Born to Ride

Chapter 3

Boots, mud, and the smell of grass are what I grew up with; This is my home. 

I head over to the horse stalls to get to work. Knocking on the entrance, " How are you all? Hungry, I bet." 

The horses neigh back as if they understood me. I start distributing straw portions in their bin. 

We Have all types of horses here; Horses trained for riders, racers, trail work, or horse shows. We take pride in our equestrian facility, not only providing horses for other people but training them to complete. 

Getting to the last two stalls, I greet the horses, "Hello, Lucky. How are you, Ace?" They both bray. 

I don't know why I keep them together. Lucky isn't really ours nor the Ranch's, we were supposed to take care of her until her owner came back for her but I figure she was forgotten. 

Placing a portion of straw on Lucky's bins, I take a moment to pet her. "You miss her, don't you? A word of advice, you need to forget about her. Like I did."

The horses I've feed first, start neighing as Taylor and Flynn enter the stable. 

"Howdy to you two," I lean against Lucky's stable wall. 

Flynn yawns before answering, "How do you wake up at five every day. It's not every morning when you wake up."

"You get used to it," I shrug.

Taylor rubs his eyes, "Ever thought you might not be human."

I scoff playfully.

"Oh, He's human, alright. He wouldn't be dating Bonnie if he wasn't," Flynn snickers. 

"Drop it. What are you guys doing here, anyway?" I grab my horse saddle from the storage. 

"Nothing really. We just dropped by before heading to the airport. You seemed busy yesterday, so T came to say adios, see you next week at the rodeo," Flynn smirks. 

I place the horse saddle back on its stand. "You're coming back, for next week?"

"Well, you can't win the rodeo without Taylor here," Flynn jokes around. 

"Whose driving you to the airport?" I ask

"Mr. Vic offered, I'll be leaving in an hour, heading back to New York," Taylor explains. 

I nod, "I'll see you, then."

Taylor waves as he leaves the stables. I head over to where I placed the horse saddle and begin to polish it. 

Flynn leans on the saddle. "New York," He flashes his eyebrows up and down while smirking. 

Flynn and I met each other in college, we were two country boys trying to fit in the university with all the other city boys. 

I give him a serious expression, "Get off. You're ruining my saddle."

"Sheesh," He gets off. 

"Flynn, aren't you supposed to get ready for the horse race?" 

"Don't remind me. I only got away with training this week, but Taylor came over. My old man does not give me a break, " He leans against the wall while letting out a huff.

"You really should tell him you don't want to ride anymore," I have told him this everything he's brought up his training.

He scoffs, "If it only it were that easy. You know I envy you. You actually like to ride, if I did too, I wouldn't need to be forcing myself and I would actually enjoy it."

Lucky? Yes, I'm lucky of having my parents' support, and I am lucky of being able to do what I enjoy. But I know very well, that I, myself, am pitiful. I compromised one thing that will hurt several people, including myself. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hands gripped tightly, back straight, feet tucked in, and yet my mind on anything but today's training. 

"Focus, Charlie!" My trainer yells from the other side of the fence. 

I fall to the ground, dirtying every inch of my clothes from multiple times I've fallen off the mechanical bull. 

Standing up, I pat myself trying to get as much dirt from my clothes. 

"What's the matter? If you keep on like this, next week will be a total waste," My trainer approaches me. 

I look over to my father with his arms leaning on the fence. 

"I'm sorry Mr. Lart. I'll try again," I start climbing the bull again when Mr. Lart stops me.

"Take a break, I'll come back tomorrow. It will do us no good if you can't focus," Mr. Lart exchanges words with my father and takes his leave.

Nothing makes me feel worst than things not going my way. I've done this all my life, I'm not understanding why I can't get the steering right. 

Truth be told I have been wary, ever since Arizona told me about John being here in Texas. I am not ready to meet him, nor anyone related to him. Long ago, I decided to block anything related to him. As pitiful as it may sound, it works best for me. 

My father approaches me, " Not in the mood for riding?"

I let out a huge sigh as if my life were to be spirited away. 

"Honestly, I don't know what's going on. It's one of those days where I have many things on my mind, but can't even pinpoint anything, "I try to explain. 

I'm a grown man, I should be talking with my father about mixed emotions. Even I don't know why I'm so distracted. 

My father leans on the mechanical bull, "I won't tell you what to do, your old enough to do your own decisions, all I advise, is take responsibility for your choices."

"What if I screw up? I am terrified of working this hard and not gain anything from it."

"Continue."

"Padron?"

"If you fail, get up and try again. Would you rather be known as the man that gives up without trying? You did great on you bull riding, and I know it's a lot of pressure on you. But all you can do is try your best. I promise you, you won't regret it."

I knew that, but somewhere deep inside of me, there's a lot of insecurity bottled up. Trying to live my life while enjoying the rodeo is hard. I went to college, but my heart lies here, at the ranch with the horse, the rodeo, with bull riding. 

"It looks like someone is looking for you," My father nods at the entrance of the building.