Competing Against The Odds (FreeMustang + cattamer)

[FreeMustang]

"Well.... Did you try Flight?" Anna asked as Riley pulled poor Miles out from the pasture, away from her lanky brat of a horse who followed right behind Mile's, nipping his rear the whole way before going up to Anna "You brat" she shook her head

 

[cattamer]

Riley sighed, "Not really... I haven't had time, I've been trying to get him to get along with these other two first. Well we know who is a bully.." Riley muttered the last bit, looking over Miles. He was making sure his horse wasn't hurt.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Yeah... Admiral is a bully... Private Ryan was the only one that was able to put him in his place" Anna smiled a little at the memory, she hadn't forgotten about him but she was over the initial grief of loosing him at least "I'll go get Flight" she offered, going to the mare's stall and pulling her out and taking her out to another pasture where Riley had taken Miles.

 

[cattamer]

Riley watched Miles sulk in a corner of the pasture, not really even perking up when she led Flight over.


"I hope he gets along with Flight... I even tried a goat one day... That didn't work."


Riley leaned against the railing, and watched to see how the two horses would react.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Really? He didn't like the goat?" Anna asked in amusement as she joined him by the fence again and watching the two horses "Did he just ignore the goat or what?"


Flight trotted right over to Miles and sniffed him, inspecting this new pasture mate thoroughly.

 

[cattamer]

"He chased it out of his stall." Riley replied, "Apparently he dislikes goats about as much as I do."


Miles sniffed at Flight back, curious if this pasture mate would be chasing him. Riley was watching intently, as the two horses sniffed each other thoroughly.


"Well, he's liking her better than Mr. Nasty temper over there.."

 

[FreeMustang]

Flight lightly nipped Miles, sticking around and playing around with the gelding.


"Sorry... I would have warned you... I should have been here sooner..." Anna sighed again, feeling guilty she had left Riley with all the responsibility like that and now she was wondering where she stood with him. Before all the drama had started he had asked her out, she probably ruined that by leaving!

 

[cattamer]

"Looks like they are getting along..." Riley observed as Miles nipped Flight back playfully. "Yeah well, you needed alone time." Riley shrugged. "There's always other ways of finding out anyway.."


Riley wasn't sure how they stood with each other either. He didn't know if she still even liked him after what had happened.

 

[FreeMustang]

Flight pranced away from Miles, looking back at him to see if he was following and taking off at a flat out run when she saw he was, racing him around the pasture and bucking playfully


"Like trying him with every horse?" Anna laughed as she watched her crazy little mare "She would have been my 1st pick for him" she admitted, trying to lighten up the mood, deciding to take a risk and hold Riley's hand as a subtle hint that she still liked him.

 

[cattamer]

"Well, I guess that was a little stupid of me, but I couldn't think of anything really." Riley shrugged, glancing down as she took a hold on his hand. He didn't pull away, since he still liked her, he just hadn't known wither she hated him or not after her horse had been shot. Riley watched Miles chase after Flight, bucking and rearing playfully, finally snapping out of his mood.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Well I guess he's all better now" Anna laughed, lightly squeezing Riley's hand "So, did you happen to get any where with Memory?" she asked curiously, wondering if he had worked with her or just given up on it because of her.

 

[cattamer]

Riley shrugged, "She's hard to work with. She's really spooky. I got bucked off last time I tried standing on her. Jumping on and off her is okay, just she hates someone standing up there."


He was acting rather cold, due to he was trying not to just yell at her, because of all the stress she had just dumped on him when she left.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Great..." Anna sighed, letting go of Riley's hand "I don't know what to do except maybe some desensitization exercises and even then I'm not sure that will help her be ok with someone standing on her..." she said, starting to pace now as she thought

 

[cattamer]

"Well at least I tried and got somewhere!" Riley suddenly snapped, "What else was I going to do? Just sit around and wait for you to get back? Yeah right. I might be stubborn but I'm not stupid."

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna looked over at Riley, a bit surprised he had just exploded on her like that "Ok... Yeah... I deserved that. I get it. But I'm back now and I can help too. Unless... Unless you'd just rather me get out of here... I don't know any more" she sighed

 

[cattamer]

Riley apparently only heard bits of that, because between gritted teeth, the emotional outburst continued:


"So what, you're just going to ditch me again? Great! Play with my feelings and then try breaking my heart. Was that your idea?"

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna stared at Riley in shock "NO!" she said after several minutes of dead silence "I mean my gosh Riley! It was YOUR horse I save and it was at the expense of mine! I'm sorry my broken heart almost busted yours up too!"

 

[cattamer]

Riley then lashed out in a fit of anger, "Well no one asked you to!" Riley backed away, unraveling, "I mean," He added almost inaudibly, "Why... Why did you do it?"

 

[FreeMustang]

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO GET HURT BECAUSE YOU LOST HIM!" Anna screamed back at Riley

 

[cattamer]

"I'VE BEEN THERE, I'VE LOST EVERYTHING AND I'M FINE. I'M FINE." Riley yelled back. This hadn't been in his plans, but here it was, fighting the anger, the hurt, and most of all the tears.

 

[FreeMustang]

"WELL THEN I GUESS LOOSING MY HORSE WAS JUST A BIG WASTE SEEING AS YOU WOULDN'T HAVE CARED ABOUT LOOSING THAT CRAZY EXCUSE FOR A HORSE YOU HAVE!" Anna screamed back at Riley "I CAN'T HELP I HAVE FEELINGS! BUT HELL! AT LEAST I'M NOT A STONE WALL LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN! JUST FREEZE UP WHEN ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS!"

 

[cattamer]

Riley just turned and walked away from her screaming at him. He didn't want her to see him break down. His teeth gritted as he desperately fought to keep his tears back, but it wasn't like they were listening to him. Her words stung, more than they would have if he hadn't got close to her. This was why he was stand-offish. People tended to just hurt him, wither they meant to or not. He was walking straight for his bike, which probably wasn't a great idea since his reasoning skills were practically non-existent right then.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Where are you going? You just going to run away from this all too?" Anna questioned Riley as she followed him, regretting loosing her cool now "It didn't really solve anything for me and I'll bet it won't for you either" she said, gently grabbing his arm "Look... I'm sorry, ok?"

 

[cattamer]

"Just leave me alone!" Riley's voice cracked as he snarled at her, pulling away. "What I do is my choice, isn't it?"

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna grabbed Riley and spun him around to face her, planting a long hard kiss on his lips as she pit pocketed his keys for his bike, finally pulling away "I don't want to loose you"