The first day of horse racing at the fairgrounds proved to be eventful. Matt hadn't been able to cruise through his duties as outrider because his charge took off running down the backstretch of the track before Matt spurred the gelding to give chase finally grabbing the reins. The crowd applauded when he did and he nodded at the audience but he noticed that C.J. just shook her head at him, bemused. The horse she held onto tugged at its own reins, wanting a piece of freedom.
"No you don't," she chided gently.
The assistant starts loaded the horses in the starting gate and with a clang of the bell, they were off. C.J. and Matt headed back in the opposite direction to pick them up after they crossed the finish line. The race proved to be competitive, but C.J.'s horse beat another horse by a head and Matt's was back a length further in third. She cantered the mare out to retrieve the horse and after catching him, took him back in front of the grandstand to prepare for the winner's circle photo. Rusty looked pretty happy to have the first racing day off to a good start with all the drama behind it.
She had gone back home to eat a light dinner and change into some comfortable jeans and a shirt before Matt would pick her up and they would head off to the carnival together. A lot of locals and other folks would be attending opening night and some music bands would be playing at various spots, country/western, jazz and rock and roll. And there would be a beer garden that Flash had been ordered to stay away from. She just hoped to have a good time with her favorite person in the whole world. But she knew she would definitely have to be on her toes with him as well. Although that might wind up being a lot of fun, she decided.
He arrived and she got into the car with him and they drove back to the fairgrounds. He parked in a lot which had already filled up and streams of people including couples and families walked towards the entrance into the carnival. C.J. marveled at the country western band that stood on a makeshift stage off to the left as they entered the gates. Matt took her hand and she smiled at him as they headed off to the areas where the game booths had set up. Barkers lured fairgoers to shoot out the target, pitch the dime on the plates or land the ball in the basket, and win the prizes on display. It didn't take long for Matt to win a stuffed panda for shooting out a target and C.J. to win some gaudy jewelry for being deft at darts. Matt put the glow in the dark, twinkling necklace over her head and admired it.
"Wow…very nice…"
She grinned.
"I don't know if that's quite the look I'm going for but thanks."
They enjoyed the view and watching people walking by all excited around them including kids who tugged at their parents' hands when they saw the clown handing out balloons or an exciting looking ride. Then they saw the Ferris Wheel and C.J. decided she wanted to ride it. Matt looked at it dubiously.
"Are you sure about this," he asked.
She nodded happily.
"Yeah…it'll be fun especially if it stops at the top and we can get it to sway."
Matt swallowed audibly.
"C.J. I don't know how to tell you this but I'm nervous about high places."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Since when," she said, "We went skydiving not too long ago for goodness sakes."
"That's different…"
She just shook her head at him and went to get them into line.
"Look I'll hold your hand if you'd like," she offered, "and when we get up real high, I'll find ways to distract you."
That perked his interest up and seemed to allay some of his concerns. Really, she just thought he was making excuses. After all, it's not as if he had never scaled tall buildings or mountains or leapt from one building to the next, 50 feet or so off the ground.
The attendant helped them onto the ride and it started moving and sure enough it stopped to unload and reload the next car. She looked over at him to make sure he was handling it all right.
"It's quite a few," he admitted.
And indeed it was, they could see the racetrack in the darkness and the sparkles of lit houses beyond that, not to mention the stars that coated the night sky.
"It's beautiful…"
"So are you."
She turned and looked at him and of course he used that opportunity to move closer and kiss her.
"Come here a little closer…
Now she looked at him a bit dubiously but she moved closer to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"The view…"
"Is just fine up here," he finished and they started kissing again,
The car creaked as they shifted their bodies a little bit and he began stroking her cheek with his thumb. She looked beautiful just sitting there, not even wearing anything fancy and a novelty necklace to boot. Their kiss deepened and they lost sight of everything around them, focusing on each other and the sensations they elicited while kissing. Matt wished they were somewhere more private than a Ferris Wheel he thought as they finally broke for air. She gazed at him, her mouth still tingling and then she looked around.
"Houston…"
"What?"
She furrowed her brow suddenly.
"We've been up here for a while haven't we?"
He tried to think…but it was hard to figure out how much time had passed when while they had kissed, it had seemed to stand still.
"I guess we have…"
Then they looked down and noticed that a throng of people had suddenly gathered around the contraption.
"I wonder what's going on…"
C.J. tried to make sense of the scene below them.
"I wonder if they can't get it to start moving."
Matt thought that might be a possibility, that maybe something had gone wrong with the ride. Suddenly one man put what looked like some sort of megaphone to his mouth and pointed it upward.
"To you folks up there at the top, we're doing everything we can to get this ride up and moving again…"
C.J. gazed at Houston, in surprise.
"I guess we are stuck."
Matt figured that as well at this point and that they were stuck up there waiting until the ride was fixed again. Well, things could definitely be worse and at least they were there together.
"It looks like they're working on it," he said, "It just might be a while."
"You are going to be okay?"
He looked at her, remembering what he had said earlier.
"I might need someone to keep me distracted from how high up we are," he said, "to keep my mind off of it."
"Oh Houston, just stop that…we both know that a guy who's rappelled down buildings for christ sake can't be scared of a little thing like heights."
He sighed.
"I won't be if you hold my hand…"
She figured she could do at least that much so she took a hold of his and he rubbed her hand with his other one, massaging it and she found herself closing her eyes.
"Don't fall asleep…or you might fall out of here."
She looked at him, her lips pursed.
"I'm just relaxing…it's much better than panicking don't you think?"
He smiled at her still rubbing her hand in that really talented way he had with his fingers.
"If you want to relax, we can come up with other ways."
"I'm sure Houston…but they'll be getting us down any second and then we can go on the roller coaster."
Suddenly he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
"That'll be a date."
"Oh so that's what we're on?"
He nodded.
"I'm having a lot of fun, what about you?"
"Yeah…I've always loved carnivals," she said, "even while we were growing up in Texas. We used to go to them all the time."
"Not like this," he said, "Not really together."
She paused, looking back out at the view of the carnival below them.
"No I guess not…This is all so different for us."
"Better…and better yet to come."
She sighed thinking about that knowing exactly what he meant.
"Houston…we're going to talk about that some more," she said, "I know for you it's easy but for me…"
He stroked her face again.
"Okay…we will but it's all going to work out."
"You seem so confident."
"Comes from knowing a great thing when I see it…"
She had to smile at his words because he sounded so earnest and she thought maybe he doesn't view this thing so casually. And then when he bent to kiss her again, she forgot all about the words.
As it turned out, the fire department hadn't been needed to rescue them from the Ferris Wheel after all. Someone had finally kicked some part of it and it whirled back to life, and after a few moments, they were once again back on terra firma. They rode a couple more rides including the roller coaster which filled C.J. with a rush because she did love them.
He then took her hand and they headed off to the food court and got some tacos al carbon and drinks before heading off to listen to some jazz music. They sat down in the grassy area with other people and they ate the food which turned out to be quite tasty and then she leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around her as they settled in to enjoy the jazz. She could definitely get used to this, being close to him…it would be all too easy. He had told her that he didn't want a casual fling and that made her feel better but what did he want? Every time she thought about what she wanted with him, her feelings got away from her.
He tightened his embrace and started kissing her near her ear which tickled at first and then felt much better.
"Houston…"
He smiled at the surprise in her voice, intertwined with delight.
"You like that?"
She sighed pleasurably.
"Well yeah…who…wouldn't?"
"The music's really great," he said, "This act should try out the clubs back in L.A."
She turned her face slightly.
"That'd be great," she said, "Chris and I would definitely go see them."
Matt nibbled on her earlobe and she nearly jumped.
"I'd take you dancing there…"
"Houston…I never knew you were big on that," she said, "But it would be nice."
"It sure would…"
She smiled enjoying his attentions…then suddenly something crashed nearby and they heard some yelling. They looked towards where the noise came which not surprisingly was the beer garden.
"I don't even want to look…because last time we passed there, I saw Flash."
"He's on probation isn't he?"
C.J. nodded.
"If he gets into any more fights, he's going to jail…and he can't get arrested tonight…he's got two mounts tomorrow on Rusty's horses."
She pulled away and jumped on her feet. Matt looked up at her.
"C.J. where are you going," he asked.
"I got to find out what's going on over there and kick Flash's ass before he gets arrested."
She took off and Matt got up and followed her. He knew that she didn't care all that much about Flash believing him to be a salacious lout but she did care about Rusty. She knew how hard he had been working to try to excel as a trainer. But Matt didn't want anything to happen to her.
Sure enough furniture was flying, beer spilling and quite a few jockeys had gotten into it with some locals and C,J. looked and saw Flash coming out of the porta potty.
"Flash…"
He looked over at her and he grinned. That's before he apparently saw a beer can flying out of the corner of his eye and ducked, while it flattened itself against a wall.
"I'm going to kill you," one man said, after some beer had splashed his outfit.
"You're on probation, you can't get in any more fights," C.J. said after reaching him.
"Baby I didn't start this one and if someone's going to challenge my manhood," he started.
"Forget your manhood," C.J. said, "If you get arrested, you won't be able to ride for Rusty and it will break his heart."
"Rusty doesn't have one."
C.J. had heard that said about the crusty trainer but she knew it wasn't the truth. But someone had apparently decided he didn't like Flash because he approached with his fists raised.
"C.J. watch out," Matt warned.
She turned and right when the man swung a punch at Flash, he missed the jockey and hit her in the face instead.
Damn that hurt, as she nearly saw stars but she kept her focus despite the pain and pushed the man away from Flash. Then she turned to the jockey and waggled her finger.
"Now you stop this…we need you to ride in the fourth tomorrow and you're not doing anything to get arrested and tossed in jail."
"He started it…"
"I don't care…it's ending right now," she said, exasperated.
Flash looked defiant but made no further moves.
"Your eye's going to swell shut," he noted.
Oh well C.J. decided she could deal with that when she knew that Flash had settled down. Matt on the other hand took one look at her getting hit and went after the man who did it, slamming him against a wall.
"What's your problem," the guy slurred.
"You hit a woman and I definitely don't like that," Matt said, "Understand me?"
The guy blinked his eyes and belched.
"I get it…now can you let me go…I need a beer."
Matt just flung him aside and went back to where C.J. stood.
"What a crowd here…you okay?"
She tried to smile but her eye did hurt some.
"I'm fine…I got in the way of a punch."
He took a closer look at it.
"We need to get you some ice," he said, "Come on, we'll find some."
One of the bar tenders did find them some ice and put it in a bag, which Matt gave to C.J. to put on her face after they sat down.
"I'm fine Houston…really…"
He sighed.
"Some night out, isn't it?"
She smiled back at him, reaching to stroke his jaw line.
"I'm having a great time," she said, "I've got a great date, it's just never a dull moment I guess."
"I guess not…ready to go home?"
She nodded, holding the bag against her face.
"It looks pretty bad…maybe you should go to a doctor."
She'd have rolled her eyes at him if she could.
"Maybe it'll be just fine in a day or two…"
He looked concerned.
"Maybe you shouldn't be alone tonight…just in case."
She shook her head.
"I'll be fine…and no you're not spending the night," she said, "We still have to have the talk."
"The what," he asked.
She just looked at him in disbelief.
"You know what I'm talking about," she said, "Don't play coy with me. This is serious stuff."
Comprehension lit up his face.
"Oh…that talk…okay…we don't have to do anything. I just want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine…but thanks," she said, "Well maybe you can stay for a little while…but only that."
"All right, then let's get going then," he said, as they headed to the car, his arm wrapped around her and her head leaning against him.