Here it is, the last chapter! Enjoy!
It was a week later and everyone seemed to be doing the normal daily chores and things. Alex and Stevie could work side by side and they tried to act normal, but that was about it. Their friendship wasn't the same. But to most people it was like that mysterious night never even happened. For the two best mates it was a bit different of course, Stevie was careful in what she said, and Alex tried to be nice for her, though he felt that he couldn't really have a decent talk with her. She was being cool and distant towards him. Finally peace returned at Drovers Run...Or not?
But not everyone seemed calm. As everyone was working outside, Jodi sneaked back inside to look for her mum. Meg was busy vacuuming the house, but Jodi suddenly stepped on the vacuum cleaner to put it off. Meg wasn't happy about it, but as soon as she saw the look on Jodi's face she knew there was something.
Jodi looked serious, asking "Mum? Do you have a minute?"
Meg immediately got worried. "Sure." She walked up to her daughter. "What the matter Jodi?"
Jodi bit her lip. "Maybe we should sit down first." That scared Meg even more, what had she been up to? They sat down in the kitchen.
Jodi hesitated. "I don't know were to start..."
Meg her stomach started to hurt and she talked fast. "Just tell me what's going on Jodi."
Jodi swallowed. "Well I've done something stupid" Meg waited, Jodi had a hard time talking to her mum. "I might have, sort of, ruined a friendship."
Meg looked in her eyes. "You had a fight with Kate?"
Jodi shook her head..."No, I'm not in any fight."
Her mum didn't understand. "Well then, how...?" But Jodi interrupted her. "They're not aware of what caused it. Or who."
Meg looked serious. "Are you doing drugs or something?"
Jodi now carefully smiled. "No I'm not doing drugs!"
"Well then get to the point, because I can't follow you." Meg said.
Jodi hesitated. "It's about that cocktail night. I might have, sort of, helped Alex and Stevie a bit, you know, to get them in bed together."
Meg laughed. "How did you that? Have you poisoned them?" she said sarcastic.
"Mum? I'm serious, it's all my fault. And from what I know now, I wish I could turn back time." Tears filled her eyes.
Meg stayed sarcastic. "Well, you didn't kill them. They just slept together and God knows what else has happened."
Jodi sniffed and wiped some tears from her cheeks. "I'm trying to be serious here. It's bad ok? Have you seen how they have changed towards each other?"
Meg nodded. "Yes I have, but that doesn't mean their friendship is over, they've just lost track. Now tell me exactly what you did."
And that's what she did. "I've made the cocktails extra strong by putting some vodka in them. And when Stevie left upstairs Kate and I pushed Alex to go after her." She looked very sad.
Meg thought it was kind of entertaining. "See? Exactly what I thought, you've done nothing wrong. Believe me, those two would have ended up in bed without you and Kate's help sooner or later."
Jodi was annoyed by her mums reaction. "Mum!? I'm trying to confess something here."
Meg saw how this was effecting Jodi and tried to take her more serious. "It's ok Jodi."
Jodi started to confess more. "We just made some kind of bet out of this. If we were able to get them in bed with each other. They were both wasted and Stevie did the right thing to go to bed, all we had to do is; get Alex there. Which wasn't difficult."
Meg filled her in "So you two succeeded." Jodi told Meg everything, the story got juicier by the minute, Meg leaned on the table supporting her head with her hand and listened very carefully. She liked it, but tried to hide it.
Throughout the story Jodi's expression on her face changed into more guilty. "And...eventually we shattered their clothes around the floor. So it would really look like something had happened between them. Just to confuse them the next morning, but we never thought Alex wouldn't remember us being in there. Which, of course, made it even more hilarious!...So we've had our fun, but now...we both feel bad for them mum."
Meg wasn't angry at her daughter, but she agreed this joke has gotten out of hand. "I'm glad you're honest to me about it, the next step is to tell Alex and Stevie and they won't be happy campers." Meg said.
Jodi looked a bit frightened. "I know."
… …
Jodi went to look for Kate after the conversation with Meg. Kate had pushed her they should come out with the truth, she was feeling even worse than Jodi about this.
Kate sighed, she was glad Jodi listened to her. "I'm glad Meg knows everything, now we have to think of a way how we should tell Alex and Stevie." Kate said.
Jodi pulled up one eyebrow. "Well there's only one way squirt; we just have to tell 'm."
Kate looked nervous. "Oh Jodi they will be so angry, we could loose our jobs."
But Jodi was sure that wouldn't happen. "Not if we confront them why we did it. And in the end Alex probably sees it as a good joke."
Kate laughed sarcastic. "Yeah right, come on Jodes, he hates to be lied to, we all know that. It makes him furious." she paused, while Jodi looked at her as if she didn't take it seriously enough. "And he's right, he should be mad at us."
Jodi smiled. "Calm down Kate, who knows? Maybe we all have a good laugh about this in the end?" Her smile faded, as she knew that wasn't going to happen.
They hadn't noticed Stevie, who walked up to them. "Have a good laugh about what?" She said with a smile, her hands on her hips.
Jodi felt her cheeks burn, she turned to the trough and quickly grabbed in it, like she was busy, she didn't know Kate just started on this one and retched when she felt the trough was filled with muck.
Stevie stared at her and laughed. "Jodi? Are you ok?"
Jodi didn't dare to look up and pulled a weird face "Hm-hm." She said with a high voice.
Kate tried to look as normal as she could and forced an awkward smile on her face. "After we do this one, we have finished the troughs and we're off to do the stables." She said to please the boss.
Stevie smiled sarcastically. "You two are up to something." Then she looked up to the bright sky and took a deep breath. "I won't even ask...As long as you do your work properly." She turned and walked away. Jodi and Kate were relieved! But Stevie turned. "Oh and Jodi? Try to get rid of the water first, before you clean that trough."
… … …
Stevie took the reins and jumped on Banjo to check the cattle in the west paddock. Not knowing Alex was there too.
"Hey? What are you doing here?" She asked from a distance.
Alex turned the horse and watched her riding up to him. "Nice to see you too Stevie."
But Stevie wasn't being very friendly, and she was like that since they had kissed. She just couldn't bear it how he had left her then. And stubborn, because it seemed to hard to talk about it. Alex had tried to be nice to her, but Stevie was responding cool, which often meant -deep down inside- she wanted the opposite. And somehow he knew, but Alex didn't feel like trying that hard. All she was doing is stepping on his toes lately. He walked through the paddock and turned his face away from her when she approached him.
"Killarney is that way." She harshly said and looked in the right direction.
He bit his teeth, breathing trough his nose, everything in his body tensed up to protect himself from loosing it. He closed his eyes for a second before answering her. "We've lost a few cows last night, that's why I'm checking yours too."
"Oh, well thanks, I'll give Dave a call then." She said a bit cool.
Alex looked in her direction, but his eyes were more on Banjo then on Stevie. "No need to, it's the dam, the water is contaminated." he made the horse turn and rode away.
Stevie sighed, disappointed in herself for being so pathetic. She even forgot to ask why. "Thanks Alex." She said to soften the situation, but he didn't respond or look at her, he was done with her for now and rode back to Killarney to get some help to move the cattle.
… … …
Later on they met again, when they both went back to the paddock to muster the cattle.
Tess was a bit amazed to see Alex and Nat, she asked Stevie about it. "Why didn't you do it together with Alex? Saved you a trip...and some time."
Stevie turned the horse to gather some cows. "It's our cattle Tess, our responsebility. He's on the other side of the fence moving his cattle."
"Right." Tess shook her head and stayed behind the cattle, she kept quiet, although she didn't agree. Besides it was weird, they always helped each other. Tess noticed Stevie's attitude had changed, towards Alex, but also at home. She wasn't as open as she was before, didn't really talk much and in the evening she went to bed early. Tess knew it had something to do with Alex and she had asked Stevie what it was, but that had been a bad idea, Stevie put up even more walls to talk to.
"Oi! How are ya?" Alex yelled from the other side of the fence.
Tess smiled, "Fine, thanks. And you?"
Alex' expression turned to sarcastic. "Couldn't do any better."
Tess nodded and winked to let him know she understood. Alex was wondering if Stevie told her anything about the kiss. "Where's Nick?" Tess asked when Alex came closer to the fenceline.
"Doing some work in the office, finances and stuff. I'm glad he's good at it, so I can go and do where I'm good at."
Tess smiled and tried to find an opening to talk with him. "Are you also good in restoring friendships?" She smiled.
He snapped "You should ask her." he looked in Stevie's direction and made the horse move away from the fence line. They all did their work and there wasn't much contact between the neighbours.
… … …
That afternoon Jodi and Kate came up to Stevie when she was in the stables.
Jodi started. "Stevie, have you got a minute?"
Stevie turned, she observed them, still feeling grumpy. "Don't tell me you're having another episode of 'who's working the hardest'."
Kate frowned and the girls looked at each other. "No." Kate said. "We've got something to tell you."
It made Stevie pay attention and she stepped away from the horses to face the girls. "Right. Well? Spit it out."
Kate cleared her throat and Jodi looked at the floor. Stevie waited...
Jodi looked up to Stevie and started. "Well, the thing is...We kind of..." She stopped and looked at Kate.
Kate sighed and filled her in. "We betrayed you Stevie." Stevie frowned, she didn't understand what this was about. Kate continued. "We made it look like you and Alex had that hot and steamy night together. We kinda set you up."
Stevie was amazed, she had a confused look on her face. "What?" She sighed. "Well how on ear...?" She paused and smiled sarcastically. "Wait a minute, you're kidding me, right?" Stevie hoped they were teasing her, to bring up that mysterious night again.
"No we're not." Kate said. "We put some extra booze in the cocktails and tricked Alex so he would sleep next to you."
Now her face turned a bit red and she got filled with anger. "And why the hell would you do such a thing?" She snapped.
Kate felt sorry for her. "It should've never happened. It was a joke, but things got a bit out of hand."
"A joke." She repeated softly in disbelieve, then she raised her voice. "It was a bloody joke!? This was supposed to be funny? Right?" She paused and sighed. "Tell me something, have you ever seen me laugh about it?"
Now Jodi suddenly looked angry as well, she snapped back. "Oh come on Stevie, it's not like we did you any harm, you both deserved it!" She paused and looked straight in her friends eyes, Stevie's mouth fell open, Jodi's eyes were spitting fire. "Have you ever seen me laugh!? When you were playing a stupid pool game about my job, about my life!"
Stevie was angry, but this made her turn into sarcastic, she laughed. "So that's what this is all about huh?!"
Jodi stood tall, her chin up. "You bet it is."
Stevie shook her head and took a deep breath. "I just can't believe it. That doesn't give you any right Jodi! You have absolutely no right, you hear me? To stir in a good friendship."
Now Jodi got sarcastic. "Yeah right, like you two never felt something for each other before, come on! It was to easy, Kate and I hardly did something to make it happen. The only thing we did wrong is that we should have told you earlier." She looked next to her, at Kate. Who felt Stevie's eyes burning.
Kate didn't really knew what to say, but she needed to let Jodi know she was still on her side. "Yep. I agree with Jodes. But we are really sorry." She looked guilty.
Stevie couldn't believe her ears. "That's all you've got to say? You just went with her in this whole thing. And worst of all, you never told me, until now. A bit late isn't it." Stevie's eyes went from Kate to Jodi. Her hands were in her side and she breathed faster. "Now you two probably thought of a way how to confess this to Alex?"
Kate looked very unsure, she bite her lip. "Not really."
"We thought you might want to help us softening the blow." Jodi added without any shame.
Stevie's eyes widened, she laughed sarcastic and walked a few steps away, holding one hand in her hair. "You guys are so in trouble. And I am not going to help you!" She yelled and walked out of the stable. But she suddenly turned. "Oh and what about Tess?"
Jodi shrugged. Stevie added. "And Meg? Do they know this? We've had so much tension going on here on Drovers! For days! But I guess that was all worth it." She said and disappeared out of their sight.
Kate yelled. "Stevie, we're really sorry!" But Stevie acted like she didn't hear that and firmly walked further.
Kate and Jodi were quiet when they were left behind, even Jodi didn't know what to say. They sat down on a a few hay bales and just thought about what Stevie said.
"I guess I underestimated this joke." Jodi softly said while she looked down.
Kate sighed. "I know. We both did."
They talked about how they should confess this, even the possibility of telling them all in one time. But their stomach ached when they thought of Alex' explosion about this. He wasn't going to be a happy camper. After a few idea's and discussions they decided to tell him when he was alone.
… … …
Later everyone went in the house to get some lunch. Meg observed the girls and mouthed to Jodi 'have you talked to Stevie'. Jodi nodded, she looked guilty. They all sat down and Tess immediately noticed there was tension.
"Not again." She said and looked from Kate to Jodi and then to Stevie.
Stevie looked innocent. "You shouldn't look at me."
Tess was done with this. "Ok what is going on?" Her eyes were on Jodi and Kate.
Jodi pushed Kate hard in her side with her elbow. "What?" She said to her. Then she turned to Tess again and cleared her throat. "We uhm, we've got something to tell you Tess."
Tess stayed quiet, she waited what it was. Jodi got hold of her cup to drink some milk. She let Kate do the confession.
"Well...we uhm, we...kind of fooled Alex and Stevie. You know, at that cocktail night."
Tess didn't respond right away, she frowned. "I know which night you mean, but I need some more explaining."
Now Kate looked at Jodi and gestured with her eyes that she needed some help. Jodi sighed and blurted out. "We made them sleep together. We made their cocktails with a bit more alcohol then the others".
Kate filled in: "Vodka, to be exactly. It's a Russian dri..." She suddenly looked at Jodi. "Jodes! Auch!" Jodi kicked her underneath the table.
Tess couldn't believe what she heard. "Yeah I know what it is! Tell me how did you get them in Stevie's bed?"
Now Stevie got annoyed. "Tess!? I can't believe your even interested in how they did it."
Tess smiled, she was actually amused by Jodi and Kate's action, she didn't felt sorry for Stevie, or Alex. "Let them explain Stevie."
Now Stevie roughly stood up and stated, looking at Kate and Jodi. "Well you can explain while I'm not here. I'm not so hungry anymore...Isn't that weird?" She turned and looked at Tess and than walked away.
Stevie went outside, to the stables again. On her way she met Turbo, who made it clear he wanted some attention. She kneeled and petted him. Suddenly she saw a shadow when her eyes moved off the dog she saw two familiar boots right next to her. But her attention was with the dog and she ignored whoever it was beside her.
"Can't ignore me forever." He suddenly said, but the sound in his voice was very different then before.
"Leave me alone." Stevie said.
Alex shook his head, his eyes still on her. "No. I'm not going anywhere until you speak to me."
Stevie bend her head and sighed, her hand stopped petting the dog. "Well, I have spoken, now go home Alex."
"Nope." He still stood in the same place and didn't move.
Stevie got agitated and quickly stood up, she immediately turned her body away from him. But when she wanted to walk away he grabbed her arm. She gave him an angry look and he took advantage of the eye contact. "Listen. We both don't want this right?" But Stevie didn't answer and looked down. Alex let go of her arm and sighed. "Okay. If this is what you want then just tell me." He softly said.
"No." She softly replied and then looked at him. "Of course this is not what I want."
Alex looked mad. "Then what do you want Stevie?! Because I don't know anything any more!"
"I want an apology." She lied.
Alex his eyes widened, he was amazed. "Oh that's it?" He grabbed her arm again and softly pulled her towards him. She thought that was positive, but instead his eyes were spitting fire. "You want an apology huh? You act like we're a bunch of kids here and this is a game and you bloody lost!" He paused, she was shocked how mad he was. His voice went down. "Are you out of your mind Stevie?" And he let go off her and walked away.
Stevie didn't want him to go, she wanted the opposite, like women mostly want. "No, wait! Alex!" But he didn't turn, she yelled after him. "You don't understand, it is a game!" Now he turned and looked suspicious, what the hell was she talking about? She added: "Let's go inside and you'll find out what I mean." Alex assumed that she wanted to talk to him inside, so he followed her to the homestead, still feeling angry and misunderstood.
… … …
Alex was amazed when Stevie lead him to the kitchen where all of the others were. He tried to make eye contact and his eyes were asking what this was about? The anger faded away.
Jodi and Kate were nailed to the ground when they saw Alex. They didn't say a word.
Stevie was so pissed off at this moment, at everyone to be exactly.
She stated. "Well here he is. Go on, tell him." Her eyes were burning onto Jodi and Kate.
Jodi knew this wasn't a good moment, they were unprepared, but he was here now, nothing to do about it.
Meg, calm as she was, offered. "Take a seat Alex."
But he was uncomfortable about this whole situation, he looked at everyone, but made intense eye contact with Stevie in between. "No I don't want to sit down." He looked at his best mate again. "What is this?" He almost whispered.
Stevie was confident. "Oh you'll about to find out, Jodi? Kate?"
Jodi gave her an angry look. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. "Well...We have a confession to make Alex."
Kate helped her and filed her in. "Yes, we caused your mysterious night. We put Vodka inside your drinks and so you two got wasted." She looked at Jodi to see if she agreed with how she said it.
Jodi stepped up and finished their confession. "And we might have helped or pushed you a bit to sleep next to Stevie."
Alex immediately responded. "You're kidding me." He looked at Stevie. "Right?"
Meg observed the whole conversation and held her breath for his explosion. Meg watched him grew up and knew how furious he could get. But strangely enough there were no signs of it this time. Tess smiled, Alex noticed that, looked at her and blinked his eyes. Tess was amazed that he wasn't mad!
Then he looked at the girls again. "So you two did this because Jodi was mad we've played pool about her job. Right guys?"
Jodi nodded. "Yes we were about to tell you the truth, but then we had the chance to play pool about this too and so we decided to rub it in. I think that's what you deserved." She obviously wasn't feeling sorry about it.
Alex just stood there and carefully listened, he didn't really care, there was something else that bothered him much more. "Sounds fair enough." He said.
Stevie nervously laughed shortly. "Oh you think it's fair?"
Alex snapped at her "To me it is, if it was just a joke Stevie. They didn't do us any harm." He said and looked at the girls again. "That's what it was, right?"
The girls nodded. Alex had an uninterested look on his face and slightly smiled towards them. "Well I've got more things to do, so if that's it, then I'm done here. Thanks for being honest girls." He gave them a friendly look and then was about to leave, he walked past Stevie. "Now can we talk?"
Stevie was completely flabbergasted and escaped through the door right before he did. Jodi and Kate laughed, they were so happy they've gotten away with this.
Meg responded. "You two got off light!"
Tess laughed. "Very light."
… … …
Outside Stevie quickly moved away from the homestead, with large steps, she was furious.
"Stevie!" Alex called her when he followed her. "Don't you run away from me again!"
But she kept walking.
"Stop it right there!" He yelled.
Stevie turned her head. "Even if you make me stop, I won't listen."
But that was exactly his plan. He caught up on her and grabbed her arm, a bit harder then before. "I said stop it." He directly looked into her eyes when he made her turn to look at him. "Just hear me out will you."
On the inside she felt sad, but kept it in and stayed mad. "Sure. Right after you humiliated me in front of my friends!"
"Come on Stevie, they were just joking."
"Yeah? Look what they have done, look where we're at. They have ruined our friendship, but no, wait, they didn't do us any harm. Right?" She stayed angry and sarcastic but her sadness started to come through. "And worst of all, you're not even mad at them for it!"
Alex frowned his eyebrows. "No because I'm not mad at them, I'm mad at you. Are you blind or something? What the hell is wrong with you."
Stevie started to struggle. "Nothing, now let me go. I've heard enough and you've got it all wrong, you should be mad at them."
He roughly let go off her, therefore he got another angry look. But Alex wasn't going to keep it in any more. "Geez woman, I knew you were stubborn but it's even worse then I thought. You're acting like it's their fold we've got to this point, but you've got steam coming out of your ears for this whole passed week."
He shouldn't have said that. "Oh so now it's all my fault?" And she started walking again.
He yelled after her. "Yeah play the victim. A week ago you couldn't even answer a simple question! You're angry at me ever since!"
But she kept on ignoring her feelings towards him. Stevie knew he was talking about what he asked after they had kissed. 'If the only reason she kissed him back was to bring back memories.'
Her response to him wasn't getting any better "You're a bastard Alex! I want you off Drovers!"
He yelled at her one last time. "You know, you can be such a pain in the ass! Just stop avoiding me for one bloody second and listen to what I have to say Stevie!" He waited. "I'll leave you alone after that. I promise." He waited again, ready to turn and walk away to end this friendship for good.
But it made her stop, her back towards him, her head slightly bend forward. She just stood there and listened.
Alex took a deep breath and started. "Jodi and Kate have nothing to do with this. You know Stevie..? I suddenly do remember talking to them, at the bottom of the stairs." He paused. Stevie turned and looked at him, she was so angry, her blood was boiling. She said to herself 'now he does remember something'. She couldn't believe it.
But Alex wasn't finished. "And you know what else? ...I might have gone upstairs without them sending me there. And I might have held you in my arms without them fooling us. And...I might have kissed you again without all the things that have happened." He stopped, all kind of emotions ran through his body, he hoped she understood. She hadn't stopped looking at him, her mouth fell open.
Alex his voice got calmer. "Stevie." he softly pleaded.
She felt the anger fade away because of the way he pronounced her name.
He continued again. "This didn't just happen and you know it. You're to stubborn to admit. Just like I was." And then he stopped talking and waited. They both stayed on the same place. Stevie couldn't speak, she sort of blacked out. He saw her attitude chance from a distance, she wasn't always as tough as she looked.
Suddenly he started walking towards her, slowly. He saw a chance, her walls came down. Stevie bend her head again as he approached, she couldn't look at him, he was being so sweet and he really cared, she felt that. And deep down she wanted him to come closer. When he was in front of her he carefully reached out his hand and lifted her chin. When he made her look at him he asked. "You still want me to go Stevie?"
She now looked deep in his eyes, she got touched by his love. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she tried not to cry and softly replied. "No."
He was happy to hear that and gently moved both of his hands forward and softly took her arms. He kept quiet and waited while keeping the eye contact, he thought he'd said enough for now.
Stevie was emotional, he was so right. "You're right about everything." She said, as it came all the way from her toes. He carefully smiled and blinked his eyes, he was charming and Stevie felt her heart melt. "I'm sorry Alex." She said, finally sounding a bit more convincing.
Alex shook his head. "You don't need to say sorry. We just have to put it behind us and start over, how does that sound?"
Stevie smiled and quickly wiped away a few tears she couldn't hold back. "That sounds pretty good to me."
"Good." He widely smiled, it was hard to act normal with all of those butterflies floating through his body. "From which point do we start over exactly?" He teased.
Stevie came closer and tightly embraced him with both arms. "From this point." she said with her eyes closed, pushing her cheek against his chest, enjoying the feeling of finally being close to each other again.
He caressed her back, confirming it was all ok. When she pulled back from the embrace he couldn't hold it much longer and carefully cupped her face with both hands. "You know cowgirl?" He looked deep into her eyes. "I'd thought we would start over from this point." He bend in and softly pressed his warm lips onto hers. Stevie immediately answered the kiss, no hesitation there!
When they finally stopped kissing Stevie asked, giggling. "Now do you remember something?" She teased him.
Alex chuckled and shook his head. "You are so bad Stevie Hall!" He grabbed her by her waist just before she wanted to get away and started to tickle her until she laughed out loud. He then lifted her of the ground, and put her over his shoulder. "Hey, I'm not going to let you escape again! We have to make some new memories!" He joked and took her with her, back to the homestead.
Stevie was yelling and laughing. "Put me down! Alex! Put me down!" As they came closer to the house the others heard Stevie yelling and they all came outside, a bit worried...But when they saw the two love-birds they all laughed.
THE END, thanks for all of your lovely reviews! :) Next story is on it's way...
