I had a little spare time on my hands last night, so here's a quick update for ya'll!
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One evening while Julie and Tim were walking through Central Park, enjoying the longer days that came with summer, he had admitted to her that the only reason he had agreed to do the Cosmopolitan feature was because it gave him an excuse to ask her to dinner. At the time, she had laughed and been flattered; that was before she realized that it was her job on the line if he was in a bad mood at the shoot and gave curt answers to interview questions.
Now, the day of the shoot, Julie was starting to worry that he might do just that. It was morning, Tim was still at practice, and she was sitting at her desk making lists of things to-do lists for the afternoon. At the top of the list: sent Tim a threatening text message. She was only sort of joking when she wrote it; her nerves were always a little bit shot on big assignment days, but it was even worse that her maybe-boyfriend was included in the feature.
When the phone on her desk rang, she answered without glancing at the caller ID, her head too focused on the upcoming events of the day.
"Hey honey, I haven't heard from you in a while so I thought I would call to check up." It was her mother. Just what she needed right now.
Julie felt bad that she hadn't taken the time to pick up the phone and call home in the past few weeks, but she knew that both of her parents would be busy getting things ready for the upcoming school year and football season and didn't want to bother them. That, and she didn't want to spill the beans about dating Tim before things were serious.
"I know, I'm sorry, I've just been so busy with everything at work," Julie gave as a lame excuse.
"We understand, honey, we just miss you is all," Tami chirped through the phone. Julie could hear her dad and Gracie Belle chatting in the background.
"I miss ya'll too," Julie admitted, both to herself and Tami. She really did miss them, much more than she was willing to admit.
"Well you know what? You should come home one weekend this fall. Maybe for the homecoming game? Your father and I, and Gracie Belle, would love to see you," Tami suggested.
Julie pondered this. "Yeah, maybe I will. I could talk to Ti--," she caught herself, "Tyra and see if she's going to make the trip over from Austin."
"That sounds great, honey. Everyone's gonna be there, Buddy's planning some big thing for the 2006 State team." Julie could hear the excitement in her mother's voice.
"Yeah, Tim mentioned something about that," she said without thinking.
"Tim Riggins?" Tami asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"Yeah, uh, I went to dinner with him and Jason the other night. He's, you know, in the city now," she fumbled to cover herself.
"I know that, I just didn't realize you do were friends is all. Is he seeing anyone now, or just professional rally girls?"
If Tami only knew, Julie thought.
"I, uh, I think Tim's dating someone," It wasn't a lie. After all, he was dating someone...Julie was under no obligation to say who.
"Well, good for him then," Tami said finally.
"Uh huh," said Julie.
Tami then delved into a rambling discussion about everything from Gracie Belle's Pre-K class that was starting next month to the new aerobics class at the "Y" that she had signed up for..
Finally, Tami paused and Julie jumped on it. "Listen, mom, sorry to cut this short but I have to be somewhere in like, an hour."
"That's plenty of time, honey," Tami argued.
"In Texas, yes. In Manhattan, not so much," Julie reminded her.
"Oh, that's right. Okay, honey, well have fun and let me know what you decide about coming to visit!"
"I will, love you," Julie said, hanging up before Tami had a chance to answer.
–
When Julie walked into the studio on the other side of town where the shoot was being held, fifteen minutes late thanks to Tami, she was relieved when an intern informed her that everyone had arrived and was in hair and make-up. She did her best to ignore the girl's comments about how good looking the one with long hair was. Julie was pretty sure the exact words were something along the lines of "sex on a legs."
She decided to give Tim and his teammates some space while the hair and make-up people got them ready and passed them off to wardrobe, choosing to focus her attention on the interview questions that were dancing in her head but she had been neglecting to write out.
The commotion in the studio began to shift when the players were shuttled from wardrobe to the side of the room where the photographs would be taken. A small set of bleachers had been placed in front of a green screen and Julie was told there would be an image of either a football field or an empty stadium edited in. Tim, spotting Julie at the table, turned to her and winked.
Julie watched as the photographer ordered the trio around, insisting on getting some good group shots before she did individual ones. The other two players were nice enough looking, but neither compared with Tim. After a series of shots were taken, the photographer announced that she was done with the group and was now ready to move on to individual shots.
Tim was sent back to wardrobe while the other player not being used was sent to Julie for his interview. After practically dragging the answers to her questions out of the guy, Julie dismissed him and sent him back to wardrobe. How hard could it be to answer questions about their dating preferences and careers?
She was looking down at her notepad, attempting to find anything worthwhile in the previous interview, when Tim sauntered over and pulled out a chair, plopping down across from her. Looking up, she concluded that someone in wardrobe must be playing a joke on her because Tim was dressed only in a pair of rugged jeans and boots. This is going to be interesting, she thought.
"Hey," said Tim, completely oblivious to her staring. Julie assumed he must be used to it as he comfortably settled into his chair, arms crossed across his chest.
"Hi," she squeaked out. "Ready to get this over with?"
He nodded. "Okay, so name?"
Tim raised his eyebrows. "Right, I guess I know the first few," Julie said with a chuckle, writing down the first few questions on her notepad; name, age, hometown, occupation.
"Okay, so, did you always know you wanted to play in the NFL?" she asked the first question.
"I always wanted to, but I didn't realize until my senior year at San Antonio State that it was a possibility."
"So, it was a surprise?"
He nodded. "Definitely; a nice one though."
"And have you always played? Was fullback always your position?"
Tim chuckled; Julie knew most of these things. "Played since pee-wee and minus a stint at running back after Smash Williams graduated, yeah, always fullback."
"Right," Julie said, pausing to write. "How old were you when you had your first kiss?"
Tim's eyes widened in surprise. "What does this have anything to do with football?" he asked.
"Our readers are mostly female, Tim. This is Cosmopolitan, not Sports Illustrated," she explained.
"Right," he nodded. "I was seven."
"Seven?"
"Tyra," he answered simply. It was enough of an explanation for Julie.
"Makes sense," she said with a giggle. "Age you lost your virginity?"
"Fourteen," he said, kind of cringing. Julie's eyebrows shot up. "Rally girl," he added.
"Maybe we should leave that out of the article," Julie commented, blushing at his answer. Not that she was surprised in any way; of course she knew his past reputation, everyone in Dillon did.
"Good call," Tim agreed.
"Favorite thing about the city?" she asked next. Tim was glad that she had moved away from relationship questions.
He grinned. "Easy," he said, "the company." At this, he leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed.
Julie blushed again. "As much as I adore that answer, our readers won't," she said.
"I don't care. It's the truth." Tim shrugged.
"My editor cares," said Julie in a pleading tone.
"Alright," he paused to think, "having the opportunity to do what I love and get paid for it."
"Much better," Julie said with a grin.
"Mr. Riggins!" The photographer yelled from across the studio. "We're ready for you over here!"
He stood. "Gotta go," Tim smirked before strutting away.
Julie's final interviewee approached, but she didn't notice; she was too busy checking out Tim's receding figure.
"Uh, hi," the guy said as he sat. He seemed nervous, reminding Julie of Matt Saracen.
"Oh, hey," she said. "Are you ready?"
"Shoot," he said.
She asked him the same string of questions that she did Tim and the first guy, though his answers weren't quite as interesting or flattering. The entire time she had to make a conscious effort to draw her gaze away from where Tim was being photographed across the room, which was hard considering how he kept smirking it at her in his half-naked glory, his hair falling sexily in front of his eyes. Finally, Julie finished after rushing through the questions.
Noticing that the photographer was taking a break to change her memory card, she sauntered over to where Tim was relaxing against the bleachers. He met her gaze as she approached and his smirk evolved into a smile.
She sat next to him on the bleachers and he turned his body to face hers, his legs settled on either side of the bench; Julie mirrored his actions so that they were face to face, thankful she was allowed to wear jeans instead of a nicer outfit since she wasn't in the office all day.
"Everything okay over here?" Julie asked, her hands unconsciously coming to rest on his thighs, her thumbs gently rubbing circles.
He nodded, smirking. "Great now," said Tim, his voice an octave lower than it had been earlier. Julie tried not to swoon.
"I saw some of the proofs on the computer," she said, "you look the best out of group."
Surprise filled his features. "Really? I feel ridiculous with all this make-up and my hair all done and the wardrobe lady wouldn't let me put on a shirt," he whined. Julie laughed at his words.
"Who can blame her?" she asked.
Tim shrugged. "Come here," he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer to him.
Unsatisfied with her level of closeness, Tim lifted her legs from behind her knees and settled them across his.
"Tim," Julie whispered, her voice full of scandal. "There are people here."
He ignored her, instead he reached up to cup her face in his hands before pulling her in for a kiss. "It' s okay, she went to get some memory card thing," he said, coming up briefly for air. "We can play for a bit."
Julie, her thoughts no longer on where they were or who could be watching, simply nodded before attacking his lips again. Sighing into his mouth, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself ever closer to him than before.
Tim's hands slid down her thighs, closer to her body, before snaking around her waist and coming to a rest on her lower back. As she opened her mouth, making room for their tongues to mingle, Julie allowed her hands to travel down the front of his chest, exploring the exposed muscle that she had always only enjoyed from a distance. Simultaneously, Tim's hands traveled under her shirt, slowly exploring her lower back as his fingers drew tiny circles across it.
The photographer, having returned with a fresh memory card and wearing shoes that were quiet as she approached, silently prepared her camera and quickly began snapping pictures. Oblivious to her actions, Tim and Julie continued to exist in their own private world.
Breathing deeply, Julie reluctantly pulled her lips away from Tim's. Their foreheads still touching while they both caught their breath, Tim smirked while Julie blushed. She couldn't believe she had just been so utterly indecent in public.
"Well done," they both heard the photographer suddenly announce. "I wasn't aware we were bringing in models today," she said.
Both eyes widened in surprise, instantly they pulled away from one another. Julie jumped up. "We, uh, weren't," she said, dashing to the other side of the studio.
On the way to the table where her things were gathered, she yelled, "Thanks for the great interview, Mr. Riggins," without turning to his direction. Tim knew her face was about as red as the shirt she had been wearing.
Note: Thanks again for reading and reviewing...I'm having so much fun writing this story and I hope that ya'll are too!