The second game event, at the park.
I drive to the park, which is near the rodeo arena. I haven't been at a rodeo show since I was seventeen. I remember the shows used to be a huge thing here in Pampa. I don't know if that's still the case. I turn to the left, onto the parking and see a lot of cars. I park the car and we step out. Britney looks at the arena and pulls her nose up. "What's all this?" Bryan and I look at her. "This is the rodeo arena. We'll be in the park behind the arena." I point and Bryan looks at the park. I smile as Frances parks her car next to mine. Sean, Jamaal, mom and dad step out. Frances looks at me and I smile. I look back at the park and see a lot of people already being there. Mom and dad came to us.
"It looks crowded." I say. Dad looks at the park. "Yeah, since a few years we've been inviting the whole town to come. Not everyone is coming, but a lot of people are." I smile at him and he looks at mom. "I'm not even allowed to make my own snacks. This game event is really popular now, just like the dancing." Mom says as I give her a kiss on her cheek. "We got two runs going these days. One for the boys and men, and one for the women and girls." Dad takes mom's hand and they walk around the rodeo arena to the park. We follow them.
"You're ready for this, Dancer?" I look at Jamaal who is walking next to me. "Are you, Skittles?" He looks at me and chuckles. "Always, you know that. I don't even mind losing, unlike you or Jack." I think about the bet Jack and I made. I inhale deeply. "You don't mind if Jack would win this bet, do you?" I chuckle and shake my head. "Honestly? I don't." Jamaal stands still, so did I. Bryan stays with me. I look at him. "Go with Baby, son. I'll see you in a few minutes." Bryan nods and runs to Frances and Sean. Britney hasn't seen me standing still, so that's a good thing. Jamaal watches my face and crosses his arms. I look back at him and smile.
"You're gonna tell me what's going on, brother?" I put my hands in my pockets and look down. Jamaal keeps watching me. "What's going on between you and Baby?" I look back up and see his smile. "What makes you think something is going on?" Jamaal chuckles and shakes his head. "I know exactly when you're being secretive. So, you better tell me, or I'll ask Baby." I snort. I see him grinning. I turn and slowly walk on. Jamaal walks next to me. "Please, keep this to yourself for now, okay?" Jamaal looks at my face and nods. "You know you can trust me, Dancer." I inhale deeply.
"I wasn't planning on doing this when we came here. The first plan was that we just came to celebrate the game events and the anniversary." Jamaal only nods as he listens to me. "But since I saw Baby again, things have been happening." "What things?" "Baby and I making out for a starter." Jamaal stops walking and turns to me. I stop and look at his face. He starts to smile. "Ma already had her suspicions yesterday and this morning." I turn my head and look at mom talking to some acquaintances. I see her smiling happily. Jamaal looks at her as well. "She looks happy." "Yeah, since you came back, she hasn't stopped smiling."
"Baby and I had sex." Jamaal looks back at me, but I keep looking at the people. "When?" I look at him for a second and then back at the people. "Once yesterday morning at the creek, and twice in my tent last night after everyone went to bed." "Three times? For real?" "For real." Jamaal starts to chuckle and pats me on my upper back once. "Good job, Dancer." I shake my head as I look at his grinning face. "I can imagine now why you don't mind losing the bet." I start to smile. "Jack won't get her, nor will he have a date with her." Jamaal chuckles again. "Look at you, being all possessive." "I can't help it, Skittles, she's all I've ever dreamed of."
"Well, as long as you and Baby are happy, that's what counts." He grabs me into a short hug. I pat his back. "What about Britney?" I let him go and look at Britney. She has found Philip and Mary. I see them talking and smiling. I guess she has found her sort of people. "There are a few things, but I don't want to talk about it now." Jamaal sees my serious face. "Okay, but if you feel like talking about it, you know where to find me." I start to smile and pat his shoulder. "Thanks, brother." "Say, have you showed Baby the bottle?" "Not yet, not the right time. Let's go, this is gonna be a great afternoon." Jamaal smiles as we walk to the people.
"Johnny Castle!" I turn my head and see a few of my old mates coming to me. They start to laugh, and I got short hugs. "You're looking good, man." I look at Kevin and see his big smile. "Kevin Hill, it's been a very long time ago." He chuckles, I look at the other two. My old team mates. "You're all still living in Pampa?" They chuckle. "Of course, why would we leave? Rob here has taken over his father's diner." Kevin points at Rob. "And what about you, Grant?" I look at Grant. "I was away for some time, trying to get a career in football going, but then dad got sick. I'm running his ranch now." I smile and Kevin pats my chest once.
"And you, Dancer, you're famous now, right?" I look back at Kevin. Jack came to us with beers. "Jack! It's good to see you here again!" Kevin says. I inhale a bit and step back. They haven't changed much. "You all are married, kids?" They look at me. "I'm divorced, my ex-wife left me with my daughter. They went to Cleveland." Rob says. "I'm sorry for you." He nods. "You shouldn't be… let's go and have some fun." Kevin says, he walks away with Grant and Jack. Rob steps closer to me. "They haven't changed one bit." Rob nods. "That's very true, they're going to the strip club in next town every Friday. They tell me to start going with them, it would be good for me." I look at Rob. He takes a swirl and sighs.
"You're still single?" He asks. I look at Britney. I see Jack introducing her and she smiles at Kevin and Grant. "I'm engaged, but not sure for how long." Rob looks at Britney. "With her?" He asks. "Yeah, Britney Martins, but I don't think I still want to marry her." I look around and see Frances smiling and talking to Ben. I start to smile. Rob sees my change. He turns his head a little and sees Frances. "I see. Baby is divorced, but I guess you know that already." I nod. "You're still in love with her?" I look at him and nod. "Then you should follow your heart." Bryan and Sean run to me. They look at Rob.
"Hey, Sean, you're having a good time?" Rob asks. "Yeah." Rob looks at Bryan. "I believe we haven't met yet." Rob says and extends his hand. "I'm Bryan Castle." Bryan shakes his hand. Rob looks at me and I give him a nod. "Nice to meet you Bryan, I'm Rob Wood. I'm an old friend of your father." Bryan looks at me and I nod with a smile. "Pawpaw told us to get you, he wants to start with the race." "Let's go then." The boys run away, and Rob looks after them. "They seem to be friends." "They are, they're camping at the ranch. I haven't seen my son being so happy as he is right now." Rob smiles.
We walk to dad, who has gathered all the men and boys. "I see more people have joined us this year than the years before." Some cheer, I watch Kevin and Grant whistling as they drink. Jack came to me. He crosses his arms. "You're ready to be a loser, Dancer?" I look at him and see his grin. "Don't tempt me." He starts to chuckle. Dad smiles as he looks at everyone. "You know how it goes, the first to win the race will be having the biggest steak from the barbeque tomorrow evening before the dancing event." I look at dad. "You'll love it, believe me, that steak is sublime." Everyone chuckles about it.
"We get something else as well?" Jack asks. Dad looks at him, then he looks at me. "You two have your own bet to handle, okay? Leave the rest out of that." I see everyone looking at Jack and I. "We do these events for fun. We just give the winner a little extra." I look at my son. Sean had taken him to a few boys with the same age. I guess they're school mates from Sean. I turn around and see all the women and girls sitting down. They're bringing around snacks and drinks. It's like one big picnic for the whole town. I start to smile as I see Frances sitting down with mom, Penny and Kaylie. I see Philip sitting down as well. I sigh as I turn my head to look back at dad.
"First you men are doing the race. The ladies will be after the last man has finished. Just keep in mind, no funny business, no fighting and no pushing someone off an obstacle. Be fair and most of all have fun." I move to the start line. Jack came to stand next to me again. I inhale deeply. "All right, everyone's ready?" Everyone nods. "And… go!" I start to run. Jack quickly following me, as does the rest as well. "Go, Johnny, go!" Penny and Frances shout at the same time. Mom chuckles about it. "Here, sweetie, have a nice caramelized apple." She hands one to Kaylie. She takes it and takes a bite.
"You're gonna run as well, ladies?" Penny looks at mom with a smile. "I will try, but I do it more because Kaylie wants me to." Mom smiles. "And you, Baby? This year no skipping, okay?" Frances chuckles and smiles. "I'll run, but don't expect me to win." "Who do you think will win?" Penny asks. She keeps looking at Frances with a smile. Frances looks at her with a teasing smile. "You really need to ask?" Mom chuckles. Britney looks at them when they were cheering for me. She keeps looking at them and sees them smiling and laughing. Philip sits next to her and Mary sits on his other side. "How savage is this thing?" Philip asks. Mary looks at her son.
"This is called tradition, son. I remember my sister and John started to do these games since their one-year anniversary." Philip looks at her. "That's a long time." Mary nods. She looks at mom and starts to smile. "She still looks as happy as she was on her wedding day." Britney looks at her now as well. "No one ever thought that their marriage would last." Mom looks at Mary and smiles. She waves and Mary waves back. "What do you mean, mother?" She looks at her son, then at Britney and she thinks. "He was the catch of the town." Philip looks at dad who went to mom to join her.
"You could say he was very popular among the ladies. John and I used to date before he fell in love with Cath." "Really? You used to date a savage man like him?" Mary chuckles and shakes her head. "I was nineteen at the time, you could say I was young and foolish, but my sister wasn't." "What do you mean?" Mary looks at Britney now. "Catherine was in love with him from the first moment he stepped inside the kitchen at the ranch. I've always known about her feelings. At first, I didn't gave it much attention. John is the typical masculine cowboy who doesn't move quickly out of someone's way. And he was, and still is, extremely handsome." Britney snorts. Philip's eyebrows went up.
"You find him handsome?" Mary smiles as she looks at dad, who gives mom a sweet kiss. "Oh, yes, I do. It took me some time to realize that John liked my sister a little more than I first thought. After a while he told me that he had fallen in love with my sister from the first moment he laid his eyes on her. I had to let him go because there was no stopping John when he wanted something. Took me a long time to accept that they're together." Mary inhales deeply but is still smiling. "You were better off with father." She grabs his hand and squeezes a bit. "I was, your father was a wonderful man. My sister had a very hard time when I left town after I met your father. She never forgave me for ignoring her letters and phone-calls. I never should've done that. The fact that she's being so nice to me now, makes me feel really awful."
I jump over the pole and run to the ropes. Jack is close behind me. "You're going down, Dancer." I look back at him and chuckle. "Then you need to get faster, cousin." I swing over the mud pool to the other side and run to the tractor tires that are buried halfway into the ground. I dive through the first one. I look for my son and see him being with Billy. Sean is trying to keep up. I crawl through the second tire. "Come on!" I turn my head to my right and see Jack crawling faster. We arrived at the last tire at the same time. I crawl quickly through it and stand straight. I turn and look at Jack struggling. I start to laugh at him. He looks at me. "Stop laughing! I'm stuck!" Jamie stands next to me and starts laughing too. Jack looks at us with a growl. Jamaal sees the situation. "What are you doing, cousin?" Jamaal asks with a chuckle.
"I'm stuck!" Jack shouts. "You're eating way too much these days." Jamaal says and went to help Jack. "You need a hand, cousin?" I ask. Jack looks at me. "Why aren't you running away? You can win this, Dancer." I went to him and help Jamaal to get Jack through the tire. Bryan and Sean see the situation and came closer, Billy did as well. "I'll push." Jamie says and went to Jack's legs. It took some minutes to get Jack loose. Jack stands straight and looks at me with a grin. "None of us is going to win now." Billy says, I look at him with a smile.
"I don't care about winning, I'm having fun." Bryan says. Jack looks at me. "We still have a bet going on, Dancer. I'm gonna take this opportunity." I look at him and see his grin. "What are you up to?" He pushes me away and starts to run to the robe bridge. "Hey!" The rest looks at him. "Not fair!" I run after Jack. "Let's go, boys." Jamie says. Bryan sighs and runs with Sean to the rope bridge. I try to grab Jack, but he was too far. He jumps off the bridge. He laughs at me as I follow him.
The ladies are watching us. Frances and Penny are cheering for me. Franny came to them and smiles. "You're having fun, ladies?" They look up at her and smile. "Where have you been, sweetie?" Mom asks. "I had an appointment with my gynecologist in the hospital." Franny sits down after she gave dad a kiss. "Is everything alright?" Frances asks. "Yeah, everything is great." Franny takes some snacks and starts to eat. Carlos went to them with drinks as he looks at us running to the last obstacle. "Shame you couldn't join them, Carlos." Dad says. Carlos sits down and sips his beer. "It's fine, the baby is more important." Dad nods with a smile.
Britney is watching the race now as well. She stands up and went closer to the last obstacle. Many women are there to cheer for their spouses or sons. Jack and I arrive at the same time and we start to climb the wall. I'm panting. I look at Jack who seems really determine to win this race from me. "Come on, baby! You can win this!" Britney shouts to encourage me. I look at her and lost grip. Jack turns his head and laughs at me. I look back at him and quickly start to climb again. Bryan and Sean arrive at the wall and Bryan starts to climb. He has some great agility. Sean is struggling, but he tries.
After a moment he stops and looks at Bryan being almost at the top. Jack is too. "I can't do this." Sean says. Frances also went to the wall to cheer for her son. Britney starts to laugh at Sean. "Come on, honey, you can win this from your lousy cousin!" We all look at Britney now, even Jack. I look at Sean who starts to cry. "I can't do this." He says again. I see that Frances wants to go to him. I quickly jump off the wall and went to Sean. He looks at me as I kneel next to him. "Let me help you." He nods at me. "Grab the robe." Sean did. "Put your foot here and pull yourself up. Don't worry, I'll support you, okay?" Sean nods.
I support him as he slowly climbs up the wall. Bryan sits on the wall, looking at us with a smile. Frances starts to smile as well. Britney looks at her and gets angry. She looks back at me. "Come on, baby, you can leave him here. You got to win from Jack!" I look at Britney for a second. Sean loses his grip and slips a little. I catch him and hold him up. He's panting from fear and he looks at me. I give him a nod. "You're doing great." I whisper. Sean nods and looks at the top of the wall. Bryan is still sitting there. "Oh, come on, Johnny! You're way better than any of them here, why are you helping him?" I sigh deeply, but I keep looking at Sean.
"Leave the boy, Johnny. He's not even your own son! Why do you care so much about him?" I became angry now, but I keep helping Sean until he reached the top. Bryan helps him getting over the wall and I walk around the wall to help him getting down. Britney wants to walk to me when Frances, Penny and a few other women cross their arms. Britney looks at them and she steps closer to Frances. "What?" She asks. "Why are you like this? This might be a race, but we do this for fun, it's not about winning." Britney snorts. "Yeah, right, is that why Jack and my fiancé were always betting because of you? Johnny is a winner, and he should think about winning." Franny came closer and starts to laugh.
"Winner?" She asks. "Yes, look at him. He has a way better life than any of you. He made something of his life, unlike most of you." Britney crosses her arms. "We all know what made him famous, and we all support him as well, because that's what family do. But if you tell us that he's a winner? Then you don't know him at all." Franny says. "He is a winner!" Britney nearly screams it. Everyone slowly gathers around the situation. "He won the game events just once in his life. When he was seventeen. He's not a winner, but at least he's not a sore loser like you seem to be. The only game he always won was the dancing one." Frances says. Britney looks at her and growls.
I help both boys off the wall and walk around to look at the situation. Jamaal and Jamie are following me, as well as the boys. Billy came to me while Jack runs to the finish line. "Like you know him! I'm the one who's going to marry him!" "I wonder how well you really know him." Franny says. "Is this going to be a test? He's too good for all of you!" I came closer to them, but so did mom. Britney sees me and grabs my arm. "Honey… tell them you're a winner. They don't believe me." I look at the rest, they're all looking at me. I see mom standing next to Frances. Before I could say something, dad came to the situation. "What in the world is going on here? We're supposed to have a fun afternoon."
"Pa…" He holds his hand up. "My youngest is back in town and all that's going on is drama. This is not about you, these events are to celebrate, to have fun and be with family and friends! I don't need drama, if you can't hold your fiancée down, I'll have to ask you to go back to LA. Do you hear me?" I see his nostrils flaring up. I haven't seen my father being this angry often, and it's scary. I swallow and look down. "You really let yourself be talking to like this?" Britney asks. I put my hands in my pockets and look up at her. I look at dad and he has cross his arms. I look at mom who tries to smile. I look at Frances and Penny. "I'm sorry, pa." I look back at him.
"Let's go home, honey, we're better off without them." Britney says. I didn't react to her. She grabs my arm again and tries to pull me with her, but I keep standing still. "Shouldn't you listen to your fiancée?" I look back at dad. Mom takes his hand and he looks at her. He exhales and turns. I watch him walking away and I feel I'm getting upset about this whole situation. Penny watches me and decides to step in. "Johnny?" She came to me and takes my hand. I look at her. "Come, it's gonna be fine." She takes me away from everyone. They all look after me. When we're on a distant. I turn and grab her in a tight hug. I start to sob softly. "Shh. Shh. It's gonna be alright." She rubs my back a little as she comforts me.
"I don't know what to do, Pen. I hate it when dad is this angry. I don't want to go with Brit back to LA." "What about Baby?" "I want to be with her, I really do." I let her go and she looks at my face. "Then do what's best for you, Johnny. You've been living your life too much for others, you should start living it for yourself." I snort a little, but she grabs my face again. "Listen to me. If you go back to LA with her, you'll lose everything, including Baby. Your son will hate you." "Pen, I don't know what to do. I feel conflicted. I know the world is looking at Brit and me. Fans who are looking forward to the wedding." "But?" I look at her face. I see her face and inhale deeply.
"I don't trust her anymore. I don't want to be with her… and I don't know how to end the relationship. I've been looking for the right moment since we got here, but there's no right moment." Penny hugs me again. "Sometimes there hasn't to be a right moment, sometimes you just need to do it. I know you Johnny, probably better than anyone else besides your mother and Baby. I know you don't want to disappoint anyone, but sometimes it takes disappointment in order to make that step forward." I hug her tightly and she pats my back. "I try to talk to her tomorrow." She let me go and smiles. "Okay, now let's go back and have fun." I nod. We walk back and I look at Frances who gives me a little smile. I smile back at her.