Friday Night Lights - "If This One Could Be With You", Tim/Julie, R
Title: If This One Could Be With You - Chapter 3/10
Author: lindentree
Rating: R (for the series; this part is just PG)
Character(s): Tim/Julie
Word Count: 3,553
Summary: After 2x11, "Jumping the Gun", Julie's parents come up with an appropriate punishment for her - tutoring Tim Riggins.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Julie was reading with her headphones on, sprawled out on her bed, when the sound of raised voices filtered through her music. She sighed, putting her book down. Her parents were fighting. Tentatively, she lifted one phone away from her ear.
“If you don’t follow through and bench him for this, I am going to be so furious. This is about more than football, we are talking about his education and his future, and the fact that he has a serious drinking problem that everyone seems quite happy to overlook as long as the Panthers win.”
“I know it, honey, and you know that I agree with you completely. He knows if he doesn’t pass, he doesn’t play, but I’m just not sure that benching him right now is the best idea. Football is about the only damn thing that kid has.”
Julie switched her music off and stood up. They were talking about Tim.
“Hey guys,” she said, emerging from her bedroom to find her parents standing on either side of the kitchen table. “What’s going on?”
Both of her parents looked at her, then at one another, unsure of what to say. Tami sighed.
“We might as well tell her. She’s involved, too, and she'll find out eventually, anyway,” she said, throwing up her hands in frustration.
“What’s wrong?” Julie asked.
“It’s Tim Riggins,” her father replied. “He showed up drunk to school today, screwed up that English test, got in a fight, and ended up causing some damage to one of the classrooms.”
“The principal is talking about a suspension this time,” her mother added.
“But if he’s suspended, he won’t be eligible to play,” Julie said.
“Yeah, I know,” her father replied. He removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair, his agitation evident.
“Where is he now?” Julie asked.
“He’s at home, sweetie. Billy picked him up,” her mother replied.
“Can I go see him?”
“What?” her father barked.
“Oh, honey, no," her mother frowned. "That’s just out of the question. Why would you want to go see him?”
“I dunno,” Julie shrugged. “Just to see if he’s okay. He wouldn’t have done that unless something set him off.”
“There’s no excuse for the way that boy behaved today, Julie,” her father said, a warning in his voice. “Don’t you go getting any tender, girly feelings about how you need to rescue him from himself because he’s a lost little boy, or whatever it is teenage girls think about boys like Tim Riggins.”
“’Tender, girly feelings’?” Julie repeated, incredulous.
“Yeah, honey. Girly feelings?” Tami said sceptically, looking at her husband.
“Oh, both of you know exactly what I mean. He’s not some stray puppy. He knows better than to act like that,” he turned to Julie. “Under no circumstances are you to go see Tim Riggins. We’ll see how this suspension thing pans out, but for now you’ll continue to tutor him here. Maybe it’s time your mother or I were around more often when that happens, by the way.”
“Dad! That’s so unfair. He’d never do anything to me,” Julie protested.
“Julie, you know I’ve got faith in that kid. I do. I want to believe he’s a good man. I just don’t know what else to do, when he does this kind of thing to himself. I just don’t know.”
***
Julie lay awake that night, staring up at her bedroom ceiling. She wondered what could have made Tim do something like that, something that jeopardized the rest of the football season, when he’d been doing so well with the tutoring. He had seemed to be in such a good mood recently, too; not like last year after Jason Street was injured and all that stuff happened with him and Lyla Garrity.
Sighing, she turned over and looked at her alarm clock. The bright green digital numbers indicated that it wasn’t even midnight yet.
Julie threw back her covers and pulled on jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and a pair of runners. Leaving her room, she stood outside her parents’ bedroom door and listened. She could hear her dad snoring heavily. Satisfied, she went back into her room and used some dirty laundry to make it look like she was still curled up in bed. Silently, she opened her bedroom window and climbed out.
It took longer than she expected to walk to the Rigginses’ house, and when she got there she was relieved to find that there were still lights on. She had been worried that she’d be forced to try to figure out which bedroom window was Tim’s.
Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the house and knocked on the blue front door. She heard the sound of the TV, and after a long pause the door opened. Billy Riggins stood in front of her, looking tired and annoyed.
“Um, hi,” she said. “I’m really sorry to bother you so late, is Tim here?”
Billy rolled his eyes. Julie figured he must be used to girls coming and going all the time.
“Come on in,” he said, stepping aside to let her into the house. He shut the door behind her and walked back to the living room, where he had obviously been watching TV.
“Tim!” he yelled, “You have a visitor!”
Julie stood awkwardly by the front door, taking in the general disarray of the house. Clothes, football equipment, empty beer bottles, dirty dishes, and open packages of junk food were strewn all over, but it also looked like there was broken glass on the floor.
Billy ignored her completely, opening a beer and going back to watching his TV show.
Beyond the kitchen, a door opened and Tim’s gruff voice drifted out.
“Billy, who is it? Tell them I’m asleep.”
“It’s one of your little girlfriends,” Billy called. “It’s too late, she’s already inside.”
“It’s Julie, Tim,” she said shyly, wishing she hadn’t come.
There was a long pause during which Julie wished she could sink into the ground. What had she been thinking?
Tim stepped out of his room and into the light cast by the TV. His face was pale in the blue light, and his eyes dark holes. Julie could make out a number of cuts and bruises on his face.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. His voice was scratchy and tired.
“I heard about what happened and I just came to -“ she trailed off lamely, uncertain herself about the answer to his question.
Billy scoffed, shaking his head.
Casting a frown in Billy’s direction, Tim turned back towards his room. “Come on,” he said.
Gingerly, Julie followed him. His room was dim, and just as messy as the rest of the house. Julie never truly appreciated all the work her mother did to clean up after her until that moment.
Tim sat down on the end of his bed, and rested his head in his hands.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he mumbled. “Coach is gonna kill me.”
“He doesn’t know I’m here, obviously,” Julie said, sitting down next to him.
Tim didn’t reply, and there was a long pause.
“What happened?” Julie asked softly.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied, not looking up.
There was another pause before she spoke again. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. But I’m here if you want to.”
Tim cast her a sidelong glance. His expression was doubtful and strangely wary.
“Sometimes it helps to get it off your chest,” she prompted.
Burying his face in his hands again, Tim exhaled loudly.
“My dad showed up last night,” he said, his voice flat.
“Oh,” Julie replied. She didn’t know much about the Riggins family except that the boys had been on their own for years, with only occasional contact from their father.
“He’s going through a rough patch and I guess he lost his job in Corpus, so he came up here to crash with us for a while. It didn’t go so great - he and Billy don’t really get along.”
Julie nodded, not saying anything.
“Anyway, Billy and I went to The Landing Strip last night to blow off some steam, and last night kinda turned into this morning. I was already pretty gone before I remembered I had that test this afternoon, but I headed over to the school. I got there and I tried to write it, but I couldn’t really pull it together, and then this guy in my English class started mouthing off to me about Lyla and this Christian radio guy, or something, and I just sort of lost it.”
He looked up at her finally, his hair falling away from his face. He had a black eye and a split lip, and it was clear that his nose had been bleeding. He had several stitches holding his eyebrow together.
“Yikes,” she breathed.
“You should see the other guy,” he deadpanned.
Julie stifled the urge to smirk. He didn’t need encouragement, but she figured he didn’t really need a lecture right now, either. Maybe later.
“Sorry you had such a crappy day,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said, looking at her closely.
Julie felt a funny clenching feeling in her chest, and then a profound sinking feeling as she understood what her dad had been talking about earlier. She wanted to kiss Tim. Right this instant, on his soft, bruised lips. He was sitting there with his battered face and his lost expression, looking at her like she was the only good thing about today, and she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hold his hand and tell him everything would be okay, and fall asleep beside him and maybe make him pancakes in the morning, just to see if that might make him smile.
Her stomach turned over. Oh no. No, no. This was terrible. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen.
Julie stood up quickly, stepping out of range of his eyes and his voice and all the other things that were pulling her towards him. No. She was a smart girl. Smarter than this.
“I should go,” she said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
“Oh,” he replied, looking a little disappointed. “Yeah, you’re right. No point in you getting busted, too.”
“Yeah.”
“Come on, I’ll drive you home,” he said, standing up and grabbing his keys.
“No!” she all but shouted. Tim looked taken aback.
“No?”
“I mean, you don’t have to do that. I walked here.”
“You shouldn’t have. Don’t worry - I’ll drop you off down the street.”
Julie hesitated, thinking about the inevitable awkwardness of the ride home. Then she thought about what had happened to Tyra.
“Okay,” she agreed.
Tim did as he said he would and parked a few houses down from hers, turning the engine off.
“Thanks for the ride,” Julie said, turning to look at him.
“Anytime,” he replied. There was a pause before he spoke again. “I really screwed up that test. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
“We’ll figure something out. My parents said that we should just keep going until they sort out the whole suspension thing.”
Tim nodded. “Sorry if I made things harder for you.”
“You didn't. I’ll see you tomorrow at school, okay?”
“Sure,” he replied. “Night, Jules.”
“Night, Tim.”
Julie hopped out of the truck and, after closing the door as quietly as she possibly could, raced down the street and in between the houses to get to her bedroom window. She didn’t hear Tim’s truck start up and pull away until she was inside.
Julie scrambled out of her clothes and back into her pyjamas, throwing aside the dirty laundry which she’d shoved under her covers as a decoy. She leaped into bed and lay there panting shallowly, waiting for her parents to burst in and demand to know where she’d been and just what the hell she thought she was doing.
They never came, and eventually Julie calmed down and fell asleep. In the morning, her parents greeted her with sleepy smiles and her mother asked her if she felt like eggs or cereal for breakfast.
***
Tim drove home from the Taylors’ house the long way, even though he was already in trouble with Billy. There was always something about the lines on the road and the wind coming in the window that made his thoughts a little easier to untangle.
If Billy had told him tonight that his visitor was Lyla Garrity wearing nothing but a smile, Tim couldn’t have been more surprised. He didn’t know what Julie was thinking, sneaking out and showing up at his place when he was already in so much trouble that his stomach churned at the thought of facing Coach.
It wasn’t as though Tim was unused to girls showing up at his house at night. The rally girls liked to descend on him for official (or unofficial) Panthers business at all hours, and more than a few girls had snuck in through his bedroom window for the thrill of it over the years.
No, the odd thing was that it was Julie Taylor, his English tutor and Coach’s daughter, and that she had sat on his bed and listened to him talk about his dysfunctional family. She hadn't seemed to judge him, or worse, pity him. She just sat and heard him out.
It worried him to think how close he had come to talking more than he did, revealing more. Watching her serious, sleepy face, scrubbed free of make-up, while he told her parts of what had happened that day, he wondered what her reaction would be if he told her the whole truth.
Tim had always hated talking about himself or his own life except in the most basic, straight-forward terms. He had figured out in early adolescence that it was easy to deflect sympathy and concern (not to mention pity and well-intentioned meddling) by being as cavalier and matter-of-fact about the situation as possible. There had only ever been one person who seemed unconvinced, and that was Mrs. Street, who would always cock her head and sigh, tuck a strand of hair behind his ear, and ask him if he’d had anything to eat today.
Driving the familiar streets of Dillon and recalling the expression on Julie’s face when he mentioned his father, Tim wondered if perhaps she was one other person he could not fool.
***
"Tim, this is extremely serious. You assaulted a fellow student during school hours, and caused damage to school property. Our budget is tight as it is. We don't have the funds to replace broken windows and desks all the time."
Tim didn't reply, just stared down at the ugly green floor tile between his feet. He was sitting in front of the principal. Coach and Mrs. Taylor were both there, and Billy sat next to him. Tim could practically feel the frustration coming off all of them.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" asked the principal.
Tim merely shook his head.
The principal sighed. "Mrs. Taylor, I understand that you have been working with Tim in order to improve his grades, is that correct?"
"Yes," she replied. "I've arranged for another student to tutor him in English, as that's the subject he's still having the most trouble with. Before this incident, Tim was doing well and his grades were improving."
"Mr. Riggins," the principal said, addressing Billy, "I think it is incumbent upon me to remind you that although we are aware of your family situation, we have largely turned a blind eye to the fact that Tim is not supervised by his legal guardian, in order not to cause trouble for you both. But if you continue to allow Tim to drink and be truant, consider yourself warned that the school will have no choice but to report this situation to the state in Tim's best interest."
"What?" Tim said, looking up. "What does that mean?"
"What it means, Tim," replied the principal, "Is that if you can't behave yourself under Billy's supervision, we'll have to report to the state that you have no present, suitable legal guardian, at which point you may become a ward of the state until your eighteenth birthday."
"You can't do that," Tim protested, glancing over at Coach Taylor for help. He looked away.
"Strictly speaking, the school should already have done that, Tim," Mrs. Taylor said.
"Coach Taylor," asked the principal, switching gears. "How has Tim's behaviour been on the team?"
"Just fine," Coach Taylor replied. "He plays well, plays fair. Shows up to practice. He's a leader on the field."
The principal nodded. "Let's speak frankly - what are Dillon's chances for the season if Tim is suspended?"
Coach Taylor looked squarely at the principal. "Speaking just about the team's chances, it's unlikely at this point that we could make playoffs without Tim Riggins."
"You've put me and Coach Taylor in quite a position here, young man," said the principal, addressing Tim once more. "Here's what we're going to do. You are not going to be suspended. You are, however, going to serve detention every day on your free period from now until the end of the semester. We are enacting a zero tolerance policy with regards to drinking, and if any of your teachers so much as suspect that you are intoxicated in class, you will be off the team. Additionally, you are to see Mrs. Taylor in the guidance office for one hour per week so that she can monitor your academic progress and help you learn to control your temper."
Tim nodded silently.
"Let me be abundantly clear. We are all putting our necks out for you so that you can have another chance, and so that the Panthers can have a good season. What we are doing here is probably not right - you ought to be suspended for your ridiculous behaviour. This is your last chance. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," Tim replied.
"All right. Thank you, everyone. Tim, I believe you have a class to get to. You can go. I'd like to speak to your brother and to Coach and Mrs. Taylor for a moment."
Tim stood and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. On the other side, he could hear their soft, muffled voices discussing him. He scowled, wanting to cut class and head out for a beer.
Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair and made his way through the halls to American History.
***
The day after she snuck out to go to Tim’s, Julie spent the day in a funk, picking stupid fights with her mom and Lois and even Tyra. She was dreading the thought of her next tutoring session with Tim, as she felt totally self-conscious about what happened between them. Or self-conscious about her feelings, at least, which she was still struggling to sort out. She couldn’t get the thought of kissing Tim out of her head, wondering what would have happened, what he might have done, if she had just gone ahead and pressed her lips against his.
It made sense that she was attracted to Tim; what girl wasn’t? As far as Julie could tell, her mother was just about the only woman in Dillon who was immune to Tim’s charms. In a way she was a little disappointed in herself - she liked to think that she was more discerning than to go for the sexy, broody guy, or the good-looking star jock guy. It bugged her, too, that she was in the midst of proving her father right about developing “girly feelings” for Tim.
But she was quickly learning that Tim was more than he seemed at first. After all, he was still the guy who got her out of an ugly situation when no one else was looking out for her, and the guy who didn’t let her get in trouble with her parents even though it meant he was basically homeless. He might be difficult and self-destructive, but in that situation, he was the one who came out looking like a decent person.
Julie wondered if he’d be interested, if he might be up for it. How would he have reacted if she’d kissed him? Would he have kissed her back, taken it further? She had no idea. She knew full well Tim’s reputation with girls (and women, for that matter) but he’d never been anything but friendly to her, even tonight. She wasn’t so deluded that she could mistake his friendliness for anything else. Maybe that was all Tim wanted, a friend.
Immediately Julie was swamped by a wave of guilt. Tim didn’t have many real friends, and she knew that he’d been grateful to her for coming over last night, although he had been a little confused. How shallow and self-centred was she for worrying about whether he might like her back when he was on the verge of getting suspended and kicked off the football team, when his dad was showing up and causing trouble for him?
Julie resolved then to put aside her feelings for him, and try to be the best friend she could be. He could use a friend, and truth be told, so could she.
Chapter 4
Author: lindentree
Rating: R (for the series; this part is just PG)
Character(s): Tim/Julie
Word Count: 3,553
Summary: After 2x11, "Jumping the Gun", Julie's parents come up with an appropriate punishment for her - tutoring Tim Riggins.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Julie was reading with her headphones on, sprawled out on her bed, when the sound of raised voices filtered through her music. She sighed, putting her book down. Her parents were fighting. Tentatively, she lifted one phone away from her ear.
“If you don’t follow through and bench him for this, I am going to be so furious. This is about more than football, we are talking about his education and his future, and the fact that he has a serious drinking problem that everyone seems quite happy to overlook as long as the Panthers win.”
“I know it, honey, and you know that I agree with you completely. He knows if he doesn’t pass, he doesn’t play, but I’m just not sure that benching him right now is the best idea. Football is about the only damn thing that kid has.”
Julie switched her music off and stood up. They were talking about Tim.
“Hey guys,” she said, emerging from her bedroom to find her parents standing on either side of the kitchen table. “What’s going on?”
Both of her parents looked at her, then at one another, unsure of what to say. Tami sighed.
“We might as well tell her. She’s involved, too, and she'll find out eventually, anyway,” she said, throwing up her hands in frustration.
“What’s wrong?” Julie asked.
“It’s Tim Riggins,” her father replied. “He showed up drunk to school today, screwed up that English test, got in a fight, and ended up causing some damage to one of the classrooms.”
“The principal is talking about a suspension this time,” her mother added.
“But if he’s suspended, he won’t be eligible to play,” Julie said.
“Yeah, I know,” her father replied. He removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair, his agitation evident.
“Where is he now?” Julie asked.
“He’s at home, sweetie. Billy picked him up,” her mother replied.
“Can I go see him?”
“What?” her father barked.
“Oh, honey, no," her mother frowned. "That’s just out of the question. Why would you want to go see him?”
“I dunno,” Julie shrugged. “Just to see if he’s okay. He wouldn’t have done that unless something set him off.”
“There’s no excuse for the way that boy behaved today, Julie,” her father said, a warning in his voice. “Don’t you go getting any tender, girly feelings about how you need to rescue him from himself because he’s a lost little boy, or whatever it is teenage girls think about boys like Tim Riggins.”
“’Tender, girly feelings’?” Julie repeated, incredulous.
“Yeah, honey. Girly feelings?” Tami said sceptically, looking at her husband.
“Oh, both of you know exactly what I mean. He’s not some stray puppy. He knows better than to act like that,” he turned to Julie. “Under no circumstances are you to go see Tim Riggins. We’ll see how this suspension thing pans out, but for now you’ll continue to tutor him here. Maybe it’s time your mother or I were around more often when that happens, by the way.”
“Dad! That’s so unfair. He’d never do anything to me,” Julie protested.
“Julie, you know I’ve got faith in that kid. I do. I want to believe he’s a good man. I just don’t know what else to do, when he does this kind of thing to himself. I just don’t know.”
***
Julie lay awake that night, staring up at her bedroom ceiling. She wondered what could have made Tim do something like that, something that jeopardized the rest of the football season, when he’d been doing so well with the tutoring. He had seemed to be in such a good mood recently, too; not like last year after Jason Street was injured and all that stuff happened with him and Lyla Garrity.
Sighing, she turned over and looked at her alarm clock. The bright green digital numbers indicated that it wasn’t even midnight yet.
Julie threw back her covers and pulled on jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and a pair of runners. Leaving her room, she stood outside her parents’ bedroom door and listened. She could hear her dad snoring heavily. Satisfied, she went back into her room and used some dirty laundry to make it look like she was still curled up in bed. Silently, she opened her bedroom window and climbed out.
It took longer than she expected to walk to the Rigginses’ house, and when she got there she was relieved to find that there were still lights on. She had been worried that she’d be forced to try to figure out which bedroom window was Tim’s.
Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the house and knocked on the blue front door. She heard the sound of the TV, and after a long pause the door opened. Billy Riggins stood in front of her, looking tired and annoyed.
“Um, hi,” she said. “I’m really sorry to bother you so late, is Tim here?”
Billy rolled his eyes. Julie figured he must be used to girls coming and going all the time.
“Come on in,” he said, stepping aside to let her into the house. He shut the door behind her and walked back to the living room, where he had obviously been watching TV.
“Tim!” he yelled, “You have a visitor!”
Julie stood awkwardly by the front door, taking in the general disarray of the house. Clothes, football equipment, empty beer bottles, dirty dishes, and open packages of junk food were strewn all over, but it also looked like there was broken glass on the floor.
Billy ignored her completely, opening a beer and going back to watching his TV show.
Beyond the kitchen, a door opened and Tim’s gruff voice drifted out.
“Billy, who is it? Tell them I’m asleep.”
“It’s one of your little girlfriends,” Billy called. “It’s too late, she’s already inside.”
“It’s Julie, Tim,” she said shyly, wishing she hadn’t come.
There was a long pause during which Julie wished she could sink into the ground. What had she been thinking?
Tim stepped out of his room and into the light cast by the TV. His face was pale in the blue light, and his eyes dark holes. Julie could make out a number of cuts and bruises on his face.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. His voice was scratchy and tired.
“I heard about what happened and I just came to -“ she trailed off lamely, uncertain herself about the answer to his question.
Billy scoffed, shaking his head.
Casting a frown in Billy’s direction, Tim turned back towards his room. “Come on,” he said.
Gingerly, Julie followed him. His room was dim, and just as messy as the rest of the house. Julie never truly appreciated all the work her mother did to clean up after her until that moment.
Tim sat down on the end of his bed, and rested his head in his hands.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he mumbled. “Coach is gonna kill me.”
“He doesn’t know I’m here, obviously,” Julie said, sitting down next to him.
Tim didn’t reply, and there was a long pause.
“What happened?” Julie asked softly.
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied, not looking up.
There was another pause before she spoke again. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. But I’m here if you want to.”
Tim cast her a sidelong glance. His expression was doubtful and strangely wary.
“Sometimes it helps to get it off your chest,” she prompted.
Burying his face in his hands again, Tim exhaled loudly.
“My dad showed up last night,” he said, his voice flat.
“Oh,” Julie replied. She didn’t know much about the Riggins family except that the boys had been on their own for years, with only occasional contact from their father.
“He’s going through a rough patch and I guess he lost his job in Corpus, so he came up here to crash with us for a while. It didn’t go so great - he and Billy don’t really get along.”
Julie nodded, not saying anything.
“Anyway, Billy and I went to The Landing Strip last night to blow off some steam, and last night kinda turned into this morning. I was already pretty gone before I remembered I had that test this afternoon, but I headed over to the school. I got there and I tried to write it, but I couldn’t really pull it together, and then this guy in my English class started mouthing off to me about Lyla and this Christian radio guy, or something, and I just sort of lost it.”
He looked up at her finally, his hair falling away from his face. He had a black eye and a split lip, and it was clear that his nose had been bleeding. He had several stitches holding his eyebrow together.
“Yikes,” she breathed.
“You should see the other guy,” he deadpanned.
Julie stifled the urge to smirk. He didn’t need encouragement, but she figured he didn’t really need a lecture right now, either. Maybe later.
“Sorry you had such a crappy day,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said, looking at her closely.
Julie felt a funny clenching feeling in her chest, and then a profound sinking feeling as she understood what her dad had been talking about earlier. She wanted to kiss Tim. Right this instant, on his soft, bruised lips. He was sitting there with his battered face and his lost expression, looking at her like she was the only good thing about today, and she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hold his hand and tell him everything would be okay, and fall asleep beside him and maybe make him pancakes in the morning, just to see if that might make him smile.
Her stomach turned over. Oh no. No, no. This was terrible. This was the worst thing that could possibly happen.
Julie stood up quickly, stepping out of range of his eyes and his voice and all the other things that were pulling her towards him. No. She was a smart girl. Smarter than this.
“I should go,” she said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
“Oh,” he replied, looking a little disappointed. “Yeah, you’re right. No point in you getting busted, too.”
“Yeah.”
“Come on, I’ll drive you home,” he said, standing up and grabbing his keys.
“No!” she all but shouted. Tim looked taken aback.
“No?”
“I mean, you don’t have to do that. I walked here.”
“You shouldn’t have. Don’t worry - I’ll drop you off down the street.”
Julie hesitated, thinking about the inevitable awkwardness of the ride home. Then she thought about what had happened to Tyra.
“Okay,” she agreed.
Tim did as he said he would and parked a few houses down from hers, turning the engine off.
“Thanks for the ride,” Julie said, turning to look at him.
“Anytime,” he replied. There was a pause before he spoke again. “I really screwed up that test. I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
“We’ll figure something out. My parents said that we should just keep going until they sort out the whole suspension thing.”
Tim nodded. “Sorry if I made things harder for you.”
“You didn't. I’ll see you tomorrow at school, okay?”
“Sure,” he replied. “Night, Jules.”
“Night, Tim.”
Julie hopped out of the truck and, after closing the door as quietly as she possibly could, raced down the street and in between the houses to get to her bedroom window. She didn’t hear Tim’s truck start up and pull away until she was inside.
Julie scrambled out of her clothes and back into her pyjamas, throwing aside the dirty laundry which she’d shoved under her covers as a decoy. She leaped into bed and lay there panting shallowly, waiting for her parents to burst in and demand to know where she’d been and just what the hell she thought she was doing.
They never came, and eventually Julie calmed down and fell asleep. In the morning, her parents greeted her with sleepy smiles and her mother asked her if she felt like eggs or cereal for breakfast.
***
Tim drove home from the Taylors’ house the long way, even though he was already in trouble with Billy. There was always something about the lines on the road and the wind coming in the window that made his thoughts a little easier to untangle.
If Billy had told him tonight that his visitor was Lyla Garrity wearing nothing but a smile, Tim couldn’t have been more surprised. He didn’t know what Julie was thinking, sneaking out and showing up at his place when he was already in so much trouble that his stomach churned at the thought of facing Coach.
It wasn’t as though Tim was unused to girls showing up at his house at night. The rally girls liked to descend on him for official (or unofficial) Panthers business at all hours, and more than a few girls had snuck in through his bedroom window for the thrill of it over the years.
No, the odd thing was that it was Julie Taylor, his English tutor and Coach’s daughter, and that she had sat on his bed and listened to him talk about his dysfunctional family. She hadn't seemed to judge him, or worse, pity him. She just sat and heard him out.
It worried him to think how close he had come to talking more than he did, revealing more. Watching her serious, sleepy face, scrubbed free of make-up, while he told her parts of what had happened that day, he wondered what her reaction would be if he told her the whole truth.
Tim had always hated talking about himself or his own life except in the most basic, straight-forward terms. He had figured out in early adolescence that it was easy to deflect sympathy and concern (not to mention pity and well-intentioned meddling) by being as cavalier and matter-of-fact about the situation as possible. There had only ever been one person who seemed unconvinced, and that was Mrs. Street, who would always cock her head and sigh, tuck a strand of hair behind his ear, and ask him if he’d had anything to eat today.
Driving the familiar streets of Dillon and recalling the expression on Julie’s face when he mentioned his father, Tim wondered if perhaps she was one other person he could not fool.
***
"Tim, this is extremely serious. You assaulted a fellow student during school hours, and caused damage to school property. Our budget is tight as it is. We don't have the funds to replace broken windows and desks all the time."
Tim didn't reply, just stared down at the ugly green floor tile between his feet. He was sitting in front of the principal. Coach and Mrs. Taylor were both there, and Billy sat next to him. Tim could practically feel the frustration coming off all of them.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" asked the principal.
Tim merely shook his head.
The principal sighed. "Mrs. Taylor, I understand that you have been working with Tim in order to improve his grades, is that correct?"
"Yes," she replied. "I've arranged for another student to tutor him in English, as that's the subject he's still having the most trouble with. Before this incident, Tim was doing well and his grades were improving."
"Mr. Riggins," the principal said, addressing Billy, "I think it is incumbent upon me to remind you that although we are aware of your family situation, we have largely turned a blind eye to the fact that Tim is not supervised by his legal guardian, in order not to cause trouble for you both. But if you continue to allow Tim to drink and be truant, consider yourself warned that the school will have no choice but to report this situation to the state in Tim's best interest."
"What?" Tim said, looking up. "What does that mean?"
"What it means, Tim," replied the principal, "Is that if you can't behave yourself under Billy's supervision, we'll have to report to the state that you have no present, suitable legal guardian, at which point you may become a ward of the state until your eighteenth birthday."
"You can't do that," Tim protested, glancing over at Coach Taylor for help. He looked away.
"Strictly speaking, the school should already have done that, Tim," Mrs. Taylor said.
"Coach Taylor," asked the principal, switching gears. "How has Tim's behaviour been on the team?"
"Just fine," Coach Taylor replied. "He plays well, plays fair. Shows up to practice. He's a leader on the field."
The principal nodded. "Let's speak frankly - what are Dillon's chances for the season if Tim is suspended?"
Coach Taylor looked squarely at the principal. "Speaking just about the team's chances, it's unlikely at this point that we could make playoffs without Tim Riggins."
"You've put me and Coach Taylor in quite a position here, young man," said the principal, addressing Tim once more. "Here's what we're going to do. You are not going to be suspended. You are, however, going to serve detention every day on your free period from now until the end of the semester. We are enacting a zero tolerance policy with regards to drinking, and if any of your teachers so much as suspect that you are intoxicated in class, you will be off the team. Additionally, you are to see Mrs. Taylor in the guidance office for one hour per week so that she can monitor your academic progress and help you learn to control your temper."
Tim nodded silently.
"Let me be abundantly clear. We are all putting our necks out for you so that you can have another chance, and so that the Panthers can have a good season. What we are doing here is probably not right - you ought to be suspended for your ridiculous behaviour. This is your last chance. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," Tim replied.
"All right. Thank you, everyone. Tim, I believe you have a class to get to. You can go. I'd like to speak to your brother and to Coach and Mrs. Taylor for a moment."
Tim stood and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. On the other side, he could hear their soft, muffled voices discussing him. He scowled, wanting to cut class and head out for a beer.
Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair and made his way through the halls to American History.
***
The day after she snuck out to go to Tim’s, Julie spent the day in a funk, picking stupid fights with her mom and Lois and even Tyra. She was dreading the thought of her next tutoring session with Tim, as she felt totally self-conscious about what happened between them. Or self-conscious about her feelings, at least, which she was still struggling to sort out. She couldn’t get the thought of kissing Tim out of her head, wondering what would have happened, what he might have done, if she had just gone ahead and pressed her lips against his.
It made sense that she was attracted to Tim; what girl wasn’t? As far as Julie could tell, her mother was just about the only woman in Dillon who was immune to Tim’s charms. In a way she was a little disappointed in herself - she liked to think that she was more discerning than to go for the sexy, broody guy, or the good-looking star jock guy. It bugged her, too, that she was in the midst of proving her father right about developing “girly feelings” for Tim.
But she was quickly learning that Tim was more than he seemed at first. After all, he was still the guy who got her out of an ugly situation when no one else was looking out for her, and the guy who didn’t let her get in trouble with her parents even though it meant he was basically homeless. He might be difficult and self-destructive, but in that situation, he was the one who came out looking like a decent person.
Julie wondered if he’d be interested, if he might be up for it. How would he have reacted if she’d kissed him? Would he have kissed her back, taken it further? She had no idea. She knew full well Tim’s reputation with girls (and women, for that matter) but he’d never been anything but friendly to her, even tonight. She wasn’t so deluded that she could mistake his friendliness for anything else. Maybe that was all Tim wanted, a friend.
Immediately Julie was swamped by a wave of guilt. Tim didn’t have many real friends, and she knew that he’d been grateful to her for coming over last night, although he had been a little confused. How shallow and self-centred was she for worrying about whether he might like her back when he was on the verge of getting suspended and kicked off the football team, when his dad was showing up and causing trouble for him?
Julie resolved then to put aside her feelings for him, and try to be the best friend she could be. He could use a friend, and truth be told, so could she.
Chapter 4