A/N: Thanks for the comments. Please keep reviewing!

[Wednesday, August 31]

"Why did you tell Gretchen that Stumpy had a girlfriend?" Eric pulled his second milk glass to himself. They were at the Baylor dining halls again, and Tami was using the second of Eric's twenty guest passes.

"It's her right to know before she gets involved with him," Tami replied.

"Don't you think he should have been the one to tell her that?"

Tami picked up her ice tea glass. "Didn't look like he was planning to."

"I think they agreed to see other people in college, him and that girl in you New York."

"That's what he says."

"I overhear their conversations on the phone sometimes, Tami. He asks her about other guys she's seeing."

"So, what, he just has sex with her when he's home for the holidays?"

"I think that's pretty much how that goes."

Tami shook her head. "Well if he's trying to get in Gretchen's pants – which he clearly is – then Gretchen has the right to know he's having sex with someone else."

"Look, Stumpy's working against enough as is with her. She thinks guys who go to Bazookas are pathetic."

"Well, Eric, paying women to show you their tits is kind of pathetic behavior, don't you think?"

"She's taking their money! She's doing that for a living and then judges him for it?" He drank down half of his second glass of milk. "Listen. Stumpy and I had a talk after his little date with Gretchen."

"Did he tell you that he scored?" Tami asked. "Because if he did, I can guarantee you he's lying." Gretchen had said they kissed and that Stumpy was not as bad a kisser as she had anticipated. "She's only dating him at all so he'll fix stuff for her."

"Oh. And she's the pure one in this scenario?"

"I never said anyone was pure in this scenario."

"Listen, Tami, Gretchen's the reason Stumpy keeps going back to Bazookas."

"So? He likes to see her topless. What's your point?"

"No. He likes her. He likes her attitude. Why, I don't for the life of me know, but that's what he told me the other night. He likes her attitude. Says she's real and raw, whatever the hell that means. All I'm saying is…leave them alone. Let them….let what happens there happen. It's not your business."

"Maybe it's not your business to tell me what's my business," Tami said, casting him a defiant look.

He smiled tightly. "Tami, I have to fit in on this team. If my girlfriend is going around telling girls that guys have girlfriends, I'm going to be a pariah. Do you understand that?"

Tami pushed her tray to the side. "I hate this football loyalty thing. My football brothers, right or wrong. You're like bad cops covering for each other. You've got your own thin blue line."

"Baylor's color is green, babe."

She leaned forward. "I. Don't. Like. It."

He leaned forward. "You. Don't. Have. To. But football is part of who I am, and there are certain things that will interfere with my ability to excel on this team. I'd appreciate it if you would appreciate that."

She sighed and sat back. "Fine. I'll keep my mouth shut." She slid her ice tea closer. "Although sometimes you seem to like it when I open my mouth."

He smiled.

[Saturday, September 3]

"Eric got us some excellent seats," Mr. Taylor said as he eased down next to Tami in Baylor's stadium. "How is college going for you?"

"My math class is really hard. My English class is pretty easy. Easier than high school, actually. Sociology and Cultural Anthropology are okay, but I really like Psychology."

"I thought community colleges were like trade schools. You're not learning a trade?"

"Well….I'm learning to be a psychologist."

"Psychology? Huh." He shook his head. "There's a pill for everything these days, I suppose."

"That would be psychiatry. Psychology is more about…well…I'd like to be a counselor one day. Get people to talk."

Mr. Taylor chuckled. Tami didn't think he had much respect for her chosen profession. "I used to tend bar," he said, "when I was 18 and 19. Before I had Eric, while I was still in the amateur league. I got people to talk without even trying. But I guess I didn't know the proper direction to give them. That's what you'll be doing, huh? Giving guidance?"

She couldn't quite tell if he was making fun of her or not. It did seem silly, the thought of an eighteen year old (she was about to turn nineteen later this fall) giving guidance, but she wouldn't always be so young. "That's the goal," she said.

"I hope Eric gets some playtime today," Mr. Taylor said. "All he needs is a chance to prove himself."

There was movement on the field. The band geared up. They stopped talking.

Baylor had a solid lead against the UNLV Rebels by the end of the second quarter, so Eric was trotted out onto the field after halftime. Tami whooped and hollered for him, while Mr. Taylor simply watched quietly.

Eric threw two touchdown passes and made a rushing touchdown by the end of the game. Baylor massacred UNLV 27 to 3.

"The coach is going to notice him now," Mr. Taylor said.

After the game, Eric talked to his father, who had to head back to Tyler that night, and then made plans to meet Tami later at the after party. After sitting in the hot sun, she wanted to go home and shower before partying. Eric would get a ride there from Stumpy, and Tami would take him home later. It was his turn to drink.

[*]

When Tami parked her car along frat row, she figured Eric was at least an hour ahead of her to the party. It had taken her longer to get out of the stadium than she'd planned, and then her hair took forever to blow dry after she showered.

As she made her way down the sidewalk toward the house, she received a whistle from a passing frat boy. As she walked up the lawn, another blocked her way.

"Hey, baby," he said, swaying on his feet. He pointed to his crotch. "Want some of this love juice?"

"Jesus H. Christ, Mikey," rose a familiar voice from behind Tami. "Has that ever worked for you?" Tami looked over her shoulder to see Stumpy.

"Once," Mikey said.

"This is Eric's girlfriend. Don't mess with her."

"Aw, sorry," Mikey said. "I didn't know."

Stumpy jerked his head toward the house. "I'll walk you up. Eric's inside. I just left my wallet in the car. Had to go back."

Tami was glad to have Stumpy's protective presence as they made their way into the house, but he disappeared once they were through the front door.

She had to scour the rowdy crowd for Eric. She found him because she heard his laugh. It was higher than usual, and trailed on a bit. She followed the sound and spied him by his hair, which had a slight cowlick going, thick and wild atop his head.

There were two girls on either side of him, in short, Baylor cheerleader skirts. One slid an arm around his waist, and the other draped an arm around his shoulders. Both were platinum blonde. She could see he was stumbling forward a little, toward the keg, while they were steadying him. One of the cheerleaders turned her head and stuck a tongue straight in his ear, and Tami froze, several feet back.

Why was he allowing her to do that? A massive wave of disappointment swelled up around her. Tami wasn't sure whether she was going to strangle him or the girl first.

"Whoa!" Eric said and stumbled back from the two girls. "Hold up…hold up…." He waved his hands a little wildly. "I havesh a girlfriend."

The wave of anger and disappointment broke suddenly without drowning Tami, but it still beat against her a bit.

"So?" the girl who had stuck her tongue in his ear said.

"Shho? Shho I havesh a girlfriend," he slurred. "Shhho I can't havesh your tongue in my ear."

"Why not?"

"Becashz. I havesh a girlfriend."

Tami rapidly closed the distance between them. Eric noticed her and pointed at her, his finger wavering. "There!" he exclaimed. "She arrives! Ishn't she bee-ute-ee-full?"

Both girls laughed. One said, "You're so funny, Aaron."

"His name is Eric," Tami declared as she strutted forward and put a possessive arm around his waist.

"Well I'm totally up for a threesome if your girlfriend is game," one of the cheerleaders said. "She can't be mad if she gets to participate, right?"

Eric looked at Tami with a poorly suppressed grin.

Tami shot him daggers with her eyes.

"Oh, I think she can be mad, ladiezzz," he said. "I haveshz to go. She doesn't like to share me. I'm shorry, ladiezzz. So shorry."

As Tami led him away, she heard one of the cheerleaders (she could hardly tell them apart) say, "Isn't it adorable the way he called us ladies? I so want to fuck him when his jealous gatekeeper isn't around."

"Is he first string or second string?" the other cheerleader asked.

When Tami had Eric away from the keg, he chuckled and kissed her, backing her up to the wall as he did so. "I'm sho glad you're here, babe." He started in on her neck with little nips. He pressed himself against her. He was partially erect. "I bet we can find an empty room."

She pushed him away. "You're drunk."

"Sho?"

"I always wondered what you'd be like drunk. Now I know. I don't like it. Flirting with girls. Pawing me without any attempt at - "

"- They came onto me, Tami. I shaid no. Maybe you didn't shee it, but I shwear I did."

"I saw it. But now you just want to screw me while thinking of them."

"What? I want you. I didn't do anything. I jusht won a game. You can't at leasht congratulate me?"

"How? By being a hole in your mattress? No thank you. Find your own way home tonight."

She pushed past him.

Tami stormed her way to the car, ignoring the cat calls of the drunken frat boys on the lawn. If they were this drunk already, she wondered how many of them would be in the hospital by morning. Maybe she wasn't cut out for college life. She had to work. Get straight As. She didn't have time for this bullshit. This was high school bullshit. She'd already done her share of partying with Mo her junior year. And she didn't like drunk Eric.

As she was driving away, however, she thought maybe she didn't much like sober Tami either. Eric had done the right thing. Those girls had obviously been coming onto him. They put their arms around him, and not vice versa, and he'd rebuffed them and told them he had a girlfriend, even though he didn't know Tami was right there at the moment, and even though he was drunk. Eric had played well and won a game tonight. He'd just wanted to celebrate, and with her, not them, and yet she'd left him standing there, drunk and alone.

Those girls were going to be all over him like sauce on ribs.

Tami made a sudden U-turn in the middle of the street. When she got back, Eric was stumbling along a ditch at the side of the street by the frat houses.

Stumpy was trailing along after him, shouting, "Taylor, hey, Taylor, get back to the party man, you're drunk, brother, you're gonna get run over. Come on now!"

He reached Eric about the same time Tami pulled to a stop, threw the car into park, and leaned over and opened the passenger's door. "I got him, Stumpy," she said.

"Okay. You take good care of my brother, you hear, y'all?" Stumpy was making fun of the Texas accent.

"You don't say y'all for one person, Stumpy," she said. From behind Stumpy she heard Eric retching and then vomiting into the grassy ditch. "How much did he drink? I was only an hour late."

"Ah." Stumpy leaned a hand on the hood and stooped down to look at her. "He got caught up in a drinking contest as soon as we got to the party. There were shots first, and then he was chugging from the keg when I left to go get my wallet from my car. He didn't want to say no and seem like a sissy, but I don't think he's much of a drinker."

Stumpy glanced back at Eric vomiting, "Get it all out, brother! All of it. You don't want to up chuck in your girlfriend's car!" He turned back to Tami. "Hey, listen. I saw you run off on him. Just so you know, Eric's a stand-up guy. He had girls coming onto him all summer training, and I never saw him go home with one. Not once. So whatever you think you saw at that party, you probably didn't." He shook his head. "Hell, Eric wouldn't even go with us to the titty bar. How is Gretchen by the way? She say anything to you about our date?"

"No," Tami lied.

He leaned down further and looked around her car. "This thing is a piece of shit, Tami."

"I know. I'm not Rockefeller."

"Well, I can perk it up for you, if you want. I know a thing or two about cars." Stumpy looked back at Eric. "You ready, brother?"

"No," Eric muttered. "She doesn't want me because of mattresses!"

"Mattresses, man? What the fuck are you talking about? Your girl's right here. She's gonna take good care of you. Get in before you do something you regret."

Eric stumbled over and slid into the passenger seat. Stumpy closed the door for him. Through the open window, Stumpy said, "Next time, Taylor, no drinking contests, okay? Oh, and, uh, I'm not going to be back at the room tonight, just so" he winked "y'all know. I'm probably gonna comfort those poor cheerleaders Eric didn't want. Wouldn't want them to feel undesired."

"You're such a gentleman, Stumpy," Tami said. "Always thinking of others."

"Tami, I'm joking. I'll probably be too drunk to drive later, so I'm going to crash at the frat."

[*]

In Eric's dorm room, Tami pulled off his cowboy boots while he lay with his back on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling. He was slurring less now.

"When have you ever been a hole in my mat-resh?" he asked.

"I'm sorry I said that." Tami sat on the edge of the bed, her back against the wall, her legs draped over his. "Those girls just made me angry and jealous. They pissed me off. It pisses me off that you can have sex with any girl you want."

"Why, if I'm not doing it?"

"I don't know why," she admitted. "I don't know why I feel the way I do."

"Maybe you don't trush me."

"I do trust you. It's just a lot of temptation, Eric."

"Yeah? Well Every guy in that frat was eyeing you. Maybe I should be jell-shush. You could have sex with any one of them you want."

"I don't want to have sex with any of them," she muttered. She rested her arms on her bent knees.

"I got a news flash for you, babe. I don't want to have sex with any of those girls either. I want to have it with you. Over and over. In lots of different ways. Be-cush I'm madly in love with you." He closed his eyes.

"Are you, sugar? Madly?"

He snored gently.

Tami went to the bathroom (after making sure no one was in there) and then returned. She slipped off her pants and bra, crawled into his bed in just her t-shirt and panties, curled herself between him and the wall, and went to sleep.