The Elite

Shifts

I had just passed around the drinks when Willow - who we all agreed had way too much coffee - grabbed my arm and pulled me over.

"Selfie time!" she yelled and snapped a few pictures. "Come on, Dad!"

"Not again," he groaned. "I'm driving!"

She pouted through the rear view mirror and he sighed, relenting. He stuck his tongue out at the camera.

"I am not taking a selfie with you," Matt snarled.

"Good because I didn't want to take one with you anyway," she said and uploaded them to Facebook.

She whistled and, when I wasn't paying attention, slowly reached for the aux cord.

"No," I moaned. "Not that. Anything but that!"

She giggled and plugged her phone in. I shook my head with an amused smile as she turned on her Pandora. She bounced in her seat, singing along with some random EDM song, and I thought back to my conversation with Dr. Mack. Little Bit was doing well. She was playing with the other foals and that made me feel better. I had been worried she was sulking in a corner.

'Press Play Walk Away' came on and I tapped my foot, muttering the lyrics. Willow shook me.

"I knew you liked this song!" she laughed.

"Busted," I admitted sheepishly.

When it was time to switch, the file dropped from Willow's face and she groaned when Matt got out.

"He's an awful driver," she moaned.

"He's an awful everything," I muttered, not thinking she'd hear me.

"Why don't you like him?" she whispered as he pulled back on the road.

"Because he's an asshole," I whispered back. "He treats you and your dad like dirt and uses you."

She stared. "No he doesn't...."

I arched a brow. "You feed his horse, he uses your ranch for practicing, you transport his horse in your trailer, and you use your gas. Has he paid you for any of that?"

She looked uncomfortable. "Well... we're just helping him out."

"And yet he still treats you like shit."

She frowned and glanced at him. "You really think he's using us?"

I sighed. "It's just my personal opinion, Willow. I just don't like seeing you and Aaron having to do extra work while he sits in the car on his phone."

Her expression was hard to read and I looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

Willow was right about him being an awful driver. He swerved between cars and several times Willow hid her face.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay," she would mumble when that happened.

Every time we stopped, she'd run back to the horses to check on them and give them water. It freaked me out how he drove.

"Could you slow down a little?" I asked after a couple hours.

He glared at me. "Don't tell me what to do, city boy."

I'm not," I snapped. "But you're making me and Willow nervous."

"I'm not nervous," she lied and I glared at her.

"Worried I'll get in an accident and ruin your hair?" he taunted.

"No. I'm worried you'll get in an accident and hurt the horses!"

An uncomfortable silence filled the truck and Willow avoided my eyes. However, I did notice a significant drop in speed. In the passenger's side seat, Aaron finally felt calm enough to get some sleep.

"Let's play a game," Willow suggested.

"How old are you?" Matt snorted.

"What game?" I asked, ignoring him.

"It's on my dad and I play every year."

"And it's obnoxious," Matt grumbled.

Willow was digging around in her bag that she brought to the front with her. She pulled out a notebook and pen and made to hand it to me.

"I get car sick real easy," I whispered so Matt could hear. I didn't have the energy to argue with him more.

"That's okay, I'll write," she whispered back. "We look out the window and try to see if we can find a license plate with each state on it."

"Let's add to it and try and guess the custom ones," I suggested and she nodded enthusiastically.

By the time Matt's six hours were up, we had found 30 of the 50 states and saw 14 custom license plates.

"My favorite was 'B1TCH91'," I laughed.

"Will you sit up front with me?" Willow asked quietly. "I don't want to be by Matt."

Aaron was already getting in her side and I nodded quickly, wanting to spare her from Matt.

I think.

I walked around to the other side and Matt looked furious.

"Who's going to pass around the drinks now?" he demanded.

"You are," I said, buckling in and trying not to laugh at the look on his face.

We were still listening to Willow's Pandora and she put me in charge of liking or not liking songs.

"Be honest!" she said. "No thumbs downing good ones!"

I rolled my eyes. "All right, all right."

I yawned, having been awake for the whole ride.

"So, what happens when we get there," I asked, accepting a Coke from Aaron and got a Sprite for Willow.

"We'll check in at the hotel," Willow answered, merging into the next lane smoothly and keeping one eye on the trailer. "They reserved a special spot for the competitors. Then we'll back the horses into the barn they've set aside for us. Which reminds me, Dad don't forget we need to get a tag on our trailer this time," she added, looking through the rear view mirror at him.

"Yes ma'am," he said, saluting her.

"Then we'll sign in and the fun begins. Tomorrow is the competition and the next day is when the awards are announced and delivered."

"Sounds fun," I nodded.

"Please say I'm not sharing a room with him," Matt said and I groaned, throwing my head back.

"What are you, a child?" I yelled. "Why the fuck does it matter!?"

Matt just glared at his phone.

"Relax. We only got one room this year like usual," Aaron said.

"I'd rather sleep on the floor than share a bed with him," Mat snapped.

I shook my head wearily and turned back to look out the wind shield.

"You all right?" I asked, seeing a weird look on Willow's face.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she muttered. "Just tired. The coffee's dying off."

I laughed. "Took it long enough."

"Shut up," she said, letting go of the wheel long enough to shove me.