Title: Looking For Love
Pairing: Tim/Julie
Synopsis: "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride," was the story of Julie Taylor's life…until she returns to Dillon for a friend's wedding and finds herself possibly hearing wedding bells of her own.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately own none of the beautiful characters in this story.
A/N: Hello ladies! Here's the first chapter of my new Tulie fic. Hopefully you all will enjoy this first chapter and want to read more of this story! As always, please let me know your thoughts - feedback is appreciated. Enjoy :D
Julie Taylor should have known that the day was going to be a bad one when she woke up and couldn't do anything with her hair.
She rarely had bad hair days. Luckily, her long blonde locks were usually pretty manageable, but this morning had been a different story.
Already in a hurry to get to the airport, her hair had been a frizzy mess, sticking out all over the place. She had finally pulled it up in a high ponytail, saying 'to hell with it' and heading for the airport.
Though there was no need to rush. Her flight from New York to Houston had been delayed, and to top it all off the rental car she had reserved had accidentally been given to someone else by an 'error' in the computer system, leaving her with a small foreign car that looked like something you would see clowns driving around in at the circus.
Yep. She should have seen this coming, she thought silently as she stood on the side of road, staring down at her flat tire.
"Piece of shit." She muttered, giving the tire a good kick, cursing again as pain shot up her foot.
She had been riding along, headed for Dillon when she heard a popping sound, followed by the unmistakable 'thud, thud, thud' of a flat tire.
And of course she hadn't purchased the rental car insurance that came with roadside assistance.
Nope.
A small decision that she was now regretting.
She sighed as she leaned against the hood of the small car, wondering what to do next. She figured that she was a good twenty minutes out of Midland, which meant that she was still a good thirty minutes or so away from Dillon.
She had seen people change tires before, but she had never changed one herself. That was probably kind of sad considering that she was twenty-six years old, but it was the truth.
She knew that she could probably call her dad, and that he'd come change the tire for her, but with it being just a little after lunch he was still in school.
As was her mother, though she felt certain her mom didn't know shit about changing tires either.
She groaned as she walked around to the back of the car, opening the trunk and locating the jack and the spare tire.
She'd try to change the tire herself. It couldn't be that hard.
And if worse came to worse, she'd just have to call her dad.
Or maybe she'd get lucky and someone in a passing vehicle would feel pity on her and stop and give her a hand.
She grabbed the jack, hefting it out of the car and around to the side of the road, hoping that she was placing it in the right spot as she began pumping it up and down, trying to slowly lift the car off the ground enough to get the flat tire off.
It didn't take long for her to break out in a sweat from the force she was having to put behind the jack and the hot Texas sun beating down on her.
I'd kill for a bottle of water right about now, she thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
As she continued to struggle with the jack, her mind wandered to the reason she was returning to Dillon – Tyra's wedding.
Tyra and Landry were finally getting married in a little less than two weeks, and of course as the best friend Julie had come home to help her prepare.
With Julie living in Manhattan, she didn't get to see her friend nearly as much as she would have liked, but they talked almost daily, with Tyra keeping her updated on all the local Dillon gossip.
While she was frustrated as hell at the moment, she really was glad to be coming home for a little while. It would be good to see her family, as well as friends and old classmates she hadn't seen in what seemed like ages.
"If I ever actually make it to Dillon." She muttered to herself, groaning as the jack slipped out of her hand for about the third time. "Ahhh!" She yelled, standing and wiping her sweaty hands on her dark jeans.
She turned her head, hearing the sound of brakes squealing. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she watched a dark blue Chevy pickup make a U-turn in the road before heading back toward her, pulling up slowly behind her rental car.
Julie smiled, looking toward the sky. "Thank you, God." She mumbled, ecstatic that some kind soul had stopped to help her out.
Hopefully it wasn't some old pervert, even though at this point she really didn't care.
She watched a man climb out of the truck and shut the door, slowly ambling toward her on long legs encased in old, snug denim.
Her gaze travelled up and over a black t-shirt that looked like it had been painted on, before landing on the man's face.
"Tim Riggins." She breathed, not much of a sound coming out of her mouth as he continued walking toward her slowly.
"Well, if it ain't little Julie Taylor." Tim drawled, his voice still as slow and deep as she remembered as he gave her his trademark grin that had always worked wonders on the ladies.
Boy oh boy, the good Lord had been good to Tim. He had already been like sex on legs back in high school, but the grown up version was enough to make breathing near impossible.
"Uh, hey Tim." Julie finally stammered, wiping her dirty hands on her jeans. "How are you?"
She knew that she probably looked a fright with her already frizzy hair and sweat soaked shirt, not to mention the grease on her hands and jeans.
Tim smirked. "A lot better than you from the looks of it, Taylor." He replied, nodding toward her flat tire.
Julie laughed shortly, shaking her head. "Just my luck. It's been that kind of day." She said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, trying not to get dirt on her face.
"This your car?"
"No." She answered quickly. "It's a rental. Probably the worst rental ever." She muttered, smiling as she saw Tim's lips turn up in a smile at her words.
"Need a hand?" He asked, not waiting for an answer as he squatted down, readjusting the jack before pumping it up and down.
"Uh, sure." She said slowly, distracted by the muscles rippling in his arms and underneath his snug shirt as he made pumping the jack look easy, not to mention that the way he was squatting was giving her a delectable view of his denim-covered butt.
Tim had the car up in less than a minute, standing and dusting his hands on his jeans. "Let me get my wrench out of the toolbox on my truck. It'll be better for gettin' these lug nuts off." He said with a nod, turning and walking back toward his truck.
Julie watched as he walked away. He still moved the same – slowly, almost lazily, as if he didn't have a care in the world.
A conversation that she had with Lois years ago popped into her head, in which they had contemplated if Tim Riggins did everything slowly and lazily, including making love.
No, no, no.
Don't go there, Taylor, she scolded herself silently.
Julie took a deep breath, leaning against the side of the car as she continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye.
She had to get a grip.
He was good looking. So what? She was around good looking guys all the time.
And he was Tim Riggins.
The town bad boy.
Her dad's star fullback.
An old friend.
Tyra was right. Julie had been way too long without a man and she needed to get laid. That obviously explained her reaction to Tim.
Obviously.
"Here you go." Tim drawled, walking back up to her and passing her a bottle of water. "It was mine, but you look like you could use it." He smirked.
"Thanks." Julie replied gratefully, quickly twisting the cap off and gulping down the cold liquid.
She sighed, closing her eyes as she held the cool bottle against her cheeks and forehead. She opened them after a few seconds, finding Tim staring at her with a funny look on his face.
Great. He probably thinks I'm certifiable, Julie thought as she gave him a small smile.
"Um, thanks." She repeated, twisting the cap back on and holding the bottle back out toward Tim.
He shook his head slightly. "Keep it." He drawled, bending down and beginning to remove the lug nuts from the tire. "I'm surprised at you, Taylor. Have you been off in the big city too long to remember how hot it gets here. Texans never go anywhere without something to drink."
"Oh, I remember." Julie replied, wondering just how much Tim knew about her living in the big city.
Julie had graduated from Columbia University with a degree in photojournalism, and had ended up staying in the city even after graduation, only returning home for short, occasional visits, usually around the holidays.
She knew that Tim and Landry were pretty much best buds, and that Tyra and Landry undoubtedly talked about her occasionally.
She also knew that Tim still talked to her parents a lot, because she heard her parents talking about him a lot too.
"Did you just get in?" Tim asked.
"Yeah, this morning." Julie said, her gaze once again drawn to the muscles rippling in his arms. "Coming home for the big wedding and all."
Tim grinned. "About damn time." He said with a chuckle. "They've been engaged like, what? Five years?"
"Just two years." Julie said with a laugh. "They wanted to wait until Landry got out of graduate school. And that's finally happened, so now they're getting hitched. You're in the wedding too, right?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
Tim nodded. "Yeah. Gotta wear a damn tux." He said, grinning up at her. "But I guess it's worth it."
Julie nodded, imagining what Tim would look like in a tuxedo.
Probably too hot for words.
"Here we go." Tim drawled, finally pulling the flat tire off, looking it over. "It's got about a two-inch gash in it. That can't be patched up. You'll have to get a new one."
"Great." Julie replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "And of course, you know, I didn't purchase the rental insurance that would pay for that. So, I've gotta buy a damn tire myself."
Tim stood, dusting his hands on his jeans. "We've got a ton of used tires at the shop. I've probably got one that'll fit." Tim drawled, grabbing the spare out the trunk and walking back toward her. "I could put a good tire on there for you."
"Are you sure?" Julie asked, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I mean, I hate for you to have to do that when you're not even at work."
"No worries." He drawled. "I had to run to Midland and pick up some parts for a transmission I'm working on. I was headin' back to the shop when I saw a damsel in distress." He said with a smirk.
Julie chuckled, shaking her head. "Are you in the habit of rescuing grown women who can't change tires, Tim?"
"It's tough, but somebody's gotta do it." He said cheekily, giving her a sexy grin.
Sweet Jesus. He shouldn't be allowed to grin like that.
Didn't he know that grin could cause serious heart problems in women over the age of eighteen? Not to mention the young girls he used to affect back in his younger days.
Julie cleared her throat. "Um, well sure. That'd be great if I could go ahead and get a new tire."
"No problem." Tim replied, making quick work of putting on the spare before standing and dusting his hands off.
He turned toward her, cocking his head to the side. "You wanna follow me back to the shop and I'll get that tire taken care of for you?"
"Yeah." Julie smiled. "That'd be great."
Tim nodded, gathering his tools and taking a few backwards steps toward his truck. "Alright. Follow me, Taylor."
"Okay." Julie replied, giving him a smile before climbing into the tiny car.
She quickly started the vehicle, cranking the air conditioner up as high as it would go. She waited for Tim to pull his big truck out onto the highway before falling in behind him.
Well, she was finally back on the road headed toward Dillon, despite all the things that kept happening to slow her journey.
She hadn't planned on this last little detour either, but she had to admit that with Tim Riggins there, it hadn't been that bad.
At least the scenery had been nice, she thought with a chuckle, an image of his muscles and sexy grin popping into her head again as she followed along behind him.