Party All Day !

[Leslie Hawthorne]

Leslie arrived at the stables, the heat raining down on her in it's usual Texas fashion. She'd become accustomed to it, and it just served as good horse washing weather. She went to Vegas' stall, peering in on him, the lazy stallion was lied within his shavings, eyes drooping before seeing his owner, "You're such a lazy little man." He burred, before pushing himself back up standing, and meeting Leslie as she slid the stall door open and haltered her steed.

The gentle clip clop could be heard all the way to the wash rack; that was her favorite sound in the world and it put her mind at ease. Vegas lead easily into the bays, standing well in the cross-ties as Leslie prepared to give him a bath - him watching her with not much concern. Vegas was a stallion, but very well behaved. The woman wouldn't have it otherwise. She was too petite to be wrestling something much larger than her, but Vegas had been a great find, and she trusted him... to an extent.

She began hosing all over his dun hide, soaking the boy before working in a shampoo into his coat. It was obvious he liked this, his neck stretched into the air, that upper lip just a wiggling with a look that expressed 'that's the spot!' She rinsed him when he was lathered, and worked a conditioner into his mane and tail, letting it sit and eventually rinsing that out as well. When his mane and tail were dried, she put his tail into a tail bag and braided his mane. He stood patiently during this weekly thing his owned just seemed obsessed over. Well, there was no escaping it. The small dun boy rested his hind foot, and let her gussy him up. Les was in her own little world.

[Blake Kensington]

The Texas sun beat down on the back of Blake's neck as he approached the small jump set up in the arena. Balancing carefully so as to not disrupt his horse's powerful strides as they came closer and closer he began counting the last couple of strides up to the oxer. Sitting back just before he had to release for the jump, he squeezed his calves to encourage his gelding to take the leap. There really was no reason to, but it was habit, and in this case it was not a bad one. Sin, his horse, easily cleared the poles and after letting the horse trot and walk for a few minutes to cool off, Blake jumped off and began to lead Sin towards the barn.

As soon as they entered he went straight to the stalls where he shed Sin of all the tack that he had been wearing. The saddle and bridle and girth left sweat marks where they had been. Running his hand down the horse's shoulders and chest, Blake would tell that he needed to be rinsed off to cool down a bit more.

Clipping the lead onto his halter, Blake threw the rope over Sin's neck. It had been a long time since he had had to actually guide his horse anywhere. Coming to the wash bays he noticed another girl there. He moved Sin into the stall next to hers and moved to turn the water on. It was that moment that his horse decided that he was finished behaving. Sin bit the back of Blake's neck causing him to jump forward which in turn made his spray the water all over. Especially into the stall next to him.

[Leslie Hawthorne]

The only thing Leslie heard was the commotion beside her, and seeing her stallion rear, and back stopping only because of the cross ties. Most horses would have freaked more, but Vegas was at least very broke. Despite his training, he was still a horse and had been shaken by the event. His hooves taking a small dance until the water stopped, and Leslie's hand calming him, stroking him along his neck.

Leslie wasn't one to tolerate blatant stupidity, something one might assume by the look she was giving Blake. Ah. Blake. She'd not had encounters with him, but through her brother and other boarders and students? She'd heard of him. Oh yeah, she'd heard of him. Having had finished Vegas' mane right before the blow up, she unhitched him from the ties, looking over to Blake. He towered a good foot and one inch over her, but that wouldn't stop her from speaking her mind, "Hey, if you're going to ride a jug head thoroughbred, you might want to learn how to control it first." One could also assume that she didn't like thoroughbreds. She preferred big hips and pretty faces of the stock breeds, not the narrow, lanky luggers.

With a bit more get up in his step, she lead Vegas back to his stall, as he jogged the whole way back from adrenaline, and the fact that Leslie was pacing rather well. The stud, retreating back into his happy little sanctuary, returned to being calm but a little more on the look out as he chewed on his hay. Sliding the door closed and latching it, she hung the halter on it's hook. The girl had full intentions of telling her mother all about this one, though she probably knew the general idea.

Well that had turned from nice and peaceful, to hell in a hand basket.

[Blake Kensington]

"Hey, if you're going to ride a jug head thoroughbred, you might want to learn how to control it first."

The comment from the girl next to him really peeved Blake as he watched her walk away. Who was she to judge him? There was no way that he was going to let her just get away with being so rude, but at the moment he needed to get his horse cooled off. With the water already on, Blake moved a safe distance away and began to lightly sprinkle the water over Sin's dark coat.

The horse moved away from the water just a bit as it hit him, but other than shifting his weight from foot to foot he was behaving. At least for the moment. Shutting the water off was a much less eventful as Sin stayed in place. Blake could swear that the horse had a contrite look in his eyes, but shook his head. If Sin could have any look, it would be a mischievous one. After letting his big thoroughbred drip dry a little and then squeegeeing him off, Blake clipped the rope back on and moved back towards the stalls.

After settling his gelding in and making sure there was food and water, Blake moved to find the girl who had spoken to him earlier. He know that her name was Leslie Hawthorne, the younger brother of Marc with whom Blake had shown, and he also knew that though small, Leslie had a sharp tongue. It didn't take long to find her, as she was also by her horse's stall, but when he got there he did something that surprised him.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, motioning in the general direction of the wash bays. "That, however, gives you no right to say that I have no control of my horse. If I remember correctly, it wasn't my horse that reared up."

His tone was not harsh, not condemning. It was just a tone that said that he did not appreciate being spoken to in such ways. Nothing got on his nerves more than snide comments and rude remarks. Nothing but ill will came of those things and he really didn't wish to make an enemy today.

He moved over a bit and leaned against one of the empty stalls. Crossing his ankles, he let his tall frame just relax for a moment. He even let himself give the petite girl a charming half smile. "I really am sorry. And I'm Blake by the way. Blake Kensington."

[Leslie Hawthorne]

Leslie looked at him, her eyes narrowing as he went on. Nope. She didn't like this fellow one bit. Arms crossing, she was only getting more revved up. "So it's his fault that your horse is a basket case and you can't control a simple little water hose. That's terrible that your head is that far up your butt," ah, the little missy was sour... and perhaps even a little relentless.

Nevertheless, she'd not trust this one. He was too - oh I don't know - like the rest of her family. Acting somewhat honest and charming, with all of the riches in the world, only to turn around another second and slam you in the face with a shovel. That wasn't her type at all, and she didn't seem set on getting to know this fellow. You never know though, he might impress her somewhere along the way.

"I figured you were... I've heard tons about you," She started, looking him over again. He was so cliche, it made her chuckle internally, "I'm Leslie Hawthorne." One might have expected her to be on better behavior considering the last name, but she could care less. Truth be told, her nerves had been shaken a bit and yes, she acted rash. She'd admit that later, but not right now - and not to him.

So there they stood, introduced and at some odds. Leslie was reading him, and judging him a bit. Eh, she was a Hawthorne - it's to be expected.

[Blake Kensington]

It almost stung when his apology was not accepted with grace, but then again he knew it wasn't going to be. He watched the spunky girl in front of him as she dissed him again, and he would have let it go except for the fact that she insulted his horse. Sin was high strung, but he was an amazing horse who had won scores of prestigious awards with Blake, and there was no way that some tiny girl was going to denounce him.

"My dear," he drawled quite condescendingly, "You may insult my person as much as you want. Insult my horse, however, and you are crossing the line."

He pushed himself off the wall and pulled himself up to his full height. Taking a step forward, fully intending to use his size to intimidate, he spoke down, literally, to Leslie. "I would advise you to not speak of Sin that way again. He is a finely trained show horse who is just playful outside the arena."

And with that Blake turned on his heel and walked back down towards Sin's stall. He began to pick up his tack, managing to hold all of it on one arm. Moving swiftly and gracefully he had everything cleaned up in no time. Glancing down at his watch, Blake saw that he had plenty of time before he had to leave, so he got out his book and proceeded to sit in front of his horse's stall and read.

[Leslie Hawthorne]

Leslie lifted a brow at him, quite unamused to his attempt to intimidate her, and leave. She scoffed, "Oh, really? Boy let me tell you something - I've had a face off with a twelve-hundred pound muscle machine - You don't scare me. You can try that with anyone else and you might succeed, and yes I'm short, but that just makes me the perfect height to kick you in the balls... if you have any." Rule one, don't cross Leslie.

Rule two? Don't undermine her intelligence, "And if that horse is playful, I guess Jack the Ripper was just kidding when he murdered all those women and the BTK killer was just playing a HUGE practical joke on the world, right? Don't confuse playfulness for disrespect and disobedience."

So maybe, she was on her period? Or maybe this fellow just struck her wrong. Whatever it was, she wasn't having any of it. In all honesty, Leslie enjoyed a good battle every now and again. It kept her thinking, and kept her on her toes.

[Blake Kensington]

"Don't confuse playfulness with disrespect?" Blake countered, almost incredulously. He turned on Leslie with cold eyes, done with being anything near nice. "Don't you confuse patience with tolerance. I will take your jabs and insults for a time, but push me too far and you will be sorry, " he said as he looked over her at his horse. "I may not be a twelve hundred pound horse, but I can assure you that I can be flat out mean."

He angrily moved around her and unlatched Sin's stall door. After gently taking his halter off of his head he came back out and hung it, not so gently, on the hook next to the stall. Then he looked back at his short little "friend."

"Thank you for the stimulating conversation, but I strongly hope we can avoid this the next time we see each other," he said, and then with a smirk added, "Or maybe we can just avoid seeing each other. I do like small people. It's just that most your size are under the age of ten and have some respect for their elders."

With that he turned without waiting for her retort and walked out towards his car. As he moved out of the barn he began to think about his little fiasco back there. Leslie was pretty and spunky, normally his type of girl. She, however, made him want to punch something. Or punch someone. She just set him off and it was really confusing him. Normally he was good with people, easy confidence radiating from him. But not today.