Beside You

"Dad?" I poked my head into the living room and mentally yes!-ed, when I found him in his favorite armchair watching some TV with two of my four older brothers. I stepped into the room and propped myself against the back of the couch (forwards). Jared leaned his head back to look at me and shot me a wave, which I returned with a laugh. Finally Dad tore his eyes away from the TV and looked at me.

"Yes, honey?"

"Can you drive me down to the barn?" I asked, but I could read from his expression he wasn't too fond of that idea.

"How about you ask one of your brothers?" he chuckled. I pouted, when the two in front of me quickly replied with a firm 'no'.

"You're lazy bums," I told them, ruffling my hands through their red hair.

"Yep," Marc agreed with a nod, swatting at my hand.

"Call Eric," Jared suggested. I let out an aspirated sigh and turned to leave.

"And put on some clothes," Marc added as an after thought. "You're not going out like that."

There was nothing else for me to do than to give him a look that questioned his intelligence. It was in the middle of winter and currently about 14°F/-12°C outside. I was wearing the t-shirt and shorts I'd put on to sleep in and Marc had to be seriously retarded to think I was going out dressed like that. Maybe he, Dad and Jared had been watching mush long enough that it affected their brains though... Or he had a couple of too many hits the last couple of games, another possibility...

Jared snickered, catching the look and I left laughing quietly to myself. On my way back upstairs to my room I met Mom, who, after wishing me a good morning, told me that she'd been just on the phone with Grandma, who requested a visit from me, as I hadn't been around 'for entirely too long'. I don't know what's long to that woman, but I'd been there a couple of days earlier, which I told Mom, who promptly told me to get my butt over there or I'd be in trouble. Great.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, brother dearest," I grinned. Eric sighed.

"What do you need, Mad?" My brothers know me so well...

"A ride. To the barn."

"I'll pick you up in 15," he told me with another sigh.

"Thank you!" I chirped sweetly, which caused him to laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, just be ready, I don't feel like waiting on you, Madison."

"You get here in 15 on time and I'll be done," I promised.

"Fine. See you."

"Hi." I slipped into Eric's car after throwing my stuff onto the backseat. He leaned over the console to give me a hug, which I gladly returned.

"The others too lazy to drive you, huh?" he laughed, starting the car.

"Yeah, they're watching some show with Dad," I nodded, getting situated. "Thanks."

"No problem," he smiled. "So. Excited for tomorrow?"

"What kind of question is that? It's Christmas tomorrow, of course I'm excited!" I laughed and flipped the mirror down to pull my hair into a ponytail. "And it's gonna be freaking amazing!"

"Did you snoop around?" he questioned suspiciously, pulling onto the dirt road that was a shortcut to the stable. I shook my head.

"No, I didn't. I just have a feeling it's gonna be good." I grabbed a hair clip from the front pocket of my hoodie and pinned my bangs away.

"Is that new?" Eric asked gesturing to my red Charlotte Checkers hoodie.

"Jared brought a bunch of stuff back with him," I nodded. "I thought I'd give this one its first round of horse smell right away." An ear-to-ear grin took its place on my face when I said that. Eric laughed heartily.

"Tell me if you want something new, okay?" He gave me a sideways glance.

"Will do, this was just the first thing on the pile this morning. Oh! Figure this one: I came down to ask Dad to drive me up and I was still in shorts and a tee from sleeping. So Marc tells me to put some more clothes on, because that I'm not going out like that."

Eric snorted and shook his head. "It's like 15 degrees out, what the hell?"

"That's what I thought," I grinned and smiled, when the stable came into view. Eric parked at the side of it and actually grabbed my stuff from the backseat for me, while I skipped ahead into the stable to get to my two babies.

"Hi, Lady, how's it going?" I cooed, opening the gate to my mare's box. She lifted her head and nudged her nostrils against my shoulder, successfully snorting onto my new hoodie right away. I took a step closer to her and ran my hands up and down her neck and petted her behind her eagerly moving ears.

"Every time I'm here, she seems bigger than the last," Eric commented, outside the box in safe distance to the horse.

"Says the six foot four 210 pound hockey captain," I chuckled and rubbed Lady's nose softly. She nudged against my hand, practically asking for a treat. I smiled and gave her one, then went on petting my 8 year old dapple gray Hanoverian.

"But you're a good girl, aren't you, Lady? The boys just don't like you cause you're stronger than them, right? Cause you could blow them away with one hoof, huh? Ain't that right?" I cooed with a shit-eating grin on my face and Eric laughing quietly in the background.

After a while of petting Lady, whose full name was Lady Sovereign (like the British rapper, but I'd named her that without knowing the rapper), I grabbed a hold of her head-collar, attached a lead rope to it and led her outside for a bit of cleaning and then some exercise in the paddock, where she would remain afterwards.

"Hey, Maddie!" someone called from the side and I turned my head to see Caleb leading Theo to where I was with Lady.

Theo, short for Theodore, was the first horse my family had owned. I had started riding horses when I was 8 and had been ever since. My parents had bought Theo when I was 10 and then almost 3 years ago my brothers bought Lady for me. Since I didn't have enough time to take care of two horses all by myself, I had found 12 year old Caleb and his 2 years older sister Jennifer to help me take care of Theo as part of a horse share. Mom helped out sometimes, too, so everything was well.

"Hey, Caleb, how are you?" I smiled, running my hand down Lady's leg. Obediently she lifted her hoof, so I could clean it, and received a pat on her gray croup for it.

"Hi, Eric," Caleb then noticed my oldest brother and, like always, got a bit quieter. I was used to the fact that whenever I had one of my brothers with me, worse was when I had more than one or even all of them, that people would get kind of 'star struck', ask for pictures, autographs and generally made a fuss about whole lot of nothing. I mean, they’re just my brothers, right?

"Hey there, Caleb," Eric smiled warmly.

"Did you get him out a bit?" I wanted to know while I placed Lady's Western saddle on her back and fastened the straps under her belly.

"No, Jennifer did, but Matt's here, so I have to clean him," Caleb rolled his eyes.

"He's here?" I gave a glance at Eric, who pretended to 'take in the scenery', but was listening in to our conversation like the good big brother he is. I'd tried not to sound too eager, but Caleb gave me a cheeky, knowing grin and nodded.

"Yeah, they're out at the paddock. Matt's got Alabaster with him," he told me smugly.

I nodded and wriggled the bit into Lady's mouth. She took it like the good girl she was and after checking everything was in place, and re-fastening the girth straps, she was ready to go and so was I.

"Are you coming?" I called over my shoulder, making my way towards the sand square, which right now should be called snow square if anything.

"So... Matt?" Eric hurried to my other side and gave me a sort of amused look. I sighed softly and stuck my hands into the padded vest I was wearing above my hoodie, because, despite wearing gloves, my hands were freezing. Lady was a sweet-tempered, patient, but still sometimes finicky horse, who followed me around like a puppy, I didn't need to hold her reins to have her come with me.

"What about him?" I gave back. I'd hoped to avoid this, but I should've known better than to bring Eric here and not have him catch on. Stupid me.

"Oh, come on, Maddie, I'm not stupid," he laughed, nudging my side.

"Dad likes him," I admitted, smiling softly. "He's nice."

"Dad knows him?" He was prodding for information he wasn't going to get and we both knew it.

"Yup."

"Hey, Maddie!" Matt yelled across the square and waved at me, successfully ending the questioning. Caleb called for his sister to help him with Theo and Jennifer ran off after giving me a bit of a dark look.

"Hey, Matt!" I yelled back, waving also, and mounted my horse, feeling loads better on Lady's back with Eric's head now at level with my hip. I shot my brother a grin and dug my heels into Lady's side, who immediately took off into the square.

Matt was only a couple of months older than me, but he'd been riding since before he could walk basically, so he was centuries better than I was. His gelding, a pure white Arabian, was the most admired horse in the stable that was owned and run by his parents. We were friends, if you will, and sometimes he'd take a little time and help me out with my riding.

"I wish I could stay, but I'm going to town with Dad in a bit," Matt told me, Alabaster walking beside Lady calmly. "Besides, I don't think your brother's too fond of me right now," he chuckled and I shrugged lightly.

"It's just Eric," I said quietly and laughed, when Lady bumped her nose into Alabaster's neck because he was sort of cutting off her way.

"Hey, be nice, okay?" Matt told his horse and patted Al's neck a bit. "Are you coming over tomorrow?"

"I don't know yet. I'll leave Lady in the open stable just to be sure, but I might come over for a bit in the afternoon."

"Get rid of the fullness of a huge Christmas meal," Matt grinned and I nodded.

"Yeah. Three of my brothers are over, so Grandma's getting ready to feed an army. It's gonna be a huge fat fest." I faked a shudder and we laughed.

"Matt, come on, go get ready!" Matt's Dad, Mr Jason, called over to us.

"Sorry, gotta go. See you, Maddie." Matt gave me an apologetic smile and dug his heels into Alabaster's sides lightly, the horse only hurrying a bit towards the gate.

I let out a sigh and picked up Lady's reigns a little, might as well get some work done, when we're here already.

"My God, you stink!" Eric complained, pulling the car out of its previous parking space.

"You stink, too, when you come from hockey," I shot back. "Just be happy I actually hosed down my boots before I got in here."

"Ugh." He crinkled his nose at the thought. "And just for the record: hockey doesn't stink like this."

"No, it's worse." I gave him the same shit-eating grin all his younger siblings continuously gave people (Eric doesn't have that grin down like we do) and he just rolled his brown eyes. That's as much of an acknowledgement as I was going to get, so I took it wordlessly. "Are we going to Grandma's?"

"With you smelling like this? Always." The grin on his face wasn't half as good as mine, but that's just Eric for you. We both knew that Grandma loved the fact I'm into girly things like horseback riding, instead of becoming a tomboy and tearing up the ice like my brothers.

"Oh, wow, you smell, young lady," Grandpa chuckled, opening the door for us.

"I know, straight from the barn," I beamed kissing his cheek. "Hi, Gram."

"So your mother wasn't kidding, when she warned me you'd come straight from the barn," Grandma laughed, holding me at arm's length before I could give her a hug. "You're probably hungry, I'll get you some leftovers. You, too, Eric?"

"Yes, thanks, Gram," Eric nodded, shooting me a look that said score!.

I nodded with a grin and traded my hoodie for Grandma's knitted fluffy jacket. A little while later found me and Eric inhaling some sandwiches in the living room while chatting with our grandparents. As much as we sometimes complained about having to go over, it usually was a great place to be. Grandma loved spoiling us with all kinds of awesome food and Grandpa was always up to something interesting.

"Are you coming in?" I asked, when Eric pulled up in front of our parents' house. He nodded and shut off the car. I'd barely closed the passenger door, when a mass of snow hit me dead on the back.

"What the hell?!" I shrieked, that had come out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me. Eric was smarter than me, seeking immediate cover behind his truck, but the surprise made me slow, so a second snowball easily hit me, this time on my shoulder, spraying my face and hair with snow. "I hate you, Jared and Marc!" I yelled and ran around the car, ducking behind it with Eric, while their laughter resounded from somewhere.

"They got you good," he laughed, already making a reservoir of snowballs. "C'mon, they're not gonna let us hide here for long!"

A huge grin spread on my face and I hurried to make my own pile of balls. I loved playing with my brothers and a snowball fight was just what'd been missing from my perfect Christmas vacation. I listened intently as Eric made up some sort of game plan and then it was on.

Marc and Jared obviously had invested some time and thought into this little stint as they seemed to be everywhere. I was pretty sure they'd re-parked the cars and made reserve snowballs in a few places, because there was no way everything came out that perfect just off the batch. Eric and I were covered in snow from head to toe and we'd only gotten a few decent shots at the redheads unfortunately.

"We have to split up, try to get them out of their comfort zone," Eric decided. I shrugged and watched as he sprinted behind the little staircase that led up to the front door using that as his new cover.

"Thanks, asshole," I muttered to myself, realizing that I was a much easier target now without his protection. A snow covered, gloved hand suddenly placed itself over my mouth and I almost let out a shriek, thrashing violently in what I quickly recognized to be Jared's arms.

"Stop squirming!" he hissed at me. "Marc's behind Mom's car, we should team up to get him good."

I stopped fighting him and gave him a nasty look, when he came to my side instead of being behind me. "You didn't have to give me two heart attacks in a row, Jare," I complained making a few bigger snowballs that were reserved just for Marc, no doubt the 'mastermind' behind the whole affair.

"Sorry, I couldn't let you blow my cover. Where's Eric?"

"Stairs," I told him. "I'll go right."

"Sounds good. On three?" He gave me a grin and I nodded. Jared was always my partner-in-crime, we stuck together since we were the youngest two and usually got the most shit from our older siblings.

"One... two... three!"

Jared and I took a sprint from behind Eric's car to Mom's and by the time Marc realized he was being ganged up on (Eric caught on quickly and helped us), he already resembled a snowman. After shaking some of the snow off, he proceeded to tackle me belly-first into the snow.

"Dog pile on Maddie!" he exclaimed and a second later I had the added weight of Eric and Jared on top of Marc's, which probably equaled well over 600 pounds. Somehow I felt just a little lucky that Jordan had a game on the 26th and hadn't come home for Christmas.

"Off, off, OFF!" I yelped and they scrambled off of me. I rolled over onto my back and took a deep breath. "I call shower first!" I announced, smirking when they grumbled and complained that it was 'no fair'. "Too bad, boys, I got dibs."

"C'mon, before you catch something, Madd." Marc held his hand out for me and pulled me up when I took it.

"That was a pretty nice move there with Jared," he told me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders on our way in. I smiled at him and he smiled back, squeezing me to his side a little.

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Theodore, the Norwegian

Alabaster, the Arabian

Lady Sovereign, the Hanoverian