Hallows: Eulalie

You're Crushing It

Drake- Own It

Ashley:

Dante and David are watching a team of guys hook up a trailer to the back of a black Tahoe as I make my way over to them. I don't see anyone else.

"Good morning," I greet them.

"Hey," they both return.

"What are you doing up so early, Villanueva?" Dante asks.

"I went to sleep early," I shrug. "What are you guys up to?"

"Horse show," David answers me with a smirk. "You wanna come?"

"To a horse show?" I scrunch my nose.

"Come," Dante nods. "You can use the downtime,"

"I don't have to go near them, do I?" I ask. He laughs.

"Are you scared of horses, Villanueva? Now you have to come," he smirks.

"No," I roll my eyes but yeah.

I am scared of any animal that can potentially maim me ever since our neighbor's pitbull latched on to my thigh when I was twelve and jumped out my bedroom window to try and sneak out. My dad had to kill the dog to get it off of me and I will never forget that, that was the first time I was ever covered in blood and death.

I've only ever been to the Westside a handful of times, but I've never been past Main Street. My mom comes out here to buy gift shop s**t for the store. But this isn't Main Street. Halestorm Lane is the top-tier richest Estate in all of Hellbourne. The only place bigger is Dante's Estate and then maybe Whitmore.

Blackstone Manor, however, has been closed off to the public ever since Dante's dad passed away in the early nineties. Since Dante was a kid and I imagine there was no one to run the Blood Orange groves and vineyards. They kind of just withered away. It's kind of sad because the Museum makes it sound amazing and all sorts of creepy.

"Take her up front so I can prepare Liquorish," Dante orders David.

"Come on, Ash," David puts his arm over my shoulder and leads me away. I push his arm off when we get inside.

The grass here has a blue tint to it. It almost looks fake. I stop when I spot Benny by the restrooms. I point her out to David making him laugh. She is a mess, poor baby. I go over to her as she holds up a water bottle to her lips, dreading taking a drink. I've been there, f**k I've been there so many times. Rehydrating after tequila shots is the f*****g worst.

"Hey," I catch her attention.

"Ashley," she greets me.

"You okay?" I fain concern.

"I shouldn't have had so much last night, but I hadn't gone out in forever," she rolls her eyes. There are dark circles under her eyes. "I feel like s**t,"

"Here," I reach into my backpack and pull out a pack of Alka seltzer tablets. I drink a little over half her water bottle and drop them in. I then grab a pack of Tylenol and open them up for her. "This should help with the ugly feeling in your tummy. These are for your head."

"Thank you," she sighs and puts the pills one at a time in her mouth. I roll my eyes as she drinks out of the water bottle in sips.

"All of it. Chug it like you were tossing back those Tequila shots last night," we both laugh but she listens. I then hand her some eye drops and my sunglasses. I braid her hair back and tie it with the scrunchy I usually wear on my left wrist.

"Thank you," she smiles at me. "My stomach actually feels a little better,"

"It's not once you get on the horse. Maybe you should sit it out," I suggest.

"And give that smug asshole Blackstone the satisfaction. I rather die," she scoffs. "I'll see you, Ash. You need to get a better boss."

"Were you trying to help her out with her hangover?" David asks.

"Just a little. The horse is going to shake her up and she's going puke all over it because of the Alka seltzer. I didn't think she would show up. Can't let what happened last night be in vain," I laugh.

"You're a real piece of work," he shakes his head as we head over to the front.

I have to admit that Dante looks excruciatingly sexy on top of his horse. He's wearing a formal black button-up with a gray cashmere sweater over it. Stupid riding boots. His hair is styled back and out of his face, giving him a prince-like aura. His sharp features and piercing golden eyes scan the crowd like they're all beneath him. The horse's soft yellow coat compliments his eyes. Her black mane is gorgeous. I can't tear my eyes away.

"She's beautiful, huh?" David whispers in my ear.

"Yeah, he is. She-she is," I stutter. He grins. "Shut up, David,"

"I didn't say anything," he laughs.

The two of us watch the show as the pretty horses are paraded around and made to go through these little obstacle courses. Benny doesn't throw up on the horse, but David tells me that her performance is kind of embarrassing. I have no idea what they're talking about. Everyone legit did the same thing. This whole event killed three and a half hours of my life.

"Look at that. Your little scheme worked," David whispers in my ear. We both laugh when the judges congratulate Dante for his first-place accomplishment. "I haven't seen him this happy in a while,"

"Dude, what are you talking about?" I shake my head. Dante literally looks the way he always does. Dead inside. "He looks like he can careless,"

"Look at his eyes," he smiles.

"I try not to. It always feels like he's trying to steal my soul," I admit.

"Maybe he is," he shrugs. "In coming,"

"Third place," Benny holds up her ribbon, disappointedly. "My parents are going to kill me,"

"How do you feel?" I ask her as she keeps her horse from moving around on the other side of the gate.

"A little better. Thanks for trying to help me out. I'll see you around, Ash," she tosses me the ribbon and takes off on her horse.

"I'm going to hell for that. When I get to the pearly gates, god is gonna be like. Remember what you did and this is going to flash before my eyes," I sigh looking down at the bronze satin ribbon. David laughs.

"Ash, there are plenty of other reasons you're going to hell for. This one is not going to be it. Come on. Let's go pretend we didn't just rig a horse show for the big asshole in the world,"

"Yes, sir," I salute him and follow behind him.

"If you have any requests to make, now would be the time. He's in a good mood."

"I can go for some breakfast," I nod.

"You know what sounds good right now?" he smirks.

"A huge bowl of Menudo from Dona Maria's on Charlotte Avenue?" I ask.

"Yes," he nods. "Extra spicy,"

"I thought you guys didn't get hangovers," I laugh.

"He doesn't get hangovers. I am still very human," he smirks.

"What are you guys talking about?" Dante asks

"Breakfast," David tells him.

"I can go for some breakfast. James is taking Liquorish on a spa day. She won today. She deserves it," he pats the horse on her huge buff neck. "Come closer and say hi, Ashley,"

"No, thank you," I shake my head.

"It wasn't a question," he sneers at me. I dig my feet into the ground when David betrays me and pushes me toward the horse.

"Oh, come on. David. I thought we were friends," I try to get away from him. Dante reaches out to grab my arm and pulls me into him. I press my back into his body as he tries to walk me closer to the horse. Fear is nipping at my body. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Dante please, please,"

"Please, what kitten?" he whispers in my ear. "Just relax," he takes my hand in his and slowly starts to inch closer to the giant animal. I scream when it huffs. He laughs as he gently presses my hand onto the animal's nose. My entire body is trembling. "See, she's not going to hurt you. I wouldn't let anything hurt you,"

"Okay, okay. Please, stop. Please, stop," I try to calm down. He sighs and lets me go. I pull away from him and get away from the three of them. "Oh, my god. I touched it," I shake my hands out. "Nooo, please don't ever do that to me again. I don't like animals."

"She likes you," Dante laughs.

"That's cute, but don't do that again," I shake my head. The two of them laugh.

"Let's get you guys fed," he grins. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"I'll drive," David nods.

"Why don't you like animals?" Dante asks when we're driving away from the hairy beasts.

"I got mauled by a pit when I was twelve," I tell him. "I kind of just hate them all collectively now,"

"s**t, I'm sorry," he sighs.

"It's cool. I didn't die," I laugh. "Just kind of feels like I am,"

"How do you know Benny?" he asks.

"We kind of grew up together. My dad would go down to the race track with our rent money all the time. Her dad owns it. We ran into her last night at La Cantina. Do you race your horse?"

"No, I never had Liquorish trained for that. It's barbaric," he shakes his head disapprovingly.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, race conditioning is rough on horses. Liquorish is my princess. I've had her since I was Eleven," he says. "We kind of grew up together. This is her last year competing."

"Aww," I put my hand over my chest. "That's so cute. She still scared the hell out of me. Just like you though,"

"Mexican breakfast?" he asks when David pulls into the restaurant's parking lot.

"You ever had it?" I ask.

"Do I look like I've ever had it?" he smirks, looking back at me from the passenger seat.

"Okay, well, we'll start you off small," I laugh as we get out.

"Ira, es La Ashley," Dona Maria shouts from behind the counter when we walk in. She comes around and pulls me into a tight hug and then pushes me back to arm's length. "Esta bien flacca, cabrona. No te dan de comer en las escuela con los ricachones o que?"

"Yeah, weird healthy s**t," I laugh. She shakes her head and looks over at the guys.

"Dona Mari. This is David and Dante. Friends from my new school,"

"Friends," she scoffs and looks them over. "Mira noma que chulo," she pinches Dante's cheeks. He pulls back and looks at me the same way I probably looked at his horse. "Hermoso. Que ojos. Dante eres bienvenido aquí cuando quieras,"

"Gracias," he clears his throat.

"Ahh! hablas espanol," she screams. "Y tu?"

"Tambien," David nods.

"Este tiene los ojo tapatios, mija. Bonitos hijos de la chingada. Como te puedo ayudar, mija?"

"Two Menudo specials and chilaquiles for the hot white boy," I laugh.

"Orale. Sientense. Que quieres tomar? Dr. Pepper?"

"Yes, please,"

"Dos aguas de tamarindo," David answers her.

"Andale," she nods and motions us to take a seat.

We take a seat at a booth. Everyone is looking over at us. It doesn't take long for girls and guys to come over and ask Dante for pictures and autographs. He's very polite to his fans and even gives them a cute little smirk for pictures. Dona Mari finally brings us our food and tells everyone to f**k off so he can get something to eat.

"What is that?" Dante asks, pointing at our bowls. "And what is this?" he points at his plate.

"This is Menudo. Breakfast for those of us who don't have your pureblood metabolism," I explain. David laughs. "That's from the kid's menu. You gotta work yourself up to this,"

"Okay," he grins. "You feed this much food to kids?"

"Oh yeah, I was able to eat all of that by the time I was four," I nod.

"Is it supposed to be crunchy?" he asks taking a tortilla piece covered in eggs.

"Yes, you don't want that to get soggy. It gets mushy."

"This is actually really good. A little oily but the pizza was worse."

"You ate pizza with her?" David asks him and turns to me. "You got him to eat pizza?"

"You'd never had pizza before?" I blurt out.

"No," he smiles. "My parents were very strict about what I put in my body,"

"I'm seriously starting to hate your parents," I shake my head.

"Join the club," David agrees.

"Just so you know, Villanueva. This is a date," Dante informs me. "And you're crushing it."

"Yeah, you are," David agrees. "You're good f*****g luck, Ash. Own it,"