I'm Not Scared... Much (Kiley)

[Elliot Morrow]

If Elliot could avoid it, he generally didn’t spend a lot of time outside. He was an indoor creature, preferring to spend his time either working on his schoolwork or surfing the internet. Or watching cartoons with Gamatatsu. But none of those were options this afternoon.

Why?

Because his roommate had commandeered the dorm to spend some ‘intimate’ time with a girl, more or less evicting Elliot from his own room, lest he listen to them in the common room.

Yeah. No thanks.

After grabbing a hoodie, his cell phone, and his car keys, he’d headed out. He’d sworn that he’d be back before eleven, and that the festivities had better have moved to the bedroom by then.

So now he had an entire afternoon and evening to kill. A part of him wanted to text Cale, to see if he was doing anything, but the logical part of him figured he would be working. Besides, he hadn’t really seen him since the morning after their date, which really hadn’t gone ideally. (This was why drinking, especially on a first date, was never a good idea.)

But they’d talked, and they were still on good terms with one another. He leaned against his car and tapped out a quick text to him anyway, letting him know he’d been temporarily evicted, and wanted to see if he was working. It was worth a try, right?

With that, he slid into his car and tapped his fingers on the wheel. He wasn’t sure where he was going to head, but he’d have to make sure it took up a good chunk of time. After a few minutes of thinking, he set the car into drive and headed down the lake. He hadn’t been there for a while, and his mother kept harping on him about not exercising enough. Fine, he’d walk around the lake, then go find something else to do.

The drive didn’t take long, and he didn’t actually mind being there once he slid out of the car. He couldn’t remember how long it took to walk around the lake, but it didn’t really matter. He just set out on the path and tried to convince himself that being outside wasn’t all that bad.

He was about fifteen minutes into the walk when he felt his phone buzz. Pulling it out of his hoodie pocket, he glanced at the screen and smiled. He had a text from Cale. ‘Depends. Does that mean I get to see that cute mug of yours?’ Distractions. They were wonderful things.

[Kiley Chun]

Kiley loved spending time out of doors. Even better, she had discovered that the lake outside of town had horse trails. That was a bonus of living in a place with numerous ranches and farms; public parks were more accommodating than other places.

She had finished classes for the day and had no work, so she had saddled up one of her aunts' horses, promising that she would be back before nightfall before riding to the lake.

Yes, all the way to the lake. She didn't want to borrow the horse trailer, because hooking it up was rather difficult. The lake wasn't so far that she would wear the mare out before even getting there, anyway, and the roads between her home and the park was typically empty.

Or empty enough.

She had made one gentle loop around the lake before Sunday began to snort in impatient energy.

"Okay, okay," Kiley laughed, patting the mare behind the ears, "We can go a little faster."

She loosened her hold on the reigns, trusting the horse to stay on the path.

What she wasn't expecting was to see a boy in her way, looking down at some device in his hands.

She shrieked in shock, yanking on Sunday's reigns in a hurried attempt to keep from running him down.

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot was not nearly as fond of the outdoors as other people. It was something Cale had ribbed him about before. Comments about being a vampire weren’t so uncommon either, given he was pale. In his defense, outside was full of exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke and UV rays that would probably give everyone skin cancer one day.

Needless to say, he liked being inside.

At least it wasn’t very warm outside today. Hoodie weather, which was better than shorts-and-t-shirt weather in his books any day.

He was content to play with his phone, especially when the text came through. He was in the process of sending something back along the lines of ‘stop calling me cute’, but he didn’t get that far.

Hoofbeats were not something he was aware he needed to be wary of while walking on the paths around the lake. One moment he was smiling at his phone, and the next his eyes were wide behind his glasses as he saw a massive animal barrelling towards him.

Ohhhhh no. His heart started to pound in his chest. Horses were huge and he was very much in danger of being eaten right then. No, that wasn’t logical, but he was scared and it was the best his mind could give him.

He yelped as he dove sideways, out of the path of Death, and ended up falling right on his ass into the grass and leaves. Ugh. This was definitely not his day. “Watch where you’re going,” he hissed as he brushed himself off. “You could have killed me.” With that... thing. He wasn’t even going to dignify it with a name, not even in his head. As long as she kept it away from him, he’d be okay.

Maybe.

[Kiley Chun]

Kiley had just begun to slide off Sunday when the boy began to berate her for not watching where she was going. The memory of him in front of her, head bowed done as he typed, was enough to make her fume indignantly, all concern for him subsumed by anger that he dared to accuse her of carelessness.

"At least I wasn't texting in the middle of the horse paths," She hissed, narrowing her eyes at him and patting Sunday's heaving flanks. Her poor baby was probably so confused with the conflicting messages she had just given her.

"Maybe you should watch where you're walking and you won't get run over."

[Elliot Morrow]

Okay, maybe biting comments were not good ways of making friends. For Elliot, it was a bit of a knee-jerk reflex. Namely because there was a horse way too close to him. Within ten feet was considered too close, in his mind, and with the fear that came along with them? He wasn’t having a good day.

After a quick glance at his phone screen to ensure it wasn’t cracked, he jammed the thing back in his pocket and looked at the girl who had just about killed him. “I wasn’t aware horses were allowed on the paths.” There, that sounded a little more calm. Less bite in his voice, at least.

He resisted the urge to shoot her a dirty look. He wasn’t supposed to be making enemies. He was just in a bit of a mood due to his roommate being a jerk, and now this. That was allowed, wasn’t it? “I was watching. I glanced down for a moment.” He sighed. This was going nowhere. “Look, I’m sorry, all right? I just...” He cast a wary eye at the large animal beside her. How lame would it be to admit why he was overreacting? “I’m a little nervous around horses.” He didn’t care how gentle they were supposed to be, they had big teeth and big, hard feet made for kicking. As long as she kept the animal away from him, maybe they could start over.

[Kiley Chun]

Kiley was prepared to be utterly indignant, and thus was quietly deflated at the apology. People weren't supposed to apologize, that meant she had to forgive them.

How irritating.

But his confession made her feel a bit sorry for him. It wasn't as if he was the first person she had met who was wary of horses; they were rather large, and they certainly could be dangerous. Still, she felt obligated to pat Sunday's mane reassuringly. "Sunday won't hurt you. And horses are allowed on the paths. Didn't you see the signs?"

Probably not; nobody ever read signs.

"But I can't really make her leave, since I'm on her and she's mine. So if you want me to go we'll scram and let you....text....whoever you're texting."

[Elliot Morrow]

Elliot continued to gaze warily at the young woman and her... animal. He was only just becoming aware at how stiff he was holding his body, and how controlled his breathing had become. Really, it was silly. The horse didn’t look like it was about to spin around and kick or bite, but there was always the risk it could happen. That was a risk he wasn’t comfortable taking.

“... No, I didn’t see the signs.” He’d just assumed the paths were for walking. Apparently he needed to pay more attention. “Sunday looks very gentle, and I’m sure she is... but I don’t need to prove that.” The last thing he wanted was to get close and have the thing bite him.

He fingered his phone, very close to calling Cale simply to tell him about this encounter and to help calm down, but he didn’t. “No... the paths are shared. I just didn’t expect to see her. I’m sorry.” He backed away, hoping they could just leave it at that.

[Kiley Chun]

Ugh. Of course he hadn't read the signs; nobody ever read any signs. It was like the entire country was illiterate.

She watched him back away, attempting not to scowl at him. This was, after all, his fault, but he was acting as if she were the one to blame. It wasn't as if she could know that someone who was afraid of horses would be walking along a path that horses were allowed on, sheesh!

She waited until he was out of sight before urging Sunday into a trot - taking care that she chose a different route from the one he had appeared to be taking. She just hoped he hadn't changed his mind at the last minute and gone down this one....

(and wrapped)