Now There's an Idea

Julie knew Tim loved football. She could see it in his face after every Friday night game, with the eye-black running down his ruddy cheeks and sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. He always looked triumphant, regardless of the numbers on the scoreboard.

And she knew he would love the chance to get to play regularly for four more years. Once she could convince him that college was a good idea, of course.

"Y'know," Julie told Tim one evening as they sat on her parent's couch together, "if you were to go to college, there would be more alone time."

Eric and Tami had initially been wary to leave the two alone together, considering Tim's history. That is, until Eric pointed out that before they knew the two were dating, they had been left alone together often.

Julie was tucked under Tim's arm, and some movie that Julie had picked was playing on the TV. Since her head was resting against his chest, Julie didn't see Tim's eye roll.

"I think you just might drive me insane, Jules," he told her, dropping a kiss on her head to soften the annoyance he heard in his own voice. Tim hated the idea of making Julie upset, and he was hoping the tone of his voice wouldn't do just that.

Julie untangled herself from Tim, so that she was sitting up next to him. Her hair was messed up a little from where she was laying on him.

Tim was surprised when, instead of being upset with his obvious annoyance, Julie leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. Even more to his surprise, it was a long and lingering kiss.

"C'mon," Julie told him, slipping her hand into his. "Think about."

Tim did like the alone time with Julie. They didn't get a lot of it, and it was nice to spend time with her without the prying eyes of her parents or the townspeople of Dillon on them. People still couldn't quite wrap their heads around Coach Taylor's daughter and bad boy Tim Riggins being a couple.

"It will be a different town, without nosy people. And you'd have your own space at college. And my parents wouldn't be there."

"What makes you think that your parents would just let you come spend days on end with me in a different town? I'm still not even allowed in your bedroom."

Julie gave Tim a rueful look. "Like that has stopped you when they aren't home."

Tim smirked at her, because she was right. Though technically not allowed to be there, that hadn't stopped him when the Taylors weren't home.

"Besides, I'll be eighteen next year. And a senior. Plus after this summer, I should have enough money to buy a car."

Julie had been scrounging all the money she could, both from her summer job at the swimming pool and the occasional twenty bucks she could sometimes glean from her parents from babysitting Gracie Bell. Even before she started dating Tim, she had planned on buying a car. She definitely had more incentive now, though.

"And being an eighteen year old senior is going to make your parents stop being so protective?" Tim asked, the smirk on his face widening.

"I'm dating you, aren't I? Did you ever think that would happen?"

Julie knew she had a point, and she punctuated it with another slow kiss. While her lips moved against Tim's, Julie shifted herself until she was sitting on his lap.

When Julie pulled away this time, it was with her hands tangle in Tim's hair and his gripping her hips.

"I know you don't like school," Julie told him, "and homework isn't your thing, either. But I know you're smarter than you think you are, and definitely good enough at football to get a scholarship. You can't tell me that more alone time doesn't sound good, either."

Tim tipped his head back a little to look Julie in the eye. With her on his lap, she was just a little bit taller than him.

"If I told you I would think about it, would it make you shut up for a little while?" Tim asked, enjoying the feeling of Julie running the fingers through his hair.

"Will you really think about it? Not just say you're going to?"

"Yes, Jules. I'll really think about it…only because more alone time with you is a selling point. You got me there."