Dallas, Texas

Across town, Bobby was acting in a much more controlled manner, though he wasn't enjoying himself any less than his brother and sister-in-law. The drive to Scalini from Pamela's home was exactly the right length of time for them to get some of the awkward conversation about his concussion and the circumstances under which they had met out of the way and get comfortable with each other before diving into actually talking about themselves.

"…I played football in high school and college, but I also played a lot of other sports for fun. Now I mostly just swim, run, and ride Ace, you know, things I can do as an individual; with the nature of my job it's so hard to find time to be on a team, I can't always guarantee I'll be around for practice or games, and there aren't many coaches interested in a player like that. With everything happening now though, who knows what'll happen in the future…" Vaguely referencing his plans for college and his new job, even though he hadn't actually explained that part of his life yet, he quickly moved back to the topic at hand, hobbies, because it seemed a bit too soon to start explaining his entire life story to her. "I don't just play sport though, I have friends, and my family are important to me; I try to make sure I make time for everything and I think I do a pretty good job". Flashing a smile as he spoke, he hoped he sounded as he had always been told he was, well rounded; he didn't want to sound like JR, obsessed with working, but he also didn't want to sound flighty and not serious. "Enough about me though, what about you? What do you do for fun?"

Taking in Bobby's appearance and demeanour and listening carefully to him as he spoke, whatever nervousness Pam had had earlier in the evening subsided and the excitement she had felt seemed fitting. They had only really been properly alone together for fifteen minutes, but already she felt comfortable with him. He had reassured her that she hadn't been responsible for his accident and then joked that everyone seemed to make a bigger thing of it than it actually was, including his mother who had insisted he take time off work to recover. She couldn't quite work out what exactly his job was, he hadn't really described it in much detail other than that he travelled to promote the company and that he wouldn't be there for much longer. What she understood more easily was what he did with his free time, he wasn't complicated in that sense, he appeared to be similar to a lot of men his age. He was athletic, but not to the point of obsession or delusion that he could make a career out of his ability to toss a ball; he also remembered to mention his friends and family, and from what she'd seen the first time they met and what she'd deduced from his short explanation about work, he meant what he said. During her conversations with Sue Ellen it hadn't seemed at all strange that she, Bobby, and their niece Lucy had been spending time together, likely because it wasn't, because what Bobby said about his family being important to him was true. She understood that, Cliff and her daddy were immensely important to her, in fact, most things she did were for the good of her family, they were the one constant in her life and she felt responsible for contributing toward maintaining and boosting their living standards.

"What do I do for fun?" considering the question he had asked her, she felt stuck for a moment; like Bobby, she had interests, she wasn't boring and she wasn't solely focused on one thing, what she wasn't sure of was how many of their interests actually overlapped though. "I like a lot of different things. I love dancing and from working in a store with a lot of other girls my age, plus cheerleading in high school, I have a good group of friends I do that with. I have a slightly different group of friends I do other things with too; one of my friends lives in an apartment complex with a pool, so during the summer we swim a lot, in the winter we spend a lot of time doing other things, like skating…" Pausing as she made eye contact with him at the mention of skating, she laughed at his expression; he had actually winced, meaning he still clearly remembered his last skating experience and it was likely a bigger pain to him than he had tried to brush it off as.

"…I know what you mean about work interfering in team activities though, I haven't cheered in a team since high school, but I never really felt like I was missing out on being a part of something bigger until I started working in an office. Forgive me for saying this, but it's suffocating; I do it for my family though, because like it is for you, my family is very important to me too…" Leaving her sentence hanging as her mind drifted but she didn't verbalise her thoughts, her mind wandered over her answer again, she had been truthful, but she also knew that she had conveniently left out that a large chunk of her free time was spent dating various men. It would be a lie to say dating wasn't something she did as a leisure activity, because it was, she had learned at a young age that even with Cliff's drive and success in the legal field, some things were just unattainable without an extra helping hand. That's where the men she dated came in, she wasn't a snob by any means, and she had dated her fair share of men who were completely on her socioeconomic level, but she couldn't deny that she also dated wealthier men, often hoping to find love but enjoying the finer things in life along the way even if she didn't. She didn't want to mention all of that to Bobby though, it would be completely tasteless to reference money, or other men for that matter, so she simply omitted that topic from her brief social summary, and luckily, he didn't seem to notice.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm ready to go skating again, but dancing, that's something I think I can arrange", glancing over at Pamela as he responded to her, Bobby took note of the way she looked when she laughed. She was beautiful and he felt lucky to be with her, not just because she could likely have any man she wanted but she was with him, but because it had been so long since he'd actually had a connection with any woman he'd taken out on a date and he'd almost forgotten how good it felt. "Well, we can start with dancing and then move on to skating; perhaps if you're skating next to me rather than behind me you'll have better luck…" glancing at her again as she responded jokingly to his comment, he laughed in response and then grinned. He definitely felt comfortable with her and that was a really nice feeling to have after so long, because although he hadn't been sexually deprived, emotionally he was starved, so to finally have something that appeared to be suitable for satiating his appetite was just wonderful. "Perhaps I will, we'll have to go sometime to test that idea…", feeling good conversing with her casually, he was surprised when he found himself pulling into the Scalini driveway, clearly he'd been thinking about everything but driving. "Before we do anything though, dinner", slowing and pulling into the valet parking area, he was reassured by the look on Pamela's face that he wasn't alone in thinking that everything was going well, and handing the keys to the valet and opening her door, he had no reason to believe that things wouldn't continue that way.

Unfortunately, what neither of them had any way of knowing was how quickly and drastically everything could change.

To be continued…