Austin, Texas
Sue Ellen stepped into her apartment and her eyes immediately welled up with tears, she'd been fighting the urge to cry all night and she no longer had the self-control to contain them. It had been a lot tougher to pass on the crown than she had imagined; the whole pageant reminded her of how good she had felt as Miss Texas and how bad she had felt when she lost Miss America. Being asked to ceremoniously pass on the title to the new winner was an emotional task; her whole identity was related to her pageant wins and now that part of her life was over. She knew that it wasn't entirely true, she did have other things to fall back on, but a lot of advantages had come from her status as Miss Texas, even her relationship with JR wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been Miss Texas. Now, she was just a former pageant queen; she was sure that her modelling career had peaked and she would be yesterday's news soon enough. The tears started as she closed the door, she was alone and she no longer had to maintain a calm façade, she was free to let out her real emotions.
Dallas, Texas
"JR, Bobby is going to sit in with you today so you be sure to explain what you're doing. You hear me?" JR refrained from rolling his eyes, but he did let out an audible sigh as his father explained the day's events, "yes daddy, of course". He couldn't wait for the summer to be over if it meant getting Bobby out of the office; Ewing Oil was his territory, it was the only place where he was fully appreciated. In their personal lives, his parents each had a favourite son and JR wasn't that son for either of them; at least in business he had his father's respect and he was needed. His father had insisted that Bobby start to learn the ropes at Ewing Oil, much to JR's annoyance. He liked being the only son that could really talk business; of course, Bobby had picked up a surface knowledge of the oil business throughout his life, but he'd never been the one to go to work with Jock as an almost full time activity. JR had missed out on a real childhood, but he'd gained an in-depth knowledge of how business really worked and had been moulded to take over the presidency one day. JR felt threatened, he hated the idea that Bobby would start coming to the office more regularly and Jock would dote on him. He feared that Jock would try to get Bobby's level of understanding and skill to catch up to where JR was at, and eventually give Bobby the title of president because he was his favourite, despite JR dedicating his whole life to learning everything about the oil business. He knew that as his father's namesake, he was in line for the presidency, but he had seen the situation unfold many times in his life. JR had always been the best, but Bobby was his father's favourite, JR's large achievements were negated by Bobby's small successes and there was nothing he could do about it.
Austin, Texas
Sue Ellen awoke the next morning feeling much better, she'd cried all the tears she needed to and was ready to move on and take advantage of the opportunities she still had. She was still a successful model at her agency and she was still contracted as a 'lifestyle guru' for Her Style magazine; her life hadn't suddenly ended just because she was no longer Miss Texas. She was also in a good place with JR, they were approaching their one year anniversary and she was pleased with how things were between them; the deep attraction she'd felt in the very beginning was still there, but there was also a wonderful comfortableness between the two of them now. Their families expected a proposal any day, but Sue Ellen could tell from JR's reactions that he still wasn't quite ready to make that next step. Truthfully, she wasn't sure that now was the right time either, they had really just gotten back on the right path after going through a rough patch just a few months ago. It hadn't been a public fight and neither of them had wanted everyone to know about his indiscretion with Julie, so as far as their families were concerned, they had just had a small fight. She had questioned everything about their relationship and it had taken her a long time to forgive him of his mistakes. The past few months had been wonderful, but they'd also started their relationship with a clean slate; in some ways they'd really only been dating for a few months because she'd had to start fresh with her trust in him.
As much as she was completely in love with him and she believed that JR felt the same way about her, before he asked her to become his wife, she wanted him to be sure that it was what he wanted for their relationship, and that had to come from JR's personal decision, not because anyone else pressured him. She'd learned a few things about JR in their time together; he didn't enjoy being told what to do and pushing him to do one thing often had the opposite effect; it was better to just leave decisions to him, there was much less mess that way. Her mother was still as persistent, but she'd quickly learned to only partially listen to her mother. She was pleased that her past few visits to Southfork had been calmer; there were less direct questions about marriage. She didn't like when anyone put her on the spot; it was one thing that she really had no control over; as far as she was concerned, whenever JR asked her, she was ready and she'd be happy, but he had to make that decision on his own and she was not going to interfere with his thoughts. It was all very confusing for her, there was a battle in her mind between her emotions and her thoughts, she wanted to be his wife now, but she also wanted to wait; she was almost glad that it wasn't up to her, she was terribly indecisive, she really believed that she was made to follow, not lead.
Dallas, Texas
"So I want you to just look over these maps and statistics and then pick out the tracts that you think we should bid on" JR passed a pile of documents to his brother. He'd never actually listen to what Bobby thought and he'd already decided which ones he would move on, but this gave him an opportunity to get Bobby to be quiet and out of his direct attention for a while. Bobby looked at the stack of papers and sighed; he didn't have half the knowledge that JR and Jock did and he knew it, he did his best, but at most he was guessing and hoping for the best. JR looked up over his own papers, his brother looked confused and almost distressed, "don't worry Bob, they're small, it's only a few million, it's a drop in the ocean if you screw up", he grinned as he saw Bobby's face drop, he really was worried that he was going to cost the company millions. JR had neglected to inform his brother that they'd already made the decision and his selections would have no real impact on Ewing Oil, but it was more fun this way; he enjoyed mind games.
To be continued…