Don't Ever Give Up Ch. 07

"That's the rumor, sir," Tim said, trying to match his smile. "Dr. Prince, this is Julia Waters. Julia, Dr. Prince is the football team's primary physician."

"Well, now," Ted said, his thick southern accent making it sound more like "weh nah." He wrapped Julia in a similar bear hug - Tim was pretty happy she escaped from it with the ability to breathe. "Now I understand why you waited so long, son. Always thought that 'good things come to those who wait' business was hogwash, but, I'll be."

"Thank you, Dr. Prince," Julia said, already blushing less than five minutes into the party.

"You got yourself a fine man here, Ms. Waters," Ted continued as Tim tried to roll his eyes backward out of their sockets.

"Trust me, sir, I'm well aware of that."

"A damn shame it took this long for someone to snap him up."

"Others have tried, and others have failed," a new voice said, and the trio turned to see Hank Taylor, the head football coach, walking toward them. Tim quickly made introductions.

"I wondered why he was so happy all the sudden," Taylor said. "He's always helped our guys mentally, but I was beginning to think he was the one needed a shrink. Not so much anymore."

"He does as much for me as I do for him," Julia said, smiling at Tim, who was quite frankly embarrassed at all the attention. "Probably a lot more, I'm sure." She winked at Tim.

Ted and Hank broke out into a conversation about the second-string slot receiver's hamstring, and Tim pulled Julia aside.

"Babe, I need to mingle and chat with the coaches for a few minutes," he said. "Why don't you go off and find J.T. and Sheila? I'm sure they're around somewhere."

"Tim, I know I'm supposed to be an arm decoration at these things," she answered, "and I'm perfectly okay with that."

"Maybe you are, but I'm not," Tim said. "Besides, all they'll do is talk about how I so badly needed a woman. I'm sure you'd love to hear that all night, but I don't."

"Awww, does the truth hurt?" Julia joked, but she was walking away even as she said it. Tim reached out and slapped her ass as she walked away.

Julia wandered around the room, not really knowing anyone besides Tim, but drawing plenty of appreciative stares from the football players and the other men in the room. She did her best to be polite and smile back at each of them, but really, she was just searching frantically for either J.T. or Sheila.

Instead, she found her sister. She was standing on the other end of the court from where Tim was talking to the coaches, chatting animatedly with Carlos. She was drawing more than her fair share of leering looks as well, but Carlos was acting as a barrier between her and everybody else.

"Ashley?" Julia said, walking over to them. The other girl's face tried to light up, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Julia! Hi!" her sister said, as they quickly embraced each other. "How have you been?!"

"I've been good," she answered back. "Finished my MBA last spring, working my way up the ladder at Southwest. You?"

"Starting med school next fall, still working at the hospital," Ashley replied. Carlos was looking back and forth at them as if he was watching a tennis match. They made small talk for a few more minutes until Julia finally tried to include him.

"How long have you two been seeing each other, Carlos?" Julia tried. Carlos was about to reply, but Ashley cut him off.

"Wait - you two know each other?" she asked.

"Yeah," Carlos said. "This Doc's girl."

"Doc?" Ashley asked. "The guy you've been talking about, asking for advice about the draft and everything?"

"Yeah, that's Doc," Carlos replied. For some reason, Julia thought, he was a bit nervous. "Speaking of, where Doc at?"

"Over there, chatting with some of the coaching staff," Julia replied.

"Wow," Ashley said. "It really is a small world. This is my sister," she said to Carlos.

"Yeah, I know," Carlos said.

"Half-sister, actually," Julia said, probably a little too quickly. Then: "Wait, Carlos. How did you know?"

"I put shit together, s'all," Carlos said. "You 'member that day at Doc's, when I asked all them questions about brothers and sisters? Day before, she told me she had a sister who ran the Southwest shit out at RDU. I knew Doc was dating the woman who ran the Southwest shit out there. You told me your sis worked as a lab tech at Duke."

"Ah," Julia said. "Why keep everything a secret then? You could have just told me."

"That's the thing," Carlos said, and began squirming. "You don't really know me that well. But Doc... you and Doc in love, right?"

Julia didn't hesitate. "Yes."

"So, that mean Doc is protective of you. That also mean Doc would be protective of your family, right?"

Julia wasn't sure where he was going. "I suppose, yes. But Tim has never met Ashley."

"Well, yeah, but-" Carlos was cut off when Ashley interrupted the conversation.

"Wait," she said. "Did you just say Tim?"

"Yes," Julia replied. "Tim Fetters. He's the athletic department psychologist here."

Everything was quiet for a second.

"Oh, shit," Ashley said. "I knew he was an intern here back when..." she trailed off. Julia just stared at her. With neither woman saying anything, Carlos went back to talking.

"And what's with this 'Ashley' shit anyway?" he asked.

"That's my first name," she said, blankly. Julia was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Family calls me that. Everyone else calls me... what you call me."

Julia was about to ask what that was, but Carlos kept going.

"Anyway," he said, turning back toward Julia. "I didn't want to say anything because... well, Doc wouldn't be too happy. See, Doc know how I do, and-"

"Yes, Carlos. Everyone knows how you do."

J.T. sauntered up into the middle of the group. To Julia, it seemed like he'd been sprinting. Julia also noticed that Ashley refused to meet his eyes. She saw Sheila hanging out about 20 feet behind J.T., and though she tried to gesture her best friend over, Sheila begged off.

Unbeknownst to any of them, J.T. had been standing off to the side for a few minutes, wondering exactly what to do here. He'd been standing close enough to hear what they said, which was how he figured out where Carlos fit in.

"J! My second-favorite pilot!" Carlos said, and the two bumped fists.

"I better be your favorite pilot," J.T. said. "The other one is about to be suicidal in a minute here."

"Say what?" Carlos asked. "Why?"

"Never mind," J.T. said. "You ready for Miami, big man?"

"Son, I was made for Miami," Carlos replied. "In fact, I'm gonna wear a Dolphins jersey all week, just to convince the Dolphins they need a running back with that top ten pick."

"I know Tim is lobbying the Panthers to pick up the hometown college hero," J.T. said, clearly stalling.

"Shit," Carlos said. "That be cool, but the Panthers can't afford me." The Panthers were going to be in the playoffs, and unless something dramatic occurred, wouldn't have a high enough draft pick to even sniff Carlos.

J.T. had no clever response to that, so instead, he turned his attention to Ashley.

"So," he said. "Ashley, right? How long have you and Romeo been dating?"

She looked down and hesitated long enough for Carlos to return one of her interruptions.

"Look, I wanted to wait for Doc, but this shit gotta stop," Carlos said, as all eyes snapped onto him. "We ain't dating. I don't date. I fuck. We fuckin'. That's all we doing."

Ashley looked at him like he'd just crawled up out of the floorboards. Julia was partly amused, but also partly ticked off - family is family, after all.

"Well, that, and I cook for her once or twice," Carlos continued. "Don't judge. Just cuz the black man has gold in his teeth and can tote the rock don't mean he don't have skills in the kitchen."

Carlos finally noticed the evil eye Ashley was shooting at him.

"Look, babe," Carlos said. "I ain't lied to you. I tol' you from the beginning. Pussy is pussy. I ain't in school to get a wife. I'm in school to get laid, and get paid. I'm gon' head off to the NFL, make me some millions, then maybe in a few years I settle down. Right now, it's all about hittin' the holes and hittin' the sheets. I told you that way back."

"I'm sure you did," J.T. said. "But you didn't believe him, did you? You thought you'd be the one to change him."

J.T. paused. He'd been rehearsing this little speech for three years, never really thinking he'd get to use it. Now that he could, he'd forgotten every word. Ah well, he figured. He was better on the fly anyway.

"Wow. You gave up everything you guys had to look for something better, and three years later, you're just another blonde the stud running back is using to get his rocks off. Out-fucking-standing."

"Wait," Carlos said. "This is where being the black man is cool, cuz, everybody already think I'm stupid, so when shit happens I don't get, ain't nobody surprised."

"Let me guess, Carlos," J.T. said. "You came here tonight, worried as hell, nervous as shit, thinking Doc was going to be pissed when he found out you were using his girlfriend's sister as a real-life sex toy, right?"

Carlos was momentarily stunned.

"Uh, yeah," Carlos said. "That about right."

"Trust me, man," J.T. said. "He's gonna be pissed you brought her here, but not because of that. No, the fact that you're using her for sex is probably the only thing about tonight he'll be happy with."

"J.T." That was Julia. "Tell me what the fuck is going on here."

"Carlos," J.T. said. "You were talking about being confused a second ago. How confusing is it that we keep calling your girl Ashley?"

"Yeah!" Carlos said, as if someone had finally read his mind. "Ashley this, Ashley that. I been banging this girl for almost two years, and-"

J.T. didn't realize why he'd stopped until it was too late. He followed Carlos' glance, and noticed Tim walking toward their end of the court. Carlos, being the only one who didn't know what was going on, flagged him down.

"Doc! Yo, Doc!" Carlos waited till Tim turned their direction. "Me and your girl over here!"

Tim was close enough to hear him, but apparently something was blocking his view of the girl standing next to Carlos. Tim was smiling right up until he got to the group - his smile immediately turned upside down when he saw who Carlos was with.

"J.T., what in the holy fuck have you done?" Tim asked. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Doc," Carlos said, still trying to speak his piece and clear his conscience. "You can deck me if you want, but I gotta say something."

"No, Carlos," J.T. said. "Let me." He called Sheila over - he knew this was going to get ugly, and wanted to make sure there was someone on his side nearby. When she got there, he continued. "It appears some introductions are in order."

He walked over to Julia, and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Ashley, this is Julia Waters - your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend."

He then moved across the circle to Ashley and pointed at her.

"Julia? This is Ashley Anderson, but better known to Tim, Carlos and myself by her middle name: Leira. She's the woman responsible for all the hell Tim's put you through over the past few months."

This time, J.T. wrapped his arm around Leira's shoulder, as much as it pained him to touch her. She cringed a little, but didn't move away. He turned his attention to Tim.

"And Tim? This is one of the squadron of fuckbuddies that follows our boy Carlos around like a puppy dog."

He took a deep breath. Neither Leira, Carlos nor Julia jumped in here, so J.T. steeled himself to deliver the bad news.

"She's also Julia's sister."

**********