Shame On Me

    "C'mon, just get on! You're already all suited up, you may as well have some fun.”  Easy for Liv Carmichael to say, she was only twenty-three. And she had a boyfriend! Today was my dreaded twenty-fifth and I was in no way growing old gracefully or with anyone, for that matter. I'd already thrown a fit, about feeling old and fat, smacked into a wall, in the process, and given myself a gorgeous black eye. And it still didn't change the fact that I was getting old.
    In five more years I would be the big 3-0... and it was a pretty scary thought. That morning, I'd stared at myself in the mirror for nearly an hour trying to spot wrinkles. None. Then I almost nailed a gray hair... but it was really just a blonde one from my highlights which were steadily growing out.
    "No, Liv, I do not ride horses! You know I've got this fear of any animal over an ounce."
    "What about Roscoe and Bermuda?" My boy and girl Dobermans.
    "I'm scared of them too!"
    "Oh, shut up, Sam, and get on the goddamn horse! She's pwetty..." she cooed, "and she's bored! Ride 'im!" Liv literally heaved all 114 pounds of me, Samantha Potter, onto the glossy, white beast. I squealed and grabbed the reigns.
    "He'd better go slow too, or heads will roll!"
    "She will," Liv assured me giving, my new companion, Dottie a pat on her backside and she started trotting down this long cobblestone trail. And I kept looking over my shoulder at Liv and she was just waving and smiling, showing absolutely no mercy toward my fear. But for the first few minutes of my terror ride Dottie ambled merrily down the pathway leading into a huge field. I was actually beginning to think that it was nice. Just bouncing along, the slight breeze blowing my hair from my face. I smiled.
    The sunshine bore down on Dottie and me as we came into the field of tall yellow grass, some trees surrounding. It was really a pretty atmosphere to be in and I felt.... free, as corny as it sounds. And seven years younger, even.
    "You better not gallop, don't you even think it, Dottie," I growled, gripping the reigns tighter. To my surprise the sweet horsie did not speed up and I sighed. Just in the distance was a beautiful black horse, mounted by some man. The sunshine was glaring into my eyes so I could only make out his long black hair, topped by a cowboy cat. And he had broad shoulders. He had way more equestrian skills than I did. Seemed so in control and that fascinated me. Dottie cantered on. I watched the mysterious man in the distance only hoping he didn't see, or feel, my desperate eyes on him. Dottie cantered on. I watched. Suddenly the man looked directly at me and started shouting, "Hey!" and waving or pointing toward something. The moment I turned my head to see what he was waving toward I whacked into a low-lying tree branch, fell off Dottie, and my vision went fuzzy.
   
    For a while I lay on my back with my hands covering my nose. The fact that it was bleeding and that I could hardly breath through it let me know it was probably broken. I was too shocked to cry, even though my whole body hurt. And I was too humiliated. It wasn't long before I heard the man and his horse come to a halt right in front of me. He hopped off the black horse and stooped down beside me. "Let me take a look," he said gently, placing his hand under my chin and lifting my face to his. He spoke slowly and his voice was like a taste of the south, yet his face was just a smear before my eyes.
    When he saw the bloody mess that was my nose, "Ouch," seemed to be the only words he could surface.
    "Is it bad?" I whimpered, finally my eyes were starting to tear.
    "Pretty," he told me, nodding, and I heard something rip. “Hold this under your nose, don't tilt your head back or you'll vomit." I felt him take my free hand, "You think can you stand up for me, sweetheart?"
    The man tried to lift me to my feet, but I stumbled over several times. Mostly
because of the throbbing in my ankle. But I was also very dizzy and felt like I was going to throw up everywhere. My hands were shaking and all the while I was praying that the man who was helping me turned out to be the most god-awful, ugly man on the planet. Maybe that way my physical appearance wouldn't matter so much.
    "I'm gonna count to three then I'm going to lift you up. Okay?"
    "But what about the horses?"
    "They wont go anywhere, they’re fenced in. One of the stable hands will come and get them," his voice was so soft and soothing and he smelled so good. But, little by little, everything was becoming more and more distant and I only felt like sleeping. He counted to three then lifted me up into his arms and I managed to wrap an arm around his neck.
    "I'm gonna try to keep you conscious just in case you got a concussion banging into that tree."
    I moaned in response as fatigue consumed me.
    "So what's your name?"
    "Samantha Potter," my voice was slurred and slightly muffled. I rested my head against his firm chest and shut my eyes.
    "Hey, hey... don't you fall asleep, honey," he warned, "you gotta stay up. Try to look into my eyes if you can."
    I looked up into pair of green smudges, which could have been eyes. I smiled
weakly, very aware of how difficult it must have been, for him, to look at me in my battered state. To my surprised he smiled back... at least that's what it seemed like.
    "By the way... I'm Kevin."  
    I sighed, still trembling but they were slowly beginning to desist. Whoever this
mysterious Kevin turned out to be... he was my new hero.

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