Silver Opportunity

Chapter Eight

"I can totally see myself competing here," Molly said as we walked through the show grounds.

"Me too," I agreed.

"You guys would fit perfectly into this competition group," Hannah observed. "Leo, what do you think?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, forcing a smile. I gave him a small nudge as to say 'It's alright. I know you feel weird'. I don't blame him. After his dad's death, I wouldn't want to compete either.

"So, the shows are every other weekend, starting June 20," Han explained. "That gives you guys some time to prepare. It goes all the way until September."

"So that's what, eight shows?" I asked.

"Close. Seven," she corrected. "Leo, when we get back, I have a few horses I want you to try out."

"Cool," he nodded. We all turned out attention back to the show ring where a beautiful dappled grey was making it's was around the course. With ease, the horse floated over jump after jump.

"I also found some three-phases we can go to," Hannah said. "Luckily, most of them don't fall on the same weekends."

"I love it," I said. I watched the gorgeous grey finish the course, and an equally beautiful liver chestnut entered. We watched a few rounds, registered for the summer series, and went to the diner for lunch. When we got back to the farm, Hannah dragged Leo out to the barn to try some horses.

"Molly, are you good at biology?" I asked as we hopped out of the truck.

"I love bio," she said. We walked towards my house. "Why, what's up?"

"I'm almost done my bio class, but I'm stuck on there last five questions on the test," I explained. "Can you help me finish?"

"Of course," she smiled. I led her inside and into my room, where she plopped down on my bed. I plopped next to her and opened my computer, which still had the test on it. "Okay, so for this one, just think of the protein folding stages: Primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary...?"

"Oh. Right." I clicked the correct answer and moved on to the next. With Molly's help, I finished the test and passed it in.

"Was that your last class?" she asked, pulling one of my pillows under her chin.

"I have to finish writing my english essay, but other than that, I'm done," I said, opening the essay document.

"Well, don't let me hold you back," she said as she clicked on my TV and scrolled through Netflix. As I typed away on my essay, she started watching Moana, which I've seen just about a thousand times.

"Moanaaa, make way, make wayyy," she sang while I sat there laughing.

By the time we got to 'You're Welcome', I had completed my essay and turned it in.

"I'm done!" I exclaimed. "I'm officially a free woman."

"Well what can I say except con-gra-tions," Molly attempted, which made us both burst out laughing.

After our laughing fit, I noticed I had a text from Leo. Molly glanced over at the screen. The text read: your aunt is kicking my butt 😂

"Em, I need to tell you something," Molly said seriously. I paused the movie.

"What's up?"

"Leo likes you," she grinned like an idiot.
"I was kinda catching onto that," I admitted, blushing slightly. "Honestly, I like him too. He's really fun to be around."

"Oh, please, it's Leo," Molly rolled her eyes laughing. "How fun can he be?"

"You have unfair bias," I pointed out, tossing a pillow at her. "He's your twin."

"You're right," she sighed as she threw the pillow back. "You didn't have to share the womb with him."

We both stared laughing again. I loved the friendship Molly and I had. It was so easy going and fun, like I could tell her my deepest darkest secrets one minute, and the next we'd almost suffocate from laughing so hard over stupid memes.

"Seriously, though, if you want to become more serious with Leo, you might have to take a bit of initiative," Molly said

"What do you mean?" I asked. "He's so outgoing."

"Yeah, he's outgoing, but ever since our dad died, he's lacked confidence," she explained, starting to pick at her fingernails. "He doesn't think you like him, at least not in that way."

I frowned and looked away. "Oh, I didn't think I was pushing him away."

"No, no, it's not you, silly," she laughed, hitting me with the pillow again. "Dad's death really messed with his head. He hasn't quite been the same since. But ever since he met you, I've been seeing pieces of the old him coming through."

"Explain," I said as we began an impromptu game of tug-of-war.

"Well, he's never consider riding a horse other than Archie, never mind going to a show," she elaborated. "He's happy again. He restarted photography and isn't so bitter all the time."

"Really?" I asked, letting go of the pillow. "He seems to love photography."

"He did— does," she corrected. "Dad was the one who got him into it. After he died, he didn't really pick up his camera again. Until you came around. Now he brings his camera everywhere. Our house is filled with pictures of horses and nature now."

I paused for a moment and thought. Leo never seemed so broken, but I'm glad I was able to put some of those pieces back together, even if I didn't know I was doing it.

"Alright," I decided. "I'll make a move. But, you can't tell him this conversation happened."

"Why would I tell him?" she asked. "This is lady talk."

"You told me he likes me," I pointed out. "Maybe you're, like, our messenger."

"I'm nobody's messenger," she laughed, giving me a final whack with my pillow. "I only told you that because 1. you're my best friend, and 2. I think that you guys would have a good relationship."

"That was a very deep, eye-opening conversation," I started, "but can we please get back to Moana?"

Sorry for the short chapter, I'll have another one out soon!