"I don't know Confident enough." Brynn concluded. It was a pathetic excuse but it might have worked.
"That's a pathetic excuse." Greyson mumbled.
It was, and Brynn was trying really hard not to agree and borrow Confidence. She WANTED to, really she did, but it wasn't fair to Greyson who worked as hard if not harder to get this position.
"Brynn, listen to me." He sighed.
"What?" She replied quietly.
"You have gotten into 8 Longines competitions, and you've won 5 with a clear round, plus dozens more of competitions." Greyson was on to something, but Brynn was not sure what.
"And your point is?" She questioned.
"Jumping Nations." Greyson whispered. Brynn rejoiced in her head. If she won the Hampton classic, she would get some more credits to join the jumping nations team, and she would be the first Indian to join the US team, if the US team let her.
"What is the age requirement?" She asked.
"It's in 8 months, the age is 18 and you're turning 18 in 3 months, and Confidence is 9 but you'd need Stolen seeing as he won those competitions. Stolen will heal in 6 months and 2 months of restarting will be alright but it's a cheap and long shot." Greyson started rambling in the end over the horrible odds Brynn really had but tried to be supportive. It was working in the sense that it made Brynn laugh.
"Good try." She smiled sadly.
"Also," Greyson continued, after he got himself together. "The olympics." He smiled like an evil genius. Brynn was shocked he thought she could secure a spot in the olympics.
"Let's worry about the Hampton first," Brynn said anxiously. The Olympics was too much for Brynn to process. Everything was going too fast. Her legs felt weak.
"I-I'll borrow Confident." Brynn boldly exclaimed. What was she thinking, was she thinking? Her mind went back to all the blood on the field from Stolen. So. Much. Red. Her poor horse, he was in pain and she was out here with another horse instead of comforting him.
The vet bill fee came to mind. 13,000 and rising due to stitches and anesthesia. Brynn's vision blurred. Her head throbbed.
'Brynn, you good?" Greyson asked, but Brynn couldn't hear him. She couldn't hear anything. She stopped walking. Salem turned her head back, confused. The chestnut mare could obviously tell something was wrong.
"Brynn? Brynn!?" Greyson exclaimed when she started to sway. When was the last time she sat down? Wait, was she on a horse? Her brain would not process properly. Where was Salem? Was she next to her? She thought.
"BRYNN!" Greyson yelled, Brynn started to droop to the ground. They weren't mounted so she didn't have too far to fall. Before Brynn could realize she was falling, she fainted. She didn't feel the ground or hear a thud, but she couldn't tell what was happening. She blacked out.
*2 hours later*
Brynn blinked a few times, the light hurt her head.
"Thank god you're up!" Greyson whisper-screamed.
"Where am I, what happened?" Brynn asked.
"You fainted from stress and we are in the lounge room. I was going to call an ambulance but the barn manager said you'd be fine, so I listened to him." Greyson was fidgeting with his hands, and his german-british accent was coming back. That happened when he wasn't using an American accent, was stressed, or scared. It happened a lot when he was talking to his extremely strict father.
"Gott sei Dank, you're okay." He mumbled, running his hand over his face. He was sitting on a nice chair, Brynn lying down on the sofa. Brynn knew very little German, but assumed he said, "Thank god," and was right.
"Where are the horses, how did I get there though," Brynn rambled, still confused.
"They are in the pasture, courtesy of Felix who seems to never leave." Greyson grumbled, he was talking in a hilarious British accent which came and went due to traveling a lot.
Brynn couldn't help but smile. The accent was hilarious, and that was probably why Greyson was doing that.
"Why you laughing mate?" He said, smirking. Brynn was laughing. She looked around the meeting room. The windows were automatically tinted and sound proof if a button was hit, to the point where no one could look in. It was excellent when Brynn was discussing things with sponsors, or looking at foals to invest in.
"But you still didn't tell me what happened after I fainted, or how I got here?" Brynn asked. Greyson turned red and went to get her some water. Completely crappy topic exchange.
When Greyson came back after a few seconds, Brynn tried to reach to grab the glass, but her arm was very sore. Both were asleep and stiff.
"Don't worry." Greyson said. He held the glass and tipped it up to her lips for her to drink. Then someone walked in.
"Hey Brynn you good your mom called-" Colton started. He saw the two of them. To be fair, it was a simple kind act on Greyson's part, but an extremely awkward misconception to walk into.
The moment Brynn made eye contact with Colton, she spit the water out. Unfortunately, it all hit Greyson.
"Damn it." Greyson coughed and sputtered. Brynn looked at Colton's shocked face, poor Greyson all wet, and back again before breaking out into laughter. Unlike the two laughing, Colton had a look of pure regret, disgust, shock, empathy, and confusion all mixed into one.
After Greyson finished drying off with a towel, and Brynn stopped laughing, Colton asked them what they were doing. Greyson tightened his jaw in annoyance, and Brynn didn't quite know what to say.
"Well." She started. "As my mum told you, I fainted and Greyson helped me. My arms hurt a lot from over exhaustion and Greyson was, yeah… ummm… yeah." Brynn finished, unsure of what to say in fear of it hurting Colton emotionally.
"So you two aren't dating." Colton asked. It was as if a fire went into Greyson's eyes.
"Guter Gott!' Just stop harassing me and my girlfriend already!" Greyson exclaimed. He continued to yell in half German and half english. Brynn's mom did that in Bengali when she was mad. That meant he was pissed. He paused after seeing that Colton was extremely confused.
"Just stop man." Greyson said in full english. "You're giving me a headache." Colton clenched his fists.
"We lost the game." Colton whispered.
"Damn the game!" Bryn said, getting up. "Colton you're an amazing friend, really. You're my best school friend, but you are acting like a stranger!" Brynn felt dizzy when she got up too fast.
'Freaking iron deficiency.' She thought.
Both boys reached to grab her. Greyson was much closer. She looked up to see his face and smiled. She was trying to show Colton she didn't like him for more than a friend, so he smiled. Even though she was smiling, she lightly pinched Greyson's arm to signal for him to let her go. He helped her balance out a bit more.
Then, Brynn reached to grab her water. She drank the entire glass, then refiled it. As she was pouring the water she commented to Colton.
"Would you fancy that barn tour I promised you?" She asked.
"Uh sure, whatever, as long as he doesn't kill me." Colton said, pointing to Greyson. Brynn softly shook her head. This was a professional workzone, and Colton was talking like a middle schooler.
"I warm up Confident so he can go over more jumps when your done ." Greyson mumbled.
"Which?" Brynn asked.
"Simple ones like oxers, triple bars, and combinations." Greyson noted, trying to remember the course. "I'll set them to 4'3, the average height for Hapmton." What Colton didn't know was that these were from Brynn.
"Shouldn't I warm him up?" Brynn asked. Colton just stood there.
"No- well yes, but I need to make sure he's not too hot after all this excitement." Greyson cautioned.
"Come now, Colton." Brynn said.
"No reason to treat me like a peasant." Colton grumbled.
"It's my barn, beginner." Brynn retorted. Even though she was kinda annoyed, she made a promise to give Colton that tour, and had to keep the two boys away from each other as if they were two wild stallions. She looked at Greyson and tried not to laugh. 'Beginner' was an inside joke they had with each other that Brynn used to call Greyson 6 years ago when he first started. Greyson was just shaking his head.