza was growing kind of cold, how many slices she’d eaten, until their hands touched over the last one.
“You have it,” Dejado said.
Alex looked away, wiping her palms on her jeans. “No, you. I’m not that hungry.”
He reached for it and tore it down the middle. “We’ll split it.”
Dejado turned her hand over to give the half-slice to her, but she didn’t let go of his. They both kept their eyes on the movie, like they were pretending nothing happened, and yet knowing the world had changed in a single mozzarella-covered moment.
And Alex still really didn’t get the stupid flick, even when the characters were all sucking face and stuff at the end. Or maybe she was too distracted by the way her fingers felt entwined with Dejado’s. How it was familiar and comfortable, like they’d been like that forever. Or even one lost sock finally being reunited with the other after it had ventured to Sock Narnia. A pair of wandering souls bumping into another, not so awkwardly.
They didn’t even hear anyone come home until Cade cleared his throat, peeking into the den. Alex and Dejado’s hands whipped apart, landing in their laps innocently.
“Enjoy the movie?” Cade smiled.
“Yeah, sure,” Alex said quickly. “Great.”
Dejado folded his arms. “I told you it was exceptional.”
“You’re never wrong, are you?”
There was this thick silence between the three of them as Alex and Dejado stared at the title screen on the TV.
“You, uh… You gonna eat that last slice of pizza?” Cade asked.
Alex passed the box to him, feeling prickly all over. Not in a bad way, but in a your leg’s asleep way. It was dumb to think, but she couldn’t help it; sparkles at every nerve ending.
It wasn’t until she heard Cade shuffling around the kitchen, breaking down the pizza box to shove into the trash, that Alex finally looked at Dejado. “So what’s so special about this movie? Why do you like it so much?”
