Chapter twelve TIME TO RIDE

                                    

                                          
"Easy girl" I patted Brandy's shoulder. Her ears flicked back and forth as she  took in the loud rodeo noise. She started to paw at the soft ground as another horse went into the ring. 
                          
"Soon girl. I promise" I whispered to her as the girl came out with a time of sixteen seconds flat.
                          
My heart started to race as adrenalin started to pump though my vains. My breathing started  to pick up as a man motioned to us that it was our turn. I nodded my head slowly as Brandy pranced up to the gate. I nodded my head. The boys opened  up the gate to let us fly in. The gate swung open and Brandy was off. She picked up her stride as we rounded the first barrel. 
                          
"Hey!" I warned Brandy as my foot came close to the second barrel.
                          
As Brandy started to round the last barrel my breathing stopped all together. This is were it all mattered the most.  I whistle a sharp whistle to Brandy as we started to run the home stretch. My heels collided with Brandy's side's as she raced faster. I leaned down as the people in the stands became a blur. 
                          
I pulled back on the rains as we excited the ring. I leaned back in the saddle as Brandy threw up her head in protest to stopping. But just like the good girl she is she stopped like I asked. 
                          
"That's my girl" I whispered to Brandy. I jumped off of Brandy. I looked into her eyes. She was breathing hard but her eyes showed so much happiness. I smiled sweetly at her.
                          
"Good girl" I stroked her forehead. 
                          
"The results are in. And our champs are still April Turner riding Brandy chocolate bar with a time of 15.45 seconds" the announcer yelled  into the speaker. 
                          
My smile grew as I looked back at Brandy. Her eyes seemed to light up as if she knew we had won. I wrapped  my arms around her neck as I became overwhelmed with happiness. Another win under my belt. I separated from Brandy as I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I tuned around to see Nick standing there with his arms spread out.
                          
"I'm so proud of you" he whispered in my ear as he gave me a tight hug.
                          
"Thanks" I smile up at him proudly
                          
"You ready for the finals then?"  He asked as we started to walk back to our trailers.
                          
"Well I might hit Cheyenne Wyoming rodeo juts to rank up some more points" I struggled my shoulders
                          
"Why? I'm mean you have enough points. You don't need to ride in that one" Nick pointed out.
                          
"Yeah I guess I don't have to. I could have a few extra days in Los Vegas to myself" I thought about the idea.
                          
"Or with me" Nick winked at me
                          
"Yeah yeah" I shoved his shoulder playfully
                          
He just smiled back at me. Today was a good day for us. Me placing in first in barrels while Nick got third in team roping and first in bulls. 
                          
"Hey umm April?" Nick asked
                          
"Yeah" I looked up at him
                          
"Uh... I'm just going for bulls at the national finals since I didn't have enough points for the team roping finals" I looked at him shocked. Him and Kevin made a pretty good team. 
                          
"What?" I asked
                          
"Yeah" he scratched the back of his neck.
                          
"Oh Nick I'm so sorry" I wrapped one of my arms around his waist
                          
"It's fine. I mean I still can do bulls which is a plus side" his smile grew bright again. 
                          
"Well I'll see you in Los Vegas then cowboy" I winked at Nick before I stepped aside to my trailer.
                          
"Bye beauty" he called backed.
                          
I smiled before I turned and looked towards the trailer. Rose sat on tailgate with her head in her hands. I gave her confused look. I walked over  and tied up Brandy first before I walked over to her. 
                          
"Hey what's up girl?" I laid my arm around her shoulders. She looked up at me with teared stained face. 
                          
"I barely made it to the finals. April I could have been out of this whole competition today. I made it by one point. ONE POINT" she raised her voice at me.
                          
"Hey. Be happy you made it. Your moving on with me" I gave her a reassuring smile.
                          
"I am. I just didn't know how close I was to being eliminated" she looked back down at the ground.
                          
"We can do this. OK? We got this. I mean come on! We've come this far and now we are going all the way. "  I gave her a tight hug.
                          
"Alright" She squeezed back.
                          
We sat there quietly just holding each other in our arms. We both just sat there taking in what we had been doing for the past five months of our lives. We worked our ass off, just to be here. And here we are... We finally made it to were we had been wishing and hoping for. Tomorrow we leave for Los Vegas for the Wrangler national Finals.