I was cleaning up my hard drive and found this lying around. I added a bit here and there and well, here it is. Hope it works for you, either way I would love to hear your thoughts. I own nothing and mean no harm.
The Beginning
There had been a moment of blind panic. Much as he was ashamed to admit it, he had frozen, completely caught off guard and wholly unprepared.
He had stood stock still, mouth agape, as Lyla had denied and lied and used a rush of words that still gave his stomach a lurch.
Bad things would have followed. Oh, there would have been terrible minutes to come.
But they hadn't.
No.
Once again he had been saved by the Taylor's.
Dumbfounded, stung by Lyla's reaction to seeing her goody-goody ex, he had only been able to react once the Taylor women had swooped in for the save.
And what a rescue it had been. In the midst of the chaos he had not been able to focus on what they had done, only the results. Now, hours later, he could clearly see what tactics had been employed and just how awesome they were.
Julie had been first on the scene, her voice a little to friendly to be believed, never the less she had bounced over, taken his arm and sent a rush of apologies and explanations for why they were late.
Not going along had not occurred to him, but neither had going. He had been genuinely swept away by the events. He might have sent a puzzled look or two down at Julie's head, especially when she had slipped her arm through his, but overall he thought he had played it cool.
Yeah, so it might have been sweet that Lyla had not recovered so well. She had blinked and blushed and had not quite managed the introductions before the Principal Taylor had stepped in, having been waylaid by some council members she offered her apologies and without hesitation handed him a squirming Gracie Belle.
Unaccustomed to such close proximity to clothed females it took him a long second to juggle the Taylor woman in his arms, but all eyes were on the Coach's wife.
With all the grace and civility of the Southern Belle that she was she steered all attention back on to the reunited couple, somehow managing to explain his unexpected appearance at Dillon's swankiest restaurant and arrange for Lyla to enjoy the afternoon with her very smiley friend in faith.
Snorting he imagined just how much holy man's eyes would be glowing with love and respect if he knew, had even an inkling how exactly Ms. Garrity had been spending her most recent moments of silence on her knees.
But he had felt no need to out her. The thought had crossed his mind, but in the moment the words were about to spill out, Julie had squeezed his arm and sent him a smile.
That gesture had stopped his words short, had pretty much stopped everything. Once again the universe had decided to painfully remind him that Julie Taylor was a smoking hot female.
Distracted by the sudden appearance of hotness he did not make a scene nor did he put up a fight when Julie made their excuses and led them towards the awaiting table.
If the Coach was surprised to find his girls in the company of a Riggins there had been no opportunity for him to express it, as Mrs. Coach had returned to the table and assigned seats. Asking for a high chair and shuffling the plates to accommodate the newest member of their party.
It wasn't the lunch he had planned on. No, he had been hoping for a meal with Lyla without incident, maybe he could have pulled a smile or two from her or at least make it a half hour without an eye roll.
The hour plus meal, and really the more food cost the longer it seemed to take to eat, had been way more comfortable.
The smiles and words sent his way were genuine, welcoming, and any eye rolling had gone from Julie to Coach and back again.
He would have endured it for Lyla though. Would have been a gentleman, as proper and polite as you pleased, but it hadn't mattered.
She had fucking denied his existence, their relationship.
And he was done.
The Middle
Being done and actually being done were two entirely different things and much harder to accomplish than one might think.
No sooner had he dropped his keys on the kitchen table did he hear the banging on the front door, sighing he walked over to it, fairly confident he knew who was on the other side, he swung open the open without looking.
Keeping an arm draped across the door way blocking entry to any who might consider entering he regarded Lyla and her never ending pout; most of the time he thought it cute, a challenge he sought to make a moan.
Now he was just irritated to be seeing it; especially so soon after leaving her.
How the hell had she known that he was back? She was creepy like that; maybe it was just a girl thing. Another habit that he had normally found off putting he was actually benefiting from, Lyla had no problem talking to someone, rambling on in fact, and not caring one whit if they were following along.
And by was she going on with something. There they stood, him in the doorway, her on the front step, he had yet to invite her inside.
"Are you going to invite me in?" actually no; he had no reason too, no interest in spending his evening listening to her whine.
"So that's how its going to be?" her arms crossed, he sighed, after lunch he had spent the afternoon at the Taylor's watching football and letting Gracie Belle yank on his hair; fighting with Lyla was not how he wanted to spend the evening.
Tim was fairly certain that was how he wanted it to be.
"I think you should just go on home Lyla," there he had said what he thought and meant what he said.
Like a firestorm she went off, he only half heard the insults and smiled once or twice at the colorful language.
Yeah, he was over this.
"I'm serious Tim Riggins if I drive away in that car," she made a fine show of whipping around and pointing to her car, "I am never coming back."
"Funny I got that idea this morning when you 'fancied running into' me in front of goody-two shoes," he smirked at her, enjoying how pale she got. His temper took a lot to ignite, especially when it came to a female, but Lyla Garrity just knew how to press his buttons.
More yelling, he was bored, he had been in these constricting and so called dress pants for far too many hours, and all he wanted was a beer and some SportsCenter.
"Whatever Lyla, you made a choice this morning, you did, I'm just agreeing with it," for the first time he saw the panic set in on her face. It had finally occurred to her that he wasn't going to chase after her or grovel at her feet; she might have just lost him and he was pleased to see it might affect her in some way.
Too little too late though. This morning had shown him a lot. He had seen first hand how a future would be with her, always worrying about who would be watching them and whether or not he was up to snuff on her arm.
And more importantly he had seen that it was her and not him that had the problem. The Taylor's were as liked and respected as the Garrity's, more so, even if they didn't have as much money and not one of them had any trouble including him at the table. They had gone so far as to rescue him and then make him feel welcome at their home.
No, the one with the issue was her and he was over it.
Beer and ESPN were calling him, "Night Lyla," the door closed on the expression of surprise and Tim smiled to himself as he made for his bedroom; he couldn't wait to get out of those damn pants.
The End
School had been more of an annoyance than usual.
He heard the snickers and the whispers, he wasn't thick, just not interested. Sure Lyla standing him up at the town's most upscale joint was news but he wouldn't rise to anyone's taunts.
The words and looks just rolled off his shoulders.
"God people are stupid," Tim had just managed to a spot of quiet in the library and was startled by the book bag that unceremoniously dropped onto the tabletop across from him.
"I've been listening to the crap in the halls all morning," Julie Taylor took the seat opposite him, her blonde hair fell over one shoulder, was there any way it could be as soft as it looked?
"Tim," Julie was grinning at him, waiting for an answer to a question he had not heard, "were you paying attention?"
Not at all, he waited for the reprimand, his mind wandered, he couldn't help it, "Sorry," she smirked.
"Its fine, I'm sure you have a lot on your mind," huh, if she thought that than she was the only one.
There was silence after that, Julie pulled a binder out of her bag and silently worked on what he thought was calculus. True he had come to the library, but he didn't have a thing to do, was simply planning on reading the Men's Journal he had found by the circulation desk.
Julie seemed interested in her work, so he picked up the magazine and began flipping through the pages.
Just sitting was strange, most girls wanted attention, either from him or to be at the center of, and he couldn't think of the last time he had just sat in the company of a female; especially one with potentially soft hair.
Those thoughts were not good. He frowned at the article about hiking trails in Connecticut, not seeing the words; he was considering the trouble he could get into thinking about Julie Taylor in any way other than as the Coach's daughter.
A group of freshmen had entered the library, he heard the giggles and rolled his eyes; meeting Julie's over the top of the pages. She frowned and dropped her pencil.
Uh-oh, he had been around enough Taylor's to know that look was never good.
Fascinated he watched as she turned in her seat and proceeded to call out the group of girls, insult their intelligence as well as Lyla's, and set the record straight about brunch yesterday.
She turned back around in her chair and met his eyes without hesitation. He knew her words would be around the school in minutes, but he really didn't care. In action she was much more awesome than he would have ever imagined. Julie Taylor had quite a few tricks up her sleeve.
Mistaking his silence for disapproval Julie blushed, "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have, but it just frustrates me when it was Lyla who was being such a bitch."
His eyebrows rose at the profanity.
"No worries," there were worries, lots of them, but none of them had anything had to with her sticking up for him, but because she stuck up for him and called Lyla Garrity a bitch and, "you talk to your Dad with that mouth?"
He grinned at her, she rolled her eyes, and the mood shifted. They talked easier after that, well she talked and he listened and mainly berating the brunette whose actions yesterday had set Dillon halls on fire.
Not a half bad way to spend an hour in hiding.
He was more than looking forward to a repeat performance.
A New Beginning
In the weeks that followed he found himself in several more situations where choices were wrested from his hands and he was steered in a direction he never would have considered.
Mainly at the hands of Taylor women; Julie had taken his slacking grades personally, Mrs. Coach was determined that he get a brag worthy score on his SAT's and the Coach was in no way hearing of any other option other than he was going to college.
All in all the Taylors had altered more than just his relationship with Lyla that morning they had rescued him from an embarrassing situation, they had changed him.
Acceptance and encouragement was addicting; he found himself spending more time at the Taylor household than his own.
There was another reason for so much time spent in their company, a beautiful blonde reason.
Pulling into the Applebee's parking lot he eased into the parking space closest to the back door, he knew Julie would come bouncing out at second, he would know in an instant if it had been a good shift or not.
Hair up and it was a bad one; hair down and a lucrative afternoon had passed. The very fact that he knew that spelled out so very much; he had a thing for Julie. A thing that he was fairly certain she felt too, he was 33 after all, and one he was finally ready to explore.
The metal door banged open in that second, and Julie strode out into the sunshine, he grinned till it hurt. Long hair down, she had already changed into a skirt that could lead a man to sin, and a pale green tank top that accentuated curves that had distracted him through more than one spaghetti dinner.
"Hey," she was in the cab and strapped in before he could form a full thought.
They were pulling out of the parking lot when he finally sent her a smile and a proper hello.
"So I was thinking we could go for a drive," her eyes slid his way and she tilted her head just so and he could imagine what might be running through his head at the implication.
"That's new," oh yes she knew. Julie was a smart one, he smirked, she blushed and he gunned the engine heading nowhere in particular.
"I'm finally feeling ready for something new."