What was wrong with her? Hadn't her heart been through enough with him? She thought she had learned her lesson. Apparently she hadn't if the first time she's alone with Josh at the swimming hole she completely goes buck wild. Now she was in her own little world wondering when she'd get to see him again. Her thoughts were running through her mind at a million times per second, she hadn't even realized her friend, Carly, was right next to her, saying her name and patting her on her shoulder.

"Hello? Earth to Raleigh, the girl in LaLa land."

"Huh? Oh, Carly. When did you get here?"

"About ten minutes ago. You would have known if you weren't trapped in your mind as deep as you were."

"Sorry, Carly. I just have a lot on my mind."

"No doubt it has something to do with the boy wonder. I heard you and Josh were out all night together." Carly bumped her with her shoulder, raising her eyebrows. She obviously wanted to know every little detail that had happened. "So, what happened?"

"Ok, first off, nothing happened. And second, I wasn't out all night with him. Just until about one."

"Which is an hour and a half after your curfew. You must have been having a pretty good time to disobey Mommy and Daddy's orders like that." She clearly wasn't going to stop until she knew every little detail, right down the type of hair product he had used that night.

Sighing, Raleigh put down her rag and cleaning spray and look at Carly with her hand on her hip. Leaning against the table with her other hand, she gave in. "Alright, fine. I'll tell you. But it's really not that big of a deal."

"You met up with your boyfriend of twelve years, whom you haven't been with in six months. It is a big deal."

Sitting down at the table she had been cleaning before Carly came in, Raleigh started from the beginning. "Ok, I was in my usual spot at the hole reading my book. It was about ten-thirty I think. Then I heard Josh's voice say ‘nice to know some things never change.' I didn't really want to be around him so I started packing up my stuff and was about to leave when he told me not to go just because he was there. He said he wanted to talk to me since the last time he was able to was two weeks ago after the show. We cleared up a lot of the tension that was so obviously between us. And we're trying to be friends again. It's nice."

"But?" Carly could tell so easily that there was more to this than what Raleigh was saying.

"But it's going to be harder than I ever imagined. We were joking around like nothing had ever changed between us. Like he had never left for New York. Like he never wrote that letter. And then we were swimming and, I got so close to him I could feel the heat radiating off his body and hitting mine. He reached out and ran his hands down my arms and the tingling sensation I always got from his touch was there, but ten times stronger than ever before. His eyes were boring into mine, and I felt like I was on fire. And for a second, I almost wanted to take him and ravish him right then and there. But then I actually came to my senses and realized what time it was and ran home as fast as I could, thinking about what could have happened had I not fled. And that scares the hell out of me."

"Why does it scare you?" Carly asked in a whisper. The whole story amazed her. It was so obvious Raleigh was still in love with him. And this was great love, the kind no woman could ever get over, no matter how much time passed.

Looking up and meeting Carly's eyes, Raleigh said, "Because I'm still in love with him and that means he can hurt me again." Shaking her head, Raleigh sighed. "He has this power over me. One that I can't explain. Never could, never will. And man does that ever scare the hell out of me."

Reaching out and taking a hold of her best friend's hand, Carly gave it a squeeze. "I can't tell you what to do, Ray. But I can tell you what everyone in this town sees and knows. You and Josh, you're Ross and Rachel. No one gets it, but you just fit. There is not one doubt in any of our minds that you two were made for each other. Even if it doesn't end well, I would be happy just to know that I had a guy who had cared about me as much as Josh so clearly cares about you. You should never cry because it's over, but smile because it happened. Life is too short to not go after what you want."

Smiling, Raleigh knew she was right, and was speaking from experience. Carly had been with this guy, Barry, for three years. Then they had broken up, both obviously still wanted to be together, but their families were in a never ending feud. They were basically like Romeo and Juliet. It was a forbidden love. The day Carly had decided she couldn't live without Barry and wanted to tell him she wouldn't live without him, he had gotten into an accident. He was driving with his mother and this guy had run a red light at the bridge and crashed right into the passenger side of the car, Barry's side. He fought for three hours, and then flat lined. Carly was so heartbroken, and needless to say, their families no longer fight. They realized the same thing, life was too short to have enemies.

Giving Carly a hug, Raleigh let the tears fall, as did Carly. "James isn't the one for you and you know that."

"I know, Car. I know."

~*~

Sitting in her bedroom writing some ideas for a new song in her journal, Raleigh heard something on her window. Ignoring it, she kept humming and writing. She couldn't get this melody out of her head all day. This was the first chance she had to get it down on paper so she wouldn't lose it. Then there was that damn noise again. What the hell was that? Setting her journal down, Raleigh went over to the window and looked down. And sure enough, there was Josh, throwing pebbles at her window. Opening her window, Raleigh called down to him. "What are you doing here?"

Clearing his throat, Josh called up to her. "Rapunsel, Rapunsel, with hair so fine, won't you please climb down the vine?"

"The fate you ask, dear sir, isn't easy. And I won't respond to that line, it's far too cheesy." Raleigh smiled brilliantly at Josh before turning around in her room.

Rushing around her room, Raleigh put on a sweater and climbed down the actual vine. She had clearly done this before, no doubt to run away with Josh to their spot. It made her feel like a princess. But this time, her pant leg had caught on the damn vine and she fell right on top of Josh.

"Oh, are you ok?"

Laughing, Josh said, "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Good." Standing up, she held out her hand to help him up.

"Alright, close your eyes." She gave him a repulsed look as to say ‘I'm not falling for that again.' and he caught on. "Don't worry, it's a surprise. I'm not going to lead you a hole in the ground so I can break that ankle of yours, again."

"If you do, I'm going to have to hurt you."

"Don't worry, I won't. Now close them." Closing her eyes, she put her well being in the hands of Josh, which was probably not the best idea in the world, but for some strange reason, she trusted him now more than ever.

"Alright, open them." Opening her eyes, Raleigh's gaze landed on a large white Stallion standing near the white fence.

"Josh, you stole him from Mr. Anderson's farm again, didn't you?" She pointed a finger and the guilty thief.

"Hey, I did not steal him. I merely borrowed him."

"Mmhmm." Going over to the large animal, Raleigh pet his head. "Hey boy. It's been a while, huh?" The horse whinnied in remembrance of their midnight rides that the three had use to go on all the time. They loved to feel free, riding through the valleys on horseback, and he use to love getting off that farm, something that hadn't changed.
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