Title: Lonely No More
A/N: You lovely ladies really make my day with all the great reviews!!! Please keep 'em coming :D Here's the next chapter of Tim and Julie time. Enjoy!!!
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Julie nervously bit her lip, watching the passing scenery as she and her mom made the morning drive to school.
This would be the first day back since she and Tim were, well, doing whatever it was that they were doing.
"Jules honey, are you alright?" Tami asked, glancing over at her daughter.
Julie sighed. "Yeah, I'm just kind of anxious right now. I mean, I can already imagine the rumors and gossip that's gonna be flying around school when people see Tim and I together."
"Well, it may not be as bad as you're thinking, hun." Tami said thoughtfully. "You and Tim have pretty much been around each other since school started. People are used to seeing y'all together."
"Yeah, maybe." Julie mumbled, not really convinced.
It was one thing for her and Tim to be buddies and talk in the halls. It was a whole other thing for them to be holding hands, or walking to class together, or hopefully – stealing kisses from one another.
I guess we'll see what happens, she thought silently as her mom pulled into the school parking lot, quickly taking the principal slot.
Julie grabbed her books and stepped out of the vehicle. "Bye mom." She said, turning to head inside.
"Jules." Tami called, walking closer as to not be overheard. "Try not to worry about what might happen. And if people want to talk, let 'em talk. All that matters is if you're happy. Are you happy?"
Julie nodded quickly, giving her mom a small smile.
Tami nodded. "Well, to heck with everyone else." She said with a grin.
"Thanks, mom." Julie said, realizing that this was one of those moments where she realized that her parents weren't so bad.
"No problem, sweetie. You know where to find me if you need me." Tami replied before turning and heading toward the office.
Julie took a deep breath, before stepping inside and being engulfed by the chaos that was Dillon High School. She said hello to several students along the way, finally coming to a stop in front of her locker.
As she stood swapping her books, she jumped as she felt someone grab her waist, quickly looking back to find the culprit.
"Tim! You scared me." She said quickly, slapping him on the chest. "I didn't know who that was."
"Nobody else better be puttin' their hands on you." He said with a smirk, tilting his head to the side.
Julie smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear as she felt her cheeks reddening from his words.
"Hey you guys." Tyra called, walking up beside them. "Guess what?"
"Uh, hey Tyra." Julie said quickly, almost forgetting to breathe as she felt Tim slide his arm around her waist. "Uh, what?"
Tyra opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it , glancing down at Tim's arm wrapped possessively around Julie's small waist.
"Ah, hell." Tyra muttered, giving them both a look. "It's happened."
Julie couldn't help but let out a laugh at her friend's obvious disappointment and reaction.
"Whatever do you mean?" Julie asked innocently, giving Tyra a smile.
"You know what I mean." Tyra drawled, shaking her head. "Tim, I'm only gonna say this once. You hurt her, in any way, and I will hurt you twice as bad. You got that?"
Tim smirked. "I've never seen this protective side of you Tyra, it's kind of weird."
"Tim, I'm not playin'." Tyra said, giving him a hard look.
Tim sighed. "I hear yah, Collette. I hear yah. But no worries, okay? We're good." He said, meeting Julie's gaze. "Real good."
Julie grinned, feeling her stomach fluttering from his look and his words.
He was good – real good. Hell, he was great as far as she was concerned.
"Oh, please." Tyra muttered, drawing their gazes away from one another. "Anyways, what I walked up to tell you guys, was that I just found out that I won Senior Class President."
"That's great!" Julie said excitedly, giving her a quick hug. "I knew you could do it."
"Congrats." Tim grinned.
"Thanks." Tyra replied, a smile on her face. "They're announcing it to the rest of the school later today during announcements, but they went ahead and told me a few minutes ago." She said as the bell rang, signaling five minutes left to get to class.
"Well, I better get to class." Tyra said quickly. "You two lovebirds stay out of trouble. And remember what I said, Tim." She warned one last time before making her way down the hall.
Tim smiled, shaking his head as he ushered Julie down the hallway, his arm still wound tightly around her waist.
"English, right?" Tim asked, nodding to a few teammates.
"Uh, yeah." Julie replied, giving him a surprised look. "You know my schedule?"
Tim shrugged, looking down at her with a grin, not bothering to answer.
Julie smiled, squeezing her books tightly against her chest. As they made their way through the crowd, she was fully aware of the looks and stares they were receiving.
The whispering had already begun as well. She gave it maybe until the end of second period before the whole school knew that Tim had walked her to class.
"This is me." She said, stopping in front of her first period class and turning to smile at him.
Tim looked down at her for a couple of seconds before leaning in and planting his lips on hers for a long, hard kiss.
Julie completely forgot where she was, losing herself in the perfection that were Tim's lips.
He finally pulled back, smirking down at her.
Julie grinned. He had done that on purpose, she knew.
She was sure that would also be all over the school in a matter of minutes, but she didn't care.
Her mom was right.
If they wanted to talk, let 'em talk.
She was happy and that was all that mattered.
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"Julie, how could you not let me know about this?" Lois asked loudly, pushing her lunch tray out of the way. "Do you know how it felt to hear people talking about seeing you making out with Tim Riggins, and I didn't even know y'all were together?"
Julie sighed. She had feared that Lois would be upset with her for not calling her after the first kiss and giving her all the juicy details.
"Well, it just kind of happened over the weekend, Lois." Julie stated, shrugging her shoulders. "And we were not 'making out'. He kissed me, that's it."
"That's it?" Lois shrieked. "Julie, this is like monumental! My best friend in the whole world got kissed by Tim Riggins. I can't believe this is happening."
Julie rolled her eyes, taking a bite of mashed potatoes as she tried to think of some way to change the subject.
"Hello ladies."
Julie looked up to find Tim smirking down at her, a lunch tray in his hand.
"This seat taken?" He asked, not waiting for an answer as he slid into the chair beside Julie.
"H-hey." She stated, smiling at him. She was somewhat surprised that he was sitting with her and foregoing his usual seat with the players. Not that she was complaining or anything.
Lois cleared her throat, drawing Julie's attention away from Tim.
"Oh, um, Tim this is my friend Lois." Julie stated. "I don't know if you guys have ever been formally introduced."
"Hi, Tim." Lois said quickly, a goofy grin on her face.
"Hey." Tim drawled, giving her a smile.
Julie bit her lip, trying to hold back laughter as she watched Lois' face turn red from excitement. Not that she could really blame her. Julie was finding that she felt the same way around Tim.
"So…" Julie said, trying to think of something to say. It was kind of awkward just sitting there as Tim ate his lunch as if he sat with her every day, while Lois looked like a fish out of water with the way she was breathing so deeply.
"Julie says you smell nice." Lois said quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth.
"Lois!" Julie hissed, giving her friend a 'what the hell' look, before glancing toward Tim.
Tim looked at Lois for a few seconds like he wasn't sure if those words had actually come out of her mouth. But then a slow, sexy grin came over his face.
"Well, Jules smells pretty sweet, too." Tim drawled, giving Julie a wink before shoveling in another bite of food.
Julie grinned. She was sure that she was practically beaming to others as she glanced around the crowded cafeteria.
She and Tim were drawing more than a few glances their way, that was for sure.
Her gaze collided with Lyla Garrity's, and Lyla looked away quickly.
Uh-oh. Lyla obviously wasn't too happy about the current situation.
Too bad, so sad, Julie thought to herself, smirking as her eyes roamed the rest of the room, falling on the table of Panthers.
She gave Matt a small smile as she saw him looking her way. He returned her smile with a small one of his own, and a nod before averting his gaze.
It was going to take people some getting used to, but eventually everyone would settle down and there would be something else for people to gossip about.
"Tim do you wash your hair every day? Do you use conditioner? Because it always looks so soft." Lois rambled, smiling adoringly at Tim.
Julie groaned quietly.
Yeah, it was going to take people some getting used to, but Julie was pretty sure Lois might never get used to the idea.
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"Hey, Tim." Lyla called, grabbing his forearm as he walked across the parking lot toward the field house.
"Yeah?" Tim drawled, turning to look at her as he pulled his arm out of her grasp.
"Hey." Lyla said, giving him a big smile. "Uh, how are you?"
"Good." Tim replied, shrugging his shoulders as he looked down at her.
She looked good in her short sundress and cowboy boots, but Tim felt none of the old feelings that he used to have for her.
Her smile was almost too sweet, or too fake. Not like Julie's smile, that was always given freely and held an almost uniqueness to it – like it was a smile reserved only for him.
He couldn't help but compare the two of them as he stood there looking at Lyla, and the truth of the matter was that Lyla came up short in every category.
Julie was just better for him in so many ways.
"So, I was wondering if you'd given any thought to what I asked you about last week. You know, about us spending some time together. I miss you." Lyla said softly.
Tim sighed. "Garrity, I really don't think that's a good idea. As I'm sure you've heard, I'm with Julie now."
"Yeah, I noticed." Lyla said with a snarl. "But remember how good it was with us, Tim? Don't you miss that?" She asked, resting her hand on his chest.
"No, I don't." He said, shaking his head slightly. "And the only thing that was ever good between us was the sex, Lyla. That was it, because we never had anything else."
"But we could. If you'd just give me a try, give us a try." She said softly, pleading with her eyes.
Tim looked down at her, thinking how ironic it was that after all this time she could be his, but he didn't want her.
He didn't want her at all.
"I'm sorry, Lyla. It's not gonna happen." He muttered, pushing her hand off of his chest. "I've gotta get to practice." He mumbled, sauntering off toward the locker room.
Tim sighed, running his hand through his hair as he entered the locker room. Hopefully Lyla would finally take the hint, and leave him the hell alone.
He didn't want her causing problems for him and Julie. They had enough to deal with right now being the main topic of Dillon High gossip.
He was used to people staring and people talking, but he knew that Julie wasn't. But all in all, he felt the day had gone pretty smoothly.
"H-hey, Riggs." Matt stammered, coming to stand beside Tim as he arrived at his locker.
"Seven." Tim drawled, pulling off his shirt and taking a seat on the bench.
Tim began taking off his boots, quickly followed by his jeans as he got suited up in his pads for practice.
He looked up at Matt, still standing there quietly with a confused look on his face.
"You got something to say, Saracen?" Tim drawled.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I do." Matt said, taking a deep breath. "I uh, I see that you and Julie are goin' out or whatever."
Tim turned, meeting Matt's gaze. "Yeah. Is that gonna be a problem?"
Tim didn't want to fight with Matt. They were friends, and Saracen was a good guy.
But he also didn't want him sticking his nose in Julie's business. She wasn't his concern any longer.
"Uh, no. No problem." Matt said quickly, glancing at the floor before looking back up at Tim. "Just don't hurt her. Julie's a good girl, and she, and she doesn't deserve that."
Tim smiled, looking down at the floor himself to hide his expression from Matt. Saracen was obviously still carrying a small torch for Julie, and Tim knew that it had taken some guts for Matt to say that to him.
"No worries, Seven." Tim drawled, giving Matt a manly slap on the back. "You better get suited up." He said with a grin, grabbing his helmet and making his way out of the locker room.
He chuckled as he made his way outside. It hadn't really been a threat, but Matt was undoubtedly giving Tim a warning. But Matt didn't have anything to worry about.
"Good luck at practice, 33."
Tim turned, seeing Julie propped up against the field house, obviously waiting on him to exit the locker room and head to the field.
He smiled as he walked over to her, placing his hand on the wall beside her head and leaning forward. "Good luck, huh?"
She smirked. "Yeah, I figure you may need it after the loss and all. Dad'll be tough on you guys today."
Tim nodded. "Maybe you could give me a little something for luck." He grinned, a mischievous look in his eye.
"Oh, I wonder what you mean?" Julie asked sweetly, giggling quietly as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his own.
God, but she was sweet. The taste of her was enough to make him breathless, like he'd just ran a hundred wind sprints.
"Riggins!" Coach yelled, immediately causing Tim to pull back from Julie and all her sweetness.
"Shit." Tim muttered, turning to see Coach standing beside the gate leading onto the field.
"Get your hands off my daughter and get your ass on the field!" Eric yelled loudly, motioning Tim over with his hand.
He sighed, turning back to Julie to find her biting her lip, laughter in her eyes.
"I'll see you later?" He asked, taking a few steps backwards, not wanting to get yelled at again.
Julie nodded. "I'll see you after practice." She replied with a smile. "I'll be waitin' on yah."
Tim grinned, turning and jogging toward the field.
Julie Taylor was waiting on him.
He definitely liked the sound of that.
