Austin, Texas

Sue Ellen woke up with a dry mouth and pounding headache. Moving to get a glass of water, she wondered why her wrists were so sore then it all came flooding back to her. Her dress and shoes discarded on the floor next to the bed, the memories were clear and tears began to form again. How could Clint do that to her? How could she have let herself get into that situation in the first place?

Noting Paula was still sleeping, she gathered her things and quietly walked down the hall to shower and get ready for the day.

Later, returning to their room, she found Paula awake now.

"Good morning."

Smiling, she attempted to hide her uneasiness with cheer, something Paula noticed immediately.

"What's wrong? We were at the same party and you were drinking as much as I was. There is no way you feel 'good' this morning. What are you hiding with the fake attitude?"

Sue Ellen silently cursed how well her friend knew her but tried to stay calm.

"Oh, I was just trying to be positive, you know, positive thoughts equal positive results."

"Ok, now you're scaring me. What happened between yesterday morning and now? You were even acting strange after you came back yesterday afternoon but now it's worse."

Hesitating, Sue Ellen wondered whether to reveal what had happened. She was ashamed and upset and repeating it would only make those feelings worse, but so would silence she imagined.

"You can't say anything, I don't want everyone to know…"

Starting, soon she'd detailed everything, from Clint's reaction to the dinner invitation to his insistence that she decline, how they'd been enjoying the party together, their mutual drunkenness and how it led them back to his apartment.

Listening, Paula knew there was more yet to come when she paused, her empathy obvious.

"Sue Ellen, you look frightened and that's scaring me. What happened when you got to his apartment?"

Taking a deep breath and fighting back tears Sue Ellen explained exactly what had happened, in horrifying detail.

"I blame myself for wearing the stupid necklace, but I blame him for everything else. If I hadn't kicked him I just know he wouldn't have stopped, his eyes were full of rage. He would have…"

Unable to say it, the tears began and didn't stop.

Moving to hug her friend, Paula was angry, angry with Clint for doing what he'd done and angry with JR for being so insistent, he knew that she had a boyfriend and he knew Texas men but he'd still pursued her.

"Shhh, it's ok, it's ok, you're safe now."

Stroking her hair, she helped her to lie down. Sue Ellen appeared exhausted and was in no emotional state to do much more than exactly what she was doing.

Hearing a knock at the door, Paula went to answer it, finding herself face-to-face with Patricia Shepard, a woman who surely wouldn't help the situation.

"Oh hello Mrs Shepard, Sue Ellen is sleeping right now, maybe you should come back later."

Attempting to discourage her from entering the room, she but wasn't successful.

"No daughter of mine sleeps past 9.00am, it's now 10.30am. Is she ill? I'll have a word with her."

Pushing past her, she entered the room, gasping audibly as she found Sue Ellen crying, not sleeping.

"Sue Ellen dear, what is the matter?"

Sue Ellen didn't respond, instead turning over and facing away from her mother.

"Mrs Shepard, I think it would be best if you came back later. Sue Ellen's a little upset right now but it's nothing for you to be concerned about."

"Sue Ellen, you look awful. Get out of bed and clean yourself up. We're having lunch at noon if you'd forgotten. I'll see you then."

Ignoring her, Sue Ellen's mother said one final thing and then left, not interested in comforting her daughter or sticking around to chastise her any more than she already had.

"Sue Ellen, I'm sorry, she just pushed past me."

"It's not your fault. Besides, she's right, I did forget about lunch. I'd better clean myself up."

Her face tear streaked, her emotions still raw, Sue Ellen then sat up and did what she'd done so many times before in her life, put on a public face and buried her true feelings.

Later, arriving at her mother's house, Sue Ellen greeted her and absentmindedly began to help prepare lunch, her mind on everything but the present.

"Sue Ellen, I don't know what that little outburst was this morning, but I'm glad to see you've recovered. Now, the reason I called you to have lunch today was to discuss your future."

Saying nothing as she was accustomed to when her mother had something on her mind, she waited and listened.

"I've tried saying nothing but that seems to have failed as I don't see you've made any progress, or if you have you haven't shared that with me. What I'm referring to is of course Mr Ewing and what I understand is his pursuit of you. I know Billy Frampton isn't your first choice but if you're not going to entertain what Mr Ewing has to offer then I ask that you at least continue to politely maintain a relationship with Billy, he'd like that. You need to help yourself here, I can't do it all for you and you must realise that eventually neither man will continue to ask if you show no interest."

Speaking as if she knew what Billy wanted, the idea that she did wasn't too difficult to believe, her mother was no stranger to interfering. What she was surprised to hear was the absolute support her mother appeared to have for JR Ewing. Neither of them knew the man very well at all however, she was attracted to him and now that things with Clint were as they were she saw little reason to continue to resist his advances.

"Mr Ewing has been sending me flowers every day and invited me to have dinner with him this Saturday. I haven't responded yet."

Well aware of how her comment made her sound, she said it anyway; she had nothing else to say.

"Excuse me? Why not? A wealthy man asks you to dinner and you take your time deciding when to respond, too much time. Are you trying to throw your life away?"

Standing, her mother walked over to the telephone table.

"What was the number? You're going to RSVP now."

Sue Ellen knew better than to argue, not that she really wanted to argue, her mother was just pushing her back to her original intention. She'd wanted to say yes to JR and her circumstances had prevented her doing so, but now she had nothing to stop her.

Joining her mother, she opened her purse and removed the small card, dialling the number.

"Good afternoon, Ewing Oil, how may I direct your call today?"

"Hello, I'd like to speak to Mr Ewing please."

"Which Mr Ewing would that be? Jock Ewing or JR Ewing?"

For a moment, her mind went blank, having forgotten that JR worked with his daddy, although she didn't hesitate any longer, answering, "Mr JR Ewing please."

"One moment, who may I say is calling?"

"Sue Ellen Shepard."

Waiting on hold, her stomach flip-flopped with nerves.

"Hello darlin'."

The words greeted her, his voice smooth and friendly, making her immediately feel more comfortable. She was still nervous, but it was a good nervous.

"Good afternoon Mr Ewing."

Trying to stay proper, her mother hovering around listening to every word, she wondered whether he'd understand that or whether she sounded completely unnatural to him.

"Thank you for the flowers and the necklace, they're lovely."

"I'm glad you liked them, and please, call me JR."

Smiling to herself, caught up in the sound of his voice, it was when she saw her mother beside her that she remembered why she'd called.

"Well thank you JR. The reason I called was to respond to your dinner invitation."

"I hope that by 'respond', you mean say yes darlin'. You won't regret it, I promise."

She'd already planned on saying yes, but his words put her mind at ease.

"Yes, I'd love to have dinner with you on Saturday."

"Wonderful. Now, don't worry about a thing, let ole JR take care of everything. I'll pick you up at 7.30pm on Saturday, would you like me to pick you up at your sorority house or your mother's house?"

She was surprised that he knew she split her time between the two, but then realised he must have had some kind of information about her to know where to send the flowers in the first place.

"My mother's house will be fine. I suppose the great JR Ewing already knows the address?"

Joking, she wasn't at all surprised by his answer.

"As a matter of fact, I do. That's something you'll soon learn, the great JR Ewing has ways of knowing."

Laughing, she didn't respond immediately as she heard him muttering something to someone on his end, likely his secretary or possibly his daddy.

"Darlin' I'm sorry, I have to go now, but I'll see you on Saturday night."

"I look forward to it, goodbye JR."

"Goodbye Sue Ellen."

Bursting with excitement and anticipation, even her mother couldn't bring her down now, not that her mother had anything bad to say, she'd gotten exactly what she wanted.

Later, arriving back at college, she entered her room much happier than she'd been when she'd left. She still hadn't settled things with Clint but right now she didn't care.

"Something you want to tell me?"

Prompting her, Paula's suspicion was obvious. Lunch at her mother's house rarely ended on such a positive note and she knew it.

"Mmm why do you ask?"

"Well, you were in tears this morning and now you look like a lovesick girl again. Something happened, now spill."

Delighted by the invitation, she did just that.

"JR's picking me up at 7.30pm on Saturday…"

The two girls spend the rest of the afternoon giggling about Sue Ellen's new situation and ignoring her present relationship. She could deal with the negative later, the present was time for happy thoughts.