falling over the saddle

chapter 1 - Dallas

she was sunshine reincarnated and that meant that there was absolutely no doubt that Kylie Jones was going to be the death of me. she spoke quickly and held eye contact throughout all of it which annoyed me. everything about her annoyed me. her stupid green eyes annoyed me. her blonde hair annoyed me because of how curly it was. her white shirt annoyed me because it had bows on it. I hate bows. her black skirt annoyed me because there was no way in hell she wasn't getting looks from absolutely everyone in this entire freaking room. her stupid Mary Jane's annoyed me because why the freak did they look so freaking cute in comparison to the harsh lines of her legs?

"Dallas?" her voice snaps me out of my leg-filled daze and I go back to glaring at her face, her incredibly distracting face.

"what?" I say, my hands are clenching the side of the sofa so hard I think I might rip it off. she just smiles at me which makes my glare deepen into a sneer.

"I asked if you were excited about the win?" she says with an almost honey-like edge to her voice that makes my head spin with... anger? lust? nope, definitely anger.

"yeah, it was good. I felt a lot of pressure to win this one since it was in my hometown but I'm happy I won. I was glad my mum was watching, she's kind of like my good luck charm." I say, my body relaxing as I talk about my win. I knew I was going to win, there was no doubt. I had won everything I'd done since the start of the season and I wasn't about to give up my streak. everyone in this small race were rookies who didn't know the course like I did, didn't know their horse like I do.

"why do you think she's your good luck charm? and, why did you feel such an immense pressure to win? does it have anything to do with he fact that you didn't win the first ride you had here last season - the one you lost?" she says and suddenly something snaps inside her, you can see it from how her posture changes. she senses a story, she can practically smell it in the air. fricking journalists, man. her usually relaxed stance has changed into one of calm elegance that makes her look less like a friendly teenager working on the school magazine and more like a high-class journalist working on the best sports magazine in the world.

"that lose was a rookie mistake, a mistake that won't be made again. and I think my mum's my good luck charm because she is. I've won every race she's every watched." I say, my jaw clenching and my molars mashing together.

"let's talk about that mistake. you were only riding at a speed of 20 miles per second  instead of your usual 9 miles per second. can you tell me why that is?" she brushes a strand of hair away from her face and I grit my teeth at how pretty she looks. bloody hormones

"no, I can't. I don't know why Sally wasn't running as well as she usually does and I certainly didn't help. my mistake" sally is my horse. or course I knew why I didn't perform as well as I should've. I was nervous, too nervous and so was sally. I hadn't done my ritual that I always do which makes her calm. it was all my fault. my fault. my fault.

"could it have anything to do with the fact that your dad had visited you early? or that you're mum wasn't watching? the commentators that were watching the race noticed how Sally wasn't performing as calmly as she was previously." her brows lower into a frown as if she feels pity for me at the fact that I hadn't won one race.

"my dad has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't perform as well as I could've and yes, I do think it was partly because my mum wasn't there to support me. Sally didn't perform as calmly as she usually does for unknown reason. it may have just been a bad day for her," I rub a hand over my jaw, annoyed "what are you insinuating Jones because it sounds like you're saying I had something to do with Sally not performing as well."

"I'm not insinuating anything, Dallas. I'm asking questions and you're not giving me particularly valuable answers. I'm simply trying to understand what went on during the race." Kylie says.