A Couple is Three: The Beginning (book 1 & 2 Completed)

Chapter 17 - Riding Bulls

"So how'd you meet them," was basically shouted at Samantha by the all the girls at the table when she arrived back. It was closely followed by, "Older brothers?" Samantha laughed at the expressions on her friends' faces. The girls all had looks of eager anticipation, while the boys didn't look thrilled at all. Dan and a few other males were all looking at Samantha with concern.

"Relax, guys. I'll tell you all about it," she chided.

Sitting down with the drink that she had purchased on the way to their table, she started to tell them about her and her mother had met the boys and their fathers on Friday. She explained how they discovered that they had some mutual friend and relatives. She then explained how they had spent the last two days together and that the boys' fathers had offered to watch over her when her parents had to go back into the city last night.

She never lied to her friends, but she didn't exactly tell them the full details or the correct order of events. She didn't want to deal with their questions, concerns, or even condemnations about liking and dating exclusively two boys at once. It wasn't their life. She would tell them if and when she was ready.

The group headed over to the rodeo stands as soon as Samantha had finished telling her story. They found some seats in the area that the boys had suggested to Samantha earlier. Their group was large enough that they had to sit in three rows since there were already other people in each of the rows.

The sun was even warmer than it had been the day before and the benches were already burning hot to the touch. Samantha pulled out her small blanket to spread across the seats in her row. She was pleased to see that a few others had blankets as well.

"Your mom suggested we bring some," Tracy informed Samantha when she saw Samantha's quizzical look. Tracy decided to sit beside Samantha, who was sitting at the end of the row, since Dan had decided along with the other guys to sit in the top of the three rows.

"You would tell me if anything was going on with you guy wise, right," Tracy whispered to Samantha as she leaned in.

"Sure," Samantha replied out loud while continuing her sentence in her head, "when I feel like it." She hid her balled up fists under her bag that she hadn't put down yet.

Tracy didn't look like she fully believed Samantha's answer, but she knew that Samantha had never lied to her before. She was just going to ask another question, when Samantha cut in...

"Did my mom tell you about Josh and Jake?" Samantha questioned her as she looked through her bag for her sunscreen.

"She just said that you were helping them with something," Tracy replied, "And that we were supposed to trust you."

Samantha was thankful for the trust her mother placed in her. It was going to make it easier for Tracy to believe that Samantha was just acting when she told her about how she had volunteered to act as their girlfriend for the weekend.

At first Tracy seemed skeptical about what Samantha was telling her, but she finally agreed to keep an open mind and to help the others to understand why Samantha would possibly be holding onto both of her boys later.

After reapplying some sunscreen, everyone settled down to watch the first half of the rodeo.

It was about halfway through the first half when Samantha felt the buzz of Josh's phone in her skirt pocket. She pulled it out and opened it up without looking assuming that it was Josh and Jake texting her from Jake's phone. Looking down she realized how very wrong she was.

Cheryl: I heard that you were kissing some rodeo slut-bunny after your ride yesterday.

Cheryl: Doesn't matter since I couldn't be there for you, but I'll be waiting at home for you.