I Wish It Would Rain

If you could, you should listen to "I Wish It Would Rain" by the Temptations as you read this. :D

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I just screwed things up royally. The one guy that I truly liked, and just about loved, his heart is now broken thanks to me. We were just starting to get close again too. I must be one of the stupidest people on the planet. But, my foolish pride wouldn’t allow me to take him back, no matter how much I really wanted to.

So, it was Friday morning, and I was still in Columbus at the American Quarter Horse Congress. I was happy because I had made the call backs for the final class of the 17 year old equitation class. Out of like a hundred or so people and to make it to the final twenty riders, now that was just amazing.

I was out in the warm up area, waiting to go back into the arena to finish the class. As I was trotting around the ring, I heard someone call my name. When I looked around, I really shouldn’t have been surprised to see Keith’s Uncle Seth waving at me.

I heard you made the finals for your class. Congrats!” he said as I approached him.

“Uh, thanks. I’m so excited! I mean, to get to the call backs at the Congress? Now, that’s a miracle,” I said excitedly.

“Well, you’re one of the best riders I know, and you deserve it. You’re still coming out to the ranch this summer, right?” he asked.

My eyes went wide in shock. I totally forgot about going to the ranch this summer. But things between Keith and I are really weird.

“Uh, of course I am,” I stuttered out. “But, I just have to tell you right now that things between Keith and I really aren’t that great at the moment.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” he laughed while waving it off. “You two are still young, and I know that you’ll work it out eventually. Trust me, I know about these types of things, even though I’m a guy. But, you two are perfect for each other.”

My mouth felt like it was going to hit the ground. Did he really just say that? He hardly knows me at all, and he’s saying things like that? Thankfully, I was interrupted in my thoughts when they called for my class to go back in.

“Good luck Penelope! And don’t forget what I said about Keith,” he called as I followed the others, making our way back inside the arena.

He just had to say that, didn’t he? Now, I’m probably going to royally flub up in this class, not being to concentrate on my ride. But now, I wouldn’t able to do even that with Seth’s words flittering throughout my head.

How would I be able to concentrate on keeping my heels downs, my shoulders back, my hands up and equally apart, all while not looking like a stiff. People say that riding a horse looks easy, but it is definitely not. But, I seem to have a natural ability, as some people have said. I’m hoping that some of that ability will pay off.

Before I knew it, all of us were at the other end as the judges (yes, I said judges. In most horse shows, there is only one judge, but at the Congress, they have five different judges for one class, and usually they’re the judges for the whole day. It’s cool). Anyways, they add up all the totals, like they’ll tell you what you placed under each judge, or if you even placed under any of them at all.

I ended up placing 3rd under the first two judges, and then 2nd under the remaining three judges. Looking around, I started freaking out, because a couple of times, the person who placed first under one judge would get fourth or fifth under another judge, and then the person who placed second would end up getting fifth or sixth under another judge. If I did my calculations right… well, I would be very happy.

As they were starting to hand out the ribbons for the placings, starting with tenth place, I started getting jittery. With each name of the rider and their horse called, the nervous butterflies in my stomach kept beating faster and faster. After they called the name for the third place rider, my breath caught in my throat. They were either going to call me next, or…

“And in second place,” the announcer started, but trailed off, trying to put some suspense into it, “we have…” please don’t be me, please don’t be me, I thought as there was a slight pause in his announcement, “Alice Kinsey from Flint, MI,” and I tuned out after that.

I started freaking out! I mean, there was only one place left, and…

“And our congratulations to the winner of the English Equitation class for 17 years olds is Penelope Starr, from Tankerville AZ, showing He’s A Smart One,” he boomed into the microphone, thunderous applause coming from the stadium as I rode forward to collect my ribbon, along with my Congress jacket that I get for winning the class, donated by Schneider’s Saddlery, and a trophy.

“Smarty! You’re such a good boy!” I cooed, giving him big pats on the neck as we exited the arena, only to be met by my parents and grandparents.

“We’re so proud of you honey!” mom said proudly, holding onto Smarty while I dismounted.

“I can’t believe that I just won,” I said in a daze, smiling like a fool. “What time is it back home? I have to tell Clark!”

“Being that it’s about 11:30 here, and it’s three hours ahead, it’d be about 8:30 back there, and school is in session,” dad said matter-of-factly.

“That’s a bummer,” I said while slumping my shoulders. “I really wanted to call someone, and have them be excited as me!”

“Well, you can surprise them once you get home,” mom suggested.

“That’ll be fun,” I grinned to myself as we walked out of the building.
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So now after taking pictures after winning with my parents and such, and after packing up all my crap, I was sitting on the plane with my mom and dad, heading on a plane that was taking us back to Arizona. No lie, I was starting to get homesick from not seeing my other animals. But right now, I was fine because my parents decided to buy me a puppy, well, a Jack Russell Terrier for winning the class.

I wanted her (yes, a her. Boy dogs piss all over the place) to sit in my lap, but they wouldn’t allow dogs to sit with the passengers, even though she was only two months old, and was so tiny and scared. On the way home, I was going to think of a name for her, since she didn’t come with one.

Since we left the airport at about 6:30, and it was about a 3 or four hour ride, it would be either 6:30 or 7:30 when we got back to Arizona. And then, it took about another hour to get from the airport to back home.

Luckily Smarty was one of those horses that was calm when he was on a plane, so he was flown out with us. With all of us settled into dad’s truck, we set out for the trip home, with my new little puppy asleep on my lap. I ended up passing out in the back seat, with the puppy curled up next to me. She was just too cute.

It was about 9:00 by the time we finally got home. After putting Smarty in his stall, and giving him extra flakes of hay and carrots, I took puppy and trudged up to my room. I couldn’t help but wonder how the game was going out. After last week, I was really hoping that they would win.

On a rash decision, I took a very quick shower, threw my wet hair up into a messy pony tail, pulled on a pair of kinda short khaki shorts, a spaghetti strap, took my Congress jacket, along with a sleeping puppy tucked in my coat, and headed downstairs.

“I’m going up to the school for a little bit, to see if I can catch the end of the game,” I called out to my parents while grabbing my keys and heading towards the door.

“Don’t you want to stay home and get some rest?” I heard mom call out.

“Not really. Love you!” I called out. It was really the truth. After my nap on the way home from the airport, I was feeling really refreshed.

Putting my jacket and having puppy sleeping on it in the passenger seat, I headed up to the school. It was about 9:50 when I pulled into the parking lot, and luckily some people left early, which left some good parking spots open.

Even though the night was humid, I put on my jacket, zipping it up partially so I could tuck puppy into it. I was hoping that my friends would be able to help me come up with a name for her. Since it was so late into the game, I didn’t need to pay to get in.

Not wanting to waste any time, I took out my cell and called Lindsay, trying to figure out where they were.

“Hello?” she answered boredly into the phone.

“Hey Linds! Where are you guys at?” I asked, my eyes roaming the grounds.

“We’re at the football game. So, how was Congress?” she asked in a more happier tone.

“I kinda figured that you guys would be at the football game. But I want to know exactly where you guys are standing,” I smirked to myself as I caught sight of a tall person.

“Um, we’re kinda by the concession stand. Why?” she asked dumbfounded.

That was them alright. “Turn around.”

She slowly turned around, obvious curious until she saw me waving back at her. We shut our phones as she ran over and hugged me.

“You’re so sneaky! When did you come back?” she started throwing out questions as the rest of our group trudged over.

“Careful!” I scolded with a smirk as I pushed her away. “Look what mom and dad bought me,” I said while carefully unzipping the jacket so I could show them puppy.

“Oh, she’s so cute! Whatcha gonna name her?” Lindsay asked while taking her out of my jacket.

“I haven’t exactly decided yet,” I said while scratching her ears.

“Pen, why are you wearing a jacket when it’s so humid outside?” Clark said while tugging at the sleeves of my jacket.

“Take a closer look at it,” I said excitedly while holding out my arm.

He grabbed it and studied it in silence. A moment later, he let go, his eyes wide with excitement as he looked at me.

“You won your class?” he just about yelled, and I nodded. “Why didn’t you call me? Or at least text me? This is big news!”

“Because you were in school dummy,” I said while punching his arm. “Plus, I thought it would be more fun to surprise you when I got back. But anyways, how’s the game going?” I asked while looking at the scoreboard.

“It’s been back and forth all night,” Lindsay said somberly while shaking her head.

There were about 2 minutes left in the game, and we had the ball. For some reason, my gut had this weird feeling. It clenched, making me feel like something was wrong. A moment later, Keith snapped the ball and went back, but he didn’t get the ball off in time. He was hit down to the ground, and by the sound of pads and helmets crashing, it was hard.

“Keith!” I yelled out, as I realized that he wasn’t getting up.

The whole audience had turned silent, me standing there with my hand over my mouth, in some lame attempt to keep from breaking down. It seemed as if he were laying there forever, and I just wanted to break out into sobs. But at one point, I noticed that he got up. The coaches tried helping him off the field, but he didn’t go, he stayed on the field, in what I thought was a stupid move. With loud cheers, the game resumed playing.

Now, they were only down to a minute left, and they were on third down. I was so nervous, about how the ending would turn out. They tried to throw it down the field, but sadly the pass was short. So now, it was down to the final down; it was all or nothing. This was the deciding moment of the game. I couldn’t watch!
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It was 11:45, and I was lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep. The night was humid, making it uncomfortable to actually fall asleep. But that wasn’t the only reason I was unable to fall asleep. My mind was still on the game.

They won.

On the final play, they pulled out all the stops. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I really wished that I had my camera on me at that moment.

Keith went back, and it was like time slowed down. He had enough time to find an open receiver, and John was heading towards the back corner of the endzone. It reminded me of the game the day after he asked me out. They were in the same position, but only this time, as the ball hurdled towards John, he caught it.

It went silent as he stood there, staring at the ball in his hands, before throwing it up in the air in celebration as the rest of the guys from the team all ran and dog piled on him. I clung onto Clark, jumping up and down with happiness while looking at the team. I caught Keith’s eyes, and my heart felt like it stopped. Only when he turned away did it start beating again.

Knowing that he had some kind of celebrating to do with his team, I came straight home, and tried to fall asleep, but it was no use. So here I am, lying in my bed, trying to get comfortable which was really impossible.

With a sigh, I sat up, giving puppy a light scratch behind the ears as I got out of bed and went and stood out on my deck. I walked over to the railing, leaning over it as I looked out into the sky, gazing at the stars that were hidden by the clouds that were rolling in the sky. My gaze stopped on the North Star.

“Please, I wish it would rain,” I thought fervently, closing my eyes and wishing on the star. When my eyes opened, it didn’t rain, but instead they were drawn to a pair of headlights heading up my driveway.

My breath caught in my throat; I recognized those headlights. The vehicle shut off, and some open the door and shut it behind them as they made their way to the house. From the light of the deck, as the person approached, I saw that it was Keith. He made his way up the stairs and stopped when he stood a couple feet front of me.

“Uh, hi,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Um, hi. So, we won the game,” he said, “but you already knew that,” he trailed off while rubbing the back of his neck.

“What an ending to the game though. How do you feel after that hit?” I asked, genuinely concerned for his well being.

“Actually, I feel really good. I was just going to give up, but then I heard you call my name,” he said while looking in my eyes.

“Keith,” my voice came out in a whisper as he closed the gap between us, placing a hand on my cheek.

“I was hoping that I wasn’t dreaming when I heard your voice, because I didn’t think that you were going to show up. But then afterwards, I saw you there. When I saw you, I saw something in your eyes… so I was just hoping that…” he trailed off, leaving the words unspoken, since neither of us wanted to say them.

“Keith,” I said softly, looking down at the ground. “My head, it keeps telling me to tell you no, but then my heart breaks when it says that. My heart is telling me to say yes. In this instance, I really don’t know what to do.”

“I love you chickadee,” he whispered as he pulled me in against him. “No matter what your choice is, I always will love you.” He placed a kiss on my forehead before slowly pulling away from me.

I don’t know why, but at that moment, I was compelled to look at my watch. It read that it was 11:59. Great, just great. Tears of frustration began to roll down my cheeks, stressed from not knowing what to do, when I felt something hit my head.

“What was that?” I asked while touching my head.

“What was wha-” but he was cut off as he placed his hand on his arm.

I looked at his arm, and saw a droplet of water sitting there. I just stared at it until I felt something hit my arm, followed by another thing. It was then that I noticed that it was raining. Not some weak little drizzle, but actual thick rain droplets falling down from the sky.

“Can you believe this!” I said in disbelief, sticking my arms out to the side, twirling around as the rain started to fall down harder. I stopped when I saw that he wasn’t moving, but staring up at the sky. Slowly, he lowered his gaze back to me, a giant grin plastered on his too-handsome face.

“You know what this means, don’t you,” he said in a whisper.

“I have no clue what you mean,” I said innocently.

“But, I thought…” he trailed off.

“Just shut up and kiss me,” I growled as I grabbed him by the shirt collar, dragging him down and planting my lips on his in a fierce kiss as the rain was now starting to soak through our clothes.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and brought me closer that I was pressed up against him, able to feel his heart pounding out of his chest. I tangled my fingers in his wet hair, running my hands through it as I never wanted the kiss to end. But all too soon, we pulled away for air.

“Keith! Your guitar!” I said as the though suddenly came to me.

He was in thought before he smiled at me. “Let it get wet. It doesn’t matter as long as I have you.”

I smiled before bringing him in for another kiss. At that point in time, I was so happy that wishes do come true, because for the first time in a long time, it finally rained.