Roan

Chapter 3

Kehlani's POV

I wake up and feel my head resting on something firm, yet kind of soft and surprisingly comfortable. Not to mention the fact that my headrest is also warm.

I start to close my eyes and begin to doze off again, but then I remember that I never had a pillow, much less a heated one, when I fell asleep the first time.

I open my eyes again and look up to see those familiar dark brown eyes staring down at me.

It's Elias.

Oh shit.

Kehlani, what the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?

" Um, so yea... Lets just pretend this never happened."I finally say.

" I'm down with that." Elias replies, trailing off.

We just sit there for another minute or so, neither of us making an effort to move.

I mean, I know that I probably should, but I'm tired and Elias makes such a great pillow and it doesn't hurt to stay like this for a little bit longer and...

My thoughts are cut off when I begin drifting off to sleep.

Still in the comfort of Elias's arms.

~~~~~

When I woke up for the third time this morning, I found myself in the same position that I was in before I fell asleep. Fortunately, Elias fell back asleep as well and is still passed out.

I slip out of his arms and scoot back over to where I was sitting earlier to look out the window at all of the cars driving by.

There's way too much traffic considering the fact that it's barely past 7. If I had the choice, then I probably wouldn't ever wake up earlier than nine.

Sure, it's nice to get up early and have a couple hours of peace before the rest of the world wakes up, but I'd still rather sleep in.

After all, I can barely ever fall asleep without the nightmares coming to rudely awaken me, so when I actually manage to sleep through the night, I like to stay asleep for as long as possible.

It's still kind of foggy out, but hopefully that means it won't get too hot today. Shows in the blistering heat are the worst, especially when everyones kicking up dust and your horse gets a bloody nose.

My gaze slowly drifts back over to the sleeping Elias on the other side of the car. He looks oddly peaceful when he's sleeping, he's also got a little bit of drool on his chin.

Not exactly the sexiest thing ever.

" We've arrived children. Seline, would you mind hopping out and getting the gate for us?" Seline's mom says.

Elias jolts awake, the peaceful look he had while he was sleeping immediately gone and replaced with his usual blank expression.

Seline looks up from her phone and replies, " Ask someone else to do it, can't you see that I'm busy?"

" I'll get it." I volunteer, hopping out of the car and jogging the short distance to the gate. Flipping off the chain, I push it open and wait for Selines mom to drive through. I shut the gate behind them and sprint to catch up with the car.

And trust me, sprinting in boots is not fun. Especially when it's 7AM.

" Thanks Kehlani." Selines mom says as she stops the car so that i can get it.

" No problem." I replied, slightly out of breath.

We drive down the long and winding driveway to get to the equestrian center at the fairgrounds. People are already starting to walk around in the arenas so that they can get their horses warmed up before things get too crazy.

Selines mom stops in front of the banner with the SJVHC logo and says, " Why don't you kids go ahead and get out here, i'm going to go try and find parking."

Me, Seline, and Elias all open our doors and hop out at the same time, almost completely in sync. Damn, that must've looked cool, wish we had it on video.

I split from Elias and Seline, heading over to Roan's stall for the day. When he sees me coming, he lets out a nicker and sticks his head out of the window so far that I'm scared it's going to get stuck.

" Don't worry buds, I brought you a carrot. Now can you please put your head back inside your stall?" I told him.

He just sticks his head out further.

" Seriously dude?" I exclaim.

Roan snorts and shakes his head.

Welp, I guess that a stubborn horse is better than a horse without a personality.

Someone already unloaded my grooming kit for me, I definitely owe the person who did that a thank you, so I just need to run a soft brush over Roan and spray some showsheen in his mane and tail. He's still clean from my groom job yesterday, there's just some shavings and hay sprinkled on his back.

" You almost done grooming K?" Seline calls from the next stall over.

" Yea, do you know if our tack is in the three or the four horse?" I ask.

" I think it's in the four horse, we had to move some stuff around though." Seline answers.

" Got it." I reply, throwing my brush back in the bucket and walking over to the four horse so that I can grab my tack.

The door to the trailer is a little stuck, so I have to slam my shoulder against it before it'll actually open.

I pull my saddle down from the top rack and throw my bridle over my shoulder before stepping out of the tack room and slamming the door shut behind me.

Re-adjusting my saddle on my hip, I push open the door to Roan's stall and plop the saddle pad onto his back before swinging the saddle on.

" Really dude?!" I exclaim as Roan starts to walk away as I'm taking my cinches down from the strap holder.

He just side eyes me and continues walking around his stall.

" You know dude, if you don't stop then my saddle might-" i start before getting cut off by a loud thud, the sound of my saddle slipping off Roan's back and falling onto a pile of shavings.

Roan gets spooked by the saddle falling and jumps sideways about a foot and a half.

" For having such a big head, you sure don't have that much brain inside." I tell Roan.

He just snorts and continues to look around as if another saddle is going to fall from the sky.

" Ok buddy, we really need to hurry up or else were gonna be late. Everyone else is almost finished tacking up." I say.

He just sighs and looks at me like hes saying " Fine, let's just get this over with so I can go back to sleep."

" Thank you." i exhale.