Days pass, of nothing but tutoring and studying, without mention of the breakdown in the driveway. Rae is half convinced that he is avoiding talking to her about personal things until one day he comes into the house, grabs her lemonade and storms outside. Carden raises his eyebrows and looks at her. Rae throws her hands up and follows Tim.
"That was my lemonade." She says, sitting next to the empty glass.
"Had my court date today." He reveals, in his typical blunt attitude.
"And how was that?" She asks evenly, taking it in stride.
"My dad has to sign the ticket. I haven't seen him in two years, Rae. Both of our moms are gone, which sucks. But at least your dad is around to sign your shit." He says darkly.
"When he's sobered up enough to lift a pen." Carden calls from inside. Rae rolls her eyes.
"Ok, simple enough solution. Find your dad." She tells him.
"If it was that simple, would I have fucking done that already?" He points out, annoyed.
"No, because you don't do shit till the last possible second. Go find your dad and then we're working on your chemistry homework." She calls, as he walks back through the house, rubbing Carden's head.
"He's weird." Carden comments. Rae rubs her face, nodding in acknowledgement of his point. "I like him."
The next day, Rae hears the now familiar rumble of Tim's truck and looks up at Carden, who grabs his glass of milk protectively. Tim walks in and nods to Carden, who's clutching his milk.
"Rae, I'm gonna go find my dad." He announces. She raises an eyebrow.
"Thank you for the update?" She asks, nonplussed.
"Well I wanted to let you know so you don't worry." He says, flustered. She smiles, getting up and crossing the room to hug him.
"If you need anything, just call." She promises him. "And Car and I will drive to get you."
"Correction, she will drive, I will sleep in the backseat." Carden inputs. Tim shakes his head, grinning.
"Bye Rae! Bye Car!" He calls, leaving. Rae waves then drops her hand and looks at Carden in shock.
"This is gonna be a disaster." She mutters.
"It's Tim Riggins, what could go wrong?" He asks, laughing. Rae rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at him.
A couple days later, Rae takes a deep breath and knocks on Coach Taylor's doorframe. He looks up, surprised.
"Rae? Come in." He insists, waving her in.
"Uh, Coach Taylor, I uh…" She hesitates, unsure of how this is going to sound. He waits patiently. "Do you know where Tim is?" She blurts out. He's taken aback, but he does a good job of covering it. "I mean, I know he went to look for his dad, but he said it was only for a signature, and now he's been gone for a couple days and I just got worried." She rambles.
"Rae, Rae. Calm down. He's with his dad. Apparently, they're catching up." He says, making a face at the last part. Rae breathes a sigh of relief.
"Do you know when he'll be back?" She asks. He gives her an amused look, raising an eyebrow.
"No, but something tells me you'll know a hell of a lot sooner than I do." He informs her then grows stern. "And you tell him to get his ass to practice so I can kick it for missing two practices." He orders and she grins, nodding.
"I'll be sure he gets that part." She promises.
Rae wakes up to the rumble of Tim's truck. She crawls out of bed and hoists the window open, gingerly making her way out, half asleep.
"Tim?" She asks groggily, rubbing her eyes. Tim stumbles out of his truck, smelling like cheap perfume, chlorine, and booze. She sighs, catching him and guiding him to her window. After some maneuvering and shoving, she gets him through the window. He slumps against the wall and she kneels next to him.
"What happened?" She asks gently, pushing his hair back.
"He's a shitty dad. I got drunk and the rally girls stole me." He explains halfheartedly, not opening his eyes. "I just wanna sleep." He whines. She puts him on the rug in her room carefully covering him with a blanket then crawls into her own bed. She rolls over and laughs at the sight of Tim Riggins asleep on her floor.
When she wakes up, he's on his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm supposed to tell you coach is going to kick your ass for missing practices." She says sleepily.
"Sorry I came in here like this." He says, not looking at her.
"It's fine. I'm just surprised that you fit through the window." She mutters. He looks at her.
"You got me in through the window?" He asks, impressed, tilting his head and inspecting the window with renewed interest. She nods then pats the bed next to her.
"Tell me about your dad." She requests. Carefully, he crawls up next to her, wary about getting too close. But when they're both finally settled, out comes a torrent of emotions, about finding his dad, thinking that maybe he could come home, the bet that brought that dream crashing down, and the party.
"I don't know why I came here at the end of the night." He says quietly, still looking at the ceiling.
"Do you regret it?" She asks softly, looking up at him.
"You take better care of me than Billy." He says, giving her a crooked smile. She smiles and pats his cheek.
"Get ready for school Tim Riggins, cause coach is going to have your ass in a sling all practice, and I'm gonna too. I know you have a test about the Great Gatsby chapters coming up and I'm not letting you fail."
"So did Tim find his dad?" Julie asks listlessly at lunch.
"That's not important. You're upset about Matt and the whole 'rally girl calendar', don't lie to me." Rae says, wagging her finger at her.
"Yeah, I am." Julie says tiredly. "But my dad's the coach, so we go to the game tonight and you tell me about Tim to keep my mind off my Matt, ok?" Rae nods and pats her hand.
"Of course sweetie."
AN: So I really love it when you guys leave me reviews and comments... Like it makes my heart skip a beat. So you guys should do it, cause it's a bright spot in this busy college student's life.