Note: I warned that there would be a chapter or two with no sex in it, and I don't make empty threats. This is one of them. Don't worry though - there is plenty of heat, so I don't know if you'll even notice the lack of sex. If you're simply reading for a quick stroke, you haven't made it this far anyway. Even still, I promise the next chapter will make up for it.
Special thanks go out to my two regular editors, LilTexasSexFiend and AnInsatiableReader, for making this infinitely better than it was when I first wrote it. As always, let me know what you think, through voting, comments or private feedback. All three works too! ;-) As I said, this story will go up with one chapter posting daily until it's all uploaded, so don't get too mad about the cliffhangers. Enjoy!
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Just as Tim turned the TV on, he wished he hadn't.
"No!" he shouted, as if some microchip in his monstrous plasma TV could hear him and do something about it.
Apparently, the last time he'd been in his second-floor game room, he'd been watching NBC, because Sunday Night Football sprang to life. The Cowboys and the Redskins were playing, and as a casual Cowboys fan, Tim had a mild interest in the outcome of the game. He'd never lived in Texas, but both his parents had grown up within two hours of Dallas. Even when they'd moved to Kentucky and then North Carolina to pursue his mom's coaching career, they always loved the Cowboys and raised both their children to love them, too. Now that he worked for the Panthers, he was a Carolina fan through and through, but he still rooted for the Cowboys when they played anyone besides the Panthers.
Still, he could check the score later.
"No more fucking football today!" he exclaimed, hitting random numbered buttons on the remote until the channel changed. That wasn't something you'd normally hear out of his mouth, but he'd pretty much had his fill of the game over the past two days.
His hectic sports extravaganza weekend actually began on Friday, when he'd ridden on the Hurricanes' team bus to Washington, D.C. for a game against the Capitals - he had begged the coaches to let him fly the team up, but it was some kind of preseason team-building exercise. After six hours in something that was only marginally more comfortable than the big yellow busses from his childhood, Tim no longer wanted to be part of the team.
He had grabbed a seat on an MHC charter from Washington back to Charlotte Friday night, though, because he had to be in Raleigh for N.C. State's big game with North Carolina at noon Saturday. Carlos had again played fumble-free, and the Wolfpack had edged out the Tar Heels by three points. Pat Kersee played an inspired game from his right tackle position, although for whatever reason, he found it hard to maintain eye contact with Tim.
The next day was a Panthers' home game against the Tennessee Titans. NFL games only took three hours - four at the most - but it was an all-day process. He'd driven to Charlotte at 8 a.m. for a 1 p.m. kickoff, and had just barely returned home 30 minutes ago, well past the sun's bedtime.
He hadn't really had much time to even think about Julia. Well, that wasn't true. He'd stormed out of her house Wednesday night and all day Thursday, he hardly thought of anything else. Once Friday began, it had been easier to shift her to the back of his mind while sports occupied center stage, but since he'd left Charlotte for the ride back home, she hadn't left his mind.
Instinctively, he knew it was time to call her. Tim got up off the couch and went to get his phone off the table by the door to the study, but he heard his front door close downstairs. Before he knew it, his heart was doing double-time. Had she finally gotten tired of waiting for him to return her calls and just decided to come out here? He hoped so.
"Dude, where the fuck are you?"
Tim's chest deflated a little bit as J.T.'s voice echoed through his house.
"Upstairs," he called out. Tim heard him start up the stairs, but the footsteps were too plentiful to belong to just one person. A few seconds later, J.T. opened the door and came into the room, followed by his fiancée, Sheila.
"Wow," J.T. said. "You look like hell."
"Thanks," Tim answered. "That means a lot, coming from you." J.T. plopped down on the couch next to him, and Sheila sat on J.T.'s other side. J.T. was one of three people with a key to his house, and two years later, Tim still didn't know why he had ever agreed to give him one.
"Dude, why is your TV on the Home Shopping Network?" J.T. asked. Tim looked up for the first time since changing the channel. Sure enough, his best friend was right.
"Looking for something large and blunt I can use to crack you over the head," Tim replied. Sheila laughed heartily.
"Yeah, I guess that's what it would take for you to knock me out," J.T. said, grinning.
"Nah, I think we both know that's not true," Tim said. "Anyway, I just changed channels a bunch to get away from football. This is where it landed."
"Wow, never thought I'd hear that from you," J.T. said. "Our boys looked good today, though, didn't they?"
"Yes," Tim nodded. J.T. and Sheila had been there, in their customary seats on the home 40-yard-line, and they'd definitely seen a show. The Panthers quarterback had thrown for three touchdowns, and Carolina's defense held Tennessee's Pro-Bowl running back to just 37 yards and no touchdowns. Carolina had won 31-10.
"Has she called you yet?" Sheila asked. Tim rolled his eyes.
"Are we really going to talk about this now?" Tim answered, exasperated.
"Yes, we're really going to talk about it now," J.T. said. "If we don't talk about it now, we're never going to talk about it."
"I choose option B," Tim replied, dryly.
"Has she?" That was Sheila again.
"You know, sometimes, you act like a female version of him," Tim said. "And despite what he says, that wasn't meant as a compliment."
"And by no means am I taking it as one, Tim," Sheila answered. "But seriously, this has gone on long enough."
Sheila had been Julia's best friend for a long time. Tim didn't know how long, exactly, but neither of them ever talked about a time when they didn't know each other, so he assumed it was at least 10 years. Sheila's father was one of the area's top pharmaceutical executives, and J.T. had been the pilot for one of their family trips. He met her just a few weeks after Tim and Leira broke up. About a year after they started dating, Sheila started pressuring Tim to let her introduce him to her best friend, but Tim had refused to give in. Finally, J.T. had popped the question - for reasons Tim still didn't comprehend, Sheila had accepted. Even a year and a half after Leira, Tim was still in no mood to go to any engagement party, but since it was J.T., Tim had grudgingly agreed to make an appearance at the picnic they'd planned. Of course, it was a setup - Tim hadn't been at the park for five minutes when Sheila walked up to him with Julia. The thought actually made him smile a little bit.
"You're her best friend," Tim answered. "You know she's called."
She'd actually tried to call seven times since Wednesday night; twice in the time it took for him to get home from her apartment, and twice more on Thursday. She'd dropped down to one phone call per day the past three days - just enough to leave a voicemail saying she was sorry. Truthfully, he hadn't even listened to the last few voicemails.
