Overcome

Chapter Fourteen

The next night, we left the house around 12:30. Mom went to bed really early, said she had a rough day at work.

Justin pulls into the parking lot, I think about why Justin hasn't been home in 7 months. I cant find a polite way to ask him.

He looks at me, "You usually run out of the car, are you okay?" he asks softly.

I debate on actually asking him, then just think to go for it, "C-can I ask you something?"

He smiles, "sure"

"I-I don't mean to be rude, but why haven't you been home?"

He looks down at the floor and sighs. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that." he said so quiet I could barley hear.

"You never left the house, only for work, I think anyone would notice" I try to joke, like he would.

"Yeah, well, I thought....." he trails off. then suddenly snaps back into his happy self. " come on, Harry's waiting for you" he starts to open the door but I reach across and grab his hand to stop him.

"whats wrong?" I ask now really worried. There's something he doesn't want to tell me.

"Nothing, I'm perfectly fine" after about five seconds he says "Harry's waiting for you" again.

"Harry can wait longer, I want to know whats bothering you" I say a little louder without noticing.

"I told you, nothings wrong! Leave me alone!" he yells.

I let go of his hand and let him leave so that he can cool off.

I walk into the barn slowly, weary about (one) where he is and (two) whats wrong with him.

I stop at the entrance of the barn. The giant sliding doors that are a dark brown. But they are shinny. All the doors in the barn are the same. Wooden, glossy, dark brown, they all even have the "X" figure on them, just like int the coloring books or when you would draw a horse in the barn. You would draw the "X" figure to show that its the door to enter the stall.

I take a couple steps forward and look into the office, the whole entire ceiling is basically every ribbon that the owner ever won. The walls are a cream color that brake into a giant floor-to-wall window overlooking the indoor.

I keep walking slowly.

The aisle is almost as wide as a river, there is a monogrammed tack trunk next to every stall. That was one thing that bothered me. Why is your tack trunk across the river? I never knew and never questioned.

I look up as I walk and walk a tad faster. The ceiling of the barn is the same as any, I guess. Its a slant going upwards until it meets in the middle, its like a triangle. The ceiling is actually quit hig-

I get distracted as I trip over my own foot. Right at the last second I remember that I have hands, so I whip them out in front of me and caught myself, thankfully not bashing my teeth out on the concrete floor. I roll onto my back.

"I give up on life." i complain to myself.

Then I hear a nicker. I get up and see Harry looking at me, wondering what I'm doing on the floor.

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

I get his leather halter from my tack trunk and trudge back to his stall. The halter went on even before I walked into his stall.

As I'm walking Harry around the arena, I get this craving. I look for a mounting block, but there isn't one anywhere.

Turning back to Harry, I contemplate on if I could vault up on him. I used to do it all the time. Yeah, used to. But I probably could still do it. Harry might run away if I do it though.

"Here, I'll give you a leg up"

I don't think I've ever moved so fast in my life! I spun around so fast, I almost trip over my feet again!

"Way to scare the crap out of a girl!" I say when I see his face.

'"Sorry" he mumbles, obviously still upset from before.

He picks up my left leg and counts to three,on three I jump up, swing my leg over and I'm on Harry. A smile brakes out on my face.

Before Justin could get to the lead rope, I lean forward and grab it. Then I ask Justin to tie the other end to the other side of Harry's halter so I ind of have reins.

I feel confident walking around the ring. Justin is now in the middle of the ring, taking the place as the trainer. He never says anything, I think he just likes playing trainer. His skinny, tall figure reminds me of Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, Justin has a more muscle from working at the barn.

I circle the corner, pulling slightly with my right hand and aiding along with my left leg. Its actually really cool how muscle memory really works.

I sneak a look at Justin, something about his face changed. Usually, when we fight one of us gets upset but then we are back to normal in the matter of five minutes. He still looks sad, really sad. His hair is exactly like Zac Effron's ( the short, mow hawk version), usually his eyes are bright and cheery. Sparkling blue. But right now, they are almost dull, no life in them.

I'm such an idiot! Why would I be so stupid and ask his a personal question that he obviously didn't want to talk about. It's none of my business! But then again, he has lived in my house for 6 months and I have no idea why.....

I needed something to get my mind off of Justin, before I blurt out questions again.

Before I could even thin what I'm doing, I squeeze my legs to send Harry into a trot. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Justin look up. Harry eases into a slow, sitting trot.

I wobble a little bit but then muscle memory kicks in and I sit perfectly. Again, I squeeze Harry to move into a posting trot. My legs ache as I squeeze them to post. I am going to be one sore person tomorrow.

Suddenly getting a rush of adrenaline, I easily put pressure on Harry and ask him to canter. He picks it up, happy that I'm actually riding him. He feels powerful, but as light as a feather as his hooves touch the ground. Just the way i always remember it.

Justine's face is frozen in a shocked state. I can't help but blush. " whoa" I calmly say and Harry slows to a walk. I start to cool him out.

"Oh. My. God" Justin says as I hop off.

"Oh. My. God" he says again when I have Harry cross tied and start grooming him.

"Is that all you can say?" I smile.

A smile comes across his face. But I can't hep but notice that the same sad, dull look is all over his face.

In the car ride home, Justin said Oh my god for the 30 millionth time.

"shut up!" I laugh and punch him in the arm.

"Hey!, Driving here" he motions his hand towards the steering wheel, indicating that he was driving. We both laugh, but I could help but notice, again, that it's not the same laugh as before.