Chapter 32, enjoy!
There was a knock on Julie and Shelley's hotel room door the next morning. Julie hurriedly tied the laces of her shoes, but bending down with her growing stomach was proving to be a struggle. When she finally got her laces tied, she rushed to the door and swung it wide open.
"Hey! Are you ready?" Tyra asked when Julie came out the door.
"Yeah!" Julie enthusiastically responded.
"Lyla is meeting us downstairs," Tyra added as they walked towards the elevator. They had all morning before the game, so the three girls decided to make a trip to the mall.
Tyra and Julie rode in the elevator down to the first floor where Lyla met them. They went out to the large parking lot and located Lyla's car. Lyla got in the drivers seat, Julie in the passenger seat, and Tyra in the back seat. Lyla started the engine and began driving out of the parking lot while Julie adjusted the radio to a local station playing a song they liked. They turned the radio in Lyla's car all the way up, and sang at the top of their lungs to the songs they knew. Before long, they arrived at the mall. The girls made their way into the mall, stopping in front of the nail salon at the entryway.
"My nails could use a new coat, do ya'll wanna stop here first?" Lyla asked looking at her dull nails. The other two girls agreed and entered the salon. They picked their nail colors and the manicurists began painting the girls' nails.
"So are ya'll in town for the football state championship?" A polite manicurist with a sweet southern accent who was doing Lyla's nails asked after noticing Julie's Panthers sweatshirt.
"Yeah," Lyla answered.
"I'm guessing ya'll are girlfriends of football players then?" The manicurist asked.
"They are, but my dad is the head of the boosters," Lyla explained.
"Oh gotcha," The manicurist said. "So what position do your boyfriends play?" She asked turning to face Julie and Tyra.
"My boyfriend is the kicker," Tyra laughed.
"Don't make fun of Landry! The kicker is very important!" Julie laughed. "And he'll probably fill in as the tight end next year when we lose like half our offense.
"Wow I'm impressed with your football knowledge missy. What position does your boyfriend play?" She asked.
"My dad's the coach, so I have a pretty big vocabulary of football lingo," Julie explained. "And my boyfriend is the fullback."
"Nice! Wait.. is he the one that is an All American candidate, um Riggins maybe?" The manicurist asked.
"Yeah," Julie answered, confused at how this lady knew her boyfriend's name and status as All American candidate.
"Small world! My husband is the scout for UT Dallas, and he was going on about this fullback from Dillon the other day. But the scouts at UT Austin said they were offering something to him," The manicurist explained. UT Austin is offering Tim something? Huh he must not have told me... Well I'm confident he's going to turn it down, Julie thought.
"Wow, what a coincidence!" Julie exclaimed.
"The UT Austin scout was worried he wouldn't take it though, said he turned down Arkansas State - which I don't blame him on - and some other schools."
"Yeah, he's decided college isn't really for him," Julie stated. "But UT Austin is pretty close to Dillon, so he may decide he wants to go there."
"Well that's a shame, I've seen some of his tape and he's really good." Tyra was biting her lip, feeling really awkward being in the middle of the conversation. Both Tyra and Lyla knew the real reason that Tim didn't want to attend college. No one said anything else. The girls sat in awkward silence while their nails were finished. They left the nail salon and moved on with their shopping. They stopped in a couple other stores and each of the girls picked out items to buy. Lyla still needed a gift for her dad, so they stopped in a store that sold apparel for professional sports teams.
"Oh. My. Gosh. Julie, you have to get one of these!" Lyla exclaimed when she discovered a football jersey onesie representing the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I'm going to be a mom is just a few months,"Julie said quietly, holding the onesie.
"You're going to be a great mom," Tyra said placing a comforting hand on Julie's shoulder.
"Yeah, you and Tim will be wonderful parents," Lyla said with a supportive smile.
"I wonder what she'll look like," Tyra thought out loud. Julie was silent, still staring at the onesie, a nervous lump forming in her throat.
"What's wrong Jules?" Tyra asked after noticing how quiet her friend was.
"I just... it's all hitting me... We've been so busy it's just all setting in," Julie said. "I'm gonna be a mom.." Julie trailed off focused on the onesie. Lyla pulled Julie into a sweet side hug. "Tim will definitely not let our kid wear this," Julie eventually chuckled.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Tyra asked.
"It's the Chiefs, Tim likes the cowboys," The girls burst into laughter and searched for a Dallas Cowboys onesie in the stack.
"Oh we better hurry, the team lunch is in 30 minutes and I told my mom I wouldn't miss it," Julie informed. The girls left the mall and drove Julie to the steakhouse that the boys would be eating their pregame lunch at. Julie entered the steakhouse, whose waiting area was packed with a bunch of large football players. Julie spotted her mom and approached her.
"Hey there you are!" Tami greeted. "How was the mall?"
"It was good," Julie responded. "It was fun to just hang out with the girls," She added.
"I'm glad you had a good time," Tami replied. Before long, the waiters come back and showed the team, boosters, coaches and their families to the back room where they had set up enough tables to seat the large group. Julie sat beside her mother at the table with the other coaches' wives and kids. After they ate their lunch and were leaving the steakhouse, Tim spotted Julie and approached her.
"Hey Jules," He greeted. He gave her a side hug, careful not to show too much PDA with Coach and Tami, as well as the other coaches and players around.
"Good luck tonight," Julie wished.
"Thanks," Tim returned with a big smile. He broke their embrace and walked out with the rest of the team. When they got about to the bus, Tim looked back over his shoulder and sent Julie, who was headed towards her moms car, another smile.
Hope you enjoyed this trip with the gals and a little lunch with the team. Until next time!