My jaw hung open as I stared at the tall, lean boy before me. I couldn't believe he was here!

"Might as well close your mouth before you catch flies" he said sarcastically in his usual cocky tone.

"Shut up and come give me a hug" I said quickly.

"Come you and give me a hug" He taunted. I rolled my eyes and ran into the boy's arms, him wrapping them around my small body. I breathed in his scent of pine and clean linen, still in shock that he was here. I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and broke our embrace, a smile evident on my face as I spoke excitedly.

"Wha- What are you doing here Chris?" I asked still in disbelief

"What, you don't want me here?" he pushed.

"Of course I'm silly! But it's not everyday you come and visit your favorite cousin is it?" I quickly cut him off and said rolling my eyes, something I did quite frequently when I was around Chris.

"Who said you were my favorite cousin?" Chris pushed even further, his cocky side and tone consistent. I yet again rolled my eyes before I spoke.

"We both know I am! And answer the question!" I pressed with a slight chuckle.

"I'm moving to London, i got into uni here" he stated simply as if it were nothing. Once more I entered my state of bewilderment and disbelief.

"You got into Uni here? Oh my god! Chris, that's amazing!" I gushed happily.

"Christopher" My father's voice boomed behind us

"Hello Mr. Holloway," Chris said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh shut up! Don't make me feel old" My father said laughing. He hated it when they referred to him as "Mr. Holloway" especially if it was family, but Chris obviously liked to push the limits and be sarcastic, he always greeted my father that way knowing it drove him insane.

When my father was close enough, my cousin gave my father a big hug, a manly one of course, but still a hug. My father ruffled his blond hair that matched mine and was about to say something when Grace's voice became prominent.

"Chris! Oh my God! Why are you here?" She asked us to jog  up to us, running her hands through her light hair, after standing by me.

"Well look at you Mr. Popular" I sassed jokingly at my cousin.

"Did you expect anything less?" Chris directed his comment at me with a smirk, to which I rolled my eyes at. Yes, I rolled my eyes. Again. After his sassy comment at me, he turned to Grace and answered her question once again with the simple "I got into Uni"

"Okay, Chris, as much as i love you and i love talking to you, I have to get back to the horses. Leave or stay, i don't mind, but i need to get back to them" I said cutting the reunion short before anyone else could say anything.

"I have to go continue unpacking my things, but I wanted to stop by and say hello to my favorite cousin" he said emphasizing the "favorite cousin part".

"Come over tonight" I suggested.

"I was going anyway!" Chris called back at me teasingly already making his way into his car heading out the driveway as quickly as he came in. I went back to the barn, a new smile on my face as I knew that my cousin was here in London, and he was here to stay.

I made my way to the stallion side of the barn and found Luzifer in his stall all tacked up. I smiled at the dappled gray and slipped into his stall leading him out. Reluctantly, he followed me to the mounting block where I hopped on the 17.3hh horse, settling in the saddle. I Asked the stallion to walk as we made our way to the outdoor arena. I had the reins loose in my hands as I ran my hand over Luzifers dappled neck as we made our way to the arena. Luzifer had improved so much in the last week, he was much calmer letting me ride him without lunging him previously. I was still having trouble with changing the gate and with him leaning on the bit, but nothing that some time of work couldny fix.

I walked Luzifer in the arena, he was quite eager today, something that I hadn't seen in a while. I felt him wanting to trot as he sped up his pace ever so often as in attempts to trot. As I didnt want him changing the gait without me asking, I held him back and asked him myself to trot. Squeezing him with my leg, he pinned his ears back and let a kick out. I sighed and tried again. I don't want to fight him, but he had to get rid of this habit. I clicked my tongue asking him to trot once more, when he didn't respond by trotting but instead moving backwards, I tapped his shoulder with my crop, he immediately sprung into a light trot. Once you got the horse moving, he didn't stop. The problem was, well, getting him moving.

I trotted around the arena, asking Luzifer to round. Surprisingly, he did quite easily. It wasn't common for ex-race horses to round with ease before you taught them and got them accustomed to it, so when Luzifer rounded swiftly, I gave him a praising pat. It was really important further on for the horse to be rounded as we needed them working on their hindlegs, not on their front ones. After trotting a while, I asked him to go to the canter. We centered around the arena, my focus completely on the stallion beneath me. As we centered around, I slowly started to feel Luzifer leaning on the bit. I corrected him and kept cantering.

The dappled stallion didn't seem to lose energy as he still was eager to move after I had ended the lesson. I chuckled at Luzifer as I praised him with pats as we made our way slowly to the stallion area of the barn. To say I was proud of Luzifer was an understatement; the horse had crazy potential, all he needed was someone who understood him, and I was still working on that but I had made progress. Giving him one last treat, I handed him over to Matt with a smile as I went over to fetch Marvel.

I led the chestnut gelding to the cross ties, while I groomed him quickly, getting all the dust and shavings off him. I ten tucked him up in a sleek white saddled that stood out from his copper colored coat. When I was done getting him ready, I slipped my helmet on and my gloves on once again. I was leading Marvel out of the cross ties as I heard a clip clopping behind me. I turned my face and was met by Grace mounted on Bourbon. I locked my blue eyes with her brown ones, both of us speaking through just looks. I smirked and mounted Marvel, both of us making our way out of the barn. Side by side we approached the covered arena which was empty. Deciding to work in the covered sand school, I followed Grace in it, both of us parting ways as we worked with our own horses. I would pass Grace and Bourbon ever so often, keeping my right, I would smile at her, which she returned.

We both worked our respective horses though a simple warm up before we met up on one side of the arena to catch our breath and figure out what we would do next.

"Cavaletti?" Grace suggested. I nodded and dismounted Marvel handing him over to grace as I went to set up the exercise. I set up the slightly raised poles in a zigzag through the middle of the arena. Grace nodded at me so I went over to Marvel and took the rains I mounted once more.

"So, shall we start just cantering over them?" Grace asked. I hummed in response and gestured for her to go first. She asked the bay horse under her to canter and made her way around the arena to approach the zig zag made out  of cavaletti. In a consistent canter, she hopped over them effortlessly, turning bourn¡bon in the air slightly each time to get to the other one. After completing the exercise, I didn't wait for her to approach me before I was cantering around the arena on the chestnut gelding. Just as Grace did, I approached the line in a decent rhythm and poped over the jumps, raising in my stirrups as we were airborne. I asked Marvel to bend in the air so that we could jump over each jump straightly.

Upon finishing the exercise, I went back to Grace, a smile graced both our lips. I raised my hand for her to high five, which she missed on the first try making both of us burst in uncontrollable laughter. When we settled down, I stared at the cavaletti for a moment thinking for another exercise to work on.

"Ok, what about if we jump the first, take a 10 meter circle to approach the second and then again we take a 10 meter circle and so on" I proposed an exercise.

"Sounds good! You go or I go?" Grace said. I didn't give her an answer but instead I started cantering. I kept contact with Marvel and guided the chestnut to the first cavaletti and popped over it. As we landed, I asked Marvel to take a circle, half halting so that we could take the tight circle. I let Marvel extend a tad as we approached the jump. We hopped over the second jump and once again we took another circle as we made our way to the third jump. We went over the small jump and when we reached the floor, we took another circle at the opposite side. Jumping the last jump, we ended the exercise. I slowed Marvel and praised him. When I approached Grace, she had a go at the exercise, excelling at it as well. We ended the lesson there, both of the horses with a slight coat of sweat.

"That was a good lesson!" Grace commented with a smile. I nodded eagerly in agreement. As Grace and I had agreed previously, we walked the horses through the backside of the stables and we made our way to the trails. We walked our horses side by side, talking of random things. Both Marvel and Bourbon were tired from the lesson, so we could walk with loose reins letting them rest. As we took a turn in the path, we passed by the lake and the bank where we spotted Camille.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked with a small smirk and hopeful eyes that we would be doing some cross country.

"From the smirk on both your faces, I think you clearly know what I'm doing and what you will be doing so go grab your horses so we can get on with it" Camille ushered us with a laugh. Grace and I joined in, all of us now laughing. We then walked back to the barn, dismounted and made our way to the staff office grabbing our safety vests and our skull cap helmets. Switching my regular Charles Owen to my skull cap, I made my way out of the office trailing behind Grace. We met Matt who had both North and Aspen tacked up, both gray horses in his hands.

I smiled at the instructor I had known for many years now and took the reins to my huge stallion. I got ready to mount and Matt helped me as I was quite short compared to north to get on by myself. I muttered a thankyou and arranged myself in the saddle, shortening my reins and getting the stirrups. I connected my safety vest and once I was ready, I glanced at Grace who was done also. With a sly smile, Grace and I went behind the stables once more making our way out to the cross country course.

We both loved the thrill and the adrenaline of cross country, so we were both pretty stoked. It had been a hot minute since we had had a cross country lesson as the fields had just dried up after winter, making both of us that much more excited. We arrived at the open field in the middle of the course where we had enough space to warm up. We met Camille who was mounted on one of the horses that belonged to the stables, Dal.

"Ready girls?" Camille asked with a smile. We choroused a "yes" and Camille started guiding us through our warmup, she also completed it. When our horses were active and supplied on both reins, Camille instructed us to go over a flowerbed jump that was close by. We nodded and followed our usual rules that we had when doing cross country, I started off and grace went a bit after me followed by camille. When we were all ready, North and I sprung into a canter, I could hear Aspens hoofbeats behind me as we got closer and closer to the flowerbed. Without a second glance, North jumped over the fixed jump with ease. Slowing down a few meters away, I gave North a quick pat watching how my best friend and trainer made their way over the jump as well. When we all recouped again, we were told that we would gallop across the field so that we could reach the log and then the corner jump that would be approaching.

We all asked our horses to canter across the field. I felt the wind rush through my blond hair, Grace and Camille at either of my sides, I couldn't help but smile. I raised in my stirrups and moved my hands forward giving North his head. He immediately extended, each stride lengthened as we thundered across the field. I saw the log jump approaching so I collected North and sat deep in the saddle, I felt Grace and Camille get behind me as we approached the jump.

Calculating the distance, we jumped the huge log flawlessly, and once again I slowed to see Grace and Camille jump it also. Before long, we were cantering again approaching the corner jump that neared. I counted the strides in my head again as we got closer and closer to the corner jump. I squeezed North and guided him over the smallest side of the corner jump, my gray horse soaring over it. I gave him a praising pat upon landing, my smile never leaving my face.

"We are going to track right, through the small forest. It is quite slippery still so i don't want any of you rushing, is that clear?" Camille warned "Then keep right and the drop will come into view. Remember than when riding the bank you really need to encourage your horse to work with his hindquarters if you don't want to go flying over your horse's head. After the drop, canter through the water; Grace, you have to really push Aspen because both you and I know he doesn't fancy water but you will still have to get him through it. If you want, Eleanor, after the drop slow slightly and let Grace be right on your tail to encourage aspen more" I glanced at Grace, sending annod in her direction " so, ride through the water and then after we get out of the lake, a few strides later there is a skinny, so keep that in mind. We will meet after the skinny where I will explain what to do next" Camille instructed. It was always like this when we had cross country lessons, we would go by parts.

When Camille gave me my cue, I asked north to canter, and we swiftly cantered, keeping contact with North so he wouldn't rush through the forest. The forest wasn't very big, but it still had a similar feel to the ones on the real courses. I did notice that the ground was quite humid, so I ended up slowing down even more. We made our way through the path in between the trees, and as soon as we made our way out of it, I urged North on. North was kind of like me, we both really loved cross country, and by the way he had both ears pricked and he listened to every single of my cues, I could tell that he was enjoying this lesson as much as I was.

The drop came into view, as well as the lake. Once more, I collected North as we approached. Sitting back, I felt as North jumped into the water, feeling it all splash on my face. I scrunch my nose up but still cantered through the water as I felt Grace right behind me. I was raised in my stirrups giving north complete freedom as well as giving him his head. We thundered through the lake, droplets splashing everywhere. We went out of the water as quickly as we made our way in and strides later, we were flying over a skinny jump, me in my two pint and North with his knees snapped under him. After halting, I brought my gloved hand up to my face, rubbing some of the mud and water off my fair skin. Grace halted by me, Camille joining us not long after.

"How did that feel?" The slightly tanned woman before me asked us. Grace was quick to speak up and to gush about the thrill of the sport.

"I really don't know why we don't do cross country more often! It's amazing to gallop and jump big jumps that seem impossible!" She said, her freckled face resembling a smile.

"Right?!" I jumped in "I love it so much, North does too! And I bet that you do also, Camille!" I exasperated

"I know you love it, and so do I, but you have to understand why we don't do cross country more often" Camille started with her usual speech, Grace and I joining in.

"Because it's a lot of work for the horses as for us and we don't only depend on our state of fitness but also on the water as we don't want an accident" Grace and I finished in a monotone voice along with Camille.

"Yeah, yeah, we've heard that a million times' ' I said rolling my eyes slightly, earning a chuckle from camille.

"Okay, quit complaining and let's finish the lesson!" Camille proposed with a smile.

"So we are going to turn back here and instead of making our way through the forest, we will go through the field where we will jump the roll top, there is a fence also and then track left to jump over the bush jump. There we will meet and canter all of us back to the stables" We nodded in agreement before we were galloping once again through the fields. Although I knew that North loved galloping, I held him back slightly, not wanting to waste all our energy as we had been cantering for a while now non-stop already.

Soaring over the roll top, I guided North to the upcoming fence. Without a second glance, we flew over that one also and we then made our way to the final bush jump. I could feel Northstar to tier under me as his strides lost strength. I encouraged him to keep on cantering with my voice and my leg. We popped over the final jump, slowing after it. It took me a hot second to catch my breath, I could also see Grace was also quite tired. Side by side, Camille, Grace and I started making our way back to the stables. We cantered a couple of meters before we slowed to a walk to start cooling the horses down. I patted North's sweat covered neck as I whispered sweet praising words to him. Arriving at the stables, I hopped off the saddle shakily after the exhilarating ride. Matt was ready to take North to finish cooling him off and settling him in the stables.

"Eleanor, shall I put the ice boots on North?" Matt asked sweetly. I had grown so close to Matt over the years making him one of the only people around the stables who called me by just my name.

"Yes please Matt." I spoke " And after you take the studs off his shoes, could you leave them on my desk please? I need to get another pair but I need the size and all, so I don't forget '' Matt nodded and excused himself leading a tired North behind him, leaving me to finish getting ready to ride the next horses. I had praised North alot after our ride since he had done so amazingly. I gave him lots of scratches as well as sugar cubes, and I knew that Matt would give him more, so I was not too worried. I under praised him for the amazing work he did at the track today.

Putting my safety vest away as well as my helmet, slopped on the sofa clearly worn out. The dark color of my breeches concealed the spatter from when we were in the lake, and the safety vest prevented the majority of my baselayer to stay clean, so I was not so worried about my appearance at the moment. With Grace sitting beside me, we munched on pistachios silently regaining some of our energy before heading out to work with more horses. We usually were at the barn the majority of the day, so that left us to have late lunch if we didn't go out to Freshii, that's why we had diverse nuts and other snacks to help us make it through the day. After finishing my water bottle, I stood up and made my way to finish the day off riding other horses.

After a car ride where I told my father all about my cross country lesson, we finally arrived home. Quickly making my way inside, I made my way over to the fridge where I got to preparing lunch. My father was on a phone call, so I prepared the meal for us both lost in my thoughts. I warmed up the leftover scalloped potatoes from the day before and cooked a slice of meat for both my father and I. While those were on the stove, I made a quick salad of lettuce and carrots, finishing it off with a simple yet delicious dressing. I set the table with the quick meal I had prepared, both of us sitting down to eat. My father ended the phone call while we ate, so when he ended it, we continued the conversation we had left unfinished from the car.

My father offered to pick up and wash the dishes because I had prepared the meal, and I did not oppose it, so I went over to my room to get changed. I changed into light jeans that flatter my body shape and a cute t-shirt which I tied at the front, bringing the look together. I looked at myself in the mirror, not bothered by my casual yet pretty outfit. After brushing the knots out of my hair, I went out to the balcony that overlooked the London skyline to sit in the evening  sun. They had actually been quite nice these past days, not raining as much as usual which was a blessing, but I didn't want to jinx it so I didn't think about it too much. I had my sketchbook in my hand and continued with the current sketch I was working on which was a simple side profile of a woman. I did this quite a lot in my free time, just coming out to the balcony and minding my own business which usually included drawing. I sat, lost in my own thoughts before I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket with a message from chris.

Chris: open the door im here

Chris: Eleanorrrrrr

Chris: !!!!

I chuckled at my phone before typing my reply and heading down the stairs to open the door for my cousin.

Eleanor: I'm coming! Hold your horses mr. Impatient

I turned the knob to reveal absolutely no one. I rolled my eyes and closed the door again, slightly annoyed at my cousin even though I kind of expected it from him. His definition of "im here" meant im 10 minutes away. I simply made my way to the couch in the living room, scrolling through my instagram feed. I heard my father's faint voice from the otherside of our big living room, he was most probably on the phone. My father's workday didn't end when we left the barn, he was usually on the phone for a couple hours after arriving home, but i couldn't blame him, he was just doing his work. The ring of the doorbell snapped me out of my thoughts as I opened the door to be met by my cousin.

He stood there before I opened the door completely, letting him embrace me in one of his hugs. Chris and I were quite close with him just being two years older than me. We had always been pretty close, but it was these past few years where i really noticed how much i valued him, he was like my big brother. With him living in Manchester, it wasn't usual that I saw him, so for him to have moved to London was huge for me, and for him also because that meant he was following his dream. After breaking our hug apart, we made our way up the stairs, Dali hot on our heels as he was still sniffing Chris as he was a stranger to my young dog. We sat on my bed, just with each other's presence, only our breaths filling the room. I still couldn't fathom the fact that he was here, I had missed him so much.

"Are you even going to talk to me, or are you just going to stare at me and continue to process the fact that i'm actually here" Chris broke the silence with a sarcastic comment.

"Sorry, it's just I missed you so much, and for you actually being here, and staying here is amazing" I confessed my thoughts to my older cousin.

"Ah, come here El" He said, extending his arms again, bringing my small body into his. Chris broke the hug as well as the silence.

"Has anything interesting happened around here since I was here last?" He asked, his blue eyes locked to my matching ones.

"Well, we changed year, I'm now two years older, and so are you. Anything else?" I joked with a teasing smile.

"You are so funny," Chris said sarcastically. "But really, what has happened? Are you still with that Alex guy?" He said, referring to my ex-boyfriend.

"God no!"  I said quickly with a chuckle "We broke it off like a week after you left after I caught him cheating on me" I said brushing it off.

"Oh, im sorry El" He said slightly

"No, don't be! I'm over it, anyways he wasn't the one" I said brushing it off once more. I wasn't lying or anything, I wasn't bothered about the fact that we broke up, we had nothing to do since we had only been dating for over two months, and although it did hurt me at first, I got over it pretty quickly after deciding that he wasn't my priority.

"So, how's Grace? You two are still as close as ever?" Chris asked, changing the topic.

"Yep" I said popping the p "Why are you asking about her? Has someone got a crush?" I teased my cousin.

"What? No! Is it so harmful I ask though? I mean, I saw her today and I was just wondering" Chris rambled on.

"I was just joking." I said "And she is fine" Not really having much to say about the topic as everything was still quite the same between Grace and me.  "Enough about me, what about you?"

"Oh, nothing much..." Chris said trailing off.

"How come 'nothing much'?"I mocked "You just moved because you got into university!" I exclaimed. I didn't know why Chris was acting lifeless if it was nothing, Chris was usually a very modest person, but this? This was huge!

"Yeah, I guess that's quite big," He said, lowering his head, therefore hiding his cheeks that had turned a light shade of pink. "I got a scholarship for it," he said, raising his head again.

"Wow! That's so cool Chris, you deserve it. Really" I said, giving him a genuine smile.

The rest of the afternoon we caught up, talking about random things, and more serious ones also. I didn't really notice until I knew how much I really missed my older cousin's presence. He was one of the only people that I could trust in this world, and I loved him for that. We ended up both falling asleep half through the marvel movie we were watching, both of us under a set of blankets on the sofa.

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hello! How are you all?

Sorry for the boring chapter, it's a bit more of a filler, but it's going to start getting interesting quite soon.

I started school a couple of days ago, so I'm trying to work my way around it to be able to write during the week, hopefully I can pull that off.

Enough about me though, I want to know how you guys are, don't be afraid to comment whatever is on your mind, I would love to talk to you!!

Before you go, comment your thoughts about Chris, do you like him as a character? What rol do you think he will play?? I want to know he our theories!!