The Rodeo Queen's Touchdown

02- Aaron

Aaron

Trey and I were hanging out near the arena fence watching the bareback riders compete. Normally, Trey would be entered into this event, but its football season and he is not allowed to do anything that could seriously injure him. It was a rule that I gave him when he decided to do both rodeo and football. We are just starting our season and since it is our last, I want it to be the best. If we want to win the championship, then we cannot have our “never miss” kicker out with an injury. It doesn’t seem to matter how much yardage we have left; Aaron can kick the ball accurately and get it through the uprights every time.

As I was watching the guys ride, I thought what crazy fuckers. Football is a rough sport with the constant beatings on your body and possibility of concussions, but these guys look like ragdolls, and you need to get off the horse by throwing yourself to the ground, ouch!

Trey was explaining all the things happening and the rules of each section. I don’t often come to his rodeos, but we have an early biweek this year and I didn’t feel like staying on campus watching old game films and partying. Plus, it gave me extra time with Parker. Man, that girl is amazing! Smart, funny, and beautiful is her whole package. Her long, black hair makes her skin look porcelain even though she has a glowing tan. Her grey eyes make you think there is a storm brewing despite the fact that she is usually calm and easygoing. Also, don’t let her height fool you; she may only be 5’2’, but she is feisty and can handle any situation with grace and poise. I have had a huge crush on her since sophomore year, but I haven’t tried to ask her out for a few reasons. One- my father is a sports agent in Texas and already has a contract in the works for me with the Houston Texans, so I need to be completely focused on football and my classes; two- Trey is my best friend and I would hate to put that in jeopardy if it didn’t work out between Parker and me; and three- she is just so tiny, I could hurt her during s*x. Oh boy have I thought about the s*x! Sometimes, I j******f in the shower visualizing her riding my c**k as I pull her slim hips down on me.

Trey warning me that the barrel racing is going to start soon brings me out my thoughts. The girls have been warming up their horses in a field on the other side of the arena. I know Parker is going to rock this; she has been training with some of the top females in professional rodeo. She probably does not realize that I know this, but she has been talking about it a lot and I love to watch her talk. Her eyes shine with excitement and it becomes contagious. I get a thrill of excitement knowing I am about to watch her shine.

I look over to the space by the tunnel that the riders start from and notice that there are a lot of them. Women have less events that they can compete in so there are more of them in each event. These women all look nice. Their outfits are full of bling with bright colors and shiny rhinestones. It looks like their hair and make-up is done to perfection. It almost looks more like a beauty pageant than a race against the clock. I have listened to Parker talk about her runs, so I know what to look for in each rider.

The first few women all have clean runs with good times. It seems like a close race so far. LeeAnne is up and we watch as she and her horse, Diamond, walk through the tunnel. They take off in a gallop as soon as they clear the gate and her time has started. She makes her turn to the first barrel with Trey and I screaming her name and before we know it, she has cleared her third barrel running towards home. I don’t think our shouts can get any louder. LeeAnne finishes with a time of 15.3 seconds, putting her close to the front of the pack. We are whooping and hollering at the top of our lungs.

“Oh man! That was an awesome run! I am so proud of my baby,” Trey is panting as if he had run alongside Diamond. I just nodded my head, not needing to add anything further.

“I gotta go warm up Rockin’ for the steer wrestling. See you in a bit,” Trey says.

“Sounds good. Good luck bro,” I fist bump him as he walks back to the trailer to get Rockin’. He will go warm up in the same field as the girls.

I continue to watch the ladies run their barrels. For the most part, they all get through their pattern clean, though a few did knock down a barrel. One lady even knocked down all three barrels, eliminating her from the competition. It was finally time for Parker to race, and I watched her with rapt attention. When she ran, she took my breath away. I have seen her jog in the mornings around campus, but her running on a horse was a completely different look. Parker is just so lovely. On her way to the first barrel, her hat went flying, leaving her hair streaming behind her. It reflected shone brightly, shimmering blue in the sun. Her smile was huge, and you could see it from anywhere you stand. My eyes moved down her body and saw how it moved in sync with her horse, Jack. It was hard to tell where her body ended and Jack’s started. Parker turned around her last barrel and I thought that I was going to lose my voice cheering for her, hoping to encourage her to go faster. As she reached home, I was jumping up and down in excitement. The announcer calls her time as 14.8 seconds, which puts her in second place. I couldn’t be prouder.

I left the fence and went back to the trailer, looking for LeeAnne and Parker, finally finding them by a couple of other racers from different schools. It seemed they were discussing their rides and congratulating each other. I didn’t want to interrupt, so just stood off to the side to wait for them to finish, stopping a few steps away.

Parker was the first to notice me, almost as if she could feel my presence. She smiled at me, and it lit up my whole world. They finished their conversation and led their horses to where I was standing. We walked back to the fence to prepare ourselves to watch Trey’s ride.

“Having fun?” Parker asked me.

“Totally. You guys looked great,” I complimented.

“Thanks,” they said at the exact same time. LeeAnne and Parker just looked at each other and broke out in a fit of giggles, each saying jinx at the same time again, making them laugh even harder. It was easy to see why they were best friends. I merely chuckled at their goofiness.

“Have you had lunch yet?” LeeAnne asked.

“Nope, but I could totally eat,” I responded.

“Of course you can. We need to keep the big bad football captain well fed and in tiptop shape,” Parker teased.

“Oh, good because I am starving. Let’s head to the food trucks after we tie the horses to the trailer,” LeeAnne suggested.

Parker and I agreed so I followed them as they led the horses up to the trailer. They tied them to the side using their lead ropes that were attached to halters around their heads. As we were walking away from the trailers, their coach stopped us to have a talk with Parker.

“You guys go on ahead and I will catch up,” she informed.

I cast a glance at their coach, T.J. Phillips. I have met him in passing but never really had a conversation with him. He seemed like an intimidating man, but Trey assured me that was when you first met him. After you get to know him, apparently, he is totally cool and chill. He was a weathered man with tan skin that looked like leather. With the number of scars that you can see on his body, I bet that he has some nail-biting stories from when he rode professional rodeo.

“Hey ladies, great runs, very proud,” Coach Phillips said gruffly, “Parker, a minute.”

Parker walked off to the side to have her conversation with the coach.

“He’s probably just triple checking that she still wants to ride later,” LeeAnne said.

“Huh?” I was so focused on Parker that I did not even realize LeeAnne was speaking.

“You looked worried, but she is fine. Why don’t you just ask her out already? You guys would be perfect together, and you know Trey would love it,” LeeAnne asks me.

My eyes go wide, “How did you know?”

“Oh, I don’t know; maybe it’s the puppy dog eyes you make every time you look at her.” LeeAnne teases.

“How come she doesn’t see it, then?” I probe.

“Because Parker doesn’t think that anyone will ever really look at her like that. She did not have many boyfriends in high school because a lot of them were either afraid of Trey or intimidated by her abilities. A lot of friends that she had just wanted to get close to Trey because he was so popular. And now with Jonas, he tends to look through her, and I think that she got used to being on the side instead of the star,” LeeAnne contemplates.

I wince at the mention of Jonas. He has been Parker’s boyfriend for a little over a year, but honestly, I think that he is a total douche. He only seems to care about himself and often ignores her when she speaks. Jonas rubs me the wrong way and I worry for Parker, though she has never complained. I don’t think that she would complain to me, but I have witnessed them with my own eyes. Trey and I have spoken about them as a couple, and he also has reservations will not step in. He understands that Parker likes to be independent and does not want to be seen as the cliché overbearing, overprotective older brother that you read about in books.

“Ready for lunch?” Parker solicits as she rejoins LeeAnne and I. Walking up to us, she throws her arms around our shoulders and steers us towards the entrance where the food trucks are parked. I laugh a little as I notice that she cannot reach my shoulders. The girl is such as shortie!

We fall into easy conversations as we walk through the food trucks deciding what type of food we want to eat. We also decide that we should get Trey some food too since he is busy warming up Rockin’ and won’t have time to grab lunch. LeeAnne and I decide to get burgers and fries from a fun looking blue truck that promises different types of cheeses, buns, and toppings. LeeAnne also orders one for Trey. After walking around twice, Parker decides to get a Cobb Salad from a green truck that promises all food is farm to truck.

I raised a quizzical brow as she rejoined us at a picnic table.

“What?” she asks reticently.

“Nothing,” I said, “It’s just that you don’t usually eat so light.” Most of the time, she eats just as greasy and fatty foods as the rest of us.

“Oh,” Parker nods in understanding, “Since I still have a ride to do, I didn’t want to eat something heavy. If it’s just sitting in my stomach, then it will mess with the feeling within my body which will make me second guess how my body moves with the bull.”

I nodded my head in understanding. That explanation made perfect sense and I realized that I too did that before a football game as well.

We sat together with a couple of other people at a picnic table close to the entrance of the fairgrounds and chatted about everyone’s rides and their teams. Everyone was really patient as I asked for clarification about a comment was made. I was starting to be very glad that I decided to come at the last minute. This experience was giving me a new insight into what Trey goes through each season flipping between both sports. I was also glad that I got to see Parker in her environment. She was a shining star. Her face radiated with excitement as she explained things to me.

After finishing lunch, we went back to the fence to watch Trey’s event, steer wrestling. It was crazy to watch him rope the calf, jump off his horse, and then pull the steer down. It was all a blur to me and over before I really saw what he was doing. Man, these rodeo events happen so fast! He was clocked at 8.4 seconds clean, putting him in second place. The girls told me that since this was a two-day event, these scores are not final.

When the steer wrestling was done, Parker broke away from us to be alone. I could tell she was getting in her head and needed to mentally prepare for her ride. LeeAnne and I went back to the trailer to chill with Trey before the bull riding event. The rest of the events passed quickly as we sat and just enjoyed a quiet respite.

It was finally time for the bull riding to start, so we headed back to the fence. This time, we stood directly across from the chutes so that we could get a clear view of Parker’s ride. These bull riders are crazy motherfuckers! The bulls were huge and only a handful of guys actually stayed on the full time. One guy got stepped on and had to have help getting out of the arena. The announcer finally called for PJ LeRoy and chute gate opened. It was then that my heart stopped.