Chapter 12 – Us

Sitting at the pre-game toast Lyla couldn't help but be a little bit ticked off that Smash wasn't up there, talking about how he was in love with her. She sighed, and just stared at Riggins, the town idiot and her former flame, who kept staring at that whore, Julie Taylor. Why was everybody so taken with Julie? She scowled.

A girl who she knew vaguely as Holly sat beside her, "Hey, how's Smash?" she turned her scowl into a... pleasant scowl, and replied that he was doing good. Just great. She tapped her fingers against the table, they made a weird sound what with the wood and vinyl table cloth.

/-/-/

Last year's joke had not been a success, so this year Tim had gotten his joke from the best source: the internet. Though none of them really related directly with Panther Football, he was still going to use them.

"Bloke comes home from the bar drunk at 4am in the morning. His wife is sleeping and he tries to sneak into bed. He's laying in bed for a few minutes and let's rip a fart. His wife wakes up and asks, "What in the world was that?"

He replies, "Touchdown, I'm up 7 nothing."

She thinks to herself, "I'm gonna fix him." Then she lets one loose.

He yells at her, "What was that?"

She replies "Touchdown, tie score."

Now he thinks, "I'm gonna fix her." He's laying there for about 10 minutes trying to work one up. He tries so hard he craps in bed.

The wife asks, "Now what in the world was that?"

He replied, "Half time, switch sides." "

He got some laughs but he was pretty sure everybody knew he got it from the net. Especially Mrs. Coach who was rolling her eyes. He saw Julie whisper something to Lois and they both erupted into a fit of giggles. He looked the other way and saw Buddy Garrity talking to Coach Taylor. And then came a hand gesture for him to join them.

/-/-/

"Julie get your ass out of that bed, you are not sick. Stop being a coward and get your ass out of that bed NOW." Eric Taylor wasn't really sure why his daughter was trying to pull a sickie but it didn't matter. She would have to serious hightail it to be ready in time and she would be or else he'd be fixin' to lecture her until kick off.

She rose from the bed with no problems, she really was a big faker. Seeing the time, she raced for the shower, flicking him with her hair as she left him in her wake. He sighed, he thought he was nearly done with all this. Now Gracie was going to put him through the same rubbish. He ran his fingers through his hair, placed a kiss on his wife's cheek and hustled out the door to catch the bus to the Dome.

/-/-/

Julie had had more than enough. Watching Tim play was like torture. It was like he was there but she couldn't touch him because of the distance and all of the bullshit. The Panthers were playing well, Tim had made some amazing tackles but every time he went down she would tense up. It hurt to see him hurt even if he was the biggest dickhead in the entire world. Biggest liar, biggest creep, biggest tease in the whole freaking world. Julie wished she'd kicked him in the 'nads twice! Then he would look up at her from the field and her heart would melt a touch and she would wish that he hadn't been a stupid jackass. He bet on her virginity for Christ's sakes and he wanted her to be forgiving?

Julie looked down at him for the stadium seating and examined his ass. No matter how divine that ass was she was not going to give in and besides it wasn't like she was invested in him emotionally. She could turn it on and off like guys. She hadn't invested in any kind of relationship with him at all. She sighed, she was lying to herself. Of course she had emotionally invested and that's why she was pissed off. She maybe loved him and he was using her as some sort of game and now her father was forcing her to watch him. Her chest hurt being here was more than she could bear. She made apologies to her mom and hurried out of the row, up the aisle, out of the wing and out into the car park. When she was out she realised she could finally breathe.

/-/-/

Tim saw her get up and leave, like she was seemingly uninterested. He'd just played an amazing play, which led to a touchdown... and she was uninterested.

Girls were weird.

But this really pissed him off. He through the ball towards Smash, threw off his helmet and ran.

/-/-/

Jules was in the car park, her butt resting on someone else's car. She heard a confused roar from the stadium and her interest peaked but not enough to re-enter the stadium. Distance was better. Distance was oxygen and life. Her heart eased in her chest and she breathed in deeply, smelling hot dogs and that odious scent of football fans, blech. She sat there examining the patterns on her Chuck Taylor's and tried to ignore that the biggest game of her dad's life was being played out and she wasn't there. She stood arguing with herself, she should go back in for her dad but Tim was there. She rose and sank several times before she realised that her father was more important that a boy. Even if she had thought that he was the boy and been mistaken.

/-/-/

Julie was sitting on a strange Chevy and obviously deliberating something when he ran out of the stadium. It had taken him awhile to find her, especially as many officials had tried to bar him from exiting the field. Thank goodness for the stoners eating nachos near the exit or else he would have had no idea where she went.

"Dude, that blonde chick was freaking hot man. Tap that," the stoner had dissolved into giggles while his mate had pointed out her direction. Tim resisted the urge to make a stop and beat his ass. He kept running, surprised at the amount of energy flowing through him and that she was worth running out of the most important game of his life.

"Julie," he gasped, the exertion of the game and his departure taking its toll on his lungs. "Julie." She looked at him, her eyes so sad that he wanted to hug her.

"What do you want Tim?" having asked that question it had obviously occurred to her that he was supposed to be playing. She performed one of those double takes that Tim always saw at the movies. "Tim," she gasped. "What are you doing? Get back in there." She started pushing him

towards the stadium, short shoves that really didn't succeed as he was planting his weight. She kept shoving, determined to get him back in the game. He smiled, she really was one determined little filly.

"Jules, just wait up for a moment." She ignored him and kept pushing so he had to grab her arms to steady her, to have her look at his face.

"Tim, that's a State Championship game," she whispered, unsure of why he'd run out for her.

"I know but you wouldn't give me any time and I needed to take my shot. This is more important than the game, you are more important than that game." She looked at him with wide eyed shock.

"But ... but college Tim, recruiters." He shook his head. Her face turned from one of shock to anger. "You bet on me Tim, you bet on my virginity. You played me for a fool," she was accusatory and completely right.

"I am so sorry Jules. It started out bad I know but I wanted out pretty much from the beginning. I know you now, I didn't before. " she looked at him, her face frozen unbelievingly.

"It was okay before because you didn't know me?" she asked and he felt his legs getting sucked down into the quick sand. "Is that the kind of person you are Tim? " She stood straight in front of him her gaze unmoving, refusing him to escape her judgement as he sorely wanted to.

"Well yeah...I was. But Julie you've made me want more for myself, to be more. And I want you." The sincerity in his voice shocked him, not that he didn't mean every word but he'd never heard himself say those kinds of things before in that tone. Her eyes were locked on his, moving back and forth assessing his truthfulness. He hated that he no longer had her implicit trust. "I want us,"

"And I am not sure I want an us when you are part of the deal." She turned around towards the family car, climbed in, started the engine and drove away without a glance bad. So this is how it feels, Tim thought, to have your heart ripped out of your chest. Isn't the grand declaration supposed to score the girl? That's how it works in the movies, why not for him? Because he didn't deserve her. He pushed the pain down and stormed back into the stadium, he needed to vent.

/-/-/

Julie fumed in the car. She couldn't deny the honesty in his words or on his face but she was finding it difficult to move on from the freaking bet. She changed him? She snorted, please he wanted her to think she'd changed him? But then he had been a little different. Nope she wasn't backing down even though she believed every word he said. Then why was she driving away? She looked in the rear vision mirror and saw the stadium become smaller and smaller. Who was she punishing here? Tim or herself? She sighed and swung the car around in a very erratic 360, the bastard had her heart!

/-/-/

The Dillon Panthers strode to victory surprisingly easy, their opposition wasn't ready for the intensity that the fullback brought back to the field after his surprise departure. The fullback was on a roll and the crowd was on their feet for the rest of the game. Like Tim had said in that interview last season, he just liked to hurt people and today that truly worked for him.

She wasn't there. He'd won another state championship and she wasn't there to celebrate it with him. He let the sadness wash over him, the violence of the game was gone and he was left with the certainty that she would never be his.

This time last year she had been busy snogging Matt on the turf completely in love. Now she had run away from the game because he repelled her. Nice Tim, great work. It was sad to see all the players celebrating with their parents and girlfriends, he had no one. There was a tap on his shoulder and he moved around slowly, it wasn't going to be who he wanted it to be.

"So these are my conditions. No sex until I trust you and that could be a real long time. Maybe never." She was here, when? How? What was going on? "No sex, you have to get permission from my father to date me and there are no second chances." She locked his gaze. It was a statement. He really didn't know what to make of it but he really couldn't see Jules as the forever celibate type. He sighed, she might not realise it now but this was his second chance.

"Anything, anything you want Jules," he readily agreed. "Nice game huh?" he asked grinning cheekily. The corner of her mouth wobbled like she was trying to keep a smile contained.

"Yeah it was alright," she conceded, he dropped his helmet grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up towards him. Her feet were off the ground but her stomach was nestled against his chest. He moved her gaze up and captured her lips with his own. She remained an immovable object for a few seconds and then sighed into his mouth, greedily kissing him like a drowning women. He slowly lowered her so her body slid against his own and her feet came to a rest atop his own. They were impervious to the stares of fans, teammates and the Coach alike. It was the two of them against the world. They were now an us.

AN – If we get lots of reviews we may have an epilogue read y to go! (I know shameless attempt to get more momentum for this story.)