Rachel felt like she was caught doing something wrong and released Brian almost losing her balance once more. She hurriedly clung to his wide shoulders once more so she wouldn't fall.

Brian was able to tell that she was not feeling comfortable so he went to one of the benches and sat her down on it without paying any mind to their audience.

Although he wanted to ma.s.sage her legs to restore circulation, he opted not to do so since they had an audience. Rachel did not say much as she was experiencing pins and needles so she was focussing on not making weird noises.

"Lucas" Brian said once he made sure that Rachel was comfortable and went forward to give him a bro hug.

"Happy birthday" Brian said releasing him. On the side, Laura was observing Brian very intently.

"Thanks, umm, this is Jen, my girlfriend, and that is Laura her friend" Lucas said as he introduced the two girls to Brian.

"Oh?, I'm Brian" he introduced himself and extended his arm and shook both the girls' hands.

"Are you alright?" Laura asked the neglected Rachel.

"Mmh, my legs were just numb for a moment" Rachel explained trying to clear up the air since she was caught in such an ambiguous position with Brian.

"Oh, so thats what happened" Laura said in a patronizing voice that made Jen nudge her.

"We were just curious about the horses here, you guys can continue with what you were doing" Jen said and pulled both Laura and Lucas away from the pair.

Brian watched their retreating backs in puzzlement but Rachel knew that Jen was trying to make her feel less embarra.s.sed.

"Did I do something wrong?" Brian asked as he saw the group of three leave the stables to give them privacy.

"That's not the case, Jen and Laura were probably just curious about you and decided to give us s.p.a.ce rather than intrude" Rachel explained.

"Is that so?" Brian said vaguely as he looked at Rachel.

"Why did you leave so fast?" Laura asked Jen feeling like she just missed out on the opportunity to tease Rachel about a man.

"It was awkward, besides, I felt like we were intruding." Jen explained as she gradually slowed her pace.

"Oh," Laura said plainly.

"Besides, I was only making sure that Rachel was alright and that she was not doing something she was being forced to do" Jen explained.

"I thought I already told you that Brian was an actual gentleman" Lucas said feeling frustrated and amused at the same time.

"I know, but he is your friend" Jen said as if that would explain everything.

"Did I ever force you to do something you didn't want to do?" Lucas asked with worry.

"No, but you can be really convincing and-" Jen was cut off by the gagging sounds Laura was making.

"Can you not do this in front of me?" Laura said and lengthened her strides so that she was far from the couple.

She was slightly annoyed that her friends seem to have found some pretty nice guys. Even the tattooed intimidating guy she just saw was being really considerate of Rachel.

After a few minutes, Laura had left the pair far behind and was getting closer to the house.

"I worry about her" Jen said as she watched Laura walk away.

"Why?" Lucas asked as he pulled Jen closer to him and draping an arm around her shoulders.

"Heh, although she looks very a.s.sertive, she has never really been in a relations.h.i.+p" Jen explained. Lucas was so surprised he stopped walking.

"Really?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes. Whereas Rachel met all the wrong guys, Laura did not date at all" Jen commented.

"If you had reversed their positions I would have been more accepting" Lucas said.

"Really? Rachel looks very aloof, but she is the type of person to fall head over heels with a guy.

She will give everything when it comes to a relations.h.i.+p. Laura however, is too scared of getting hurt, especially since she has seen Rachel's breakups. So she walks around with that front" Jen explained.

"Is that so?" Lucas said absent mindedly.

"Mmh, so Laura is persistent on marrying her first boyfriend, Rachel wants to date for a long time so she doesn't repeat her mistakes."Jen said shrugging her shoulders

"Really?" Lucas said with raised eyebrows.

"Mmh, that's why Rachel is so careful. Laura says she won't even look at a guy who feels intimidated by her… she's going to be single for a long time" Jen said with a laugh.

"What about you?" Lucas asked.

"You'll just have to be good to me" Jen said thoughtlessly.

"Mmh, I'll be very good" Lucas said and kissed the side of her head and chuckled when he saw her cheeks redden.

"I can't believe I said that out loud." Jen said and looked at the ground.

"Don't think too much about it. Now I know how to get brownie points" Lucas teased her making her jab his ribs with her elbow.

Since he was not prepared, the sudden pain almost brought tears to his eyes. He had immediately released her and clutched his ribs in agony.

"Is it that painful?" Jen asked surprised by his reaction. Lucas could only nod in response.

"You're not pulling my leg are you?"Jen asked again finding it difficult to believe that he was in that much pain. Lucas looked at her as if he was being wronged and Jen noticed his gla.s.sy eyes.

"I really hurt you didn't I?" Jen asked worriedly and walked towards him.

"Aren't your elbows a bit too hard?" Lucas complained making Jen speechless.

"Where have you seen soft elbows?"Jen retorted effectively silencing him.

"Show me where you're hurt" Jen said and proceeded to lift his t-s.h.i.+rt. When she exposed his ribs she saw that he had a purple bruise on his ribs.

"I don't think I hit you that hard" Jen exclaimed as she was surprised.

[A/N: You didn't he just bruises easily].

Lucas obviously couldn't let go of such an opportunity. He planned to take full advantage of this.

"Jen is really hurts. Aren't you being too rough handed with me?" Lucas asked making Jen feel guilty.

She hadn't even used all her strength. How was she supposed to know that such a big man was actually so delicate?

"I'm sorry babe, let's go back quickly and ice it" Jen said feeling sorry for him. As expected Lucas exaggerated his injury and even leaned on her. Although he looked tough, he had a very low pain threshold.

This had caused his brothers to be very careful when they played with him when he was younger. Since if they got too rowdy, his hazel eyes would always feel up with tears something that had always made James' heart shake and Jason just escaped.