"Darling, I love you." Rae says quietly as they watch a man wrestling with a calf and everyone around them cheers.
"What's the but?" He asks, taking a drink of his beer.
"But why are we here?" She says and he grins down at her.
"This is Texas, Rae. Rodeo and ribs and beer and football." He says, gesturing grandly to the stands full of people.
"I like none of those things." Rae reminds him and he gives her a look. "I'm just telling you things you already knew."
"There's a dance afterwards, do you like that?" He asks and she makes a face. "Then we don't gotta go."
"If you want to listen to some grey haired man sing bad covers of old country songs, feel free. I want to go home and light some candles." She says and he chokes on his beer. "Oh, you like that, don't you?" She says out of the corner of her mouth. Tim nods quickly.
"Alright, we watch the next guy and then we go." He says, downing his beer. Rae smiles smugly.
"If you want to leave, we can." Rae suggests to Julie as they watch Matt flirt with the new girl at Jason's birthday party.
"No, I'm fine." Julie says with a sigh.
"If it makes you feel better, she's a complete slut." Tyra comments and Julie shakes her head.
"Oddly enough, it doesn't." She says broodingly. As they walk out of the party, Rae puts her arm around her.
"I know it sucks." She says quietly.
"Why? It's not like we're together or anything." Julie reminds her, but there's sadness in her tone. Julie suddenly freezes, looking into a red car. Rae follows her gaze and sees Matt kissing the dark haired girl.
"Jules, Jules, hey." Rae says quickly, pulling her away. "C'mon, let's go get the biggest gallon of chocolate ice cream and we can watch terrible TV shows until three in the morning."
"Sure." Julie says, struggling with tears. Rae catches Tim's eye as she guides Julie to her car. He sees Julie whipping away tears and flashes her a thumbs up. She blows him a kiss and climbs in.
Tim takes another swig of his beer and stares at the field broodingly. He watches as a boy with tattoos and a dark cutoff runs and tries to push the blocking sled downfield. He's struggling and has terrible technique. Tim remembers Rae's suggestion and get up with a groan.
"Hey wait. Stop." He calls, walking over. "Stop, before you just hurt yourself, alright?" He orders. Santiago ignores him and runs again. "Hey, uh, you know you're not on the team right?" He asks.
"I know." Santiago says, crouching in his stance again.
"Are you trying to break your neck by keeping your head down like that?" He points out.
"Hey, everybody's gotta start somewhere, homie. Right?" Santiago says and runs again.
"Hey, let me ask you something." Tim says quietly. Santiago looks at him quizzically, eyebrows furrowed. "Are you in any way, shape, or form trying to screw my girl Rae or Lyla Garrity?"
"She's my friend, dog, alright?" Santiago says instantly, getting defensive. "She's my friend. And Rae's just helping me out with English homework. I know she's your girl." He hits the blocking sled in frustration.
"You want a couple pointers?" Tim calls. "Or are you gonna try and break your neck?" Santiago takes a step back and Tim takes off his sunglasses, stepping up. "Ok. We hit with purpose."
Rae walks by the field watching as Tim holds the pads as Santiago hits him repeatedly. She leans against the fence, smiling. She watches as Matt and Smash joins them and then Coach Taylor.
"Not even close!" Coach yells in response to Tim's question if he's on the team. They run a couple more plays until he jogs over to her, grinning.
"Hey." He says, grabbing her face and kissing her.
"That was adorable. I could get used to watching Coach Riggins." She teases, kissing his nose.
"I just want to get back to being the fullback Tim Riggins." He grumbles, making an annoyed face.
"You want something, you go for it. I haven't seen you fail yet." She compliments sweetly.
"Is that a roundabout way of complimenting yourself by saying I'm lucky to have you?" He asks and she laughs.
"I love you, Tim Riggins. I have a feeling you'll be a fullback again soon enough." She says coyly, taking his hand and walking with him.
"You wanted to see me Mrs. Taylor?" Rae asks, sticking her head around the doorframe.
"Yeah Rae, come in, come in." She says, waving. Rae steps in and closes the door softly. "How are you sweetie?"
"I'm good, thanks." Rae says, smiling and sitting. Mrs. Taylor nods then pulls open her file.
"I just wanted to talk to you about a couple things Rae. Like, what you said the other day." Rae looks at her, not understanding. "With Tim?" She tries.
"About tutoring?" Rae asks, confused. Mrs. Taylor shakes her head, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"No Rae, the other stuff." She says and Rae goes pink.
"Mrs. Taylor-" She protests.
"Rae, Rae, I love you like my own daughter. I've been watching out for you since the day Julie came home and told me there was a girl at the school living without her mama and taking care of her little brother all by herself. I love you and I want to take care of you. So I want to make sure that you're protecting yourself because I know you love Gracie but you do not want one." She finishes. Rae buries her face in her hands.
"Mrs. Taylor, I promise you that Tim and I do everything we can to protect ourselves. I love him but I do not want his children." She promises, face red. Mrs. Taylor lets out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that's a relief because your academics are outstanding." Mrs. Taylor says, grinning at her. Rae blushes in pride. "You're getting A's in all of your classes, with a full time job, and I know that you're the only person that takes care of Carden. How do you do it?" She mutters and Rae shrugs.
"I have to." She says softly. Mrs. Taylor nods in understanding.
"Well, how are college applications going?" She asks and Rae nods.
"I've applied to Duluth, Bemidji, the U of M," She lists off. Mrs. Taylor cuts her off with a sigh.
"Rae, all of those colleges are in Minnesota." She says softly. Rae nods slowly. "Rae, what is Carden gonna do without you?" Rae sighs and fiddles with her elephant necklace.
"He's got friends here. He'll be fifteen. He can take care of himself." She says, unsurely. Mrs. Taylor gives her sad look.
"Rae."
"Or I'll take him with me. I can get off campus housing, work after my classes, get a roommate or two, make rent, enroll him up there, get him back on the ice. I'm eighteen so I can apply for legal guardianship. I can make it work, I always have." She insists stubbornly.
"Can you really uproot him again?" She asks Rae, who snorts.
"No offense Mrs. Taylor, but my dad uprooted him. I'll just be taking him home with me, where he belongs." She says firmly.
"Rae, you can get into any school in Texas with these grades. And at risk of making you sound needy or dependent, where's Tim going?" She asks. Rae sighs, rubbing her face tiredly.
"Mrs. Taylor, I love Tim, and I would love to turn on the TV and see him playing for some college team, but if your husband doesn't put him back on the team, he's not going to college. Fact." She says shortly. Mrs. Taylor nods.
"Well Rae, keep up the good work. Get back to class, we'll see where it goes this year." She says and Rae nods, leaving.
"I talked to Mrs. Taylor today." Tim informs her as they sit in the kitchen after school.
"Yeah me too." Rae mutters, thinking about all the points she'd brought up. "How'd yours go?"
"I asked her to talk to coach and put me back on the team." He says.
"Yeah me too." Rae says, kissing his head.
"I miss being around the guys. I hate being here after school and not on that field." He says miserably.
"I'm not taking offense to that because I know what kind of things you're going through, but I want you to know my feelings are slightly hurt." She informs him, taking her homework outside. Tim groans and grabs a beer.
"You haven't heard yet?" Lois asks Julie as she sits down. "Yeah, your mom got into it with him." Rae listens without any real interest until Julie gets up and storms away. Rae groans and hits Lois's arm.
"Lois!" She hisses.
"I thought it was for the best." Lois protests. "She should know that her mom got in screaming match with him."
"Sweetie, it's a good thing you're pretty because I'm sorry but you're not very smart." Rae says tiredly.
"Are you watching Dirty Dancing for the billionth time?" Carden demands, walking in after football practice.
"Do not mock this movie. It's a classic." Tim chides sternly and Carden rolls his eyes, shutting the TV off.
"Get up Tim. Go play football." He says flatly.
"Carden." Tim says warningly.
"No, don't 'Carden' me! Mais works her ass off day in and day out just to make sure I can eat at night and you're watching a terrible 80's movie for the billionth time. Did you know that the other night I found her looking at colleges in Texas?" Carden informs him and Tim looks at him, shocked.
"She hates Texas." He says. Carden laughs humorlessly and nods.
"Yeah, but she said you love it and she owes it to you to just look at places, to see if they're nearby. And now, you owe it to her to get your ass on that field so you can make her proud." With that, Carden turns the TV on, opens the fridge, heats up the leftovers, and goes to his room to eat, leaving Tim Riggins stunned and speechless as the TV continues to play.
"Rae I love you." Tim says, kissing her forehead in the kitchen. Rae looks up at him in surprise.
"I love you too?" She says unsurely, wary of where this might be going.
"I said sorry." He informs her, downing a beer. "I said sorry to everyone. And coach let me back on the team."
"Oh thank god." She says, relieved.
"But I'll be bringing home extra laundry cause he's got me doing chores." He calls, heading to the backyard where Carden is.
"Like hell you are!" She yells out the door. "I'm not doing anything you're suppose to be doing Tim Riggins! And I'm sure as hell not doing any more laundry than I already have! Tim! Tim? Tim!"
AN: I can write this whole story but I struggle to come up with ways to ask you guys to review, favorite, follow, etc. Irony? Anyways, please do all those things! Thank you for reading!