Unloved - Let us rewrite the stars ||englisch||

✨F I F T E E N✨

The next morning I woke up neither in the garden or in the guest room. Although I slept little, I felt rested. Lando was still holding me, which made me smile. We had sat outside for a long time yesterday while he just held me. I must have fallen asleep at some point because we were in his room, where he must have carried me. I snuggled tightly against him again and closed my eyes. My stomach was tingling, but I ignored it knowingly. I just wanted to enjoy the moment without my feelings interfering. Landos tightened his grip around me, but instead of feeling distressed as I might have otherwise, I just sighed comfortingly. "You're awake too, aren't you?", I murmured. "Mmh," the brunette grumbled sleepily. "Couldn't we just lie there for a while?" "Mhm," I agreed, sucking in the smell of Lando. Oh God, he smelled good.

I must have fallen asleep again, because the next time I woke up, I was alone in the room. Yawning, I stretched before rubbing my eyes and then picking up my mobile phone. Cara had already texted me. I should call her. Okay, I'll do that after I've had a shower. Still a little disoriented, I looked at the grey bed linen. I felt like milk, I realised, and blinked sleepily again. Rubbing my eyes, I got up and shuffled downstairs to the kitchen, hoping to find Lando there. But I didn't, so I just went to the fridge. I quickly discovered that half the fridge was milk. Good, I could live with that. I took out a bottle of milk and drank from it. With the bottle, I went to my guest room and sat down on the bed. While I decorated a sticky note with my name and then stuck it on the milk bottle, I called Cara. "Good morning Hailey." "Morning." "I wanted to apologise and see how things were going." I smiled. This was my Cara. Whether we were fighting or not, she always worried about me. "I just named milk after myself because I drank from the bottle and now I'm getting dressed. And I have to apologise too." "What's it like with Lando?" "He's nice. Actually really super nice. We want to go and see his sister later," I reported, already slipping into my clothes. I would take a shower tonight, because the way I hoped we would, we were also going to the stables.

"Hailey? Are you coming?" "Coming!" I quickly said goodbye to Cara and hurried downstairs. "What's up?", I asked in a good mood, putting the Hailey milk back in the fridge since I had taken it downstairs with me. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm done training and we're ready to go and did you just name my milk?" "I adopted her and named her Hailey," I said as a matter of course. "Okay, um. I honestly don't know what to say to that." "Nothing. But I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick and then we can." "I need to take a shower too. So in half an hour?" "So that explains that disgusting smell of sweat," I tried to tease him. "Come on. Admit it. You think it's hot," he replied, pulling me into a hug. "Ew bah. Now you've transferred that stench to me," I grumbled. "You're a piece of work," he laughed, hugging me even tighter. "I know. But can you please let go of me now?" I tried in vain to push away from him, which I predictably failed to do. "I don't want to release my little birdie though." Smiling wryly, I looked up at him. "The only one who has a bird here is you. And it's in your brain," I explained, poking him on the nose with my index finger. Being pressed against his well-toned body like that made me more than nervous and that look he was giving me made me shiver. Fortunately, he finally detached himself from me and then went to take a shower.

Half an hour later, we were in the car on our way to Flo's place. I was a bit excited, although I didn't really have any reason to be.

When we arrived, I nervously got out and looked around the property. They definitely had enough space for horses. "Come on. Flo's probably in the stable." I nodded and followed him shyly. "Flo!" he called after her, but no sign of life from her. "Then she's probably in the square." And indeed we found her there. She was jumping a bay horse, but when she spotted us she promptly parried through. "A visit from my brother and a girl. Your girlfriend?" she asked openly, smiling broadly. I blushed while Lando just rolled his eyes. "She's a friend I met in Melbourne. Hailey, this is Flo," he explained and then introduced me with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Hailey. After I'm done, do you want to go in together then?" "Can do," Lando agreed and leaned against the fence. I, however, gave myself a jolt and asked, "Do you need any help?" "You know about horses?" I nodded. "My parents put me on a horse before I could even walk." "Lando sat on the horse for the first time when he was three," she told me with a grin. I looked at him in wonder. "Well, I'd love to see you on a horse sometime." "Forget it Hailey. I'm not sitting on such a dangerous thing." "Come on! You drive Formula 1 cars!" now Flo complained too. "You're not going to the track, I'm not getting on the horse." Promptly Flo and I looked at each other. "Then we'll just go with you next time and you'll ride for it." Just the thought of going to the track again made me tense up. But neither Flo or Lando noticed. Luckily for me. Before anyone else could say anything, I deflected from the subject. "I think it would be smarter for you to keep training, otherwise you can do another round of warm-up riding." "Where you're right. You can get a horse ready and then we can go out for a round of dry riding. What do you think about that?" "That would be mega cool! Thanks!"

After the information that Lando knew where everything was, that the horse I was allowed to ride was called Donatella and that I was allowed to ride her bareback, I went into the stable and looked for the one with the name Donatella out of the six boxes. To be honest, I was a bit surprised that she let me go to her horses alone and that I was allowed to get them ready. Not to mention that I was allowed to ride without a saddle, which of course I was happy to do. "They must be unbelievably great sport horses," I remarked admiringly as I stroked the coat of the well-built body. Lando finally brought me the grooming box and took the snaffle as well, whereupon I could start grooming. Too lazy to help me, Lando leaned against the wall of the box and watched me. "Flo seemed to like you right away." "You think so?" "Yup. She hardly ever lets anyone touch her horses alone. Besides, I think she really trusts that you're really into horses." "I could theoretically have just lied," I objected, brushing the horse's flanks. "She's a good judge of character and you didn't lie." "No I really didn't."

A good half hour later, I was done with Donatella and led her by the bridle to the riding arena. The mare was just super well-behaved and I was really starting to fall in love with the bay. "Lando! Will you help Hailey up?" "Okay," he said sceptically, looking to me. "I've done it a few times, but I can't promise I'll get you up too. You're smaller than Flo," he admitted apologetically. "Yes, I know I'm small," I pouted and reached into my mane, my other hand resting on the horse's back. Lando actually managed to get me up and so I was now sitting on the horse, which snorted obediently. Okay, riding out in jeans, trainers and no helmet, plus no saddle was a touchy subject with Mom, but, what she doesn't know won't hurt her. "What about you Lando? What are you doing now?" asked Flo as she stood next to us. "I'll wait here for a while," was all he said, and so we rode off.

We rode along a country lane while we talked. I had quickly decided that Flo was really friendly, so it was really fun to be here with her. "How did it come about that you are now with Lando? You've only known each other for a month at most." "It's a really weird story, mostly related to me being pissed at my best friend." "I'm curious, shoot." And so I told her how it happened, but kept out why I had actually been really mad. "Do you like spending time with him?" Did I? I didn't really know, I felt so safe around him. "I feel comfortable around him, more than that... but there's a boundary, a wall that prevents me from letting the feelings in." "You're starting to fall for him, aren't you?" I sighed helplessly. "I don't know. But even if I did, it was still never going to happen. There's just too much that's happened in the past for that." I was admittedly proud of myself because I was talking about my feelings with a girl I barely knew and yet I just trusted her so far. "You're probably more open even to me than to him. Why?" That question was bound to come, I knew that, yet I didn't want to answer it. "I don't want to talk about it, but his job is a problem with it." "That's okay. But it's my brother and if there's anything, I'm always available."

By the end of the day Flo and I had exchanged numbers and I had gone back with Lando.

10.02.2021