BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (55 page)

I nodded. “She let me have it that day.” I
narrowed my eyes. “Oh and are you referring to the waterslide that was your
idea?”

She smiled. “I have no idea what you’re
talking about.”

“Right, little miss…It’s so hot out here.
Why can’t somebody do something about this heat…I know, I wish we had a
waterslide!” I said, exaggerating my own girly impression of her.

“I do not sound like that!”

I nodded enthusiastically and chuckled.
“Of course you do! You just can’t hear yourself.” I raised my eyes pointedly
and mockingly. “Which is great news for you, but not so good for the rest of
us.”

She narrowed her eyes and shot me a look
that made me extremely glad that I was situated on the other side of the room.
“I have a great voice!” she answered indignantly. “Besides, nothing was worse
than the sound that came out of you when your voice started to change. It was
like a dog killing a parrot.”

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes at
her as I said in a teasingly offended voice, “I thought we agreed that you were
never to bring that up again!”

She burst out laughing now. “Hey, you’re
the one who started to play dirty, I was just catching up.”

I gave her a playful growl and then my
woozy brain began to drift slowly, deeper into a more serious reminisce. “Thank
you for always being there for me.”

“Of course,” Valerie replied with a
genuine smile. “No matter how stupid you’re being, I’m always going to be right
there, getting your back whenever I need to and picking you up when you fall
down.”

My tired eyes rolled over toward her and I
smiled. “Thanks. You know I never want to lose you, right? Even if I am stupid
sometimes.” I giggled and settled down myself, bringing the blanket up around
my neck and hoping that I didn’t sleep too hard on my mouth so that it blew up.

However, I was so tired by that point, I
didn’t even hear Valerie’s response.

When I did wake up, my head felt as though
it was filled with lead. I thought about falling asleep again, but I felt eyes
watching me. I lulled my head over to one side and saw Valerie sitting up,
staring at me.

The sight of her made me laugh and I
rolled over to go back to sleep. After all, it was just Valerie. She could
stare at me all she wanted. That didn’t bother me one bit.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, sounding as
though she was trying to speak through a mouth full of rocks.

“Your face,” I answered and chuckled some
more.

“What? Is it that bad?” She reached into
her purse to grab a mirror. She pulled it out and stared at her large cheeks.
“It’s not
that
bad.”

“Okay, if you think that looking like a
starving chipmunk that just discovered an everlasting supply of food is
not that bad
then you look absolutely
beautiful.”

I could feel the ire steaming off of her
now, even though I hadn’t dared to look back at her.

“Well, let me see you then,” she spat.

I shrugged, then sighed and made my way,
slowly, up into a sitting position. I turned to her and smiled, as her anger
disappeared and she started to laugh hysterically. “You should talk,” she
finally wheezed, only after she had doubled over. “You look like you got in a
fight and lost…badly.”

I shrugged and answered evenly, “Yeah,
well, while your injuries make you look large and slightly more animal-like, my
molar pulling experience makes me look tough!”

“Hardly,” she answered, and the two of us
laughed because I knew well that there was likely nothing on the planet that
would make me look tough. I was just too goofy. It was a gift, really.

It was nice to laugh and be able to enjoy
the company of one another. It was good to get back one on one with Valerie.
There was so much that I missed about being able to just have a conversation
with my best friend. Over the past few years, that concept had become
increasingly difficult and that was bothersome to me.

However, not only was I aware that we had
our problems, I was also aware that things were the way they were because of
me.

Deep down, I knew that the issues I had
with my stepsister really had nothing to do with her, but it was just something
that happened.

Still, even through all the teasing, the
pain of my head feeling like it was going to fall over, the dizziness and the
discomfort caused by the procedure, I recognized how nice it was to enjoy an
afternoon together, just like we used to do every day.

There was no Zachary to distract Valerie,
my father wasn’t there to tell me that I was recovering wrong from getting my
molars, because only he could do it the best, and there was no Dalilah
demanding my attention. So the two of us were able to enjoy life, the way that
we were supposed to: together without any interruptions.

Chapter
5

Valerie

It sounded silly, even to me, but during
the time the two of us were having our high little reminisce, heart-to-heart,
whatever you wanted to call it, I held out hope that we had made a
breakthrough.

Although I was sure that I would never
actually admit it, I knew that I wanted my best friend back. I wanted the Shawn
that could tell me anything and the friend that would be there for me no matter
what.

It didn’t matter that the two of us were
completely off our rockers that weekend; we had a great time and I missed that.
We might not have been quite as random and silly when we were not under the
influence of anything, but back when we were best friends, before the decline
that took place after the marriage of our parents, there was never a dull
moment.

Having that weekend together reminded me
just how much I missed Shawn and wanted him back. Due to the fact that he had
decided to pull away, we had assumed a new normal that was nothing like the
relationship we used to have.

Up until a week and a half ago, we had
lived under the same roof, but we hardly spoke. He resented me, but I wasn’t
quite sure why and so eventually, I went my way, searching for what I was
missing from our relationship, and he went his way.

He found Dalilah…a crazy woman that I
detested, but my relationship strengthened with Zachary, so I really couldn’t
complain, in that respect.

Yet, I missed him and that past weekend
had really put it into perspective of exactly how much I missed him. I didn’t
want to have to go another day…or another minute trying to be away from him.
The weekend made me realize how much we had been torn apart and how superficial
this new normal was.

Therefore, the following Monday morning,
when I was feeling good enough to get out of my room, I quickly made my way
downstairs. I wanted to catch Shawn before he left for school to see if he
wanted to talk.

However, his car was already packed by the
time I was ready to go and my mother said that he wanted to leave early to get
back to his own mother’s house.

“So, he isn’t staying?” I realized how
desperate my voice sounded, even though I really didn’t care. In truth, I was
desperate. I wanted my friend back and I couldn’t imagine him living with a
woman who didn’t care for him at all, while I tried to sort this out.

My mother shook her head sadly. “He’s a
teenage boy and Paul is very rough on him. I wish he would lay off, but it
seems that the more he pulls away, the harder he tries to push him away.”

I shrugged and wondered what the
difference was. Sure, I was better at school then Shawn, but I had always been
better at it. School came easy to me where, unfortunately, it did not come near
as easy to Shawn. But he was working on it and therefore, I couldn’t understand
why his father would always be so hard on him.

However, I never said anything, because it
wasn’t my place. Staring at my mother now, I really didn’t think it was my
place to say anything now either, even though I was fairly certain that
whatever I had to say, my mother would agree with.

Even so, she didn’t give me very much time
to answer before she asked, “How are you feeling?”

I thought for a moment, trying to switch
gears. Honestly, I was so concerned with fixing Shawn and my relationship, that
I wasn’t even considering my own personal state. “I’m okay, actually…” I said
after thinking for a moment. I switched gears again and added, “Do you think
that I could still catch him?”

My mother chuckled. “Well, no…I think he’s
pretty long gone. But you’ll see him at school.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Why does he
do this to me?”

“I don’t know, dear,” she answered, even
though I was sure she knew I actually didn’t mean for her to. “He’s going
through a rough time right now though and he does need our support.”

I smiled and nodded, knowing that for as
aggravated as I was at the moment, he was feeling far worse about his
situation. At least both my mother and stepfather allowed for me to do what I
pleased, for the most part. I had witnessed the harshness that Shawn’s father
plagued him with and I knew it wasn’t right.

But my mother had often reminded me that
before anything, he was Paul’s son and therefore, he needed to be the one to
decide how he should be disciplined.

Even though my mother was there as an
equal parent, I knew that ultimately whatever Paul said went as far as Shawn
was concerned, and whatever my mother said went with me. It was an unspoken
rule, but one that was securely in place nonetheless and I took care to see
that rule was not broken, despite the disproportion that I witnessed.

After a moment, I decided that I should
get to the bus myself. I was sure that Zachary was waiting for me and would be
at the door any minute to pick me up, if I was not already walking outside.

Once upon a time, when Shawn first got his
car, which he worked so hard to get, he would take me to school. He would offer
nearly every morning, but eventually, we had grown so far apart that he stopped
asking. So even if he did occasionally put the idea out there, I would usually
decline so that I wasn’t disappointed next time his mood shifted.

However, as I walked down the driveway,
and even after I saw Zachary making his way toward my house, I realized that I
had never missed our mornings together more than I did right now.

I didn’t want a car. For my eighteenth
birthday, my mother and stepfather had offered to buy me one, but I had
declined. I didn’t think it was fair that I was able to have one free and Shawn
had to work hard to get his.

Yet, after our eventual growing apart, I
was beginning to think that I had made a stupid, martyr’s choice. Still, my
decision was based on the time when Shawn and I still drove together to school,
so I figured that I didn’t need a car.

It wasn’t just about the ride though, it
was the whole experience. It was the idea that technically, we could do
anything once we pulled out of that driveway. We could go anywhere and the
reason we chose to go to school was because we were good kids.

Still, that didn’t stop us from being late
every now and again to go to breakfast.

I sighed and shook the recollections out
of my mind as I made my way over to Zachary.

“So, how’s the tooth?” he asked, smiling
knowingly as he spoke.

I shrugged. “Not too bad now, even though
it still looks like a bomb went off in my mouth.”

Zachary squinted and stared at me with a
hinged neck. “No. It doesn’t look like a bomb…exactly.” Then, as though he knew
he shouldn’t have said that he shook his head. “Wait…No…I’m sorry. That was
insensitive…I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry…” He smiled, as though trying to make
amends.

I just snickered while I nudged his
shoulder with my arm and shook my head. “It’s all right. I get it. I really
do.”

He caught my eye and beamed
proudly.“You’re beautiful.”

The stark sense of ease with which he
spoke the words caused me to stop short. I stared back at him for a long while
before I answered, “Thank you.”

However, with that, we heard the telltale
signs of the large school bus screeching to a halt and so we did our best to
take off running to catch it.

Later on that day during lunch, I got my
opportunity to speak to Shawn. He was eating lunch with his friends, but
normally, he didn’t mind me stepping in.

After all, before I was his stepsister, I
was his best friend and everyone at the table knew that.

Still, recently, I had shied away,
thinking that he didn’t want me there. But after the weekend we had shared, I
thought that I might try to break the ice, while we were both in our right
minds, devoid of any laughing gas and fully aware of what was going on.

“Hey!” One of Shawn’s friends,, who we
both believe had a crush on me since the first day he met me exclaimed as I
walked up to the table. “I thought you were never going to come back.

Quickly, he slid over in order to allow me
a spot to sit down.

I did so carefully and spread a smile
around the table. “Hi guys!”