Page 83 of Tailwhip
I look over my shoulder and notice Chase standing there, looking right at us. “That would be Chase.” Cora quickly looks away, almost embarrassed. “You know, Cora, you are allowed to look. You are no longer with Brock, right?”
She is quiet for a moment. “You are right, I can look. I am single and allowed to mingle.”
I laugh at what Cora just said, “Come on, let’s go. I need to do this.”
Cora nods her head, and we walk toward the tent. Right away, I spot Anthony, kneeling and fixing something on his bike, not caring about what is going on around him. I stand there for a minute, looking at him.
“Go say hi, he has been waiting for you.” Nash whispers to me.
I look over at him and smile, then he nudges me to move.
“Hi!” As soon as it is out of my mouth, I am yelling at myself in my head for being so awkward. Really, that was my opener after months of not seeing each other? All I can say is ‘Hi?’ Anthony drops the tool in his hand and stands up. He turns to face me, and everything fades away once our eyes lock.
Finally, I hear him over everything. “Hi, Sweetheart!”
I look down at the ground, trying to hide my big smile on my face, but I soon feel Anthony grab my jaw to look back up at him. I look into his hazel eyes, and I instantly throw my arms around his neck. At the same time, his arms pull me into his body in a tight hug and he lets out what seems like a sigh of relief. I start pulling away, but he is not letting me go just yet, “Are you going to watch me ride in both competitions?”
I pull back slightly and look at him. “Of course, I am going to watch you. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Anthony pulls away and lightly grazes his lips across my forehead. “Good!” He says and turns around, starting to work on his bike again. Before I go say hi to Chase, Anthony turns to me. “You should head to the stands; Noah and Mateo are going to start soon! I’ll see you up there.”
I turn around and say a quick hi to Chase. Then, I grab Heath and Cora to head to the stands. Once up there, we see Neha and Nick waving at us and saving us seats.
“Ashlynn! It’s been forever since I’ve seen you. How the hell are you?” Nick asks me as soon as I make it up to the seats.
“Hi, Nick! It’s good to see you!” After talking for a bit and sitting for over an hour, the street competition gets under way.
Both Noah and Mateo are riding for Overbear for the Pro Rookie class. As it starts off, so far, all the riders are good. Us girls get very excited when we see that there is also a girl competing with the boys. From what we can tell, no one in the crowd has cheered for her, so we made sure to do it ourselves. I, of course, want Noah and Mateo to come in the top spots, but this girl can ride! Once she finishes, she has near perfect scores from the judges. Noah is next. He rides the street with the same tricks he did a few months back and ends it with his triple flair, which has the crowd going crazy! Noah gets great scores as well. Mateo is ready to drop in for his run; he also does a smooth ride through the street section and surprises everyone by ending his on a triple flair too! Right at that time, Anthony and Chase take a seat in front of us and both are surprised that Noah and Mateo decided to end with the same trick. I also overhear them talk about possibly sponsoring the girl rider. At this time, all the rookies have completed the street competition. We are all awaiting the announcement for the winner.
Sitting anxiously, they finally start to announce the top three winners. The announcer starts. “In third place, riding for The Overbear team, is Noah Oliver. In second place, riding for The Overbear team, is Mateo Cooper. Our first-place winner for the Rookie Pro Class Street competition is MaHailey Gordon. Our very own Santa Cruz local.”
Once the winners are announced, Mateo and Noah make their way over to all of us in the stands. I walk down to Mateo and give him a hug and tell him congratulations. He pulls back. “Ashlynn, I think I am in love! MaHailey is not only amazing at riding, but she is so pretty, and we talked before and have a lot in common. Like no family to support us.”
Right as he says this, I remember him telling me his brother was going to be here, but I haven’t seen anyone for him.
“She did kind of blow you boys away!” I tell Mateo.
He just smiles at me. “Yeah, she did!”
We go and sit down. “Why did you both end your runs with a triple flair? Mateo, I didn’t even know you had been working on that!” Anthony says.
“We thought that would make us stand out. People will know the riders of the Overbear team are the first to pull a triple flair!” Mateo says.
“I can’t argue with that!” Anthony tells them.
We sit in the stands for another hour before the Pro Riders start doing their practice runs. With each trick they are practicing, Cora jumps with excitement next to me, “Oh shit, did you see that one? Oh my gosh, what was that one called?! This is crazy what they are doing on their bikes.”
I laugh at Cora, “These are just practice; wait until they actually do their tricks that are planned!”
Right then, I hear Chase tell Cora, “Wait until you see what Anthony has been doing. Nothing we have seen before. A few new tricks he has had trouble landing them. I am certain he will get it here. Right, Ashlynn?!”
Chase looks over to me, I nod my head, “He’s always the standout of these competitions!”
Cora and Neha both roll their eyes at me. “You are just saying that because he is your guy!” Neha says.
I look over at Neha. “You know it’s true!”
She sighs, “Yeah, it really is. Anthony is on another level when it comes to BMX!”