Into My Own

Twenty-Five

Just like the night before, the announcer's voice started the evening off.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual border days rodeo!

The crowd began cheering and clapping, getting geared up already. I joined in, still happy from the ride there.

Now, if you'll all take off your hats, we'll have the national anthem, sung by our very own Madelyn Jones!

We all stood silently, hands over our hearts. Blake rode in on horseback carrying the American flag. Another girl followed her with the seal of Idaho. They loped slowly around the ring without a single mistake. The singer was very good too, not missing a note.

There you go, ladies and gentlemen! Madelyn Jones! And a huge thank you to our lovely border days queen, Miss Blake Williams, along with our border days princess, Kylie Miller!

Oakley and I stood up and whooped Blake's name as she buzzed around the arena. A group of rowdy looking boys behind us did the same.

The energy in the stands seemed to all be coming from Oakley. She screamed and cheered with all her might, totally oblivious to the rest of the crowd.

The events happened in the same order as the night before but they were just as much fun to watch, if not more.

The wild cow milking was probably my favorite. I spent the entire time joining Oakley in screaming. At the end, I screamed so loud that the hat I had borrowed from Blake got knocked off my head.

"Did you see that?" I yelled hoarsely to Oakley. "That was amazing!"

I was searching absently for my hat when my hand encountered a different warm set of fingers.

"This yours?"

I spun around and was met by one of the boys I had noticed earlier.

"Yes sir," I nodded.

"Nice hat. Suits you well, cowgirl," he winked.

I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Oakley subtly nudged me in the ribs.

"Uh, thanks..." I said awkwardly.

"Here you go," he handed me the black hat. We locked eyes for a split second and a look of recognition played on his face.

I hurriedly spun back around and plopped back on the bleachers.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Oakley hissed.

I looked at her funny.

"Who was that and where can I get one?!"

I laughed. "I don't know who that was but you can get one two bleachers up."

"Dude. He was flirting with you. Why in the hell didn't you flirt back?"

"No point," I shrugged.

"No point? No point?! Coda. He was hotter than hell."

"Like you said, I'll probably never see him again. So what does it matter?"

"It matters that you meet people and have a good time. That's why we're here."

"Oh hush. I am having a good time!" I argued.