Carolina Blue

Part 7

Cope and I were riding in his truck on our way to the rodeo. This time I was a little less nervous than last, but I still felt the jitters inside me running rampant.

I knew Cope had rode a bull once successfully, but I was still worried that every try could be his last.

I was also still anxious about running into my attacker from last summer, but was hopeful that he wouldn't be there.

When we were about thirty minutes away Cope's phone rang. Cope dug it out of his wrangler jeans pocket and answered with a quick, "Howdy Underwood."

Lukas must've said something back jokingly that made Cope lightly chuckle.

"We're about 30 minutes away," I heard Cope say to him.

"Yep she's with me." As Cope said this he turned to me and smiled

"Eh she doesn't quite seem as nervous for me as last time but we'll see. Right 'Lina?" Cope was teasing me to see if I was nervous for him, but I knew he was actually wanting to know.

"I'm not too bad yet," I replied while smiling back at him and playfully shoving his shoulder.

"Alright well we'll see you when we get there."

Cope said and hung up his phone before turning his attention back to me.

Cope asked me, "You sure you're okay?"

I smiled at Cope, "Yep," and leaned over turning the radio back up. The rest of our ride to the rodeo was spent singing along to the country songs that came on the radio.

When we made it to the fairgrounds that the rodeo was being held at, I could tell it was a smaller scale than the last one. It didn't take us nearly as long as it took me last time to find a parking spot. Also, the heat wasn't quite as bad as last time.

As Cope was focusing on parking, I looked at him taking him in from his Cowboy hat to his boots. I couldn't help but smile as my heart gushed with how much I love this man. He always put his all into everything that meant something to him. He was doing this whole thing so we could have the future he wants us to build together.

Cope placed the truck in park, and then looked at me questioningly, "what?" Cope asked knitting his eyebrows together.

I leaned over to Cope and kissed him on the lips and then pulled back and said, "I love you."

"I love you too." Cope responded then kissed me this time a longer kiss that held more passion and urgency.

This time our kiss was broken by someone who came and hit the driver's door window.

The hit surprised us both, and Cope and I instantly split from each other to find Lukas's face staring back at us laughing hysterically.

We jumped out of Cope's truck. Lukas was still laughing while Cope shoved him lightly and said, "Underwood I'm gonna kill ya."

Lukas put his hands in the air, "Hey now, then who would coach you to be the next Tuff Hedeman?"

Cope just laughed and shook his head, "I guess you do have a point."

We all three walked towards the arena for tonight. We had arrived early to ensure Cope would have time to scope out the place and take a look at the bulls beforehand. In about a half an hour Cope would report to draw straws with the rest of the riders tonight to determine who was riding what bull.

After we took a look at the bulls and wondered around we grabbed a bite to eat at the local concession stand.

"Yeller, how ya feelin?" Lukas asked Cope while taking a large bite out of his burger.