Crushes And Adventures Are The Same, Kinda

Chapter One

I think imperfect people can still fall in love.

That's the thing- the love you see nowadays is ruined by media, it's ruined by the people who are disbelievers, it's ruined when people judge others.

I don't want to judge.

It's hard not to judge someone when they're wearing rain boots, though.

#ONE DAY EARLIER#

I have to go.

The horse farm, I have to.

It's only a kilometre away from our old, frail little house anyways, and I've always wanted to feel the wind whipping through my hair and the hooves of the giant horse clopping against the gravel and filling my eardrums, I dream that dream whenever I go to sleep. I even have funds saved up for something like this, it's what I've been waiting for my entire life.

So, the decision is made. I'm going. I will walk the kilometre myself and demand that they let me ride a horse if my dad doesn't let me go, I will slap my money into their hands and mount the horse myself, that fact is true and nobody can deny it.

I start to squeal as I lay on my bed and think of the horse I'll be riding. A stallion, powerful enough to carry the most precious loads of them all. It'll be white, with a silky mane and tail and glittery, encompassing eyes that swallow you whole.

And people say imagination can't go far.

When I get up off of my bed to go beg my father, I notice a large black spider on my wall. It's really not a rare occurrence and it's not a surprise. I think back to the one time a huge house spider landed on my face and almost had babies in my ear as I slept.

I shove my finger in front of the spider's long, creepy front legs, and nudge it forwards by the bum with my free hand. In an attempt to get away from my annoying finger, it crawls on my carefully placed trap- my trap finger- and I lift my hand up. Moving quickly, I jog over to the open window, and ease the creepy crawly out onto the white windowsill.

"Goodbye, little cutie!" I say as it scrambles off and onto the side wall of my house.

Sighing, I pull open the door that leads to the main hallway. He's not going to say yes. The thought lingers in the back of my brain annoyingly, whispering doubts softly, as if it were some stray hair.

I look into my father's room. He is on his bed, staring at the wall. His expression is placid, yet steely and stern at the exact same time.

"What do you need, Charlotte?" He doesn't even make his question sound like a real question. He talks to me like I'm a burden to him or something, like my very presence is tiring him out. It probably is.

"Dad, did you know that there is a horse farm near us?" I try and subtly slide the question through to him.

"I didn't, is there?" He looks at me, finally. My eyes are blue like his, but not nearly as dull.

"There is. You can even get rides there and stuff, and go to the farm, you know?" I smile.

He sighs. "And you want to go?"

Scrambling to collect my thoughts, I mumble quickly. "N-no, I wasn't hinting at that, no, just telling you-"

He rolls his eyes. "Charlotte. If you really want to go, then go."

"Dad, I'm sorry, but I can walk if you want? I have money saved up and you know that it's always been my dream to ride a horse, because I love them, you know?" I ramble. My palms are covered in nervous, anticipating sweat and I have to continuously wipe them off.