Chapter 6 – Pride and Pissyness

Tim found himself in the uncomfortable predicament of being confronted by the Coach. He was at training getting his balls busted along with his team's mates. The weather was stifling and they were doing stair runs and assorted drill until they needed to drink their own body weight just to keep moving. At the end of practice he was called over by the Coach, not called so much as bellowed

"33 get your tired ass over here," Riggins ass had never been referred to in such a negative way before. He choked back a chuckle.

"Yes, Coach," he stood there as straight as he could despite the tiredness sweeping through him.

"I want to know what you intend for my daughter," his face was hard and uncompromising. If Tim had had a tie on he would stick his fingers beneath his collar and stretch it out. He was suddenly more hot than he'd ever felt in his life. The harsh gaze of the Coach making him gulp in time with his own rapidly escalating pulse.

"Coach, we are purely literacy buddies, she is helping me to become a better academic Sir," Riggins hoped with all his might than he was coming across as sincere and honest as he was trying to project.

The Coach stared at his at length and then obviously came to a decision. He nodded, smiled and said

"Off you go son. I look forward to seeing you more around the house. If anyone can help you out it is one of my girls," he grinned in pride, obviously speaking about Jules and Mrs Taylor. Riggins let out a sigh of relief and hustled to the locker room.

/-/-/

Eric came out of practise feeling mighty good. That son of a gun Riggs wasn't after his daughter. He felt relieved, if he had been he might need to kill him and ground Julie until she was infertile. Riggs had been around the house for the book club and he had immediately been suspicious. Riggs' grades would indicate that reading wasn't on the top of his list of priorities. But Riggs had made it clear, his involvement in book club and in his daughter's life, was predominantly for a grade improvement rather than feeling her up. Yep Eric Taylor felt alright with the world. In fact he was looking forward to the young man coming over again, levelling the genders and maybe give him a run for his money in the ping pong.

Eric was watching some game tapes in his office when Julie ran in.

"Dad could I go out after school with some friends?" she looked liked she was up to something. Eric smelt a rat.

"Who would these friends be?" he asked, using his inquisitor's eye.

"A whole group from book club and Matt too," He thought about that, Matt huh? Maybe she was a going to get back together with him. That would be interesting; he'd have to haul the kid back into his office.

"Sound good hun, have fun," he felt pretty proud of himself. He was watching her back, being a responsible father and protecting her from impregnation. He was good, he was real good at this dad thing.

/-/-/

Julie left to hang out with Tim, picking Matt up on the way. She got a call from Lois and ended up having to swing by and pick her up too. She was pulling a switcheroo on Riggins, he thought they'd be hanging out and they would be with many other people. She admitted to herself that bringing her ex- along might be going too far but she couldn't help herself. That, and Matt was rather insistent on going when she said she was going to hang out with Riggins. When Riggins grinned that smug smile she just wanted to hit him, physically or figuratively. Matt and Lois were the means to give him a "big hit" in his smug guts.

Julie enters Applebee's with Matt and Lois by her side. She saw Tim in a booth, he didn't see them. They walk up to the booth and Riggins sees them. An obvious expression of utter shock sweeping across his face. Score one: Julie. Julie smiled her most wicked smile and said

"Since we are hanging out I thought I would invite some friends," waving a hand in the direction of her associates. Matt stared at Riggins with blatant disapproval, nodding a greeting and Lois waved, a sardonic smile on her face. His face said it all, she screwed him over (and not in the way he would like.) Julie struggled to keep her laugh contained.

"Hey Riggins, you know Matt and Lois right. Are we ready to hang?" she giggled and the three newcomers found seats in the booth. Matt hustled Julie into one side, him next to her and Lois slid in next to Riggins. They all sat there silently looking at one another, Matt shooting Riggins hostile glances, Lois enjoying the awkwardness of the situation and Riggins gently nudging her foot with his own under the table.

Julie looked at him, here eyebrows raised in silent enquiry. What the hell do you think you are doing mister? Lois looked at Julie and then Riggins. Realising something was up, she snorted "I've had enough of this crap," got up and stormed out. It was weird. Even for Lois it was weird. Riggins looked innocent, Matt looked perplexed and Julie smiled inwardly.

"So Matt how was practise?" Julie asked, trying to get the conversation flowing.

"Um, yeah it was okay. It was pretty uh warm..."he didn't finish his sentence, just letting it trail off into nothingness. Julie stared at him, this was his contribution to hanging out. She huffed in exasperation.

"Sure, what about you Tim, what have you been up to today?" Julie turned her attention on the only other person in their booth who might actually converse.

"Not much, classes, training, talking a beautiful girl into hanging out," he grinned sexily at her. She couldn't help but smile back. She heard a growling sound, really quiet but couldn't work out where it was coming from.

"Oh yeah, where is she?" she made a show of looking around Applebee's, inspecting customers and even lowering her head below the table top.

"She's right opposite me," so he'd made his intentions clear. In front of Matt no less. Matt suddenly stood up and mumbled something about his Grandma, departing immediately. "Finally," she heard Riggins say under his breath.

"So what is your grand plan Tim? Seduce all the girls on Dillon High one by one?" she looked him in the eye and looked sheepish.

"Why bother with the rest, all I want in right in front of me," with that he leaned forward and placed his hand over hers. She tensed, now that was a good line.

/-/-/

The date he went on, The Date, had gone well. To an extent, Lois and Matt had tagged along (which was too weird) and it was ridiculously weird ... and, anyway, he'd liked spending time with Julie. Being around her was nice. Being around her was better then nice. She was sweet and smart, but not just book smart. And felt like he knew her.

She was sweet, and he had a feeling she'd taste like Cherry Jolly Ranchers. Unfortunately this theory hasn't been tested. Unfortunately, where did that come from?

As he walked down the halls he could see people looking at him at such an intensity he hadn't felt since the Lyla incident. Landry was grinning, Matt shook his head. Groups of girls giggling. Smash was chatting up Lyla by her locker, the only one not looking at him. I guess the cat was out of the bag that he and Julie had "hung out".

But he saw Julie easily go to her locker without hassle, and grab her books and walk arm in arm with Lois way down the hall. The attention wasn't on Julie, it was on Lois. In fact the attention was so palpable that Julie didn't even notice him. He had an epiphany; Lois and he were working on an assignment and going to Applebee's. Well if he was going to "date" somebody in Dillon High's Public eye, it was better if it wasn't Julie Taylor.

Author's Note – Sorry for the delay, completely my fault (not Lily's) finally had a social life this weekend and suffered for it Sunday.