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“What can I say? I like to be clean.” He grinned knowingly at Hugo as the two men took their seats, with Liz and Tammy between them.
“Well, I like a man who knows how to take care of himself,” Liz said softly. She shined a smiled at Stephen as she wrapped her hand around his biceps and leaned on his shoulder.
Stephen looked down at her and smiled back. Though it wasn’t the most genuine smile, it was just warm enough to put Liz at ease. Stephen glanced at Hugo, who had already begun flirting with Tammy although she was too distracted to look at him. On the other side of Hugo were Frank, Tyler, and two girls Stephen didn’t recognize. They were girls they’d met that night, and all four appeared to be hitting it off quite well.
Seeing how his friends were occupied with their female partners, Stephen decided to enjoy himself as much as he could and leaned back so that Liz could nestle more comfortably against him. Stephen genuinely liked Liz just not romantically. She was a very nice girl and intelligent too, so he was able to have conversations with her that he couldn’t have with any of his male friends. She wasn’t loud or rude and seemed to genuinely care about him. She was practically perfect; he’d been alone since his parents had died, and if it weren’t for his work buddies, he’d have no one.
But even with all these things that made Liz seem perfect, Stephen couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. He even began to question his sexuality, unable to understand why he wasn’t sexually drawn to her. He was able to appreciate her natural beauty, yet the more he got to speak to her and know her, the more apparent that missing piece became to him. All these thoughts ran through Stephen’s head, but as he saw cowboys getting flipped through the air and these massive 2,000-pound bulls raging in the arena, he thought it best to put those thoughts behind him and enjoy the moment. He readjusted slightly, putting his arm around Liz, relaxing into the cheap arena seat, and sipping his beer as the eight of them enjoyed the remainder of the show.
Bull riding was the last event of a very eventful rodeo. After it was over and the awards for the evening had been given out to the champions of the night, it was still too early to head home, so the couples decided to drink at the concession stand.
“What was your favorite part, Stephen?” Liz was still holding Stephen’s arm as they headed to the concession stand.
Stephen, his hands in his pockets, replied, “Uhhh, to be honest with you, I guess I would have to say the barrel racing.”
“Oh, so out of everything you enjoyed watching those barrel-racing girls ride around the most, huh?” she teased. The smile on her face showed Stephen she was not truly jealous.
“No, no, no. It’s not like that.” Stephen chuckled. “I don’t know, all the riding events just get me worried and anxious every time I see them. Especially when one of the riders is thrown and stepped on. It’s just not one of the prettiest sights to see, y’know.”
“How ’bout me? Am I a pretty sight?” Liz stopped walking and held his arm back as she waited for a reply biting her bottom lip gently, looking up just enough to lock eyes with Stephen.
A little surprised, Stephen scrunched his eyebrows together and let a small smile creep across his face. “Yeah, I guess you can say that.” His smile widened.
“Ugh, that’s not how you should treat a lady Mr. Stephen.” Liz playfully smacked his arm and grabbed ahold of it again as the two of them continued their walk to the stand.
“Well, if you don’t like the riding, what about the roping events? Hardly anyone ever gets hurt in those.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that but, every time one of those calves gets wrangled, it doesn’t really look like they’re having a good time. Especially when the cowboys miss their horns and get the rope goes around their neck. I understand that roping is an important part of cowboying and taking care of cattle, I mean there’s not really a better way of controlling the animals. But every time I see one of them struggle or get hurt by the rope, I can’t help but cringe.” This was the first time Stephen had openly told someone how he felt about the rodeo events. The rodeo was such a large part of the culture in Texas, he didn’t want to draw glares of disapproval.
“Ah, well, I take it you probably didn’t like the steer wrestling then either?” Liz asked.
Stephen squeezed one side of his face as he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
“You poor thing. You’re just a big ol’ sweetheart, ain’t ya?” Liz said as she smiled at him, rubbing his arm trying to bring some sort of comfort as she learned about the discomfort Stephen felt while watching all the events.
Stephen involuntarily grinned as he dropped his head and broke eye contact with Liz. Suddenly, an arm wrapped itself around Stephen’s neck, and he felt someone leaning on him.
“Yeah, Steve’s just a big ol’ sweetheart, aren’t ya Stevie?” Frank pulled Stephen’s head closer and gave him a lighthearted kiss on the cheek.
“Man, get off of me.” Stephen playfully shoved his friend off his shoulder.
“I’m just messing with ya kid. Here take this. The night’s still young, and I am not ready to go home just yet.” Frank handed Stephen a beer he’d been drinking and gave a fresh one to Liz.
The eight of them loitered near the concession stand with a few other spectators for several hours until it was finally time for the stand to close. It must have been close to one o’clock in the morning, but Stephen’s friends still did not want to go home. Instead, they hid on the fairgrounds and waited until all the rodeo workers had gone to sleep so they could sneak around and see the animals.
Stephen wasn’t the biggest fan of alcohol, given the havoc it had wreaked on his father’s state of mind and how it had eventually led to his mother’s death. This was the main reason he rarely drank, and whenever he did, it was usually minimal amounts—just enough so he could be part of the group. This also meant that when he went out with his friends Stephen was usually the designated driver and voice of reason, although most times that voice would be ignored. He didn’t take issue with that most nights, but tonight was an exception.
Stephen was one of the only sober people in his group and wasn’t a strong advocate of this plan to sneak around the rodeo at night with a bunch of intoxicated people who had minimal control over their basic motor skills. Liz hadn’t drunk much either since her small frame didn’t allow her to drink much without blacking out, and she did not find that to be very ladylike. She also knew that Stephen did not like drinking too much and mimicked his behavior.
“You guys, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Stephen said as the group of eight hid between two empty trailers on the outskirts of the fairgrounds.
“Will you quit your complaining? Everything is going to be all right. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about a thing. We’re just going to go around and look at all the nice animals and have a good time, now, aren’t we?” Frank looked around the group for approval.
He got a few slurred yeahs and giggles in response.
Stephen still didn’t like this plan, but he couldn’t leave since Frank had driven and still had the keys in his pocket, refusing to hand them over.
“All right, I just saw the last light in the workers’ trailers go off. Let’s go!” Frank whispered as he peered around the corner of the trailer and led them through a field closer to the pens where they kept all the animals.
