By the end of the day there were so many rumors being spread about Carson it was hard to keep track. She was a foreign supermodel (believable Tim thought but untrue); she was a millionaire's daughter, a debutante, a whore, a gypsy, and a spy from another school, maybe the Westerby's quarterback's girlfriend who knew? But one thing was for sure Carson King was quickly becoming the most popular topic and person in school with the exception of football and Jason Street, but second to football in Dillon was still damn good. The only problem was that Carson didn't want any of it. She's been a subject of conversation for to long, she'd deliberately picked small out of the way Dillon for it's sheer obscurity, she didn't want to be recognized.

It had been one hell of an argument with her father when she left Hanover, but in the end he had agreed to it, and why? Because it looked better for him, why else? Her grades were perfect she was going to get into a good school no matter what so when she'd won, she told him she was using part of her mother's trust to rent a house in tiny Dillon, Texas she threatened to emancipate herself publicly if he wouldn't do in privately so of course he did, reputation threatened Richard King could always be counted upon to do the thing that required as little damage control as possible.

"Damn" she said out loud as she tried to light her stove, to cook her grilled cheese. All she wanted to do was come home finish unpacking, have a grilled cheese after school and take a long hot shower. But no, she'd only just gotten into town, yesterday and she'd only just paid the gas bill because in couldn't be paid online, God forbid we join the modern world right Texas? The gas company must not have turned it on yet she'd have to call them, but either way it wasn't going to be in time for her grilled cheese. Fine, Carson thought, not the end of the world I'll just go grab a burger.

After driving around for 15 minutes she saw the Alamo Freeze, why am I not surprised Carson smiled ruefully, in Texas it seemed everything was about Texas, or football, not that that was a bad thing. She jumped out of her Ford F-250 pick-up extended cab and cherry red, not only did she think it was pretty but she had actually hauled her far share of horses and other things behind that truck, it wasn't all jacked up just to go to the mall.

Only when she walked into the burger joint and saw every kid who went to Dillon high did she realize she was in her PJs, old cut off sweat shorts that showed too much of her legs and a old tank top that had a tendency to ride up showing about three inches of tanned toned abdomen, well at least she wore a bra of course you could see the white lace through her shirt so it really didn't matter much, and she'd just thrown on her cowboy boots, she looked like a sloppily put together country hooker, and everyone was staring at her. It felt like that dream where your naked in the high school cafeteria, the only thing Carson wished for in that moment was a drive thru but of course that wasn't gonna happen so she held her head high and owned every inch of her embarrassment walking up to the counter to order. After she did she leaned against the counter to wait and took a look around the room, the quarterback, (Street was it?) and a pretty brunette who could only be his girlfriend by the way she was attached to his arm were being interviewed by a news crew. She immediately ducked her head the last thing she needed was to be interviewed, then she remembered the reporters hadn't seen a recent picture of her in ages she was probably safe and after all they were here for football. She watched as another beauty, a tall blonde this time, took the spotlight from the quarterback with a walk down to a booth with a funny black guy who called himself the Smash, or was it just Smash? Carson couldn't hear one way or another but smiled at his comments about endorsements, and decided she liked the blonde, she had attitude, which Carson found entertaining – in small doses – she'd have to see. Just as they called her number the guy from the booth got between her and her food.

"Well what do we have here? You must be the new girl, and all new girls need to meet the Smash" so it was the Smash, Carson thought, well I can roll my eyes and blow him off or go with it. She took another appraising look at him and deciding he was harmless enough, put out her hand, "I'm Carson, nice to meet you Smash? Was it?"

"Damn right baby, but any girl that looks like you can call me whatever she wants." He smiled and held on to her hand a bit to long.

Carson rolled her eyes good-naturedly, reclaiming her hand, "Nice to have met you, but I should get going…" her voice trailed off because when she turned to pick up her food there was Tim holding her To-Go bag and leaning against the counter with one hell of a sexy smile. "Tim, hey." She blushed at the way she looked; never leave the house like this again she thought, making a mental note.

But Tim just smiled as he looked her up and down, "This is yours, right?" he handed her food to her,

"Thanks" they both tried to ignore the shock that came when their fingers touched.

"Why don't you make it for here and have eat with me?" Tim said after a second surprised at his own words, he never bothered to ask girls out. He just told himself it was because Smash was there, he'd walked in and seen them talking, she laughed and he was holding her hand. It pissed him off, a lot more than it should have, he didn't know this girl not really – so why the hell did he almost punch Smash just for talking to her? He just chalked it up to his dislike of the guy. She seemed hesitant which upset him, he actually bothered to ask, and Smash was standing right there then he realized why, she was looking down out her outfit.

Which pretty much looked like she'd been ready for bed thrown boots on and come here, what she didn't realize was just how God damn sexy she was, little wisps of hair coming out of her bun framing her face, still beautiful without make-up, the shorts showed just a hint of her ass and damn what an ass! And all he could think about when he looked at those few inches of bare torso was what it would be like to kiss his way up and down. He was ready to tell her she looked great when she just looked him in the eye smiled and said, "I'd love that," and with a smile she nodded to Smash, "Bye Smash, maybe I'll see you around." Tim almost laughed, it was the nicest brush off he'd ever seen but it was a brush off just the same, and it felt damn good to be chosen over Dillon's loudest star. Tim ordered and she waited next to him, she didn't seem to be in a rush to sit down and whenever he glanced at her she gave him an easy smile. He was about to total blow his cool and tell her how beautiful she looked when Jason, per usual, saved his ass.

"Riggins, over here!" he called,

"Yeah, I'm coming Tim answered, "Is it ok if we go sit with my friends?" he asked Carson, and couldn't believe that he asked, seriously what the fuck was going on with him? But she seemed to take it in stride,

"Yeah of course, I'd love to meet them." And with that Tim took her hand and led her over to Jason, Lyla, and a news crew.

When she had originally thought she'd follow Tim off a cliff if he were holding her hand she didn't think she'd be doing it quite so soon. As they walked through the tiny crowded restaurant she could feel everyone's stares, at her, at Tim, at their connected hands, something told her he didn't do this often, but she had little time to worry about what a public hand-hold meant because she was currently heading for the table that housed the best high school quarterback in the state, which probably meant the country, and the queen bee head cheerleader – in her sweats, great just fan-fucking-tastic!

She slid in first and Tim followed sitting close to her she couldn't help but notice the news crew and hoped they didn't notice her.

"This is my best friend and Dillon's fullback #33, Tim Riggins," Jason introduced them to the news crew,

"We've met," the anchor didn't bother to keep the judgment out of his voice, which Carson caught but ignored. "And this is," he looked to Lyla for help, this is what she was so good at, but Lyla was too busy looking Carson up and down and looking like she just sucked on a lemon. So Carson did the only things she could she smiled real big, and just as she was about to introduce herself Tim saved her,

"This is Carson, she's new to Dillon." And with that Carson had lost yet another piece of her heart to Tim Riggins's, at the rate she was going he was going to have it all within a week.

"It's really nice to meet you." She shook Jason's hand and gave him her biggest non-flirtatious smile, He smiled in return, "Yeah you too," and then she took Lyla's hand and the news anchor's.

"So being new to Dillon what's that like with all the hype around football?"

Carson just smiled, "I think it's actually really great, I'm originally from Texas so football's in my blood, I just moved back and I love being back in the football world. It's a such an amazing sport and the people who play it put so much of their heart and soul on the field, it's inspiring to watch, furthermore I think it's great that the community has something that brings everyone together, I can't wait to be a part of it." She said the last part to the anchor but held Tim's eyes the whole time.

In that moment for the first time in his life Tim Riggins's gave up a little piece of his heart, but he'd be damned if he gave up anymore without knowing more about her. Even though the fact that she hadn't hit on Jason was a definite plus, it seemed as though any half way decent girl he dated was in love with Jason Street and hoping to get closer to him. Carson had barely blinked in his direction and her smile and been friendly instead of flirty which was nice. He saw it put Lyla at ease as well, he understood she was a bit standoffish to new girls; you didn't get to be head cheerleader without being a bit of a bitch.

"Well said Miss" he seemed to be asking for her last name but she ignored the prompt and simply popped a fry into her mouth. "Well Jason thanks for the extended interview, we'll be talking to you again hopefully, good luck Friday you too Tim, Miss Garriety, Carson, it was a pleasure." With that they picked up and left.

Leaving just the four of them, Great Carson thought.

Lyla couldn't help herself, "Wash Day?" she said nodding to Carson's clothing choice. Both Jason and Tim glared at her; Tim was going to say something when Carson just laughed. He looked back at her she seemed genuinely not offended so he backed off and took a bite out of his burger.

"I look awful I know, I just got out of the shower," Tim's brain went into overload picturing her wet and naked in a shower, soap running… stop it! He commanded his brain the table would only hide so much, "and these are my PJs I was gonna cook at home but I just moved in and the gas company hasn't turned on my gas yet, I just came out for a quick bite this was the first place I saw, I didn't realize everyone hangs out here."

She ducked her head in embarrassment, "Oh well, it is what it is." But the thing was as Tim watched Lyla soften up a bit, was that for most girls it wasn't, this was a big deal to most of them, yet Carson just took it in stride. And while he would have rather had her to himself he enjoyed watching her – she talked cheerleading stunts with Lyla (she'd taken gymnastics… meaning she was flexible again Tim had to turn off his other brain) and talked college football stats with Jason not only did she know the game freakishly well, she knew a ton about colleges and had lots of expertise she was willing to share. Which made Tim feel pretty small and insignificant considering he'd probably never go to college, check that there was no probably he wasn't going, yet no matter what she talked about with his friends she was always with him.

It was simply things like how she pressed her thigh against his or when he put his arm over the back of the booth she sat closer, or how she took his hand under the table. She wasn't too forward, or nearly as clingy as Lyla who seemed to be permanently attached to Jason's arm, but it felt good to be touched like this not in an overly sexual way just in a good comfortable way. Before he knew it, her and Lyla were fast friends and Jason was saying, "You know there's a kickback Thursday night after the Car Dealership Opening you should come, Lyla can text you the address."

Carson glanced at Tim, "You're going right?"

Before he could answer Lyla did it for him, "Tim miss a chance to get trashed? Unheard of." Tim could have killed her at that moment and when Lyla met his eyes there was an apology in them, she hadn't meant it, it had just come out, Tim got that an he forgave her in seconds, he had no one to blame but himself, but not for the first time since meeting Carson Tim wished he was better than he was. Yet she just sat a little closer and said, "I'm always up for a good party,"" and gave him a little wink. Just like that Tim felt another piece of his heart drift away.

Tim walked her out to her car and glanced back and forth between her and her truck in disbelief, she laughed at his confused expression, "I used to ride horses, it was for haulin' and it matched my boots." Then it was Tim's turn to laugh. She got into the truck and before she started she rolled down the window, "I had I real great time Tim thanks for asking me to stay, Jason and Lyla are great."

She went to roll up the window but Tim put his hand on hers, "Hey the dealership opening thing is gonna really suck but do you wanna go with me? We can drive to the after party together." His question hung in the air and Tim actually held his breathe.

"I would love to."

"Pick you up at six."