Work went by surprisingly fast this morning. I got back to the Whites before it was even 12.

Mason was still passed out in his bed. His hair still styled perfectly. I swear, it never moves.

'I'm going to the barn. You can come if you want. x'

I leave Mason a little note and grab my boots, throw on some jeans and a t-shirt with a hoodie on top. I make sure I'm wearing a sports bra and some headphones.

"Hey honey, where are you headed?" Tara says as I walk downstairs.

"Hey Tara, I'm going to the barn right next door" I smile and she nods.

"Have fun. Text me when your done or if you need anything. Helmet" She says and I smile.

"At the barn already" I give her a hug and run next door to Crystal stables.

I had just recently leased a horse for myself. I can't afford to own a horse with my car and college coming up. So leasing is the best I can do.

"Hey bud" I say grabbing Jd from his stall and bringing him to the cross ties.

I quickly tack him up and we head to the ring.

The ride was going good until Jd started to act a little weird. I halted him and gave him a little break.

"Are you okay?" I say patting his neck. He bucks a little causing me to get frightened.

"Easy boy" I say shaking my hand a little, easing the nerves.

It's a pretty long way down. I've fallen before but they weren't that bad of falls.

We start to walk around the ring a little as a cool down when Jd starts bucking more often and picking up a trot.

"Jd, calm down" I say half-halting him, which he picks up his pace.

"Come on bud, you never act like this, whats wrong?" I say. Then I see it, the deer. Oh shoot.

He goes up on his back legs, catching me completely off guard.

I hit the ground with a loud thud.

Shįt.

A sharp pain runs through my hand at the slightest of movement. Oh, no, no, no. I can't have this, I really can't.

I wait a second and pick myself up, trying to keep the damage at a minimum.

Jd comes trotting towards me and I grab the reins, bringing him up to the cross ties up at barn.

"Leah, that was short" I hear behind me. I quickly wipe my tears and shake my head.

"Um, yeah" I say untacking Jd.

"What's wrong?" Mason says, standing next to me.

"Yeah, I fell off Jd. I think I'm okay though" I say, my hand in my pocket.

I struggle with getting the saddle off until Mason grabs it for me.

"Leah, you aren't okay. You were definitely crying. are you hurt?" He says placing the saddle down the correct way. Wow, I'm proud.

"Um, I-I'm okay" I say scratching my neck.

"Then why wont you use that arm? And why are your eyes bloodshot and puffy? I'm not an idiot Le" Mason says, concern lacing his eyes.

"I'm just nervous okay? And I landed on my wrist, its just sore. I'm fine" I say grabbing the saddle and bringing it into the tack room, also grabbing the brushes.

"Let me take a look" Mason says, causing me to sigh.

"Mas" I say looking at him.

"Please Leah" He says and I give in, taking my hand out of my pocket to show him.

"It doesn't look broken or dislocated. Let me finish up here and then we can go home and get ice" Mason says, grabbing the brushes from me.

I tell Mason how to brush the horse and he does it for me with ease.

After brushing we walk back to the paddock Jd was in and put him back, walking home.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mason says stopping.

"Yes Mason, I'm just nervous. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get back on" I frown.

"You can do it Le" He says side hugging me as we continue back to the Whites.

We walk into the house and Mason goes to the kitchen to get me ice. I make my way to his room and bury my head in my pillow, a few tears escaping.

"I got you i-" Mason says walking into his room to see my face down on his bed.

"Talk to me Leah" He says sitting down, holding the ice on my wrist with one hand and the other scratching my back, gently.

"I-I need to use the bathroom" I say getting up.

I slam the door as uncontrollable sobs wrack my body. I turn the fan and shower on, masking the sound. Only me.

After around 5 minutes I splash water on my face and leave, making my way to Masons room.

I use the hallway bathroom a lot of the time. I like to give Mason some privacy with his own bathroom.

"Come here" He says when I walk into his room.

I walk over to him and he pulls me into a comforting hug, leaving a gentle kiss on the top of my head.

"Thank you Mason" I say grabbing the ice from him and applying it to my wrist.

"Leah, I need-oh. Am I interrupting something?" Ellie says walking into Masons room.

"No, I'm just icing my wrist" I say to her.

Ellie winks and nods. "Okay good, we are going to the mall" Ellie says grabbing my hand.

"Come back here when you are dressed. I'll wrap your wrist" Mason says and I nod, going to Ellie's.

I walk in and see an outfit laying on Ellie's bed.

"Ellie, can't I just wear a hoodie and jeans?" I whine and she looks at me sternly.

"No, change" She says shortly. I groan and walk to the bathroom with my outfit in my good hand.

I get changed into a cute light brown/beige sweater and some black high waisted jeans. I have a cute fluffy jacket on with a black purse, sunglasses and cute rose gold watch. I put in a pair of brown booties to top off the outfit.

Ellie is wearing some pale blue jeans and a cute black and red off the shoulder sweater. She has some cute taupe high top boots on and a beautiful black Michael Kors bag. Her hair and makeup is done to perfection.

"Okay, sit. I'm going to curl your hair while you do your makeup. Make it go faster" Ellie says and I nod, doing my makeup.

I finish my hair and makeup and we go into Masons.

"Hey Mas, we are done. So what do you need to do?" Ellie says rolling her eyes.

"I need to wrap Leah's hand with vet wrap" He says typing something on his phone and then looking up after his sentence.

"Oh wow, you look really nice in that outfit. It's so you" Mason says causing me to blush.

"I know right. I'm so good at this" Ellie says patting herself on the back causing me to laugh.

"Come sit, Leah" Mason says rolling his eyes at his twin sister.

He grabs some black vet wrap, the kind that we use to wrap the horses wounds with. He's the quarterback so he definitely uses this a lot.

"Can you move it?" Mason asks, kneeling in front of me.

"Not fully but a little. It still hurts like a bįtch" I say laughing.

"Okay, well thats some progress" He says taking my hand and wrapping it. It hurts at certain points but I know it will feel better after.

Mason wrapped it tight, but not too tight.

"Okay, all good. Take this, just incase you need it. Face time me and I can tell you how to do it. I'm going over Brooks" Mason says taking his shirt off.

"Um, what for?" Ellie says, curious.

"A couple of the guys from the team are going. Why?" Mason says covering his bare chest and getting shoes that match.

"Remember Mason" Ellie says sternly.

"I know, I know. I'll keep an eye on your boy for you too" Mason says winking, fixing his hair.

"Okay, now I'm lost" I say, extremely confused.

"Don't worry about it hun" Ellie says and I roll my eyes.

"We gotta go. See ya" Ellie says pulling me down the stairs.

At the mall we walked around, shopped and now we are eating. Ellie caught a couple guys attention, causing me to laugh. It is currently 5:00 and we are going to be heading back to the White's soon.

"Hey, I couldn't help but notice you from across the food court. I'm Samuel" A boy says walking up to Ellie and I's table. Oh great, another guy after Ellie.

I look up to see him staring directly at me. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were talking to my friend" I say embarrassed.

With that I get a good look at him. He's a boy who looks to be maybe 19 years old. He's got gorgeous blue eyes and brown hair styled perfectly. His jawline is sharp and is freshly shaved. He's attractive to say the least.

"It's not a problem. So um, do you have a boyfriend?" He says nervously.

"It's um, no. I don't. I'm Leah by the way" I say unsure.

"Oh wow, really? I thought for sure you did" He says and I smile.

I see Ellie look at me nervously and I shake my head.

"Well, I would love to get to know you better" He says and I nod.

"Yeah, I would love to be friends. I kind of have an interest in someone else at the moment. Though I don't see it going anywhere" I say and he nods.

"Okay, well here, put your number in and maybe we can hang out soon" He says and I nod, typing my number in. He leaves and Ellie turns to me.

"Damn Leah, you get all the hot guys" She says and I laugh.

"But not the one I want"

"Hey Mason" Brooks comes up to me when I walk in.

"Hey man, how are you?" I say hugging him.

"I'm good, I'm good. Can I get you a beer or anything?" He says and I shake my head, remembering Ellie's words.

"No, I'll just grab a water" I say. I don't want Leah to think I'm a drunk. I don't want her to think I'm going to hurt her or that I'm anything like her parents.

I played a couple rounds of pool with the guys and watched as they played some cup pong.

"Hey man, when did you and Leah break up?" Todd says, looking at his phone.

"What?" I say confused.

"My cousin, Sam just texted me saying he got a hot girls number at the mall and he took a photo of her and sent it to me. It's Leah" He says showing me the photo.

Shįt. It's Leah.

Everyone told me she didn't have feelings for me but I didn't know she was that much of an attention whøre.

"Mason, kitchen. Now" Brooks says walking past me, noticing my rage.

"Don't do anything you'll regret. You don't know the whole story" He says staring at me.

"Give me a beer" I say, my eyes closed tightly.

"Mason. Remember what Ell-"

"Give me a fücking beer Brooks" I say raising my voice.

"You're going to regret this" He shoves a beer at me and walks away, typing something on his phone.

I quickly crack it open and chug it down like my life depends on it.

Hurt, jealousy, pain and anger courses through my body.

I want to get rid of it, pretend it never happened just for tonight.

I throw the bottle out and grab another one, walking back to the basement.

This time, I join beer pong.

"Mason, you need to slow down" Brooks says to me.

"Mind your business Brooks" I say taking another swig out of the beer.

"You are my business man. You don't understand. You're like a brother to me and I'm not going to let you throw everything you have worked on away. I'm calling Ellie" He says taking the beer from my hand and replaces it with a bottle of water.

"Drink this instead"

I hear the sound of buttons and then Ellie's voice. "He heard about the mall. I knew it. Yeah. A lot. You should probably come get him. Or I can drive him home later. Yeah, I'll try my best. No I didn't drink. Unless soda counts. Okay, bye love" And then he hangs up.

"We are going to try and sober you up as much as possible" He says as people slowly start to leave.

The party is soon done and I can feel myself getting more aware of everything again. It's now 1:00 am.

"I'm taking you home" He says and I shake my head.

"No, go to sleep, I'll walk" I say and he looks at me, shocked.

"Mason, I didn't drink tonight. I'm driving you home" He says and I sigh, getting in the car.

When I get home I am met with Ellie. She quickly hushes me and rushes me into her room.

"You idiot. How do you think Leah is going to feel? She's gonna be torn. Why would you do this Mason?" She lectures me, whispering.

"She doesn't like me" I slur out simply, sitting on my bed.

"Yes she does. Do you see the way she looks at you, talks about you. Thats love Mason. She's not interested in Sam. It's you Mason" She says and I shake my head.

"She gave him her number. She likes him" I state matter of factly.

"Mason, listen to me. Open your eyes and ears. She does not like Sam. She likes you. A year ago Leah had no friends. She told him that she's not interested in being anything more than friends. That she likes someone else. Trust me, that someone is you" She says in a slow, clear voice.

"Mason?" A voice says.

"Ask her yourself" Ellie says and then opens the door to reveal Leah.

She's wearing a tank top and some velvet shorts. Her bruises no longer apparent. Hair perfect with absolutely no makeup on. She looks beautiful.

"What happened to you Mas?" She says, worry lacing her voice.

"You tell me Leah. You and Sam? When did that start?" I slur, sadness filling my emotions.

"What? Mason, I don't like him. I-are you drunk?" She says backing up.

"Then why did you give him your number Leah? Why?" I say, my drunken state becoming more apparent with each word.

"M-Mason, p-please stop. I don't like him at all, I just wanted him to leave me alone" She says backing up, fear filling her eyes.

"Leah, let's go. Mason, you're an asshole" Ellie says grabbing her hand and walking out of my room.

Fück, I'm such an idiot. I just screwed up everything.

I couldn't believe it. After everything I told Mason and after all he has seen me been through. He went and got drunk.

He didn't just have one beer. He had enough to get drunk.

"Leah" Ellie says and I shake my head.

"He likes you Leah. A lot. That's why he was so upset. He tried to escape the pain through the worst way, alcohol. Please, don't hold it against him. And he would never hurt you" She says as a couple tears escape my eyes.

"I don't know what to think Ellie. He knows how much I was hurt, how scared I get. And he did it anyways. Hurt or not. I would never do that to anyone" I say blinking away the tears.

"He was being stupid. I can't defend him. But please, don't give up on him" Ellie says and I shake my head.

"It might take me a while. But I'll hear him out when he's sober" I say going into the bathroom.

I hear commotion coming from Masons room causing my heart to drop. Fear runs through my body at lightning speed.

"I screwed up man. I'm a fucking dįck. She's scared of me now. No, no. It is my fault. I can't believe I did this. She trusted me and I just threw it all away. She probably thinks I was just tricking her to hurt her" I hear something shatter causing me to jump.

"What happened?" Tara says running over to me.

"I-I don't know" I say as the door swings open.

I am met face to face with Mason, shock fills his face. "L-Leah. I need to talk to you" He stutters out, walking towards me.

"I need to go" I say running to Ellie's room.

"What happened?" Ellie says the second I close the door shut.

"I-I can't talk to him while he's like that" I stutter out, leaning my head against the door.

"It's okay Le, we all understand. Talk to him tomorrow, yeah?" She says and I nod.

~~~~~~~~~

Word count: 2972

~Leah