Austin, Texas

"Good, but try moving your elbow like this", Sue Ellen had taken her mother's suggestion and started playing tennis again, something she had done in high school and then occasionally when she and Clint were together, but for some reason she had slowly stopped playing; she was enjoying getting back into something that she used to enjoy. Her tennis instructor was a very attractive man named Jack and she enjoyed their 'lessons'. She didn't really need an instructor, she wasn't planning on entering any competitions and she already knew how to play fairly well, but hiring an instructor was easier than trying to make consistent plans with her friends; everyone seemed to have things going on in their lives and no one had as much free time as she did. Jack was obligated to meet and play with her twice a week and over the past month they'd become friendly; it had become a habit to meet at eleven for their game and then have lunch in the clubhouse afterwards. Sue Ellen hit the ball but it bounced and hit the net, she wasn't having a good day and her game was way off, "what was that?" Jack's instructor mind kicked in, she may be his opponent, but she was also his student, he was supposed to be correcting her habits, not playing off her weaknesses. "Nothing, I'm fine. You serve", she really just wanted to focus on the game, not on her own problems. It was the week after Thanksgiving and she was still feeling a little bit of disappointment from yet another holiday where she hadn't gotten engaged; her mother had done it again, hyped up a simple event so much that she was left totally disappointed when it passed just as any other day. In her subconscious, she had taken her mother's words to heart; she really did believe that JR inviting her family to Thanksgiving dinner at Southfork meant that he wanted their families together to make the announcement, but instead it was just another awkward dinner where the 'when the time is right' excuse was used again. It was really starting to bother her, she was totally ready to make that commitment and it hurt her that JR didn't seem to think they were; she now shared the same opinion as their families, if not now, then when?

"Your game was a little off today, is something bothering you?" Jack couldn't help but care for her, she was sweet and sensitive as well as being pretty and approachable, she was quite unlike most of his other students, mostly middle aged women, a few children and some older men. He and Sue Ellen had managed to build somewhat of a friendship alongside their professional relationship, he had quickly realised that she was seeking personal interaction and friendship more than actual tennis instruction, she was lonely and from the sound of her stories, her boyfriend didn't help the situation. "It's nothing; just my own stupidity, I really should know better than to listen to my mother", she wasn't sure that she wanted to spill all of her secrets to someone she'd really only known for a few months, she liked Jack, but she still wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. "Hey, it's affecting your tennis game, I'm obliged to fix that", he grinned and she knew he was joking, he did care and he would eventually get the information out of her, she may as well explain it now and get it out of the way. "It's JR…" she began to explain the situation, pleased to have someone who actually wanted to help.

Dallas, Texas

"Tennis, lunch, shopping, tennis, riding, swimming, book club, shopping, lunch, charity fundraiser meeting…" JR sat in his office rereading the list of Sue Ellen's activities, nodding as he noted that everything was exactly as it should be, she wasn't doing anything that she shouldn't. Sue Ellen didn't know it yet, but her new friend Jack was no threat to their relationship, JR had had him investigated the minute she started taking tennis lessons and casually mentioned her male instructor. He had found out some interesting information about Jack and he was secure in the knowledge that Jack was and would only ever be interested in Sue Ellen as a friend and he didn't feel it was necessary to drive him away; he always had the information to blackmail him if he needed to. He felt a little guilty about having her followed when she hadn't done anything to make him distrust her, but he had to make sure that she was definitely the right woman for him. He had sensed how disappointed she'd been on Thanksgiving, everyone had expected a proposal, even JR had been planning on asking, but at the last minute, he'd been struck with doubts, about himself, her and their relationship. Their relationship had been different lately and he didn't want to ask until everything was perfect; the moment had passed and he'd decided that it would have to happen another time. The pressure was beginning to get to him; his father had asked him again when he'd be getting a grandson and JR didn't quite know how to explain how he was feeling about the whole thing, emotions were never a big topic of conversation in the Ewing family.

JR's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the intercom and his secretary speaking; "JR Ewing here", his secretary hadn't been very detailed about who exactly was calling, he would have to talk to her about that later, he didn't enjoy not knowing what kind of conversation he was about to have. The voice on the other end of the line surprised him, it was a woman, he hardly ever spoke to women in a business capacity; "good afternoon Mr Ewing, my name is Ms Williams, I'm the accounts administrator at The West Lake Hills Academy", JR knew the name, but it was completely escaping him where he knew it from. Ms Williams noted his pause, he obviously did not comprehend why she was calling, "we have your name as the primary billing account for a Miss Kristin Shepard…" JR nodded, "mhm", and Ms Williams took it as a sign to keep talking, explaining that although the tuition had been paid, the extracurricular fees had not; it seemed that Patricia had enrolled her youngest daughter in almost every extracurricular activity the school offered, billing all of the costs to her school account. "No, I will not be making those payments. Mrs Shepard and I have an agreement, I pay for the tuition, but everything else is her responsibility. I suggest you speak to her if you'd like those payments"; he couldn't believe her nerve, he wasn't even married to Sue Ellen and already her mother was using him for her own gain, she wasn't even being discreet. He knew that Patricia would ask him to pay the rest of the fees and the more he thought about it, the more he worked out a plan in his mind; everything was negotiable, especially when one person had something the other desperately wanted. He'd originally paid the tuition for Sue Ellen's sister to attend a private school as part of a negotiation package with Patricia, but she'd broken her side of the agreement, Sue Ellen was no longer living in her apartment and had more rules than ever, resulting in a breakdown in their privacy and relationship. Paying private school tuition for a child that wasn't even his wasn't ideal, but it was also not really hurting him financially; if Patricia wanted him to keep paying and wanted to keep ordering him around with ridiculous requests, then they would have to renegotiate their deal. In a way, the inopportune phone call was actually a good reminder about his powerful position.

To be continued…