Solivagant

Chapter Nineteen - Ralph

      If it were not for his mother's initial begging that he would go, Ralph wouldn't be standing in front of the mirror in his bedroom, stood in a fitted tuxedo with matching azure blue bow tie. He hadn't intended to attend the annual charity ball this year, as proven in charity balls of the past, not all of them ended well for him.

     Years ago, he'd had the pleasure of taking his then and only serious girlfriend, Delilah to the ball when they were both ten years younger. Well, he thought it would be his pleasure. After she'd kissed him that day on the last day of school of that year, he didn't plan on encountering her again. He didn't factor in the possibility she'd go to the same high school as him, thus leading him to think that by the time they were both eighteen that she'd changed.

     He was wrong.

     On the night of that ball ten years ago, he'd gone all out when he asked Delilah to go with him. She'd been thrilled, of course. As he'd blossomed from the gangly kid he once was when he kissed her, to a promising young man she could see using to her best advantage. Only, he didn't know that until it was too late.

     After organising a special limousine for them to arrive in, buying her dress, paying for her nails and hair, what did she do? She subjected him to one of the most cliché things to ever happen to a man. He was waiting for her at their table after she'd said to him that she was off to the ladies room. Only, she never came back to their table.

     Worried that something had happened to her, he'd gone searching for her. When passing the bathroom she'd supposedly gone into, he heard a muffled noise coming not far down the hall from a closet that was being used to store the coats of the ball attendees. Opening the door had revealed more than the truth to him.

     His date for the night and then girlfriend, was more than wrapped around another young man. He didn't know this individual and he never planned to, he just shook his head and left, leaving her to finish what she obviously thought she'd get done without interruption. He'd left the ball right then and there in the self-same limo he'd booked for them, letting her find her own way back home.

     Where he wasn't a cold and unfeeling individual, he was a sensitive one. Everyone usually has this image in their heads that men, southern men especially, were all rugged, muscle-bound and tough men. They weren't. Men were just as emotionally out there as much as women were made out to be. He was one of them. He was a sensitive soul and when you hurt him, it hurt deep.

     He really thought he'd make a go at it with Delilah. Not once did he expect to change her, but he at least hoped that he could try and attempt a relationships and sort out the 'feelings' he had for her which as it turned out, was purely a hormonal response, no feelings attached whatsoever.

     Cowboys had hearts that needed looking after, cared for and cherished. Not messed around with, which is what had happened to him that night. From that moment on, when he's been with the occasional woman for anything purely for anything but a relationship, he made sure that both of them were in agreement so he could release what needed releasing, and that the lady he was with would be treated right and he'd be treated right in return. He would never be used or use anyone ever again. Lesson learned.

     "Daydreaming sweetheart?" his mother's voice called out to him, shaking him from his memory.

     He turned around to see his mother standing in the doorway, dressed in a vintage-style gold dress, sequined and elegant befitting the woman wearing it. They'd all agreed to get ready in their respective homes, but he was the one who'd been tasked with driving his mother as his father was driving his younger brothers. The middle lot were making it to the ball under their own steam.