The alarm sounds even louder then it ussualy does...Stevie hits it and then moans and turns around again, putting her hands on her head. Then -like it's the most normal thing to do- she tries to search with her hand on the bed, for that body, which made her feel so warm and loved last night..But there's no one there..
She closes her eyes for a second and moans again. Then she looks a bit shocked and disappointed at the same time...Alex' already left? Or didn't he? Was he there, or did she dreamed everything..? Suddenly a tiny, naughty smile appears on her sleepy face. Naah, it wasn't a dream. She playfully turns around in bed and smells the sheets, which still have his attractive scent in it. Then she jumps up, takes a deep breath and immediately feels the butterflies waking up in her body. They had a busy night..
Stevie isn't hungry , so she doesn't feel like eating breakfast, she rather wants to go outside, to work hard, that's her way to deal with things. When she gets downstairs Tess is already up.
"Hey.."
Stevie suddenly feels a bit embarrassed about the whole thing, what if someone saw or heard something? "Morning.." She says.
"How are you? Had a good night?" Tess asks while she makes some toast.
Stevie scrapes her throat "What?...Oh...Well yeah, I guess a little short, but I had a good night...of sleep." She sounds very unstable.
Tess immediately notices and pulls a funny face. "What's with you? You sure you had a good night?"
Stevie feels her cheeks are warming up and puts on a friendly smile, then turns around, ready to make some coffee.
Tess laughs.."Ehm..hello-o?" She walks towards Stevie and stands next to her. "You're blushing..what's going on Stevie? Or is there anything else you wanted to tell me about yesterday?" Tess figures maybe Stevie wasn't just lying about the veil.
Stevie almost lets her cup fall into the sink.."No, off-course not, nothing is going on." She denies.
Tess smiles, while she tries to make eye-contact with her "Right..."
Stevie starts to walk up and down the kitchen with her coffee, suddenly she puts one hand up "Ok, please stop doing this Tess..You know me to well..Something ís going on, but I can't talk about it, ok?"
Tess pulls her a funny face and lifts up one eyebrow. "That sounds more like it Stevie..You know where to find me.." She says when she quickly turns around with a cool attitude. "..If you wanna talk..?"
Stevie doesn't respond to that..Instead she looks around and walks towards the window, looks trough is and asks.."Where are the girls?"
"They are not ready yet.." Tess asks, a little surprised. She was hoping for Stevie to open up.
They both sit down to eat something, it's pretty quiet, but suddenly Stevie starts to confesses.
"It's Alex, ok!" She looks emotional.
Tess carefully shakes her head and looks inquisitive. "Alex? What's with him? You two had a fight again?"
Now Stevie has to smile, because of some images from last night that slip trough her mind..."A fight?" She smiles..."No, it's more like...the opposite."
Tess frowns her eyebrows, she doesn't seem to get it, but then.."Oh..Ooh! Stevie? No, you can't be serious..what happened?"
Her reaction makes Stevie laugh. A few minutes later she confesses the whole story..Tess looks so amazed, but also happy about it.
After Stevie told her everything Tess thinks it must be very confusing for both of them. "You both agreed on being friends and a few minutes later you jumped in bed with each other...How desperate can you be?" She jokes.
Stevie sighs. "Yeah I know..It's bad, isn't it."
"I don't know if it's bad, but it happened..You can't do anything to change that. So you guys have to deal with it..Somehow." Tess friendly says.
"It's easier to deal with it when you had a few drinks..That's for sure." Stevie sighs, while she holds her head with her hands, leaning on the table.
Tess shakes her head "Hey, you knew this next day would come, right? You guys knew exactly what you talked about and what happened last night..You both were there."
Stevie smiles "Oh yeah..we were there.." her cheeks warm up again...Tess notices and she smiles.
"Want some more cofee?" Stevie asks, to change the subject.
Tess looks at the clock and jumps up "No, we have to go now, promised Nick we would help them in the west-paddock."
Stevie looks a little bit frightened "Ehm, 'them'?"
Now Tess looks amazed "Oh come on Stevie, you have to face him anyway!"
Stevie knows Tess is right and figures it might be even better to face him right now.
When the girls arive, the Ryan brother are already busy preparing to put down a new fench. "Alex.." Stevie says to great him...
"Stevie.." He says back. It's weird, for both of them..Tess observes them a bit and has to laugh about it.
It feels so weird right now, but yet so normal when they're together. "You ok?" Alex asks.
"Fine, you?" She says, while she tries to look at him, but the sun is shining right into her eyes.
"Fine too...Thanks."
After a while Nick walks towards his brother "Hey I just got a call, there's a fence down in the east-paddock, half of the cattle escaped..Can you fix that with Stevie? Me and my almost wifey here, have an appointment, to see someone about the wedding music. Sorry. "
Alex and Stevie both say "No." At the same time. Nick laughs. "Right, well it wasn't question."
Alex nods "Yeah yeah..You guys go, we'll fix it."
Stevie looks looks at her and laughs when his brother leaves. "Well I guess we're stock together once more ey?" He turns around and walks away.
Stevie doesn't know what to do or what to say, just a few hours before they where lying in each others arms. She just decides to follow him.
They ride towards the broken fence and put the cattle back where it belongs, they're so good at it. They enjoy their time together, as they always do, but now they look even more at each other.
"Good job cowboy." She nods, when compliments him.
"Thanks. You weren't so bad yourself...Wanna take a break?" He suggests.
Stevie doubts, working with him is ok, but a break? What if she feels those butterflies again? Then what? "Sounds good, but I think we should head back."
Alex shakes his head. "What? We already worked for hours in the open sun..It's bloody hot and we hardly had any sleep..Come on Stevie, sit down. I won't bite, I promise." He winks. It makes her calmer though.
"Ok I guess you're right.." She gets of her horse and they find a nice spot in the shade, to sit down and drink something.
"I feel pretty confussed you know.." Alex suddenly brings up.
Stevie painfully smiles at him "Well you're not the only one."
"It's weird trying to act normal right now...a few hours earlier we were lying in each others arms." He says. That's exactly what she's thinking. He continues "I keep asking myself..Do I want to kiss you again, or is it easier to close that chapter, at least for a while?" He says, almost like an open book.
She's amazed, Alex is usually a little bit closed.."You sound like an open book, I'm not used to that Alex."
He smiles. "I'm just telling you what I feel..If I keep my mouth shut, it only makes things worse."
She turns her head away from him, she doesn't want to look him in his eyes that long. She squeezes her eyes and says with a soft voice "Maybe we made things even more complicated."
He nods "I'm sure we did..Now what do we do about it.."
She looks at him again "I won't allow it, if you kiss me again."
He looks confused and even a little disappointed. "Why not?"
Now she's quiet and he has to guess: "I wasn't using you last night Stevie.."
She gets a bit irritated when he says that "And I wasn't using you..I'm sorry Alex but it should've never happened." She emotionally reacts and moves her hand to her face, ready to wipe some tears..
He puts his arm around her. "Don't" She snaps and pushes him away.
"Stevie?" Then he takes a breath and stands up. "What's wrong with ya!"
Now she stands up too. They stand in front of each other. "Nothing! I just want to forget it, ok?"
Alex turns around "That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard!" Then he moves back to her, looking directly into her eyes. "You can't! Ok? You can't forget it!" He says with a raised voice.
Stevie walks further away from him, it hurts him even more.."Well I have to Alex, I just want to be friends again.."
He walks up to her and grabs her arm, he gets real mad now. "A few hours ago you suddenly changed your mind about being friends..! Whether you like it or not, we have to talk about this."
Stevie pulls herself loose and walks away.
"Stevie..Stevie..! You can't walk away like that." He walks right behind her and grabs her again, even tighter now.
"Let go of me Alex! I have nothing to say about it any more.."
He comes closer with his head "Off-course you have...we can't just forget this." He now says with a much softer tone in his voice.
She holds back the tears when their eyes meet. "Why not?.." She sadly answers.
"Because it was too special." He honestly admits with a very emotional sound in his voice.
After a pause she responds, sounding very soft. "I agree...ok? Can you let me go now? Please?" A few tears escape from her eyes.
He lets go and when he does, she lets herself sink on the ground..
He sits next to her."What do we do now, huh?" He thinks out loud.
"Continue our life's.." She cries, when she finally looks him right in his eyes. "Like we agreed. We let ourselves go last night, now we have to get serious and go on."
"It just doesn't make sense, our conversation. I said women and men can't be friends...And I might be right.."
"I'm still willing to prove you're wrong.." She carefully smiles.
He carefully smiles too "And I'm not going to shake on that again.."
They agree once more and decide to not talk about it any more, at least for a few months.