Mon Chéri

28

ND68:

"Nova, can we talk?" Charles asked as I walked back to my rental truck. I was driving the sixteen hours to Mexico City from Austin tomorrow evening so I would be returning it in Mexico. "Yeah sure can we talk and walk?" I asked and he nodded. "I was wondering if you wanted company on your drive?" He asked. It seemed he wanted to say something different when he asked to talk but whatever. "Yeah, sure if you're up for it." I said and he smiled. "Let me run back and tell Christian to cancel my flight. I'll meet you back at the hotel." He said and I nodded. "See you soon." I said and he smiled. I finished my walk to my car and jumped in.
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I door-dashed food to our room but for the sake of my trainer's mental health I ordered a chicken salad and Charles ordered some sort of burger. Non-American loves American food. "Are you enjoying your burger?" I asked with a small smile. "How can you not enjoy this?" He asked and I laughed. "When you grow up with it, it becomes boring." I said and he shook his head in disbelief. He finished inhaling his food and I finally finished my salad. "So when are we leaving?" He asked as he threw away our food containers. "Around 5 pm. I want to drive most of it in the night since there are fewer people." I replied. "Sounds good." He replied. "Hey so I hit up one of my old friends, she's got a huge ranch out here and I was gonna go see her tomorrow and ride. Do you want to come?" I asked. "If I'm welcome I'd love to Chéri." He replied. "Of course you're welcome. I wanna head over around nine so we can spend a bit of time there. We will just leave from there if that's okay with you?" I asked and he nodded. "I'm just along for the ride Nova." He said and I smiled. This is gonna be good.
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My alarm woke me up blaring next to my head and I groaned. "Come on Charles." I said shaking him as I woke up. He groaned as well and I yawned. "Come on bro you get to learn to ride a horse." I said and he groaned again. "I'm gonna die and Christian will kill you after." He said and I laughed. "It's not hard." I said and he rolled his eyes. We both got up and I walked to my suitcase. I pulled out a tank top and jeans with my everyday boots, then it dawned on me. Charles doesn't have boots. "Charles, what size shoe do you wear?" I asked. "Um, US size like ten I think?" He said. Well, I've got nine and a half's. "Try these on." I said handing him my second pair of daily ones. He nodded and slipped on one of them. "Are they too tight?" I asked. "They're snug but they're not uncomfortable." He said. "Okay then wear those. If you need jeans that are boot cut just grab a pair of mine. They might fit you I wear men's jeans." I said and he nodded. He walked over to my suitcase and pulled out a pair. "Are these okay?" He asked. "Those are fine." I said glancing out of the bathroom to see them. I changed and put on some mascara and concealer, then put all my shit away.
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"We all packed?" I asked and Charles nodded. "Let's go." I said. We threw the suitcases in the bed of the truck and put our duffel bags in the back seat in case we hit weather. "It's about half an hour from here." I said as I put in the directions to Clara's ranch. Clara's dad was best friends with mine so we became friends because of that. We always got along just had two different life passions but when I came to Austin I knew I had to go see her. "Is this shirt appropriate?" He asked. I glanced over and saw he had a Redbull T-shirt on and nodded. "You're good." I said and he smiled. The ride was quick and we pulled up to a long dirt driveway with "Johnsington Ranch" on a huge sign at the beginning of it. "Holy shit." Charles mumbled. We pulled up the driveway and soon enough saw the house and barn. I grabbed my phone and texted her we were here, then parked the truck. "Nova Daniels!" I heard being shouted in a thick accent. "Clara Johnsington!" I shouted back as I saw her walking out of the barn. She ran over and I ran towards her and we hugged. "It's been a long damn time Nov." She said. "Fuck yeah, it has." I replied. I glanced back and saw Charles had gotten out of the truck so I walked back towards him Clara in tow. "Clara this is Charles, Charles this is Clara." I said and they both smiled. "Nice to meet ya." She said sticking her hand out. "You as well." He said and shook her hand. "So are we teaching city boy here how to ride?" She asked and I smirked. "Yes ma'am." I said and she smiled. "Hell yeah. Alright, I'll go tack up my ranch horse and for you my dear oh do I got a surprise for you." She said with a shit eatin' grin. "Bitch you put me on a barely halter broke again I'll kick the fuck outta you!" I hollered after her and she giggled. "Nah not that bad. Just got a little spice in him." She said and I rolled my eyes. "Should I be worried?" Charles asked. "No, she won't put you on a horse that isn't calm. Me on the other hand well that's a different story." I said. "Don't die yeah? And don't let her kill me." He pleaded and I giggled. "You won't die Charlie boy. You'll be a cowboy before you know it." I said and he snorted so I laughed.