Off My Mind- Free Rein (Pin X OC)

Chapter Three: Checking up on Pin

I skipped over to Zoe's house, excited to head to the stables. I quickly knocked on the door and waited patiently out front for an answer. A woman who definitely resembled Zoe answered the door. "Hello." She smiled, "Can I help you?" She asked, leaning against the doorframe.

"I met Zoe yesterday and I thought we would hang out again." I replied, giving her a friendly smile.

"A friend of Zoe's?" She asked to which I nodded. "Well, come on in! She's upstairs in her room." The woman said allowing me to walk through. "At the end of the hall."

"Thank you. And before I forget, I'm Bethany." I said, putting out my hand to shake.

"Manners." She said shocked, placing her hand in mine as we have a friendly shake. "That's nice to see. My name is Maggie Phillips. Just call me Maggie."

"Of course, Mrs. Phillips." I said giving her a wide smiling and she shook her head knowing I'd probably never call her by her first name. My father taught me that it is rude to address adults by their first names. It's one of the few things he taught me that I actually intend to follow.

I walked over to the stairs and jogged up them. "Zoe?" I asked, rounding the corner.

"In here!" She said, getting me to follow the sound of her voice and enter the room at the end of the hall. "Hey!" She smiled once she knew it was me.

"Hey," I smiled back going over to sit on her bed next to her. "You alright? Before you noticed me you seemed a bit down."

She sighed and started nervously messing with her fingers. "I did something bad, like really bad."

"What?" I asked, looking up and seeing she seemed a bit stressed. "I'm here to help." I said giving her a warm smile and sitting better in her bed so I could face her.

"It's hard to explain, and you don't really know any of it." She sighed, leaning back against her head board.

"We have time and I'm patient. Start from the beginning." I said, glancing at my watch to see it was nearly 10 now. We have plenty of time and if she doesn't want to go to the stables then okay. She obviously needs a friend and I'll be that for her.

She glanced up at me to ask me if I was sure. I nodded my head quickly, silently encouraging her to tell me everything she wanted me to know.

-

It has nearly been two hours now and we just finished. Apparently there's a horse thief in the yard. Horse's are going missing left and right. Becky, Jade, and Zoe were trying to get to the bottom of it and Zoe found some meds in Pins pocket when he took it off and left it in the tack room. She followed him and caught him stealing from the medicine cabinet. So the police were called and apparently she caught the wrong person. Yes, he took some meds but he was not the horse theif and now he's back but Zoe can't go back to the yard to fix everything she's made a mess of because her mom forbids it.

"It's okay." I said, "People make mistakes. Pin's stupid if he thinks you were doing it for any other reason than to protect the horses. He has to understand the good intentions you had when telling Sam."

"I can only hope." She sighed, moving to sit on the edge and lean her head down against her hands. "I'm messing everything up."

I laughed teasingly at her. "No you didn't. The thief is messing everything up. And Pin seems like a reasonable guy. He knows you meant well, though he may still be a little upset. If anything just give him some space and time, he'll come around."

"Pony camp is today." She said falling back against the bed, looking up at the ceiling. "It's a big deal for the stables but it's kind of hard to be happy with a horse stolen and wrongfully accusing Pin."