The Rodeo Queen's Touchdown

04-Parker

Parker

The adrenaline is finally leaving my body, but unfortunately that means that I can feel all the aches and exhaustion that I did not feel earlier. I was really glad that we were heading to the hotel. I need a hot shower and a bed. LeeAnne and I will probably share a room while Trey and Aaron will end up bunking together. The rest of the team break out into their pairs, usually traveling partners room with each other. We all meet up in the hotel lobby while Coach heads to the front desk to get our room keys. Coach hands each of us our keys and tells us to meet at the hotel restaurant in an hour for dinner (and drinks). Trey and LeeAnne are standing off in a corner alone, whispering and making gooey eyes, leading me to believe that they are making plans for after dinner. I chuckle and shake my head at their lack of subtly. I love them.

The four of us walk through the hallway to our rooms, Aaron and Trey only a few doors down from us. LeeAnne and I head into our room to shower and change. As soon as the door is closed, LeeAnne rounded on me and smacks my arm.

“Ow,” I whined, rubbing my arm. “What was that for?”

“For scaring the s**t out of me. I could barely watch you. I kept imagining you falling off and the bull stomping all over you like he was doing Riverdance,” LeeAnne ranted.

“Aw, I didn’t know that you cared so much. Though I would have paid to watch a bull do Riverdance,” I teased playfully.

She pulls me in for a bone crushing hug, “Of course I care. Not only are you my best friend, you are my sister. I couldn’t live without you in my life.”

Feeling touched, I hug her back. Those are the same feelings that I have about her. Not able to hold back from needling her, I pat her on the back, “Can’t breathe.”

Annoyed, LeeAnne pushes away from her with a huff. Glaring, she grabs her clothes and stomps to the bathroom. She quickly sticks her tongue out before slamming the door shut.

Chuckling at her childness, I sit on one of the beds. Not one to sit in silence, even when I study, I turn on the television. Being in a hotel surrounded by tons of strangers makes me nervous.

The room was nice. It was a double with two queen-sized beds, covered in white sheets and white duvets. It seems crazy to me to cover a bed in white. Talk about inviting a mess. The carpeting was a soft gray with a comfortable plushness that I could see myself walking around without socks. The furniture was sparce with a light wood nightstand between the two beds, a light wood, six-drawer dresser across from the bed holding up the wide screen television. There was also a dark wood desk with a black rolling chair in the corner of the room near the only window in the room. There is a gray armchair on the wall by the bathroom door. Overall, the room is clean and a bit stuffy, but since I usually sleep in the trailer, this will be perfect for me.

Luckily, there are a lot of channels to skim through on the television. I hate those hotels that only give you five channels to choose from, there is never anything on when you want it. I channel surf, finding a comedy to watch while waiting for my turn in the shower. I was starting to doze off, when LeeAnne comes out of the bathroom.

“You turn, smelly b***h,” she goads.

“Awww, I love you too. Come here so I can give you a big hug now that you are all clean,” I joke as I move closer to her.

“Oh no, get away from me. I smell wonderful. I don’t need your icky sweat all over me,” she laughs as she runs to get away from my open arms.

I didn’t try very hard to catch her, and after a few minutes, we both fell onto the beds, hysterically laughing until our sides hurt. Calming down, I grab my toiletries and clean clothes to take my shower. The hot water felt great. With all the adrenaline coursing through my body, I could not feel all the tension and strain in my arms, legs, and back. As I shampoo my hair, I can slowly feel my body loosening up, and by the time I finish, my whole body is back to being relaxed with only a slight ache in my muscles. My legs just feel like jelly and am ready to sit. The rest of my body and mind seemed to be reinvigorated. Dressing in a plain pair of jeans and purple cotton long-sleeved shirt, I head out of the bathroom to meet LeeAnne to walk down to dinner. I leave my face plain and just put my hair into a low ponytail, not looking to impress anyone. LeeAnne stands when she sees me walk out of the bathroom. Dressed in a blue tank top and blue flannel pajama pants, she looks just as ready for bed as I feel. Anyone looking at her would think that she was going straight to bed after dinner, but I know better. She dresses like this so that she doesn’t have to redress in fancy clothes the next morning when she sneaks back into our room.

“Ready to go down?” I check.

“Yup. The guys are already down there. Trey texted and said that everyone is already down at the bar waiting for a table,” LeeAnne updates.

I nod and walk to the door. Together, we moseyed down the hallway and into the elevator. When we arrived at the restaurant, I saw the team all congregated together, having drinks and talking about various s**t. Looking around, I found Trey and Aaron on the far side of the bar in the corner, waving us over. As we walked over to them, I noticed that they were dressed similarly to LeeAnne. Trey was wearing a red scooped neck t-shirt and black flannel pajama pants, while Aaron went for a sportier look with a green tank top and black basketball shorts. He looks mouthwatering like that. When we were close enough to reach them, Trey pulled LeeAnne into his side and kissed her temple. He is such a swoon worthy boyfriend. Aaron looked over at me with a megawatt smile that caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

“Good evening, ladies. All nice and clean I see,” Trey says in his most butler like voice.

“Yup, thank god,” LeeAnne says looking over at me smirking, “Though, some of us took longer than others because we were extra smelly.” She moved her eyes back to me, the boys chuckling at her antics.

“Haha,” I say sarcastically.

“So, we are just waiting for them to put tables together and then we can go eat,” Trey updated us.

“Ohh goodie. I’m starving,” LeeAnne declares.

“Would you ladies like a drink?” Aaron asks.

“Yes, please!” LeeAnne exclaims.

Aaron orders two Bud Lights and hands them to us. We toasted to a great day and then fell into light conversation. Our table is finally ready and move as a group to sit. LeeAnne sits on one side of the table next to Trey while Aaron and I sit across from them. The restaurant is nice but ordinary. The waiter comes and takes everyone’s orders. LeeAnne orders a Thai chicken salad; Trey orders a medium rare sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli. Aaron gets a crispy chicken bacon sandwich with sweet potato fries, and I ask for beef nachos with sour cream and guacamole. Once the waiter leaves, we again start up our conversations, laughing and shouting.

The food comes out and conversations stop. The only sounds are people chewing and silverware clattering. Moans from the good food can also be heard. Oops, my bad, I am the one moaning. These nachos are awesome. The beef was just spicy enough not to burn my mouth and the cheese was so melty that there were strings coming from the nachos as I pulled them apart. I looked over at Aaron and he was just digging into his sandwich, loving the hell out of it. His fries looked delicious, all golden brown and crunchy. Without thinking, I reached over to his plate and grabbed one.

“Hey,” Aaron whined around a mouthful of sandwich.

“I’m sorry, they just looked so good,” I answer coyly.

Aaron glared at me playfully, but then slid a few more fries onto my plate.

“Thanks,” I mumbled with a mouth full of fry.

We finish our food and chat about everyone’s ride. This is what we do after every competition. We debrief, praising what went right and suggesting if we find something that may help the next ride. It is a great way to build teamwork in a single’s competition as well as seeing our rides from a different perspective since we cannot see ourselves ride.

After spending two hours debriefing, we all head back to our rooms. I change into a pair of short shorts for sleeping and lay in one of the beds. I turn the television back on to the movie that I was watching. LeeAnne is pacing the floor, constantly looking at her phone.

“What are you doing?” I asked, perplexed.

“Waiting for Trey to tell me when to come over,” she answers with an unsaid ‘duh’ in her tone.

I giggle at her eagerness. They do this all the time. We will end up changing roommates at some point of the night because they like to sleep together. I end up sleeping in the same room as one of the other guys. Finally, her phone beeps.

“Alright, I’m outta. Don’t wait up,” she singsongs, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Sniggering, I call after her, “Leave the door propped so Aaron can get in without me having to get up.”

As she walks out the door, I hear it click close. I sigh knowing that I will now have to get out of my nice warm cocoon.