[2.1] THE BRIGHTEST LIGHTNING, tyler owens

Yes

Jaymes was waiting for her turn in breakaway. There were only three more girls until her shot.

She did end up finishing first in breakaway and second in poles last night.

Rango was beneath her this time, the matching teal tack adorning her teal shirt.

Before she knew it, she was walking Rango into the box.

---

Tyler watched her perform the same steps as yesterday. Breath, look, send.

"C'mon Jaymie, don't overthink it." He heard Javi breathe beside him.

All of their eyes were fixed on her as she nodded quickly.

The calf shot out, Rango right behind him.

Milliseconds felt like hours as her rope swung in the air. Dust went flying as Rango stopped suddenly, his hooves digging into the ground beneath him as the calf ran on. A white rope around its neck.

Tyler shot up out of his seat. His arms raised as he cheered louder than everyone else.

Jaymes caught his eyes and smiled wider as the audience cheered.

"Jaymes, history is repeating itself. 2.1 puts you in number one!"

Jaymes put his hand up and waved around, before rubbing and petying Rango's neck.

---

Hours had passed and they were having lunch/supper. Jaymes still hadn't been knocked out of number one and pole bending was not too far around the corner.

They were eating pork lion sandwiches that Kathy had brought for them earlier and making small talk.

Jaymes, Lily, and Dani had the puppies sitting in their laps as they ate. The boys were off in their own little world, making small conversation about God knows what.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Javi asked quietly.

Tyler sighed, "I'm worried."

Boone gave him confused look, "Why? What's the worst that's gonna happen?"

"She'll say no."

Javi rolled his eyes and Boone's eyebrows shot up.

"Excuse me? Have you seen the way you two look at each other? Sometimes it's corny as shit, but man, that's love."

Javi nodded along with Boone's rantings.

"You ain't supposed to be comfortable do this stuff. But in the end, you get to spend the rest of your life with your misses." Boone concluded, a proud smile on his face as his hands were raised for full effect.

A small smile danced on Tyler's face.

"See? Relax man, everything'll be fine." Javi clapped his back.

"Fine," Tyler sighed, "but, if anything goes wrong, I'm blaming you guys."

Boone perked his head to the side, "Fair enough."

---

"You're matching with me." Jaymes observed as Tyler walked beside her to the warm up circle. She was on Tex and was getting ready for poles.

He smiled, "Well, I noticed teal was the new thing so I thought I'd try it out."

"You look good."

He smirked, "Not as good as you."

She had a small laugh and then faced him again as they were right outside the warm up circle. "Alright, Cowboy, be gone with you."

He smirked wider as he got closer, "You're making me leave already? We were just about to-"

Her eyes widened, "Tyler, there kids here. Go."

"Oh, alright." He turned to face the grand stands and slowly started walking off before turning back around. "Break a leg! Wait, actually don't do that."

Jaymes rolled her eyes and started her warm-up.

---

Once she felt like Tex was ready to run, she let him walk around for the last couple girls before her run.

"Contestant number 216, Jaymes Reid we're ready for you."

Tex calmly walked in before starting to prance slightly. With one last look at the eyes, Jaymes put the reins to his head as they took off.

She began to sit back the closer they got to the first pole, then follwing the same pattern she did the night before.

Once they made it to the last pole of the pattern, she let him completely sprint: a reward for being good.

His hooves thundered down the arena as the audience clapped and cheered for them.

"Jaymes, this is good. 20.3, that puts you in the number one spot!"

Tyler and the rest of the group hollered even louder when the announcer said that.

The group walked out of the stands to go find Jaymes for the second time that day.

Tyler was beginning to feel his nerves rise. The trick riding was only about one hour away.

Sighing deeply, he shoved the thought out of his head as he led the way to Jaymes, who was ecstatic.

She hopped off of Tex and loosened his cinches quickly as they flooded her view.

"20.3! That's a new pr!" She gushed with a wide smile.

"That was amazing, Darlin." Tyler slid his hand around her waist as they all began to walk back to the trailer.

---

45 minutes later, Jaymes was sitting upon Saige as Tyler was giving himself a mental pep talk.

He was walking Rango on the ground.

The rodeo had ended slightly earlier than expected, but it didn't make any difference to Jaymes. She was ready, that's all that mattered.

She finished as state champion on breakaway, while second again in poles.

"Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the state breakaway champion, Jaymes Reid. For the second and final night, she's gonna leave you with an experience you can't forget."

The speech was mostly the same from last night from the announcer as Jaymes took off. Doing new stunts for the crowd as Tyler patted his pocket one last time.

As she slowed Saige down, she hopped off quickly and took off again on Rango. Tyler watched her in admiration before wiping his forehead and taking a deep breath.

When Jaymes came back to where Tyler was standing, she turned back to the crowd and waved, a huge smile on her face.

The smile faded though, when she heard the crowd have a small gasp as they looked past her.

Confused, she turned around to see Rango and Saige standing still with a kneeling Tyler infront of them.

She put her hand up to her mouth when she saw the open ring box. Holding a beautiful diamond ring.

"Jaymes Reid, my best friend, the person I wake up by every morning. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't in my life. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see you face everyday. Jaymes, I love you more than anything." Tyler spoke clearly, his eyes boring into hers.

"Will you marry me?"

She smiled widely as the response came quicker than she ever could've thought.

"Yes!"

---
Chapter 23 done! Hope you enjoy!
Word Count: 1096