Friday Night Lights - "If This One Could Be With You", Tim/Julie, R
Title: If This One Could Be With You - Chapter 4/10
Author: lindentree
Rating: R (for the series; this part is just PG)
Character(s): Tim/Julie
Word Count: 3,743
Summary: After 2x11, "Jumping the Gun", Julie's parents come up with an appropriate punishment for her - tutoring Tim Riggins.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
It was Thursday night, and Julie was working her very first solo shift. She was stressed, but so far no one had complained or walked out, and she'd been making pretty decent tips. The real thorn in her side was sprawled in a booth at the very end of her section.
Julie paused next to Tim's table, replacing his empty glass of soda with a fresh one.
"Identify three motifs in The Great Gatsby," she said, balancing her tray carefully. "Do more than identify - discuss them and make some connections."
Tim frowned. "If I do that, can I have something else to eat?"
"You already had fries," she said, gesturing at the ketchup-splattered plate and its remaining fries.
"I'm a growing boy," he said, his cheeky smile causing a dimple to appear.
Julie raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. Get that done and I'll bring you a burger."
"You're even worse than your parents," he replied.
"Hmm," she replied. "Watch yourself, I might revoke that offer."
"All right," he muttered, turning over to a new sheet of paper in his notebook.
Tim worked steadily until Julie sat down across the booth from him, blowing her bangs up out of her eyes with a tired sigh.
"Break time?" Tim asked, pushing the half-eaten plate of fries over to her.
"Yeah, finally," Julie replied, wrinkling her nose at the cold potatoes. "How's it going?"
"Good. I've got two motifs so far... How's my burger coming?"
"Tyra's going to bring it out in a minute."
"Great. I love my burgers with a big wad of spit in them."
"Gross," Julie grimaced, grabbing his Coke and taking a sip. "Tyra wouldn't do that. Not even to you."
"You don't know her like I do," he smirked.
"Even grosser," she replied. "So what happened at the meeting?"
Tim shrugged. "I'm in deep shit."
"How deep?"
"Breathe too loudly and I'm off the team deep."
“Well, at least we’ll have your grades covered. Beyond that, you’ll just have to stop trying to beat the shit out of people.”
Julie waited for Tim’s amused response, but it didn’t come. He kept staring down at his paper as though he hadn’t heard her.
“Sorry,” Julie stammered, blushing. “That was kind of a dumb thing to say.”
Tim looked up at her. “The kid in my class didn’t split my eyebrow.”
“He didn’t?” Julie asked, confused.
“No. He did the rest of my face, but he didn’t do that. My dad did that.”
Julie gaped at him. She was shocked that Tim had shared that with her, and she scrambled for the right way to respond. He seemed to be watching carefully for her reaction.
“Your dad hit you?” she asked, her voice very quiet.
Tim nodded.
Julie had no idea what to say. The only time either of her parents had ever raised a hand to her was when her mother slapped her. Julie had been shocked and devastated, and when she was finished being angry, she knew her mother had felt a million times worse. That had been terrible, but this was a different situation altogether.
Silently, Julie reached a hand across the table and placed it over Tim’s.
Neither of them had a chance to say anything, for Tyra arrived at that moment with Tim’s burger. Tyra saw their joined hands, and, ignoring Tim, gave Julie a penetrating look, eyebrows raised.
“Hey Tyra,” Julie said, awkwardly withdrawing her hand.
“Hey you two,” Tyra chirped, gracelessly smacking Tim’s plate down in front of him. With a “you’d better believe we’re going to talk later” look in Julie’s direction, Tyra stalked off.
“There goes your tip,” Tim called to her retreating back, smirking when Tyra raised a single finger over her head in response.
“I’d better get back to work,” Julie said, standing up. “See you tomorrow, Tim.”
“See you,” he said without looking up, tucking into his burger like they hadn’t just been discussing his abusive father.
Julie sighed, heading to the kitchen to catch Tyra and explain yet again that she and Tim were just friends. Nevermind the tight feeling in her chest the other night, which she was feeling again right now.
***
Julie was at her wit’s end, and judging by Tim’s sullen, slumped posture across the kitchen table from her, she suspected he was, too. Poetry had that effect on him.
“Look, I just think if I have to try to find one more figure of speech in this piece of crap poem, I might actually lose it. For real,” he said.
“All right, all right. Maybe we should just take a break. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t involve reading.”
"Hmm,” Julie replied, trying to think of something that could get them out of the house for a while. “I don't know... mini-golf?"
"Mini-golf?" Tim repeated, his tone dubious.
"Yeah! I mean, isn't that what people do for fun? Normal people? I don't know."
"Do you seriously like mini-golf?"
"Seriously? No. It's lame. It's really lame."
"Right," he said, standing up. "I have a way better idea."
Twenty minutes later, Julie found herself climbing out of Tim’s truck at the abandoned quarry on the west side of town. Julie pulled her long hair up into a knot and shivered as the strong breeze whipped around her. Tim rummaged around in the bed of his truck for a moment before appearing with a golf club, a box of empty beer cans, and a full six pack.
“Do I even want to know what you have planned?” Julie asked.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it,” he replied, setting a crumpled can down carefully on the ground before lining himself up for his shot.
With a sharp thwack, he belted the can out into the quarry. Tim shaded his eyes and watched it sail through the air.
“Nice,” he said, freeing two full cans of beer from their plastic holder and passing one to Julie.
Julie accepted it hesitantly. She didn’t want to seem like a loser, but the last time she’d drank, it hadn’t exactly gone well. Deciding it wasn’t beer’s fault that Riley was a horny creep, she popped the top of the can and took a long swig.
Tim hit a couple more cans, then turned and looked at her.
“Here,” he said, holding the club out.
Setting her beer down carefully, Julie took the club and stood over the empty can Tim had placed on the ground, doing her best imitation of the stance she had seen golfers take on TV.
Tim guffawed, then stepped up behind her and began arranging her arms and correcting her posture, muttering nonsense sports clichés to her all the while.
Julie tried not to shiver when he wrapped his arms around her and demonstrated how to swing the club. Really, she did.
Finally, he stepped back, and Julie tried to recall a single thing he had just said to her. She swung and the club connected with the can, sending it sailing in a high arc into the quarry.
“Not bad,” Tim said appreciatively, finishing off his beer.
“Thanks,” Julie replied. She handed the club back to Tim and retrieved her beer, sipping it gratefully.
“Any time,” Tim said. “Having fun?”
“Sure,” Julie replied. “Beats mini-golf.”
“Hell yes it beats mini-golf,” Tim scoffed, lining up another shot.
“I bet this is where you take all the girls,” Julie teased, smirking at his bent head.
“No,” he replied, not looking up. “Usually I come here to be alone.”
“Oh,” she said, not sure how to respond to that. She elected to change the subject instead. “Where’d you learn so much about golf? I kinda thought you were all football, all the time.”
“My dad and Billy are the real golfers,” he replied.
“Right,” she said, recalling the awkward dinner conversation from over a year ago, how things had become instantly tense between the two brothers upon the mention of their father.
“So did your dad teach you to golf?”
“Yeah,” he replied, hitting the can with another sharp crack.
“How old were you?”
“I don’t really want to talk about my dad,” Tim said, standing up and leaning a hand on the golf club.
“Oh,” Julie stammered. “Of course not. Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay - it’s just. I just don’t want to.”
“It’s okay, Tim,” Julie replied, smiling what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
Tim gave her a funny sort of look that Julie couldn’t really identify, then turned and began setting up another can.
Julie finished her beer and tossed him the can before opening up a second one and wandering over to the truck. Leaning back, she saw that the sky was darkening quickly, and stars were beginning to appear. She climbed up on the hood of the truck and leaned back against the windshield, pulling her jean jacket around her against the cool night air. She sipped her beer, letting it warm her from the inside, and looked up at the emerging stars. She thought of absolutely nothing at all.
It wasn’t until she felt Tim gently shaking her that she even knew she had fallen asleep, right there on the hood of his truck. She opened her bleary eyes to see Tim’s face looming over her, smirking.
“I sure know how to show a girl a good time,” he said, shaking his head in mock dismay. “She falls asleep on the hood of my truck.”
“Oh god, sorry!” Julie said, sliding shakily off.
“Don’t say sorry,” Tim replied, smiling. “It was cute.”
“Ah, cute. My old friend cute. Cute like a pug dog, right?”
“Yeah, cute,” Tim frowned, opening the driver’s side door and getting in.
“Just what a girl wants to hear!” Julie griped, climbing in next to him.
“Well, yeah,” he replied, starting the engine and pulling back out onto the bumpy gravel road.
“Tim, a girl wants to be told she’s beautiful, or gorgeous, or hot, or sexy. Anything but cute.”
Tim didn’t respond for a minute, merely watched the road. Julie had just begun to feel awkward for insisting on being insulted when he suddenly spoke.
“You realise you’re a 10, right?”
“A 10?” Julie repeated.
“Yeah, a 10.”
“What’s a 10?”
“A knock-out,” Tim replied. “Just about every guy at Dillon High would sell a kidney to get a date with you.”
“I - what?” Julie stammered, staring across the truck at him.
“Seriously. My dumbass teammates talk shit about you because they’re all just jealous that Saracen got to you first.”
Julie wavered between feeling flattered and insulted.
“Then why don’t I get asked out on dates? Like, ever?”
“They’re intimidated,” Tim replied sagely.
“Intimidated?”
“Sure. You’re beautiful, super hot, funny, smart, and most guys are pretty terrified of both your parents. It’s too much.”
“Great,” laughed Julie. “So I’m not going to get a date between now and college, basically?”
“Yeah,” he replied, glancing at her. “Unless one of those boys grows a pair, obviously.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” she said. “But thanks.”
Tim nodded. “Sorry if I bored you tonight.”
“You didn’t bore me,” Julie replied. “It was peaceful. I liked it.”
Tim smiled that small, pleased smile of his. It was very different from his cat-who-ate-the-canary smirk, Julie thought.
“Maybe we could go again,” he said as he turned the truck down her street and pulled up in front of the Taylor house.
“Absolutely,” she replied. “Next time you want to make a jailbreak from English.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, reaching into the glove compartment and handing her a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash.
Julie stared at it, then looked across the cab at Tim.
“I really think you have a drinking problem,” she said.
“No,” he replied, laughing. “So you don’t walk in there smelling like a brewery.”
“Oh, right,” she said, taking a swig. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“It’s all in the planning,” Tim nodded, as Julie spat the mouthwash out onto the street.
“Thanks,” Julie said, gathering her things and opening the door. “I had a good time.”
“Me too,” Tim replied. “Night, Jules.”
“Night!”
As Julie walked up to her house and turned at the door to wave at Tim, who waved back as he drove off, she tried not to think about how the evening had felt more like a date than like a break from studying.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she walked into the house and came face to face with her mother and father.
“Where have you been?” her father asked tightly, his arms crossed over his chest. He was furious.
“I’m not late,” Julie protested immediately. “It’s not after curfew!”
“Answer the question,” he replied.
Julie glanced over at her mother, whose face was taut with anxiety. Julie frowned.
“I was out with Tim. What’s the big deal?”
Her father turned and looked at her mother, and the two shared some silent conversation Julie was not privy to.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” her father said, seemingly to himself, as he turned and walked into the living room. Tami gave Julie a gentle nudge in the back, and she reluctantly followed her father into the house.
“Sit down,” her father said, pointing at the couch.
Silently, Julie obeyed.
“Now,” he continued, “I want you to explain to me exactly where you were and what you did tonight. No lies.”
Looking up at her anxious parents, Julie felt her heart sink. How was she supposed to tell them the whole truth of what she and Tim did without getting them both in a lot of trouble? She and Tim had just been having fun as friends. Maybe they shouldn’t have been drinking, but what did it matter? They hadn’t had that much, and nothing happened.
“Okay,” Julie replied. “We were here, studying, and we couldn’t really focus and we just needed a break, so we drove out to the quarry and hit stuff with golf clubs for a couple hours.”
Her parents stared.
“Hit stuff with golf clubs?” her father repeated.
“For a couple of hours?” her mother chimed in.
“Yes. Tim taught me how to swing a golf club, and then he drove me home. We were going stir crazy.”
“That’s all that happened?” her father asked, giving her a searching look.
“Yes, that’s all that happened.”
“That’s all that happened with Tim Riggins?” her mother asked, looking sceptical.
Julie scowled. “We’re just friends, mom.”
“Well, honey, I get that, but I think we all know that Tim Riggins doesn’t have too many girl friends who aren’t girlfriends.”
“That’s so unfair,” Julie complained. “Besides, if you didn’t want us to be friends, why did you choose tutoring him as my punishment? You should have just gotten Landry to do it.”
“He refused,” Tami replied.
“I guess we thought you were smarter than to get involved with him,” her father said.
“Involved? I told you, we’re just friends!”
“There’s no such thing as girls being just friends with Tim Riggins!” her father snapped back, his voice rising.
“You’re overreacting again,” Julie snapped. “This is just like last time when you acted like a complete jerk to him even though nothing happened, only this time I’m telling you the truth right now. Nothing happened!”
“Okay, okay,” Tami said, holding up her hands. “Let’s not do this tonight. It’s late, and it’s time we all went to bed.”
Looking annoyed, Eric acquiesced and went to check on baby Gracie. Julie stalked off to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
When Julie entered her bedroom, she found her mother sitting on the edge of her bed.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she said softly. “You wanna close the door so we can talk for a minute?”
Perturbed, Julie closed the door behind her and stood with her arms crossed.
“Come on,” Tami urged. “I know you’re upset, but just come sit and talk to me, okay?”
Julie sat down next to her mother, her arms still crossed.
“Okay,” Tami said, inhaling a deep breath like she was about to head into a battle. “First of all, don’t be angry with your father, he just worries about you. We both do.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Julie sulked.
“Now, come on, you know we do it because we love you and we don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know.”
“Good. Now, can I ask you something?”
“Yes,” Julie replied, hesitant.
“Okay. Do you have any feelings for Tim?”
“Feelings?”
“You know what I mean.”
Julie glanced at her mother, unsure of what to say, unsure of what her own answer truly was.
“I don’t know,” she said, after a pause. “I mean, I like him. As a friend. I want him to do better at school and keep playing football and maybe get a scholarship.”
Tami nodded, considering this. “And you don’t feel anything more for him beyond that?”
“No, I don’t have a crush on Tim Riggins,” Julie said, sighing.
“Okay,” Tami replied. “It’s just... Sweetheart, I knew boys like Tim in high school. I think he’s a good kid who could have a bright future ahead of him if he doesn’t sabotage it, and I think he’s got a good heart. But he’s troubled, sweetie, and he’s had a really rough upbringing. I think it’s wonderful that you’re being so great about tutoring him and that you’re a friend to him. I think he needs that. But I don’t want you to become more involved. You’ll only get your heart broken. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I do,” Julie replied, truthfully. Her mother was right, after all. Any weird, uncomfortable, heart-pounding, stomach-flipping feelings she’d been having for Tim had to be squashed. Fast.
“Boys like Tim are pretty irresistible to teenage girls,” her mother sighed. “Not just teenage girls, actually.”
“How is Aunt Shelly, by the way?” Julie smirked.
“Lord,” Tami replied, rolling her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
Julie looked at her mother, who looked back at her, her eyes tender.
“I just love you so much,” she said, opening her arms to hug her daughter. “You’re a good girl.”
“I love you, too,” Julie smiled against her mother’s shoulder, hugging her back.
After her mother said goodnight and left the room, Julie sat for a while, just staring at her bedroom wall.
Repress all those pathetic feelings she’d been having lately about how funny and unexpectedly sweet Tim Riggins was?
No problem at all.
***
“Tutoring run late?”
Billy was sprawled on the couch, beer in hand, when Tim got home after dropping Julie off. He dumped his stuff by the door and took the beer his brother held out to him.
“Yeah,” Tim replied, stretching out in the chair.
Billy scoffed. “I’ll bet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tim asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
“Nothing,” Billy shrugged, not looking away from the TV. “I’m just not sure what they’re all thinking at that school, giving you that cute little thing as a tutor.”
“She's the coach’s daughter,” Tim replied.
“Is that supposed to convince me that you’re not hitting it?”
“Shut up,” Tim scowled. “It’s not like that.”
“You are seriously telling me that you’re spending all that time alone with her, unsupervised, and you’re not banging the hell out of her? When she’s all coming over here in the middle of the night to check on you?”
“Fuck off,” Tim muttered, getting up and leaving his open beer untouched. “I’m going to bed.”
Tim slammed his bedroom door behind him and collapsed face first on his bed. He had never minded sharing his sexual exploits with his brother in the past, except of course where it came to certain women they had both been involved with. But Billy even joking about Julie that way annoyed Tim. Maybe because it really wasn’t like that, or maybe because Billy didn’t seem to take the tutoring thing seriously.
Rolling over onto his back, Tim observed the collection of Sports Illustrated centrefolds he had tacked to his ceiling. Absently, he thought about how, that evening, he had been waxing poetic about golf and football for several minutes before he paused for a response from Julie and didn’t get one. He had looked up and found her lying on the hood of his truck, back against the windshield. Dropping his golf club and coming to stand by the truck, he saw that she was fast asleep, her legs crossed at the ankles, her arms tucked carefully against her chest, the cool night breeze loosening wisps of blonde hair from her ponytail.
He stood and observed her for a time, wondering what he should do. She looked so peaceful and comfortable, but it was getting late and he didn’t want to get either of them in trouble. Eventually he started to feel like a creep just standing there watching her, so he nudged her arm, trying to ignore the way she came slowly awake and smiled when she saw him.
Just like he’d ignored the sweet smell of her hair and the way her petite frame tucked perfectly into his when he showed her how to swing a golf club.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Tim switched out his light and fell asleep almost right away. He dreamed that he was alone in the middle of the football field. It was night time, and all the lights were on, but he seemed to be the only person in the stadium. Gradually he became aware of another presence, and turned around to see Julie standing a few yards down the field from him. She was wearing jeans and her green army jacket, hands in her pockets. She was smiling at him.
“You have to catch me,” she teased, turning suddenly and running towards the end zone. He chased after her, but no matter how fast and agile he tried to be, she always managed to escape his reach, her laughter ringing around him and his fingertips just touching the ends of her long hair.
The next morning, Tim found a twenty dollar bill on the kitchen counter, next to a note which read:
Saw your last English quiz. Sorry. Pizza tonight?? - B
Tim smiled, pocketing the bill. He found a pen on the counter and scrawled a messy, “Yes” at the bottom of the note before grabbing an open box of Pop Tarts and heading out the door.
Chapter 5
Author: lindentree
Rating: R (for the series; this part is just PG)
Character(s): Tim/Julie
Word Count: 3,743
Summary: After 2x11, "Jumping the Gun", Julie's parents come up with an appropriate punishment for her - tutoring Tim Riggins.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
It was Thursday night, and Julie was working her very first solo shift. She was stressed, but so far no one had complained or walked out, and she'd been making pretty decent tips. The real thorn in her side was sprawled in a booth at the very end of her section.
Julie paused next to Tim's table, replacing his empty glass of soda with a fresh one.
"Identify three motifs in The Great Gatsby," she said, balancing her tray carefully. "Do more than identify - discuss them and make some connections."
Tim frowned. "If I do that, can I have something else to eat?"
"You already had fries," she said, gesturing at the ketchup-splattered plate and its remaining fries.
"I'm a growing boy," he said, his cheeky smile causing a dimple to appear.
Julie raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine. Get that done and I'll bring you a burger."
"You're even worse than your parents," he replied.
"Hmm," she replied. "Watch yourself, I might revoke that offer."
"All right," he muttered, turning over to a new sheet of paper in his notebook.
Tim worked steadily until Julie sat down across the booth from him, blowing her bangs up out of her eyes with a tired sigh.
"Break time?" Tim asked, pushing the half-eaten plate of fries over to her.
"Yeah, finally," Julie replied, wrinkling her nose at the cold potatoes. "How's it going?"
"Good. I've got two motifs so far... How's my burger coming?"
"Tyra's going to bring it out in a minute."
"Great. I love my burgers with a big wad of spit in them."
"Gross," Julie grimaced, grabbing his Coke and taking a sip. "Tyra wouldn't do that. Not even to you."
"You don't know her like I do," he smirked.
"Even grosser," she replied. "So what happened at the meeting?"
Tim shrugged. "I'm in deep shit."
"How deep?"
"Breathe too loudly and I'm off the team deep."
“Well, at least we’ll have your grades covered. Beyond that, you’ll just have to stop trying to beat the shit out of people.”
Julie waited for Tim’s amused response, but it didn’t come. He kept staring down at his paper as though he hadn’t heard her.
“Sorry,” Julie stammered, blushing. “That was kind of a dumb thing to say.”
Tim looked up at her. “The kid in my class didn’t split my eyebrow.”
“He didn’t?” Julie asked, confused.
“No. He did the rest of my face, but he didn’t do that. My dad did that.”
Julie gaped at him. She was shocked that Tim had shared that with her, and she scrambled for the right way to respond. He seemed to be watching carefully for her reaction.
“Your dad hit you?” she asked, her voice very quiet.
Tim nodded.
Julie had no idea what to say. The only time either of her parents had ever raised a hand to her was when her mother slapped her. Julie had been shocked and devastated, and when she was finished being angry, she knew her mother had felt a million times worse. That had been terrible, but this was a different situation altogether.
Silently, Julie reached a hand across the table and placed it over Tim’s.
Neither of them had a chance to say anything, for Tyra arrived at that moment with Tim’s burger. Tyra saw their joined hands, and, ignoring Tim, gave Julie a penetrating look, eyebrows raised.
“Hey Tyra,” Julie said, awkwardly withdrawing her hand.
“Hey you two,” Tyra chirped, gracelessly smacking Tim’s plate down in front of him. With a “you’d better believe we’re going to talk later” look in Julie’s direction, Tyra stalked off.
“There goes your tip,” Tim called to her retreating back, smirking when Tyra raised a single finger over her head in response.
“I’d better get back to work,” Julie said, standing up. “See you tomorrow, Tim.”
“See you,” he said without looking up, tucking into his burger like they hadn’t just been discussing his abusive father.
Julie sighed, heading to the kitchen to catch Tyra and explain yet again that she and Tim were just friends. Nevermind the tight feeling in her chest the other night, which she was feeling again right now.
***
Julie was at her wit’s end, and judging by Tim’s sullen, slumped posture across the kitchen table from her, she suspected he was, too. Poetry had that effect on him.
“Look, I just think if I have to try to find one more figure of speech in this piece of crap poem, I might actually lose it. For real,” he said.
“All right, all right. Maybe we should just take a break. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t involve reading.”
"Hmm,” Julie replied, trying to think of something that could get them out of the house for a while. “I don't know... mini-golf?"
"Mini-golf?" Tim repeated, his tone dubious.
"Yeah! I mean, isn't that what people do for fun? Normal people? I don't know."
"Do you seriously like mini-golf?"
"Seriously? No. It's lame. It's really lame."
"Right," he said, standing up. "I have a way better idea."
Twenty minutes later, Julie found herself climbing out of Tim’s truck at the abandoned quarry on the west side of town. Julie pulled her long hair up into a knot and shivered as the strong breeze whipped around her. Tim rummaged around in the bed of his truck for a moment before appearing with a golf club, a box of empty beer cans, and a full six pack.
“Do I even want to know what you have planned?” Julie asked.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it,” he replied, setting a crumpled can down carefully on the ground before lining himself up for his shot.
With a sharp thwack, he belted the can out into the quarry. Tim shaded his eyes and watched it sail through the air.
“Nice,” he said, freeing two full cans of beer from their plastic holder and passing one to Julie.
Julie accepted it hesitantly. She didn’t want to seem like a loser, but the last time she’d drank, it hadn’t exactly gone well. Deciding it wasn’t beer’s fault that Riley was a horny creep, she popped the top of the can and took a long swig.
Tim hit a couple more cans, then turned and looked at her.
“Here,” he said, holding the club out.
Setting her beer down carefully, Julie took the club and stood over the empty can Tim had placed on the ground, doing her best imitation of the stance she had seen golfers take on TV.
Tim guffawed, then stepped up behind her and began arranging her arms and correcting her posture, muttering nonsense sports clichés to her all the while.
Julie tried not to shiver when he wrapped his arms around her and demonstrated how to swing the club. Really, she did.
Finally, he stepped back, and Julie tried to recall a single thing he had just said to her. She swung and the club connected with the can, sending it sailing in a high arc into the quarry.
“Not bad,” Tim said appreciatively, finishing off his beer.
“Thanks,” Julie replied. She handed the club back to Tim and retrieved her beer, sipping it gratefully.
“Any time,” Tim said. “Having fun?”
“Sure,” Julie replied. “Beats mini-golf.”
“Hell yes it beats mini-golf,” Tim scoffed, lining up another shot.
“I bet this is where you take all the girls,” Julie teased, smirking at his bent head.
“No,” he replied, not looking up. “Usually I come here to be alone.”
“Oh,” she said, not sure how to respond to that. She elected to change the subject instead. “Where’d you learn so much about golf? I kinda thought you were all football, all the time.”
“My dad and Billy are the real golfers,” he replied.
“Right,” she said, recalling the awkward dinner conversation from over a year ago, how things had become instantly tense between the two brothers upon the mention of their father.
“So did your dad teach you to golf?”
“Yeah,” he replied, hitting the can with another sharp crack.
“How old were you?”
“I don’t really want to talk about my dad,” Tim said, standing up and leaning a hand on the golf club.
“Oh,” Julie stammered. “Of course not. Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay - it’s just. I just don’t want to.”
“It’s okay, Tim,” Julie replied, smiling what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
Tim gave her a funny sort of look that Julie couldn’t really identify, then turned and began setting up another can.
Julie finished her beer and tossed him the can before opening up a second one and wandering over to the truck. Leaning back, she saw that the sky was darkening quickly, and stars were beginning to appear. She climbed up on the hood of the truck and leaned back against the windshield, pulling her jean jacket around her against the cool night air. She sipped her beer, letting it warm her from the inside, and looked up at the emerging stars. She thought of absolutely nothing at all.
It wasn’t until she felt Tim gently shaking her that she even knew she had fallen asleep, right there on the hood of his truck. She opened her bleary eyes to see Tim’s face looming over her, smirking.
“I sure know how to show a girl a good time,” he said, shaking his head in mock dismay. “She falls asleep on the hood of my truck.”
“Oh god, sorry!” Julie said, sliding shakily off.
“Don’t say sorry,” Tim replied, smiling. “It was cute.”
“Ah, cute. My old friend cute. Cute like a pug dog, right?”
“Yeah, cute,” Tim frowned, opening the driver’s side door and getting in.
“Just what a girl wants to hear!” Julie griped, climbing in next to him.
“Well, yeah,” he replied, starting the engine and pulling back out onto the bumpy gravel road.
“Tim, a girl wants to be told she’s beautiful, or gorgeous, or hot, or sexy. Anything but cute.”
Tim didn’t respond for a minute, merely watched the road. Julie had just begun to feel awkward for insisting on being insulted when he suddenly spoke.
“You realise you’re a 10, right?”
“A 10?” Julie repeated.
“Yeah, a 10.”
“What’s a 10?”
“A knock-out,” Tim replied. “Just about every guy at Dillon High would sell a kidney to get a date with you.”
“I - what?” Julie stammered, staring across the truck at him.
“Seriously. My dumbass teammates talk shit about you because they’re all just jealous that Saracen got to you first.”
Julie wavered between feeling flattered and insulted.
“Then why don’t I get asked out on dates? Like, ever?”
“They’re intimidated,” Tim replied sagely.
“Intimidated?”
“Sure. You’re beautiful, super hot, funny, smart, and most guys are pretty terrified of both your parents. It’s too much.”
“Great,” laughed Julie. “So I’m not going to get a date between now and college, basically?”
“Yeah,” he replied, glancing at her. “Unless one of those boys grows a pair, obviously.”
“I won’t hold my breath,” she said. “But thanks.”
Tim nodded. “Sorry if I bored you tonight.”
“You didn’t bore me,” Julie replied. “It was peaceful. I liked it.”
Tim smiled that small, pleased smile of his. It was very different from his cat-who-ate-the-canary smirk, Julie thought.
“Maybe we could go again,” he said as he turned the truck down her street and pulled up in front of the Taylor house.
“Absolutely,” she replied. “Next time you want to make a jailbreak from English.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, reaching into the glove compartment and handing her a travel-sized bottle of mouthwash.
Julie stared at it, then looked across the cab at Tim.
“I really think you have a drinking problem,” she said.
“No,” he replied, laughing. “So you don’t walk in there smelling like a brewery.”
“Oh, right,” she said, taking a swig. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“It’s all in the planning,” Tim nodded, as Julie spat the mouthwash out onto the street.
“Thanks,” Julie said, gathering her things and opening the door. “I had a good time.”
“Me too,” Tim replied. “Night, Jules.”
“Night!”
As Julie walked up to her house and turned at the door to wave at Tim, who waved back as he drove off, she tried not to think about how the evening had felt more like a date than like a break from studying.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she walked into the house and came face to face with her mother and father.
“Where have you been?” her father asked tightly, his arms crossed over his chest. He was furious.
“I’m not late,” Julie protested immediately. “It’s not after curfew!”
“Answer the question,” he replied.
Julie glanced over at her mother, whose face was taut with anxiety. Julie frowned.
“I was out with Tim. What’s the big deal?”
Her father turned and looked at her mother, and the two shared some silent conversation Julie was not privy to.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” her father said, seemingly to himself, as he turned and walked into the living room. Tami gave Julie a gentle nudge in the back, and she reluctantly followed her father into the house.
“Sit down,” her father said, pointing at the couch.
Silently, Julie obeyed.
“Now,” he continued, “I want you to explain to me exactly where you were and what you did tonight. No lies.”
Looking up at her anxious parents, Julie felt her heart sink. How was she supposed to tell them the whole truth of what she and Tim did without getting them both in a lot of trouble? She and Tim had just been having fun as friends. Maybe they shouldn’t have been drinking, but what did it matter? They hadn’t had that much, and nothing happened.
“Okay,” Julie replied. “We were here, studying, and we couldn’t really focus and we just needed a break, so we drove out to the quarry and hit stuff with golf clubs for a couple hours.”
Her parents stared.
“Hit stuff with golf clubs?” her father repeated.
“For a couple of hours?” her mother chimed in.
“Yes. Tim taught me how to swing a golf club, and then he drove me home. We were going stir crazy.”
“That’s all that happened?” her father asked, giving her a searching look.
“Yes, that’s all that happened.”
“That’s all that happened with Tim Riggins?” her mother asked, looking sceptical.
Julie scowled. “We’re just friends, mom.”
“Well, honey, I get that, but I think we all know that Tim Riggins doesn’t have too many girl friends who aren’t girlfriends.”
“That’s so unfair,” Julie complained. “Besides, if you didn’t want us to be friends, why did you choose tutoring him as my punishment? You should have just gotten Landry to do it.”
“He refused,” Tami replied.
“I guess we thought you were smarter than to get involved with him,” her father said.
“Involved? I told you, we’re just friends!”
“There’s no such thing as girls being just friends with Tim Riggins!” her father snapped back, his voice rising.
“You’re overreacting again,” Julie snapped. “This is just like last time when you acted like a complete jerk to him even though nothing happened, only this time I’m telling you the truth right now. Nothing happened!”
“Okay, okay,” Tami said, holding up her hands. “Let’s not do this tonight. It’s late, and it’s time we all went to bed.”
Looking annoyed, Eric acquiesced and went to check on baby Gracie. Julie stalked off to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
When Julie entered her bedroom, she found her mother sitting on the edge of her bed.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she said softly. “You wanna close the door so we can talk for a minute?”
Perturbed, Julie closed the door behind her and stood with her arms crossed.
“Come on,” Tami urged. “I know you’re upset, but just come sit and talk to me, okay?”
Julie sat down next to her mother, her arms still crossed.
“Okay,” Tami said, inhaling a deep breath like she was about to head into a battle. “First of all, don’t be angry with your father, he just worries about you. We both do.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Julie sulked.
“Now, come on, you know we do it because we love you and we don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know.”
“Good. Now, can I ask you something?”
“Yes,” Julie replied, hesitant.
“Okay. Do you have any feelings for Tim?”
“Feelings?”
“You know what I mean.”
Julie glanced at her mother, unsure of what to say, unsure of what her own answer truly was.
“I don’t know,” she said, after a pause. “I mean, I like him. As a friend. I want him to do better at school and keep playing football and maybe get a scholarship.”
Tami nodded, considering this. “And you don’t feel anything more for him beyond that?”
“No, I don’t have a crush on Tim Riggins,” Julie said, sighing.
“Okay,” Tami replied. “It’s just... Sweetheart, I knew boys like Tim in high school. I think he’s a good kid who could have a bright future ahead of him if he doesn’t sabotage it, and I think he’s got a good heart. But he’s troubled, sweetie, and he’s had a really rough upbringing. I think it’s wonderful that you’re being so great about tutoring him and that you’re a friend to him. I think he needs that. But I don’t want you to become more involved. You’ll only get your heart broken. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I do,” Julie replied, truthfully. Her mother was right, after all. Any weird, uncomfortable, heart-pounding, stomach-flipping feelings she’d been having for Tim had to be squashed. Fast.
“Boys like Tim are pretty irresistible to teenage girls,” her mother sighed. “Not just teenage girls, actually.”
“How is Aunt Shelly, by the way?” Julie smirked.
“Lord,” Tami replied, rolling her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”
Julie looked at her mother, who looked back at her, her eyes tender.
“I just love you so much,” she said, opening her arms to hug her daughter. “You’re a good girl.”
“I love you, too,” Julie smiled against her mother’s shoulder, hugging her back.
After her mother said goodnight and left the room, Julie sat for a while, just staring at her bedroom wall.
Repress all those pathetic feelings she’d been having lately about how funny and unexpectedly sweet Tim Riggins was?
No problem at all.
***
“Tutoring run late?”
Billy was sprawled on the couch, beer in hand, when Tim got home after dropping Julie off. He dumped his stuff by the door and took the beer his brother held out to him.
“Yeah,” Tim replied, stretching out in the chair.
Billy scoffed. “I’ll bet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tim asked, narrowing his eyes at his brother.
“Nothing,” Billy shrugged, not looking away from the TV. “I’m just not sure what they’re all thinking at that school, giving you that cute little thing as a tutor.”
“She's the coach’s daughter,” Tim replied.
“Is that supposed to convince me that you’re not hitting it?”
“Shut up,” Tim scowled. “It’s not like that.”
“You are seriously telling me that you’re spending all that time alone with her, unsupervised, and you’re not banging the hell out of her? When she’s all coming over here in the middle of the night to check on you?”
“Fuck off,” Tim muttered, getting up and leaving his open beer untouched. “I’m going to bed.”
Tim slammed his bedroom door behind him and collapsed face first on his bed. He had never minded sharing his sexual exploits with his brother in the past, except of course where it came to certain women they had both been involved with. But Billy even joking about Julie that way annoyed Tim. Maybe because it really wasn’t like that, or maybe because Billy didn’t seem to take the tutoring thing seriously.
Rolling over onto his back, Tim observed the collection of Sports Illustrated centrefolds he had tacked to his ceiling. Absently, he thought about how, that evening, he had been waxing poetic about golf and football for several minutes before he paused for a response from Julie and didn’t get one. He had looked up and found her lying on the hood of his truck, back against the windshield. Dropping his golf club and coming to stand by the truck, he saw that she was fast asleep, her legs crossed at the ankles, her arms tucked carefully against her chest, the cool night breeze loosening wisps of blonde hair from her ponytail.
He stood and observed her for a time, wondering what he should do. She looked so peaceful and comfortable, but it was getting late and he didn’t want to get either of them in trouble. Eventually he started to feel like a creep just standing there watching her, so he nudged her arm, trying to ignore the way she came slowly awake and smiled when she saw him.
Just like he’d ignored the sweet smell of her hair and the way her petite frame tucked perfectly into his when he showed her how to swing a golf club.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Tim switched out his light and fell asleep almost right away. He dreamed that he was alone in the middle of the football field. It was night time, and all the lights were on, but he seemed to be the only person in the stadium. Gradually he became aware of another presence, and turned around to see Julie standing a few yards down the field from him. She was wearing jeans and her green army jacket, hands in her pockets. She was smiling at him.
“You have to catch me,” she teased, turning suddenly and running towards the end zone. He chased after her, but no matter how fast and agile he tried to be, she always managed to escape his reach, her laughter ringing around him and his fingertips just touching the ends of her long hair.
The next morning, Tim found a twenty dollar bill on the kitchen counter, next to a note which read:
Saw your last English quiz. Sorry. Pizza tonight?? - B
Tim smiled, pocketing the bill. He found a pen on the counter and scrawled a messy, “Yes” at the bottom of the note before grabbing an open box of Pop Tarts and heading out the door.
Chapter 5