Big Girl Boots

Thirteen

The elevator began whirring as soon as I jabbed the three button. With the amount of noise the thing made, I expected it to reach our floor in seconds, but it took almost a minute. Aunt Callie gave me a look when I began drumming my fingers on the handrail and I stopped, feeling sheepish.

"Alright, girlies," she gave us a gentle push towards our room and motioned for Kellan to open their door, "if I hear a single peep out of you two, I'm gonna break down the door and beat you both, got it?"

Coda's eyes went wide and I giggled while swinging the heavy door open. "Good luck with that. This sucker's pretty sturdy. But yes ma'am. Night!"

Her look finally softened to a tired smile "I love you. Both of you."

Once Coda and I were inside the room, I closed the door with a dull thud and looked around. We'd never stayed in this particular hotel before so it was a new experience. Normally we would have just gone with something really cheap and booked three rooms. Since our usual hotel was totally full, we'd ended up in this one, which was far from cheap. I snickered a little thinking about how Kellan had to share a room with his parents. But, I mused, if Ty got drunk and passed out in some girl's trailer again, Kellan could probably just crash with Wyatt.

Wyatt had informed me ahead of time that he was in the same hotel as us. When asked how he could afford it, he'd proudly told me about the competitor's discount they'd given him. I wasn't about to deny the fact that Wyatt and Ty were good team ropers, but it made me a little jealous that they got recognized while Kellan and I didn't.

"Pretty nice place, eh?"

Coda jumped a little when I spoke. She'd been staring at the closet door while I took in our surroundings. A tiny bathroom and closet created a small hallway as you walked in. The room then opened up to reveal a pair of beds on the right wall with a large nightstand in between them. A TV and a desk sat on the left wall, just like most hotel rooms. One decent sized window looked out over the city and with the blinds open, all kinds of lights flashed in at their convenience.

"Yeah, I guess," Coda yawned, dropping her red duffel bag to the floor. "Do you want the bed closest to the door?"

"Sure." I tossed my own bag onto that bed and sat down to pry the dirty cowboy boots off my feet. Every time we stayed in a hotel, I couldn't help but wonder if the housekeeping staff had to do a lot more cleanup during rodeo week.

Complying with mama Callie's demands, Coda and I quietly changed into pajamas and crawled into bed.

The next morning, I woke up on my own accord, though it was nearing nine o'clock. Coda was curled up in bed with a cup of coffee, absentmindedly scrolling on her phone. I yawned and stretched, prying a piece of hair out of my mouth.

"Morning."

I grunted and sat up, shoving all of my hair back. The only thing hanging on at this point was a rubber band, tangled past my control.

"Sleep good?"

"Yeah," I yawned, glancing up. The TV was off and I remembered rather suddenly that Coda wasn't a big fan of it. As far as I knew, she preferred to read or listen to music. "Did you eat already?"

She shook her head and took a sip of coffee. That would explain why she was drinking that instead of orange juice. "Thought I'd wait for you."

I nodded and wrapped both arms around my knees. The sun was shining faintly through the half open blinds and I could just barely see the city below. "We can head down whenever. Did you text Kellan?"

Asking about Wyatt was very tempting, but I refrained. Neither of us had broached the subject since the day of that fateful date, and I didn't want to start this rodeo off with another fight. For whatever reason, we'd had more than enough of those lately.