(Untitled)

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess had never been a spoiled princess, no matter what people teased her about sometimes. She grew up with two brothers and a family who loved her dearly but expected her to be able to fend for herself by the time she was ready for college, so she sometimes figured she could do just about anything, from scrub the floors to whip out the mace

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[texas_forever]

Not taking into account the fact that Tim won't ever go to college, he likely would've been just the type of Neanderthal to be tossing around a nerf football in the laundry room. As it is, though, he's only down there to grab his own clothes from the dryer and if Billy could see him now, the guy'd probably have a heart attack.

Tim's smile is warm and immediate when he recognizes Jess's long legs hanging over the edge of the dryer. Just like Tyra's, just exactly.

"Hey," he says, giving her a friendly nod as he pulls open the dryer door.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Hey," she said in return, looking over to smile at him. "M'not in your way, am I? A couple loads of cutoff shorts and Care Bears pajamas probably aren't worth guarding, but I'd rather sit with them than not."

[texas_forever]

"Pretty sad company," Tim says with a quiet laugh, bending over to pull out his over grown load, heaping them on top of the machine as he throws Jess another smile.

[off_the_ceiling]

"There may be a lot of things in this world that are my fault, but that's not one of them," said Jess. "Okay, maybe not in this world, but in its saner cousin."

[texas_forever]

"Lucky I came along then, huh?" Tim says, pulling a pair of shorts out of the pile and making to fold them. Sort of. Truth is, most of the time, Tim doesn't bother with folding, but it'd probably be kinda weird to just stay down there to talk to Jess. It's better to make it look like he's doing something.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Bet you always think the girls are lucky when you show up," said Jess, setting her book down so she was actually looking at him and then watching him for a moment. "I know you're a big boy, but you look like you have absolutely no idea what to do with those."

[texas_forever]

Not always, but Tim grins like he agrees with her anyway, hair falling over his eyes as he ducks his head.

"What, these?" he asks, holding up a pair of jeans by the leg. Tugging them free of the pile, he haphazardly attempting to fold them as he shoots her another grin. "Know what I'm doin'."

[off_the_ceiling]

"Sure you do," said Jess, taking a bite of her apple and then taking the time to chew and swallow as she watched him struggle with his clothing. "You usually just shove 'em in a drawer, don't you? Admit it."

[texas_forever]

"Well, maybe if I had a drawer," Tim does admit, his smile almost sheepish as he folds the jeans in half and then in half again. "There really a point to foldin' clothes?" he asks as he drops the newly-folded jeans to the floor.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Keeps them from getting wrinkled," said Jess, content to watch him rather than offer to help. She had her hands full anyway. "Probably not much point to folding these clothes, though. It's pretty hard to make them look good."

[texas_forever]

Tim's never cared about wrinkles in the past and he doubts he ever will. Especially now that he's living on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere, it's not like he has anyone to impress.

"You meanin' to say somethin' 'bout my clothes?" he asks, barely hiding a smirk. "Cuz, I mean, I can walk around naked if it'll make you feel any better."

[off_the_ceiling]

"I'm saying something about all of our clothes," said Jess, letting her heel bang lightly against the machine as she swung her leg. "You know what I've got washing in there right now? An Olivia Newton-John T-shirt. That's not even ironic."

[texas_forever]

He lets out a quick laugh at that, nodding in sympathy even though he's having a hard time remembering exactly who Olivia Newton-John is. With a smirk, he pulls out a green t-shirt emblazoned with the words 'BAY CITY ROLLERS.'

"Believe it or not, you kinda get used to it," he says before making quick work of folding up the shirt and dropping it onto the jeans at his feet.

[off_the_ceiling]

"I'm a little worried I am getting used to it," said Jess. "I mean, I've never been super-trendy but I used to actually look pretty good most of the time. Except during finals, but that just doesn't count."

[texas_forever]

"Pretty sure it'd take a lot to make you not look good," Tim says, this tone more of a statement of fact than flirtatious, which is pretty unheard of for him. It feels natural to want to flirt with her, to slide into that routine if only because she has Tyra's face, but he's pretty sure Sam wouldn't appreciate it and, however nice a guy Sam is, he's still about a foot taller than Tim.

[off_the_ceiling]

"All it takes to make me not look good is a little too much tequila and a little too little sleep," said Jess. "And believe me, that happened more than once."