Dallas, Texas

The grandfather clock in the Southfork living room struck 2pm and a weary, hungover JR Ewing emerged from his bedroom. He could hear the sounds of the family outside by the swimming pool but made his way into the kitchen to make himself a Bloody Mary and take a pill for his headache before he walked outside. The previous night had been one for the record books and he wondered how Jock and Bobby were faring today. Bobby had come home from college for the weekend and he, Jock and JR had spent the night at the Longhorn Bar in Braddock catching up with each other. They had continued drinking into the night, a good idea at the time, but now the morning after, JR wasn't so sure.

Taking his drink and making his way outside he was greeted by Miss Ellie who sat by the pool supervising Lucy, JR's young niece. "Good morning JR, oh well more like good afternoon" she laughed, "mama" he responded looking around for Bobby and seeing he and Jock sitting on the patio looking about as good as JR felt. He walked over to his father and brother and they expressed their sentiments, last night was great, this morning was not. The men spent the rest of the afternoon talking oil and football, two topics the Ewing's were well versed in.

Austin, Texas

Sue Ellen sat in her bedroom in her mother's house and prepared for her dinner date. She still hadn't heard from Clint and knew that she would have to do some serious grovelling tomorrow. She planned to have a word with her mother after this date; she was going to focus on her relationship with Clint, no more spontaneous dates with men she was not interested in. She would still participate in all the activities that she was obligated to, but she would not compromise her relationship. Her younger sister Kristin entered the room and watched her tease her hair and apply her makeup, she was still only a child, but already in training to become the wife of a wealthy man. For Kristin, it didn't seem like such a bad idea, she hated not being able to have all the extravagances that the other girls in school had. Their family was not poor, but they were also not rich. A great deal of their income went towards Sue Ellen's improvement and training which left a tight budget for everything else. Patricia reasoned that it would all be worth it one day as long as Sue Ellen played her part right.

7.30pm came and went and there was no sign of Mr John Thurman, Clint was never late to pick up Sue Ellen, she was already displeased with this date and now he was late too. Her tolerance level was getting lower and lower by the minute. The clock read 7.50pm and there was a knock at the door, Patricia answered it and invited the man in. "Mr Thurman, how lovely to see you, this is my daughter Sue Ellen and my younger daughter Kristin" she waved her hand in their direction. "It's very nice to meet you Sue Ellen, these are for you" he handed her a bunch of flowers that she thought were rather ugly and slightly tacky. "Thank you" she accepted the flowers and handed them to her mother, "well we'd better be going, we have an 8pm reservation and we'll be late if we don't leave now", whose fault is that? thought Sue Ellen. If he hadn't been so late to pick me up, we wouldn't be rushing to make our reservation. He placed his hand on her back and escorted her out of the house. Sue Ellen got cold shivers at the man's touch and began to seriously regret not being firmer with her mother; she did not like this man and did not want to spend the evening with him.

At dinner, she made sure to follow her mother's rules, laugh at his jokes, ask him about himself and compliment him. She was friendly, but not too friendly, careful not to cross the line between casual pleasant flirting and something more serious. When he asked her to dance she agreed, but was still regretting ever agreeing to this ridiculous idea. She had a boyfriend, but instead of spending the evening with him, she was having dinner and dancing with a man she had no interest in and whose company she did not enjoy. She found Mr Thurman to be loud, obnoxious and greasy, she didn't care how much money his family had, he possessed no class and was not someone she wished to have anything to do with. As they danced, she felt his hand progressively move lower and lower down her back, uncomfortably low. "Erm, Mr Thurman" the uneasiness she was feeling apparent in her tone of voice, "please, call me John" he leered at her while still not moving his hand upward. Moving her own hand to his, she removed it and firmly spoke "I don't think that's appropriate, I have a boyfriend and…" she was cut off by his words "oh I know all about that, I was led to believe that you two were not serious and that you and I would be enjoying a pleasant evening together. I have to say; so far, it has been a most enjoyable night, what would say about maybe taking off now and going back to my place to continue the fun. We still have a few more hours before you need to be home and no one else has to know about our little trip" he ogled her and ran his hand down her back again, this time going much lower than was appropriate for a first date or a public location. As he spoke, she could not believe his audacity to make such a crude insinuation toward her, she was in shock at his words, but when his hand cupped her behind that was the last straw. Pulling away quickly, she slapped him hard, "Mr Thurman, I don't know what kind of girl you think I am, but I do not like your assumptions about me or the intimations you are making and would like to go home now!" she quickly walked to their table and grabbed her purse walking to the door. He rubbed his face and muttered some obscenities under his breath before walking out to pay for their meal and drive her home.

The drive back to her house was silent and she was thrilled when they pulled into her driveway. He walked her to the door and she entered as quickly as possible. They both knew there would be no second date and the chilly atmosphere between the two of them made the goodbye short and unfriendly. Good riddance she thought as she leaned on the inside of the door and let out a relieved sigh. "You're home early" she was startled by the sound of her mother's voice, "yes, I asked that awful man to take me home. I don't know why you ever thought he was worthy of me. You are always telling me how much of a lady I am and how I should act, well someone should have given that man the same lessons. He's a pig, apart from having a lot of money, he has no other redeeming qualities, he's crude, rude and knows no boundaries" she almost shouted her reply at her mother, but instead kept her voice at an even volume with a serious tone. Patricia looked at her daughter, not quite sure of the events that led up to this outburst but proud of her daughters words, it was quiet assurance that she was a lady both inside and out, from what she could tell, her daughter had a great deal of self-respect. "I'm not sure that I should ask what exactly happened tonight, but from the look on your face and your words, I can tell that it was serious. I'm glad you respected yourself enough ask to come home instead of letting a man take advantage of you. That is I assume what you were implying?" inadvertently asking her daughter to explain what happened. Her eyes blazing with anger at the man's assumption as she replied, "Yes mama, he in not so many words asked me to go to bed with him. I of course said no, but I am angrier that he assumed that I would even go there. I don't believe that I looked or acted like I was giving off that vibe that at all". Patricia stood in the living room thinking about what Sue Ellen had just said and how she could have been so wrong about that man. Was her daughter right about her, was she blinded so much by money that she failed to see the person behind the money? Sue Ellen walked upstairs without waiting for a response; she could see her mom questioning her process and smiled to herself. Maybe one good thing did come out of this night; maybe it gave her a mother a new perspective on the way she treats her daughters.

Sue Ellen went to bed and made a mental note to speak to her mom about re-evaluating her priorities and not taking Clint for granted. There would be no more dates with wealthy men selected by Patricia, she would choose whom to date and right now, she was choosing Clint. She also made a mental note to properly apologise to Clint tomorrow, not just a cursory apology, a real, genuine, heartfelt apology. She didn't want to lose him and hoped that he was still willing to try and make their relationship work. The next few months were going to be extra busy, with the semester coming to an end and her commitments to Miss Austin not decreasing in volume she was going to need someone like Clint, someone she could rely on. She didn't even want to think about how busy she would be if she won Miss Texas. Tomorrow, I will make everything better tomorrow, she thought to herself as she eventually drifted off to sleep.

To be continued…