Been spendin' most their lives, livin' in a gansta' paradise...
She stares in her full length mirror: facing forward, turning to the side, analyzing her new riding pants. With hair pulled into low pigtail braids and a chambray shirt tucked in over her dark tank, she is almost ready. Leaning closer into the looking glass, she finger brushes her bangs and searches for stray mascara. Satisfied, she moves to her closet to search for her boots, bobbing her head as she goes.
"Tell me why are we, so blind to see," she sings along, smiling to herself. A year ago she couldn't have been convinced that she'd actually meet people like Coolio and Johnny Depp, let alone hang out with them. "That the ones they hurt, are you and me." Boots on, she takes exaggerated bouncy steps to the beat of the popular song. She lifts her hand pretending she's the deejay in a club. "Wicka wicka..." she snorts, laughing at her own joke. Springing down the stairs, she sees her sister in the kitchen, pouring two tall glasses of water.
"Where's your riding crop?" Gesine deadpans.
Sandra scans down to her toes and then back at her sister. "Zip it."
But Gesine is just getting started.
"Don't you need a sporty black helmet and a riding jacket?"
"Oh yer a funny girl today, are ya?" she retorts, with an upward lift of her chin.
"Did I miss the invite to your dressage competition?" Gesine raises her brows, grabbing the two glasses from the counter and taking a punctuated sip from one.
Sandra gathers the first thing she can spy, a damp kitchen towel, and beams it at Gesine's head, who just mocks her with a hearty laugh. "It's called dressing appropriately," she announces, her hands cupped around her mouth like a megaphone.
"Appropriate for what? The Kentucky Derby?"
"Ugh. I don't know. I thought I needed them for..." she waves her hands around the air, her mouth in a frown, "Chafing."
"Chafing?"
Sandra startles at the baritone voice booming from the living room.
"What exactly do you plan to do to the horse?" Keanu queries as he rounds the corner, reaching for one of the glasses in Gesine's hands. "Thank you."
Sandra stares at Keanu with a stone cold face.
After his own slow sip of water, he returns her stare, until one corner of his mouth quirks upward.
She glares at her sister, who is only halfway stifling a sneer with the cover of her palm. Those jerks are ganging up on her!
"I'm done with you two," she waves off her sister and turns to Keanu. "Why aren't you dressed, um, dressed for the horseback riding? Do they allow tennis shoes?"
He snorts. "There's no dress code, Sandy, you can wear whatever you like on a horse. But actually, we've got a little change of plans..."
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Two hours earlier...
The ringing enters her dreams before she finally realizes it is her phone. Forcing her heavy lids open, she tries to orient herself to her surroundings. Sitting up, she feels a sharp pain in her lower back. She'd fallen asleep in her loveseat. Again. So weird.
Kim lifts the receiver.
"Hey, sis, we still on for today?"
"Shit."
She's usually vivacious, full of energy and always working on a to-do list. Lately, though, she'd fallen asleep in the middle of the day almost every day. She looks at the time and gasps. Her brother and his "friend," Sandra Bullock, will be here in an hour. She springs off of the sofa, then slams her palm against her forehead as the dizziness attacks her. She quickly falls back into her seat.
YOU ARE READING
The Beginning
Fanfiction"Come here," his voice is gentle again. She gives in, placing her small hand in his. Lifting the cloth, he sees her blood spill out from her palm. He inhales sharply through his teeth and presses the rag back down. They sit there like that for abo...
