I don't own the TiMER or anything about it. Most of the story is mine though. So enjoy!

Ch 12 re-write done! 5/22/22

"But what caused all the tension between you two?" I prodded. "Why is he so angry? And what's with the whole scar on his arm? Was it a TiMER?"

Andy, for the first time since I starting to ask him questions, took a pause. I couldn't tell what he was thinking but his eyes seemed like they were looking at something far off in the distance. I wasn't going to push it too hard though. He would tell me when he wanted to, or at least I hoped so.

"That's not exactly for me to tell you," He started, still looking off in the distance. "He's had a rough past, and it wouldn't be right of me to tell you if he hasn't. As much as I want him to just get out of my life, he's still family and I'm not going to betray him if he wants to keep things private."

I nodded. "Well, he's not talking to me right now, so don't worry about him too much."

This didn't seem to make Andy feel better. He turned and looked at me and said, "Wait, why?"

I shrugged. "I kinda told him I didn't want to be his friend until he told me what the grudge was between you two and he stormed off."

Andy smiled and put his arm around me. "Well, anyone who walks away from you isn't going to realize how great you are, so that's his loss."

I commented how he really didn't know if I was great or not which started him on asking questions about me. We talked for what seemed like hours about my family, my soccer aspirations, my childhood, and even some more about him. It was interesting hearing more about his childhood, as it was drastically different from mine. It seems like the TiMER culture is cult-like, where as he had been on dates with girls who were clearly not right for him and people tended to focus on finding someone because they didn't have something in their arm to tell them for sure when it would happen.

It was also interesting to hear about growing up with siblings. Being an only child always seemed great to me because I never had to share my parents' attention, but Andy made it sound like something I greatly missed out on. His sister was older than him by about 12 years, so he wasn't as close with her before she died but his brother was only 3 years older, so they were a bit closer. He told me about his sister and how he always felt guilty for not being as sad at her funeral, but she was so much older that he never bonded with her and she felt more like a distant relative than a sibling. There were many layers to Andy that I hadn't originally realized, and I was starting to see a little understanding behind Collin's hatred. He talked about his sister like she wasn't family, but just someone that was with the family. It was weird. I wasn't going to ask, but if Andy had ever relayed that to Collin or made any reference that he wasn't as close to Collin's mom, Collin might not understand and feel anger about that. Maybe if Collin ever talked to me again I would pull it out of him.

"Did you hear what I just said?" Andy asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"What? Oh, sorry, no," I admitted and gave him a sorry face.

He just laughed though and shook his head. "I just said you're really good at soccer. You gave me a run for my money today. Now sure, I haven't seriously played someone in a while, so I'm a little rusty, but you've got skill."

My face suddenly felt warm. "Well, I've been playing since I was really little. Like maybe 4. Or however young you can start playing soccer."

This gave him a good laugh. "The ball was probably as big as you when you were 4."

I pouted and stuck my tongue out. "Well, I do plan on going pro one day so I had to start young. And I wasn't that small."

He came closer to me and brushed a piece of hair behind my ear. "I know, but teasing you is a lot of fun. You get pretty worked up. But don't give up on playing soccer. Even if your mom remains crazy and won't let you play for my team, we'll figure something out so we can keep you in best shape possible for your future as a soccer player."

"So you're saying I shouldn't be like you and become a teacher?" I joked.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with becoming a teacher," he claimed. "This job opened up after no offers were coming my way after graduation for pro teams. I do kind of blame that girl because I focused on her more than my soccer career, but all of this led me here to you, so no harm done. But I think you would make a great addition to even the USA team one day, so I won't let you slack any."

At some point in our conversation, we had shifted our seating and we were a lot closer than I had realized. One of him arms was draped around the couch, but his hand was absentmindedly touching my shoulder, and his other arm was around my side. I hadn't realized I had both my legs across him on the couch, but it was a really comfortable position. Me not saying anything though brought attention to our closeness.

"This keeps happening," I said with a smile on my face.

"What does?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Us being super close," I said, hyper aware that I was close enough to where he could probably hear my heart beating.

"Is that okay?" He asked, almost starting to back away.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, maybe a little too eagerly and put my arm around him to keep him from going anywhere. He just nodded and relaxed back to me. It was pretty cliché, but I did keep finding myself getting physically closer to him whenever we would talk. It was probably pretty casual for him, having more experience, but I was super unfamiliar with this territory. I didn't want to say anything and make it awkward, because I liked this, but I really had no idea what this is. He wasn't pushing for more though, like he said earlier he wouldn't, and I really wasn't sure how much more I wanted. I was still really nervous to even kiss him.

He relaxed his head on the back of the couch and just smiled at me. "What?" I asked nervously.

"This feels different," he simply said.

"Is that good?" I asked, starting to feel even more nervous.

He nodded and closed his eyes. "I don't feel any kind of rush with you, and that's a first with girls I have dated in the past. When you don't have a TiMER it feels like all the girls are rushing to accomplish whatever they have in mind, and it just feels... fast." My eyes adverted away from him. Luckily his eyes were closed and didn't notice. "But this," he continued, "is nice."

"Y-yeah," I stuttered out. Great, I stuttered. He was bound to know I was nervous now.

One of his eyes opened and he looked at me. "Is everything alright?" He asked, now giving me full attention.

"Yeah," I slowly started, trying to gather my words. "You're right, this feels nice, but I have no idea what I'm doing. You've been in this situation before and that honestly scares me a little. I don't want to mess up and have you feeling that you've done something wrong when it's just me not knowing what the hell to do. You said yourself you don't believe in the TiMER so if you wanted to, you could just leave and find someone who doesn't have a TiMER, someone with more experience and someone who is on the same level as you."

Andy's face was twisted in a concerned look. "Kaylee, first off, I'm not going anywhere. I don't want to rush you and make you feel like you have to do anything at all. I want this to be a long-term thing, and I don't care how long it take for us even to kiss. I enjoy just talking to you. I enjoy playing soccer with you. You could never do something wrong, as long as you're just open and truthful with me. I may not believe in the TiMER but I do believe in us."

I put my head on his shoulder and nodded. It sounded great, but it was all new to me. His arm closed around me and pulled me closer. I could almost sleep like this. It suddenly hit me that I was tired, and if I stayed like this for much longer I really would fall asleep.

"What time is it?" I muttered, not wanting to move but knowing I should be responsible.

"Oh wow," Andy said after a moment. "It's almost 10:30. Where did the time go?"

I sat up and shrugged. "Time flies when you're with the right person I suppose."

That made him smile. "You suppose right. Though, I need to make sure Collin didn't burn down my apartment or anything. I told him to fend for himself for food tonight. So he may have tried to use the oven and I'm not sure if he knows how. And no, he probably wouldn't alert me if he set the place on fire, as long as he got his things out."

We stood up and walked to the door. I almost didn't want this evening to end, but I did want to go to sleep soon.

He wrapped his arms around me and just looked at me for a moment. "I truly had an amazing evening. Some day soon I'll take you out on a proper date, but this was really fun. Thanks for totally whooping my ass in soccer. It's a real ego booster for sure."

I blushed and looked down at my feet. "I wasn't going to take it easy on you. Just because you're my soul mate doesn't mean I can't still beat you."

I felt his lips meet my forehead. My face was probably blood red but I wasn't sure I wanted his lips to leave. I could feel the passion he felt and the care.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said after pulling away. I looked back up at him in admiration and felt silly for being this girly about all of this. With my face inches from his neck, I leaned in and kissed him right above the collar. His breath hitched slightly, making his neck tense a little. That was an interesting feeling. I wasn't sure how to explain it.

"Good," I said, pulling back slightly. "You have a wonderful night."

"Mhmm, you too," he said in a different tone than I had heard all night and swiftly departed from my house. I grinned, feeling a little evil, knowing he hadn't been expecting that at all.

The next morning I woke earlier than normal, remembering that Spencer would be coming back to school today. I rushed to get dressed and eat breakfast; I wanted to go get him from his house this morning. My dad barely got to say good morning as I rushed out the door. I didn't want him to ask me how my day went yesterday, because I wasn't sure how he would react to knowing that Andy had been over. Even if he did like the guy, my dad was still my dad and was sure to be protective.

Julia answered the door when I knocked. She was excited to see me and pouted that I never came over to play with her much anymore. It had been a while since I had the time to play with her, so I was sure to make a promise I would do so in the future. This seemed to pacify her as she took me into the kitchen where Spencer's mom was making lunches and breakfast, at the same time. Multitasking must be easier as a mom, I was sure of it.

"Good morning Kaylee," she exclaimed. "Spencer should be down any minute. Julia, if he isn't, please go make sure he's awake."

Julia was about to rush to Spencer's room when I had a better idea. "I'll go get him!" I yelled, and tore off down the hall to his room.

Sure enough, he was asleep when I peaked into his room. Instead of simply yelling his name or shaking him, I needed to come up with a better way. He was a heavy sleeper, so it had to be something good. One time, we were having a sleep over in the tree house and he slept through three police sirens rushing down the road, followed by a fire truck.

I had to think quickly, he needed to be up soon. Glancing around his room I saw his electric guitar and amp. He couldn't really play the thing, but I feel like most guys go through that stage and he just hadn't sold his yet. I crept over to it and tried to quietly turn it on. It made a pretty loud noise that probably would have woke up most people, but Spencer was completely unfazed. Not wanting to make his parents too angry, I didn't crank up the volume all the way, but enough for Spencer.

With one dramatic strum I created a terrible cacophony of sounds and kept going to make it echo and really sound awful. Spencer jumped up and screamed. When he saw it was me he rushed over to me and turned off the amp.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" He all but screamed, acting as if I was still strumming.

I nodded and smiled, "Yeah something like that."

After a moment he smiled too and pushed me, "That was pretty good though."

I snorted, noticing him completely for the first time. "Not as good as what you were dreaming about apparently."

He turned bright red and looked at himself. "Out!" he yelled and pushed me out the door, slamming it behind me. I burst into laughter and made my way back to the kitchen. My job was done for the morning.

This was pretty normal for us, so his mom just shook her head and didn't say anything as I sat down at the kitchen island and waited for him. It took him a little longer than normal, but finally we were off to school.

"Are you excited?!" I asked, jumping up and down. "This is technically just your second day."

He wasn't talking much this morning but shrugged and mumbled something sarcastic to me.

Lexi joined us shortly after we started walking, clearly not happy we had left and not told her.

"I went to your house first, and there was no answer," she told me. "And then I went to Spencer's and Spencer your mom said you two had just left. Seriously guys, you have to tell me these things."

I shrugged, "I was so excited that Spencer was coming back today I rushed over to his house. That was a fun morning adventure." Spencer pushed me but managed to get a laugh out.

"Thanks, I feel like chopped liver. Weirdos," Lexi said with a hmph and turned her head up. This only made Spencer and I laugh harder, annoying her more. It was a good walk to school.

Spencer parted ways with us before class, saying he would catch up and that he had to go to the office first.

This gave Lexi the perfect time to interrogate me about Andy.

"Soooooo, how was your evening?" She prodded, laying the girly on real thick.

"Fine," I claimed, not wanting to fall for her traps.

"Oh I see, someone doesn't kiss and tell," she announced with a smile.

I turned red. There was no way I could tell her I didn't kiss him. She was pretty much expecting it to happen. "Unless... Unless you did more!" She almost yelled.

"Shhhh!" I hushed at her. People were starting to stare at us, and that was the last thing I needed.

"You totally did didn't you?" she exclaimed, a little softer this time.

My mouth dropped. "No, no, no, no. Stop. We didn't- no. I am not ready for that. And he doesn't want to rush it. Honestly. We talked a whole lot, and I totally crushed him in soccer."

"He's just telling you that so you won't feel bad," Lexi proclaimed, fixing her lipstick.

"No, he really means it, I can tell," I insisted, not wanting to listen to her girly advice. As if she really had any. Or did she? I honestly didn't even know. It wasn't something I ever talked to her about, or wanted to talk about.

"Sure, but keep in mind that most guys will say whatever so that you'll think they are doing what you want and then because you feel that they are listening and taking in what you have to say you actually end up giving them what they want. I know this, I've read it in magazines," she insisted back and gave me that know-it-all look. Could she be right? I mean, he seemed sincere but maybe he was wanting me to cave in and trying to get me to do it.

I shook my head. She couldn't be right. He wasn't manipulative, or at least he didn't seem like it. I obviously wasn't going to ask him, but I couldn't let Lexi determine things like that for me. I had to trust my gut on this, even if I had no idea what I was trusting exactly.

I let Lexi babble on about magazines and rolled my eyes when Spencer caught back up as we were entering our first period. He read my mind and intervened on the situation. "So Lexi," he started, "do you have any notes or anything useful that I could borrow from what I've missed over the past days?" Lexi rolled her eyes at him but helped him out, leaving me alone finally. I put my head on my desk and tried to clear my thoughts. Filling my head with soccer drills helped get my mind off of what Lexi was trying to convince me of and helped get through first period.

I had to concentrate in second period more, but there was no Lexi to bring me down and the period went by really quickly.

When I opened my locker to put my books in before lunch there was a note sitting inside. Careful to make sure Lexi wasn't around I opened it.

I know we can't eat lunch in the school, but the lounge is far enough away where no one would notice. I'll provide the food –A.

"Tell everyone I'm going to practice some soccer drills and that's why I'm not eating with everyone today," I told Spencer as he was walking up to my locker, lunch bag in hand.

"Really? First day back and you've got better people to eat lunch with?" He asked, seeing through my lie. "Speaking of that, after school you owe me some 1:1 time and we need to talk about your soccer habits." I could tell he was talking about yesterday, but there was a little smirk on his face so I knew he wasn't too mad. I promised him we would, and rushed off to the pitch.

The Allman Brothers was playing softly as I entered the tunnel. Again, his music selection was making my day. When I entered the lounge he was softly singing and putting together the last little bit of our lunch.

"If you're trying to woo me, it's a nice start," I joked, scaring him slightly. This made me giggle. He had been so focused it was cute.

"I knew I couldn't be too fancy, but I wanted to see you during the day. And even though this is technically on school grounds, no one will be down here during lunch, so we're safe," he stated with a smile. I nodded and walked over to him to hug him. He immediately wrapped me in an embrace and took a deep breath. Yeah, I could get used to this.

I told him all about this morning's adventure (minus the one embarrassing detail about Spencer) while we ate and he assured me that his apartment was still in one piece and that Collin was still as sulky as ever. It was a little sad that they didn't get along, but it wasn't my place to meddle and who knows if Collin would even want me to help.

Lexi's comments were still nagging at me a little, but I pushed them out of my head and focused on what I felt was right. I was hoping Andy couldn't tell.

"So I'm starting JV practice on Tuesday," he stated between bites. "I don't know what's going to happen with, you know, us, but technically you're still on the team."

"Do you think the principal will want to talk to you about it?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I mean, probably, because your mom made it clear we're not to see each other, so you might want to expect for him to bring you into his office on Monday. He'll probably tell your mom too."

I groaned. "I wish he wouldn't, I just want to play soccer!"

"I know, I know," Andy started. "But, keep in mind that on Monday coach Miles wants you to watch varsity practice. I expect you'll be there?"

I nodded and told him I wouldn't miss it for the world. He smiled at that comment and just watched me for a minute.

We were talking about my mom when footsteps could be heard coming down the hall.

"I thought you said no one would come down here!" I whispered forcefully at him. He shrugged and had a panicked look on his face. I looked around for a place to hide and saw a closet on the other end of the lounge.

As I rushed there, Andy took my food and put it all on his plate. I was mostly done with it, but now it looked like Andy was eating a lot of food. But that was the least of our worries. I closed the door quickly just as someone spoke to him.

"I thought I heard you eating with someone," the voice said. I recognized it, but couldn't put a name to it.

"I was just on the phone," Andy covered quickly. He was good at lying. I wasn't so sure it that was a good thing though. "It was on speaker so I could eat. So what's up Todd?"

Todd. Todd. Todd. That name didn't sound familiar. I knew it wasn't the principal, but I really didn't know any of the other teacher's first names, or many of the other teachers really. It was a large school.

"I just wanted to check on you," Todd answered. "I know you haven't eaten in the cafeteria with the rest of us, and I understand why, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay. And I wanted to let you know that the whole thing doesn't bother me. None of the other teachers are really talking about it and we are trying to stop the students from spreading the wrong information. You're a valuable teacher and coach here, and we want you to feel welcomed."

"Thanks," Andy said after a moment. "That's really nice of you all. It's easier to eat here; I can plan practice in silence. I'm sure you understand that. I know that most people don't see it as a big deal, which is a good thing. It hasn't gotten to me too bad, really."

That's when it hit me. The guy Andy was talking to was coach Miles! That made so much sense.

"Good. Also, just wanted to make sure that you know how impressed I was of Kaylee the other day. I know I mentioned it before but I do hope you get to see her play soon, she has serious potential," coach Miles claimed. I could feel my face turning red.

I looked down at my watch and saw the time. I was going to be late to class if coach Miles didn't leave soon. Surely Andy was keeping an eye on the time and would help me out. I don't know how I would explain to the English teacher why I was late. There was no good way of saying I was stuck in a closet waiting for coach Miles to leave so I wouldn't be caught with my soul mate. That would go over real well.

Finally I heard Andy say, "Hey I'll walk back up to the school with you, you have a class next period right?" Coach Miles responded with something I could quite hear and slowly I heard their voices getting fainter. I waited until I couldn't hear them at all and then I quickly bolted out of the closet. As I was getting ready to leave I noticed I had left my bag next to the chair I was siting in the whole time. I hoped coach Miles didn't notice. He didn't say anything to Andy about it but I didn't have time to think about that. I really was going to be late if I didn't run to class now. The school was a good journey away and I knew the bell would ring any minute now. Maybe I would get lucky and not have to explain myself, but that's like saying I'll get lucky my mom will be happy with Andy. I couldn't see either happening any time soon.