Dillon's Damsel
Tim was seated in the caf his gaze perusing the many chicks that he could score. So little time, so many options. He was bored, hence the Neanderthal talk. The offerings here were all so same same and he wasn't sure he could actually be bothered with any of them. He was living with the Taylors, which was his first ever family experience and he was loving every second of it. He had the gruff dad, the hovering mom with the smart mouth, an ugly-cute baby sister, a crazy aunt and well Julie. She really didn't fit into any clichéd criteria. She was just The Jules. A completely undefinable presence, a little sister of sorts but in truth he didn't think of her that way.
They were becoming friends slowly. They really have had very little to do with one another before he moved in with the Taylors. Julie was clearly not happy about it initially basically ignoring him at first. He saw first hand how she was sometimes shoved to the side when Gracie or Shelley issues came to the fore. He'd made the effort to talk to her more often and they had established a mutually removed sort-of friendship. It was weird spending time with someone who had only crossed his mind as the Coach's daughter or Matt's virgin girlfriend, now she was a real person to him and he was feeling distinctly protective of her. How very like a big brother he was becoming.
Tim looked out for her, not that she knew it. It was nice to look after someone but when he noticed something going on with that teacher Barnett, he realised that looking out for someone could be tricky too. He found himself looking for her in the cafeteria just so he knew where she was and that she was okay. He realised that they shared a couple of classes, he realised he really hadn't recognised her presence in his sphere at all. Wait that wasn't true, he had made that really poor joke about Matt and Julie at the roast last year. His mouth scrunched in dismay just thinking about it, he was such an ass. Especially since this girl had taken to helping him out with the work and making deadlines. It was slightly less horrific doing homework and assignments when someone was there explaining things and helping you out. He was making some progress with his grades and that was all due to Jules.
He had never really thought about girls and how they felt. He had just done what he wanted to do regardless. He had hurt Tyra by acting that way and Lyla and Street too. He had thought that had he had a sister he might be significantly better at it, or a Mom. Living with Mrs Taylor, Julie and Shelley gave him a whole new appreciation of the myriad of emotions a chick could go through in a mini-second. He got better at reading their body language and expressions just to know when to leave the room before he got drawn into an argument or worse, girl talk. For instance he knew that Tami would talk slower when she was 'in the mood' for some Coach-goodness and that there was a telltale scrunch in Jules' nose when she wasn't happy about something. And Shelly, well Shelly was obvious about everything, he didn't have to mind read jack!
So Julie was his "sister" he guessed and he felt it was his responsibility to watch out for her, whether lecherous English teachers or undersized turds. Tami had actually handled the former so he really hadn't needed to do anything there. He had fantasised about entering that room, pulling the guy up by his collar and pin him against the wall. Maybe voice a threat like – if I see you look at her I will tear you a new one. He had thought about it and then seen Tami in action. Barnett would have gotten off easier with him. He didn't mind looking out for her, he felt that the Coach would expect it of him and he didn't want to piss off the Coach.
He really liked it at the Taylor house. Living there in an average family home where the bathroom smelled delicious and dinner was always on time was a luxury for him. A place where he could play ping pong with the Coach and allow himself to think a little about what it would be like to have a dad who wasn't an alcoholic or hustler. It was a place where he was welcomed. Hell even the baby liked him! Sure the kid was a bit interesting looking but she was cute as all heck. Shelly had been looking after her during the day while Tami worked and they all helped out when they got home. Tim hadn't had anything to do with babies ever in his life yet these people trusted him to look after her. The trust boggled him.
Sure he liked it at the Taylor house but there were things that bugged him too. Like cleaning up before dinner. The Coach and his smelly socks, dude they were ripe and the man would walk around in them like he didn't notice. Tami annoyed him too when she interrupted ping pong, sure it had been the middle of the night but c'mon they were just having some fun. He was sure that Gracie deliberately did the worst of her ah soiling when he was about to change her diaper, there was no way that kid didn't see him coming and maximise her output, there was simply no way. Shelley would look at him all the time and he just wanted to tell her to back off but then he had fun flirting with her too. She could lay off on the fat remarks to Gracie though – he'd told her that it could have long term affects and she'd seemed to have taken it under consideration. And Jules was quite possibly the worst. Granted he had never lived with chicks before but he seriously found her hair everywhere. Clumps in the carpet, strands in the shower and sometimes even on his own clothes. How did the girl have any hair on her head if she was shedding that much? Seriously he wanted an answer to that. She also nagged him. About his homework and his assignments she was the worst, always asked him where he was at and constantly pushing him to try more. Obviously getting better grades was going to involve her doing his head in 'cause he really couldn't deal anymore. The hair and the nagging had to stop.
Tim knew something was up when he saw Jules in the corridor at school. Some ass was leaning against the lockers and trying to impress her. She looked thoroughly unimpressed but the guy was continuing to talk. Tim wondered why the guy wouldn't detect the signals and go already. Jules spotted him and was asking with her eyes for him to come and do something. He didn't know how he was able to interpret that look but he had. He walked up to them, Jules turned on a smile and the ass turned around.
"Hey Rig..." the ass started.
"Na-uh, move along Sparky," Tim didn't give him a chance to say anything. The ass looked at Jules who raised her eyebrows at him and then back to Tim who turned a threatening glance on. The ass scampered on his way without a glance back.
"You had yourself a real winner there Jules," he said to her as he tracked the ass' movements away.
"Well thanks - they can't all be keepers like you Tim," she snarked and stormed off. Thanks for nothing he thought and made his way to class. Girls were truly strange.
AN – This fanfic is for Jodi, who gave me some parameters for her ideal story.