"You dare me?" Julie asked her friend incredulously.

"Yes, Julie...I. Dare. You." Lois said, stifling a giggle.

Julie looked around at the other girls who all had wicked grins on their faces. This slumber party was to be the last time they were all together before leaving for their respective colleges. Julie was suddenly looking forward to that moment greatly.

"How do you know if he's even home?" Julie asked, she had to stall for time. There was no way she could do this.

"I saw him today getting gas. Did you know he still drives that piece of shit black Chevy?" Sarah scoffed. Julie always thought she was a stuck up bitch, but at least she wasn't a rally girl or a cheerleader.

"Lois..." Julie whined.

"Christ, Julie. You know you've always wanted to do this, so I'm just giving you the reason.

Julie shot Lois the dirtiest look she could muster. "You're such a bitch!"

Lois laughed and standing up said, "I'll drive!"

All the girls ran for the door and piled into Lois' SUV, a graduation present from her grandparents. She was headed to Syracuse so she would need something to deal with the snow. Julie slowly walked to car and sat in the front passenger seat.

On the drive over to his house she kept silently praying he wouldn't be home. That soon changed to if he was home, please let him be alone. She'd rather keep the audience to her mortification to the seven girls and him.

The girls pulled up to the ramshackle ranch house. His beat up pickup was in the driveway and they could see the blue light of the TV flickering through the window.

"Fuck!" Julie shouted, receiving squeals and screams of delight from the girls whom she now considered her former friends.

"Do this or I'll have to come up with something better." Lois threatened.

Julie hated Truth or Dare with a passion, but she had chosen to tell a truth her previous turn (yes, she agreed her little sister was a little bugeyed, but it was getting better as she grew up), so she knew Lois would do something way worse if she chickened out now. Julie shot them all the middle finger and threw open the passenger door. She slowly walked up the drive and made her way to his front door. She hadn't seen him in well over six months. He'd only made it back for one game after graduating and she'd been in a fight with Matt, again, so she skipped that particular after party.

Julie raised her fist to knock, but stopped just short of connecting with the door.

"Shit!" She stomped, frustrated. She would never admit this to anyone, but yes, she had wanted to kiss him since that night over a year ago in her room, but after he moved out of their house they hadn't really done more than exchange pleasantries.

"Fuck it." She muttered, knocking on the door.

Julie started to panic slightly when she heard footsteps nearing the door, but before she could move he stood before her.

"Hey." He drawled.

"Oh, hey, Tim. How are you?"

"Doing good. You?" He said peering around her and seeing the vehicle full of girls.

"Yeah, I'm good. I, uh, just thought I'd stop by and, you know, say 'hi'."

He stood looking at her with a bemused grin on his face.

"So," she said with a small wave, "hi."

"You expect me to believe that?"

Julie knew she was busted, but had no idea how she was going to complete this dare. For fuck's sake, she was almost 18 and she was acting like an idiot.

"OK, look. We're sort of having a last hurrah type night. Everyone is leaving next week for school and somehow we started playing this stupid game of Truth or Dare and I used up all my truths, so now I have to kiss you." She blurted out without taking a single breath.

"Your dare was to kiss me?"

She forgot how simple a creature he actually was. "Yes." She said completely mortified. He stood looking at her and she returned his gaze. 'Those green eyes haven't gone anywhere,' she thought.

"Well, come here."

She looked up at him shocked and before she knew what she was doing she was standing on her tiptoes leaning in for a kiss. When she felt his warm lips touch hers a wave of energy flashed through her body and propelled her forward into his arms, she eagerly accepted his tongue and wrapped her hands around his head, returning his kiss passionately. She snapped back to reality when she realized Lois was honking the horn and the girls were hanging out of the car's windows hollering and clapping.

Julie, blushing madly, smoothed down her skirt and ran a hand down the back of her long hair.

"OK, well. Thank you." she managed to get out before embarrassment completely over took her.

"No problem, Jules. Anytime." He said with his trademark sexy grin and a wink.

She gave him a meek wave and made her way back to the car.

"Still hate me?" Lois asked with a shit-eating grin covering her face as Julie shut the door.

"Totally." Julie said with a smile.

"Oh my god, Julie! That was so hot!" She heard from behind her.

Turning to see six eager faces staring back at her all she could do was laugh.

"The rumors are totally true," she smirked, "he's an AMAZING kisser!"

The girls all exploded in screams and laughter. As Lois pulled away Julie shot a quick look back at his house. She saw him looking out the window and she smiled to herself. 'I just totally kissed Tim Riggins,' she thought, 'God bless, Lois!'

The next morning Julie made her way home and was greeted by her family in the driveway. Her dad and Gracie were washing his brand new truck and her mom was busy organizing Julie's stuff in the garage.

"Ju-wee!" The two-year old shouted upon seeing her big sister.

"Hey, squirt. You're doing a great job!" Julie said acknowledging the soapy wet toddler.

"I gotta train her now that you're no longer going to be here to do it." Eric Taylor teased.

"Hey, hon." Tami Taylor shouted from the garage.

"Hi, Mom." Julie replied. Leaning closer to her dad she whispered, "How much does room does she think I'm going to have in the Explorer?" The piles of things for her to take to Madison never seemed to stop growing.

"I heard that!" Tami called out.

Eric laughed at his wife, "Well, the girl's got a point, Tami."

"Look you two, my baby is leaving the nest and I want to make sure she has what she needs."

"Mom, they do have stores in Wisconsin. I can always buy something if I really need it."

Tami waved both of them off and went back to the checklist she had downloaded off the Internet. Julie knew it was no use so she headed into the house to grab something to eat. She couldn't believe that she was going to be driving up to Madison in a few days for the freshman orientation week. She had begged her parents to let her go on her own, but they weren't having any of it. Her dad was going to drive up with her, they had given her his old Explorer, and then fly back, even though that meant him missing a few practices. At least it wasn't her mom, she said, sending up a silent thank you to heaven.

Julie was leaning over the counter picking at last night's left overs when she heard the door from the garage open and her dad's voice.

"Hell, son, this is surprise. Shouldn't you be at school already?"

Julie looked up to see who her dad was talking to and froze to see Tim Riggins standing in her living room. She managed to swallow the mouth full of coleslaw she was eating and gave him a slight wave along with a look of confusion.

"Yes, sir, but I had some things I needed to do here in town. I don't know if you know, but Billy moved to Houston a few months back, so we had some legal stuff to clear up with the house."

"Oh yeah, you selling it?" Eric asked.

"No, I'm keeping it."

"Really? You able to swing that?"

"I'm renting it out to Herc, you remember him, Jason's buddy from the rugby team?"

"I do. That's great, Tim."

"Yeah, I figure that's all our folks left us, so...it's a place to come back to on breaks and such."

Eric nodded his understanding. "So what do we owe the honor?"

Tim looked over to Julie in the kitchen and said directly to her, "I was just in the neighborhood. Thought I'd drop by."

Julie looked down at the floor and as Eric came to the fridge to grab a drink for their guest he realized she was in there.

"Hey Julie, say hello to Tim Riggins."

"Hi Tim..."

"Jules." He purred standing there in a sleeveless tee and beat up jeans.

'Good God,' Julie thought, 'could he be any damn more sexy?'

"Well, come on out back, let's talk some football." Eric said clapping Tim on the back.

Julie stayed inside and watched them from the couch. She knew Tim had gotten a scholarship from Oklahoma State and had made it to first string at the end of last season. Her dad always kept them up to date on how his former players were doing. Smash Williams had set the NCAA rushing record for true freshman at Whitmore College last year. The running back's success made him an interest to the NFL, but he remained committed to getting his degree, or at least Corrina did.

The sliding glass door opened and Julie looked up to see her dad.

"Honey, why don't you call down to the Alamo and order up some lunch for all of us?"

"Sure, Dad."

"Burgers OK, Tim?" Eric said turning back to his guest.

"Yeah, great. Thanks. You know what, why don't I run Julie down there?"

"It's OK, she'll be fine, won't you, sweetheart?"

Before Julie could answer Tim had walking back into the house and was walking to the door.

"No problem, Coach. Really, we'll take care of it." Tim said holding open the front door waiting for Julie to follow him.

Julie got up off the couch and walked toward Tim with a nervous look on her face.

"Well, alright, if you don't mind. Julie, don't forget to get me a shake. Don't look at me like that young lady, what your mother doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Be right back, Mom." Julie yelled as she got in the passenger side of Tim's busted up old truck.

They drove in silence for a few minutes giving each other quick nervous glances.

"So, Taylor..."

"So, Riggins..."

Tim pulled off the side of the road and before Julie knew what was happening she felt the full weight of his body on top of her. He pulled her into him and began kissing her and running his hand through her hair. She brought her hands around to his back and was working his shirt up over his head. Her hands felt the ripped muscles of his back and slowly worked their way down to the waistband of his jeans.

"You're so beautiful." He breathed into her neck, "I couldn't stop thinking about you after your little visit last night."

Her mind reeled. What the hell was happening? Was she seriously making out with Tim Riggins in his truck? 'Stop thinking, Julie,' she told herself, 'just kiss!'

Their bodies moved in rhythm as their kisses deepened. Julie straddled him and felt like she was going to explode. His hands on her body felt like fire on her skin. His touch made her moan and she was almost willing to become another notch in his belt right here. Almost as if he could read her mind he stopped.

"We can't. Not here, not like this."

"Whaa...?" Was all Julie could manage to say.

"Look, Jules. You're hot. There is no doubt about that, but I'm not going to nail you in my truck on the side of the road in broad daylight."

Julie looked into his sea green eyes and tried to focus on reality. "You're right," she said straightening out her clothes and removing herself from his lap.

Tim put his hands on the wheel and started the truck up, laughing.

"What?" She asked.

He shook his head and she slapped him on the arm. "What?!"

"Easy there, tiger. I was just thinking was all."

"About what."

He turned to look at her and said, "You grew up real nice."

Julie looked out the windshield and blushed. "Thank you."

As they waited for their order they sat in a booth at the Alamo Freeze.

"How's Oklahoma State?" She asked.

"Good. I head back tomorrow actually."

"Oh," she said with a sadness in her voice. 'Where the hell did that come from?' She wondered.

"How about you? Where you going?"

"University of Wisconsin. I got a scholarship to their J School...Journalism." She explained.

He nodded. "Big 10 country."

She wasn't surprised, he was like her dad and related everything to football. "Yep."

"You know it snows up there, right?"

Julie let out a small laugh. "I've heard."

An uncomfortable silence was held between them. He was looking at her with longing in his eyes. She wanted to scramble over the table and resume their making out. 'What the hell has gotten into me?'

"You're not with Matt anymore?" He asked, breaking the silence.

The question caught her off guard. She and Matt had broken up a few months ago and thought everyone knew, but why would Tim?

"No...we broke up a while back. Uh, it just wasn't working. He's a great guy, but...you know."

Tim nodded in understanding. There was no way she was going to ask about his dating life. He'd probably worked his way through half the girls in Stillwater by now.

"I'm not really good at this kind of thing, but do you think that maybe I could call you sometime?"

Julie couldn't believe her ears. "Yeah, sure."

They got out their cell phones and exchanged numbers, finishing as their order number was called. The pair headed back to the house to eat lunch with Julie's family. The conversation was warm and friendly and Tim thanked the Taylor's for their hospitality.

"It was good to see you, Riggins." Coach Taylor said, giving Tim a firm handshake.

"Yeah, you too, Coach. Mrs. Coach," Tim nodded in Tami's direction, "you too, Gracie!" He said scooping up the little girl. "Quit growing so much!"

Gracie giggle and squirmed to be free. Tim set her down and looked in Julie's direction.

"I'm just going to walk Tim out, OK?" She said to her parents.

They both had begun cleaning up the remnants of the lunch and waved to Tim as Julie led them outside.

Standing by the driver's door of Tim's truck, Julie leaned in for a quick hug. Tim kissed her on the top of the head.

"Drive safe." Julie said.

"Yeah, you too. Have fun in Madison. I hear it's a great town."

Julie nodded. She could feel tears coming to her eyes, but for the life of her couldn't figure out why.

"I'll call you." He said leaning down to give her a soft kiss.

"Great." She said with a smile.

Julie watched as he drove off and then walked into the house.

Her mom saw her and asked, "You okay, Julie?"

"Yeah, yeah...great."

Julie quickly got her thoughts together. She realized she had so much to do in the next two days. She was leaving Dillon to begin her new life as a college student. She couldn't wait!

AN: Thoughts? Reviews are always appreciated. Next chapter up soon.