"Rae!" Tim yells, storming into the house. "Rae! Where are you?"
"It's the world's smallest house Tim Riggins. How can you not locate me?" Rae asks, poking her head around the doorway of her bedroom.
"Quit the sass, I've got news." He announces. "We're playing Arnett-Mead on national television!"
"Tim, that's great!" She says, stunned. "That's an incredible opportunity. That's great coverage for you. A lot of colleges are going to see that." She says and he groans, holding her face.
"Can we not talk about college for three minutes?" He begs.
"We never talk about college as is Tim!" Rae protests and he shushes her by kissing her.
"Yeah, we can do that tomorrow." He promises and she narrows her eyes but lets it slide.
"Can you believe that we're playing on national television?" Lois asks, catching Rae's arm after school.
"I cannot, but I can't fathom why you people love football so much, so I'm probably not the person to ask that question to." Rae says and Lois rolls her eyes.
"How can you be dating Tim Riggins if you hate football with such a passion?" She points out.
"Because there's more to him than just football. Right babe?" She asks, when Tim joins them.
"Sure. What am I agreeing with?" He questions.
"There's more to you than just football." Rae says and he furrows his forehead thoughtfully.
"I like beer." He states and Rae smacks his chest while Lois giggles.
"Tim. Mr. Riggins." A man calls, walking up to them. "Scotty Sims, San Antonio State." He introduces himself, extending his hand for Tim to shake.
"How you doing?" Tim asks, nodding.
"Good, how are you?"
"Good."
"I'm the one who's been sending those recruiting letters." He says with a smile and Tim looks down. "You're a hard man to track down." He says, handing Rae and Tim business cards.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, I mean, I've been meaning to call you. We've been at practice and state." Tim stutters as Rae stares at him incredulously.
"Don't worry about it." Scotty says dismissively. "I know, I know what it's like. You got a lot going on." Tim just nods and there's an awkward pause before he extends his hand to Rae. "Hi."
"Hi, I'm Rae." She says sweetly, shaking it.
"This is Rae." Tim adds, unhelpfully.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Sims." Rae says pleasantly, fighting the urge to kick Tim in the shins.
"Well, listen. I don't mean to blindside you like this but like I said in my letters, we're graduating our entire backfield in June. We really feel like you'd be a great fit for our team next year." Rae looks up at him expectantly.
"Thank you." He says quietly.
"I'll be at the Marriott the next few days, why don't you come by tomorrow night?" He offers. "Maybe sit down, talk about our program?"
"Tomorrow night… Tomorrow night isn't that good of a time… Uh, Carden's got that thing…" He says, looking away from them both.
"What? No he doesn't." Rae says, nonplussed.
"Yeah, he does." Tim mumbles and Rae wracks her brain, trying to remember what Tim might be talking about.
"Make a hell of a rib eye." Scotty says.
"We'll be there, there's nothing going on tomorrow night." Rae says quickly, slipping her hand into Tim's and squeezing.
"Great." Scotty says unsurely, looking between them. "8 o'clock?"
"Sure. Sounds good, sir." Tim says, shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you." Rae calls as Scotty walks away. He waves over his shoulder. Rae waits until he's out of earshot then pulls Tim towards her.
"You didn't tell me you got letters of interest from San Antonio State." She says quietly and he tangles a hand in her hair, drawing her face up to kiss him. "You can't keep kissing me to distract me from this whole college thing, Tim Riggins." She points out.
"Is it still working?" He mummers and she bites her lip then nods, laughing. "Then I'm gonna keep doing it." He says, kissing her again.
"Tim, are you ready?" She yells, pushing the door to his house open. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees Tim and Billy taking shots at the counter. She folds her arms at Tim looks at her, wide eyed.
"Hey Rae." He says slowly, as she looks around. "Hi."
"Well, hello." She mutters, avoiding the piles of garbage as she makes her way towards him. "It's nearly 8, I thought we should get going." She says, raising an eyebrow.
"Sorry, I lost track of time, I've just been…" He trails off, gesturing to the pile of beer cans and Billy. "Tending to Billy and his broken heart."
"Uh huh." Rae says, looking at Billy, unimpressed. "Well, you have that meeting in about 15 minutes."
"I'm ready!" He insists and she looks at the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the counter.
"Get in the car." She orders and he nods, trotting out the door. "Well done Billy." She says, furious the second the door slams shut.
"Rae, look, I'm sorry." Billy starts and she cuts him off, raising a hand.
"Don't. I thought we were in this together Billy, that we were gonna do this together. And now all the sudden you're letting him get drunk before meetings with recruiters?" She demands.
"Why do you want to take my baby brother away from me?" Billy shouts suddenly. "Why? I raised him! It was me! I was here for him, all those years. Not you. Not you. And now all because some prissy, pretty girl comes in, he's just going to up and leave with her? You can't have him." He hisses and Rae recoils like she's been slapped. Billy's face falls.
"Well." She says coolly.
"Rae, I didn't mean that. I'm only saying it cause I'm drunk." He apologizes, running a hand over his face.
"No it's fine Billy. Never mind that this is a Texas school we're talking to. A place I would go to. Don't make me into the enemy here Billy. Not when I'm doing a better job of watching out for Tim's future than you are." She spits, turning on her heel and storming out. She slams the car door.
"Whoa, what's that about?" Tim asks, surprised.
"I don't want to talk about it." She mutters, pulling away from the house. They ride in silence until she settles down. "It's a nice school Tim." She says finally and he looks at her. "Small class sizes, a pretty campus. I thought it was nice." She admits and he looks at her.
"You looked at it?" He asks.
"I looked at all the schools that you might play for." She informs him.
"For me or for you?" He asks and she shrugs. "Well, I think he's only gonna wanna talk about football."
"Well, maybe you can talk about the school too." She points out and he sighs. "Tim, why are you scared of this?" She demands, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"Because then I have to go to college!" He says and Rae stares at him in disbelief. "What?" He demands.
"You don't care, do you?" She realizes and he just raises an eyebrow. "You don't care about going to college, you don't realize how important this is to your future, you don't care, do you?"
"Of course I do." He insists, halfheartedly.
"No. You don't." She says firmly, stomping on the breaks. He looks at her as she pulls the car around.
"Rae, where are we going?" He asks.
"Home." She says from between gritted teeth.
"But we have that meeting!" He says, bewildered.
"No, we don't. Because you don't care." She says furiously.
"You know what Rae?" Tim asks suddenly, pissed. "Where's that girl from a year ago? The one who drank with me and told me that I didn't need some prissy girl like Lyla to fit into her neat little life? Where's that girl?" He demands.
"Right here!" Rae yells, tears welling up. "Right here, right next to you. She's been here every step of the way! She's trying to get you out of the damn hole that is Dillon! I am trying so damn hard Tim. To help you leave Texas." She insists, swiping her hand roughly across her cheeks.
"Maybe I don't want to leave Texas." He says quietly.
"Fine. That's fine. I don't care. I just wanted you to make something out of your life. Do what you want Tim." She says tiredly, parking in her driveway and turning the car off. "Tell Billy he wins. He gets to keep you." She climbs out of the car and walks in the house.
"What does that mean?" He wonders, stumbling over to his own house and letting himself in.
AN: It's typical Tim, drinking and ruining things... Please, please, please leave reviews! I likely won't be updating till next Monday, I'm going on Fall Break and my connection to the real world might get a little spotty. So I'll see you then, but in the meantime, I would love to read your thoughts, especially on what you think Tim's future is going to be!