Page 5 of The Cowboy's Cabaret
“Wes was standing up for my girl Dahlia. Some sweaty man-child in the crowd grabbed her. I’m glad he got his shit rocked.”
Jade looks between me and Wesley before looping an arm through Daphne’s. “Did you see all the snacks? It’s a dream right?” Jade shares a conspiratorial smirk with Wes as she pulls Daphne behind her. Daphne looks back at me and mouthsoh my god, before bounding along excitedly.
Alone with Wes again, it hits me I know nothing outside of this man’s name.
“So, Wes. Do you live nearby or are you visiting? Or travel with the band?” I cringe at my awkward barrage of questions, but Wes seems to take it in stride.
“Nah, we live a bit further north. Maybe an hour, hour and a half depending on traffic. We stay up on Jasper’s family farm and orchard. The commute here isn’t bad, so I try to make it down for as many shows as I can.”
This surprises me, but I guess farms and cowboys aren’t exclusive to the south. Regardless of his lack of southern accent, his country boy charm is endearing.
“So, a cowboy then?”
He thinks it over. “I guess you could say that, but I wouldn’t. More like a farm bitch? Maybe an apple aficionado?” The corners of his eyes crinkle with his laughter. “Jasper and I grew up there. His sister, Amber, was best friends with Jade growing up, so we were all inseparable for a while.” His use ofwasbest friends has me curious, but I don’t pry.
We fall into easy conversation about our favorite concerts and Wes and I actually have a lot of the same favorite bands. I’m envious when he shares he crowd-surfed at Canadian Carnage, a festival I’ve been dying to get to. When he tells me how the crowd dropped him on his ass, I nearly spray water out of my nose.
“Ready to go?” Jasper speaks, kicking at Wes’ boot. “Long day tomorrow, and I’m ready to hit the sack.”
Bummed my night is ending, I stand and move to leave when Wes stops me. “Do you two have a ride home?”
“Yeah, we’re not too far from here, and the subway station is a few blocks from our apartment.”
“We’ll take you home.” Wes’ tone leaves no room for disagreement as he stands, towering over me. He offers a handand pulls me up off the couch. Jasper glares in Daphne’s direction before telling Jade to be safe. Daphne eyes him like he’s being weird, and to be fair he definitely is. Maybe he’s shy?
“Tell Amber I said hi,” Jade calls out, busying herself with a plate of strawberries.
“You could tell her yourself, you know,” Jasper calls back.
Wesley shakes his head and takes my hand in his, pulling me out the door with him. His tattooed hands feel rough and calloused against mine, ink decorating each finger. He quickly lets go and offers me a kind smile. I miss the contact and am grateful for it to be gone.
The barren parkinglot is illuminated by a full moon, showing just how long we hung out for. A blacked out pickup truck sits alone in a spot, rendering a laugh from Daphne. “Who’s little dick is this compensating for?” Jasper rounds the hood before slamming the driver’s side door as he gets in. “Guess that would be his.”
“You know, when you’re a whole lot of man, you need more space to spread out.” My body heats and I shoot daggers at Daphne, since he very clearly heard us. “To be fair, her defense of the air humping was a good one.” He winks and opens the back door for Daphne and I to pile in.
On the drive over, Wes tells us about his cowboy escapades, though he says cowboy with a sarcastic tone, making me giggle. Jasper mumbles something about Wes being a wannabe motherfucker, but Wes waves him off.
When we pull up to our building, like the gentleman he is, Wes hops out and opens the door for us. Daphne slides out first and I stop short when Wes leans into the backseat.
“It was really nice hanging out with you guys tonight. If you’re ever in need of a concert buddy, I’d be happy to oblige.” Again with his lopsided grin. The last thing I need is this hunk of a man annihilating my self-imposed relationship boycott, so I shake my head to rid myself of the thoughts of where else I’d like to see his grin.
“I had so much fun too. We should meet up again, I’m always down to go to shows.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and open a new text thread for him to send me his number. He sends himself the black heart emoji, before handing it back and moving to let me out of the truck.
“Nice meeting you too, Daphne.”
She gives him an animated wave in return before yelling, “Goodbye, Jasper!”
Wes and I give each other a side hug before we say our goodbyes, and I’m quite excited about the prospect of a new friend.
FOUR
a cowboy’s life for me
Wesley
I’m awake for work,way too fucking early. I fumble for my phone on the nightstand, secretly hoping for a text message from Dahlia. After the first few days, I was curious if she changed her mind about staying in touch. Much to my delight, there is a text from her this morning.
Dahlia
