Sail Away [COMPLETED]

Chapter 13 - "You put in a gallant effort."

The moment the horse instructor got Hudson on his horse, Ty could see exactly how he felt about the situation. His shoulders were tense and his knuckles were white from gripping the reins for dear life. Ty easily pulled herself up onto her own horse and directed it towards Hudson as the instructors listed off the last of the directions.

"Relax," she said calmly to Hudson as she brought her horse alongside his. "I've been overseeing this excursion for years and I have never seen one of these horses spook or go faster than a trot. They are trained for this."

"Sure," Hudson said through gritted teeth, and his body remained tense. "I can't believe you talked me into this."

"Hey, I said you could stay with the bus."

"Then proceeded to taunt me by flirting with Hank."

She shrugged. "But a shirt with my face on it would be adorable."

The instructors motioned for everyone to start moving and words became too much for Hudson as all his focus shifted back onto the horse he was sitting on. Ty gently tapped her horse into motion as all the other horses started to follow the lead instructor.

It wasn't until one of the instructors doubled back that Ty saw that Hudson hadn't moved. She smiled as the instructor came alongside Hudson and slowly tried to pry the reins from his frozen hands. He would be fine. Ty had seen these instructors handle scared riders before. She motioned her horse forward to join the rest of the group.

Ty didn't see Hudson for the rest of the ride. He stayed far behind the group with an instructor dedicated to keeping him and his horse moving, while Ty moved about the group playing photographer. By the time the Hamilton Party returned to the bus, Ty had taken approximately five thousand photos and added a couple hundred more as everyone gathered together in front of the water for a group photo.

It wasn't until everyone was climbing back on the bus that Ty noticed that Hudson was only just returning, his horse walking at a snail's pace while an instructor rode beside him, holding Hudson's horse's reins. The instructor helped him climb down from the horse and Hudson looked like he might get down and kiss the solid ground beneath his feet.

Ty smirked as he approached the bus's door. "Was it as bad as you thought it would be?"

"Worse," he said dramatically.

She rolled her eyes. At the pace he had been moving it would have been like riding a toy horse at the mall. "Well, I hate to add bad news to the day that is going so terrible for you but unfortunately you missed the group photos." He paused. "Everyone didn't want to miss the chance to document the glory of the Hawaiian shirts," she explained.

He mulled over that info for a moment before he shrugged. "Maybe horseback riding isn't the WORST thing," he said before he climbed on the bus.

When they returned to the downtown part of the island, the group was given two options: stay on the island and enjoy the luxury shopping and dining for the afternoon or they could return to the cruise ship immediately with Ty and Kenny. It didn't surprise Ty that all the girls wanted to shop and they pulled half of the guys along with them. It also didn't surprise her when Hudson appeared by her side as she headed to the taxi boat.

"What's next?" he asked.

"Well, The Bali has a lot of exciting activities going on this afternoon. We have a dance class in the ballroom, karaoke in the ocean lounge, shuffleboard on the sun deck, and a cooking demonstration in the cafeteria."

"That's nice," he said, brushing aside all the options. "I was talking about what's next for us?"

Ty gave him a flirty smile. "I didn't know there was an 'us'."