Moment I Knew (Cara)

[Rose Hoff]

Rose walked down from her room on the second floor of the Red Ribbon house carrying a cable knit blanket, teacup, and a book. She'd been busy with Eleanor and Fallon for the rest of her weekend, and had convinced herself that she needed a couple moments to relax before she got back into her classes for the week. Fallon had been wonderful once Rose had gotten used to riding her, but Eleanor had been a bit more challenging The swedish warmblood mare was nervous about everything, and Rose hoped that she'd get better about that once sh got used to being at Blue Ridge. She'd been great to ride if not a little wiggly, which Rose had expected since Eleanor was still a little green.

She dropped her blanket and book on a couch before walking over to the kitchenette and putting some water on the burner and a teabag in her cup. She walked back to the couch and plopped down cross legged with her ballet flats on the floor. She arranged the blanket over her legs. It had been a present from her mother who had knitted in her free time, and Rose usually kept it on her bed in her dorm but had brought it down today, knowing that she would probably get chilly even though she wore a red cashmere sweater and dark jeans.

Settling the book in her lap, she fluttered about the pages for a couple moments before finding her spot and starting to read. Her hair kept falling in her eyes as she tried to read, and eventually, with an exasperated sigh, she pulled a ribbon out of her pocket and tied her hair back in a bow. With that, she went back to reading as the water she'd put on the stove started to make whirring noises as it heated.

[Oliver Pattersen]

It had been a long week and Oliver couldn't believe how tiring it was working two horses. However, he would never want to give either Ollie or Casper away as he had grown used to Ollie's antics and the appaloosa had calmed down a lot now that he was only worked in western gear, and Casper was a dream come true. The huge Hanoverian was the best teacher that the boy could ever have asked for and he was even thinking about signing up for the Jumping classes.

The teen male was standing in his dorm room, trying to think of the best way to spend the rest of his weekend. Both horses had been rugged in turn-out sheets and put out into the pasture - sadly different pastures though as the two males couldn't stand each other. Looking around the room, he shook his head at Athena who was sound asleep on her bed. This made up his mind though, and grabbing the book off his bedside table, he headed down to the common room - better than remaining alone in his dorm, as Daniel never seemed to be around these days.

Walking into the homely looking room, he noticed that there was already someone occupying the room. He also noticed that she must have put water on to boil, and a cup of hot chocolate sounded really good right now. "How do you take your tea?" He asked warmly as he walked over to the kitchenette and saw a teabag in a mug - and he didn't see the point of her having to get up when he was already here. While he waited for the answer, he pulled a mug from the cupboard and emptied a drink sachet into the mug as he turned the burner off from under the boiling water.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose was rather absorbed in her book and didn't notice when the boy walked into the room. When he spoke, she inhaled sharply, and looked up, quite startled. It took her a moment to process what he had said, and once she did, words of protest instinctively rose in her throat, but she pushed them hesitantly down. The boy seemed didn't seem as if he was making an empty offer, so she spoke up "A teaspoon of sugar, and quite a bit of milk please." She blushed a bit, knowing that some people would find it amusing how light and sweet she liked her tea, but that was simply how she liked it. It wasn't that she didn't like the taste of tea, she just loved how it tasted sweet and creamy. Occasionally back at home she had used half and half, but she'd started weaning herself off of that before she'd come to Blue Ridge.

She watched him poor a packet of hot cocoa into a mug and smiled. When she wasn't drinking tea she was usually drinking hot cocoa. Hot drinks were one think that Rose never cut back on, because she loved the way they warmed her from the inside out. She spent quite a portion of her time freezing, and when she got back from the barn in the evening, or was doing her homework, a hot drink always made her feel better.

She only vaguely recognized him, which was odd considering that they both lived in the Red Ribbon House, but whomever he was, he was nice, and clearly very attractive. She blushed again at this thought, looking back down at the book, though her eyes didn't quite focus on the words.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver nodded at her words and made the tea for her before her made his drink and adding a hint of milk to that - he didn't use sugar as the chocolate was sweet enough. Then, tucking the book under his arm, he picked up both mugs and walked over to the couch and handed the girl her drink. "There you go." He then sat down on the couch on the other side of the large coffee table.

Making himself comfortable, he sipped the hot drink and then pulled his book out. "What are you reading?" He asked quietly, as he opened his large book to the marked page. He had often been hassled in the past about using bookmarks, but Oliver refused point-blank to dog-ear his books or leave them open on his bedside table and ruin the spine.

He looked at the girl's rug, and was glad for the gas fire that warmed the common room, as he hadn't been clever enough to bring anything to wrap himself up in - his sisters had sent him a snuggle-rug so that he could survive yet another winter.

He looked down at the page he was reading, his dark blond hair falling over his eyes. He brushed it back as he continued reading, keeping an ear out for her reply - that is if she had even heard him.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose looked up when she felt him standing over her and took her mug, smiling, "Thank you," she spoke softly, but loud enough so that she was sure that he could hear. She took a sip from her mug, holding it in both hands for a couple moments and feeling the warmth in her bones before setting it down on a coaster on the coffee table between them.

She went back to her book, only reading a sentence before he asked her another question, softer this time. She looked up at him, a smile gracing her face, "It's The Fault in Our Stars by John Green" she explained. She'd read the book a couple times before, and she loved it. Rose was currently into reading classics, but would often take some time to reread parts of books that she had already read. This was one of those times, and reading The Fault in Our Stars always made her feel better.

Rather than immediately going back to her book, she looked over to him, noticing that he too had begun to read. "And you?" she asked. She noted the bookmark and smiled to herself. She loved bookmarks, and had a quite extensive collection of them back in her room, though she didn't often bring them out, for fear of losing them. For books she carried places, she was more likely to use pamphlets she found and interesting little notes she'd made to herself or been given.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver smiled at her thanks, and leaned forward over his mug as he listened to the book she was reading. He shook his head with a smile. "Never heard of it, sorry." He said, but made a mental note to look it up when he got back to his room - if he could remember what it was called. "Sounds like it's a good book though."

He chuckled as the question was asked of him. "I'm reading Stephen King's The Green Mile." He'd seen the movie a number of times, but it was nothing compared to the book, and with the size of the book, he could understand why the movie was three hours long.

He sat back on the couch and tucked one leg under the other as he began reading again, getting well and truly into the novel. He loved the mouse, Mr Jingles. Even though it was just a book, the teen's hackles rose every time the sadistic guard, Percy Wetmore was spoken about. Oliver hoped that he would never meet a man like him, the man was purely evil, and Oliver thought that he deserved to be on death row, not John Coffey.

[Rose Hoff]

When he explained what book he was reading in turn, the sides of her mouth turned up almost sheepishly, "I haven't heard of it either, but Steven King, huh?" She hadn't read any of the author's work but had heard of his books and the movies that had come of them. She'd been terrified to read of watch any, as she was easily spooked and probably wouldn't sleep for weeks if she did. Of course, she could be wrong about the books, but she didn't want to risk it.

She rubbed her thumb over the smooth pages, feeling the soft of the paper until her skin started to get a raw feeling to it. The Fault on Our Stars was one book where she had found the best quality copy possible. Rose did own a good number of paperbacks, mostly due to the sheer volume of the books she owned, but there were a number of books that she wanted to have the best quality of bookbinding of. For some of these, she even owned a paperback copy of the same book for annotations and underlining quotes.

When her knees started to ache from how she was sitting, she rearranged herself, with her legs tucked under her. She often had to do this, never being able to stay in one position for too long. Her knees had started aching years ago, and her doctor had said that it was from riding and jumping, so Rose usually just dealt with it, only taking an aspirin when it got horrible at night and she couldn't sleep.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver smiled and shrugged. "Yeah. This book is more of a drama than his normal thriller - which isn't such a bad thing." He remembered reading It with a shiver, the book was horrifying and made the movie seem very tame.

He settled back on the couch, circling his shoulders as he got comfy and continued reading. Even though he was enjoying the silence, he wondered if he should go and turn the stereo on. There again, he was worried that she wouldn't like his taste in Jazz music.

He lifted his eyes from the page and glanced at her from over the top of the book. Although she was quite pretty, he couldn't help but wonder if she ate enough. The thought caused him to frown as his eldest sister had gone through a problem with food when she was around their age, and he had often listened to his mother crying as she begged Maria to remain at the table and talk while her food settled. Sit and talk rather than rushing to the bathroom and purge what she had just eaten. Part of him wanted to ask, but he had never been that type of person. "Do you like Jazz music?" The words surprised even him as they left his lips.

[Rose Hoff]

He listened to his explanation of the book, though her gaze was a bit absent. She was thinking about something she's just read from the book: I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend. Granted, it wasn't a terribly bad thing to be on such a roller coaster, but it certainly wasn't any fun. Augustus Waters was a special sort of person, and did not deny himself the simpler pleasures of existence, yet he still repeatedly referred to himself as being on this roller coaster. Maybe Augustus Waters was a little bit like Rose.

At his question, she looked up again and answered slowly, still a bit distracted by her thoughts, "Yes, I do." Rose didn't have a certain style of music that she listened to, and liked most styles, excluding a few. Her own collection of music was mostly at home, and only a fraction had ended up in her dorm room, stacked next to her turntable and CD player. She planned on switching them out when she returned home.

She'd returned to her book, and though she tried to focus and read, her mind kept flickering back to that sentence. She'd noticed it before but it had never resonated so strongly within her. Looking up for a moment, she glanced over at him quickly, and then back to her page, pressing her fingernails into her palm. He'd seemed so engrossed in his reading, and for goodness sake, he presumably liked Jazz. She glanced down at her hands, which had grown cold, and stared at the white crescent shapes in the pale of her palm. Rubbing the tips of her fingers against them, she placed her hands back between the book and blanket to keep them warm.

[Oliver Pattersen]

A smile lit up Oliver's face as the girl said she liked Jazz music. "Do you mind if I put some on? I grew up around noise and I'm not so much one for silence." He didn't wait for her reply before he closed the book and left it on the sofa as he walked over to the sound system and then thumbing through the collection of CDs in the rack, he pulled out Saxophone Colossus (Reis), by Sonny Rollins, put the CD into the machine and pushed play.

He returned to his seat as the soft sound of a saxophone filled the room. He had left the volume down quite low so that there was background noise, but it wasn't deafening. He picked up his book again and looked at Rose. "Are you cold? Would you like me to turn the heat up?" There was concern on his face as he watched the girl seem to huddle under blanket. He found the room quite pleasantly warm, but it wasn't too warm that it would become stifling if the heat was turned up, and he could always take layers off if it did indeed get too warm in here.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose responded quickly enough to his question ,"Not at all!" but he was already up and turning the music on. She appreciated that he kept the volume low, as she had a hard time reading with music on even though she completed most of her homework listening to music.

When the music came on, she quickly settled into it, taking a few moments to absorb it before going back to her reading. She guessed that he noticed her huddling under her blanket when he asked if he should turn up the heat and she quickly replied, "No, no. It's fine. I'm, um, still trying to get the chill out of my bones. I was out in the cold with the horses all day." This was true, as she'd been freezing all day working with the horses, but she was rarely ever really very warm, and turning up the heat probably wouldn't help that much. She just had to wait until she got used to being inside and the chill began to leave.

"Do you ride?" After speaking, she realized what a stupid question it was and added, "Very often outside of your classes I mean." Changing the subject to horses was usually a safe bet, as she could talk about hers for ages. Vintage had been good, and she'd jumped her a bit taking her a bit higher than usual, but hadn't spent a ton of time with her as she'd been wanting to focus on Eleanor. She'd have liked to work with Fallon too, but she simply didn't have the time, and she'd worked with her the day before. Eleanor had been making progress, but Rose still wasn't thrilled with how she was doing, though they were building trust for a start.