BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (54 page)

“Sure…” She sounded a little put off, but
I didn’t care. I needed some time to think and I knew that talking to my
girlfriend wasn’t really going to help.

She was beautiful and alluring, but had a
temper and a touch of a controlling personality that could be a little rough.
Still, she was always there for me whenever I needed her,
 
so I couldn’t help but want to stay with
her.
 

“We’re still on for later though, right?”
she demanded.

“Yeah, of course!” I hoped that I could
actually keep that promise.

The truth was that with my mother, I could
never tell what kind of mood she would be in when I got there, or what kinds of
plans she would have. Likely, she was going out with her friends and couldn’t
care less what her new roommate was doing, but I could never be too sure.
Therefore, I knew that only time would tell.

Chapter
3

Valerie

I was feeling fantastic! It was about a
week after Shawn had moved out and I had just had my molars removed.

It also helped that I had gotten to take
the day off from school. As a senior especially, even one who valued my grades
as highly as I did, it was always nice to only have to go to class four days
out of the week.
   

I was high from the laughing gas and I
found everything absolutely hilarious. On my way out, my mother met me at the
door.

“How are you feeling?” she asked me.

“Weeeee!” I answered. “No pain, Momma
Bear, none at all!” I let out a roar of laughter, which made my mother roll her
eyes.

She placed her hand firmly on my shoulder
before she looked deep into my eyes and tried to speak to the part of my basic
functions that were allowing me to walk and talk, at least somewhat coherently.
The rest of me was obviously lost to the world.

“I need to fill out some forms. I will
just be a minute. Please go sit down over there.”

I laughed again loudly, but didn’t have a
care in the world. “I’m high, Mom, not deaf.” I stuck my fingers in my ears,
referring to the loudness of her tone.

I guess she had thought that if she spoke
loud enough, she would be able to reach deep down inside and pull out the
essence that I was insisting upon.

She shook her head, turned me around and
walked me back to a chair.

On the way here, I made her swear that no
matter what I did, she would not videotape me. That would be just like her sick
sense of humor and there was a part of me that was glad I had made her do that,
even now in my seemingly drunken stupor.

My hazy eyes glanced around the room until
they settled on a face that seemed to be familiar, even though I couldn’t quite
place it.

I squinted, trying my best to think of
exactly who it was that I was just barely recognizing sitting across the
waiting room

Teacher?
I thought.
No…Does my mom work with her?
Nah…Old boss? I don’t think so…

Then, just as my drunken stupor was about
to take over and demand to know who the woman was, I saw a much more familiar
face coming out of the other door.

My strange sense of annoyance with
everything that was going on caused me to squint my eyes and wonder for only a
second, before I realized that the person, who resembled my own state quite a
bit, was my stepbrother.

I laughed at him again as he made his way
out of the room, and he stared at me with a blank expression before moving
toward me.

“Hi!” he said in a chipper, intoxicated
happy voice. “I know you!”

I giggled back at him. “I know you
too…Stranger.”

We both shared a laugh before we heard the
shrill voice of the woman that I now vaguely recognized as Shawn’s biological
mother. “Oh! Diana…I am so happy to see you.”

This got the attention of the two of us.
Even in our current state of joy and oblivion, I was sure that this was going
to be an interesting conversation.

My mother hated Shawn’s mother. But ever
the lady, the only indication of her aggravation towards Shawn’s mother were
the terrible looks that she would shoot her. It was fantastic. I loved every
solitary moment of it, because from the way Shawn’s mother acted, the two of
them were old friends.

“She doesn’t care about me at all,” Shawn
whispered to me before he giggled. “And it’s great!”

I smiled, but even in my state, I lacked
the sense of pleasure the idea brought to him. I just sat there quietly.

My mother turned around, confused at
first, but then saw Shawn out of the corner of her eye and gave his mother one
of her infamous looks. I giggled, knowing the dynamic, but Shawn just watched
the two of them. He looked as though he was going to burst into laughter at any
moment.

“Hello, Cindy,” my mother answered
tightly.

“What are the chances, right?” Cindy
answered, going in for an unreturned hug. However, that didn’t break her stride
at all. Before giving my mother any more time to answer than what it took to
smile and hum slightly, she said, “However, I am so happy that I found you.”

“You are?” She raised one eyebrow and
tried once again not to laugh.

Cindy nodded and continued in a loud,
slightly obnoxious voice. “I would love it if you could take Shawn for me.”

“He’s only been there a week,” my mother
answered carefully, this time completely unable to hide the look of aggravation
on her face.

“I know.” She ducked her head, as though
embarrassed, but everyone else knew that was not the case at all. “But I have a
business trip that snuck up on me and I simply cannot get out of it.”
Dramatically, she pressed her fingertips to her forehead and tried to appear as
though she was thoroughly flushed with guilt.

Even in my current state, it was hard not
to laugh at this absurd act. However, since I could now get away with random
outbursts, I did.

However, I laughed so hard and so loud
that everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

“You’ve got a funny looking face…” I said
toward Shawn’s mother, who narrowed her eyes at me slightly.

My mother was quick to jump in, laughing
almost nervously as she turned Shawn’s mother’s attention back to herself.
“Sorry. She is just a little loopy…you know, molars.” She shrugged innocently.

“Yes, I completely understand,” she
answered. “This is why I need you to take Shawn as well. He had the same
procedure and I just want him to be somewhere safe so that if he needs
anything, I will know he is being taken care of.”

I saw my mother nod, but I could tell that
she was holding her tongue. “Of course. We always have room for Shawn.” She
smiled at her as though to portray to her that yes, she meant exactly what she
thought she meant. She was scolding her for not ever having time for her son,
but without using a single word against her.

“Excellent! Shawn is going to have such a
good time…”

As she looked back at Shawn to tell him
the
good news
my mother shot her a
look, with her one eyebrow almost touching the ceiling that explained exactly
what she was thinking:
Did you even have
a conversation with your son the entire time he has been at your house?

Shawn just shrugged and giggled. “You know
what guys? I really want ice cream…”

“We’ll get some on the way home,” my
mother said to him, trying her best not to laugh.

“Yay! Ice cream!” I parroted, suddenly
feeling the urge for it as well. My mouth wasn’t sore. In fact, I really
couldn’t feel anything and wondered if I was even going to be able to taste it.
Still, even without being pumped with laughing gas, there were very few
occasions when I would ever turn down ice cream.

And whether he was drugged or not, I was
getting to have some with the person that I still considered my best friend in
the whole wide world; even if he had gotten to a point where he would no longer
agree.

Chapter
4

Shawn

“She dumped me, didn’t she?” I remember
hearing my voice say just as soon as my biological mother was out of earshot.

I knew I shouldn’t say anything like that,
because I hated the look of pity that my stepmother and stepsister shot me; but
in my current state, I couldn’t even begin to focus on the two of them or the
way that I was feeling.

I didn’t like the laughing gas because it
made me happy when I should have been freaking out. However, now that I had it
coursing through my system, I wasn’t so unhappy with the way things had worked
out.

In a way, I was happy my mother had shoved
me back onto my father and his wife. It just showed me the continuity that I
had come to expect from my mother. I didn’t really mind it all that much
anymore. But still, as I said the words before my brain caught up enough to
stop me, I stared between Diana and Valerie, who suddenly seemed far more
sobered, before I burst into laughter. “It’s okay…” I threw my arm around
Valerie, something I hadn’t done in a really long time. It felt good to feel
her familiarity, but thankfully, I didn’t comment on that. All I said was, “I’d
rather be with you guys anyway.”

I felt Valerie smile before she hugged me
tightly, as though she had actually missed me. “I’d rather you be with us guys
too…”

I laughed at this and saw Diana roll her
eyes. “I feel like you two just reverted back to being five years old.” She
smiled between the two of us as though there was something reminiscent about
the picture from the past we were painting before her eyes that she was
enjoying. Although I was fairly certain she wouldn’t admit that.

“Does that mean we still get ice cream?”
Valerie asked and this time, it was my stepmom who laughed.

“I am so annoyed right now that you made
me promise that I wouldn’t record these precious moments,” Diana answered
through her laughs. “It’s something I would love to show Zachary.”

Even in her sense of stupor she was able
to find her voice enough to exclaim, “No!” in an embarrassed fashion.

“You might have, Diane, but I didn’t
promise anyone anything!” I slurred and tried to keep it together long enough
so that my words would sink into Valerie’s brain.

She stopped and stared at me with absolute
horror and I doubled over with laughter.

“I can’t find my phone anyway…” I
answered, patting my pants in search of it for only a moment and then giving up
when I lost my train of thought.

“Jerk,” Valerie exclaimed, now slightly
angry, even though I was sure that none of the medication had worn off of her
yet. I found it funny that she got annoyed at my lack of compassion. I would
have really thought that she would be used to it by now. “Why would you even
think of doing that to me? You’re so mean!”

Thankfully, I just burst out laughing,
instead of saying the ample amount of true responses that I had floating around
my completely gassed and very wired brain. If there was one time that I would
have given anything so that my loose tongue did not say anything, it was now.
But I was able to keep my secrets to myself.

As Valerie rolled her eyes, her mother
teased us. “Come on, children. Let’s not make a scene.”

After the close call and the
unpredictability of my own words, I was happy to oblige.

Just like she promised, Diana bought the
two of us ice cream and got us set up on the couch and the chair opposite one
another, before leaving us with the warning of, “Be nice.”

Since Diana always kept her promises, I
wasn’t sure why I was so surprised.

By the time we were settled back in the
place that I still, no matter what, would consider my home, Valerie had
forgotten all about being angry with me. I was happy about that. The last thing
I wanted was our day of bliss and probably pity from the parents to be
interrupted by a stupid, laughing-gas induced fight.

Yet, I still wasn’t thinking logically
enough to comprehend all of that, so I just wanted to talk. “Hey, Val…” I
giggled.

“What’s up, Shawn?” She leaned her head
back on the pillow and pulled her blanket up to her chin.

“This is just like when we were kids,
right? Remember when I got the chicken pox and your mother brought you over so
that you would be exposed and we both got the chicken pox? And my dad was
freaking out, but your mom was just like, nah…they’re good. At least they’re
together.”

At that, she began to laugh hysterically
again, remembering my father completely going off his rocker with worry, for
the both of us. “Yeah…But she took good care of us though, just like she is
now. She didn’t let anything happen to either of us.”

“Yeah. She always has, even when she
wasn’t my mother…er…stepmother…”

“Yeah, I know,” she answered. “Remember
when you got in trouble for making a waterslide at recess and they couldn’t get
ahold of your parents, so they called my mom, figuring it was just as well?”