Note: Rating change from T to M (not for this chapter but, you know, just in case). Thanks again for all of the reviews! Enjoy...
By the end of the following week, Tim's brownstone was transformed from a cold, empty home void of personal touches into an inviting one, full of furniture that practically begged you to sit, touch, and relax into it. Subtle echoes of Tim's easy-going personality were reflected in the things he had chosen: warm shades, simple accessories, and a bit of Texas flair here and there (for example, the deer head he insisted on hanging in the study). He realized that, for the first time in his life, he had things that belonged to him and only him, things that he could be proud of.
Julie enjoyed watching the rooms transform before her eyes. On Monday, she stopped by with Chinese take-out from the place she frequented in her neighborhood to find Tim unpacking the first round of furniture in his living room. Work or other engagements kept them apart until Thursday, when he begged her to stop by just to see how everything was progressing and she was shocked to find a fully-decorated kitchen and living room; the furniture for the master bedroom and guest rooms wasn't set to arrive until Friday morning.
Seeing how quickly things had come together, Tim went ahead and gave Jason a call to invite him and his family over Saturday night for dinner. He was eager to show off his new place, as well as make some memories with good friends. Jason had agreed, he and Erin had both had busy weeks at work and with Noah, so a night in the city with friends sounded like a great idea.
--
"Mmm, smells good," Julie yelled as she walked through the doorway.
She had warned Tim that it probably wasn't a good idea to leaves his door unlocked in New York City, but he had ignored her, only locking it at night or when he wasn't home. Small town habits die hard, Julie guessed.
"I brought wine," she said as she crossed into the kitchen, lifting the bag containing two bottles of red wine for Tim to see. It was only the second the time Julie had witnessed him working his way around the kitchen and his culinary capabilities still surprised her, not that she was complaining.
Tim turned from where he was standing at the stove stirring something. "I told you that you didn't have to bring anything," he said, abandoning the pasta sauce stirring to wrap her in a hug.
"But I wanted to," she mumbled into his chest. They hadn't seen each other since Thursday and it was nice to feel his arms wrapped around her again.
Reluctantly, he released Julie from his arms and turned back to the stove. "Jay and his crew will be here at seven," Tim informed her, stirring furiously at whatever was boiling in front of him.
Turning her attention from him to what he was cooking, Julie dipped her finger in the sauce and brought it to her lips to taste. Noticing Tim's gaze travel from his work to where her finger was settling in between her lips, she smirked.
"So, what do you need for me to do?" she asked him, brushing away his lingering gaze.
Tease, Tim thought with a smirk. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. "Uh, you wanna, um, mix together the salad?"
This taking it slow business was starting to wear on him.
"Sure," she grinned, pleased at his reaction, before padding over to the refrigerator to remove the ingredients she needed.
"I think we need some music," Julie commented halfway through cutting a carrot. Instead of waiting for an answer, she headed directly for the living room to where his stereo was set up. Settling on a soulful, jazzy station she returned to the kitchen.
When Julie returned, Tim's attention was immediately drawn from the sauce he was stirring on the stove to the sway of her hips that had begun to occur in perfect rhythm with the music that was flooding around them. Unable to control his actions, his feet carried him across the kitchen to where Julie was innocently preparing the salad. Innocent my ass, he thought to himself.
"Jules," he whispered in her ear from behind, his arms trailing around her waist while his hands settled on her hips. He began nuzzling her neck, glad that her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, while she continued to tear lettuce in an attempt to keep her cool.
Julie completely lost her concentration, however, when his lips finished their tour of her neck and up to the spot just below her ear that he knew was her weakness. Dropping the knife in her hand onto the counter, she leaned into his embrace, her head tilting to the side, offering him better access to her neck as her eyes closed
This time, it wasn't a phone alarm that interrupted their actions, but a fire alarm.
"You've got to be kidding me," Julie whined to herself as Tim raced across the house to remove the batteries while she tried to salvage the now-burning pasta sauce on the stove.
"Any hope for it?" Tim asked when he returned.
Julie shook her head. "Not unless you like your sauce on the charred side."
Tim began rummaging through his take-out menus on the counter. "Chinese, Thai, or Italian?"
"Italian," Julie answered. "I can make it look homemade," she assured him with a wink.
"Italian it is." Pulling out his cell phone, Tim dialed the number for an Italian place a few blocks down.
"You know," he commented while waiting for them to answer, "I'm beginning to think that kitchens might be a bad place for us."
Julie laughed at this. "I think you might be right," she sighed.
–
When Jason and Erin arrived, Noah trailing behind, Julie had just finished transferring the pasta dishes from the boxes that they had arrived in to Tim's new serving dishes. Stashing the evidence in the garbage, she turned the music back on (Tim made her turn it off so that the salad could be completed on time for dinner) and followed the voices of Tim's guests that were flowing from the foyer.
"Julieeeee!" Noah cried when he saw her walk through the doorway; she had babysat for Jason and Erin a few times during college.
"Hey Noah," Julie said as she bent down to his level for a hug. "Does your daddy have you playing football yet?"
He shook his head. "He says I'm still not old enough." The last time she had seen him, the boy had begged her to talk his daddy into letting him sigh up.
"Well, next year?" Julie turned to Jason for confirmation. He nodded.
"I'm going to be the quarterback," Noah announced, ignoring Julie's question completely as most five year olds tended to do to adults.
Julie laughed at this. "Of course you are, silly."
"Come on, Noah, leave Miss Julie alone for a little while," Jason said from his standing position above them.
Julie stood. "Okay," Noah said with a slight pout.
"Wine?" Julie asked Erin. She nodded before following Julie into Tim's kitchen, leaving Tim, Noah, and Jason in the foyer.
"Uncle Timmy, you live here now?" Noah said with wide eyes, as if noticing his presence for the first time now that Julie had left the room. Tim was amazed by how well she handled Noah; probably, he concluded, it was from having to handle Gracie Belle.
Tim chuckled. "Yeah, buddy, I do. You know what that means?"
"What?" The kid was practically jumping up and down in excitement. Tim bent down and picked him up so that they could be at eye-level with one another.
"That you can come over and play whenever you want."
"Really?"Amazement filled Noah's voice.
"Really," Tim said with a nod; he had a soft spot for the kid. "You want a beer or somethin'?" Tim turned to Jason and asked.
"That'd be nice," Jason said with a nod.
"Come on, little man, I'll get you set up on the Wii so you don't have to listen to boring grown-up talk," Tim informed Noah as the trio traveled into the living room.
–
"This looks delicious," Erin commented as the adults sat down to dinner. Noah was in the other room, his mind focused on all things Mario Cart while he picked at the Easy Mac Julie had found in Tim's cupboard for him to eat.
Tim and Julie shared a knowing grin before Julie answered. "Tim made most of it," she said with a nod in his direction, hoping she wasn't blushing.
"She made the salad," Tim added. Jason narrowed his eyes at him in a questioning way.
"That's nice," Erin said with a nod.
Thinking Julie wasn't looking, Tim shared a knowing look with Jason, eliciting a chuckle from his best friend. Julie kicked him under the table.
"More salad?" Julie asked Erin innocently before dumping another spoonful in her bowl, not waiting on an answer.
–
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Jason said as he and Tim watched Noah steer his Mario Cart player around the track on the screen.
Erin and Julie were in the kitchen catching up; Erin had insisted on helping Julie clean up from dinner, but since take-out didn't leave messes (Julie told Erin she and Tim cleaned as they cooked), she had settled on another glass of wine instead.
Tim turned to him. "What day?"
"Domesticated Tim day," Jason said with a chuckle.
"I'm not domesticated," defense filled Tim's voice.
Jason lifted his eyebrows, challenging. "Let's see," he said, "furniture shopping, cooking, having a dinner party...seems pretty domesticated to me."
"What? No, she was just, uh, helping out."
"Tim," Jason knew he was fibbing.
"Jay," Tim pleaded, "I'm not going to rush into labeling this into something it is or isn't, alright? Yeah, she helped me shop for furniture and we had ya'll over to dinner and she helped, but I mean, shit, I said we didn't I?"
Jason nodded slowly as a knowing smirk formed on his lips.
"Just, don't say anything to anyone, I don't wanna mess this up."
"I won't," Jason confirmed. "Just wait until Coach finds out that his daughter is dating a Riggins boy," he said a few minutes later with a chuckle.
"I'm domesticated now; you said so yourself."
"He doesn't know that," reminded Jason.
"If it comes to that, Jay, he will," Tim said with a nod, confidence suddenly flooding him.
"So," Jason said a little later, "you planning on heading down to Dillon for the homecoming game? You know it's the fifth year anniversary of State."
"Five years?" Tim couldn't believe it had been that long.
Jason nodded. "Well, I hadn't really thought about it," Tim admitted.
"Last time I talked to Coach he said Buddy was planning on doing some kind of ceremony or party for the team before the game," said Jason.
Tim rolled his eyes. "If Buddy's planning it, it'll end bad."
"Probably," Jason confirmed, "but it'll also be hilarious."
Tim laughed at this. "You know that's true."
"What's true?" Julie asked, entering the room and settling on the sofa next to Tim.
"That things with Buddy Garrity always end bad," he explained. Julie nodded in agreement.
"How did he get into the conversation?" she asked.
"He's planning some event for the fifth anniversary of our State Championship the weekend of the homecoming game," explained Jason for the second time that evening.
"Five years, really?" Had it really been that long?
Jason and Tim both nodded. "Well, that'll be interesting."
Erin, meanwhile, was on the floor arguing with Noah that it was time to start getting ready to head home. "I think it's someone's bedtime," she commented at his crankiness.
"That's our cue," Jason said, wheeling over to help Erin.
"We had a great time," Erin said at the door. Apparently, Jason's manners had rubbed off.
"Thanks for comin'," Tim said, "we'll have to do it again."
Jason and Erin nodded.
"Ya'll have a safe ride back, alright?" Julie said after goodbye hugs had been made and Erin was loading Noah into the car.
Standing outside of Tim's brownstone, his arm wrapped protectively around Julie's waist, the pair waved as the little family drove away. Both had smiles stretched across their faces, not realizing that they looked more like a dedicated couple that two people who had been on a couple of dates.