Chapter 20
Julie lowered herself to the floor, her back to the stacks. She wrapped her arms around her knees. The overwhelming feeling of aloneness filled her and she shivered due within its cold embrace. She felt ashamed, turned on and abandoned all at once. Her head was awhirl with confusion caused by Tim's short but powerful embrace. The feeling of his lips on her face was bittersweet, they were done. Tim might believe that they hadn't broken up (which was true) but they really had never been together. They never had the chance and they never would. Life sucked.
It took Lois and Toby around four minutes to find her. It took them nine minutes to calm her down and another thirteen minutes to get her up and out of the library. Neither of them pushed her to explain what had happened and she was grateful. Describing the events would inevitably end in her doing the ugly cry all over them. She got a frog in her throat thinking about it. At least she had people to talk about it with, people she could trust to keep it quiet. As far as she knew, Tim hadn't told anyone, didn't have anyone to talk it over with. He was finding it just as hard as she was. In some ways it was reassuring, something else they shared.
Time seemed to drift by moment by moment until a month had passed. Julie had gotten pretty used to Tim's absence from her life but it didn't mean she liked it. After awhile and despite her best efforts to avoid seeing him at school, she began to see him frequently. Julie had believed that distance would lessen her pining but catching glimpses of him was soothing. He was calming her like he used to with a pat on the knee. Only this time he would look at her for a second and she would feel better in that moment. At lunch she would catch his gaze across the crowded cafeteria and the corner of his mouth would inch up, an almost smile. In the halls they would pass one another like strangers, except for a barely noticeable nod in her direction. These moments, stolen with innocent intentions, were invaluable for each of them. She burned to touch him, to feel him, to be with him.
Friday crawled around and she was excited. The Panthers were playing home this week and she would see Tim for the entirety of the game. Watching him play was exciting and stressful. She saw him in all his hot loveliness but was worried that he'd get hurt. The Panthers lost. Julie knew her father would be majorly irate and purposefully hung around the field enjoying the quiet before the players and Coach came out. The players came out first as the Coach would be debriefing further with his staff. Julie waved her Mom off home, promising to catch a lift with her father.
Julie stood in the centre of the field looking at the stars in the sky. She reached up as if to touch them. Tim found her that way reaching to her fullest capacity on her tippy toes. He stood facing her, drinking in the sight of her. Julie's arm dropped as soon as she spotted him and started rambling
"Hey ... I thought that if I stretched high enough I could grab one. You know make a wish. Then maybe we'd catch a break and be together. A look and nod, it isn't enough. I want...Tim, I'm waiting for Dad. I am not here to ambush you." She felt an apology was the way to go. She looked at him with mournful eyes, her sadness seeming to affect him. He stepped toward her, his hand stretching across the divide. He grabbed the tips of her fingers. That one brief touch meant the world to both of them. The looked at one another, she tugged his hand pulling him towards her. She was strong but not strong enough to budge him without him conceding. They stood close, their hands clasped together at their sides. The touch of hands representing their togetherness. She took the lead again standing on the tips of her toes. She kissed his forehead, then his eyelids and then his mouth.
Julie stood back and looked at him. Drinking in the sight of his face so close, it had been so long. His forehead scrunched in thought. He smelled like sweat, an earthy Tim-like scent that made her want him more. She moved forward stepping onto his cleats raising her to his height. She pecked the corner of his mouth and made her way across pressing her lips against his. He still didn't react. He just stood there with his hands entwined with hers. She took his top lips between hers and traced it with her tongue. She felt his tongue move to meet hers and she breathed a sigh of relief into his lips. The kiss became more aggressive, like they needed to absorb the taste of one another to remember, to savour. They both groaned the urgency deepening.
"What the hell is going on?" The tense voice broke the bubble they had formed around them under the sky and stars, surrounded by the field. The voice was immediately recognisable – her dad. They broke away from one another knowing there was nowhere to hide. They turned towards the Coach, Julie's hand in Tim's, facing her father together.
"Take your hands off my daughter now Riggins," her dad barked. Tim continued to hold her hand firmly, squeezing it in encouragement
"Sir with all due respect, Julie and I really like one another and we'd like the chance to prove that we can be trusted to see one another," he took a breath, her father's face the depiction of fury.
"Trust Riggins? Trust, you are talking to me about trust? I said you could not date my daughter and find you canoodling with her on my field, MY FIELD WITH MY DAUGHTER," he yelled. Julie stepped back from the intensity of his words and the volume of his response.
"Daddy..." she pleaded.
"Don't Daddy me, you knew what my feelings were and you went forth anyway,"
This was not ideal. Her father was beyond reason but she was going to get her own way. She looked at Tim and gave him a small smile. It would be okay, they were in it together.
Author's Note – Okay I am an update tease. I was just watching 10 Things I Hate About You and got that lovely schmaltzy lovey-dovey feeling and wanted to write more. They are getting to the end point. PoaP (Preying on a Panther) will definitely be finished by Chapter 25 – five more to go! Enjoy.
