Tears streamed down Maleena's face as she sped her truck down the road. She refused to look in her mirrors; it would only remind her of what had just happened. Maleena had tried so hard to hold in her tears, knowing that Dillion was not a guy she should be crying over, but her whole being was rattled with anger, and she found she could not stop her tears from falling. 

          Beside her, her cell phone rang. Glancing at it, Maleena saw Dillion's contact picture appear, telling her he was calling. Rejecting the call, Maleena slammed her phone down in the cup holder only for it to buzz again, signaling that Dillion had left a message, and had been texting her incessantly. Frustrated with him bombing her phone, Maleena shut it off, chucking it on to the floor next to her. 

           Wiping a hand over her eyes, Maleena cleared her eyes of tears so she could better see the road ahead of her. She knew she couldn't go home, but she was unsure where else to go. Then it hit her. Not even bothering to flip on her turn signal, Maleena made a rolling stop trough the stop sign, turning right onto the road. 

            Cody. He would be the only person who could help her right now. The only person who would listen and understand. Maleena knew she should probably pull over and cool down, knowing it was never good when she drove upset, but she just wanted to get as far away from Dillion as she possibly could. 

            After what felt like an eternity, Maleena pulled her truck into the rodeo grounds, not surprised to still see Cody's truck still parked right beside the barn. Walking in to the main barn, Maleena couldn't see Cody anywhere in sight, but she began calling his name as she looked around.  Finally, she saw him sitting at the desk in the barn office. He had changed clothing from when she saw him this morning, in fact, his entire appearance looked different with him wearing a t-shirt and ball cap instead of his usual Stetson and pearl snap. Too upset to care about the change, Maleena immediately began her rambling, making Cody look up from his computer to give her an almost confused look. 

             "Thank God you are still here. Dillion has been cheating on me. I went over to his house to surprise him, and I surprised him alright." The tears fell from Maleena's eyes once again as she continued in her story. She couldn't describe the look that Cody had on his face, but he looked surprised to say the least. "I showed up there and there was another car in the driveway, but I went up to his porch and saw him with her, and I could hear their whole conversation and I-" 

            "Umm...I'm sorry to interrupt, but I don't know who you are. Who did you say you were lookin' for?" He gave Maleena a really confused look. 

            Maleena was shocked that he didn't recognize her. "Is this some joke? Cody, it isn't funny. What do you mean you don't recognize me? I have seen you nearly every day this week. I..." She didn't know what to say; she could not believe this. "Well, I'm sorry for wasting your time." Maleena turned around and ran face first into a pillar of muscle. 

            "Maleena?" The pillar asked, holding out his arms to her. "What are you doin' here?" Seeing her tear stricken face, Cody asked worriedly, "Are you okay? What's wrong?" 

            Maleena looked up at the man to see Cody. Looking over her shoulder, she saw his spitting image sitting at the barn desk. "You...I thought..."

             Cody chuckled, pulling back from her to look at the man at the desk. "I see you have met my identical twin brother." His chuckle turned into a full out laugh as he walked over to his brother, who was looking extremely perplexed at the desk. 

            Instantly, Maleena felt her face heat up with embarrassment. "Twin...you...you never told me you had a twin. Now I feel so bad!" She covered her hands with her face only for Cody to walk over, grabbing her hands from off her face, holding them for a couple seconds before turning back to his brother. 

             "Maleena, this is my brother, Cory. Cory, this is my friend Maleena." He made the introduction. 

              "Hi. It's nice to meet you. I'm so sorry about the confusion. I just came in here rambling like a babbling idiot, and spilling my heart about my jerk of an ex-boyfriend." Maleena shook Cory's hand. 

             "Your what? Your ex? What happened with you and Dillion?" Cody interjected.

            Maleena turned to look at Cody, only making the tears resurface. "I...we..." 

            "Let's go somewhere to talk. Come on." Cody led Maleena outside of the barn, far from earshot of his brother. Leading Maleena past the outdoor arena, they sat down on the steps leading up to the chutes. "What happened tonight?"

             Sniffing, Maleena dove right into the story, not waiting a second longer to tell what happened. "I went over to Dillion's house to surprise him since he had the work day off, and when I got there..." Maleena struggled to continue the story. She was trying hard to not let tears fall because Dillion was not the kind of guy who was worth the tears, but Maleena was more mad than she was sad. She was mad that she was naive enough to believe Dillion, to believe that he actually loved her, believe that he really cared about her, and to believe that he wasn't just using her. Guess everything she thought about him was wrong all along.

          "It's okay. You don't have to talk about it right now if you don't want to." Cody wrapped a comforting arm around Maleena's shoulders. 

           "No, it's fine. I need to talk about it." Maleena took a deep breath, diving into the whole story about what happened, not leaving out a single detail. Once her retell was over, she heard Cody take in a deep breath, his arm never leaving her shoulders.

           Cody wasn't exactly sure what to say. He wanted to be happy that Maleena broke up with Dillion because he knew their relationship was not a good one, but he knew it was wrong of him to be happy when a good friend of his was hurting. Saying a quick, silent prayer, Cody asked God for the right response to Maleena. 

           "I will be prayin' for you, Maleena. I know that has to be very hard on you. Please know that I am here if you need anything, anything at all." Cody forced a smile to show Maleena he was serious. 

            "Thank you, Cody. I really appreciate that." Cody's smile was contagious because one broke out on Maleena's lips, despite how upset she was feeling. 

           Retracting his arm, Cody took in a deep breath. "Have you had supper yet?" 

           "No, not yet." She replied, giving Cody a look.

           "Well, what do you say we go grab a burger and fries? And then maybe some dessert afterwards? There is this really cool place in town that sells desserts like pies, cookies, brownies, ice cream bars, and so on. You name it, they got it." Cody tried his best at a sales pitch.

           Maleena hesitated. Part of her wanted to turn down the offer, thinking it sounded a little too much like a date, and she wasn't ready to move on, considering she just broke up with her boyfriend about an hour or two ago. The other side of Maleena wanted to accept the offer, knowing it would be good to hang out with a honorable, Godly gentleman such as Cody. "I...I don't think..." She started, trying to think of a good excuse why she had to be home instead of get food with a great guy. Afterall, it was supper time, and she hadn't eaten all day.

          "I'm not takin' no as an answer. Plus, it might be good to, y'know, get out and get your mind off the whole Dillion situation." Cody was trying hard not to push, knowing Maleena was on shaky ground as it was. However, he couldn't help himself; he wanted nothing more than to get to know this beautiful brunette. 

          Taking in a breath, Maleena shook her head. "Alright. Why not? I already told my parents I won't be home until late tonight anyways." She smiled at Cody, reckoning it was better she spend time with him rather than wallowing in grief at home, making herself more and more upset at Dillion. 

          "Great." Smiling, there was a look in Cody's eyes that rose questions for Maleena, but it was gone before she could process a question in her mind. "I will drive you." He said, pointing to his truck parked back by the barn. The two of them slowly made their way over to Cody's truck. Once they got there, Cody, being the perfect gentleman, opened up the passenger door for Maleena, a gesture she had never received from Dillion. Already, things were looking up. 

                                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            "Thank you, again, for tonight, Cody. I really needed it." Maleena turned to him as they walked out of the dessert shop, and to Cody's truck. "I can't remember the last time I have laughed that hard. Honestly, your face when taste testing some of those pies was priceless. I wish I could have gotten it on camera." The memory made Maleena burst out into another laughing fit; Cody joined in, too. "Remember when you tasted the rhubarb one? The way you puckered, you would have thought you swallowed a lemon." Maleena hadn't realized that she had grabbed Cody's arm as she was walking until his laughter stopped, and she felt his eyes on her. Just as she was about to pull back and apologize, Maleena watched Cody's eyes light up some, smiling when he looked her in the eyes. 

           Neither of them made any motion to make Maleena drop her hand, so Maleena decided to keep it on Cody's forearm. In fact, Cody folded his arm so it was like he was escorting Maleena, in other words, he was telling Maleena that he didn't mind that she had grabbed his arm. The thought made a slight blush rise to Maleena' cheeks, but she kept her head down, smiling to herself.

            After a moderately short drive back to Maleena's truck, that was still parked at the rodeo grounds, Cody hopped out of his truck to walk Maleena to hers. Even though Cody had opened the driver's door for Maleena, neither of them mad any motion to get into the vehicles. With a hand on her open window sill, Maleena turned to Cody. "Seriously, thank you, again for tonight. For everything. The talks, dinner, dessert. Everything. And, I appreciate you payin', too. You really didn't have to do that." She found herself rambling; something she did often around Cody. 

             "Of course. It was my pleasure. It's what I am here for." The statement was accompanied by that million dollar smile of Cody's. Shifting how he stood, Cody nervously tucked his hands into his pockets. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?" It came out as more of a question than a suggestion. "But, y'know, maybe next time we can just hang out just because we want to hang, not because you broke up with a guy." 

              "Oh, is that the only reason you took me out and paid for my meal? Because I just went through a horrible breakup?" Maleena teased Cody.

               Cody played back by tilting his head side to side. "That's not the only reason."

              "Oh, what's the other reason?" 

              "The other reason is that I was starving, and thought it would be rude to not invite you." He teased, smiling at Maleena. It was taking everything in him to not ask her out on a date; he knew she was hurting and vulnerable right now, and telling her that he has feelings for her would only complicate their friendship. However, Cody wasn't sure how much longer he could hide his feelings from her.