The whistle from the stands and the chorus of applause from the rodeo stands had long left her ears; they'd all stayed behind to watch the follow-ups, Cassie didn't give a damn about follow-ups when she had seen the main event leave right after getting their brand new buckle.

"There you are, darlin'." Southern drawl coming out a coo, her red cowgirl boots scuffed loudly against the gravel parking lot made her presence known before she had; she wasn't exactly the quiet kind.

Cassie's eyes were stuck on your hand gripping around the handle of your beaten down pick-up, about to open it and get on before you heard her calling out like some kind of redneck siren luring a sailor into rocks.

"Don't see why you're leavin' us all behind; what kind of cowgirl don't want to take a victory lap after a show like that?" It wasn't a question she gave you nearly enough time to answer before she was filling the air with her blabber again, "C'mon, let me buy you a beer, champ."

There was a less than savory word for Cassie's type; it was preferable to the other words men in this Podunk town had taken to calling her but still wasn't a compliment— far from it.

You'd been different to her and not just because your bits had been different than the ones she'd come accustomed to handling when dealing with rodeo stars; but because she could tell you weren't from around here— hell, it seemed as if you'd just stumbled into this town and couldn't wait to get on out.