Passion » Max Regnery

⋘ o03 ⋙

After what seemed like an incredibly long and awkward drive, the truck pulled up into a narrow driveway leading to a small grey home that belonged to Blake's parents. She unbuckled the seatbelt, leaned forward to retrieve her purse, and then reached out for the door handle to open the door of Max's old Ford pickup truck.

"Thank you," she said quietly before she went to push open the door. It was the least she could say after he kindly went out of his way to make sure she got home safely. "I'll be sure to pay you for the gas when I have money."

"No, it's fine," he replied. Despite the street lamp that lit up the street a few houses down, it was still oddly dark in the truck, yet she could tell that Max was smiling as he said it.

"Are you sure?" she asked, a little surprised that he was so casual about driving her home. "I mean you had to go out of your way-" Max held up a finger, his smile growing wider.

"Blake, your mom is an old friend of mine," he said as he glanced up toward the house and then back at her. "And your parents have been kind enough to help me out while I go through some things," his smile faded as he said 'some things'. "The least I can do is make sure their daughter got home safely."

For the first time since meeting Max and being at Pine Hallow, Blake felt herself scoffing and oddly no longer nervous as she rolled her eyes. "As if my parents would care," she muttered under her breath and then opened the door. "Thank you, though. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"More than likely not," he replied while tapping the steering wheel with his index finger and keeping his eyes trained on the off-white garage door in front of them. "I have to go into town."

"Oh," she hopped out the truck and stood there for a minute, feeling slightly awkward again. "Well, I hope you have a safe trip, thank you for taking me home, Night."

He hesitated for a second, almost as if he was debating about saying something, but instead said, "Night," as she closed the passenger side door and walked around the front of the truck up to the front door.

When she looked back, she was surprised to see him still sitting in the driveway watching her. Feeling even more awkward, she fumbled in her purse for her keys, turned her back to him and then went to open the front door where on the other side, she could hear dogs barking. As she unlocked the door and pushed it open, Blake looked back one last time, waved, and then entered the house.

She greeted the nearest dog, that being the hound since he was tall enough to reach without bending down, and then turned back to the window beside the door so that she could peek out just in time to see Max turning his lights on and pulling out of the drive.

How unusual, she thought as she closed the curtain and stepped back. He waited until she was safely inside before leaving. I wonder why.

She shrugged her shoulders as she looked at herself in the mirror on the wall near the door. Her face was stained, her hair dirty and untidy, her camouflaged hoodie... well how fortunate dirt matched camouflage really well. She then looked down at her black sneakers. It was wise to discard them here at the door before continuing on any further. It was bad enough her mom hated her, she could only imagine just the kind of hell she'd raise if Blake left any marks on her freshly polished marble floors.

Ruff!

Blake looked down as she pulled off her sneaker to see Valeera wiggling her butt. This dog was probably the best thing to ever happen to her. Heck, she was probably the only reason she was still alive.

Once she tossed the other shoe into the bucket designated for muddy shoes, Blake leaned forward to pick up her corgi and walked directly toward her room. She didn't bother stopping in the living room where she could hear some sports game playing, nor in the kitchen where the faint sound of clicking keys could be heard. Instead, she continued on down the hall straight toward her room where she opened the door, placed Valeera on her bed and closed the door behind her.

Blake crossed the room, discarding her purse on the chair and then walking back to the door where she exited her room and crossed the hall directly for the bathroom.

Shutting the bathroom door behind her, Blake turned to the rack with freshly washed cotton towels on it, removed two and then began peeling her clothing off after turning on the shower so the water could warm up.

She turned to look in the mirror, staring at herself and wondering when she got so chubby. Maybe with this new job she'd shed a pound or two. Turning to the side she stared at her butt. Maybe a few squats wouldn't hurt either.

With one last look at herself in the mirror, she turned and walked over to the shower were she stuck out her hand to feel the temperature of the water before getting in.

Today hadn't been so bad. In fact, it was kinda nice working all the time and being around horses. Along with meeting horses, she found herself now acquainted with half the students -old and new- that rode at Pine Hallow. She had also learned that she would be working with Red in the morning until mid afternoon when the next stable hands came in to take over for them. Another thing she learned, Red was a certified teaching instructor and taught lessons at Pine Hallow when he wasn't working.

Blake ran her finger through her hair, allowing the water to soak through and remove dirt particles and bits of hay from it. Red was a very nice guy, quite funny too. She also noticed he was quick to pick up on how someone was feeling, like when she felt awkward and uncomfortable.

And then there was Max, just as awkward as she, Blake could tell there was something bothering him, something he wasn't probably ever going to share. But then again, perhaps it was the loss of his mother. Blake did learn that before she came to learn about Pine Hallow, his mother had recently passed away and that, on top of the expenses of Pine Hallow, had put a lot of weight on his shoulders.

She sighed softly as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair and stared up at the ceiling. Maybe she was just overthinking it, but she was having a hard time shaking her feeling that something else was bothering Max.

"You've only known him a day," she said out loud to herself as she dropped her hands to her side and scowled at the ceiling. "What makes you think you know what is going on?"

Half an hour later, Blake finished her shower, dried herself off as best as she could and returned to her room where she got dressed in a pair of shorts and a long sleeve. As she went to remove her towel on her head, her stomach let out a long and loud growl.

Crap, I haven't ate anything. She sighed as she dried her hair, tossed the towel across the room and looked at Valeera. Going to the kitchen now meant that she would have to see her mother, the one person she'd rather not see. But she was hungry...

Blake sighed again as she pulled on her faux fur slipper boots and opened her bedroom door, Valeera at her side as they venture back out into the hall and into the kitchen.

Just as she assumed, her mother was still in the kitchen, sitting at the little kitchen table and typing away on her grey laptop. Blake said nothing as she entered the pantry first to see if she could find something to hold her over and then decided that she had no choice but to make herself a meal as well as a smoothie to make up for the lack of food for today.

All while she moved around the kitchen to prepare to cook her dinner and blend her smoothie, Blake could hear her mother sighing, clucking, and making little snide comments. Ignoring her agitated mother, Blake continued on, not giving a damn how mad her mom got. It was, after all, her fault Blake was starving.

"Really," she finally said as Blake turned on the blender and stood there making sure the frozen fruit blended together. She turned around to look at her mother, a look on her face that read 'what else do you expect?'.

Her mother closed her laptop with force and stood up from the table, making it loud and clear that she was angry as she barged out of the kitchen.

Blake rolled her eyes. Perhaps she would look in to getting another job so that she had an excuse to stay out all day instead of coming home.