Julie smirked as her father searched the shrubs for their missing ping pong ball, cursing softly under his breath.

After the Rigginses left, Tami threw her hands up at the mess in the kitchen and decided to leave it for tomorrow, heading to bed with a weary sigh and a mug of ginger peach tea. After Gracie was put to bed, Julie and her father relaxed on the couch for a bit, Eric channel-surfing and Julie letting her mind wander. She was thinking of going to bed when her father spoke.

"Come on," he said, heading towards the garage. Julie watched him go, smiling, then peeled herself off the couch and followed him.

That was fifteen minutes ago, and since then, Julie had sent the ball sailing out of the garage and into the front yard at least a dozen times. He returned from his search yet again, annoyed, his hair standing on end. Without a word, he served the ball to her.

They passed the ball back and forth a few times, the silence broken only by the popping thwack of their rackets and the crickets rasping in the yard.

"Are you interested in Tim Riggins?" he asked, without preamble.

"Hmm," Julie said, feigning a contemplative tone, "am I interested in Tim Riggins? Well, he is very interesting."

"Very funny," he grumbled, backhanding the ball to her. "I'm serious."

"I don't think he's really my type, Dad," Julie said, taking pity on him.

"Isn't he every girl's type?"

Julie laughed. "I guess. I just can't really... I don't know, I don't think we have anything in common."

"You're old enough to know that you don't have to have anything in common with a guy like Tim Riggins to get yourself in trouble."

"Gross, Dad," Julie grimaced. "Anyway, I thought you liked Tim. You invited him over."

"I do like Tim. He's a good kid, good player. He just makes dumb decisions."

"Yeah, and? What does that have to do with me?"

"Don't get all huffy, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

"Nothing's going on," Julie insisted, somewhat aggravated. "I go over there, Mindy goes to work, I watch Jordyn and study, Tim comes home, we talk for five minutes, I leave and come home, or I go to work. That's what's going on."

"All right, all right."

"Anyway, he and Lyla are still together, as far as I know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's long distance, but I think they're still together. Not that they ever talk about each other."

"You still talk to Lyla Garrity?"

"Yeah, we email."

"That's good. She's a nice girl. She's got herself sorted out."

Julie narrowed her eyes at her father, smiling. "What are you getting at, exactly?"

Eric paused, holding the ball and his paddle in front of him. "Your mother and I are worried about you."

"Oh god."

"Don't roll your eyes at me. We're just concerned about how isolated you are."

"Gee, Dad. Nothing makes a girl feel better about having no friends than finding out that her parents are secretly worried that she's going to become the next Unabomber or something."

"Nobody said anything—Unabomber? What the...? Jules, we're just worried about you."

"I get that. But it's almost over, anyway. School's practically done, and then there's just a couple months until I go to Rice. I'll make new friends there."

Eric regarded her carefully for a moment, then nodded and looked away, tossing the ball in the air and catching it again. "Up for another round?"

Julie smiled. "Sure, dad."

They played for a few more minutes in silence until Julie felt compelled to ask something she had been wondering for the past few days.

"Why did you invite the Rigginses over for dinner, anyway? I think mom thought you were losing your mind. Or purposely trying to drive her crazy."

"I just wanted to check up on Riggins. I know Billy's always done his best, but he's got his own family to look after, now," he said. "Tim's on his own and I wanted to make sure he's sticking to the straight and narrow."

Julie nodded, tapping the ball gently to her father, trying to get a decent volley going. "You know he hates college, right?"

"You think so?"

"Yeah, it's kind of obvious by the way he avoids the subject completely."

"He sure does. He'll be all right, though. Kid still knows his football."

Off Julie's look, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you smirking at?"

"Nothing, it's just cute that you still care about him when he's not even on your team anymore," she said, shrugging innocently. "Also because he has an enormous crush on you."

"A crush on me?"

"Yeah, he has some kind of daddy issues mancrush thing for you. You should have seen his face when I told him you wanted him to come over."

Her father stared at her, blinking.

"Oh, calm down. He just looks up to you, like everyone else. Really, you should invite him over to play ping pong with you."

"Mancrush," Eric scolded in disgust, shooting her a look that was an amusing mixture of consternation and embarrassment as he served the ball across the table to her. "Maybe I should invite him over. He's a way better ping pong player than you."

"Uh-huh," Julie laughed, hitting the ball back and over her father's shoulder. It sailed through the air and bounced off the windshield of the SUV. "Let's see how far trash talking gets you."

***

For two nights in June, the small but dedicated East Dillon Lions Booster Club held a fair to raise funds for some minor summer renovations to the team's facilities.

Tim didn't much feel like going, and neither did Billy, but Mindy complained that it was Jordyn's first fair, so they all absolutely had to go. Tim wasn't sure what a five-month-old baby was supposed to get out of a fair, but he and Billy finally agreed to go. On the first night, they all piled into Tim's truck and drove out to the fairgrounds on the western edge of town. As soon as they were in the gates, Billy eagerly dragged them all to the midway, where he began wasting his tickets on as many crooked games as possible, loudly promising Mindy one of the huge plush fish hanging above them.

Tim stood to the side, idly scanning the crowd. A lot of people had come, including some from West Dillon. You could pick them out by the way they looked furtively over their shoulders, waiting for Joe McCoy to jump out from behind the Tilt-a-Whirl and question their loyalty. Tim frowned and turned away.

His eyes drifted across the swelling crowds of people, seeing many faces he knew, until a familiar blond head caught his attention. Julie was standing by a food kiosk looking miserably bored as her parents and Gracie dealt with chatty townspeople several yards away.

Tim told Billy he'd be right back, but his brother just waved him off, concentrating on aiming his water gun right at a ceramic clown's gaping red mouth while Mindy and Little Jay looked on.

He walked slowly over to Julie, picking his way through the crowd. She didn't notice his approach, too busy scuffing the toe of one battered Converse in the dust. She was dressed in jeans and a too-big green army jacket, her hair pulled aside in two long, messy-on-purpose braids. Her posture was hunched, and she seemed about as excited to be there as he was.

"Hey Jules," he said after waiting a moment for her to notice him. Her head snapped up and she smiled, surprised.

"Hey! I didn't know you were coming."

"Billy and Mindy dragged me," he shrugged.

"Same here," Julie griped, sending a resentful scowl her parents' way. "One of my duties as the coach's daughter is to come to these things and smile winningly at everyone."

"Still?"

Julie nodded, grimacing.

"Gonna have something to eat, at least?" he asked, gesturing at the stand. "Funnel cake? Corndog?"

Julie wrinkled her nose. "No, I don't think so."

Tim looked down at her, frowning. "You one of those dancers who eats like a bird?"

"No, it's not that," she said, shooting him an annoyed look. "I'm not anorexic, if that's what you mean. It's just I try to eat organic, and there's the whole vegetarian thing."

"Right," Tim said, squinting up at the listing of carnival junk food. "Think you might be outta luck here."

"Tell me about it. Maybe a Sno Cone... I wonder what's in the syrup, though, you know? Genetically modified corn, probably."

"Maybe you shouldn't think so much about it and just have something that sounds good," Tim suggested. "Once won't kill you."

"I guess," Julie said, sounding uncertain.

"You need to learn to live a little, Jules," Tim said, suddenly determined to find something at the carnival that wouldn't cause Julie to turn up her nose. "You trust me?"

"Trust you?"

"Yeah."

"I-er, I guess so," she said, looking at him uncertainly. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Hold on," he said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling his wallet out. Before Julie had a chance to protest, he strode over to the stand. When he returned with a mustard-covered corndog and a bag of hot, freshly popped popcorn, Julie's apprehensive frown quirked into an amused smile. He handed her the popcorn and she laughed.

"I guess it's pretty bad if you have to ask me if I trust you to buy me popcorn."

"Kinda."

"Well, thanks," she said, digging a hand in. "Maybe this should be my summer of living dangerously, saturated fats and all."

"This is just dinner, too – dessert comes later," Tim said, taking a messy bite of his corndog. "If you're sticking around, anyway."

Julie shrugged, glancing around disinterestedly. "Why not? Nothing better to do. Anyway, my dad has to be here pretty much all night, so I might as well stay and look supportive. Also, they're my ride."

"I can give you a lift later, if you want."

"Oh, no – that's not what I meant. I just meant, you know, I'm basically stuck here."

"No, I know."

"Okay," Julie said awkwardly, looking away as she snacked on her popcorn. Tim stood silently next to her, eating his corndog.

Nearby, one of the Panthers was talking hesitantly to one of the Lions. They stood a bit apart, watching the carnival and obviously making small talk. Tim had played with both of them his senior year, and he remembered they had been good friends, but it seemed the redistricting had set them at odds with one another.

"You'd almost think Dillon had its own Berlin Wall running down the middle of town," Julie said. Tim glanced at her and saw she was watching the two boys as well.

"If I'd still been in school, I woulda been zoned for East Dillon and playing for the Lions," he said.

"Yeah, I guess you would have," Julie replied. She scoffed. "I can just imagine the fit the boosters would have thrown if you'd gone to East Dillon. The whole thing's so stupid."

"I don't get what all the fuss is about," he replied. "I was a Panther and I get rivalries, but I dunno. Still just football."

"'Just football'?" Julie repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. "It's weird hearing anyone around here say that, never mind State Champion football superstar Tim Riggins. Isn't football your life?"

Tim shook his head, looking down at the ground. "I just like to play."

Julie didn't say anything, just nodded her head and kept eating her popcorn. Tim finished his corndog and pitched the wrapper at one of the numerous rusting garbage barrels.

"Wanna go check out the rides?"

"Sure," she shrugged, falling into step beside him as he walked away from the midway and towards the rides, which spun and flipped before them, their bright lights streaking colours against the dark sky.

They stopped near the ferris wheel, watching the lines for the rides lengthen, snaking between the ticket booths and other rides.

Julie leaned back, looking up at the slowly turning ferris wheel.

"Know what I like best about fairs?" she said, her voice almost too soft to be heard amongst the shouts and laughter. Tim stood close to hear her.

"What?"

"The lights. It's just some crappy, rusty carnival that gets hauled all over the place on the back of a semi, but when you set everything up and the lights come on, and it gets dark, it looks... I don't know. Magical, I guess. It makes me feel like a little kid again. I mean, check it out – if you just squint up at it, it looks like this crazy blur of lights and colour."

Tim looked at her, at the wistful look on her face. The lights from the ferris wheel reflected in her brown eyes, lighting them up. Tim turned and looked up at the wheel, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"My parents took us to the fair once," he said. "There was a while there when things were pretty okay. My dad was working, so he took us all out when the carnival came to town. Billy was probably too old for it, but he kinda went along with it and we played all the games. My dad won us all something. Mine was this little cap gun. I still have it somewhere... I dunno, it was nice."

Tim looked away, suddenly embarrassed at saying so much about something he never talked about, to someone he was only really casually acquainted with. Hazarding a glance at Julie, he found she was watching him, her expression thoughtful.

"I'm glad it was nice," she said softly, after a long pause.

Tim exhaled a breath he didn't realise he was holding. He wasn't sure what kind of negative reaction he'd been expecting, but Julie's quiet acknowledgment wasn't it.

"Popcorn?" she asked, holding the bag out to him. He nodded, sticking a hand in.

They stood there, silently watching the rides and finishing Julie's popcorn, until Tami came looking for Julie.

"Hey Tim," she said, coming up and nudging Julie's arm.

"Hey, Mrs. Taylor," he replied, nodding.

"Jules, honey, your father's gonna say a few words over at the bandstand and I was wondering if you could come help me with Gracie," she said, shooting Tim an apologetic smile.

"Sure," Julie said. She turned back to Tim. "Thanks for the popcorn, Tim. See you later."

"Later," Tim said. The two Taylor women left, leaving Tim alone by the rides. He stood watching the ferris wheel until the carnival began to wind down and he had to round up Billy, who was on the verge of a fight in the beer tent, and Mindy, who was chatting with the girls from The Landing Strip nearby.

He and Mindy half-carried Billy to the truck, and Tim tried not to feel anything about it when he saw the Taylors leaving too, Julie carrying Gracie, her father's arm over her shoulders.

***

The ride home from the fair was subdued, the only sound in the car the radio as it played softly. Julie sat next to Gracie, who fell fast asleep before they could even pull out of the dusty parking lot. Her dark head lolled against the car seat, the streetlights passing slowly over her face as they drove. Neither of her parents asked Julie why she had spent half the night hanging around with Tim Riggins, and she appreciated it, both because she hoped they were beyond that, and because she wouldn't have known what to say.

Julie went to her room as soon as they got home, tired and longing for the cool softness of her bed. She made the mistake, however, of checking her email, and found she had a message waiting for her.

From: Lyla Garrity

Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 6:47 PM

To: Julie Taylor

Subject: hey :)

Hi Julie,

How are you? I hadn't heard from you in a while and I've been so busy that I just haven't had a sec to write you an email, so I thought I'd take the opportunity of finally having a night with no plans to sit down and write you. What's new??

New York is incredible. It's a big change for a small town girl, even after spending the year in Nashville. I keep trying to be really sophisticated and cosmopolitan and not ask for directions, but I don't think I'm fooling anyone. Especially when I get lost. :) I've been to see a lot of the sights already, and a few times I've wished you were here because I think you would appreciate some of it more than I do, or you could help me appreciate it. I'm sorry to say that a lot of the art and architecture is lost on me. It's still beautiful, though.

My internship is amazing. I won't go into too much detail but it's with a Christian non-profit organization, and they're doing some really important things in the world. It's exciting to feel like I'm part of something bigger than myself again, and to feel like I'm actually helping people.

I was kind of lonely at first, especially since I share an apartment with three other girls and none of them ever seem to be around. They're more into partying than I am, so we haven't gotten close. Thankfully I've met some really cool, down-to-earth people through work. I've even been on a couple of dates! :)

What's new in Dillon? You must be counting down the days until you can get out of there. Don't worry – you're almost there!

Let me know if I can call you sometime so I can tell you more about work, and don't forget to send graduation pictures!

Talk to you soon,

Lyla

Julie frowned at the screen of her laptop, worrying her bottom lip. Throughout the year, emails and calls from her already graduated friends had gotten her through a lot of the lonely times, and she had always looked forward to them. Reading Lyla's email, though, Julie was left with a strange, vaguely sick feeling.

She pulled her feet up onto her chair, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees. It was stupid to feel weird about it. It was totally stupid. What was there to feel weird about? Lyla was having a great time in New York, as Julie knew she would, and she was staying in touch, which Julie had ihoped/i she would. Was it the time she was spending with Tim? Was she feeling guilty? No, that wasn't it – Lyla wouldn't care if she and Tim became friends.

Maybe that was the problem: Lyla didn't care. She hadn't mentioned Tim at all. Not that she had made Julie privy to every intimate detail of their relationship before; Lyla wasn't like that. But his name had still come up regularly in emails throughout the year.

No, Julie was feeling strange because she and Tim were becoming friends, and it was clear from the email that, whether Tim knew it or not, Lyla was moving on with her life.

Julie closed her laptop with a click and stood up to get ready for bed, sighing discontentedly.

She had planned to spend the summer waiting out the clock, not getting wrapped up in other people's romantic problems.

***

Tim slept in on Saturday morning, happy they didn't have to open the garage until a little later in the day. He wandered out of his bedroom eventually and came upon Billy and Mindy enjoying breakfast together at the table.

"Morning," he grunted. They ignored him, too caught up in whatever Billy was whispering to Mindy that was making her giggle. Tim stared, somewhat dismayed at the behaviour of his once-proud older brother.

He frowned, though, when Mindy laughed out loud and Billy grinned at her, his eyes loving. Tim knew that look. He'd felt it himself. He knew what it was like to look at someone and think, "You're where I want to be for the rest of my life."

"Mornin', little brother," Billy said, finally noticing him standing there. Tim looked away, embarrassed to be caught staring, but Billy didn't acknowledge it.

"Hey Tim," Mindy said, leaning away from Billy and settling back in her own seat. "We saved you some pancakes."

Tim took in the leftover pancakes, the two syrup-covered plates, the two half-empty coffee cups, the hands clasped just under the table. He hesitated.

"Thanks," he said finally, scratching his head, "but I think I'm gonna head over to the garage and get a head start on things."

Billy looked at him carefully for a moment before nodding. "Sure, bro. Suit yourself."

Tim nodded and went back into his bedroom, staying long enough to change into his work clothes and grab his keys and sunglasses. When he came out, Billy and Mindy were back to giggling and whispering to one another. They didn't seem to notice when Tim left, closing the door as Mindy let go another boisterous laugh.

It was the first time Tim had been in his own house and truly felt that he no longer belonged.

***

"Come on, Billy," Tim whined, "it's getting late."

"What's wrong with you? Why are you in such a big damn hurry?" Billy griped back, leaning awkwardly over the exposed engine of a rusty old High Sierra. "Move the light closer, I can barely see what the hell I'm doing."

"Because I'm supposed to be home before 6, and Julie's waiting," Tim replied, holding the light closer to the part of the engine Billy was working on.

"Yeah, well, she can file her nails or something. I need your help here right now."

"She's not filing her nails. She's watching your kid, even though she's got another job and school," Tim scolded, shifting his weight against the truck.

"Yeah, her life's real tough," Billy said, craning his neck to glare at Tim. "Are you hittin' that or something? Is that why you're so bitchy?"

Tim said nothing, unwilling to dignify that question with a response.

"Whatever," Billy said, turning back to look at the engine. "Just don't screw it up. This arrangement is working out pretty good."

Scowling, Tim still did not reply. The truth was, he iwas/i kind of interested in Taylor. It had taken him somewhat by surprise, as he'd never really felt that way about her back in high school, not even when he was staying with her family. But now that he was graduated and she wasn't with Seven, and Coach wasn't actually even his coach anymore, everything had changed. Ever since she'd started babysitting for them and turning up everywhere he went, she'd gone from being Julie Taylor, Coach and Principal Taylor's daughter, to being Julie Taylor, hot girl who spent a lot of time on his couch and occasionally left him some dinner in the oven. It was a bit confusing, but Tim had never been one to pay much attention to boundaries where attraction was concerned.

Still, though. Billy was right – it would be stupid to mess things up at this point. But that didn't mean they couldn't be friends.

"Can I go?" Tim asked, frustrated.

"Fine, get out of here. You're not much help standing there sulking, anyway."

Tim shoved the light at his brother and left in a hurry, stopping only to pick up a case of beer. When he arrived at home, he found Julie sitting at the kitchen counter, reading from a textbook and making notes.

"Hey," she greeted him. "You're kinda late."

"Sorry," Tim said, putting the case of beer down on the floor. "It was a busy day and things kinda got away from us."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Julie said, looking up from her reading. "I just meant, you know... Long day and all."

"Yeah," he agreed. "How's Jordyn?"

"She had her dinner, and now she's just vegging out in her playpen," Julie replied, hopping down from her stool and beginning to pack up her books.

"Nice. Hey, wanna stick around for dinner?" Tim asked hopefully. He was feeling a bit lonesome, and he suspected that hanging out with Jordyn for the evening wasn't going to cut it.

"No can do," Julie replied, shrugging her messenger bag over one shoulder and grimacing in apology. "I've got exams this week. Gotta study."

"Sure," Tim said, nodding. He tried to think of something cavalier to say so he wouldn't feel like such a friendless loser, but the phone rang and interrupted him. He glanced at the call display, and recognized the long distance number as the one Lyla had emailed him last week. He grabbed the cordless.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tim. It's me," Lyla answered from the other end.

"Hey Lyla," he replied, looking over at Julie. She raised her eyebrows at him and gestured at the door. He shrugged and waved vaguely at her. Julie rolled her eyes and waved back before leaving the house, closing the front door behind her.

"What's new?" Lyla asked.

"Not a whole lot," he replied. "The garage is doing okay. Jordyn's getting big. It's hot."

"Yeah, my dad keeps asking me if I'm freezing to death up here, like New York doesn't get hot in the summer, too," Lyla said.

"Yeah," Tim replied. There was a pause.

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we need to talk."

"We are talking," he replied.

Lyla sighed. "I know. I mean... We need to talk."

"Yeah," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"I think we should break up," Lyla said quietly. Resigned, like she had known this was coming for a while but had wanted to put it off as long as possible. Tim knew how she felt and truthfully he agreed that this wasn't working, but he didn't want to say it.

"I love you, Tim," she continued, "it's just... It's not enough. It's too hard. I don't know when I'll be back in Dillon. If I'll be back in Dillon."

Tim didn't reply. He couldn't think of anything to say.

"I hate doing this over the phone," Lyla sighed, exasperated. "I wish I could see you."

"Me too," Tim replied.

"I'm sorry," Lyla said, and she sounded it.

"It's okay," Tim said, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Think we both knew this was gonna happen."

"Yeah," she replied, her voice just above a whisper. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too," Tim said. "Have fun in New York. See you around."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and Tim thought for a moment that Lyla had hung up. Then he heard a shaky sigh.

"I love you," she repeated, her voice cracking. "I love you, Tim."

Tim thought of how long he'd known Lyla, of what they'd been through, of everything they'd been to each other. That part of their lives was ending. It had started when Jason moved away.

The realisation that it – Texas Forever, the three of them, the old days, him and Lyla, all of it – was really over was like a punch in the chest.

"I love you, too," Tim replied, hearing the waver in his own voice. He cleared his throat. "I've gotta go, Lyla."

"Okay," Lyla sighed. "You're... Me, too. Goodbye, Tim."

He listened to the disconnecting click on the other end, followed by the dial tone. He stood motionless for a moment, the phone still held to his ear. Finally, he hit the "end" button and tossed it over to the couch.

Tim stood there in the middle of his living room. For a brief, crazy moment, he considered calling Julie back to hang out with him so he wouldn't have to be by himself, but he shook it off. Billy would be home later and they could talk. If he wasn't too busy with Mindy, of course.

Tim walked over to the playpen where Jordyn was stretched out on her back, entertaining herself with her own feet.

"Looks like it's just you and me, kiddo," he said. Jordyn stretched and grabbed her foot, trying to jam it in her mouth with a look of intense concentration on her face.

Tim sighed and walked over to the fridge, retrieving a cold beer. There was only one thing to do between now and when Billy got home, when he could take off and head to the bar: start pre-gaming.