Flaming Hearts

Chapter 9

I hum to myself as I scoop feed into Flame's bucket. Callie is coming over today to hang out, though she is probably going to squeeze details on Troy and my date yesterday out of me. She'll be here any minute now.

I pet Flame's head, twirling her forelock around my finger.

"Poor baby," I coo. She's still not completely healed from our incident last week, and I won't be able to ride her for a few more days. She's going crazy cooped up in her stall.

I hear the crunch of tires over gravel in the driveway, and turn to go meet Callie.

She climbs out of her black jeep, smiling when she sees me.

Callie is definitely the pretty one in our friendship. She has waist length, ebony black hair and olive colored skin. Her eyes are a piercing green, and she's model-tall.

"Long time no see," she laughs, walking towards me.

"It's been eight days," I state, rolling my eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."

Once she reaches me, she hooks her arm with mine and starts to walk to the barn.

"So what's the plan for today?" She questions, flipping her long black hair.

"Whatever you want- but at some point today I have to ride Mellie," I point out.

Melody, or Mellie, is one of our newer horses, and she is quite the handful. She's pretty much bomb proof in the ring, but as soon as you get her on a trail, all hell breaks loose.

Callie groans, obviously not too amused by the idea.

"I swear that horse is possessed!" she objects.

"You're not the one who has to ride her," I laugh. "But we don't have to go just yet, don't worry."

"Good, because I'm starving," she replies, looking a bit relieved.

"Do you want to go out for lunch or eat in?"

"Out please- we all know what happens when you cook anything other than deserts," she chuckles.

"Hey- I'm not that bad," I pout.

"You burned spaghetti sauce Ariel- one of the easiest things ever to cook," she points out.

I roll my eyes, though I know she's right.

"Fine- where do you want to go?"

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We pull into Delilah's Diner, which is probably our favorite restaurant. It's 80's themed, looking almost like a replica of the diner from 'Back to the Future.'

We grab a seat at the counter, waiting for someone to come take our order- it's fairly busy today so it might be a while.

"So how'd the date go?" she questions, wriggling her eyebrows.

"Amazing- Troy is so sweet. He took me to this secret cave with a lake in it- I mean, I didn't even know those existed!"

"Where is it?"

"In the woods somewhere- I didn't see because I was blindfolded," I laugh.

"So what did you guys do?"

"We swam around, and when I got hungry I found out he packed a picnic. Seriously, he so sweet," I swoon.

"Are you sure he's not gay?" she questions, raising an eyebrow.

I smack her arm and scowl.

"Calypso Riley Shepherd," I scold. "He is most definitely not gay!"

"Well you know that saying 'the good ones are never straight'? I'm just thinking he might be too good to be true. That's it," she explains, raising her hands in surrender.

I roll my eyes at her, but before I can shoot back a sarcastic comment as I'd like to, a waitress comes up to take our order.

"The usual?" she questions, looking between us. "Cheese burger with fries, a coke, and a chocolate milkshake?"

We both nod, slightly embarrassed.

We come here way too much.

The waitress laughs, and jots down the order.

Callie and I simultaneously look at each other and burst out laughing.

"We have to stop eating here so much," I giggle.

"But the food's so good," she whines, pouting.

"Very true, very true," I agree.

Once we calm our laughter, she raises an eyebrow at me.

"How are things with you and Colton? Made up yet?"

"Yeah, like a week ago," I answer, smiling. "It's like nothing ever happened. I didn't realize how much I missed him."

"Well I'm glad. It has been so awkward between you two- which makes it awkward for me," she laughs.

The waitress sets our food down in front of us, and we dig in, ending the conversation.

A/N

Hey! Hope you're having a fantabulous day. What do you think about Calypso? I'll post a pic of her.... eventually...

So, I have some news. It's good news for me but bad news for you.

This summer, I'm going to summer camp for two weeks. I get to go horseback riding everyday and swimming and canoeing and all that good stuff the bad news is- I won't update for two weeks. I'll tell you the exact dates when we get closer but I still have about two months.

So, with that said, have a great day.

Love you guys.