Freya walked the beaten path to her home for the hundredth time already that morning. The heavy shopping bag she dragged behind her, missing half of the items she had been sent to get. This time she had an excuse for her forgetfulness, the love of her teenage years had been in the queue in front of her, the smell of his cologne and the sight of his broad shoulders causing her to forget most of the shopping list. Her best friend, Louis, found her forgetfulness adorable, but it was unlikely that Freya’s guardian, Aunt Meredith, would find the lack of toilet roll too sweet.
Hitching her large glasses up her nose, she wished- something she did every morning; that Meredith would spend some of Freya’s small inheritance on clothes for her instead of herself, but she knew that it was a lost cause. Most of the money went to keeping Meredith’s frown lines smoothed, an action Louis called “like putting lipstick on a pig”, and Freya, disloyally agreed.
Running up the stairs muttering the words “milk, bread, toilet roll”, over and over again, in a hope that she would eventually remember the stuff she had to get.
Freya’s reverie was broken by the shrill ringing of her old mobile phone, something she had to work overtime at the local stables to be able to afford. Running and following the noise, like a demented bloodhound, she eventually found it in a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, the remains of last night’s dinner.
Pulling a string of pasta which had crusted across the screen disgustingly, she answered. “Hello?” The line crackled three times before a loud voice answered her.
“Sugar tits! Why does it always take you so long to answer?” Freya smiled despite Luis’s dramatic opening sentence. “I mean I could have finished my roots in the amount of time it took for you to get to your phone”.
She knew what was coming next, just knew it.
Luis was a walking hormone. She could imagine him, “stealthily” and “subtly” checking out the men in his dance troupe. For Luis, going to New York to dance among some of the best in the business was not merely a good career opportunity, but a good time to “dip his wicket” as he liked to say.
“Oh my god, Freya you should see one of the guys in my class. Girl, I would lather him in oil and use him as a jet-ski”.
Freya smiled indulgently at Luis’s ability to fancy every man on the planet all at once in some way or another.
For all his romantic interests, Freya had only known him to worship one man so loyally he could still remember his favourite food, birthday and where all the birthmarks are located on his body, all without ever meeting him. The only downfall, Freya mused, was that judging by all the supermodels he had hanging off his arm in the newspapers, he didn’t play for Luis’s team and secondly he was royalty, making the possibilities of Luis ‘running’ into him on the street highly unlikely.
“Luis, I hate to break it to you, there’s not much chance of that happening”. She told him for the millionth time. The line went silent for a minute before a dramatic gasp broke through. Luis, as she knew he would, instantly cottoned onto which delectable male distraction she was referencing.
“Wash your mouth out girl, maybe he’s just in the closet”. He said hopefully making her laugh and forget all the words she had recited earlier.
Freya looked for her house keys on the cluttered table, noticing how the page of Meredith’s latest magazine was incidentally left open revealing Prince Sebastian falling out of a club, at least two girls on each arm.
“Well in that case he must be so deep in the closet he’s found Narnia by now”. She muttered hoping that Luis hadn’t heard her.
“What was that sweetness? Oh never mind, I have to go, the bitch I’ve been paired with keeps trying to get me into bed, isn’t that a riot?” He gushed; Freya could almost imagine him, his face rapt, and an expression he only used for bitching.
“Oh it’s a riot alright”. She replied, not really listening but focused on finding her keys.
“Talking about bitches on heat- how is the budding shag-fest between, Jake and Marie?” Freya rolled her eyes for the fifth time during that conversation; of course Luis would want to know how things were going with the royal couple of their small town. In the small sleepy town they lived of New Market, the Katie price/Pamela Anderson look of big boobs and enough make up to make a person always look surprised- was the ultimate chic. It was unsurprising that Luis and Freya stuck out like an ingrown toenail on a catwalk- as they didn’t own a decent pair of boobs between them.
“Um, I don’t really know”. She muttered hoping that Luis wouldn’t bring up her gigantic fixation on Jake, something she had suffered from since childhood.
“Well, Sweetness, why don’t you ask him? Doesn’t he have horses at the stable that you work at?” He asked hinting heavily, she could almost hear his chemically enhanced eye lashes batting enough to brew up a tornado.
“You know he does Lou”, she muttered, hissing slightly as she banged her head off the open cupboard by the door. She slouched her way to the front door. Not bothering to check her reflection like Meredith did before she went anywhere.
“Well, why don’t you remove those horrible and completely out-dated 80’s specs, put on something to show off your legs- which by the way are longer than most ladders and swish that beautiful blonde hair and steal him away from that hag”. He said excitedly. Luis dropping hints about Freya’s outdated appearance was a daily occurrence, something that despite its familiarity made her squirm uncomfortably.
Freya’s unwillingness was something that baffled Luis and she knew it. With looks like a young Denzel Washington and an outrageous flirtatious ability, Luis was never far from admirers of both sexes. Despite this, Freya knew that Luis genuinely wanted someone to want him for him, to not use him as just a bit on the side and a secret lover.
“Didn’t you say you had to go?” She asked impatiently, knowing that he was going to broach onto the ‘let us improve Freya talk’ which he loved.
“Ooohhh bitch. Fine, I can take a hint, I’ll be in touch”. He said simply before hanging up.
Shaking her head while laughing Freya awaiting the sting in the bottom of her stomach when she remembered that her only friend was over three thousand miles away corrupting young men instead of bitching with her, Shaking herself out of her little daydream when she looked at the clock realising that she was almost late for work, something that had never happened before, and would never happen if she got her way.
Rushing in the stables door, five minutes later and panting furiously, Freya looked at the old clock which had survived the war. She grinned as she realised that she was still two minutes early. The sound of whistling filled the air informing her that Stu her boss was currently on the rounds.
Hastily Freya pulled her long hair into a pony tail, something she only did for work. For Freya everything she could possibly hide behind was favoured, including her hair and her glasses. The glasses were especially favoured as the outdated plastic frames covered half her face. They had once belonged to Meredith, and since she refused to buy anything for Freya, taking the glasses (no matter if they didn’t suit her eyes or face) wasn’t an option.
“Ah Freya there you are” Stu’s booming voice filled the stable making her jump a mile into the air. “Can you muck out the Bridges horses?” He asked her in his amiable lilting Scottish accent. Freya genuinely liked Stu, with his shoulder length blonde curls and tall, broad shouldered body, he was liked by a lot of women in the village. But Freya loved the way that he had taught her to ride as a child, to spend endless hours perfecting her jumps and trots, as well as cutting chunks into Meredith whenever she tried to flirt with him.
A cold sweat covered Freya.
“As in, Jake Bridge’s, horses?” She asked in a small voice, her body becoming worse as Stu nodded, his curls sticking out at all directions.
“That’s the one, so you’ll do it?” he asked, not waiting for Freya to say no before he walked away whistling a random show tune. Freya knew that this was Stu’s way of being cruel to be kind. He was pushing her out of his comfort zone in the same ruthless, but efficient way he taught her to ride.
Freya felt herself standing shock still, until a gentle cough behind her brought her out of her stupor. Goosebumps on her back informed her it was Jake making her nervousness reach new heights. Turning around she tried to arrange her face into a charming smile, but judging by the quizzical look on Jake’s face she had succeeded in scaring him. Instead she replaced ‘charming but really terrifying’ with a ‘shy but kind’ smile and received a wide grin in return.
“Are my horses ready?” He asked finally talking to her like you would to a small puppy or an odd child, kind of loud and gentle. Freya gulped and nodded, realising then that they weren’t ready she shook her head and held her hand up in a five minutes gesture.
Nodding in return, as if she were deaf, Jake pulled his iphone out of his pocket and began to tap away. Hastily, she hoisted the equipment onto the horses so fast that if they had blinked they would have missed it. Leading them outside to where Jake stood leaning against a post talking to Frankie, another town heart throb. Freya felt out of her comfort zone, and wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
Lifting her chin she brought the horses up to where they stood, the sound attracted their attention to her, nudging each other they watched as she walked towards them, smothering a smile Frankie grabbed the horse’s reins out of her hands and watched as she blushed and took a step back.
Smiling condescendingly Frankie looked at Jake, realising he wore the same expression on his face. “Hey, have we met before?” Frankie asked gesturing between them. She looked at them through long lashes timidly before nodding slowly.
“I was in your biology class at St. Brenda’s” she said in a soft lilting voice that was strangely appealing. The worst part was, Frankie thought to himself, was that she had a nice face, big silver eyes rimmed by lashes a few shades darker than her golden hair. She nibbled her lip as if deep in thought drawing his eyes to her mouth, it was a perfect rosebud. If only she would get out of that cousin IT hair, she would be knockout.
It was definitely a pity, that this girl hadn’t the benefit of contacts or even a nice wardrobe. Frankie was so deep in thought that he hadn’t noticed that Jake was nudging him furiously whispering at the girls retreating back.
“She would be perfect”. He said excitedly, Frankie shook his head.
“Nah man, she’s kind of pretty, under all that hair”. He said kindly, looking at his friend. Despite being friends for so long, Frankie had recognised long ago that Jake was a bastard, with very little compassion or empathy.
Jake’s laughter rung throughout the air, “Are you blind, I mean come on”. He said imploringly looking at Frankie. “Fine, then I’m going to invite her. And judging by the way she looks now, no one is going to beat me”.
Before loping off towards her in long strides, the words “we’re having a party tonight if you’re interested’ drifting towards Frankie, he shook his head and closed his eyes
Hello folks. Currently editing the previous chapters before, updating with a new chapter... chapter 2 is coming soon :)