Disclaimer: I do not own Friday Night Lights or any correlating elements.
A/N: Thanks so much for all the reviews so far! Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it!
Rising Son
o5.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
"Which gate is she getting off at, hon?"
"Uh, her email said gate 47. Is that left or right?"
"I think it's right because the 20s are over that way. Jimmy? Stay close to me, sweetheart. There are a lot of people here this evening."
Julie and Matt had decided to fly in on Thursday night since Matt managed to get it off and since Julie's night class had been canceled. It was 9:30 and already past Jimmy's bed time, but he didn't seem to mind. His eyes were bright as he peered at his surroundings, though staying very close to Tami's side.
"Hey, there they are!" Coming out of gate 47 with their carry-ons piled up in Matt's arms, Julie and Matt spotted the Taylors and ran over to them, Julie crashing into her mother's arms.
"Hello, sweet angel!" Tami squeezed her daughter tight and rocked her slightly. It'd been nearly 3 months since she'd seen her. Julie hadn't been in Pennsylvania since Jimmy's birthday in August, and to Tami, those 3 months felt like a lifetime. "I've missed you so much!"
"Hey there, little Jimbo." Setting the bags down carefully on a chair, Matt spread his arms open and scooped Jimmy up into a hug. From over Julie's shoulder, Tami watched how Matt ruffled Jimmy's hair and smiled at him, and she felt warmth spread through her. Matt had always been a good brother to Jimmy, and maybe that's just what he needed right now.
"Jules, c'mere." Tami released Julie only for Eric to wrap his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. Matt came over and they embraced, too. "It's great to see y'all again. How was the flight?"
"Oh, it was, you know, draining," said Julie, rolling her eyes. Matt sighed and shook his head, and Tami smiled at him sympathetically. He wasn't much a flier. His ears always popped and he grew pretty sick. In fact, he looked pretty pale in the bright lighting of the airport.
"Yeah, it was alright," Matt mumbled, grabbing the bags from the chair. "Can we hurry up and get goin', though? I just want to go to bed."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"I'm so hungry," said Julie, opening the fridge and looking it up and down. "Don't you guys have any vegetarian stuff? Or did you completely forget about me and my lifestyle?"
"Oh, no one could ever forget that," said Eric, coming up next to her and grabbing a beer from the center shelf. He remembered the exact moment she had become a vegetarian. Sitting in the kitchen at eight years old, she took one bite of her pulled-pork sandwich, glanced up at Eric and Tami, and declared, "I don't want to eat meat anymore. I'm a vegetarian." Just like that. Maybe it was the texture of the pork or maybe Eric hadn't cooked it long enough, but it had somehow left such an impression on her that she became a vegetarian. "We didn't forget about you, honey. There's some tofu thing on the top right and we have eggs and stuff. And I think your mother bought you some kind of organic yogurt."
Julie was always so full of life. Ever since she was a child, she would always be raving on about something and putting her entire heart and soul into it, and Eric truly admired that. She would simply absorb herself in a book and Tami would find her crying in bed because her favorite character had died, or she would get so involved in a soap opera that she would stand up at scream at the television when they made some kind of grave injustice. That kind of passion was good to have on the football field, and if Eric were to be honest, it was something that Jimmy lacked.
It's not like the kid didn't like football, and it's not like he wasn't any good at it. He enjoyed it and he played well, but there was just something missing. Jimmy had been playing since Eric was first able to fit a football in his hand, but he now wondered if that had been the best way to approach it. He remembered Tami lecturing him about not putting a writing utensil in his right hand and to just let him choose the utensil himself. Could that perhaps also apply to football? Should Eric have let him choose it instead of cramming it in his hands? Was he perhaps not as naturally-inclined as he was well-groomed for it?
"You okay?" Julie was sitting next to Eric at the island now, eating some yogurt. Her eyes stared into his. "You seem worried, and I know Mom is."
"She is?" It hadn't really occurred to Eric that Tami might tell Julie things she wouldn't necessarily tell him. They had a solid, honest marriage and everything, but he sometimes got the impression that Tami downplayed some of her most extreme feelings so that Eric wouldn't have to worry about her.
"Well, yeah," said Julie, "because she's Mom. When has she never not worried about anything?"
"This is true," said Eric, and he laughed. "I guess I'm just second guessing myself about Jimmy and the whole football thing. He's been really anxious and on-edge lately, and I wonder if it's somethin' I did." Julie nodded her head, encouraging him to go on. "I mean, sure, I want him to be quarterback because he's damn good at it. He's got an incredible arm. Also, you know, he's a bit lanky, so I don't know how well he'd fare as a linebacker or anything. I don't want to put any pressure on him, but apparently whatever I do just makes him worry anyway."
"Have you told him all of this?"
"Of course I have." Eric paused. Did he, though? Eric supposed that he never told Jimmy why exactly he wanted him to play quarterback. Maybe he could be clearer on that, and reinforce the fact that there didn't necessarily need to be a lot of pressure.
Julie was silent for a few seconds more as she licked her spoon. "You remember how I always thought Mom was too tough on me, right?"
"Yeah," said Eric, setting down his beer. "Of course." After Tami had Jimmy, her relationship with Julie had changed dramatically. In a lot of ways, she had expected Julie to help her out and be her support system during Eric's absence, and Julie had felt like she had too much responsibility. She had told Eric that back at his Dillon office, but Tami hadn't agreed. She had told Eric that it was time for Julie to rise up and grow up; she had wanted for Julie to become a strong, responsible woman. To Eric, that hadn't sounded too unreasonable, but to a then sixteen year-old girl... Eric could sympathize with Julie. He really could.
"Well, maybe that's how Jimmy feels with you," Julie continued, causing Eric to snap back to their conversation. "I mean, when I was Jimmy's age, I wanted to be just like Mom. I followed her everywhere and got so disappointed if I couldn't do something as well as her. Maybe that's how Jimmy feels with you. He wants to be this big football star like all you and all your players, but he can't just yet, so he's worried about it."
"You weren't worried, though," said Eric, his mind reeling. "You would always pick yourself up by your bootstraps if something didn't work out."
"Yeah, but I'm a different person, Dad." She leaned over to put an arm around his shoulders, resting her head on his shoulder. "Everyone's different, and it's not always gonna be the same with me and Jimmy. It's also a different kind of world now. You have to learn how to adjust to it."
She was right. Damn, Eric was getting parenting advice from his twenty-three year-old daughter. She'd always been perceptive and worked a lot with people at the writing center, but how had she become this perceptive about things like this? How did she suddenly grow up?
"Looks like the Midwest has sharpened you up some," he said softly, moving his head to kiss the top of hers. "Just don't get too smart on me, alright? I still want to be able to knock some sense into you from time to time."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Friday, October 30, 2015
"You excited to go Trick-or-Treating, Jimmy?" It was around 4:00 and Tami, Matt, and Jimmy were out in the back yard. Eric was still at Pemberton finishing up some last minute plays before the game, and Julie was doing some shopping (with Tami's car, of course). Jimmy didn't have practice today, but it was the big showdown between the Pemberton Pioneers and the George Washington Eagles. As soon as Julie got back, they'd eat a light dinner before making their way over to the field.
"I don't think so," said Jimmy, catching the football and then throwing it back to Matt.
"What you mean?" Tami leaned forward in the patio chair, lowering her book. "I already bought your costume! I thought you were gonna go as the QB1 of the Philadelphia Eagles?" It had killed Eric for Jimmy to support a northeastern team and not a Texas team, but he had finally relented.
"It's kind of lame, Mom," Jimmy explained, not meeting her gaze. "Besides, I just wanna stay home and be with everyone."
That was sweet and Tami truly appreciated how close Jimmy was with Matt and Julie, but she didn't want him missing out on all the fun because of it. He and his classmates always went Trick-or-Treating and Tami and the other moms always had some sparkling cider afterwards. It was part of their tradition in Philadelphia, and she hated for him to give it up like that.
"Well, that's gonna be hard for you to do 'cause I'm gonna be Trick-or-Treating."
"What?" That caught Jimmy off-guard and he dropped the pass, staring at Matt. "You're going Trick-or-Treating?"
"Of course I am," said Matt, "and I would invite you to come with me, but you think it's lame, so..."
That was what Tami loved about Matt. As she gazed at her son and her son-in-law, Tami realized that she wanted Jimmy to grow up to be like Matt. He was such a kind, compassionate young man with such genuine concern for others, and he was definitely the best overall type of role model for Jimmy to have. He accomplished much of what Jimmy wanted to accomplish (starting quarterback, college-educated, in Eric's good graces, etc.), and more importantly, he had a good handle on things, like he always had. Despite all the pressures of taking care of his grandmother, taking care of the house, leading the team to state, and getting good grades, he had generally kept it together.
Tami heard wheels crunching on the pavement, so, standing up, she called for the boys to go back inside and wash up for dinner, which was warming in the oven. As Jimmy ran inside and Matt made to follow him, though, Tami pulled him aside.
"That was really sweet of you to do with the whole Trick-or-Treating thing," she told him, patting his arm gently. "I think he'll probably go."
"Well, I hope so, Mrs. Taylor." Even though Tami had been his mother-in-law for five years now, Matt still always called her "Mrs. Taylor" and called Eric "Coach." It didn't really bother her, but sometimes, she just wished he would feel closer and more comfortable with her, because she really did love him like her own son.
"You know," she went on, "I've actually been wanting to talk to you about Jimmy. Did Julie tell you anything about his anxiety?"
"Yeah, she mentioned it the other day after she got off the phone with you. Is he okay? Like, is he gonna be fine goin' out and stuff?"
"Oh, yes. That's not a problem. It's just..." She paused just then, not really sure what to say. What even was she trying to say? She knew that Matt was a good influence on Jimmy and she knew that they got along, but what did she want from Matt at this point?
"I think you should talk to him," she finally said, looking him in the eye. "He's been feeling a lot of pressure lately regarding football, and I think that you... I feel that, uh..."
"I get it," said Matt, and he smiled. With a rare gesture of affection, he took her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Leave it to me, Mrs. Taylor. I think I have an idea of what he's feelin' and everything."
