Complication

Chapter five

The warm up ring was chaotic with people on horses flying around in every direction possible. Some horses were green and new to the show atmosphere while others went around calmly, not batting an eye at the little girl on a pony that pulled her the opposite way she wanted to go and almost crashed into three other people.

Lucas and Harvard trot by us, Harvard's stride is long and relaxed and when I look at Lucas I realize that his own body is relaxed also. I don't understand how he can be relaxed in a ring like this. Aspen jigs as a guy on a bay thoroughbred canters past us a little too close. I curse under my breath and see that Brandon waved me in out of the corner of my eye.

"He's a little amped, huh?" Brandon asks when I finally make my way through the horse traffic to the middle of the ring.

"Yeah"

"Look at Lucas for a second." Brandon points to Lucas trotting past a million people on horseback. "See how's he's relaxed and not caring about what's going on around him?"

"Yeah, I noticed that before." I say not really understanding why he's bringing Lucas into the conversation.

"Now it's your turn to relax. Your tensing up and Aspen is feeding off of it. Remember, this is only a warm up show, C Rated, so don't stress if not everything is going perfect. We just want to get him used to the show atmosphere." He sets up the single vertical to 2'6, "Alright, come over this. Nice and steady."

I nod and puck up my canter, asking Aspen to frame but instead he throws his head up in the air. I ask him to walk so that I can regroup, just then Lucas came trotting by me and fell into a walk right next to me. "Having some trouble?"

I ignore him and ask Aspen to frame again. Of course he throws his head in the air once again. Lucas leans in and whispers, "Maybe you should stop worrying. If you mess up its not going to count for anything."

I give him a forced, weak smile and trot off. I don't care about messing up at a show and not getting points to anything. I care about messing up in front of Brandon. If I do bad at a C Rated show then he's not even going to think about taking me into the A circuit, where Aspen is fully capable of showing in the Big Eq. He may not look it now but I've been spending a lot of time with him and I know that he's got it in him.

But I need to forget about that and focus on what I'm going right now. I loosen my shoulders and take a deep breath. I need to turn these nerves into adrenaline, that's what I've always been able to do. "Let's do this" I confidently jump over the vertical with ease. I smile.

Lucas went in the ring first, and, like always, made a perfect round. Now I'm up, but finally I'm not worried about it. I pull a great round except for one fence where I crawled up Aspens neck in my two point. We had a clean round but I know the judges will take off points for that.

Lucas got first and I came in a close second, although I was happy with it I had to deal with Lucas gloating the whole entire ride home.

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Once Aspen was all settled in his stall back at Two Trees I head off to Justin's' house. I talked to him before and told him about my rounds and asked how little Katie did. Turns out she kicked ass and got Champion in the Hunter Derby. I make a mental note to congratulate her when I see her.

I pull straight into his driveway behind his parents Porsche Panamera 9s. I usually don't know anything about cars but when it comes to the top brands, I've got a pretty good eye... I'm totally just kidding, his parents told me what kind of car it is...

Anyway, I walk right into his house without knocking and find Justin laying in a lounge chair and his parents by the barbecue in his backyard. "Hey Gina" His parents greet me.

"Hey guys" I smile and half hug both of them. Jerry, Justins dad goes back to cooking hamburgers on the barbeque. I notice crutches off to the side. Just a month ago he graduated from a wheel chair to crutches for whenever he gets tired to lean on. Although they're always out and close to him, I rarely ever see him use them.

I finally make my way over to Justin and hug him, "So how did the rest of your show day go?"

"Good, we came home earlier than we thought and me and Brody decided to go..." He trails off and glances to his parents who are both over by the barbecue, having a conversation of their own. Then he whispers in my ear, "Come on, I've got to show you something."

I get up, a little skeptical of what's going on and follow him into his room where he closes the door behind us. "Okay, so Brody and I went to the pet store after because he wanted a hamster for a while and we had time so..."

"Please don't tell me you got a hamster." His parents have a strict, no animals in the house policy.

"Ummm... It's much worse than that." He reaches on the other side of his bed and I hear a latch click and he picks up a... a puppy.

"Are you kidding me? Your parents are going to kill you!"

"I know! But I saw him and I couldn't help myself!"

"You went out to get a hamster for another person and came home with a puppy." I take the German Shepard from his arms and laugh to myself. "Your dad might agree with this, so get him on your side first. So then he could also reason with your mom."

"See, I knew you couldn't resist his cute little face! Come on, look at it."

"Does he have a name?"

"Noah"

Noah chews on my finger before excitedly pouncing over to Justin and plopping down at his feet. "He likes you already" I smile. "Come here Noah" I say in a baby voice. Noah happily pounces over to me and I pick him up. "Come on" I say to Justin as I walk out of the room.

It was pretty funny to see his parents shocked faces when I walked out carrying a dog. "Where did that come from Gina?" Justins mom asks.

I put on the best sad face I could, "He was at the horse show I went to today and was up for adoption. I just couldn't leave him there so I took him without thinking and now my mom won't let me keep him and he absolutely adores Justin-"

"I'm sorry Gina, but we can't have a dog. We can't have that responsibility." Dianna cuts me off.

Dammit, I need to step up my game. "Please, I'll come here and take care of him and I'm sure Justin will too. This puppy loves him, watch." I put Noah down and right away he prances over to Justin and sits down next to him. "Please" I make my best begging face.

Dianna's eyes shift from me to Justin then over to Jerry. "Fine. But it's not me or your fathers responsibility! You two take care of him."

"Thank you!"

Justin walks up beside me, Noah following at his feet. "How did you do that?"

"It's a talent I have, I'm a little rusty though." I pout.

He laughs, "Come on, I have to go to Petco and get Noah everything"

I was a little jealous when Justin put Noah in the front seat of his car.

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A/N: I'm so sorry about this awful chapter!! I'm just trying to fill in some space for when Gina goes to Florida.

So please bare with me!

Also, I still need a name for the barn Gina boards Harry at. Any suggestions? Please share!!

Thank you to all my readers!!!