"What do we need to talk about?" Maleena's eyebrows were sewn together in confusion. 

        "You and Cody." Chandler's posture only slightly relaxed as he stared down his sister, a range of emotions readable on his face. 

       "What about Cody and I?" She took off her boots, leaving them by the door, ready to take off her sticky makeup and tight show clothes to slip into her pajamas for the night. 

       "I really don't know the best way to say this without coming across too nosy, but...y'all have been awfully touchy feeling recently. A lot of PDA and such recently. So I have to ask, are y'all sleepin' together?" The second the words came off his lips, he wished he could take them back. He knew his sister better than that and even though he wasn't sure why, he suddenly felt like he had to protect Maleena in a way; to him, it just seemed like they were moving awfully fast for only being together for a couple months. Though he trusted the couple to not make any decisions that would forever change them, and possibly regret, still Chandler felt like that was where they were quickly headed, even if they didn't realize it themselves yet.

       Maleena stood up straighter than a stick, glaring at her brother. "What? Are you serious? Wh-how could you even ask me a question like that? No, no. Absolutely not. Cody and I are not sleeping together. We just really like each other and I see no problem with that." She took a step closer to her brother. "I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. Mom and dad approve of him, too. And that's sayin' something. Heck, they even let him spend the night here. Cody practically lives in this house with us."

        "Speakin' of mom and dad. How do you think that they would feel if they knew how handsy and kissy y'all are together and such? I saw y'all tonight. Cody had his hand on your thigh the whole time we were eating, and when he was driving, he held your hand the entire time. It was almost like he was afraid you would drift away if he wasn't touching you constantly." Chandler was never one to pick a fight with his little sister, but he was honestly concerned about how quickly she and her boyfriend were moving in such a short span of time. He had been in a relationship like that before, and it did not end well; deep down he just didn't want Maleena to go through the same heartbreak. 

      Maleena scoffed. "Oh my gosh, Chandler. Are you jealous of Cody and I or something? You have always enjoyed spending time with him. Y'all are friends. Heck you were even the one to set me up with him." She pointed out, her voice raised.

         Chandler shook his head, his hands on his hips. "I can't believe you would even ask me that. Of course I am not jealous. I am worried, Maleena. You used to hate how touchy-feely Dillion was with you, but now with Cody you're completely fine with it. I'm just worried where this is headed. That's all."

       "Where this is headed?" She repeated in a soft voice. Glaring bullets at her brother, she shouted, "Where this is headed? I will tell you where this is headed..." Maleena angrily pointed to herself before turning to put her cowboy boots back on. "This is headed to see her boyfriend since he is the only one who seems to really understand me!" With that, Maleena left the house, fuming with anger as she slammed the wooden door shut behind her, causing the windows to rattle. Practically running to her truck, Maleena fought hard to keep the tears that threatened to fall; her and Chandler don't fight. They were best friends, and always got along. However, the sibling's fight wasn't what was causing the rise of tears in Maleena's eyeliner and mascaraed eyes. Deep down, she knew that Chandler was right because she had begun to wonder the same thing about her and Cody herself. 

      Despite her concerns, Maleena dialed her boyfriend's number, resting her phone between her cheek and her shoulder as she fumbled with her keys, sticking the key in the lock, giving it a turn before hopping up into the cab. "Cody, hey." She let out a relieved sigh when he picked up. 

       "Hey, baby girl. What's up?" 

       Maleena turned the key in the ignition, rubbing a hand over steering wheel. "Can I please come over?" She could hear yelling in the background on Cody's line, then a door shutting, the only sound was now just Cody's voice.

        "Yeah, of course. We can meet at my house, and then if you're okay with it, we can go to the rodeo grounds." Cody let out a sigh. "My parents are fighting and to be honest, I don't want you here when they are fighting. Plus, I was fixin' to stay at the grounds tonight anyways." 

       "Thank you." Maleena breathed out, dropping her truck into drive. "I'll be there in a few minutes." 

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

        Maleena turned down into Cody's driveway, her headlights hitting the front porch of his house where she saw her boyfriend sitting, phone in his hands. Sitting on the steps of the porch, wearing a hoodie with a duffle bag next to him, Cody looked up when he heard Maleena's truck roll to a stop. Grabbing his bag, he walked to the driver's side of the truck before Maleena could turn off the ignition. 

       "I can drive us if you want." Cody was surprised to see Maleena still in her show clothes and makeup. Though it had now been several hours since the show, despite her frizzy hair that the hair spray had worn out of, it looked as if Maleena had just stepped out of the show ring. 

       "Thanks." Maleena unbuckled her seat belt and slid to the passenger side seat of her truck. Curling up, Maleena rested her chin on her fist that she propped up on the windowsill, sitting on her other hand. Staring out the window as Cody silently drove them to the rodeo grounds, she was debating how to tell Cody about the fight her and Chandler had. In the meantime, she was just glad that Cody was still willing to meet up with her this late, regardless of how their talk went. 

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

         "So, what happened tonight?" Cody asked Maleena almost immediately after she walked out of the bathroom at the rodeo grounds. In a pair of his gym shorts and old shirt, Maleena was rubbing a towel over her wet hair. Her face was completely washed clean of all of the makeup and her hair was rid of the sticky hair spray.

       Taking a deep breath, Maleena took a seat next to Cody on the couch in the barn office. She sat with her knees facing him, her bath towel on her lap. "Chandler and I got into a big fight." Maleena was staring at her feet, where Cody's hand laid just inches away. 

      "What about?" He wanted to reach out and rest a hand on her knee, but for some reason, he felt that now was not an appropriate time. Ever since she had pulled up to his house, Maleena hadn't made eye contact with him once. Something was really bothering her. 

      "Us." Maleena drew her eyes upward, locking them on Cody's finally. 

      "What about us?" Cody took off his cowboy hat, rubbing a finger across the bill. 

      "He thinks that we are movin' too fast, and that we are getting 'awfully handsy recently'." She picked at a hangnail on her finger. In a quiet voice, she added, "He even asked me if we were sleepin' together..." 

      Cody shot up off the couch with that remark. Turning to Maleena, his arms outstretched his voice was raised, "Sleepin' together? Why on earth would he ask you such a personal question in the first place? He knows our standards on all of that." With a scoff, Cody turned away. "I can't believe this." 

      "Well, to be honest, Cody, Rose said something about it all, too..." This is not where she had envisioned this heading. 

      Cody spun back around, choosing to not acknowledge Maleena's remark. "Chandler and I are friends, heck, he is the one who set us up. Why would he even start this with you?" Rubbing a hand over his face, he added, "I told you something was up with him tonight. I said so at the restaurant, remember. This is unbelievable. I cannot believe that he wouldn't talk to me about this first. Him and I were friends before I even knew about you. If he has a problem with us, he should confront me first."

       Maleena almost cringed under the strength of Cody's angry voice that was echoing off of the office walls. The last thing that she wanted was to fight with her boyfriend. Keeping her voice low, she responded, "Cody, he probably thought it would be easier to talk to me first because I am his sister. He isn't 'starting' anything with me-he is simply concerned, and frankly, I don't blame him." 

       Cody's voice quieted down some as he slowed his pacing across the office floor. "What do you mean you don't blame him?" 

       Maleena looked back up at Cody. "I just mean that I have even kinda had thoughts myself about how quickly we have been movin' and whatnot." In her mind, she replayed nearly every encounter they had as a couple, and even as friends before they began dating. Thinking back to their first kiss, when Cody asked permission to kiss her, to where they were now: a lot had changed, and quickly. 

       "So what are you sayin'?" He stood with his hands on his hips, a hurting look in his eyes. 

        "I don't know, Cody. But maybe we need to start taking the time to make our time together more special?" She didn't mean for it to sound like a question, or an accusation, but that was exactly what happened.

          "So the time we spend together isn't special to you? Cause for me it's the highlight of my day. Every second that I spend with you is special, even if we just spend it fighting like we are now." He held his hands out for emphasis, his voice more irritated than angry now. 

      "No, that isn't what I meant. I am just sayin' that we kiss and hold hands and touch and everything a lot more than we used to. It's like you're scared I will float away if you aren't constantly holding me." 

        Silence hung in the air. "What? What does that even mean?" Cody's voice broke the quietness after he seemed to mull over the comment for a few seconds. 

      Maleena was back to staring at the damp towel in her lap. "It was something that Chandler said earlier tonight. And honestly, I can see where he is coming from with it." 

        Cody knelt down in front of Maleena, his voice back to a normal decibel. "I do those things because I know you like them and they make you happy." 

        "Yes, but I want you to do them because they make you happy, too. It isn't all about me all the time. I want you to be able to do what you want, honestly. As much as I enjoy it, we don't have to spend every moment of every day together. If you want to go hang out with your friends, then okay. That's fine with me. But Cody, I agree with Chandler that something has to change." 

        "Okay, then we change. Where do you want to start?" 

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

      Author's Note: I know, I know. I left yet another chapter off with a cliffhanger. I also realized that it's been almost a month since I updated last. Man, oh, man time flies when you're busy constantly. Either way, my greatest apologies on the delayed update, but thank you all for your patience, and I hope y'all enjoy. Please let me know what y'all think of the chapter. :D
Also, what do you think about Maleena and Cody recently? Is Chandler right that they need to slow down?