Submitting to the Cowboy

ky

ans, the sea of purple and gold, the white-hot lights and thrumming music

ter felt like h

on my shoulder. Six months ago, I stood right in that very spot and smiled as I waved my hands in the air, my hair bou

s empty, stale,

eks ago when I'd come to watch the audition for this year's r

all I'd ever known. All I'd ever want

ded. No more light

cut from

ewhere behind me, her voic

looked down at my sneakers, squeezing my eyes s

me drinks with the new girls.

ears. We were veterans on the team. There hadn

t paid much, pennies compared to the basketball players we cheered for. I'd scrapped by for three years jus

y'd run drills today, taught the new girls our old cheers and dances. The season didn't start until October, which was three months away, but that didn't matter. I got called in for a

. I could easily ruin my chances of ever dancin

s for them to reconsider, but i

st my

you could audit

ed. "I'll catch up with you later, okay? Carter's taking me out to celebrate me ge

ortly after making the team three years ago. She eyed me, tilting her

things wi

, the only man I'd ever known intimately. Carter, with his soft

wling into a hole every

by asked with

to visit his parents. He has a who

'll be so busy planning your wedding you won't even think about us. Where would you rather be? Stuffed on a bus on

er be on

her my best smile and squeezed

*

the small courtyard in the ce

, and neglected plants and the fountain that hadn't worke

the rich and famous. We'd been friends since college and had a running joke called "friend tax". I got her and her long-t

it, honestly, having to face the peopl

s-–no, months at this point. Physical therapy seemed to only go so far but it sure as he

the greenlight to start dancing again, I could go back to teaching dance c

lan for my life? The life I'd meticulously crafted

. Go

and pulled out a stack of letters–mostly bills, of course.

rs to my apartment. I didn't know anyone in Montana–well, that's a lie. Mom once said she had some distant relatives wh

I stared down at the envelope. My name was written clearly in bold, l

. I chuckled to myself. That would be the

ed as I slipped my feet out of my sneakers and

e bag hit the ground with a smack that echoed through the room. It wasn't enough to shie

d, and my b

room spinning. My chest tightened p

ank. I felt... nothing. I was too stun

nd into my room. I shut the door, locking it, blocking out their exclamations and bick

ights ago while at his favorite downtown club. Raney had been there, s

ng on my couch. I knew they'd grow

ching their shadows

er from Montana, and let my