All is fair in <3 Love <3 and >>War<< [Dashie]

[Ben Dawes]

Life had been hard for Ben. Although, who's life in Pinewood was honestly not hard, scary, or absolutely crappy. Neither Liz or Ben knew many people that hadn't recently messed up in relationships or in other parts of their life. Maybe these mistakes were due to something that happened in the past. That could be it. Their life was horrible in some way or another in the past, whether it be the parenting style and/or the lack there of or it could be living conditions, schooling, the choice of friends, or any other combination of events in the past. Life was full of decisions and those decisions could make or break someone's future in life. Even little things such as choosing to party and getting drunk one night or going for a walk in the middle of the night. Those little things could change a person's life forever depending on what happens while he or she is out having fun.

Humans don't really think about the consequences of their actions at times...they just dive into what they want to do. Humans, as a race, really need to just step back from everything and look at events in their life objectively. That would be the best way to try and make decisions, but by the time they do this, it takes double the time. Why use double the time when you can make a decision at the spur of the moment and not care about consequences? It's certainly easier and people these days are always looking for the easy ways out. Life isn't supposed to be easy though. There will always be obstacles in life and these obstacles help define it a person is strong mentally. The hardships in life are meant to test a person and just like everyone else, Ben had tests in the past and tests to come in the future...in the very near future.

Speaking of, the newest news about Pinewood's various couples was that Tyler Haze got caught drunk and cheating on Vivian, his long time love interest. Poor Tyler he has gone through hell and this was yet another thing to add to his list of heart breaking. Liz, who just happened to be at the bar one night saw Tyler in his severe depression state and they started making out. Oh what fun life was with alcohol and life troubles. Life's little pleasures sometimes made life worse and compounded problems even more. So, even though alcohol "relieves" stress from daily life, abuse of it can cause more heart break. Now, how does Ben play into all of this heart break? Good question. So, Tyler and Vivian are broken up and meanwhile, Vivian might need a shoulder to "cry on" and Ben was convinced that he was going to be Vivian's shoulder to cry on. Little did he know that if he even touched her, He'd be beaten to death by Tyler later, but in any case he would try. This was part of the reason that he showed up to the barn today. He wanted to look for Vivian and he also wanted to ride his horse El Diablo.

Now, Ben and Vivian had some history together. Of course it wasn't long history seeing as how Vivian was with guys normally and Ben wasn't a guy who committed to one girl for very long either. Even though he might have had a lot of girlfriends, he had never yet found "the one." No girl had ever stolen his heart away or broken part of his inner core enough that he had given his heart to her fully. Even so, he did like Vivian enough to date her longer than most girls. He was a bit heart broken when they had broken up, but he got over it and moved on by dating yet more girls. There still was a bit of that lust for her in the back of his mind and that's what would drive him to try and talk to her and relate to her again. He didn't know if it was going to work, but he could always try. He definitely wouldn't put his heart out to be stomped on though. He wasn't going to go through that again. Not with all the hurt in his past. He had a tough outer core though and could take a little bit of hurt. Confusing isn't it. Yep, Ben could be confusing at times. He was outgoing yet had a deep inner barrier that no one could break and he was tough, but he sometimes got hurt easily. He was a complete human oxymoron.

He would be excited to test his luck with Vivian again, but little did he know he would end up with more than just emotional hurt. Poor Ben this would only add to his life history. That's what you get for messing up with someone's soul mate though. Even if they were broken up for time being, that didn't mean that those two people still didn't have feelings for each other. Ben needed to learn a lesson though that you can't just move in on a girl who was somewhat hurting and in a troubling time. This experience would be fun otherwise.

With all of this in mind, he drove to the barn in some trendy clothes, but clothes he could also get dirty in. He first visited Diablo in his stall. That horse was pretty crazy mean at times, but he liked Ben at times because they could relate to each other. Diablo had also had a hard time in life. He was abused and mistreated and virtually hated humans, but together Ben and Diablo had a special relationship. They worked well together, except for the times that Diablo got tired of being worked with and just rebelled. Ben could get a temper with people too though. He pretty much hated young kids besides his sister, who always tried to watch out for him. People annoyed both of them at times. They were a lot alike and that's why the worked so well together. Ben ran a curry around Diablo's body and then soft brushed him taking time to make him look perfect. "Good boy, Diablo." He patted Diablo, fed him a carrot and then put the brushes away. He then went to get some tack, but before he did so, he saw someone. The exact person he was looking for...it was Vivian. He knew how she looked and he still had a picture of her in his mind from when he first had dated her. She was one of the cutest girls he had seen and there was no way he could forget how she looked. He looked in her direction and then said, "Hey Vivian, Long time no see." He moved outside the stall and only hoped she would respond.

[Vivian Kings]

Vivian Kings

You know the saying life is a roller coaster or rather relationships are? Yeah well that basically rounded up Vivian’s relationship life. A constant up and down, loop da loop, sharp turns, quick stops, and fast drops. We all know the story… and if you don’t then you have some catching up to do. Vivian is plenty experienced in dealing with her emotions. It was simple you just ignore them. She was one that buried her feelings. Or at least she liked to think she did. She was pretty good at putting on a face but if you knew her well enough… like say Sebastian did, and then you could see right past her act and straight to how she was really feeling. But she didn’t let many people get close enough so they could tell the difference. And despite her want for him not to, Sebastian knew when she was hiding something. He knew when she was hurting, or when something went wrong, and deep down she liked that, she liked that they still had that bond, but on the outside you wouldn’t know it. She was still mad at him for leaving her… and no matter how hard he tried to get her to forgive him… she continued to hold a grudge. Mainly because she was still mad that she got hurt, She trusted him and he cut her down… or at least that’s what it felt like to her.

Like everyone, Vivian had a past, a history, one that she wasn’t exactly proud of, well maybe she was proud but she did have things that she regretted and things that she would deny entirely. Her life was far from perfect; if a perfect life were a clean white piece of paper her life would be a black stained piece of paper. Sure sure, she was beautiful, some would even say gorgeous, and she had a lot of money but if you only knew the troubles she’s had. And now things just seemed to be getting worse. She was supposed to be a recovering alcoholic and bulimic but… she was faltering now… Life could be so cruel sometimes. She was the high school girl that all the girls envied and all the guys wanted. The one who seemed to have it all, but she knew the truth, she knew what she wanted and knew that she didn’t have it. She pressured herself far beyond what anyone else pressured her to do. She wanted the perfect white sheet of paper but the harder she tried the more stained her own piece became. And therefore she was forced to cheat… she used cover up, or white paint I guess you could say. Pretended that everything was perfect and lived up to the image that everyone expected her to be. So in everyone’s eyes but her own, she was perfect and had the perfect life. But all of this was beside the point…

The latest gossip in the small town of Pinewood, which might I add is full of a wide variety of people, is the break up of the biggest drama couple, Tyler Haze and Vivian Kings. Rounding up the story, Vivian and Tyler have been together for a while, and they’ve been through a lot. They’ve both made a lot of mistakes that usually lead to Tyler getting beat to the pulp by Sebastian. By this point she was pretty sure that there was nothing that could break them apart. That is nothing… until now. Love can survive anything… or so she thought… but he heart couldn’t survive the jab that it took when she saw Tyler entangled in another girls arms, in his bed. Definitely taught her the lesson of knocking before entering… because you might just see something that you aren’t strong enough to handle. She had forgiven Tyler for a lot of things… but this wasn’t something her heart could withstand. This was unforgivable in her eyes. Its not like this was the first time she’d been cheated on, oh no… but she trusted him with her heart… she gave him everything she could offer, her trust, her love, her heart…. And she felt like her heart was ripped out when she saw him. She knew that she’d never forget how that felt.


She did the first thing that took her body over in instinct… and that was ride. She ran to the barn… or drove really fast to the barn anyways… and went to saddle up her horse as quickly as possible… but then she ran into Seb… the one person she knew would be able to see past her tough exterior into the heart broken inside. But as she figured, despite her acting skills, he saw through her and she spilt the beans. A couple days later she buried her feelings put on a sexy outfit and hit up the club. Sadly Tyler had been intoxicated the night of the incident and had no clue what was going on… he had no idea he’d shattered poor Vivian’s heart. So when he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her at the bar wondering why he hadn’t seen or heard from his girlfriend in so long, and she elbowed him in the gut… you could imagine he was completely confused. But before he even had time to ask her what was going on Sebastian was whirling him around and sucker punching him. It turned into a huge fight…. In which Sebastian got knifed and Tyler ended up passed out. She went with Charlie, Sebastian’s best friend, to take Seb to the hospital. That was the last straw…as if breaking her heart wasn’t enough… stabbing her brother was like he wanted to die. It was hard for her to wrap her head around that though… al the times Sebastian beat him up and he did nothing… he’d almost begged Seb to kill him once… he’d never defended himself once and this time out of the blue he stabs him… that just wasn’t the Tyler she knew.

Her heart was breaking ever moment she heard his voice… every glimpse she saw of him… just hearing his name tore another piece of her heart off…. That’s when the drinking started again. Also that same unforgettable night at the bar, she ran into an old friend Nate Archibald… unfortunately for him he came back into her life at the wrong time. She didn’t exactly mean to but she was using him as a rebound…. He was familiar… she liked him and it felt better having him hold her at night versus crying herself to sleep. And after the drinking started… it didn’t take long before the bulimia followed. Dating Nate, partying, drinking, clubbing, it was like she was never in love… she was right back where she started… reliving history like a broken record. And she wasn’t really with Nate… they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, though she was pretty sure that’s what he wanted, she wasn’t going to get into that kind of commitment… not again… she was over relationships. Nate was just… a good time. Poor guy… but he knew who Vivian was when he got involved… if he didn’t like it he shouldn’t have gotten involved.

Not long after she was with Nate did she see Tyler at the barn… her heart was still broken and she was still letting that coal burn under the surface but she wasn’t about to lose face just because he had the nerve to show his around her. You don’t mess with a raging woman with a whole lot of fury that’s trying to cover the pain. She marched up to him and shoved his promise ring at him… refusing to believe the “lies” that he had fed her on the night of their anniversary. Just like that she whirled around and flung her arms around Nate kissing him using all that hurt and pain, and anger and fury, and turning it into passion. Everything inside of her was screaming “cry” she was using every inch of her body to not cry… to not fall to pieces right there. To not curl up into a ball in the corner of the stall and just let loose everything that was pent up inside of her. But she was too stubborn to let it out… she wasn’t going to loose control… Vivian Kings was always in control… of her emotions anyways. She was pretty sure giving the ring back hurt her more than it hurt him… but she wanted him to know the pain that she was feeling… she wanted him to understand what he had done to her… and she didn’t know any other way of doing that.

After that it was basically the same thing over and over… she started to lose the glow that lit up her face… the charisma that gave her that adoring look… she started to lose the life in her. Everything was a routine. Wake up… at noon sometimes later… go down to the barn go riding… come home clean up and either go out with Nate… or go to the club and meet up with Nate, get drunk… and I mean waaaay drunk… then either come back home with Nate or go to his place… then wake up with a mean hangover and start all over. She had no purpose anymore, not in her eyes… The life she had before Tyler really had no meaning to her… and now that she was without him… she was just trying to remember what kept her going before. For the sake of her brother and Nate she pretended to be “back to normal” whatever that really meant… she wasn’t sure anymore. She pretended for them mostly… but also partially for herself. If she didn’t pretend she was fine then she’d fall to pieces… and slowly but surely she really started to believe the lie. But would she ever really be happy again? Would she ever really feel the same again? Would she be able to honestly smile? She didn’t think so.

Now she put every drop of energy she had into training for the national championship and sex. Wanting to win the Nationals is what kept her going and Sex just added to it… of course it was all pretty much meaningless again, the sex that is. Just like before she just did it for the temporary pleasure. Riding helped though… all her buried feelings built up after all this time and since she refused to release it by crying she rode. Whenever she felt like she was going to crack she got on Gladiator and rode until she was either bleeding or shaking due to exhaustion. Then rinsed that exhaustion off in a long bath or shower and well you know the rest as I already explained her daily ritual. She was pathetic… but as pathetic as she was she didn’t want anyone else to worry about her so she put on an act and ever day nearly drove herself into the ground hiding it all and working herself to death on her horse venting all that she couldn’t hold in. She was slowly falling apart piece by piece… but how did you expect her to continue on with a miss heart?

Today, on the other hand, was one of the better days. She woke up feeling slightly more alive than most days…despite her look of death. I mean she was literally skin and bones… her ribs were poking out of her skin and her backbone was clearly visible as well as her entire hipbone. You had to be a moron to think she wasn’t back to her old ways of tossing up anything that went in. But she avoided the curious glances… and the worried looks and comments that she got. Her usual excuse was “I’m just under a lot of stress with Nationals coming up… and I’m working really hard.” Usually that gave her enough time to escape before further questioning began. But we’re wondering off topic. Today she felt better than usual… the Hangover didn’t have quite the bit it usually did she felt a little bit more refreshed… ready to cause some trouble… that evil smirk of hers was even beginning to play across her face… She was on the prowl today. She was on the top of her game… well as good as she was going to get at this point anyways. She told herself today she wasn’t going to let this bring her down… she was determined to enjoy this good day while it lasted.

She threw her jeans on with a black tank top her brown leather jacket and her Gucci sunglasses, headed down stairs avoiding grabbing any food knowing she wouldn’t keep it down and it was just a time saver to avoid it. It was earlier than normal… for her anyways… was actually morning not afternoon. Sure it was late morning but that was pretty early for her. Cheyenne and Sebastian were already at the barn… having yet to return to lunch… that is when she usually woke up. She jumped into her recent sports car of the month and headed for the barn. Once there she slipped into her knee high riding boots, locked the car and strutted into the barn. It was plainly out of habit that she walked in like she owned the place… and why not… she had enough money to own it if she wanted… course all that money came from daddy’s bank account… along with her step daddy’s bank account. And she was sister-in-law to the owner of the Stables. So why not act like she owned the place. Everyone already envied her so what was one more thing for them to be jealous of?

She slide her hand up the face of her immaculate perfectly proportioned gelding, Gladiator… high performance horse that was in the best condition you could get a horse. Then headed to the tack room to grab her saddle and bridle. On her way the most peculiar thing happened though, someone had the nerve to address her and it wasn’t Sebastian, Cheyenne, or Nate. Those were the only voices she really acknowledged now days… no body else really mattered so she didn’t waste her time giving them her attention when, in her mind, she had better things to do. ”Hey Vivian, Long time no see.” Although it wasn’t one of the voices she acknowledged… it was a familiar one. Ben Dawes… one of her previous flings that, just like all the other boys, got semi attached to her amazing body and ability to seduce a man. But anything before Tyler was just a fling to her sure there were those flings that lasted longer than others. Such as Nate and Ben but other than them it was pretty much one night stands. Not many boys were lucky to date her more than once.

Back to the current seen. She debated in her head whether or not to turn around and give him the time of day… which in reality only took her seconds to do. Sure he was no Nate Archibald… and she seriously doubted that he had a penny to his name but he was good looking and could supply what she really wanted. Sure some may say that was mean but Vivian had plenty of reason to back up her hostility. So sure turned around and gazed over her sunglasses, letting a coy smirk dance across her face. Yeah she was one hell of an actress. ”Ben Dawes? Is that you? It really has been ages hasn’t it?” She gracefully moved across the aisle to the stall that he was at still smirking seeing as how she had given up on trying to act out a smile… it just never turned out right and always ended up giving her away… so it was just better to play it safe. Now she stood just a few feet from him… a comfortable casual conversation distance, though her body clearly said something completely different than the distance between them… and I don’t mean the bones that would be visible if it weren’t for the black and the jacket.

Flirting made Vivian feel in control… and even though she clearly thought she was better than Ben and she told everyone that Nate was her boyfriend she’d continue to let him think he had a chance… for now until she got bored. From what she remembered Ben could show her a dangerous good time and when she was through she’d just ditch him. Poor guy… did none of them know that there was nothing that could satisfy her now? She was on the prowl… hunting down another man to chew up and spit out… She was a man eater… they all may think she was down and out but give her a chance to show a little bit of that devil that still existed in her and she’d gladly show you the full beast. She was ready to prove that she could be her same old self without the least bit of effort. Vivian was a wicked little girl, but could you blame her she had her heart ripped out and stolen and now she was a cold-hearted bitch. If they only knew of the monster that had been created… when in reality she was just a scared broken hearted little girl who was just in pain and still trying to put the pieces of her heart back together. If Ben only knew the trouble he had gotten into just by saying hello. He wouldn’t be anything but a confidence booster. She knew she was committed to Nate… he was in the same circle as her and he was close with her step dads family so why not… he was the perfect candidate… only problem was… She didn’t love him. She didn’t love any of them… there was only one man that she loved and he shattered her. Like dropping a vase… bam… there she was scattered into a million pieces… yet to be cleaned up.