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“Well, yeah. We aren’t exactly friendly with each other. You plan on decimating my horse in this next race.”
“But you know I consider you a friend, right?” I don’t know why this is suddenly so important to me.
“You just said that, so yes.” Langston fiddles with his phone again.
Is he paying attention? “So about that date…”
“You’re asking me on a date. How forward of you.”
“We’re not in the 1800s,” I tease. “I think it’s okay. Anyway, there’s nothing romantic about it. Just a little help from a friend.”
“I like how you upgraded me now that you need something,” he teases back.
I pretend to be offended. “How rude!”
“But that being said… I’m willing to help you out.”
“Why do I sense there’s a catch here?” What am I getting myself into? I’m not so sure I should trust Langston. The guy plans to decimate my horse in the races, after all. He’s the competition.
“No catch. But I want to reserve a favor for later.”
I stare at him. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea. Who knows what Langston would want? “Why later?”
He grins. “Because I haven’t thought of anything I want yet.”
I reach out and pet Marshmallow, who’s been watching us from his stall. “So, when are you taking me out? And you might want to tell your mom that you’re taking me out because I think my parents plan to gang up on us with your parents.”
“Interesting. And sounds very familiar.”
“How so?”
“My parents want me to date you as well. Something about joining the families.” He shakes his hips. “Making babies.”
I fake scowl at him. “Don’t do that. It’s just gross.”
“Ouch. You hurt my feelings.”
“Come on. We both know you have a heart of stone.”
“That’s because you don’t know me.” He leans closer to me.
“Oh, I know you. I’ve been around you our entire lives.” My face flushes. Why is it doing that? I refuse to like Langston. I take a deep breath to cool my cheeks. Hopefully, he doesn’t notice.
“You see the version of me you want to believe.”
“I see what’s in front of my face. Are you telling me you’ve been putting on some sort of act?” I refuse to get pulled in by him. Or even acknowledge anything that might be causing my heart to pound right now.
His phone rings. He looks down at it, and a fearful expression comes over his face for a slight second before he silences the call and puts his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry. It’s been fun. I gotta go. Shoot me a text, and we can talk about our date.”
I watch him leave. He never did find Ronnie. I guess I distracted him. What was going on between us anyway? I’m not sure what to think of it.
I brush Marshmallow’s fur, thinking over what the trainer had said earlier about Valentine’s progress in an attempt to shake off the… whatever it was between Langston and me earlier.
My parents’ golden retriever, Goldie, wanders into the stable, her tail wagging and her belly heavy with puppies. I reach down and pet her head. Ronnie comes in after her.
“She looks like she’s about due,” I say.
“Any day now,” Ronnie says. He glances over his shoulder. “What was Langston all upset about?”