Little White Lies

Chapter 13

"Come in," I say when I hear a knock at my door a little before 4pm.

Autumn cracks my door, "I hear you have a filly. I'd love to meet her," she says slipping into the room. Pippin jumps up from the bed, sniffing her.

"Yeah, um, sure," I say sitting up.

"Look, for what it's worth, any guy who would be interested in Rachel is an idiot. She's the worst," Autumn says.

"Thanks," I glance down at my socks, "he's not though."

"Which is why none of this makes sense to me," she says. "Rachel was the first person to be nice to me when I moved here. But, over the summer I really got a chance to get to know her better. She's truly the worst. I can't stand her, but I can't seem to shake her," Autumn tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"You really don't even know the half of it," I sigh. "He kissed me this weekend." Why did I just say that? I haven't told anyone about that kiss. Autumn brings the twins home from school and suddenly I'm spilling my guts.

"You're kidding? He kisses you then asks her out? That's total bullshit," Autumn says sitting down next to me on the bed.

Before I know it, I'm telling Autumn everything. I've never spilled my guts like this, not even to Ali who I've known since I was six. But once I start talking about it, I can't stop.

"It sounds like someone should punch him in the face," Autumn says when I finally finish.

"Thanks," I say.

"Is that the picture?" she asks pointing at the folded piece of paper next to my bed.

"Yep," I say handing it to her.

"Wow," Autumn says opening the paper. "Okay, I want to be mad, but this is seriously impressive."

"I know!" I exclaim. "I'm having such a hard time being mad at him. It's just so weird."

It turns out that Autumn has been fox hunting for years. She has been looking for a good barn to ride at since she moved here. Ali actually told her weeks ago that she should come out here. I'm showing Autumn around the barn after showing her Rosie when I see Andy walk into the barn. I pretend I didn't notice him though. He walks to Treasure and Rosie's stall and checks for me, before turning to see me.

"Sawyer, I really need to talk to you," Andy says.

"You know Andy, I'm busy," I say without looking at him.

"Okay, fine. Autumn can hear this," he says defiantly. "Hey Autumn," he waves at her.

"Hi Andy," Autumn says with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, I heard a weird rumor today. Apparently I asked Rachel to homecoming and she's 'soooooooooo' excited about it," he tries to catch my eye.

"Yeah I heard that one too," I snap.

Autumn raises her hand, "Me too."

"Well, it's a lie. That never happened," he pushes on.

Okay, now I'm looking at him.

"Rachel called me last night and SHE asked me. I told her no. She then reminded me that her father was my mother's boss. I told her she could go straight to hell and that I highly doubted her father would okay with her suggesting something bad would happen if I didn't go," he pauses, eyes searching my face.

"Told you that chick is the freaking worst!" Autumn says dumbfounded. "That's a new low though, even for her."

"Apparently she went to school and told everyone that I asked her. I really don't know what she thought would happen next though? Did she think I would forget that it didn't happen like that?" Andy was ranting a little now.

"Probably," Autumn says.

"Sawyer, I would never have asked her. I wanted to ask you. I mean, I want to ask you," he trails off.

"Okay, that's my cue," Autumn says looking around the barn. "Oh look, a door, wonder where that leads," she says wandering over to the club room door and disappearing inside.

"I wanted to ask you this weekend, but after we kissed it was like there were people around all the time." Andy reaches out and takes my hand, "I'm sorry Sawyer. I was going to tell you about Rachel being crazy I just hadn't had a chance since it happened. Then you were gone."

"I'm an idiot," I say. "I should have just talked to you but instead I assumed the worst and took off," I say sheepishly, covering part of my face with my free hand. I'm so embarrassed.

"You aren't an idiot. You are, however," he pauses pulling my hand away from my face. Andy waits until I look up at him, "The only girl I want to take to homecoming."

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says before leaning down to kiss me. "And, you're also," he breaths when we stop kissing, "the one I'm hoping will be my girlfriend."

I can't even find words at first, so I just pull him to me and kiss him deeply. "Yes," I whisper when we break apart, foreheads touching.

"Can I come out yet?" Autumn calls from the club room.

"Oh shit," I bust out laughing, "yeah, I'm sorry!" A wide smile breaks out across Autumns face.

It's weird, sometimes it takes a long time to become friends, but that was it. With that smile there was no going back, Autumn and I were suddenly the best of friends.