Claire's Story: Chapter 13

It was a brisk spring night in March; the sky was clear and the full moon shone brightly. The lights of the rodeo arena flooded the northwestern corner of the college campus and attracted thousands of fluttering insects. Claire sat hunched on the fifth row of the bleachers, her hands tucked away in the pockets of her thin denim jacket. She watched with disinterest as a huffing quarter horse made tight turns around barrels, its owner kicking it vigorously on the sprint to the finish, as if the animal didn’t know it was supposed to run as fast as it could. Her gut clenched slightly. She wasn’t a huge fan of rodeos, especially not when the animals didn’t love what they were doing or if they were being mistreated.

Sean and Ryan’s team roping competition would be next, followed by the final event of bull riding. And then she could spend the rest of the night doing what she’d anticipated for the past week: see Sean. Talk to him in person. Just be near him. It had been hard for Claire having only seen Sean a handful of times since they’d initially met; the long-distance thing was tough. Yet she talked to him on the phone nightly, and they texted hundreds of messages throughout the day. However, when she’d seen him in the horse barn only an hour before, the wait had definitely seemed worth it.

She and Brooke had met Bryce upon arriving in the arena parking lot, and he had talked nonstop as he let them to Sean and Ryan in the stalls beneath the arena’s stands. Sean’s back had been turned as he was bent picking out his horse’s hoof, and at Bryce’s booming announcement that his girlfriend was here, Sean gently placed Sully’s hoof back on the ground and straightened to greet her.

“Claire,” his voice was smooth and deep. He pulled her into a side hug and pressed his lips into the hair at her forehead, inhaling the scent of her passion fruit shampoo. “Missed you,” he whispered just loud enough for her hear, his left hand caressing from her shoulder to elbow, and back again.

“You too,” she sighed, tilting her chin up to see his chiseled face glowing with a content smile. He was freshly shaven and smelled of a mix of musky cologne and alfalfa. Sean’s eyes sparkled as they took her in, happy and excited to see her. His lips parted briefly and his tongue reflexively traced his lower lip. It was all he could do keep from kissing her right then and there. But he wanted to do it in private, without their friends mulling around to spoil what was sure to be an intimate first kiss.

“Hey Ryan, have you met Brooke?” Bryce questioned, his loud voice interrupting the couple’s mini-reunion. Ryan came from the back of the next stall, looking even more like the famous tennis player than Claire had remembered. Except for his western clothes and the fact that he wielded a rope instead of tennis racket, he was almost the spitting image of the athlete Brooke had crushed on since high school.

Ryan tromped through the deep hay and grasped the hand of the blue-eyed blonde. He fumbled his introduction, causing Brooke to smile bigger than Claire had ever seen. Her smile was infectious, and Claire and Sean shared a knowing glance as if to say, “we knew they’d hit it off”.

The girls hadn’t stayed much longer since the ropers needed to iron out a few last-minute details before competing in their final rodeo of the season. They now sat shivering in the stands, shoulders touching in an effort to stay warm while they waited to see the men they’d come to watch in action. Brooke was talking nonstop about how handsome she thought Ryan was. She had already asked so many questions about him that Claire didn’t know the answers to, that Claire had finally stopped listening to her rambling altogether. She was immersed in her own thoughts. Thoughts about Sean and herself, and how he’d been different when he’d hugged her in the stalls below.

He’d looked at her differently, as if she belonged to him. He’d held her as if he was being possessive, needed her; greedy in not wanting to waste any more time that he could be spending with her. It felt good. Great actually. It had been so long since she had felt this way, and she had desperately missed the affection that only a man’s love could provide.

Could he be in love with her? Surely not, it was much too soon in their relationship for love. They’d spent so little time together physically that there was no way it could be love. Claire had not questioned Sean’s attraction for her though, as he showed it in plenty of ways. Little gestures that made her feel feminine, delicate, and desired. His broad hand resting on her back or waist, reaching for her hand to engulf it in his own, brief but purposeful touching of their legs and feet during dinner, and long hugs goodnight. Such polite and innocent signs of affection, all building to what she hoped would soon lead to a more physical relationship. And if Sean’s welcome from earlier in the evening was any indication, tonight could escalate into something truly special.

What they lacked physically due to locality, they made up emotionally. Their initial connection had intensified over the past weeks the more they had texted and talked late into the night. Talking about any number of topics, from the most mundane details of their daily schedules to the moral turpitude of the nation. They’d yet to share even a first kiss; however they’d already talked about some of the most personal details that two people could discuss: lifelong dreams, religious beliefs, and the desire to one day raise a family.

Claire did love him, she suddenly realized. Not a romantic love. No, not yet. Romantically she was still in the lustful, infatuation stage; too soon for the type of love that she’d known with men before. But she did love him as a person, for the friendship they’d established and for the bond they’d developed. Maybe Sean loved her too, in the same way of course. Maybe that was the difference she’d noticed in him earlier, Claire finally determined.

“Claire!” Brooke whacked her daydreaming friend on the thigh with the back of her hand. “Claire, Sean and Ryan are up next, are you even paying attention?”

Claire hadn’t been paying attention, and was for once thankful for Brooke’s assertiveness. It was only minutes later that a red and white steer was released into the arena closely followed by the two cowboys on horseback. The entire process happened so quickly and smoothly that it was over before Claire even knew what was going on. “Who had roped the steer’s head, and who had tied its feet?” she wondered. She didn’t know how she’d missed it, but it was definitely a work of art that had been perfected with years of practice and dedication. She’d recognized that Sean was a skilled horseman from their ride through the canyons on his ranch, but the skill he’d just shown was astounding.

“Claire, they won, they were the fastest!” Brooke screamed, her voice cracking. “Wasn’t that awesome, they were so good!”

“Yeah, it really was.” Claire admitted, possibly more turned on by seeing Sean in his element than she’d ever been before.

“Let’s go congratulate them, come on.”

She could hear the blood thumping in her ears, and her legs had gone weak. “Okay, I’m coming,” she replied, forcing herself to follow Brooke down to the stairs.