"Kris. Kris," Jean whispered, shaking my shoulder slightly. I stirred, but I was stuck dreaming about Junior, I hadn't seen him in a few days, since we slept together to be exact, and all I wanted was to be with him. But I have to focus on the race, it's tomorrow and I have suddenly become Wildfire's caretaker it seems. I slowly opened my eyes, adjusting to my surroundings of the stable, I'd been spending each evening after work here with Wildfire before the race. The sun looked like it was about to set, so there was still a bit of light covering the farm from the side, it must be around 6 o'clock, I thought. I wondered why it seems like I am always taking a nap around this time of day, and being awoken by different people each time. It must be because I'm still getting used to the extraneous work that comes with being a farm hand. Sometimes I wish I could just skip forward in life, skip all the unknowns, all the what-ifs and just be with Junior, become a Jockey and live happily ever after. I wouldn't have to be the one to pick up after the horses or fix the fence. I could just ride and be free. Then I started to wonder what Junior wanted to do when he got older. Did he want to take over Davis Farms? because it didn't seem as if he was that into horses. Each thought lead me to another, the lingering feeling of how I didn't really know Junior, and he didn't really know me. But I wanted to know him; I wanted to be with him. Jean then lead me back to reality,

"Are you okay?"

"Huh?" I replied, coming away from my thoughts, looking up at her. "Yeah," I said, tucking some hair behind my ear, "yeah, I'm fine. I was just confused about where I was for a second." I laughed.

"Looks like you and Wildfire are pretty comfortable." She said, smiling at the pair of us.

"Yeah, I hope the company will help him this weekend." I said, while rubbing my neck, suddenly realizing it probably isn't actually the comfiest of places to sleep. "I better get back to my trailer and eat some dinner," I told Jean, not really in the mood to stay and chat.

"That's actually why I woke you, we're all having dinner inside, if you'd like to join us. Pablo's there too it's sort of a tradition we have before a big race." She smiled, looking hopeful that I'd say yes.

"That'd be great. I have to go freshen up a bit first though, I think I have hay in my hair." I laughed, pulling a piece out.

"Of course." With that I got up and went straight to my trailer. I didn't know if I had time for a shower, and I didn't really feel like taking one right now, cause I wanted to right before bed. So I just brushed out my hair, removing the pieces of hay as I went and changed my shirt. That was all I felt like doing, so I headed over to the main house. As I walked I stopped in my tracks suddenly noticing the silver Porsche parked in front of the Ritter's. Although I still cared about Junior and wanted to be with him, it seemed like it would be awkward for our first interaction since that night to be around my boss and her family. It's not that either of us didn't want to see the other, our schedules just never seemed to match up, but we have been texting, so hopefully things won't be too awkward. I decided to keep walking, I didn't want my anxiety of the interaction to get in the way of my relationship with Jean. Over the past few days she's been so encouraging, like the mother I never had, but always wanted.

"Can we talk?" Junior asked after I greeted everyone, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the view of everyone else.

"Not now," I whispered, he looked a little disappointed, "after?"

"After," he nodded with a smile.

"So Kris, how's Wildfire been? I couldn't help but notice you two hardly leave each others side." Henry joked.

"He's been great, actually. I definitely think he's ready for the race tomorrow. But I don't want to say too much, with the enemy here and all." I teased, glancing over at Junior.

"Hey, I wouldn't understand a thing you said anyways." Junior laughed.

We all sat in the dining room, which was nice, kind of on the fancy side, but nowhere near the Davis'. You could tell Jean decorated it, because it was really homey and had a ranch vibe still. She made pot roast and we all talked about the race and I asked probably about a thousand questions, seeing as how I was the only one there that had never actually been to a horse race before. Illegally street racing, sure, horse racing, no. It was nice to feel like I was a part of a real family.

After we all helped clean up we decided to go our separated ways. Pablo had some things he needed to get together before tomorrow, Matt was going to meet Dani, Todd wanted to play his new video game, Henry was ready for bed, and Jean had to clean a few more things up. That left Junior and I. We walked out on to the porch and just sort of looked at each other for awhile, in silence.

"Come on," I said, pulling his arm this time, leading him towards my trailer. I didn't want whatever it was we were going to talk about to be so out in the open. We entered into my trailer and Junior started to laugh. I had no idea why. "What's so funny?" I asked seriously, kind of upset.

"Really Furillo. The last time you brought me into your trailer to talk we ended up in bed. Is that what your trying to do here?" Junior teased. I just stared up at him, grimacing. I mean, he had a point, but still, it was rude to laugh.

"Whatever." I said, trying not to laugh myself. "Do you want to talk or not?" I asked.

"Yes, I want to talk." He said, coming closer to me. We sat down on opposite ends of the couch, facing each other. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." He suddenly blurted out. "When I would drop off Matt, there you were working away, and I didn't know if I could come and talk to you or not. Every time you texted me my heart jumped. I only came to the dinner tonight because I knew you'd be there. So I guess what I'm saying is that I want to be with you. I don't want anymore of this unsure, were kind of seeing each other thing. I want to be your boyfriend and you to be my girlfriend. Who cares if we've only known each other a couple weeks. The connection's there and I can't make it go away." Junior quickly said, not pausing for a breath. I didn't know what to say myself though, because I felt the same way, but I was scared. So we just sat there, staring at each other. It felt like an eternity, it was probably only a few minutes though.

"Okay." Was all I managed to say.

"Okay" Junior smiled, I guess he took that as a yes, I guess I meant it as one too.

"So what now?" I asked, unsure if we should do anything different now that we were officially together.

"We can just hang out for awhile. We'll have to wake up early though, with the race tomorrow and all." Junior said, interlocking his fingers with mine.

We sat and talked for hours. About what our plans for the future were, what we wanted our relationship to be like, and horses and cars and what our favorite foods were. Eventually I needed to take a shower, Junior sat and waited. We fell asleep talking, life seemed perfect.

Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while. Life's just sort of been a whirlwind. I still like this story though, and know where I want it to go so hopefully more updates will come soon. -Z