Comeback *Book One*

Chapter Thirty Seven

Chapter Thirty Seven

In one of the many outside wash stalls, I give Faith a deep cleaning bath. I coat her body in my favorite green apple shampoo and brush 'Mane N' Tail' conditioner through her wet mane and tail until it is knotless and shines in the afternoon sun. In the wash stalls on either side of me is GiGi and April, who bathe their horses busily. We all do our jobs in a comfortable silence.

Faith stands in the wash stall crossties contently as I wash her socks until they are a perfect white. I then take a damp cloth and wipe off her long blaze on her face. This was Faith's least favorite part of the bath. She lifts her head as high as she can in the cross ties. "Faith..." I quietly croon to my horse. Soon, she lowers her head as I clean her face. After I am done with her face, I hose Faith until all the soap is gone. Quickly, I grab a sweat scraper and scrape all of the water off of her and towel dry her legs. Perfect.

"Come on, baby girl." I lead her out of the wash stall and back into the barn, where I attach her to the cross ties to dry. I didnt want to put Faith back into her stall because if she rolled, her spotless body would be covered in shavings. Trust me. That is not fun. I have personal experience with my Beau-y boy. Speaking of Beau, I walk over to his stall. I quietly open his stall door and walk in, closing the door behind me. "Hi, baby." I stroke his neck. Beau nudges me with his nose, and then goes back to munching on his hay. I chuckle to myself. Typical Beau.

Walking out of the stall, I accidently bump into Drew. Wait... Drew!? "DREW!!!??" I shriek, getting a few stares from some horses. I pretty much tackle/hug him. What was he doing here!? I though he was out of town with his family. He chuckles as I let go of him. Behind Drew, stands GiGi and April. They both are smiling.

"Surprise." He grins at me.

I hug him again. "Why are you here!? I mean, not that I am sad about that. I thought that you were out of town with your family!"

"I was." Drew explains. "But I came back to support you guys at Orange County. I wanted it to be a surpirse. I didnt expect you to walk out of a stall and crash into me, though." He smiles at me. A grin is plastered across my face. I am so happy he is here!

"Thats so awesome!" I say excitedly. My amazing day just got ten times better, if thats even possible.

I glance at April and GiGi. GiGi winks at me and April mouths 'We will leave you two alone.' I smile back at her.

Drew takes my hand and we walk over to Faith. "You guys are going to rock this weekend, you know that right?"

I sigh. "I know that I will try my best but this will be my first show since the accident on Beau and I havent told anyone else this but I am nervous that even though Faith isn't Beau the same thing will happen." I spit the words out of my mouth, not pausing until I finished my sentance.

Drew cocks his head slightly at me. "I promise you, only good can come out of this show. You are a stronger rider now, Ali." He passes me a half smile, reaching for my other hand. Our lips are just inches away from each other when I hear Dee making her way to this side of the aisle.

"Ali, are you over here!?" Dee calls out. I onlace my hands from Drew's. We take a few steps away from each other. Drew sticks his hands into his jean pockets and I casually pet Faith, as if we weren't just about to kiss a second ago.

"Ali, there you are." Dee walks up to me, glancing suspisciously at Drew. "Oh hi Drew... Glad you could join the support team for Orange County." She gives him a half smile and looks back at me. "Anyways, Ali. The trailer leaves at five tomorrow morning. Be at the barn by four thirty at the latest. Same goes for you." She points at Drew. "We will caravan down to the show grounds together."

"Ok." I smile at Dee. Early mornings are my favorite... LOL not.

"Glad you know the plan. I will tell your mom Ali. Go back to whatever you were... doing." Dee slightly rolls her eyes and walks back to her office.

Drew smirks at me. Changing the subject, I look at Faith. "Shes dry from her bath. Help me put on her Sleazy." Since it is summer, it is to warm to put blankets on the horses to keep them clean for shows. Instead, we use Sleazy's. Sleazy's are made out of stretchy, lycra material that goes around the horse. They are used to keep the coat from getting dirty. For Faith, I am using a light blue full body sleazy. It covers everything from her buttock to the top of her muzzle. It takes a little while to put it on Faith. She fusses a bit but quickly settles down when the Sleazy is on her. I glance at Danny and Thor. Both of them are also in full body Sleazy's. Thor has a black Sleazy and Danny has a hunter green Sleazy.

I unclip Faith from the cross ties and lead her to her stall. Slowly, I take off her halter. When the halter is off, Faith rushes over to her grain bin. She quickly lips up all of the grain. Once she is done, she goes to her hay and starts munching on it. Smiling to myself, I close her stall door and put the halter on Faith's halter hook outside of her stall.

When I turn around, I land face first into Drew's rock hard abs. "Woah." I say. Drew looks into my eyes then cups my face in his hands. I close my eyes and we lean in closer to each other. Our lips touch. A shock goes through my body. His lips felt so... nice. Hehe. I feel slightly giddy. A few seconds later, I part my lips from his. We smile at each other. I hear someone whistle behind us. We turn around. It was GiGi and April. They are casually leaning against a stall door, grins plastered across their faces.

I roll my eyes. "Hi guys." I state. Well this isnt awkward.

"Hola." GiGi waves at us. I mentally punch her in the face.

"All of our ponies have their Sleazy's on for the night?" April asks, changing the subject. GiGi and I nod at her.

"And everyone's shipping boots are ready for the long drive to Orange County?" I add to the question. Faith's new black shipping boots are in my barn tack trunk. I already loaded my show tack trunk, containing all of my show clothes and necessities for this weekends show, in the trailer.

"And you guys have non riding clothes and such packed too?" GiGi asks.

"Yup." April and I say at the same time.

"What time do we want to meet at the barn tomorrow?" I ask them.

GiGi shrugs. "Um... 4?"

"Sounds good to me." April says. I nod.

"Good for you?" I ask Drew, playfully nudging him in the side.

He grins. "Sounds... great. Yay to early mornings." We all laugh at his comment.

"Hashtag equestrian probs." April says randomly. Everyone laughs at goofy April.

"See you guys then." We all say bye and head home. Tomorrow would be the start of a long and exciting weekend.

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Drew is backkk! Haha. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (: