Categories > Original > Romance

Cowboys Don't Cry

by SweetSarmoti 0 reviews

Slash. Cowboys aren't supposed to cry but sometimes it can't be helped.

Category: Romance - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Angst,Drama,Romance - Published: 2009-07-17 - Updated: 2009-07-18 - 1166 words - Complete

0Unrated
Title: Cowboys Don’t Cry

Author: Allison Wonderland

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Cowboys aren’t supposed to cry but sometimes it can’t be helped.

Warning(s): angst, complete, death, h/c, language, m/m, oc, oneshot, trans, waff, yaoi

Disclaimer: Mine. Except for the song lyrics. They belong to ‘Cowgirls Don’t Cry’ by Brooks and Dunn.

Series: Stand Still, Look Pretty

Note(s): None

)--}--
Her daddy gave her her first pony

Then taught her to ride

She climbed high in that saddle

Fell I don’t know how many times

He taught her a lesson that she learned

Maybe a little too well

)--}--

Taylor had been riding horses since before he could walk but always the valuable show horses his family’s ranch bred and trained and always in the arms of his parents or grandmother or one of his ten-year-old twin brothers. Riding had always been easy. Or so it had seemed.

But then yesterday Taylor’s mother had brought his new baby sister home from the hospital and when Taylor had gotten up this morning there had been a surprise for him in the stables: a little brown pony all his own. At first Taylor had been elated. How many other five year olds had their own pony?

His happiness soon passed. His new pony was so small and old and tired he would never be able to enter her in competitions like his brothers and their horses. Worst of all, he could not even ride her. His new saddle was slippery against his jeans and every time Taylor got on he slid off again. It was on his tenth (or was it twelfth?) try that tears formed in his eyes.

That was when his father picked him up off the ground and taught him a lesson that would stay with him the rest of his life.

)--}--
Cowgirls don’t cry

Ride, baby, ride

Lessons in life are going to show you in time

Soon enough you’re gonna know why

It’s gonna hurt every now and then

If you fall get back on again

Cowgirls don’t cry.

)--}--

“Cowboys don’t cry, Taylor,” Daddy said when he picked his son up from his umpteenth fall from the saddle. “Not over anything. You understand?”

“But-“ Taylor protested.

“No matter what life throws at you. You’ll figure that out soon enough. Every now and then it hurts but you don’t cry about it. You just get back on.”

It would be years before Taylor realized his father was talking about more than just his new pony. But he blinked back the tears that wanted to fall and climbed back into the saddle.

)--}--
She grew up

She got married

Never was quite right

She wanted a house, a home, and babies

He started coming home late at night

She didn’t let him see it break her heart

She didn’t let him see her fall apart.

)--}--

Taylor grew up and like all teenage cowboys he dated his share of girls but unlike his peers he never felt much more than friendship for any of them. After college he left home to work in a big bank in New York City. It only lasted for a few months – until he found the Chelsea Piers riding school. Teaching horseback riding was more to Taylor’s liking than a boring bank job.

Chelsea Piers was also where he met Raven. Raven was different from any of the girls Taylor had dated at home. Raven was all tiny and blonde and more hyperactive than any puppy.

And, well, not a girl.

It hardly seemed to matter because the attraction that had been missing with his girlfriends was there with raven. So much so that Taylor gave up the dream of a house and children in Montana to embrace his boyfriend’s idea of their own high end clothing label.

For a while everything was wonderful but then their relationship began to falter and not even owning a multi million dollar business together could keep them from breaking up. Even when Taylor accused Raven of cheating and walked out of their apartment – slamming the door behind him – his father’s reminder that cowboys never cry rang in his ears along with Raven’s protsttations of innocence.

)--}--
Cause cowgirls don’t cry

Ride, baby, ride

Lessons in life are going to show you in time

Soon enough you’re going to know why

It’s going to hurt every now and then

If you fall get back on again

Cowgirls don’t cry.

)--}--

Cowboys don’t cry. But sometimes when one’s exboyfriend whom he has wrongfully accused of cheating takes him back with open arms, one might come close.

)--}--
Phone rang early one morning

Her mama’s voice, she’d been crying

Said it’s your daddy, you need to come home

This is it, I think he’s dying.

She laid the phone down by his head

The last words that he said…

)--}--

It was almost three years to the day of their reconciliation that the call came. It was 3:00am when Taylor’s cell phone rang. He was only half asleep anyway and automatically reached over to answer it before his country music ringtone woke Raven. “Hello?” he asked semi coherently.

“Taylor,” a familiar voice said, “it’s mama.”

“Who is it?” a sleepy voice asked from beside him. Taylor waved the question away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked his mother. He got out of bed and wandered into the living room away from his boyfriend’s fingers poking at him. A moment later Raven followed.

“It’s your daddy, Taylor. You need to come home.”

“What happened?”

“He’s had another heart attack. This is it. I think he’s dying.”

“But-“ Taylor began.

“Your father wants to talk to you,” she interrupted. She put the phone down by his head.

“Taylor.” The voice was weak and scratchy but still recognizable. “Do you remember what I said when I was teaching you to ride?”

“Cowboys don’t cry.”

They were the last words Taylor ever spoke to his father for a moment later the man had passed away.

)--}--
Cowgirls don’t cry

Ride, baby, ride

Lessons in life show us all in time

Too soon God lets you know why

If you fall get right back on

Good Lord calls everybody home

Cowgirl don’t cry.

)--}--

Taylor snapped his cell phone shut. He did not so much sit down on the couch as collapse. Raven thought he might simply have fallen had the couch not been there. For once the blonde kept his mouth shut. He did not even ask what had happened. Instead he sat down in Taylor’s lap and held him as Taylor proved the myth that cowboys don’t cry was just that; a myth.
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