disclaimer: i own nothing.

Take Care.

chapter two

let's do it

Tim knew that Billy used to sell weed but he was never moving around quantity like this. He had found a couple large bags with smaller bags inside them, full of fluffy green nugs. It was a lot of marijuana. Billy used to smoke it back in the day, which is how Tim originally found out that Billy was selling on the occasion. The stuff smells and it lingers.

Julie had stayed at his house last night until ten. After they found the drugs, they sat in the living room and caught up. They talked until her mom called, asking for her to come home. She'd been texting someone on her phone quiet a few times and Tim wondered who it was. Was it her boyfriend? Did she still have a boyfriend? They didn't get that personal last night. She asked him what he was going to do about the weed. He told her he didn't know yet.

He still didn't. Tim sat up from the couch, which is where he ended up passing out last night, and rubbed his eyes. He'd been laying there awake for the last few minuets until his stomach began to burn in hunger. Tim couldn't remember the last time he ate anything substantial. He got up and walked to the fridge. There were still some frozen waffles in the freezer and he popped two in the toaster. He was standing at the counter waiting for the waffles to be done when something caught his eye. The crumpled up piece of paper he threw on the dining table last night was staring back at him.

Guess he figured out what that girl was talking about. He wondered how she was involved with Billy dealing. Did she buy from him? Was she waiting for some supply? Did Billy owe money on the stuff that was in his bedroom? Tim had no idea. That's what he now needed to figure out. If that girl said Jordan was waiting on him, he had to have the answers Tim was looking for. He didn't like the idea of getting involved in his brothers affairs, but who was he kidding? Billy used to drag him into things he never wanted to do anyway. That was thier life together as brothers. That and fighting, like brothers.

Julie was in the car with her mom and Gracie. They'd gone to church early that morning. It was now nearing noon and they were heading to the store to get some groceries.

"Mom, can I invite someone over for dinner tonight?" Julie was unsure of how her mother would react. She doesn't normally invite people over unless it was Matt, who she's no longer dating, or Tyra.

"A boy?" Julie smirked. Of course that's what she would think of first. "Jules, you just told me yesterday that you were done with boys or something."

"This is strictly a friendship, mom. It's Tim." She thought he could use a night away from his empty house. He looked so sad being there alone.

Tami gasped. "Poor Tim." The funeral was tomorrow. She couldn't believe it had almost a week since Billy passed away. It was such an awful incident. She recalls having cried and prayed for Tim the night Eric told her. "Yeah, invite him over. You think he'll come?"

"I don't know. I'll go by his place later and ask."

She thought about what they had found last night. She couldn't believe Billy was a drug dealer. There was a couple pounds in that container at least. She didn't know drug dealer rules when it came to weighing and prices, but it had to be worth a lot of money. If he'd just been slinging by the gram, like he used to, she wouldn't have considered the 'drug dealer' title accurate, but he was selling a whole lot of pot. Tim had told her before that Billy sold a little weed back in the day if he needed to get some quick cash or something. He also said it wasn't something that happened on the regular. Little did anyone know, though.

"Is that where you were last night?" Tami wondered. Even though her daughter claimed her relationship with Tim Riggins to be platonic, he was Tim Riggins. The womanizer of Dillon, Texas.

She was shaken from her thoughts."Huh?" Julie got uncomfortable again.

"When I called last night?"

"Oh... yeah. I was at Tim's. I went out to Tyra's first and she had work at five. She told me about Billy and stuff and I was, like, how did I not know this happened? Then, yeah, I went over to Tim's house. Why didn't you and dad tell me?"

"I don't know. We didn't think you had any connection to the Riggins'. It really never crossed our minds. I'm sorry, honey." Tami spoke as she pulled into the parking lot.

"It's okay. I'm gonna see if Tyra can come, too. S-She's been wanting to see how Tim's doing." Tyra ended up closing last night so she wasn't able to go to Tim's yesterday. She texted Julie again at midnight, telling her she was just then heading home.

They finally found a parking spot. That's what they got for shopping on Sunday. Julie shopped with her mother until they had what they needed. They decided to make steaks with homemade mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. She'd texted Tyra about dinner tonight and she said she could make it over. Now all Julie needed to do was to go to Tim's and see what was up.

Tim was out in the front yard when Julie pulled up. He was bent over and looked like he was breathing hard. When she got out and walked up to him, he turned around.

"Are you okay?" She laughed, he was covered in sweat.

"Yeah... just went... for a run." His breathing was heavy. "What's up?"

They walked inside together as she spoke. "Mom wants to invite you to dinner tonight. It's gonna be me, you, Tyra and my parents."

"Oh, Tyra's gonna be there. That's cool. " He paused for a minuet to think. There wasn't anything to pressing that he needed to do right away. Anything he did have to do could wait until later tonight. "Yeah." He smiled at the younger girl. "Yeah, that sounds good."

Tim walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He watched Julie as she walked over to the couch and sat down. She looked good. Really good. He threw that thought right out of his head before it had time to fester. He walked over to the bar and sat down facing her.

"So... what are you going to do with the stuff?" She asked. Intrest was pretty clear in her voice.

He sighed. Not his favorite question of the day. "Well, when I get home later, I was gonna call that number Brianna left me."

"Are you going to sell it?"

"I don't know." He needed to see what these people had to say before he knew enough to make any choices. "I need to talk to Jordan. See what he knows."

"I want in." Julie said with a serious edge to her voice.

Tim's head shot up at her words. "What are you talking about?"

"If you do business or anything with money, I want to help. I want in on this."

Tim was caught off guard. Julie Taylor was looking him in the eye and telling him she basically wanted to sell drugs with him. What the hell was going on? "I-I... I don't even know what to say right now." He laughed nervously because he was speechless. He took another drink of water that was in his hand, which was quite refreshing than beer. He wished there was something stronger then beer in the house anyway.

Julie caught eyes with Tim and they both knew they were thinking the same thing.

Tim looked away. "No. No way. You can't even be thinking about that."

Julie was a little intrigued about marijuana. She kind of wanted to know what all the hype was about and what better way then to try it. "I-I mean... kinda. What's the big deal? It's just weed."

"It's not just weed." He didn't know why but he felt protective of Julie's innocence. She was the Coach's daughter. "I don't know. I can't, that's all I do know." He knew he couldn't smoke it. He had football to worry about. He paused, imagining Julie if she were rebellious. "And I don't know about this joint venture you're talking about either."

"Tim, c'mon. We found it together. It's just been us from the start. We're the only people that know about it and nobody else needs to." Julie got up from the cushion she was sitting on and got closer to him. "You don't trust me, is that is?" She knew he had big issues with trust and she couldn't blame him. He'd been through a lot in his young lifetime.

"No, it's not that... it's just..." He trailed off and gave himself time to process. They stood there in silence for a few minuets while Tim was considering the options he had. Should he let Julie in on this ordeal? If he did, would he be corrupting her? He didn't even know what he was getting himself into. He really didn't care about that at the moment, though. He liked her company. She was one of the few people he could carry on a conversation with. Plus, she was smart, so she'd never do anything to implicate herself. "Ah, alright." They smiled at each other. "Let's do it."

She stuck her hand out and high fived him. "You need to shower." Julie laughed at him.

"Uh, yeah."

Dinner went well. Tim was able to get his mind off everything that was going on in his world for two long hours. It was nice to be sitting at a table that was set for dinner. He didn't have the normal family up bringing that other people had when he was growing up. His mother sat on the porch chain smoking and drinking beer. Hm, wonder where he picked up the drinking? There wasn't even a time he could remember her when she wasn't sitting back there. She was never in front of the stove cooking for them. They ate stuff that came out of cans and was usually microwaved. His father was a dead-beat that ran out on him when his was thirteen. Watching how the Taylor family interacted with each other, it was nice. There was chatter and laughter. Two things that went well with a good group of people.

Afterwords, everybody was gathered at the Taylor's front door for goodbyes. He shook Eric's hand. "Thanks for having me over, sir. I had a nice time." He was thankful that Coach let him have this time off from the team. He missed practice almost all week. "Thank you, son, and whenever you're ready... that spot is waiting for you." He nodded then locked eyes with Tami. "Dinner was great, ma'am. Thank you. I'll be seeing you."

"Okay, bye, you guys." Tami called as they walked away. "Drive safe. Jules..."

"Yes, mom. I heard you, I'll be safe." Julie called back. She walked to the driveway with Tim and Tyra.

"Good girl!"

"Okay, you guys." Tyra spoke. "I'll see y'all tomorrow." She hugged Tim and kissed him on the cheek. She pulled away from him without letting go and looked into his green eyes. Tim stared back. He was a sad and lonely boy at heart. She spoke up again before she started to tear up or something. "I'm so sorry, Tim, again, I... I'm here for you, though." She let him go and hugged Julie goodbye. "Bye, sweetie."

"Bye, Tyra." Tim said. Their eyes stayed connected as much as they could, until she got into her car. Man, he missed her, in more ways than one.

Julie shifted her weight uncomfortably. She'd felt the moment her friends shared in between them and felt slightly jealous. She didn't know why she felt jealous, but she did. Julie shook her feelings as she watched Tyra drive away. "You ready?" She asked Tim. He rode over with her, so she could have a reason to drive him home and be there when he called Brianna and Jordan. They were in this together after all.

On the ride over, Julie looked over at Tim a few times. She watched as he stared out his window into the night sky. She didn't like what she was feeling for Tim but, as always, she couldn't help it. It was a different feeling from anything she experienced with Matt, who'd been her first boyfriend. By the end of their relationship, Matt had felt like her best friend more than anything else. She cared for him as a person and loved him, but she wasn't in love with him. That's why she put the breaks on and ended things with him.

When they got to Tim's house, instead of going inside, they sat in the car. Tim pulled out his phone and the piece of paper. He dialed and listened to it ring. The car was dead silent. Julie could hear the ringing from her seat.

"Hello?" The voice answered.

It was a guy. He wasn't startled but he was expecting the woman to answer for some reason. "Uh, yeah. Hey, this is... Billy's brother. Tim." The line was quiet for a few seconds.

"Timmy? Hey, man. I'm guessing you figured out what you needed to."

"I... I did." He hadn't been called Timmy in the longest time. It was what Billy called him when he was in high school and Tim was still in elementery.

"Okay. Let's meet up."

"When and where?" He locked eyes with Julie. They were going to meet this guy. He was a complete stranger and Tim didn't know how much he still liked the idea of getting Julie involved in this.

"Tomorrow. The funeral."

thanks for reading.