Austin, Texas

"Can you believe it? We only have a week left and then we're all graduating. I'm going to miss all of you so much; what am I going to do without all of the weeknight parties and our after cheer practice dinners? From what my mama tells me, married life is much different to our lives here; of course, I love Andrew, but lawyers are so stuffy when they're no longer law students and are actually working; he's always so consumed with business. I highly doubt that he'll want to celebrate spirit week or have midnight ice-cream sundaes, he doesn't even care about football, he grew up in Canada. I'm definitely going to miss the fun that I have with you girls", Sandra, the head cheerleader expressed her thoughts and the other girls on the team nodded in agreement. "David is exactly the same way; you know he took me to his parents' house to visit and then insisted that I spend the whole weekend learning how to cook his favourite meals. I'm more of a simple cook, but the recipes his mama makes are the kind of things that take hours; I don't know how I'm going to cope with being his wife, he can't stand when anything doesn't happen right on schedule. I can just imagine that married life won't be as blissful as we were led to believe; I'm sure I'll be missing all of you girls soon enough, wondering why I let myself fall in love", Marie, another cheerleader, giggled as she spoke. A few other girls agreed and shared their own stories; they'd all been groomed to be perfect wives, but were finally realising the reality of marriage, it wasn't as easy as their own mothers had made it look.

Sue Ellen listened to the girls stories, her own was quite different; Patricia had set the expectations high and as a result, Sue Ellen would never have to work after marriage, in a paid job or domestically. Her mother had taught her all of the things that a good wife should be able to do, but the expectation was to never have to actually use many of those skills. The Ewings had housekeepers and cooks and JR was a very wealthy man, she'd never have to wait for him to get a promotion or big account before she could buy something extravagant and special, those things would be available to her anytime she wanted, that was the life that she deserved, or so Patricia told her. She wasn't even sure that it would ever actually happen though; she and JR were barely back together. Almost a month had passed and they were still cautiously dating, at her request. Her conversation with Paula had sparked her insecurities and she had decided that taking it slow was what was best for them; she just wasn't ready for anything more serious yet. JR hadn't been pleased about starting over from the beginning, as if they'd never dated before, but he'd agreed. He had even made the extra effort, taking her words to heart and acting like a complete gentleman on their 'first' date, even refraining from kissing her until she told him that a little kiss wouldn't hurt, they weren't actually strangers after all. "What about you Sue Ellen? You're the lucky one, JR is rich, being his wife will be all the fun parts of marriage with none of the hard things. Why is he taking so long to propose? I'd think he couldn't wait to make Miss Texas the new Mrs Ewing", Nancy asked her and the other girls nodded; JR and Sue Ellen's relationship was always fascinating, they were never predictable and never seemed to do what was expected. "Well, JR and I are just taking things slow at the moment, when the time is right, he'll ask me" she repeated the same standard answer that she'd been giving for months, not elaborating on exactly why they weren't moving faster. "Slow? You two have been together for almost a year and have more chemistry than I've seen between most couples. Plus, he's romantic and very rich, if it were me I'd be dropping hints like crazy. There must be something you're not telling us, because any sane couple would be on their way up the aisle by now", the girls didn't understand Sue Ellen and JR's relationship, but never stopped speculating. Sue Ellen couldn't think of anything to say and brushed it off with a smile and a polite comment, posing a question to another one of the girls and diverting the attention away from her.

Dallas, Texas

"JR. I'm going home now, unless you need anything more" Julie added a slightly suggestive comment to the end of her sentence. She missed having JR in her personal life; he'd turned her down multiple times in the past few weeks, choosing to respect his commitment to Sue Ellen, no matter how much he wanted to take Julie up on her offer. "No, no, nothing else. You go on and have a nice evening" he waved her off without looking up from his desk, he'd finally gotten Sue Ellen back in his life and he wasn't going to mess it up by losing control and doing something he'd later regret. His latest refusal of Julie's offer brought Sue Ellen to his mind, their relationship was wonderful since their reconciliation, but he wanted more. It took a lot of restraint on his part to not make any moves that would cause her discomfort, he knew that she wanted to move slowly and start over; he respected her decision, but it was very difficult for him. The phone rang and brought his thoughts back to the present, "Ewing Oil" he was snappy in his response, he hadn't expected anyone to call after business hours. "JR, it's almost six thirty, you said you were coming home for dinner, your mama was worried" Jock gruffly spoke and JR realised that time had escaped him, he had been sitting in his office for well over an hour. "I'm sorry daddy, I got so caught up in these East Texas documents that I lost track of time. We definitely ought to move on the ones the geologist marked in yellow, and I've got a few ideas about a few of the others too", Jock nodded as his son spoke, almost forgetting the reason he had called and getting ready to respond just as Miss Ellie entered the room, walking toward him. "I agree, but we'll have to discuss it in person. Now, you know we eat at seven and your mama is expecting you", JR realised that his father was right, "I'll leave now"; he packed up the papers and left the building. On the drive back to Southfork he reflected; his father was pleased with him at work and he had Sue Ellen back, even Patricia was being friendly, his life was good right now and he intended for it to only get better.

To be continued…