Mayfly Melodies

Thirty-Four

"Any news yet from Noah?" Bailey asked Caroline as she and the band took a much needed break for food and water. 

She went to sit by her on a worn-out comfy couch.  It was faded red leather and matched the room horribly.  The walls were an ugly mud brown and the carpet was purple shag.  The décor was minimal and vintage and Bailey got the feeling that nothing in the room, aside from the impressive and state-of-the-art recording equipment, was newer than the nineteen-eighties.

Caroline shook her head.  "No."

Bailey frowned and twisted the cap off of her water bottle.  They'd heard from him early but it had only been a short text.  He'd told them that he'd arrived in Broken Arrow safe and sound that he'd pulled a bull called Voodoo for the first round.  There would be two rounds in this competition and Noah was hoping to place at least third. 

He was going into the competition ranked thirty-seventh in the country and was hoping that a third-place ribbon would bump his ranking by a few spots.  If he won, he'd been confident that he would jump anywhere between five-and-ten spots ahead on the USA leaderboard and hopefully a couple in the world ranks. Globally, he was sitting at seat number fifty-one. 

"Hope he's doing okay," Bailey said.  She took a long pull of water.  "Is it weird that I'm kind of nervous?  I just wish someone was could be there with him for when he wins."

It saddened Bailey every time she thought about the fact that Noah was competing alone with no support around him.  She wondered where he would be before and after his first ride, where he would wait until the second round began.  Would he on the sidelines watching his competition?  Or would he be by his truck, standing on his own with his hat drawn low over his eyes the way he was the first time she'd seen him in Tishomingo?

Having support wasn't the only reason she wanted someone to be with him.  She knew that it was a dangerous profession and that he could be hurt at any moment.  Hell, Noah had been hurt before.  What would happen if he got thrown or slammed against the ground or hit by a wayward horn and there was no one there with him? 

Bailey felt a flutter of nerves in her stomach just thinking about it.

Maybe next time I'll convince Jake or Travis to go with him if I can't, she thought to herself.  That way he doesn't have to be alone.  I know it's not quite his dad or his brother but at least he could have someone with him who understands the pressure.

"Me too," Caroline murmured and her soft voice was somber and Bailey had the notion that Caroline's mind was on the exact same worrisome one that hers was on.

Bailey placed her hand on Caroline's knee.  "He's fine," she said.  "He's got it in the bag, just like always."

"Mm."

"What are you working on?" Bailey asked then to change the subject.  She turned her head to the side slightly so that she could read what Caroline had written. 

Just like always when she picked up a piece of music, she could hear the guitar chords and the strum patterns come alive in her head.  There was a harmony working itself out and she started tapping her foot to an imaginary tempo.  She even began drumming on her knee with her hands.

"Needs a chorus still."  Caroline was sitting tall and rigid.  It was the stance she went into every time she showed Bailey new music.  Bailey thought that it was like she was waiting for someone to bring her down, to tell her that it was horrible and she needed to leave.

"I like it.  We could put it up tempo a bit more, not quite dance like but sing-able, you know?  A radio hit."  She rose and fetched her guitar.  "Let's see..."