Misty flopped down onto her bed exhausted that night. Her dad was furious that she had slept over at Clay's apartment last night. He was even more upset when Misty let it slip that they had fallen asleep on the couch...together. Even though Misty and Clay were waiting for marriage to do anything, Misty's dad still worried. 

              Staring at her ceiling, Misty ran a finger through her hair as she thought about her dad's reaction. He didn't say much to her, but everything he did say had an edge to it. From the second she got back from Clay's, Bill had Misty working extra hard as a consequence of her failure to mention she was staying at Clay's, even though at the time she didn't know she would end up staying the night there. The entire day, Misty didn't get to see Clay at all. It was hard for her, but she had to live up to the reality of her actions. She had disappointed her dad, and that was one thing that she would never forgive herself for. 

              Tonight, Bill had essentially banned Misty from being allowed to see Clay as much. Misty attempted to argue that he was her boyfriend, so they were going to spend time together, but Bill protested. Knowing she needed to take responsibility, Misty had angrily agreed she wouldn't stay over at Clay's next time without warning, and she would make work her main focus again. 

              To her left, Misty's phone vibrated loudly on the wooden end table. Rolling onto her stomach, Misty grabbed her phone, grinning slightly when she saw it was Clay. 

           "Hey, babe, before you say anything, I really want to apologize. My dad got mad about us spending so much time together and-" Misty started rambling, but Clay chuckling cut her off. "What?" She grinned, loving the sound of his laugh. It immediately made her feel better about the day.

            "Honey, it's okay. I just wanted to call and say goodnight." 

           Misty shifted on her bed, pushing some hair out of her face. "Oh, that's funny. Let me guess, this is when you actually tell me that you're standing right outside my bedroom door, waiting to kiss me goodnight, right?"

           "No, honey, I wish I could say I was, but I'm actually just about to turn in for the night."
  
        Chuckling, Misty slid off the bed, sauntering to her bedroom door. "Haha, very funny Clay Montgomery. I'm goin' to open my bedroom door now and if you're on the other side of it-" She flung open the door, only darkness staring at her. Her shoulders slumped and the grin that was on her lips faded. Closing the door, a little louder than she meant to, Misty sulked back to her bed, sliding under the covers. "Why didn't you come over?" She asked, sad. Today had just continued to go from bad to worse, and she was ready to just go to bed to forget about it and move on.

       "Babe, I didn't think that I should. Your dad-"

        "What did he say to you?!" Misty's voice raised slightly as she sat up in her bed.

      On the other line, Misty could hear Clay sigh. "Honey, why are you upset with me right now?"

        "Did it ever occur to you that I don't care what my dad says, that I just want to see you and spend time with you? You're my boyfriend, so it's kinda your job to surprise me and come over or at least call to ask how my day apart from you was instead of calling just to say goodnight. I've had enough disappointment for one day. I don't need it from my boyfriend, too." She tried keeping her voice low so she wouldn't wake up Junior, whose bedroom was right next to hers, but the task was hard, seeing how upset she suddenly was.

        "Misty, please don't do this tonight." Clay pleaded, his voice sounding quiet and tired. There was a split second of hesitation before Clay breathed out, "I love you."

         Misty rolled her eyes. She was too mad to resolve this tonight. "Good night, Clay." Misty hung up, slamming her phone down on her bedside table with a frustrated groan.

          Rolling onto her side, Misty closed her eyes, her mind still fuming. Not even a minute after she hung up on Clay did her phone ring again. Picking it up a second time, Misty answered with a frustrated, "What?"

          "Why did you hang up on me?" Clay's voice sounded even more exhausted, leaning towards frustration.

         "Because I'm mad at you, Clay! Why did you think I would hang up on you?"

          "Why are you mad at me? I thought you were mad at your dad for...whatever he said."

          "No, Clay, I'm mad at you. This is all your fault, and you couldn't even try to come over and see me at all today. In fact, you probably enjoyed being away from me the whole day, huh? Yeah, well get used to it." Misty only got more and more upset the longer she stayed on the phone.

        "Woah, Misty, baby, what do you mean by that? You're blowing this way out of proportion."

        Misty rolled her eyes, throwing her head back against her pillow. "You insulting me. That's really the last thing I need right now. Goodnight, Clay." She pulled the phone away from her ear, about to hang up, but Clay's pleading on the other end made her hesitate.

         "Misty, please do not hang up. I don't know why you are acting like this, but just let me talk for a second. Please."

        Slowly, Misty brought the phone back up to her ear. "Clay, I am really tired and too upset to talk. Please, just let me go to bed."

       Clay let out a sigh. "Okay. I'm sorry. Goodnight, baby."

      "Night." She set her phone on the table beside her bed before rolling back onto her stomach, groaning loudly in the pillow. Today had just kept on getting worse for her; the last thing she needed was to fight with her boyfriend.

                                                                      ~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
       "Hey, baby." Clay said to Misty from the open driver's side window of his truck the next morning. He ever so slowly drove next to Misty as she walked with the wheel barrow to the manure pile. 

          Misty let out a breath, not looking at her boyfriend, though she desperately wanted to. "What do you want, Clay?" 

          "I want you to stop walkin' and get in the truck." Clay had a slight grin on his lips, as he put his head further out the window. 

           "Can't. Got work to do." She lifted the wheel barrow on it's end, dumping the manure at the base of the pile.  

          Clay threw his truck in park, hopping out of the cab. Pushing his hat down further on his head, he walked over to his stubborn girl. "I know you're still ticked at me, but please, just come with me." 

          Misty wiped a hand over her sweating forehead. She looked Clay up and down and saw him wearing a clean, baby blue and white pearl snap with the sleeves rolled up. The shirt was tucked into a pair of his Wrangler jeans; Clay's look was completed with a pair of his favorite square toe boots. Bringing her gaze back up to look him in the eyes, Misty tried as hard as she could to not think about how handsome he was, or how well she could see his washboard abs and strong muscles through his shirt. Reminding herself that she was still mad at him, Misty began pushing the manure cart back into the barn. "I'm still mad at you." She heard come out of her mouth; her tone made it sound like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Clay. 

           "I know, but I'm hopin' that will change if you go for a ride with me." Clay bargained. 

          Misty let out a sigh, resting the wheel barrow against the side of the barn. "Clay, I have work to do." She leaned against the propped up wheel barrow, staring into the blue eyes of her boyfriend. If her dad hadn't given her an ultimatum about spending time with Clay, Misty would have dropped what she was doing and sprinted to the truck, but her daddy's words kept whispering to her every time she was around Clay. She had disappointed the one man who never let her down, her role model, her father. The other night, after the horse sale was over, Misty and Clay had a date night, and it ended with Misty spending the night in Clay's apartment. Without thinking, Misty had forgotten to tell her parents where she was staying, so the next morning, Misty's dad was furious with his baby girl. "My dad-"

           "I already talked to your dad and he is fine with us goin' out." Clay grinned. Reaching out, he grabbed Misty's free hand. "Stop makin' excuses to stay mad at me, and just get in the truck, please." 

        Misty looked down at their hands, then back up to Clay. Letting out a sigh, she agreed, "Alright. Let's go." Clay began to pull her to the truck, but she yanked him back. "But first, you have to tell me where we are goin'." 

          Clay obeyed the tug back to his girlfriend, wrapping both of his arms around her slim waist. "Only if you tell me why you are mad at me." There was a playful grin spread on his lips. 

           Misty cocked her hips, resting her hands on Clay's chest. "I'm more hurt, than I am mad. Yesterday, of all days, I needed you to be there for me. I didn't get to see you at all the entire day. The one thing I wanted was to see you." 

         "I didn't think I should have come and seen you, because you said that your dad was upset that you stayed at my place without warning. I didn't want you to get into more trouble, and I reckoned it would have been better to let a day pass, just to let things cool off." 

          "Yeah, well you thought wrong." Misty mumbled, looking away from Clay. 

           Clay let go of Misty's waist with one hand to lift her chin, bringing her eyed back to look at him. "Babe, I am really sorry. I did what I thought was right. I should have communicated better. Can we please move on, and not let this dwell?" His hand was stroking her cheek. 

          Misty took in a deep breath, "Of course, honey. I'm sorry. But now, you have to tell me where we are goin'." 

           Clay grinned, leading Misty to his truck. Opening the passenger side door, Clay helped his girlfriend into the cab, closing the door, and leaning in through the open window. "You'll just have to be patient and see where we are goin', I reckon, cause, darlin', I ain't tellin' you where we are goin'." Before Misty could say anything in response, Clay hopped into the driver side, putting his truck in reverse, while buckling his seat belt. 

           Once they were on the road, Clay looked at his shotgun rider, seeing an annoyed look on her face. Reaching across the console, Clay grabbed Misty's hand, interlacing their fingers. Bringing her hand up to his lips, Clay mumbled, "You're pretty adorable when you're mad." He smiled at Misty, letting out a chuckle when he saw how irritated she was getting at him. Clay's hope was that, in a few minutes, when Misty saw where he was taking her, all of her frustration towards him would fly out the window. 

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

A/N: Hey, y'all! For the moment, my laptop is behaving, so I am fixing to update as much as I can while it is cooperating. I apologize for the short chapters, but I thank y'all for y'alls patience and understanding. 

Please let me know what y'all think of the chapter. Where do y'all think that Clay is taking Misty? I would love to hear y'alls thoughts!