Spinning Circles

Chapter 10

For the first time in Rigs' life he had wanted a girl for more than a roll in the hay. He wanted Julie for her fire and her hot bod. He was drifting in a sea of inexperience and Stutter poaching. He had no idea what guys normally did when they actually pursued a girl, all his friends had it relatively easy, there was no wooing necessary but in this scenario, he'd have to learn real quick. But then the f word had been dropped and he realised that his task was now significantly harder because of it. Friends? Was she serious? Friends? He had thrown a tater tot at her, kissed her senseless and protected her but apparently that wasn't enough to be considered snog-worthy. He had nearly said boyfriend material but he wasn't even sure if he wanted that from her. He wanted to be with her, to talk with her, to kiss her and to argue with her but boyfriend? He had his limitations. Maybe if he got things to swing his way he could convince her that they should keep this casual and easy, no ties. Wait he was getting ahead of himself, he needed her to see him a non-friend.

Julie sat there, her head still resting on her knees, her eyes on his face, silent. Her hair was lifted by the breeze and she looked so peaceful.

"A friend?" he asked.

"Yeah a friend," she replied. "We can do that Tim, it is not beyond you or me," she states simply her face and tone calm.

"A friend who kissed you?" he posed, it had been awhile since that day in the hall when he had stealthily kissed her but she would remember, how could she forget?

"Sure a friend who kissed me, a friend who throws food at me and a friend that protects me. On second thought, that sounds like a brother, you know if the kiss had been on the cheek," she giggled. Oh my god, he'd gone from the friend zone to family in point two of a second, this was bad, he'd have to do something drastic.

"I don't want to be your friend," he said it plainly letting it hang in the air. She turned her face away from him, resting her chin on her folded arms and looked out over the field.

"Okay, then we won't be." It wasn't what he expected, he was waiting for the fiery attack and it didn't come. He never knew what to expect with her. "But why not?"

Trust her to throw that question out there.

"I don't have friends that are chicks. I don't really talk to them unless absolutely necessary. I got football, I got my boys and I am good. I don't need anything else," liar his brain screamed. But this was about self-preservation, digging himself out of friend-zone or potential big brother. He would rather nod at her occasionally in the hall and that be their entire interaction. He was lying to himself again, he wouldn't be satisfied with that at all.

"Tim, you might not need anything else but you do need people, friends. Sure you aggravate the hell out of me and you've provoked me more that anyone ever could but you went above and beyond for me." She stopped then, clearly wanting to say something else but hitting a roadblock. "I know you told dad that they were there for 'retribution' against the Panthers and whatever but you and I both know that you weren't their target." Her eyes came back to him searching his face for a response. She looked so fragile with her legs hitched up and her arms twisted around her knees, she looked tiny and breakable. He'd never thought of her that way and an aching sensation swept through his body as he thought about what those guys had planned. "You saved me, I battled against it in the beginning but I have decided that you are going to be my friend, even if you won't consider me yours." She stood up and dusted off the seat of her pants as she rose. A huge smile broke across her face and he wondered how he hadn't noticed her at all those games. He was an idiot.

"So friend, thank you for being a big knight in sweaty football gear." She bent down to kiss him on the cheek and he couldn't resist, he turned his head to make lip contact and grabbed her chin simultaneously, deepening the kiss. She was initially unresponsive but she melted into him as he took her bottom lip between his own. He moved his arms around her waist bringing her into his body and she fit perfectly. Her hand rested peacefully and trusting on his chest as she received his tongue's ministrations. He groaned into her mouth, he could do this for hours, she was addictive. She broke off and looked at him straight in the eyes.



"So I guess we aren't friends then," she murmured with a twinkle in her eye. "But that's the second time you've sneaked a kiss on me Tim and I still have no idea what you want."

"Your ass," he joked. The second the words were out of his mouth her face changed and he realised he had buggered up.

"This isn't about scoring the Coach's daughter is it? Cause I had enough of all that talk about my ass weeks ago. " she was angry but she was keeping a rein on it. He shushed her, trying to calm her down. Big mistake. "I am not one of your rally girls Tim and I won't be treated like one either," she was getting worked up now and he seemed to have firmly dug himself into 'foot in mouth' territory. She pulled her arms away but he kept his where they were.

"No it's not about you being the Coach's daughter or being an easy lay," her face darkened "...cause you aren't. This is about you and me Taylor, we can't be friends cause there is more here than that. We fight and fight some more because there's a lot of fireworks here Taylor." He moved his forefinger back and forth pointing at her then himself. She sighed and moved her hands back to his chest and up to the collar of his shirt, pulling his face into hers. She mewed as their mouths met in a meshing of lips. She nibbled his lip again like she had that time before and he pulled her tighter to him running his palms up and down her back as her hands crept to his neck. This was freaking hot. The anger diffused as it turned into wild passion. In the distance they both heard the bell signalling the end of the lunch period and they reluctantly drew apart.

"So Tim was does this mean?" she looked at him clearly wanting an answer. Her eyes hopeful and yet he knew he wasn't the conventional type. They fought more than they talked, they tossed things at one another more than they kissed. They were both trying to be top banana and they were butting heads repeatedly.

"Well number 1, can you call me Rigs cause Tim is..." he couldn't finish the sentence as he struggled to find a nice way to say that his Christian name was shit.

She laughed. "How about Timothy?" he growled at her and she laughed some more. 'I knew you would hate it if I called you that? You are predicable Riggy."

"Yeah not that either." He added, Riggy? WTF? "Number 2, let's not put any labels on what we are, we'll figure it out. Non-friends?" he offered.

"Non-friends," she agreed as she put her hand out for him to shake. He looked at her, her eyebrow raised in a dare and down to the outstretched hand. He grasped it gently and brought it to his face. He turned her hand over so it was palm up and lathed her wrist with his tongue and then open mouth kissed it. He felt a shiver work its way from that point and up her arm. He smirked to himself, he still had it. Her face has softened and he think he detected a wobble in her knees but he couldn't be sure.

"O-kay, I better go back to class," she said as she started down the stairs. "Walk me?" she smiled gently at him and he walked breezily to her side. Non-friends, that was unconventional right? He wasn't subscribing to the norm. He had no ties, he would talk to her, kiss her, maybe try a little more. Not the norm, definitely not. But here he was walking her to class.

He walked her to the door of her class and she turned on a bright, sunshiny smile for him. He wanted to kiss her all over again.

"Julie," he heard a male voice and looked into the class. Matt sat there gesturing Julie to sit next to him. The smile she had been giving him was now bestowed on the Stutter King. This casual, no ties thing might be a problem.

Author's Note – Thanks for the support guys.