Free Rein P.H

*36*

I looked at the time on my phone and winced. Holloway would be starting our training anytime soon and Gaby was really knuckling down at the moment. Pin also wouldn't be impressed if I was late.
Pin and I had established a business type relationship and I managed to not roll my eyes every time he uttered a word now. Progress.
His progress seemed to be that he would ignore everything that happened between us and try to act as it was before.
Which ideally would've been great. But I couldn't just forget that kiss and those lingering looks he shared with Zoe. We needed to talk certainly. I didn't know to the extent of his actions or emotions and frankly I put the conversation off because I was scared to find out the whole truth. Particularly the whole talk about feelings.
So for now the safest option would have been to maintain the business relationship. Icy and cool but manageable.
I turned to Zoe.
"Hey, I gotta head out."
She nodded understandably.
"I'll talk to Holloway about what happened here. See if we can help in any way. And I'll leave Bob in my mom's capable hands." I smiled down at Becky as I stood.
"I'm sure he'll recover eventually. Have hope."
With that I nodded at Jade as I strode past her and exited the tent.
My horse was already at Holloway and ordinarily my mom would give me a lift. With a deep sigh I realised I was going to have to travel on foot. And if I wanted to keep my head on my shoulders once I got there I would have to sprint.
"I made it! Hey! Sorry I'm late." I winced as I rushed through the stables towards the training ground.
"Phoebe, you're half an hour late. Are you serious about this or not?" Gaby half shouted.
"Yes! Yes of course I am." I had to stop and catch my breath before I continued. I could see Gaby judging that I wasn't even wearing my uniform yet.
Luckily I'd had time during the early early hours of morning to change into decent clothes as opposed to my pyjamas.
"There was a..." I hadn't sprinted in a while. "A fire. At bright fields." I panted eventually.
"If you're going to make up stories to get out of training, at least make them realistic." Pin replied scathingly. I looked up at him slightly offended.
"I'm not lying! It was awful. Bob freed all the horses but he's not well. All the equipment in the tack room is probably useless now."
Pin surveyed me for a moment before deeming that I was most likely telling the truth and turned to Gaby.
"Perhaps we should go and check it out. At least to check on the horses that have no stables now." As much as I currently disliked him I couldn't help but admire his sincerity when it came to the welfare of horses.
"You coming with us?" Gaby asked. I nodded in response.
"Go and get Joey ready and meet us at the entrance in ten minutes. I'll tell the others where we're going." She looked towards Alex, Finn and Callum who were currently on their horses but not much horse riding was going on as they chattered animatedly. I nodded in response and hurried back the way I came.

*. *. *.

Ten minutes later and I was leaving Holloway with Gaby and Pin. We rode our horses across the fields, mostly in silence.
"Are the horses okay?" Pin craned his neck to look at me and I urged Joey forwards slightly so that he would have to lean less.
"They all got out safely, Bob unlatched all the doors. My mom is with him now though; he collapsed."
Pin nodded his head thoughtfully. His tone seemed so changed from how he normally behaved. It reminded me of the time when I first got to know how kind his heart truly was. While I got distracted by old memories Pin sped up his horse, distancing the two of us. He still obviously felt slightly awkward around me. I couldn't blame him was I was often the one glaring at him. Not that he didn't deserve it. I'm pretty sure he knew that however. Maybe it's why he could never look me in the eye.
Minutes later we arrived at Bright Fields.
Mia and Marcus sat defeatedly by a pile of tack.
"How bad is it?" Pin asked jumping down from his horse.
"The tack room got the worst of it." Marcus sighed as he stood up. I looked over at Mia who was pointedly ignoring us but I could tell she seemed crushed.
Suddenly Zoe appeared from the tent beside us, lifting the flap with one hand, holding a bucket with the other.
"I'm getting some water for Bob." She told me and I nodded at her. "It's bad, Phoebe." I winced at the weight of her words and thought of poor Becky in the tent with her ailing horse.
"We want to help!" I blurted out. Marcus and Mia looked at us cynically.
"We could look after the horses at Holloway." Pin clarified. Mia rolled her eyes at us.
"You can't leave them outside, they're gonna be anxious as it is." Gaby reasoned.
"We've got plenty of food and bedding." I added, looking deploringly at Marcus.
"We could think about it." Marcus nodded.
"Absolutely not." Mia cut him off and started to stride away angrily. Marcus chased after her and the wind carried their argument.

"How do we know they didn't start the fire? They'd do anything to stop us at nationals."
I scoffed slightly at how low Mia clearly thought of us.
"We don't know how the fire started. But Mia, we do know that we have a field full of hungry and agitated horses." Marcus replied - always the voice of reason. "It's only temporary."
Finally Mia gave in.

*. *. *.

I was leaning against the wooden fence, watching the hustle and bustle around the yard when I saw Pin approach my mom. I was unsure of her stance on what had happened between the two of us. She had listened to and consoled me every time I complained about Pin but she still seemed optimistic. As though she could analyse him and force him to change his ways. This should be interesting.
"How's Bob?" Pin asked her.
"It's hard to tell I'm afraid."
"I could take a look if you'd like. I've worked with these horses before."
"I'm aware of that Pin." She chuckled lightly. "You're always free to come round and talk. We have a lot we can teach each other."
"Oh no, that's fine." He rambled on about a few excuses.
"You know I don't see you around nearly enough anymore. Phoebe never tells me anything, are you guys okay?"
I groaned and placed my head in my arms that were folded atop the wooden fence. That was a blatant lie. Thankfully Pin believed her in this circumstance.
"Yeah no, we're taking a break at the moment. I uh- I messed up real bad. I'm realising that now. I'd best be going."
And with that he spun on his heel, heading bac towards Gaby.
My mom looked over her shoulder and gave me a wink before heading back into the tent.
I was speechless. Trust my mother to be so sneaky.