Free Rein P.H

*34*

Pin and Zoe had taken Phoebe back to Zoe's house. Maggie opened the door with a gasp and ushered the children in. Pin gently lay Phoebe  on the couch, making sure her head rested atop a soft pillow.
"What happened?" Zoe's grandpa asked.
"She fell off her horse," Zoe answered, clutching her best friend's hand.
"She hasn't broken anything but she freaked out when Alex tried to touch her."
"It happened a lot after what happened with her dad." Pin commented quietly.
He was stood behind Zoe and her family, practically hidden in the corner of the room but his eyes never left the figure on the couch.
"She should wake up in a couple of hours. I'll go check if Alex found Joey."
With that he left, the door shutting quietly behind him.
"I'll call her mother." Zoe's grandpa announced, leaving the room.
"I'll get her a drink and some painkillers for when she wakes up. She doesn't seem to have broken anything but we might want to take her to the doctors when she wakes up. Particularly seeing as she's already broken her leg once before."
With that, Maggie also left to the kitchen, leaving Zoe slumped on the floor beside the couch; she clutched her best friend's hand like her life depended on it.

*. *. *.

Phoebe woke up only half an hour after her mother arrived along with a paramedic who conducted a quick once over before affirming that there would be a few painful bruises but no serious damage.
"Would you like to go home now?" Maggie asked as she handed her mother a cup of coffee.
"You can always stay if you wanted. I think Becky's coming over tonight too?"
Maggie looked to Zoe who beamed.
"Please Phoebe! It'll be so much fun!"
"Ok!" She agreed.
Zoe squealed and wrapped her best friend in a hug, releasing her quickly as she grunted.
"Oh yeah, sorry." She chuckled sheepishly.
"Try not to break me anymore, k?" She laughed in response. Her heart twisted slightly at the pang of irritation she had felt.
"Well then sweetheart, I will pick you up tomorrow morning. Call me if you need anything. I mean it."
With that her mother placed a kiss on Phoebe's forehead, stroking her hair gently before leaving.
"Sooo... movie marathon?" Zoe danced around Phoebe excitedly.
"Only if I get to watch Chris Hemsworth's sexy face." She chuckled and the two simultaneously screamed in agreement.
"Let's go!!!"

*. *. *.

Becky arrived late that evening and was all too happy to join in with the marathon.
"Right, we definitely need these." She announced as she dumped a box of ice creams by our feet as we sat, Zoe on the sofa and I sat on the floor, legs splayed out in front of me.
"Ice cream? What for?" I questioned.
"You always have ice cream after a break up." Becky announced as she jumped over me to sit on the sofa behind me.
"Breakup..? What...?"
"Marcus and I broke up." Zoe whispered.
"Oh..." I replied, keeping my head down as I reached for an ice cream carton.
"I'm sorry about Pin, Phoebe. I truly am. But that was the biggest mistake I've ever made."
"It's ok." I tried to stop her but she persevered.
"No, I have to say this."
She grabbed my hands as I twisted round to face her.
"What I did, it was awful. Pin and I knew each other before you got here and I guess I just always felt something for him but I ignored it because I saw how happy you were together. And it went away when I was with Marcus. But then he left and you were gone because of your leg and... I don't know, we just clicked. It was so wrong of me and I regret it everyday. I don't know how I can ever make up for it. I'm so sorry Phoebe... truly." She paused, tears filling her eyes and I felt my heart wrench. This was the girl I'd spent most of my life with. We knew everything about one another and I could tell she was hurting for hurting me.
"I'm not asking you to forgive me just yet. I know it will take time for you to forgive me but you're my best friend so I'm always going to be here for you. Please let me be here for you. I understand if you don't want me to- "
I cut her off.
"Honestly Zo, I don't think I'd survive without you. It'll take a while for us to be back to normal because you broke my trust Zoe. But our friendship is way more important than a boy. And you'll have forever to make amends okay." I smirked at her before pulling her into a gentle hug. She held me back even tighter "Don't worry, I'll work as hard as I have to. Anyways, Marcus and I are over now so no boys for me. I'm going to embrace the single life!" She cheered.
"I'll join you on that one." I joked chuckling dryly. We turned to Becky expectantly and she just studied her ice cream spoon with the utmost interest.
Zoe and I turned to each other with raised eyebrows. I smirked.
"So Becky... who's this mysterious guy we haven't been told about yet?"
She blushed beet red.
"N-no one." I smirked knowingly as a certain boy came to mind.
"Of course."

*. *. *.

We watched a few more movies and Becky had dozed off while Zoe was laying back scrolling through her phone. I looked curiously out the window, from my vantage point on the floor I could see the stars glowing faintly in the sky. At least normally I would be able to. For some reason there was too much of a bright light for the sky to show them. Curiously, I sat up and turned to the window where the glow only got brighter. I gasped, my jaw dropping open in utter shock as I saw the glow was coming from the stables.
And instead of a comforting street lamp the light was emitted by roaring flames.
A few moments later the shock wore off and I launched myself at Zoe.
"Zoe, Zoe the stables!"
I shook Becky awake as Zoe stumbled to the window.
The yard that you could easily see from Zoe's house was lit up by the usually comforting glow of a fire. However, the fire was engulfing the wooden shacks like a beast devouring its first meal and I could almost hear the flames crackling and horses neighing in fear.
"The horses...!" My jaw dropped in terror as Zoe and I shared a horrified glance.
"We have to do something." She decided. I nodded and raced over to the sofa, where Becky was still slowly awakening.
"Becky wake up, Bright Fields is on fire!"