Maleena took in a deep breath as she tried allowing herself to fall asleep that night. With a smile the size of Texas on her face, Maleena fingered her lips as she remembered Cody's sweet kiss. Sure, it was short and only one kiss, but it meant everything to Maleena. It had been a long time coming, and was well worth the wait. All Maleena could think about was how excited she was to get to see Cody again on Wednesday when they went to the apple orchard. Since it was only Monday, that meant their next date was still two days away. It was already hard enough for Cody to leave after seeing each other, but now that they had kissed, all Maleena wanted to do was kiss him again; she knew it was going to continue getting harder to say goodbye. 

       Letting out a sigh, Maleena rolled over in her bed so she was facing the wall with the window on it. Closing her eyes, she tried getting her mind off of her day with Cody. They had spend literally the entire day together, and even though they started the day off with their first argument, it was safe to say that it ended pretty dadgum well. 

        After an hour of tossing and turning, and attempting to catch some zzz's, Maleena gave up on trying to fall asleep for the time being. Grabbing her phone from beside the bed, Maleena checked her several notifications. Opening her Snapchat app, she quickly opened all of her friend's pictures that they sent her telling her goodnight. Just as she closed out of the app, getting ready to check her emails, a text from Cody appeared on her screen.

        With her smile returning, Maleena opened Cody's message. "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinkin' about you and that kiss we shared. It was by far the best first kiss anyone could ask for. Ugh, I can't wait until Wednesday." 

         "I can't wait either, and the kiss was better than I ever could have imagined." She grinned, shooting the text back immediately. 

          "Did I wake you up?" Cody asked, being considerate. 

          "No, I can't sleep either." While Maleena texted Cody back, she quickly scrolled through her seemingly unending list of emails.

          Maleena was hardly paying attention to any of the advertisement emails until she saw one from her county's Futurity Rodeo Association. The subject line read "Congratulations, you have been selected!" Opening the email, Maleena skim read it at first, thinking it was just spam, but it was clear it wasn't. Reading it a second time, Maleena felt herself getting overly excited. 

       Knowing he was still awake, Maleena dialed Cody's number, immediately putting him on speaker the second he picked up.

        "Hey, darlin'." Cody greeted. 

       "Cody, you're never goin' to believe it!" She said, excitedly into the phone. 

       "What, what's wrong?" Cody suddenly sprung alert.

       "Nothing is wrong. I just got an email from the Futurity Rodeo Association. Me and nine other girls from the county have been chosen to ride in the Barrel Racing Futurity race this Saturday." Maleena summarized the email. "The grand prize for the winner is $15,000, second place is $10,000, $5,000 for third place, $1,000 for the fourth and fifth place winners, and then the other 5 participants get $500 each if their ride qualifies with no penalties. The sponsors are matching the winnings and giving them to charity. We are supposed to meet on Friday to meet the horses we are riding." She read the email out loud to Cody. 

        "Malie, that is fantastic! That is so awesome that you were selected, too. I mean there are so many barrel racing girls in this county that have lived here their whole lived who the committee could have easily chosen, but they chose you, that is phenomenal!" Cody stated proudly. 

        "Thank you, but they didn't just choose me. They chose nine other girls as well, but I appreciate the compliment. I am so excited, and I cannot wait! I have to get out and practice running barrels again starting tomorrow. I have to clean up my runs. Stryker knows me and we have our own bad habits, but I mean, I will be riding a new horse, a horse that I will have just met the day before the race. And it's a futurity race, so there will be prospective riders and a huge crowd and-"

         Cody's chuckle interrupted Maleena's ramble. "Babe, you're goin' to do fantastic, don't you worry your pretty head." His kind voice instantly freed Maleena of all of her concerns she had after reading and processing the content of her email. 

        "Thank you. I'm just so excited, but also nervous." 

        "I understand, but don't be. I mean you have a right to be because this is a huge deal, but you have won races here before and that is extremely hard to do, considering the talent in this county." Cody let out a sigh. "I really wish I didn't have to work so much these next few days so I could come over and see you and watch you practice running barrels." 

       Maleena closed her eyes, basking in the warmth that Cody's deep, drawled voice brought her. "I know. I wish you didn't have to either, but since we will be so busy, I am sure that our date on Wednesday will be here before we know it." 

       "I can't wait." The smile in his voice was evident. "Do you, umm, think I can kiss you on the lips again next time I see you?" He questioned, desperately hoping for a good answer.

      "I thought you would never ask." Maleena couldn't help but smile as she fingered the top of her blanket. She desperately missed her boyfriend.

       "I really wish I didn't have to go, but I have to be up for work at 6 tomorrow morning." Cody's voice turned slightly sad due to the fact that he wanted to stay up all night talking to his girlfriend on the phone, but knew he couldn't.

      "Alright, babe. I'll talk to you tomorrow?" Maleena questioned, not wanting to hang up the phone. 

       "Always. Goodnight, beautiful."

       Maleena grinned into the phone. "Goodnight, handsome."   

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

         "Hey, good morning." Chandler greeted his sister the next morning. Leaning back against the counter in the kitchen, he rested one arm behind him on the counter while sipping his coffee as he watched as Maleena grab a mug from the cupboard, pouring herself her own cup of Joe.

        "Mornin'. How did you sleep?" Maleena asked, grabbing the coffee creamer from the fridge. She only drank her coffee straight black when she was out on a cattle drive, or somewhere where creamer wasn't easily accessible, or if she was running late. Her brother and dad make their coffee so strong and black that it was darker than tar. 

         "Pretty good. Heard you were up late last night." There was a knowing tone in his voice.  "And mom and dad said you had a real starry eyed look on your face after you said goodbye to Cody. I think we all know what happened there."  Lifting his mug up to his lips when Maleena turned around, he tried to hide his smile as he added, "He kissed you, didn't he?" Chandler sipped his jet black coffee, attempting to not let his little sister see the look on his face.

         Maleena looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was in ear shot of them. "Chandler, shh. Don't say that so loud." Maleena quickly warned, not ready to share that information with her parents yet. When she heard her brother chuckle, she shot him a harsh glare. "But how did you know?" 

       "Oh, so it's true then? You and Cody did kiss then, huh?" He purposely said it louder than the first time, just to tease his sister.

       Maleena wanted to deny it, but feeling the blush rising to her cheeks, she knew she was done for. Smiling down at her cup of coffee, Maleena said dreamily, in a quiet voice, "Yeah, Cody kissed me." 

        "I knew it!" Chandler triumphantly threw his arms into the air. "My little squirt is growing up so quick these days." He teased, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her in a hug, mindful of his cup of coffee he still hadn't finished. "I'm happy for you." 

        "Thanks, Chan." Maleena smiled, pulling back from their hug. Leaning back against the counter, Maleena blew on her coffee before taking a long gulp of it. "But seriously, how did you know?" 

        Chandler shrugged. "Mom and dad had a hankerin' after you came inside all star struck last night, and when I saw dad this morning when he left for work, he mentioned it to me to ask you."

        "Well, how do they know we kissed?" She inquired.

         "Squirt, they're our parents, they know way more than you think." He chuckled. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I will make you tell them."

        "Thanks, Chan." With a smile, she gave her brother a friendly pat on the arm before she downed the rest of her coffee, setting the mug upside down in the sink before heading outside to the barn.

        Once in the barn, Maleena fetched her horse and began to tack up him up. The whole time she did so, she found herself smiling. That smile, however, wasn't only plastered on her face because she was excited about running barrels for the futurity race on Saturday. No, Maleena certainly had more than one thing to smile about.